Entrepreneurship is an integral part of the community, especially in regards to economic growth. Mainly, societies glorify entrepreneurs because they create employment opportunities and contribute to social development projects. Despite these significant roles, it may be argued that entrepreneurship has a negative impact on the society. This claim is attributed to the accumulation of wealth by some entrepreneurs, which is mostly associated with unlawful deeds. According to Waldschmidt (2017), some of these entrepreneurs have had to sacrifice a lot to achieve success including doing some wrongful deeds. In addition, entrepreneurs have strengths and weaknesses that play a significant role in shaping their entrepreneurial journey. This essay determines whether the concepts and ideological nature of entrepreneurship and the strengths and weaknesses of entrepreneurs can justify the use of unpleasant deeds to achieve success, despite their adverse outcomes.
In entrepreneurship, it is not possible to obtain success without hardship. According to Brown, Davidson, and Wiklund (2001), Stevenson developed a concept of entrepreneurship where entrepreneurship is viewed as the exploitation of opportunities without the consideration of the available resources. In pursuit of such opportunities, some researchers have established that entrepreneurs experience strains that affect their health (Shepherd & Patzelt 2015). In fact, Morin (2015) states that Robert Herjavec, the Chief Executive Officer of Herjavec Group (a global Information Technology security organization), thought of committing suicide after the end of his marriage due to strains associated with being an entrepreneur. Committing suicide suggests a case of mental disorder, which is a health complication. However, despite knowing the risk involved, entrepreneurs still start and manage businesses. This act reveals they are aware that to be successful they have to do things that are harmful, even those that are harmful to their health.
The ideological concept of entrepreneurship can also demonstrate that it is impossible to achieve success without having to do something with adverse effects. Storr (2011) depicts the ideological entrepreneur is an individual who uses ideologies to create opportunities that bring change in institutions. For example, a political entrepreneur is ideological because he or she uses opportunities to change the attitudes of people and bring institutional change (Storr 2011). In some cases, the ideological concept can be used to carry out unlawful deeds to achieve success.
Another way to illustrate the unlikelihood of having success without undergoing a negative situation is the model of social entrepreneurship under neoliberalism. According to Sharma (2016), nowadays, social entrepreneurship has adopted neoliberalism where the focus has shifted from the impact of charitable organizations to their ability to generate profits and sustain themselves financially. Having charity organizations focused on generating profits is not beneficial to the employees who rely on these organizations for survival. Mainly, it is not beneficial to the employees because sometimes organizations that are focused on making profits may ignore their individual needs such as when they choose to downsize since they lose their source of livelihood. In neoliberalism, the focus is usually to benefit few people at the expense of the majority (Sharma 2016). Based on this evidence, modern social entrepreneurship reveals that success is achieved after something unpleasant occurs, such as creating solutions that benefit few people at the expense of the majority.
In addition, the neoliberal self can be used to illustrate the nature of entrepreneurship by revealing the relationship between unpleasant things and success. McGuigan (2014) postulates that neoliberalism has created individualism, which associates self-gratification with business. He argues that the individualistic nature has created a society where individuals are solely responsible for their choices and are harshly punished for their failures (McGuigan 2014). For example, one of the characteristics of being an entrepreneur is the ability to take risks and handle failure because one is solely liable. McGuigan (2014) further argues that inequality is a common feature of neoliberalism. In this context, inequality is an accepted concept because it is relational, which means that winners losers have to exist. According to Boterro (2004), the inequality rate has increased, and McGuigan (2014) suggests that neoliberalism is a Twentieth Century concept. In this case, the success of the neoliberal entrepreneur occurs concurrently with the loss of another person. Evidently, success cannot be achieved without failure happening to someone else.
Alternatively, the unpleasant actions attributed to the success of entrepreneurs can be explained using the capitalistic ideology. Da Costa and Silva (2012) states that the competitive nature of the labor markets has led to the development of capitalism. This claim was investigated through the analysis of entrepreneurship in Brazil. According to Bradford (2012), capitalistic entrepreneurship is being used to bring social change through social enterprises. Moreover, he emphasizes the role of education in supporting this form of entrepreneurship, which is teaching this form of entrepreneurship in schools (Bradford 2012). One of the adverse effects of capitalism is inequality. In fact, Louis (2012) suggests that inequality cannot cease to exist because under this principle the rich must take from the poor to succeed. Therefore, under capitalism, entrepreneurs have to do an unpleasant thing (take from the poor) to succeed.
On the other hand, in some cases, entrepreneurs can succeed without doing unpleasant things. Under the concept of socialism, entrepreneurship is required for economic growth. Some researchers argue that it is impossible for entrepreneurship and socialism to co-exist because socialism does not guarantee growth (Hindmoor 1997). However, the compatibility of entrepreneurship and growth becomes irrelevant once maximum growth is reached, but this is not possible to achieve realistically. The main reason for the incompatibility of growth and socialism is that entrepreneurship is associated with inequality as mentioned earlier. According to Hindmoor (1997), inequality can exist in a socialist society because it moderates the adverse effects of entrepreneurship. When a new product is introduced into the market, it may be set at a price that not all citizens can afford. Based on the forces of supply and demand, later, the price may reduce because the profits incurred attract other entrepreneurs (increasing supply), which creates equality. For example, it is easier to afford a Toyota Nissan now compared to when it was first manufactured. Therefore, it is possible for entrepreneurs to end up doing good deeds for the community to achieve success.
In today’s society, it is possible to achieve success without doing unpleasant things. According to Knight (2014), modern socialistic entrepreneurs are under the concept of socialism, which entails gaining profit while providing a useful product or service. Additionally, the business owner would ensure the business is run by the law and employees are treated fairly. These actions are possible because the modern governments have put measures in place to protect entrepreneurs. For example, business owners start corporations that allow the business to exist as an individual entity, which exempts the owner’s assets from liability.
In conclusion, entrepreneurship in today’s society may require the owner to carry out bad deeds to achieve success. Realistically, it would be challenging to gain profits without someone incurring a loss despite the products being beneficial to the consumers. Additionally, the vigorous pursuit of opportunities in a very competitive market makes it hard to act fair. This is because the loss incurred may be adverse despite the protection provided by the government.
Donald Trump is widely known as a tenacious entrepreneur. Despite being born in a privileged family, Donald became a successful entrepreneur due to his success in the real estate sector illustrated by buildings such as the Trump Towers. He started off his career after graduating from Wharton School of Business in the 1960s by joining his family’s company (Business Matters 2016). By 1971, he managed to be the one running the company and made bold moves in expanding the business (Business Matters 2016). He has undergone various successes and failures in his journey to achieve his goals. Perhaps his most significant achievement was becoming the president of the United States of America.
One of the greatest strengths of Donald Trumps as an entrepreneur is his negation skills. These skills have enabled him to acquire great deals, which have built his real estate empire. For instance, in 1978, he got a coveted deal to change the Commodore hotel to Grand Hyatt (Siebold 2015). The second strength that Trump possesses is his ability to lead. Trump demonstrates the authoritarian leadership style that he has used to acquire wealth from various sectors. For example, he was able to venture into the media industry and successfully run The Apprentice (Edmondson 2016). The significance of his negation skills is the capability to manipulate people into doing what he wants, which is essential in leadership. Additionally, his authoritarianism enabled him to inspire others to work towards the achievement of his goals. These skills also helped him to overcome his failures despite the setbacks. Overall, the combination of these skills made him the successful businessman he managed to be.
Donald Trump also has the following weaknesses. To start with, his aggressive nature has led to some serious business mistakes that have made him declare bankruptcy. For example, the Trump Taj Mahal, Trump Marina, and Trump Casinos made him file bankruptcy more than once (Stuart 2016). Additionally, Swanson (2016) states that his aggressiveness may have made him partake in illegal dealings especially in the 1970s while building properties in New York. Another weakness of Trump is his litigious nature, which hindered his participation on Wall Street. His litigious nature is demonstrated when he hurriedly sued a brokerage firm for making remarks about Taj Mahal and later compensated the firm when the remarks turned out to be true (Famous entrepreneurs n.d.). The impact of his aggressive nature has been the losses he has incurred due to his business failures. In addition, his litigious nature has made him incur significant losses in court cases he has lost. His weaknesses are mainly attributed to his character and the losses incurred have primarily affected his finances.
Another well-known entrepreneur is Elon Musk. Unlike Donald Trump, Elon came from a humble background, and he kick-started his entrepreneurial journey by developing Paypal, which he sold for approximately one billion dollars (Melby 2012). According to Melby (2012), afterward, he founded several companies, such as SpaceX, Tesla, and Solar City, that have brought him immense success. Over the years, he has continued to witnessed success and some failures in the different industries. The thing that is peculiar about him is his ability to succeed in ventures that are deemed to possess enormous risks. Overall, he is an entrepreneur worth emulating due to his ability to bring revolutionary change in different sectors.
One of the strengths of Elon Musk is his work ethic. According to Mathew (2017), Elon works long hours, which motivates his employees to do the same. His work ethic has accorded him success within a shorter period compared to other entrepreneurs. Another strength of Elon is the ability to learn new things on his own and within a short time compared to other human beings. One of his confessions is that he has taught himself programming, physics and rocket science (Calhoun, 2016). The significance of his work ethic is that it has allowed him to set standards, which his employees emulate thus achieving success. For his unique learning ability, it has enabled him to acquire vast knowledge and to pursue what he is passionate about.
Elon Musk has some negative traits that have affected his entrepreneurial journey. One of his negative traits is self-reliance, which means he does not delegate. Debord (2017) states that this attribute may slow down the success rate of Tesla because he does not want to outsource some production aspects. Another negative trait of Elon is his excessive need for control. According to Wartzman (2015), Elon controls every aspect of his employees with respect to undertaking tasks, which is disadvantageous because employees feel threatened and are unable to perform well. Another negative trait is the fact that he values business interests over morality, which is illustrated by donations to organizations that oppose his ideologies to advance his interests (Knibbs, & Bereznak 2017).
Based on the analysis of the two entrepreneurs mentioned above, the earlier assumption that it is not possible to achieve success without doing evil deeds can be demonstrated. Firstly, despite the fact that Donald was from an affluent background, it is claimed that he may have participated in illegal activities. This could be interpreted as proof that unpleasant things must be done to achieve success. Secondly, Elon’s strong work ethic is beneficial because it motivates his employees, but it can be disadvantageous when it becomes overbearing. Nevertheless, the overbearing trait has allowed him to accomplish a lot. Therefore, it may be argued that the discomfort of his employees (unpleasant thing) is a price he is willing to pay for success.
Conclusion
Evidently, the use of harmful acts to achieve success in entrepreneurship can be an acceptable trade-off. In the modern society, entrepreneurship is associated with neoliberalism where individuals are solely responsible for their success and failure. Therefore, they are prepared to do whatever it takes to achieve success since eventually winners cannot exist without losers. It was worth noting that both entrepreneurs have weaknesses that affect them negatively when not controlled. For Donald, his aggressive nature may be beneficial in negotiations, but it causes mistakes. In addition, Elon is self-reliant which drives his pursuit of knowledge, but it makes it difficult for him to delegate. However, these findings do not illustrate the extent of the influence of these concepts and traits on the habits of entrepreneurs. Finally, it is worth noting that in entrepreneurship it does not only take good deeds to achieve success sometimes bad deeds achieve success too
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