Personal reflection & development

The role of entrepreneurship for business managers has dramatically increased due to the rapidly intensifying level of competition fuelled by the forces of globalisation, technological advancement and other factors. Moreover, it has to be stated that “entrepreneurship is important because it is the economic mechanism through which inefficiencies in economies are identified and mitigated” (Baum et al, 2007, p.5).   The term of entrepreneur is a widely used within business literature within different contexts. At the same time, it is important to note that there is a great level of ambiguity is associated with the definition of the term. Specifically, American, Austrian, German, French and British schools have offered their own versions of definitions that differ from each other. Regarding this issue it has been stated that “although no single definition of entrepreneurship exists and no one profile can represent today’s entrepreneur, research is beginning to provide an increasingly sharper focus on the subject” (Kuratko and Hodgetts, 2008, p.4). This article represents a critical analysis of skills and competencies of the author in terms of being an entrepreneur. The article analyses three major points of strengths of the author as an entrepreneur, providing evidences from relevant experiences, as well as identifies three major areas that need to be further developed.   Personal Strengths and Competencies The author possesses a set of strengths and competencies and believes that these traits have a positive contribution on performance of the author as an entrepreneur. Chakraborty (2006) divides entrepreneurial competencies into the following three categories: behavioural, enterprise launching and enterprise management competencies.  The author believes that own personal strengths and competencies to each of the above category and they include, but not limited to willingness to take risk and responsibility, advanced level of communication skills, and having great amount of passion towards work.  …

It has been stressed that “developing and committing to personal goals (selection) provides the constraints that are essential for development” (Mroczek and Little, 2006, p.367).  The goals of the author of this article directly relate to business management in telecommunications sector. The author acknowledges that a set of personal skills and competencies need to be developed in order to achieve this goal. However, above all the goals need to be formulated in a clear and specific manner. Marr (2009) mentions SMART requirement for goals the abbreviation standing for specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely. Accordingly, the author of this article has formulated specific goals can be summarised in the following points: To become a successful business manager in mobile telecommunications sector in charge of 1 million GBP budget within three years after completing the studies. To be acknowledged as an effective leader and to be successfully leading a team of at least 10 people within a year after becoming a full-time employee. To be acknowledged as an effective, efficient and motivational communicator by colleagues and tutors by the end of studies.   Strategic learner The process of meaningful learning is presented by Kolb (1984) as a series of events that integrate the functions of feeling, perceiving, thinking, and acting. Kolb’s learning cycle consists of four phases: concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualisation, and active experimentation. The theoretical framework of Kolb’s learning cycle has been further developed by Honey and Mumford (1982), who identified four learning styles as activist, reflector, theorist and pragmatic. After taking a relevant test the author’s learning style has been identified to be a theorist. As Fee (2011) informs, individuals with theorist learning style tend to classify their observations into specific patterns and consequently generate relevant theories. Accordingly, it has been established that the best learning environment…

In order to have a successful career it is better to be proactive, rather than reactive in terms of formulating career plans, assessing personal strengths and weaknesses, and devised detailed plans accordingly. It has been acknowledged that “personal development is an increasingly important aspect of life and work” (Boer, 2006, p.6) and therefore this paper represents personal development plan related to the career perspectives of the author.   Personal Career Goals and Career Strategy Rothwell (2009) justly argues that personal career goals will be easier to achieve if they correspond to life goals and personal values of individuals. Accordingly, the author of this plan has formulated career goals that reflect personal life goals values. Specifically, the personal career goal for the author of this plan is closely related the e-commerce industry in general, and marketing aspect of e-commerce in particular. In other words, the author of this plan has formulated career goals that involve becoming a competent e-commerce marketing manager. The author has bold ambitions in terms of career plans, but at the same time, cherishes personal values of spending quality time with family and friends. The flexibility associated with the position of marketing management allows the author of this plan to pursue above specified values, and at the same time, to utilise the high level of creativity of the author. Career strategy can be defined as “any behaviour, activity, or experience designed to help a person meet career goals” (Greenhaus et al, 2009, p.131). The main points of the career strategy for the author of this paper consist of the following stages: First, preparing a personal profile. This stage involves identifying the interests of the author as well as assessing personal strengths and weaknesses. Second, formulating short and long-term professional aims and objectives. It has to be ensured that the aims and…

Contribution of the class to  analytical and behavioural skills I have gained huge benefits from learning the module of International Marketing both at personal and professional levels. Professional benefits include the knowledge I have gained regarding the subject and all the related principles, and theories like the impact of globalisation in international marketing, the importance of segmentation, the current global marketing issues, the global marketing environment and its influence to companies, global market entry strategies, components of a global marketing plan etc. Personal benefits I have obtained as results of the module include skills I have gained like increasing the level of my cross-cultural awareness, the ability to critically analyse global issues, improving my communication skills etc. I was familiar with the subject of marketing even before the module through marketing management module I have attended before. However, International Marketing module has equipped me with knowledge and way of thinking that allowed me to approach the issues of marketing I was already familiar with from a global perspective. For example, the analysis of external business environment in marketing management which is done using PESTEL strategic tool, external factors affecting the business were looked at in a specific country level. In international marketing, on the other hand, each individual factor of PESTEL analysis is looked at in the global level, allowing me to see the bigger picture. This is very important taking into account the fact that the forces of globalisation are ever-increasing, the importance of trade border between the various countries are decreasing, and as a result today companies may expect competition for their businesses from any parts of the world. I found the decisions regarding the components of marketing mix to be more challenging in international marketing than these decisions to be taken within company’s home country alone, because increasingly…

The VARK Questionnaire has been taken by me as a part of self-estimation process. According to Warner and DeSimone (2009), the implementation of VARK questionnaires should not be limited to educational establishments only, and workplaces should be using them as well when devising training and development programs for their employees. VARK questionnaire reveled my study strategies to be mainly kinesthetic and read/write. This result does not only reveal my study strategy, it also reveals some traits of my personality, and therefore the results are directly connected to the level of my employability. My kinesthetic and read/write study strategies positively contribute to the level of my employability due to the following reasons: Firstly, kinesthetic learners are ‘hands-on learners’ or ‘doers’ and it means that in the workplace they require minimum induction and training, therefore saving significant amount of financial resources of the organisation. Secondly, kinesthetic learners like to experiment, and this particular trait is considered to be valuable by a range of global companies like Apple and Google who encourage their employees to experiment because it leads new product development, innovational ideas and procedures. Being a kinesthetic learner experimenting is my habit as well so I can target above named global brands for my future employment. Thirdly, employers are attracted to read/write learners, due to the fact that most of the knowledge in companies in many industries is stored in a text format with which read/write learners are comfortable. I am efficient with getting knowledge through reading, and as such in a good position to secure my employment in a position of my dream. Fourthly, most of the positions in many organisations in many sectors include increased amount of writing in forms of preparing reports, writing articles and notes. And because I am comfortable with writing such kind of reports as…

Learning gained and contribution to  analytical and behavioural skills I found this module informative and motivating and I believe that my knowledge and skills have increased after I attended it and done my assignment. My knowledge of marketing has been significantly expanded as a result of attending classes, to include global approach to the marketing issues. In fact, I found out that the practice of marketing for businesses has become much more complicated due to the influence of globalisation to it. I updated my knowledge in such areas of international marketing as the impact of global factors to company management decision-making, strategies of choosing and entering new markets, developing new products for international markets, the characteristics of marketing research for international markets, international marketing mix elements etc. Our group was able to find during international marketing classes that the rules of games have changed in the business world in many aspects because of opportunities and threats globalisation presents. I understood that global marketplace has become much more competitive due to the increasing forces of globalisation, technological advancements, and the increasing role of Internet in professional and private lives of people. And all of this have affected the ways decisions are taken in companies, including decisions taken by marketing executives. I started to appreciate the importance of developing global mindset for modern marketing executives as a result of becoming closely familiar with the differences of marketing in it’s traditional meaning, and international marketing. The main differences turned out to be the increasing number of factors modern markers need to take into account the speed of decision-making and requirement for modern marketing executives to be more creative. The importance of creativeness and “thinking out of box” was especially highlighted during the classes as one of the necessary attributes of modern marketers. The valuable…

Personal development objectives  The author of the dissertation has identified a set of personal development objectives to be achieved during the research which consist of following points: 1. To get equipped with skills required to critically analyse academic work through undertaking literature review for the dissertation 2. To learn about the methodology of conducting research and primary data collection methods. 3. To improve communication skills and self-confidence by arranging and conducting interviews with five marketing professionals 4. To improve time management skills by adhering to research timetable and making amendments in the timetable whenever it is necessary to do so. 5. To improve analytical skills through analysing and discussing primary data collected through semi-structured in-depth interviews. 6. To improve writing skills by critically analysing and reviewing each sentence several times until the desired format is achieved.   Achievement of Personal Development Objectives  The personal development objectives to be achieved as results of the research specified by the author at the beginning of the dissertation have been achieved at the following extend: The author of the dissertation has acquired critical thinking and critical analysis skills by reviewing and critically analysing a vast amount of literature concerning the research topic, small amount of which was mentioned in the literature review section; The author of the paper has learned the methodology of conducting a research extensively, gaining a deep knowledge about issues which can be faced at each staged of the research, and more importantly how to overcome them. Moreover, the author has learned about advantages and disadvantages of each primary data collection method, forming an ability to allocate them with different kinds of researches. Communication, self-confidence, and interpersonal skills of the researcher have been improved as a result of organizing meetings with and interviewing five marketing professionals for primary data collection purposes.…

I have benefited immensely from the in many aspects, including developing my personal skills. The skills that I acquired during the course which I appreciate the most include communication skills, cultural awareness, teamwork, and time management. McKenna (2004, p.664) relates the management skills to the behaviours and identifies them to be sets of actions performed by an individual that lead to a certain objectives Before starting my degree I did not consider communication skills to be as much of importance as I consider it now. My communications skills have improved during the course due to two reasons. First, on academic level, through cases studies and other materials I was pointed to the importance of communication skills for a person in social, family, and especially work settings. Second, I was taught about the importance of communication skills in a practical way. I can illustrate my statement in the following way. There were some lecturers whom I used to see regularly within and around the college but was not impressed by them in any way to put it mildly. However, once they started teaching us my opinions about them changed dramatically in a positive way due to their teaching styles and mainly, communication skills, and I know that it was not only me who has experienced that. Today I know about the importance of communication skills and also I know that once I return to the full-time work life my carrier would benefit due to my communication skills. Another personal skill which I developed during the course and consider to be important for my future career is my cross-cultural skills. Before starting the course I did not think much about the influence of culture on people’s behaviour and mentality. During the course through interacting with representatives of different cultural backgrounds and learning…