Concept Paper Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 12500 words

Concept Paper - Dissertation Example By interviewing 25 past and present entrepreneurs the information gleaned within this research may improve future business ventures and provide much needed information to the business world about the steps that ultimately lead to success and those actions to avoid. The literature review of this research study has offered a variety of opinions on entrepreneur mentors, successful tips, and planning guidelines. It is hoped that the lived experiences of the participants will bring to light new information that can create a paradigm shift in the business world of today’s global economy. Background It has been a tradition in many cultures and thus past precedence that the trade of a father would be passed on to the son or other person interested in learning that skill. The ancestors of the United States were all apprentices at some point; learning the skills necessary to run a cotton plantation, become a blacksmith, a carpenter, a cobbler, or even a milliner (Levinison, 2011). Some families even bartered for their sons to be placed with the best tradesman in the community when the child was very young. Some children were place into indentured servitude, which in the end taught them a trade in exchange for their room and board and a few coins being offered to the parents. With the introduction of the Industrial Revolution, many of the old trades were forgotten as more people when to work in factories and on assemble lines. The factory jobs and assembly line work did not teach the trade as a holistic venture, but only a small portion to one person and another portion to someone else further down the line. It was easier for business men to accumulate vast wealth if they had many people doing various jobs that would create mass production of a product rather than one person completing the production of a single item from start to finish. Machines were invented that replaced the worker and the production rate continued to increase in larger quantities than any huma n could have accomplished. Those individuals who were interested in the repair of the machines found work alongside the very thing that had excluded them from the workforce. Those who did not fancy the maintenance aspect of the industry were required to seek employment elsewhere. Going back to the basics of owning a business seemed to be the answer for some, but the skills and knowledge necessary for a successful venture were lacking, as the trade had not been passed down from the previous generation. Wacker (1998) discussed how this phenomenon provide the necessary parameters for the study of entrepreneurships in the existing world. By looking at the variables, the relationships within the business, and the underlying factors, the foundation for entrepreneurial ventures was recognized. Careful analysis of the business world uncovered the basis for further study and opened the channels for scientific theory to be considered in future studies (Henderikus, 2007; Henderikus, 2010). The Small Business Administration Report in 2007 claimed that 2/3 of every new business venture failed within the first two years. Half are reported to fail within the first four years and over 58% fail within the first five to ten years. The reasons behind the failure of these business ventures encompass a variety of factors that change with each entrepreneur. Finding a way to combat this excessive failure rate could open the door for