ABSTRACT
After studying this chapter you will be able to:
Recognize that management of an entrepreneurial business is one of the owner’s major responsibilities for survival and sustainability.
Understand that sustainable development of an entrepreneurial business requires thorough, careful management and monitoring processes.
Acknowledge the different processes for keeping the business rolling by identifying the stages of development for entrepreneurial businesses, acknowledging the characteristics of each stage and subsequently fitting the most suitable management processes to each stage.
Discern between the different practices – inside and outside the business – to reach sustainable development for the business, and for both expanding the knowledge and deepening the know-how of managing an entrepreneurial business.
Explain the role of education and learning in managing and sustaining entrepreneurial businesses in terms of knowledge transfer, developing concepts on entrepreneurship that will eventually meet the ‘ideal’ specifications of entrepreneurship, develop core skills and teach different problem-diagnosis and opportunity-exploitation methods.
Assess and evaluate the effectiveness of academic and non-academic programs for the development of skills and capabilities that will improve entrepreneurs’ managerial competence.
Realize the role of the advisory board as a major driving force behind the long-term success of entrepreneurial businesses, in offering direction, advising and assisting the business in networking, mentoring and setting limits, among others. Understand what ‘going public’ means; stress its benefits and risks and the required obligations entrepreneurs must address in order to successfully complete this stage.
Acknowledge the role of relevant, ongoing networking processes (via the internet, face-to-face, professional networks) for business publicity, coverage, finding potential contacts and maintaining existing ones, benchmarking and learning from others’ experiences, barter relations, among others.
