Outline the opportunity process and discuss the qualities necessary for an opportunity to become viable.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The starting point for any new venture is the presence of an entrepreneurial opportunity. Where do opportunities come from? For new business start-ups, opportunities come from many sources: current or past work experiences, hobbies that grow into businesses or lead to inventions, suggestions by friends or family, or a chance event that makes an entrepreneur aware of an unmet need. For established firms, new business opportunities come from the needs of existing customers, suggestions by suppliers, or technological developments that lead to new advances. For all firms, there is a major, overarching factor behind all viable opportunities that emerge in the business landscape: change. Change creates opportunities. Entrepreneurial firms make the most of changes brought about by new technology, sociocultural trends, and shifts in consumer demand.
For an opportunity to be viable, it needs to have four qualities.
1. Attractive. The opportunity must be attractive in the marketplace; that is, there must be market demand for the new product or service.
2. Achievable. The opportunity must be practical and physically possible.
3. Durable. The opportunity must be attractive long enough for the development and deployment to be successful; that is, the window of opportunity must be open long enough for it to be worthwhile.
4. Value creating. The opportunity must be potentially profitable; that is, the benefits must surpass the cost of development by a significant margin.
If a new business concept meets these criteria, two other factors must be considered before the opportunity is launched as a business: (1) the resources available to undertake it and (2) the characteristics of the entrepreneur(s) pursuing it.