Entrepreneurs define the meaning of business success: An exploratory study through a content analysis
“Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.”
–By Conrad Hilton
This is an impressive quote coined by Conrad Nicholson Hilton, who was a prominent American hotelier and the founder of the Hilton Hotels chain, which is considered as the “world’s first international hotel chain”. He was a great personality equipped with distinctive entrepreneurial skills and characteristics. The aforementioned statement made by him through his life-long experiences as a profound entrepreneur, signifies us that there is a close association between the actions (in this case, the actions of entrepreneurs) and the attainment of success (here, the success in business ventures). Then, what is meant by success? Is there any universally accepted definition for the term “success”? What are the constituents of success? These are some of the questions that suddenly conquer our mind and this situation paves the way for a debatable dialogue and a paradoxical situation. Hence, this article attempts to unearth and discover the interrelationship between the entrepreneurs & their business success and the way those entrepreneurs define the meaning of success of their own business journey.
Entrepreneurship simply involves the activity of setting up a business venture, accepting financial risks with the intention of earning profit or any other desired personal gain. Even though there are several arguments, Joseph Schumpeter is regarded as the first scholar to introduce the concept of entrepreneurship to the world. In introducing this concept, he was heavily influenced by other concepts such as innovation theory and technological change. By today, as a result of the process of evolution and technological transformation, four entrepreneurial models could be observed and they are 1) micro & SMEs, 2) scalable start-ups, 3) large companies and 4) social enterprises.
Entrepreneur vs. Businessman:
A controversy can be seen in relation to the meaning of the terms “entrepreneur” and “businessman” and there are instances where both terms are used interchangeably due to the misconception that these two terms carry the same meaning. A person who undertakes the risk of starting a new business venture based on an original business idea or concept is known as an entrepreneur, but a businessman is a person who runs the business activity based on an already established business idea. A businessman walks on a pre-defined path, where as an entrepreneur always relies on crafting his own path which is unique to him/her, which later on becomes a guideline and a road map for other businessmen as well. In that sense, an entrepreneur can be deemed as an initiator and a market leader of a product or business idea and businessman as a follower of that original idea or a market follower. Furthermore, an entrepreneur is a risk taker who is well aware of the axiom “All progress takes place outside the comfort zone”.
Some real-world examples of such entrepreneurs are shown in figure 1 below along with respective ventures founded (or co-founded) by them. Here, it is important to note that examples of persons mentioned in this diagram may possess varying degrees of both entrepreneurial characteristics and businessman-related characteristics as they are engaged in a wider spectrum of commercial activities in the today’s practical world of business.
Business success:
Entrepreneurs have different interpretations for the term “business success” and multiplicity of ways for measuring (or gauging) their achievements. For entrepreneurs, success can mean anything ranging from the satisfaction of running their own business, making profits (return on investment made), maintaining the expected growth rate, building & retaining a loyal customer base (customer satisfaction) and employee satisfaction to having more free time with their family members and pets. This implies us that business success can mean something more than monetary rewards (rupees and cents) and therefore, it is reasonable to presume that the term, business success is a subjective word rather than an objective term. When we further investigate the literature sources pertaining to the term, business success, it could be observed that past practitioners and researchers in the business world have come up with certain models or frameworks that depict the process of business success. The “traditional business success model” is one of such explanations in the literature of business management and entrepreneurship (See Figure 2). This model is basically characterized by three steps, namely, 1) Working Harder & Working Longer, 2) Achieving financial success and 3) having a life. However, this model is nowadays viewed as a flawed model due to several inherent limitations and as a result, it is introduced in a negative way as “the trap of the traditional business success model”.
Apart from various such models formulated by academic researchers and practitioners based on their studies performed through data collection processes, the most effective and successful way of finding the meaning of business success is to investigate the views and opinions of both local and global entrepreneurs who are known to be successful.
The following paragraphs of this article explicate on how several entrepreneurs who climbed the ladder of success have defined their success.
Secondly, we will turn our attention to business tycoon and entrepreneur, Warren Buffett. Warren Buffett is the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway and the world’s fourth-wealthiest person. One day, at a discussion with him, someone asked him, “How do you measure success?” But his reply was “I measure success by how many people love me and the best way to be loved is to be loveable.” His perspective is relatively somewhat different from the definitions normally given by other entrepreneurs in this article.
The key takeaway from this small interview with Warren Buffett is business success means becoming a person who is loved and accepted by others.
Then, let’s look at two personal interview-based findings contained in the famous book called “How They Achieved: Stories of Personal Achievement and Business Success” which was authored by Lucinda Watson. In this book, she has written what she discovered through her interviews conducted with several business people including entrepreneurs. Here, I have selected Susie Tompkins Buell and Bob Cohn under the category of entrepreneurs in this book. Their views are as follows;
Susie Tompkins Buell was the co-founder and co-owner of the world-renowned clothing company, Esprit de Corps. She defines the success as understanding your ultimate objective in life and this is what you want to accomplish by the end of your life. Susie further reveals that she is more concerned about health and peace.
The key takeaway from Susie Tompkins is success means a subjective thing and it is directly connected with your ultimate goal of the life.
Bob Cohn was the founder of Octel Communications and his emphasis is to be strategic about your choices and to not just go behind the money. You need to know yourself, set your priorities, and reach your ultimate goal.
The key takeaway from Bob Cohn is success does not solely mean the money and it is your own ultimate goal.
The famous actor, Paul Newman, who is the owner of Newman’s Own Inc, which manufactures consumer products, distributes 100% of its after-tax profits to social, charitable and environmental purposes. He is working towards specific social goals, such as environmental protection, providing facilities for the poor population, etc. Founder of the Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement in Sri Lanka, Dr. A.T. Ariyaratne is another classic example who can be classified under this category.
The key takeaway from this segment is business success means the good or the well-being they accomplish for the society at large.
Now, let’s move on to a Sri Lankan entrepreneur who has reached the pinnacle of success within a short period of time through his utmost passion and smart thinking pattern. He is Mr. Chaaminda Kumarasiri. Mr. Chaaminda has succeeded in every sphere of his life (academic & career life and personal life). He is a fellow chartered accountant and a fellow member of several other local and international professional bodies. He is currently working as the Chairman/Principal Consultant at H C P Consulting and the Founder/CEO of The Human Capital Partner. As highlighted earlier, Mr. Chaaminda is a successful entrepreneur, an SME & family business advisor and a multi-faceted personality in Sri Lanka. According to the views he expressed in one of recent television programmes, success does not depend solely on the monetary benefits and it should encompass self satisfaction, inner peace or peace of mind and living a happier life. He also stresses the point that as an entrepreneur or professional, you should not imitate the life style of others and hence, you need to be able to embark on a business or a career which ensures you the maximum self contentment.
The key takeaway from his views is success means attainment of self satisfaction and happiness.
In various entrepreneurial discussion forums, it could be seen that several other entrepreneurs find their success exclusively in the experience of running their own venture and supporting their employees to uplift their lives and families.
The key takeaway from such entrepreneurs is business success means the pride the entrepreneur feels through running an own entity and the satisfaction of their employees.
At the end of the day, as can be seen from the above analysis of personal views, entrepreneurs describe their success in different ways. They have their own way of defining it and it is closely connected with their own passion and soul. However, it’s also important to remember that success will often come and go and there’s no guarantee that the success you have achieved today will carry forward into tomorrow in the face of various forces in the dynamic and turbulent business environment. Smart and intuitive entrepreneurs are capable of foreseeing when those challenges are about to emerge and thus, it enables them to fine-tune their business strategies to overcome those challenges and gradually reach the zenith of success.
Will the entrepreneurs be able to achieve the aforementioned well-defined business success alone? This is where the government comes into the picture and the following paragraph will briefly discuss about this matter as the article may be deemed to be incomplete without such reference.
The role of the government and its policy makers towards the entrepreneurial business success: Do they have a role to play?
Entrepreneur is a key driver and a progressive factor for any economy. Hence, this is applicable for Sri Lanka as well. Being a lower-middle-income country with a GDP per capita around USD 3,852, it is said that Sri Lanka has a very low presence of entrepreneurs in the market numbering less than 1.5% of the total population of the country. When this situation is compared with some of the other countries in the Asian region such as Vietnam and Thailand, this percentage is very low and alarming. This is where the involvement and participation of the government is needed as the apex body of any country. When compared with the situation which existed few decades ago, there are relatively more opportunities today for setting up a new venture and raising the required capital for the same, but much attention and work is required in the areas of entrepreneurial education & skills development, business-friendly legal & regulatory framework and infrastructure development. Moreover, the government needs to contribute to entrepreneurship development by adopting progressive long-term policies and programs that expand and provide opportunities covering all the four types of entrepreneurial models (Micro & SMEs, scalable Start-ups, large companies and Social Enterprises) in the country.
Conclusion:
It is clearly apparent from the above discussion that the entrepreneurs are likely to look at one or several dimensions mentioned above to obtain an overall view of their success, but they tend to focus on specific angles of one or few of them more than others. There’s no single and right way to measure business success. The most critical thing to remember about business success is that it is ultimately entrepreneur’s decision how he/she wants to measure it. In other words, the entrepreneurs themselves are the persons who define their own business success. Another very important thing to point out is that a particular entrepreneur does not need to make millions or billions of rupees to be successful, unless that’s his/her desired definition of success. Success always lies in the eyes of the beholder. As it is clearly evident from the above demonstrated facts and findings, how one entrepreneur defines the term business success, may not match the way another one defines it. Only the entrepreneur himself/herself knows what business success means to him/her and once he/she focuses on what success means to him/her, he/she can set goals and targets to achieve the intended outcome. Therefore, as the essence derived out of the facts discussed so far, success in business means achieving whatever the objectives and goals pre-set by the entrepreneur. If the entrepreneur is performing business activities in a right direction and if they are in line with goals set by him/her, then that ensures the success of a business.
Entrepreneurship and its entailed business success are now an established part of business world and one that businessmen/business women (more accurately, entrepreneurs) seeking success around the world, need not just to accept, but to embrace as a life philosophy. As a nation, are we ready to face that challenge? …
References and Bibliography:
- Watson, L. (2002). How They Achieved: Stories of Personal Achievement and Business Success. Wiley.
- Branson, R. (2014). The Virgin Way: How to Listen, Learn, Laugh and Lead. Virgin Books. ISBN 978-1-90526-490-2.
- Entrepreneurship and the future focus of Sri Lankahttp://www.ft.lk/columns/entrepreneurship-and-the-future-focus-of-sri-lanka/4-690092
- https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/8902-entrepreneurs-define-success.html
- https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/srilanka/overview
- https://jamesaltucher.com/blog/8-unusual-things-i-learned-from-warren-buffett/
- https://www.cnbc.com/2016/08/04/billionaire-richard-bransons-definition-of-success-has-nothing-to-do-with-money.html
- https://smallbusiness.chron.com/reasons-starting-new-business-4196.html
- “Uda Ire Sahardaya” Programme (on 30th January 2020) with Mr. Chaaminda Kumarasiri on Charana TV https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0_wN4pSHqc&list=RDCMUCHMqOjddKOhIBsOh5BzAVTg&start_radio=1&t=1045
By D. D. Mahesh
B.Sc. Accounting (Sp.) USJ, ACPM, Passed Finalist of AATSL, CASL (Strategic Level),
Multiple Prize Winner (CASL, AATSL)