The Differences Between Opportunities and Ideas
'Opportunity' is a set of circumstances that makes it possible to do something.
'Idea' is a thought or suggestion as to a possible course of action.
Opportunity has 4 essential qualities. Attractive, timely, durable, and anchored (in a product, service, or business). As an entrepreneur, we should take advantage of the window of opportunity. The window of opportunity is a metaphor describing the time period in which a firm can enter a new market. Many entrepreneurs fail because they do have ideas but do not have any opportunity.
Three Ways to Identifies Opportunities
A. Observing Trends
As an entrepreneur or entrepreneur wanna-be, it's important to have awareness of changes. Michael Yang, founder of Become.com believes that the most important attribute of a good entrepreneur is a keen observation ability. Here are the branches of what we can observe.
1. Economic Forces
- State of the economy
- Level of Disposable income
- Consumer spending patterns
- Social and cultural trends
- Demographic changes
- What people think is "in"
- New technologies
- Emerging technologies
- New uses of old technologies
- New changes in political arena
- New laws and regulation
Aware of a problem and solve it. Everything has a problem, but we need to see them as an opportunity. Philip Kotler said that every problem is a brilliantly disguised opportunity.
C. Finding Gaps in the Marketplace
A common way that gaps in the marketplace recognized is when people became frustrated because they can't find a product or service that they need and recognize that other people feel the same way.
Personal Characteristic of the Entrepreneur
Many big entrepreneurs have a skill called opportunity recognition. Opportunity recognition is a process of perceiving the possibility of a profitable new product, business, or service. Here are some characteristics that an entrepreneur should have.
A. Prior Experience
Prior Experience in an industry helps entrepreneurs to recognize business opportunities.
B. Cognitive Factors
Some think that entrepreneurs have a "sixth sense". This "sixth sense" (entrepreneurial alertness) allows entrepreneurs to see opportunities around them. People who have more knowledge of their area tend to be more alert to opportunities in that area than others.
C. Social Networks
People who build a substantial network of social and professional contacts will be more exposed to opportunities and idea. There are 2 kinds of an entrepreneur. Solo entrepreneur who identified business idea on their own. And network entrepreneur who identified their ideas through social contacts.
D. Creativity
Creativity itself is a process of generating a useful idea. The creative process can be broken into five stages.
1. Preparation
Preparation is the background, experience, and knowledge that an entrepreneur brings to the opportunity recognition process.
2. Incubation
Incubation is the stage during which a person considers an idea or thinks about a problem.
3. Insight
Insight is the flash of recognition when the solution to a problem is seen or an idea is born. sometimes experience pushes the process forward, and sometimes it prompts an individual to return to the preparation stage.
4. Evaluation
Evaluation is a stage of the creative process during which an idea is subjected to scrutiny and analyzed for its viability. Make sure before you implement an idea, it must be viable.
5. Elaboration
Elaboration is a stage during which the creative idea is put into the final form (idea to reality).
Techniques for Generating Ideas
A. Brainstorming
Brainstorming is simply the process of generating several ideas about a specific topic. One person shares an idea, another person reacts to it, another person reacts to the reaction, and so on.
B. Focus Groups
A focus group is a gathering of 5 to 10 people who are selected because of their relationship to the issue being discussed. Focus group typically involve a group of people who are familiar with a topic.
C. Library and Internet Research
A natural tendency is to think that an idea should be chosen, and the process of researching the idea should then begin.
D. Other Techniques
1. Customer advisory boards
A panel of individuals set up by some companies to meet regularly to discuss needs, wants, and problems that may lead to a new product, service, or customer service ideas.
2. Day-in-the-life-research
A form of anthropological (the study of humankind) research used by companies to make sure customers are satisfied and to probe for new product ideas by sending researchers to the customers’ homes or business.
Encouraging the Development of New Ideas
A. Establishing a Focal Point for Ideas
Ideas flowing from the exercise of creativity are stored in an idea bank, which is a physical or digital repository for storing ideas.
B. Encouraging Creativity at the Firm Level
Creativity is the raw material that goes into innovation. It may take a hundred creative ideas to discover the one that ideally satisfies an opportunity.
