Introduction
This paper attempts a critical analysis of the entrepreneur Mark Zuckerberg and his quest with his company, Facebook Inc. Zuckerberg has been one of the most successful entrepreneurs and philanthropists in the field of social media entrepreneurship as well as social media innovation, and has managed a largely profitable company in the Silicon Valley software ecosystem. Despite starting off as a relatively small company and start-up with limited capital and market share, he has truly emerged as one of the biggest global businessmen in the world. This essay is going to analyze and evaluate the entrepreneurial characteristics of Mark Zuckerberg and his role in the success of Facebook. The paper will also analyze the statement that ‘‘Entrepreneurship is simply a matter of luck, being in the right place at the right time”. Based on the interpretations of the analysis and the findings, this paper will offer a new perspective on starting a new enterprise and managing it successfully.
The role of Mark Zuckerberg
Mark Zuckerberg was the main inspiration behind the idea of Facebook and founding a social media network that can connect people in a global scale using internet infrastructure. Furthermore, he was responsible for scaling the idea and turning it into a massive business that earns a lot of revenue. He also closely managed the company in the early years with a very small team and crafted the careful strategy behind Facebook. Moreover he is a pioneer of the business model behind Facebook – that of passive revenue earning through social media marketing.
He has been diligently trying to build his brand in order to appeal to a wide range of customers. He has actively sought to market his brand for the customer tastes rather than forcefully market inferior products and services suing disinformation and trickery. Thus, he has also tried to diversify his product and service portfolio by acquiring more brands and marketing them under different categories .
Zuckerberg’s Vision
Facebook has generally been quite effective on the grounds and Zuckerberg has an unmistakable vision of their image, the structure of operations the core mission of the company. Being creative with the image marketing has helped a lot as it has enabled Zuckerberg to establish a personal connect with his audience .
The company also invests a lot of time and money on Corporate Social Responsibility. Zuckerberg himself is a self-confessed social and political liberal who believes in just causes and donates to them. He has a very positive attitude towards minority people and contributes significantly for gay rights. He is a progressive liberal who follows very sexual minority-friendly practices and policies in his company, and supports these causes even through the official platform of Facebook. Furthermore, he is very particular about associating the brand with progressive employment policies that can attract the best talent from around the world. This ensures that Facebook has an above-average quality workforce without much extra financial burden. Addition of perks and benefits, not to mention great working conditions, ensures that the company attracts the best human resource base .
Facebook constantly establishes positive rapport with its more than 500 million user base by offering a variety of products on the platform for emotional connect. This includes colored and flared profile pictures in support of LGBTQ rights, against terrorism, in support of Paris and Brussels after the major terrorist attacks in 2015-16, and also by offering the ‘mark safe’ option that debuted following the Nepal earthquake and has proven to be quite popular with users as an emotional connection. It enables users to treat the platform as something more than just another social media and connectivity platform .
Startup influences
In order to start one’s own business, one has to be of a risk-taking nature and be willing to deal with the consequences of taking a risk. Otherwise there is no incentive for a person to start a business. While the handsome financial returns that a business gives is definitely an incentive, a person who, likes challenges and risks and takes them head-on, has additional incentive to start a business because he enjoys this challenge. This is indeed reflected in the character and personality of Mark Zuckerberg as he had built up his massive business empire from scratch and without much inherited wealth. He has invested in a risky and fickle sector of industry such as social media and has succeeded despite an uncertain global economy and a financial and banking crisis in the US.
Figure 1: Elements of Start-up influences for an entrepreneur
Source:
Thus, as Burns has explained in his model, three factors make up the essential ingredients that a successful entrepreneur needs in managing his business . The situational factors include the entrepreneur’s history of employment and education, the opportunities available to him as a citizen of a particular country, as well as immigration opportunities. Being a citizen of the United States, Zuckerberg definitely has had the right situational factors to help him. Antecedent influences include factors outside the control of the entrepreneur, such as family history and occupation, gender, ethnicity, religion, and social group. All these combine to give a person a head start in running a successful enterprise. For Zuckerberg, these factors were mostly to his advantage; however he was also not from a business family and did not inherit the business.
Last but not the least, personal character traits are also very important when it comes to whether an entrepreneur is successful in his venture or not. There are some specific character traits for entrepreneurs that help them to become better businessmen and also to exploit opportunities in the market and gather a windfall in profits and revenue. These include innovation, self-discipline and confidence, being a visionary with a certain flair, and ability to live with uncertainly and take risks . It is evident that Zukcerberg has all of these characteristics as he himself repeatedly states that he prefers to take risks and explore the unknown, use measured risk-taking as away of judging market opportunities. Zuckerberg is not afraid of entering the unknown and not afraid to be aggressive in his pursuit of success.
Market opportunity recognition and evaluation
The reason Zuckerberg has been able to grow from just a run-of-the-mill entrepreneur into a major multinational billionaire has been his foresight regarding the way the market changes and how to stay ahead of the market. This has ensured that his company never became redundant by current market conditions unlike some other social media platforms which operated on older business models. Zuckerberg was always not only willing to be a pioneer but also an innovator, in introducing new business models into the industry in order to break the mould. He himself acknowledges this disruptive, innovative nature of the company
For Zuckerberg, Facebook isn't only an organization, it's a way of life. All things considered an extensive part of the brand, he over and over restores the brand's center values and culture through meetings, articles and each bit of brand informing that is passed on to the general population. As a brand pioneer, Zuckerberg realizes that a huge piece of progress it is having an unmistakable vision, heading and mission. He additionally comprehends the thought that doing significant things that the gathering of people thinks about forms the relationship between your image and your group of onlookers .
Business Concept and Model
Personal traits of the entrepreneur according to the Timmons model:
The Timmons model bases itself on the business visionary. The business visionary looks for an open door, and on discovering it, shapes the open door into a high-potential endeavor by drawing up a group and assembling the obliged assets to begin a business that gains by the open door. During the time spent beginning the business, the business visionary dangers his or her profession, individual income and total assets. The model bases itself on the reason that the business visionary gains rewards in comparability with the danger and exertion included in beginning or financing the business.
The Timmons model of business enterprise expresses that business enterprise is opportunity driven, or that the business sector shapes the open door. A smart thought is not inexorably a decent business opportunity and the fundamental business sector request decides the capability of the thought. A thought gets to be feasible just when it remains moored in items or administrations that make or increase the value of clients, and stays alluring, tough, and auspicious.
The Timmons’ model of traits for successful entrepreneurs consists of the following -
Burns (2011) articulates that success in a business comes from a mix of many different things. “Financial criteria are usually considered to be the most appropriate measure of business success” as Walker and Brown (2004) claim. This strongly supports my agreement with Burns’ argument as it undoubtedly emphasizes character traits are not the only reason for success stressing the significance of additional factors. Additionally, I will now go on to explaining how antecedent influences prove character traits is limited.
Personal conclusion about creating a successful new venture and entrepreneurial success
This essay has made me realize that successful entrepreneurship is more a matter of hard work and diligent planning than just pure luck. While pure luck does play its part, a major reason for successful entrepreneurship by Mark Zuckerberg is that he has been able to combine excellent planning with tremendous energy, drive and hard work. Looking into the opposition has never been the Facebook way. Huge numbers of our items and administrations happen in light of the fact that we pay consideration on what the business sector is missing or what's not being done well. The dedication is about doing things any other way.
Zukcerberg had the confidence and courage to take the risk to see at what it is the client needs, and what it is the business needs, and to go in and surpass their desires. Furthermore, he has been effective not by squandering time investigating rivals but rather by taking a critical look at himself from the perspective of the clients and looking for criticism through listening. Along the way, he saw parts in the business sector where Facebook could assume a part, and that was turned into a lucrative business opportunity.
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