I chose to do my final reading reflection on "Innovation and Entrepreneurship" by Peter Drucker. The theme of the story lies on 3 main points that the other wants to get across. The practice of entrepreneurship and innovation, and strategies on how to market a successful innovation. In the practice of innovation section the author talks about how small business or "me too" restaurant business are not considered entrepreneurship. He then goes on to explain that entrepreneurship is when a person systematically searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity. he then goes on to give 7 different examples of innovative opportunity. In the second section of the book the author pretty much explains the do and don'ts of entrepreneurship and how to practice and perform correctly. And the third section on entrepreneurial status pretty much speaks for itself. Drucker lists examples of how you can attack the appropriate target market and how you can go about improving the market and blow your competitors away.
The way this book connected with me and this class is the way the author picks a particular market. I chose a market for this class that was in need of innovation which is why it turned about to be successful. He constantly mentions picking markets that are in serious need of change and thats why I thought my venture would be successful. I didn't reinvent anything at all, I just thought of what people my age need (To save money) and paired that with resources that I already had so that I wouldn't have to invest much and worry about losing money.
If I had to design an assignment for this class after reading this book it would be something along the lines of reinventing a existing market that needs serious improvement. I know some people kind of already did this for their venture but I saw a lot of people who completely came up with something new which is fine because thats what this class is about. I would ask the students to pick a market that isn't doing so well and ask him how they would improve it or make it better.
The thing that caught me by surprise was the section in which Drucker talked about small businesses not being considered entrepreneurship. My uncle who is very successful and owns a small business is one hundred percent and entrepreneur in my eyes. I understand where the author was coming from with his comparisons to McDonalds and other major businesses but I don't necessarily agree with him on his overall belief.
Hey Ben!
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I really enjoyed your analysis of the book. I enjoyed the way you connected the book to yourself. I feel the assignment you created would be perfect for this class. I feel that it will cause the students to think and force them to be creative and come up with different plans to improve the market.
Hey Ben, I actually did the book for the first one. I really enjoyed reading your view on the book and seeing how we both understood what the author was saying. Im curious to see if you agree with what he's saying though, I almost disagreed about multiple points including what he thinks entrepreneurship and isn't. I like how you related the innovation to yourself though. Great post.
ReplyDeleteGreat post Ben! This book was originally on my top 3 books to read for these assignments but I never got around it. Buy boy does it sound like I missed out! Creativity and Innovation is so important in entrepreneurship and I think you really go that message. It'll definitely be my next read!
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