Analyzing The Success Of Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg In An Essay.

The Importance of Innovation in Today's Business Climate

Discuss About The Strategic Entrepreneurship Creating Mindset.

The changing business climate of the world has made it imperative for the various business enterprises to not only “think out of the box” but at the same time to take the help of various kinds of innovative strategies and ideas for the sustainability of their business (Dees, 2017). It is here that the role of the various entrepreneurs as well as the process of entrepreneurship itself becomes very important. Entrepreneurship can be defined as the process of establishing a business venture and at the same time to undertake financial risks with the latent hope to gain significant amount of profit (Drucker, 2014). Furthermore, the entrepreneurs are the individuals who establish their own business ventures with the help of innovative or “out of the box” business ideas. It is significant to note that the term “innovative idea” is generally associated with the kind of ideas which are totally new as well as revolutionary (Kuratko, 2016). However, in reality it is generally seen that the innovative business ideas utilized by the various entrepreneurs are not necessarily new or revolutionary rather they are mostly some modifications of the older ones with diverse amendments made to them to fulfill the requirements of the present day business world (Kuratko, 2016). This report will analyze the correlation between the process of entrepreneurship and innovation through the personal attributes as well as professional undertakings of the entrepreneur Mark Elliot Zuckerberg.

Mark Elliot Zuckerberg, famous as the cofounder of the social networking website “Facebook”, is an “an American technology entrepreneur” who was born in the year 1984 in New York, USA (Wong, 2018). He is also one of the most popular philanthropists of the world and has pledged to donate 99% of his wealth for the cause of charity (Clifford, 2018). Alongside Facebook he also developed various other kinds of software which has helped to revolutionize the technological landscape of the world in a significant manner. In the year 2010 the magazine “Vanity Fair” ranked him as the 10^th most influential person of the world (Clifford, 2018). As per an estimate of 2018, the total amount of wealth owned by him is approximately $66 billion and he is also among the top 10 richest people of the world (Clifford, 2018). It is interesting to note that he is one of the youngest individuals among the richest persons of the world (Forbes, 2018). Presently he is working as the Chief Executive Officer of Facebook (Forbes, 2018).

Defining Entrepreneurship and Its Role in Business

The personal attributes of the character of Zuckerberg is generally regarded as one of the major reasons for the success gained not only by the social networking website Facebook but also by Zuckerberg himself. Zuckerberg since his early childhood has shown leadership traits and as a matter of fact he was the captain of several sports in the schools and colleges in which he studied (Niebuhr et al., 2016). Furthermore, since an early age he was interested in programming and it is significant to note that before even joining Harvard for his advanced studies he was already marked as a programming prodigy with a bright future (Niebuhr et al., 2016). Moreover, his vision is effectively showcased in his talent to turn the simple concept of picture books or the so called face books into probably the best social networking website of the present era. He himself admitted that “We had books called Face Books, which included the names and pictures of everyone who lived in the student dorms. At first, he built a site and placed pictures of two males and two females. Visitors to the site had to choose who was hotter and according to the votes there would be a ranking” (Business Insider, 2018). Zuckerberg has always been concerned with the concept of ethics and it is a reflection of this particular fact that even though he got various offers from some of the most reputed business enterprises of the world he refused to do because of the fact that he was not sure how these enterprises were going to utilize the technology created by him (Business Insider, 2018). The main purpose of Zuckerberg behind the development of his innovation called Facebook was in his own words “The thing I really care about is the mission, making the world open” (Business Insider, 2018). In addition to all these, the integrity of his character and his personal determination to make the world a better place for the future generations also helped him in a significant manner to transform a small innovation which was developed in the dormitory of the Harvard into the present day social networking giant Facebook.

Personality as well as the personal approaches taken by an entrepreneur is directly related to the success or the failure of the business venture undertaken by that particular entrepreneur (Kazanjian,  Drazin & Glynn, 2017). Many experts are of the viewpoint that the entrepreneurs are related to have various kinds of personality traits like integrity of character, effective leadership traits, a passion for the business venture or the innovative idea on which they have modeled their business venture and others (Kazanjian,  Drazin & Glynn, 2017). It is significant to note that when a close analysis of the personality of Zuckerberg in undertaken it is revealed that his personality consists of most of the above mentioned traits which have helped him in a significant manner to attain the level of success that he has at the current moment. The compassion of Zuckerberg for his innovative business idea is clearly revealed in the ardent as well as sincere hard work with which he has transformed the two-member Harvard dormitory group into the most widely social networking website of the world (Niebuhr et al., 2016). It is significant to note that since the development of the innovation of the social network website in Harvard he has been subjected to various kinds of harsh critical remarks and some people have even gone on to the extent of saying that he is infringing on the personal life as well as the data of the individuals from the different part of the world in a manner which is completely unethical (Niebuhr et al., 2016). However, inspite of all this criticisms and negative comments he has been able to built a successful billion business venture and his entire life is perhaps best summarized in the words of Sorkin, who received the “Golden Globe Award for Best Picture on January 16, 2011” when he said that “I wanted to say to Mark Zuckerberg tonight, if you're watching, Rooney Mara's character makes a prediction at the beginning of the movie. She was wrong. You turned out to be a great entrepreneur, a visionary, and an incredible altruist” (Wong, 2018).

Analyzing the Success of Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook

The personal approach taken by Zuckerberg for the growth of his innovative idea as well as the leadership style adopted by him is very different from the ones adopted by the other entrepreneurs of the present generation. It is significant to note that whereas most of the entrepreneurs try to follow the situational style of leadership or the transformational style or the other kinds of leadership styles which are most suitable to the requirements of their business. Zuckerberg, on the other hand, rather than following any specific style of leadership follows the policy of leading by example (Wong, 2018). It is a reflection of this particular fact that the majority of the codes on which the social networking website Facebook operates has been designed by Zuckerberg himself and in addition to this inspite of being the cofounder of Facebook he is currently working as the CEO of the organization with the objective to oversee the affairs of the business in a much more better manner (Wong, 2018). Thus, it would be apt that these aspects of the character and the personality of Zuckerberg have contributed in a significant manner towards the success attained not only by him but also by his brainchild Facebook.

Most of the business enterprises of the world provide either some kind of tangible products to the customers from the different parts of the world but some kind of intangible services to the customers. However, Facebook is unique in this regard since it not only provide a gateway through which the people from different parts of the world can meaningfully utilize their leisure time but at the same time communicate with friends as well as family members from different parts of the world (Clifford, 2018). In addition to this, it is seen that the social networking website under discussion here is used for various kinds of marketing as well as promotional purposes and at the same time to enhance their brand image as well (Clifford, 2018). Furthermore, in the recent world of e-commerce it is also seen that Facebook is utilized by the various business enterprises to influence the buying behavior of the customers. Facebook has a wide market and people from almost all the nations of the world actively take the help of the social networking services provided by the concerned website. Furthermore, as per an estimate of 2018 Facebook has more than 2.23 billion active users from the different nations of the world which is equivalent to more than half of the population of the world (Business Insider, 2018). Thus, it would be apt to say that the services provided by Facebook enjoy a global market.

Personal Attributes and Approaches to Leadership

The initial idea for the social networking website Facebook was developed by Zuckerberg at the Harvard itself while he was still a student. The original idea for the social networking website under discussion here was developed by Zuckerberg as a prank to get the rating for the hottest boy and girl of Harvard. However, the educational institution within the time period of just one week forced him to shut down the application. He soon came up a better option wherein he created a platform where all the students of Harvard were able to interact with each other for their study related purposes and they could at the same time form their study groups. This particular model is generally considered to be the prototype of the present day Facebook. He soon dropped out of Harvard and developed a more concrete version of the same application wherein students from educational institutions of the nation were able to join and interact with each other. It is significant to note that by the year 2012 the website developed by Zuckerberg had more than 500 million users (Business Insider, 2018). During this time he got offers from various reputed organization which wished to buy the innovation developed however he was not sure about the manner in which they would utilize the innovation developed by him. Furthermore, he was driven by the altruistic desire of creating a world wherein people from the different parts of the world would be able to interact with each in a free manner. It is a reflection of this particular fact that inspite of being a popular social networking website and having more than 500 million student users from the different parts of the nation he went global as late as 2012 (Business Insider, 2018). Thus, it would be apt to say that Zuckerberg was quick to realize the opportunity which was provided to him by the inherent desire of the people to interact with their friends as well as family members from the different parts of the world.

The process of commercialization thus began very late with Facebook and even today in the year 2018 the percentage of advertisements allowed by Facebook over their website is only 10% in comparison to the 20% allowed by the other social networking websites (Clifford, 2018). Furthermore, it was only as late as 2015 that the website allowed the various business enterprises of the world to use the website for promotional as well as marketing purposes (Clifford, 2018). Therefore, it would be appropriate to say that although Zuckerberg was quick to develop his innovation as well as successfully transform it into a profitable business venture in the early part of his career yet the process of commercialization was undertaken very late by him.

Conclusion

To conclude, the various entrepreneurs have become an indispensible part of the business world on the score of the numerous entrepreneurial business ventures which have become an important part of the business world. It is generally seen that these entrepreneurs take the help of the process of innovation and try to establish their business ventures on the basis of these innovative business ideas. Furthermore, the personality, personal approaches undertaken by them and the attributes of these entrepreneurs also play a significant part in the success or the failure of the business venture undertaken by them. It is generally seen that there is gap between the time period of the identification of the innovative idea and the ultimate commercialization of the business venture which they establish on the basis of the innovative idea.

References

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Cooper, A., & Folta, T. (2017). Entrepreneurship and high?technology clusters. The Blackwell manual of entrepreneurship, 348-367.

Dees, J. G. (2017). The Meaning of Social Entrepreneurship. In Case Studies in Social Entrepreneurship and Sustainability (pp. 34-42). Routledge.

Drucker, P. (2014). Innovation and entrepreneurship. Routledge.

Forbes Welcome (2018). Forbes Welcome [online]. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/profile/mark-zuckerberg/#98b94c83e06d

Kazanjian, R. K., Drazin, R., & Glynn, M. A. (2017). Implementing strategies for corporate entrepreneurship: A knowledge?based perspective. Strategic entrepreneurship: Creating a new mindset, 173-199.

Kuratko, D. F. (2016). Entrepreneurship: Theory, process, and practice. Cengage Learning.

Niebuhr, O., Brem, A., Novák-Tót, E., & Voße, J. (2016). Charisma in business speeches--A contrastive acoustic-prosodic analysis of Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg. In Proceedings of the 8th International Conference of Speech Prosody, Boston.

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Wong, J. (2018). 'The third era of Zuck': how the CEO went from hero to humiliation. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/apr/06/mark-zuckerberg-public-image-cambridge-analytica-facebook