Reading Reflection 3 27 A

Innovation and Entrepreneurship by Peter F. Drucker

1. This book relies on over 20 years of research and studies to determine the process and application of innovation in entrepreneurship. This is a fascinating book that has many great insights and practical steps to becoming an effective entrepreneur. Although certain traits such as comfort with risk are important, all people with different personalities and traits can become successful entrepreneurs. Essentially, he boils it down to the fact entrepreneurs search for change, respond to it, and exploit the opportunity. Again, this does not come from an innate ability to recognize opportunities, but rather it comes from methodology. My favorite theme in the book was the 7 Sources for Opportunity section. This identifies the certain scenarios or climates where opportunities for entrepreneurship can be found. This is something I have struggled with and this section really explained how and where to look for opportunities. It also discusses practical tips for exploiting an opportunity as well as the policies and practices of innovation for the entrepreneur. Overall, this book has some profound information that is very beneficial for becoming an entrepreneur and provides tools that I will seek to incorporate into my life moving forward.

2. This book connects vert well with many of the lectures and exercise we participated in this semester. Many of the examples of businesses both good and bad were ones that Dr. Pryor has talked about this semester. Additionally, many of the exercises we did are designed to help us incorporate many of the lines of thought discussed in the book. Ultimately, it is about the process of entrepreneurship and not a profound moment that leads to success. I feel that this book connected perfectly with the course and it will be one that I use as a tool along with the information provided in the lectures.

3. If I were to design an exercise for the class based on the book, I would do another exercise based on discovering new opportunities for entrepreneurship. One source of opportunity is from the unexpected failure. The exercise would be to research and identify three failing businesses or industries. You would then have to discuss the reasons for failure and determine if it was caused by poor leadership and management, or by some outside source or change in the market. Other companies’ failures could be a great way to determine changes in customer perception or desire. This could lead to identifying what customers actually value and a potential to identify a solution to that markets needs.

4. I think the biggest moment for me when reading the book came from Part 3 and Entrepreneurial Strategies. Many of the strategies were related to what we have learned this semester. Ultimately, we have learned that the success of an innovation only comes from the success in the marketplace. The strategies discussed in the book and in class are excellent tools to determining the success of a product in the marketplace. This is something that has been very hard to figure out for and I never really knew a good strategy for identifying that. However, this class and book helped me determine the process of identifying worthwhile opportunities.