Developing an Entrepreneurial Mindset to Address Business Opportunities

Demonstrate an entrepreneurial mindset in addressing business opportunities in varying business models Scenario You work for CM Consulting Firm as an associate director. In this role, you oversee product managers who work for a variety of clients meeting a variety of needs. Senior management has noticed that the project outcomes are often similar from one product to another. They are striving to set themselves apart from their competition; as part of this new initiative, they would like the firm to be seen as both leading-edge and innovative. They recognize that training is necessary to direct and inform product managers to approach tasks with an entrepreneurial mindset. Keith Kirk, the firm’s director and your supervisor, has asked you to lead this initiative with a robust training presentation. Company Overview Mission: To lead the business consulting industry in highly innovative client business solutions. Current Projects Keith has noted that he is impressed with your work. He would like you to present two examples demonstrating how you would use your entrepreneurial mindset to identify solutions/opportunities for projects currently in the queue. Your examples should address two different business models: Media Company A large for-profit cable company approached your consulting firm because their profits were declining. With less expensive video streaming services increasingly available, customers no longer want to pay up to ten times more to access more channels when they could pay significantly less and access what they want when they want. Daycare A nonprofit daycare that focuses on providing quality childcare for working class families approached the consulting firm. They recently built an expansion and are ready to serve new customers in a rapidly growing community. Consider providing more services in childcare as well as reaching out to other segments in the population, both during daytime and evening hours. Directions You will develop a presentation to begin a series of training and coaching for product managers. It should demonstrate the skills that lead to an entrepreneurial mindset in addressing business opportunities. Entrepreneurial Mindset: Describe the entrepreneurial mindset and provide examples of successful entrepreneurs to inspire your audience to begin building its own entrepreneurial mindset and developing entrepreneurial skills. Explain how the entrepreneurial mindset is beneficial in addressing business opportunities. Include the following in your response: What are the key characteristics of an entrepreneurial mindset? Why are those traits and skills valuable in a business environment? Provide an example of a well-known successful entrepreneur who demonstrates entrepreneurial mindset traits that you would like to highlight. Include the following in your response: What was their proposed product or solution and why do you consider them a strong example? What characteristics of an entrepreneurial mindset did they demonstrate that stood out? What barriers did they overcome, and how did they demonstrate an entrepreneurial mindset in both development and bringing the product to market? Company Examples: Your supervisor Keith mentioned that he would like you to present your own approach to business opportunities using an entrepreneurial mindset. For this section, you may choose examples from the current projects to frame your discussion. Explain how an existing product or service could be significantly changed or improved by identifying a gap in the market and applying an entrepreneurial mindset to address it Briefly highlight how you would develop this product or service and then bring it to the market. Apply a customer-centric orientation to identify unmet customer needs that can be met with a new product or service. Explain the role of failure as part of the process in an entrepreneurial environment. Describe various business models (free, freemium, etc.) used in for-profit and social enterprises, and evaluate their appropriateness in various contexts. What to Submit Every project has a deliverable or deliverables, which are the files that must be submitted before your project can be assessed. For this project, you must submit the following: Entrepreneurial Mindset Presentation Your presentation should be 6—8 slides in length (in addition to the title slide).