Concept, FEATURES, FUNCTIONS & TYPES OF Tourism ENTREPRENEUR
Tourism enterprises’ refer to the different forms of tourist related business ventures permitted within the government regulations. Like any other enterprise, tourism enterprises are also business ventures having similar preparative principles, but working on a very wide scale.
Sinclair and Stabler (1997) have defined the tourism enterprise as “a composition of products involving transport, accommodation, catering, natural resources, entertainment and other facilities and services, such as shops and banks and other tour operators.”
A ‘tourism entrepreneur’ may be defined as a person or a group of persons producing and managing tourism products. In this process the entrepreneur must have the commonly prescribed entrepreneurial traits along with service sector specialties.
As revealed by Shaw and Williams (2002), the service sector specialties involve two fundamental objects: “One concerns the commercial structure of the industry (especially the dominance of certain activity components and ownership groups), while the second relates to an understanding of the general organization of economic power structures.”
As regards the definition of tourism entrepreneurship, we believe that the most useful and convincing way to define tourism entrepreneurship is to establish its congruence with entrepreneurship it has emanated from.
Accordingly, tourism entrepreneurship can be defined as the professional application of knowledge, skills and competencies and/or of monetizing a tourism related new idea, by an individual or a set of people by launching an enterprise de novo or diversifying from an existing one (distinct from seeking self-employment as in a profession or trade), thus, to pursue growth while generating wealth, employment and social good.
In other words, tourism entrepreneurship refers to the activities of the major group of stake-holders of this service sector primarily designed for the effective and profitable interaction of demand for and supply of tourism products; at the same time assuring competitive professionalism and gainful socio-economic status.
In simple words, it embraces all sorts of activities involved in creation and operation of a legal tourism enterprise. A legal tourism enterprise excludes all forms of tourism or tourism like activities which are against the generally accepted laws of the Land. For example, in India, wildlife hunting, flesh-trading (prostitution), drug trafficking, etc. are considered illicit and illegal and hence, do not fall within the purview of tourism enterprises.
A key element here is the entrepreneur as the person who identifies an opportunity. The propensity for being able to spot a gap in the market is a difficult and complex area to describe. So too is identifying a sustainable competitive advantage setting the idea apart from the competition. Several authors have identified various specific traits (Hornaday, 1982; Timmons Smollen, and Dingee, 1985; Lessem, 1986; Gibb 1990; Wickham, 1998) believed to play a role in this regard, with locus of control, need for achievement and risk-taking being key. However, traits alone do not adequately explain entrepreneurial behaviour. Other elements such as aspirations, experience and cultural background undoubtedly make a contribution. Moreover, responding appropriately to the environment is also a fundamental enabler of new venture formation. The political, economic, social and technological landscape must therefore also be favourable for entrepreneurship to flourish.
Once an opportunity is identified, the potential venture must be assessed by various means at the entrepreneur’s disposal. There is no standard way of doing this and the complexity and extent of feasibility studies, business plans, marketing plans and so on will vary depending on the idea and the market. A decision has then to be taken whether to continue with the notion or to abandon it. Typically, decisions to pursue (or not) an entrepreneurial idea are taken within the context of either a ‘push’ or ‘pull’ environment. The former is where the individual has been made redundant or is unhappy with their current working conditions. The latter pull factors concern market attractiveness such as opportunity to increase personal wealth, personal development and status. Once all of these variables have been assessed, compared and scrutinized, a final decision to continue with the venture can be made.
This is a crucial phase in the process and the following figure suggests that it is a rational one. However in practice, decisions to exploit an opportunity through venture creation are often a complete mystery! In other words, they appear to be illogical, especially if the rate of small business failures is anything to go by.
Using our above definition and type, entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship may now be understood as a certain individual or individuals (‘copreneurs’) engaged in the process of creating a new business venture as shown in the above figure.
Just as entrepreneurs are difficult to define so too is identifying a typical one as they come in all shapes and sizes from different educational, cultural and industrial backgrounds. However, using data from over 35 countries, Minniti, Bygrace and Autio (2006) help us to provide a composite picture of the entrepreneur. He or she is likely to:
Be based in a middle income country;
Survive in high income countries;
Be opportunity-driven as success if necessity-driven is less likely;
Not offer new products or services;
Own businesses likely to have limited or no growth potential;
Be between 25 and 34 years (early stage entrepreneurs);
Be a man;
Have post school or graduate qualifications; and
Be more likely to have confidence in own skills, know other entrepreneurs, be more alert to unexploited opportunities and less likely to let fear of failure prevent them from starting new business.
Features of entrepreneur
Below are mentioned some characteristics/features of entrepreneurs. Obviously, the features of the entrepreneur do not cover all but their most distinguishing characteristic is considered.
Willingness to accept responsibility for: Entrepreneurs feel profound implications for individual activities. They prefer to control their own resources and to use them to achieve their goals.
Tend to moderate risk: Great entrepreneurs do not take risks, but they do calculated risks. A study of the founders of businesses, in popular magazines that have been identified as successful companies, have no found correlation between risk-taking and entrepreneurship. To quote Keith McFarland, one of the researchers of entrepreneurship, “the conviction that entrepreneurs are risk takers extraordinary belief is correct. Unlike professional gamblers, entrepreneurs are seldom gambling. “Or one of the authors belief “Entrepreneurship is not like throwing dart and hoping for the best results.
Internal locus of control: People with an external locus of control believe that external events beyond their control and they will determine their fate. Conversely, successful entrepreneurs believe, luck or forces are not the same.
Creativity: Entrepreneurs break with the common theme being that everyone sees what they see, but think about something that people do not think. Peter Drucker (1985) argues that innovation is essential so that it can be argued that there is no innovation without entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship, it does not.
Anticipating the future: Entrepreneurs have the vision of a desirable future. The entrepreneur may have short-term planning is crucial, but it’s such a short-term perspective in order to achieve a target coordinate.
Tolerance for ambiguity: Accept uncertainties as part of life. Find the moment of decision is an entrepreneur only when he is faced with the risk of danger is unknown, the uncertainly, overshadowing every step of the way.
The high level of energy: Entrepreneurs are more energetic than normal people. This energy can be an important factor when considering the effort required to set up a fledgling company must undeniable seems to be. Long hours and hard work in this area is a rule rather than an exception and in this way can sometimes seem overwhelming.
