BBM210/05
Entrepreneurship Development
Assignment 1
(30%)
Submission Date:
11 June 2022 before 2400 hrs
Instructions:
1. As this is an individual assignment, you are advised not to share with others.
2. Please answer all the questions.
3. Please write all your answers in essay format. Do not answer in point-form unless
the questions mention “List” or “State”. It is not necessary to precede each answer
with an introduction and end with a summary. Proceed directly with the answer.
4. The total marks for Assignment 1 is 100% and this contributes 40% towards the
total weightage of this course.
5. Do remember to submit online and by the deadline.
Case Scenario
If at First You Don’t Succeed, So What!?
Thomas Watson understood what true entrepreneurs know: that failure is a
necessary and important part of the entrepreneurial process and that it does no have
to be permanent. Some of the world’s greatest entrepreneurs failed before they
finally succeeded. Henry Ford’s first business, the Detroit Automobile Company,
failed less than two years after Ford and his partners started it. Ford’s second auto
company also failed, but his third attempt in the new auto manufacturing business
was, of course, a huge success. The Ford Motor Company, which is still controlled
by the Ford family, is a major player in the automotive industry and is one of the
largest companies in the world. Milton Hershey launched his first candy shop at the
age 18 in Philadelphia; it failed after six years. Four more attempts at building a
candy business also failed before before Hershey finally hit on success with
Lancaster Caramel Company, the business that was the parent of the famous
Hershey Foods Corporation. Today, Hershey is the leading manufacturer of
chocolate products in the United States and exports to more than 90 countries.
Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita formed a partnership to produce an automatic rice
cooker. Unfortunately, their machine burned the rice and was a flop. Their company
sold just 100 cookers. Ibuka and Morita refused to give up, however, and they
created another company to build an inexpensive tape recorder that they sold to
schools. Their tape recorder proved to be successful, and the company eventually
became the consumer electronics giant Sony Corporation.
Rick Rosenfield and Larry Flax wrote a screenplay that never sold, started an Italian
restaurant that went bankrupt and developed a mobile skateboard park that quickly
flopped. Then, they tried the restaurant business again, launched the California
Pizza Kitchen. The California Pizza Kitchen is now a successful and well-recognized
chain.
(IBS Center for Management Research, retrieved on 28 August, 2020)
Answer all questions.
1. Describe the way these entrepreneurs view failures in their early days of business.
(20 marks)
2. Explain the entrepreneurial spirit exhibited by the entrepreneurs in the above case.
(20 marks)
3. Describe any FIVE (5) mistakes that caused business failures to Thomas Watson.
(30 marks)
4. Explain any FIVE (5) forces that are driving the growth of entrepreneurship.
(30 marks)
End of Assignment I