CHAPTER III

a. Entrepreneurial Competencies
b. Guidelines in Entrepreneurship
c. PEC’s Self Rating Questionnaire

Major Entrepreneurial Competencies for a successful entrepreneur

A competency is an underlying characteristic of a person which leads to his/her superior
performance in a job. Thus, entrepreneurial competencies are the underlying characteristics of an
entrepreneur which result in superior entrepreneurial performance.
An entrepreneur is a person who creates something new and assumes the risks and rewards
associated with that innovation. There are some major competencies that lead to superior
entrepreneurial performance. These are as follows:
(1) Initiative: It is an entrepreneur who initiates a business activity.
(2) Looking for opportunities: Entrepreneur always looks for an opportunity and takes appropriate
actions accordingly.
(3) Persistence: He follows the Japanese proverb “Fall seven times; stand up eight”. He makes
repeated efforts to overcome harriers.
(4) Information seeker: Entrepreneur always searches for information from various researchers and
consulting experts.
(5) Quality Conscious: An entrepreneur always tries to beat the existing standard of quality.
(6) Committed to working: Entrepreneur does every sacrifice to get the task completed.
(7) Efficiency seeker: Entrepreneur always tries to get the task completed within minimum costs and
time.
(8) Problem Planning: Entrepreneur always tries to develop realistic and proper plans and then
executes carefully to accomplish the task.
(9) Problem solver: Entrepreneur always tries to find out ways and means to tide over the difficult
times.
(10) Self-confidence: Entrepreneur has a strong belief in his strengths and abilities.
(11) Assertive: Entrepreneur is always assertive.
(12) Persuasive: Entrepreneur is able to successfully persuade others to do what he actually wants
from them.
(13) Efficient monitors: Entrepreneur personally supervises the work so that it is done as per the
desired standard.
(14) Employees’ well-wisher: Entrepreneur has great concern and also takes the necessary steps to
improve the welfare of the employees.
(15) Effective strategists: Entrepreneur introduces the most effective strategies to affect employees to
achieve the enterprise goal.
7 Guidelines for Entrepreneurs to Do the Right Thing, Whatever That Means
1. Consistently communicate values before goals.
Make it evident that your values drive your business goals, rather than goals driving values.
Communicate personally and interactively with your constituents, both inside and outside the
organization. Don’t allow anonymous and impersonal messages to go out, and always ask for
feedback.
2. Build an organizational culture based on ethics.
This starts with hiring the right people, and giving them the training and support they need on
a regular basis. It also means rewarding people for making the right decisions on social responsibility,
sustainability and adherence to ethics. You must be the model of the culture you want.
3. Manage your company based on long-term priorities.
By demand, entrepreneurs are crisis managers, and can be busy reacting 24 hours a day to
urgent short-term issues. Entrepreneurs who do the right thing are able to balance their priorities,
including both business and personal, and focus their priorities on long-term goals and values.
4. Set the bar high on standards.
Doing the right thing means never accepting “good enough” or making excuses for lapses.
Apply the same high bar to product quality, employee satisfaction, social responsibilities and
customer service. Don’t let day-to-day demands take the reins and drag you off course.
5. Provide leadership to your team for doing the right thing.
It’s impossible to train the team on every possible contingency, but it is possible to set the
right tone and define ethical guidelines. This is real leadership, and requires constant communication,
motivation, recognition and accountability. Be a coach, rather than a dictator.
6. Personally collect and accept customer and employee feedback.
These interactions cannot be filtered by others, or brushed off as not representative of reality.
Great business leaders always find the time to talk directly to both customers and employees, and
realizes the importance of both to the long-term impact of the business.
7. Continually refine your values and goals based on changes in the world.
Society and every marketplace is changing more rapidly these days, so it’s easy to get
distracted and out of tune with reality. Be especially sensitive to emerging “quality of life” issues for
customers, employees and yourself, and tune your business focus to address these.
Personal Entrepreneurial Competencies (PECs) self-rating
Instructions:
This questionnaire consists of 55 brief statements. Read each statement and decide how
well it describes you. Be honest about yourself. Remember, no one does anything very well, nor
is it even good to do everything very well.
Select one of the numbers below to indicate how well the statement describes you:
5 – always
4- usually
3- sometimes
2- rarely
1- never
Some statements may be similar but no two are exactly alike.
1. I look for things that need to be done.
2. When faced with a difficult problem I spend a lot of time trying to find a solution.
3. I complete my work on time.
4. It bothers me when things are not done very well.
5. I prefer situations in which I can control the outcomes as much as possible.
6. I like to think about the future.
7. When starting a new task or project, I gather a great deal of information before going ahead.
8. I plan a large project by breaking it down into smaller tasks.
9. I get others to support my recommendations.
10. I feel confident that I will succeed at whatever I try to do.
11. No matter whom I’m talking to, I’m a good listener.
12. I do things that need to be done before being asked to do so by others.
13. I try several times to get people to do what I would like them to do.
14. I keep the promise I make.
15. My own work is better than that of other people I work with.
16. I don’t try something new without making sure I will succeed.
17. It’s a waste of time to worry about what to do with your life.
18. I seek the advice of people who know a lot about the tasks I’m working on.
19. I think about the advantages and disadvantages or different ways of accomplishing things.
20. I do not spend much time thinking about how to influence others.
21. I change my mind if others disagree strongly with me.
22. I feel resentful when I don’t get my way.
23. I like challenges and new opportunities.
24. When someone gets in the way of what I’m trying to do, I keep on trying to accomplish what I
want.
25. I am happy to do someone else’s work if necessary to get the job done on time.
26. It bothers me when my time is wasted.
27. I weigh my chances of succeeding or failing before, I decide to do something.
28. The more specific I can be about what I want out of life, the more chance I have to succeed.
29. I take action without wasting time gathering information.
30. I try to think of all the problems I may encounter and plan what to do if each problem occurs
31. I get important people to help me accomplish my goals.
32. When trying something difficult or challenging, I feel confident that I will succeed.
33. In the past I have had failures.
34. I prefer activities that I know well and with which I am comfortable.
35. When faced with major difficulties, I quickly go on to other things.
36. When I’m doing a job for someone, I make a special effort to make sure that the person is happy
with my work.
37. I’m never entirely happy with the way in which things are done, I always think there must be a
better way.
38. I do things that are risky.
39. I have a very clear plan for my life.
40. When working for a project for someone, I ask many questions to be sure I understand what the
person wants.
41. I deal with problems as they arise rather than spend time to anticipate them.
42. In order to reach my goals, I think of solutions that benefit everyone involved in the problem
43. I do very good work.
44. There have been occasions when I have taken advantage of someone.
45. I try things that are very new and different from what I have done before.
46. I try several ways to overcome things that get in the way of reaching my goals.
47. My family and personal life are more important to me than work deadlines I set for myself.
48. I do not find ways to complete tasks faster at work and at home.
49. I do things that others consider risky.
50. I am as concerned about meeting my weekly goals as I am for my yearly goals.
51. I go to several different sources to get information to help with tasks or projects.
52. If one approach to a problem does not work, I think of another approach.
53. I am able to get people who have strong opinions or ideas to change their minds.
54. I stick with my decisions even if others disagree strongly with me.
55. When I don’t know something, I don’t mind admitting it.

ACTIVITY II
Choose five (5) among the 55 brief statements above that best describes you and explain how can you
apply it in your chosen course.