Interview With Entrepreneurs On Business Strategy For Calgary-based Indian Restaurants, Essay.

i. Before the interview, what ideas did you have about entrepreneurs creating and executing a strategy for their companies?

ii. Now that you’ve conducted the interviews and had conversations, what do you think about entrepreneurs and their business

strategies?

iii. How were the entrepreneurs you spoke to similar or different in their approach to business strategy?

iv. What surprised you the most? How did the conversations align with the theories and models we studied in this course?

v. What do you think are the areas of greatest weakness in the company or leadership? 

In order to conduct the interview in a proper it is necessary to identify the entrepreneurs that have worked hard in the development of a company. For this particular interview, three entrepreneurs have been identified and interviews about their success have been taken for understanding the effectiveness of strategic management at an organisation. The three companies that have been chosen are restaurants located at Calgary. Description of the restaurants has been provided along with its target customers.

Moti Mahal Restaurant: Moti Mahal Restaurant is an Indian cuisine restaurant that is located in Calgary, Canada (Motimahal.ca, 2018). The restaurant is considered as one of the most restaurants that serve Indian food in the city. The uniqueness of the restaurant is that it possess refined traditional quarters with a full bar. The manner in which people can make reservation at the restaurant is easy and can be done within a minute. This provides an opportunity to target those people that prefer to consume Indian people along with enjoying a drink (Motimahal.ca, 2018). The target people for the restaurant are the Indian community that resides in Canada. This provides an opportunity for the restaurant to appeal to a larger group of people that prefer authentic Indian dishes so that they can gain a taste of the homely atmosphere.

Clay Oven Restaurant: Clay Oven Restaurant located in Calgary, is one of the oldest restaurants that serve authentic Indian food (Clayovenindianrestaurant.ca, 2018). It provides a taste of authentic Indian cuisine along with authentic flavours so that the taste can be matched with that of the Indian tradition. The target market for this restaurant is the Indian people as well as the Canadian people that have a desire to taste Indian food. The characteristic of the restaurant is that it provides an opportunity for casual eatery keeping in mind the tradition that is followed in India (Clayovenindianrestaurant.ca, 2018). Apart from this, the restaurant serves a weekday lunch buffet that is provided at a modern setting. The advantage that this restaurant provides is that it takes into account the food tastes of modern Indian people (Clayovenindianrestaurant.ca, 2018).

Namskar Fine East Indian Restaurant: Namskar Fine East Indian Restaurant is one of the classiest Indian restaurants that exist in Canada. The restaurant serves various types of curries, tandoori plates and other dishes that are famous in classical India (Namskar.ca, 2018). These foods are served in bright modern setting and have professional cooking staff and hospitable waiting staff. At the same time, the restaurant serves its customers with its signature dish that defines the authenticity of the food it provides (Namskar.ca, 2018). The target customers of the restaurant include the Indian population, other foreign tourists as well as the local people. This provides the restaurant with a wide variety of food options and it is because of this that the restaurant has been a modern classic in the Canadian market. Another unique characteristic of the restaurant is that it provides its food at a cheap price (Namskar.ca, 2018).

These three restaurants have three entrepreneurs that have formulate different strategies for the success of the business. Therefore, interview about the restaurants and the strategies applied need to be taken in order to understand the reason behind the success. However, due to intense competition from similar other restaurants in the city such as Hot Million Indian Cuisine, Indian Street House and so on, the names of the entrepreneurs are not disclosed. The interview has been conducted over coffee, face to face meeting an over phone for the three entrepreneur. Two days had been provided for each of the entrepreneurs so that the interview is conducted in a proper manner. Hence, with the start date of the interview being on 11^th October, the interview session was concluded on 16^th October. A brief of the interview is provided.

Description of Selected Indian Cuisine Restaurants in Calgary

Table: Setting and date of the interview

(Source: Created by author)

Question 1: For how long has the restaurant in business at Calgary?

Question 2: What are the key strategies that are used for the success of the business?

Question 3: What strategic planning process had been followed and implemented? Was the process formal?

Question 4: What was the influence derived for undertaking the strategic decision?

Question 5: How can you measure or define success?

Question 6: What are the greatest strengths that the restaurant possesses over its competitors?

Question 7: How is the employee engagement at the restaurant?

Question 8: What are the ways by which the company achieves excellence?

Question 9: Do you have a formal vision and mission statement?

Question 10: How have you strategy changed overtime?

Question 11: What process do you follow to stay innovative?

1. Before the interview was conducted I had an idea that entrepreneur needed to take into consideration that ideas that they believe in and start in a company without any plans. As stated by Hill (2017)one of the important things that need to be considered while developing business strategies includes analysing the competition in the market. However, I had no idea that the strength of the competitors need to be analysed so that effective strategies can be formulated. I came to know about the implementation of strategies so that business can be made into a success. Hence, the interview provided me with an idea about the importance of strategic goals.

At the same time Lasserre (2017) is of the opinion that it is important that continuous improvement be taken into consideration for success. The interview has provided me with an idea about the manner in which continuous improvement need to be taken place in an organisation. The interview highlighted the need for success and the effectiveness continuous management can have in the development of a successful market. I was of the belief that execution of strategies were done based only the assessment of the internal strengths. However, I came to know that strengths and weakness of the competitors is also required for execution of strategy.

1. After conducting the interview and analysing the conversations, I have seen that each of the entrepreneurs is competitive. The competition that exists among the Indian restaurants in Calgary offers a sense of fierce competition in the market. The entrepreneurs have provided direct opinion about the pressure that remains on them for delivering authentic and tasteful food so that the target customers can be retained. As stated by Hill, Jones and Schilling (2014)it is important that the customers be managed and satisfied so that competitive advantage can be gained. The entrepreneurs had given clear view about the importance of competition in the market.

At the same time, I have learned that the entrepreneurs take good care of the employees. This can be considered as one of the most effective business strategy that is undertaken by the restaurants as the importance of employees in the modern business scenario is an important part for the progress of the Indian restaurants. Hence, the strategy adopted can be considered as effective as without the support of the employees it can be difficult to continue with the development of the market. This can be related with the theories of motivation as the motivation of employees often lead to attracting more customers in the business (Hitt & Duane Ireland, 2017).

iii. The analysis of the interview showed that there were certain points of similarities as well as differences between the three entrepreneurs. One of the similar points that can be seen is the fact that all three entrepreneurs agreed on the fact that analysis of competition, its strength and weakness is important for the development of the restaurants. As observed by Doz (2017) the competition that exists in a market usually brings about the best in an organisation and this provides an opportunity to gain competitive advantage in the business. Hence, it can be said that the agreeing point of the entrepreneurs are directed towards the analysis of the competitors to build its own strength.

At the same time the difference lie in the longevity of the restaurants as well as the methods adopted for continuous improvement, strengths possesses and the perception of success. It has been seen from the analysis of the interview that each of the three entrepreneurs has a different perception towards success. While one of the entrepreneur is of the opinion that success can be measured by current achievements, others entrepreneurs believe that success cannot be measured or defined. Hence, these significant differences are seen after the interview.

1. iv. The surprising factor was the fact that each of the restaurants has an experience of more than 20 years and they managed to continue with the business in a steady manner. Despite the competition that exists in the market, these three entrepreneurs have managed to hold on to the business and meet the needs of the individuals. As stated by Wheelen et al. (2017) longevity of a business is important so that strategic management can be applied. Hence, this can be considered as one of the surprising things that I encountered while conducting the interview.

Interview Schedule for Entrepreneurs

At the same time, I have seen that the strategic planning process that has been taught to me is aligned with the plans made by the entrepreneurs. This is mainly because the strategic planning process involves about six stages, which also includes situational analysis, alignment and direction. The interview of the entrepreneurs provides an understanding of the application of the theories in a practical business situation. Hence, this can be considered as a satisfactory learning experience in terms of understanding the application of the strategies.

1. After the analysis of the interview it can be said that the areas of weakness of the restaurants rests on the fact that it lacks a proper view of the Indian culture. Despite hiring chefs from India, the restaurants can gain some form of success. However, the import of spices and herbs from India may not provide similar tastes as it would in the country itself. Therefore, this can be considered as a weakness that each of the restaurants may face. Hence, relation can be made to the fact that the application of proper guidance may not exist in the business.

As stated by Meyer, Neck and Meeks (2017) the application of proper leadership style can help in the formulation of strategies and success in business. One of the most important weaknesses that can be concluded from the interview is the lack of leadership ability of the entrepreneurs. This is mainly because the experience of cooking Indian food does not exist among the entrepreneurs. Despite its longevity in the restaurant business, it is important that spices and herbs that are used in India be used in accurate manner to gain the authentic flavour. However, with the distance that remains between the countries, it can be difficult to get the spices and at the same time guide the chefs to cook it in a proper manner.

The flow of conversation during the interview was smooth, as I had managed to ask the questions that I had set for the entrepreneurs. Initially I was nervous particularly while conducting the first interview, but I managed to be more confident with the flow of the interview over the course of the six days. I had learned a great deal about the strategic process that can be used by a company and so during the time of asking questions related to it, I managed to develop the question pattern that compelled the entrepreneurs to answer in an in-depth manner. However, despite this I need to improve the timing of the interview so that I can keep it short and get the necessary responses within the limited period. I had taken two days for conducting each of the interviews and that left me little time to analyse the answers and may have been the cause for bias answers on the part of the employees.

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