OPPORTUNITY
IDENTIFICATION
I. Entrepreneurial
Opportunities
-those
situations in which new products, services and processes can be introduced and
sold at
greater than their cost of production
II. The Process of New Venture Creation
III. The Discovery and Evaluation of
Entrepreneurial Opportunities
1. The Opportunity Cost
Principle
-The cost of passing
up one investment in favour of another
2. The
Opportunity-Evaluation Process by Zimmerer and Scarborough
-responding to
questions that can shed light on the potential for the idea to actually become
a product/service upon which a business can be established. The steps can be
verified through a business plan.
5 Steps:
a.
___
b.
____
c.
_____
d.
______
e.
________
3. SWOT Analysis
Step 1 – List Strengths
Develop a list of all of the internal
strengths of the business. Discuss the strengths and clarify any questions or
confusion. Examples of strengths could include an experienced staff or good
employee training program.
Step 2 – Identify Weaknesses
Repeat the process
you used to identify strengths to generate a list of the business’ weaknesses.
Weaknesses are internal factors that may impact workforce planning negatively.
Examples of weaknesses could include an absence of procedural manuals or lack
of an employee mentoring program. It is possible that a strength could also be
a weakness. For example, long-time employees could be a strength because of
their experience, but may be a weakness because it might indicate a workforce
close to retirement.
Step 4 – List Opportunities
Repeat the process to list opportunities.
Opportunities are external factors, as opposed to the internal factors of
strengths and weaknesses. Opportunities could include new relevant training
programs at educational institutions or an emerging diverse workforce.
Step 5 – Identify Threats
Repeat the
process to identify threats. Threats are also external factors. Threats could
have a negative impact on your workforce planning and could include a projected
increase in the cost of employee health insurance or an expected reduction in
government funding. Again it is possible that an opportunity may also be
perceived as a threat. For example, new technology tools might be an
opportunity, but also threaten staffing levels.
Step 6 – Establish Priorities
You will have four lists once you’ve
identified your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Use a
prioritization process to reduce each of the four lists to five top priorities.
Two options for doing this are:
1.
Give
each person in the group five sticky dots and have them place the dots beside
the options they prefer. They can choose five individual options or place
multiple dots on an option they feel strongly about. The option with the
greatest number of dots will determine the course of action.
2.
Ask
participants to rank the options using a scale of 1 to 5, where 5 points
represents their first choice, 4 their second choice, etc. The desired option
is the one that accumulates the highest total score.
Step 7 – Discuss Next Steps
The next
step begins the process of turning the results of the Environmental Scan and
SWOT Analysis into something actionable. Encourage group discussion about the
four prioritized lists by asking:
§
How can
we maximize the use of our strengths?
§
How can
we overcome the threats identified?
§
What do
we need to do to overcome the identified weaknesses?
§
How can
we take advantage of our opportunities?
Strengths
(internal)
|
Weaknesses
(internal)
|
1.
The agency has
an experienced and dedicated workforce
2.
There is a good
training program for new employees
3.
Senior
management is committed to workforce planning
4.
Human resource
staff are easy to work with and willing to try new recruitment ideas
5.
50% of the
staff hold a professional certification
|
1.
Over 50% of the
managers and supervisors are eligible for retirement
2.
The agency does
not offer a mentoring program
3.
The agency
lacks the technology tools to be more efficient
4.
Procedural
manuals need to be updated
5.
The current
workforce is not very racial/ethnic diverse
|
Opportunities
(external)
|
Threats
(external)
|
1.
New information
technology tools can provide quicker data sharing between agencies and client
information retrieval
2.
There are job
sharing opportunities with other agencies
3.
A large number
of retired baby boomers are considering returning to the workforce on a
part-time basis
4.
Federal and
state agencies have expressed interest in merging services
5.
Universities
are looking for internship opportunities for their students
|
1.
The demand for
workers in the field exceeds the supply of potential workers
2.
There is less
federal money available for training grants
3.
Budget and
full-time positions have been limited by the legislature
4.
Educational
institutions are reducing the number of courses offered in this field
5.
The number of
residential treatment centers has been declining steadily
|
3.
Other Opportunity Seeking Process
a.
Start
with yourself
b.
Look
at other successful businessman/entrepreneur
c.
Identify/fill
market gap
d.
Respond
to a problem area
e.
Scan
the Media and the library
f.
Ask
people
g.
Explore/exploit
your creativity
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