ENTREPRENEURSHIPMOTIVATIONAL FACTORS

Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship is the professional application of knowledge, skills and competencies and/or of monetizing a new idea, by an individual or a set of people by launching an enterprise de novo or diversifying from an existing one , thus to pursue growth while generating wealth, employment and social good.

Prominent Motivation Triggers

Independence Market Opportunity Family Background New Idea Challenge Dream Desire(to be an entrepreneur)

MOTIVATION

Internal factors (such as Independence, Challenge and Dream Desire,i.e. the idea that by nature, man cannot but be an entrepreneur) cumulatively account for the bulk of the total motivating triggers (42%). This lends credence to the argument that the entrepreneurs are driven more by their own inner drive rather than by external conditions. market opportunity as an additional motivating factor has also shown a steady rise over the last two decades. This fact gives rise to the argument that macro environment plays a crucial role in influencing the initial decision of an individual to become an entrepreneur.

Motivation Variations according to time periods

Variations According to Time Periods: The NKC study found that market opportunity has become an increasingly significant motivating trigger since the economic liberalization gathered momentum. 28% of those in the sample who started enterprises during 1991-99 and 22% of those starting after 2000 cited market opportunity as the main motivating factor, compared to 11% of those starting enterprises before 1991. Simultaneously, independence has increasingly become a significant motivating factor since the turn of the century primarily motivating 12% of those starting new enterprises before 1991; 19% of those doing so during 1991-99 and 35% of those starting out after 2000. The study also noticed that family background has served less as a motivating factor after the launch of economic reforms from primarily motivating 31% before 1991 to influencing 14% during 1991-99 and 12% after 2000. (See Figure 2.6.)

Motivation Variations according to family background

Variations According to Family Background: The study found that independence is the most powerful motivator for the firstgeneration entrepreneur (33%), while it has almost no significance in motivating second generation entrepreneurs (only 4% among those second generation entrepreneurs in the same business and only 3% for the second generation entrepreneurs in a different business). Predictably, family background is the prime motivating factor among the second generation, whether in the same family business (74%) or in a different one (34%), though the extent to which it serves as a motivation trigger varies significantly. Further, family background is a more significant motivator for the second generation compared with the first generation. This may be because the second generation entrepreneur is more likely to be influenced by a family environment that extols Entrepreneurship,

Motivation-Variations According to Age

Variations According to Age: Idea-driven motivators are more significant for entrepreneurs above the age of 35 and exert a minimal influence on those below 35. Further, market opportunity is a far significant motivating factor for the below-35 age-group compared to those above that age.

Motivation-Variations According to Gender

Variations According to Gender: For female entrepreneurs, the independence derived from Entrepreneurship, as well as the identification of a marketable idea are the most important motivators (25% each). Male entrepreneurs on the other hand, were found to be most significantly influenced by family background (24%) with independence (21%) coming a close second as a motivating trigger.

Motivation-Variations According to Levels of Work Experience

Variations According to Levels of Work Experience: The study found that levels of work experience significantly influenced motivational triggers. It found that family background became less significant with increasing levels of work experience. While this was the most significant trigger for those entrepreneurs who started out without work experience, it was the least important motivational factor for those with more than 10 years experience, for whom other factors such as market opportunity and challenge were more significant. Independence was the least important trigger for those entrepreneurs who started out without work experience and the most important factor for those with 5-10 years of work experience before starting out as entrepreneurs; it was also a significant trigger for those with at least some work experience.

The study found that market opportunity did not act as a significant trigger for those who started out without any work experience but became, by far, the most important trigger for those with more than 10 years work experience. The study also found that there was a strong correlation between previous work experience and business idea origin, thereby impacting the nature of enterprise. Among those who had work experience, 53% started enterprises in fields related to those in which they had previously worked (as distinct from merely replicating the business idea of their former employers). Thus, the study found instances of a person employed in an IT company starting ones own IT venture, a person with experience in the media launching his/her own event management company, and so on. While working as employees, these entrepreneurs identified market gaps and designed innovative products or services, which enabled them to become entrepreneurs.37 Idea driven triggers are very important, but they were found to be of greater significance for those who start out without any work experience (21%) than for those with substantial work experience (13%).

Motivation-Variations According to Region

Variations According to Region: The most significant motivating trigger for Entrepreneurship was found to be wide ranging across regions from family background being the prime trigger in Ahmedabad and Kolkata to market opportunity serving as the most important motivator in Bangalore. Gujarat has been a traditional trading and business hub that may explain greater influence of family background as a prime trigger. In West Bengal, the seeds of Entrepreneurship were sown by migrants belonging to traditional business communities from Rajasthan. On the other hand, Bangalore, an IT hub and a centre of educational excellence, has emerged as an attractive centre for knowledge Entrepreneurship, driven by increasing market opportunity. Chennai and Pune have also been educational centres of repute, which may explain the preeminence of idea-driven Entrepreneurship in these cities. Interestingly, entrepreneurs from Hyderabad valued independence as a trigger more than other factors.