Memoire Online - Entrepreneurial audit

ENTREPRENEURIAL AUDIT

PONCE KOKOU (920402102)

MAGISTER COMMERCII IN BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

SUPERVISOR

DR D GROENEWALD

[30/05/2011]

1. Introduction.........................................................................................................4

1.1. Personal introduction.......................................................................................4

1.2. Content of the portfolio.........................................................................4

2. Appreciative reflective report....................................................................5

3. Personal development plan......................................................................7

4. Entrepreneurial audit of one world human capital..............................................8

4.1. Outline of the company................................................................................... 9

4.2. Critique of the company core business model.......................................12

4.3. Entrepreneurial intensity of the business................................................15

4.4. Marketing assessment of the business..................................................17

Opportunities......................................................................................18

4.6. Assessment of the business cost structure..........................................21

4.7. Core competencies of the venture at the present time.......................... 21

to senior executives of the organisation................................................23

4.9. Critique of the dominant management style in the business....................24

constrain of entrepreneurship..............................................................26

4.11. Critique of the business control system...............................................27

4.12. Organisational rewards and evaluation of employees............................27

4.13. Hiring practices from an entrepreneurial point of view...........................28

4.14. Critique of the organisational culture...................................................28

4.15. Identification of two innovation champions in the business..................29

4.16. Analysis of the level of bureaucracy within the company..................... 30

4.17. Description of the open-communication environment...........................31

4.18. Employees' perception of change.......................................................31

4.19. Toleration of failure within the company...............................................32

5. Conclusion and recommendations...........................................................32

6. References.............................................................................................36

1 Introduction

1.1 Personal introduction

My name is Ponce, from the Republic of Gabon which is a former French colony independent since 17^th August 1960. I was born on 11^th June 1979 at Libreville and I have been in the Republic of South Africa since November 2002.I did my high school in Gabon, after matriculating I registered at Omar Bongo University in Gabon in 2000.My studies were interrupted because of the university strikes of 2000 and 2001, the university in Gabon shut down for two consecutive years and I had to work as a salesperson hoping to raise money to further and acquire good education in overseas. I was granted a bursary from the government of Gabon in 2002 to study in ovearseas.I was given the opportunity to study in South Africa or in Germany, I chose South Africa because I could have more exposure to English which is more international than German. Once in South Africa, i first registered for intensive English lessons from 2002 to 2003 at the International House of Johannesburg school in (Braamfontein) because my official language is French I had no prior knowledge of English. After completing the course, I registered at the University of Johannesburg in 2004 where I obtained a Bcom honours in Public Economics and Development in 2008 followed by a certificate in logistics management as an extra-curricular qualification. I enrolled for the Mcom in business management since 2009 and I am looking forwards to completing this program in this year November 2011.

1.2 Content of the portfolio

This paper, more explicitly this summarised portfolio comprises an introduction providing details about the student in charge of the portfolio's elaboration namely Ponce KOKOU (920402102), details on the content of the portfolio, an appreciative reflective report, and a personal development plan.

Following the introduction, an entrepreneurial audit containing information about the organisation and critiques of the organisational core business was performed.

Then, critiques without suggestions being useless, a conclusion with recommendations is provided at the end of the portfolio.

2. Appreciative reflective report

From a content point of view, the content of the entrepreneurship course was extremely satisfactory, as students have learnt new concepts such as corporate entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial audit, etc.

Following the completion of the second study unit, a mini case study focusing on 3M was effectuated by students; the latter case study helped students recognise the importance of diversification of products on corporate entrepreneurship and the importance given to research and development.

A written report was assigned to students to learn more about the course and the topic I ,Ponce Kokou chose such as «fostering and implementing corporate entrepreneurship in an organisation» through the case study of Daimler Ltd helped a lot in understanding how a large company such as Daimler can actually forster and implement a corpopate entrepreneur to sustain growth.

The Accordia case study equipped students with sound entrepreneurial strategies such as appropriate leadership, innovation,etc to improve the corporate entrepreneurship strategy.

3. Personal development plan

After the successful completion of the entrepreneurship course, I am planning to further the exploitation of the entire set of theoretical curriculum covered during the course.

As indicated above that I am originally form the Gabon, following the complete achievement of my masters in business management, I am planning to return to the Gabon and apply all the theories learnt in entrepreneurship.

My first step will be the identification and development of a core business model, which already exists, as I am planning to take over the family agricultural business and take it to another level. My desire is to make it grow as a recognised corporation/agri-business supplying the Gabonese population with locally produced food. Since, the majority of products consumed in my home town (Lastourville) are mainly exported from neighbouring countries. The fact that the Gabonese soil has proven to be fertile and productively rich, and since the majority of the entrepreneurial Gabonese population is turned to the mining industry due to its rapidity in results, these factors forced me to envisage a business venture grounded on agriculture and for commercial purposes.

After completion of the entrepreneurship course, I elaborated an entrepreneurial strategic pathway for the effective assembly of the prospective organisational corporate strategy and innovation. Therefore the strategic and innovation plan will be as follow:

- Elaboration of an innovative product: a locally produced food product will definitely be innovative, as not much Gabonese entrepreneurs have not envisaged the possibility;

- Driving strategic innovation: achieving breakthrough performance trough value chain;

- For the sake of the continuous business growth, the business strategy must always be reinvented.

Should I not effectively launch my business venture, due to financial reasons forcing me to seek for employment in any organisation? I will apply all the knowledge acquired during the course of the entrepreneurship subject, the fact being that I do not have previous experience; I will perform at my best by being innovative, risk-taking (to an acceptable extent), and proactive as today's competitive market evolves on a permanent basis; I will have to be proactive and aware of new trends, technologies, and knowledge that may affect positively/negatively my then career.

And the fact that I am able to speak international languages such as French and English, and plan to further my assimilation of international foreign languages by learning Spanish and Chinese will render me more competitive. As, being entrepreneurial may imply travelling around the world and implementing new business ventures in different countries, therefore the language limitation may not be longer a barrier to my numerous business initiatives.

Entrepreneurial audit of One world Human Capital

4.1. Outline of the company

The investigated organisation namely One World Human Capital is a Human Resource Consulting organisation established in March 2000, One World Human Capital (OWHC) is an empowerment SME that is 51% black women owned and consists of a number of specialist research, consulting, advisory and service related partners with the aim of being regarded as the service providers of choice in their respective areas of speciality.

The organisation's objective is to achieve greatness by delivering customer specific solutions that add to organisation and people effectiveness and to sustainable bottom-line organisational performance.

The company's strategic intent is to be regarded by their Clients as their favoured service provider of Business Solutions and Human Resource related products and services, which are researched, developed and customised in order to assist their Clients to consistently outperform their operational expectations. And therefore, the company's slogan is «we do not sell off the shelf solutions».

The organisational objective is to work with people leaders at all levels of the organisation in order to foster an environment of organisational achievement and individual growth through empowerment and accountability. Employees make the experience of work more rewarding and in doing so play a significant role in the continuing development of organisations and individuals within the Southern African economic environment.

Malcolm Campbell started the company in 2000 as an HR consultant, an managed a one man consulting firm. He was joined by Guy Meikle as an associate in 2002, and then later on Tony Ansara and Lindiwe Dube adhered to the business.

The company started as a privately managed and owned Close Corporation, of which Lindiwe Dube owns 51% and Malcolm Campbell 49%

Ø Lindiwe Dube (the Managerial Director) is responsible of clients hunting, and the overall running of the business. Lindiwe has under her supervision an effective of 35 employees working for the organisation's call centre.

Ø Tony Ansara (Owner and Director) has the allocated task of executive coaching, and strategy consulting. Tony is therefore provided with the assistance of hanna Malmstrom

Ø Malcolm Campbell (Partner) is in charge of clients hunting, consulting, coaching, training leadership, organisation development, and performance management.

Ø Shaun Gibson is a BEE (Black Economic Empowerment) consultant in charge of search and placement of required and potential BEE employees.

Ø Jackie Matshiana exercises the function of office administrator. Under her supervision are found Niqui Utermohlen and Malebo Mahlatji.

Ø Guy Meikle offices the function of search and placement. His task involves the efficient recruitment of needed labour on account of the clients. Guy has under his supervision Mark Holshausen and Kathy Black who are experts in HR recruitment and consultancy.

In summary, the company consists of 46 employees. The majority of the employees (35 employees) constitute the workforce of the organisation's call centre, and the remaining staff (eleven employees) comprise the head office staff members in the organisational main location which is situated on unit F5 first floor Ferndale Village centre Cnr Oxford Street and Main Avenue Ferndale. P.O. Box 291 Witkoppen 2068.

Below, is an elaboration and an illustration of an organogram representing the organisation's set of activities.

ABI (Amalgamated Beverage Industries); African Explosives Limited; Afric Oil; Best-Med; Brelko; City Lodge Hotels; Discovery Health; Gauteng Tourism Association; Gensec Bank; Gold Fields SA; GSSC (Gauteng Shared Services Centre); Hewlett-Hydro Extrusions; INSETA; Interdyne Technologies;JHB Tourism Company; Kagiso Securities; Kiara Holdings Limited; Liberty Life Group; Link Investment Trust; Molapo Technology; Pikitup; Recreation Africa Hotel Resorts; Reid & Mitchell; SA Wildlife College; STANLIB; Services Seta; SITA (State Information Technology Agency); Theta; Wilson Bailey Homes; and WWF SA (World Wildlife Fund South Africa)
The Key International Clients are:

Continental Meco; Dow Chemicals and Dow Plastics; GlaxoSmithKline; Hi-Tec Sports Distributors; IDP SA; Joy Global SA; Lego SA; Pfizer SA; P&H MinePro Services; WorldSpace SA (Pty) Ltd; and WWF (World Wildlife Fund).

4.2. Critique of the company core business model

One World Human Capital (OWHC) founders identified organizations' need on focusing their time and attention on maximizing the value of their workforces. OWHC is a new era Human Capital Consultancy focusing on facilitating organisational performance thereby assisting clients to optimise their organisational/operational effectiveness. A Self-Empowered South African Consultancy, established in 2000, possessing a reputation that encourage a culture of flexibility, efficiency,
commitment and professionalism; offering quality service at all times. OHWC provides reliable high quality HR management and administration outsourcing, planning and implementation to help organisations increase efficiency, improve service levels, and reduce operating costs. By offloading core management and administration to OWHC, any organisation of any size can focus on those strategic issues that support the core business. This service provides companies with an onsite Human Resource Manager.

As corporations, nonprofits and government entities are becoming more globally integrated, and as traditional geographic and competitive boundaries disappear, the need to identify, develop and connect talent has never been more critical. In a fast changing global scenario where economies are being reshaped, businesses are being repositioned; investments are growing, it is essential to implement developing and managing the most important asset of any organisation: the Human Capital. Therefore, One World Human Capital elaborated a core business based on supplying its clients with experience indicating that transforming the performance of the workforce truly involves a host of organizational players such as experienced labour especially in engineering area. OWHC is committed to providing effective recruitment services to its clients, and becoming an active partner in its staffing solutions. OWHC's strength lies in its professionalism, which enables it to best match potential candidates with the exact requirements of your organisation.

OWHC's core business model is the coaching, training, labour brokering, supply of workforce and the maximisation of leadership capabilities by enhancing client management capabilities to lead their people to achieve their individual and team potential. It offers human resource as an integral part of any organization. Great stress is laid on implementing an effective human resource system in an organization. After understanding the critical need observed in numerous organisational departments that make use of human resource to setup strategic planning and means to process officials assignments. OWHC prevents its clients from not possessing a proper human resource department, and from suffering from official disorders and lack of management in office activities. From all the advantages that its clients acquire from the type of human resource supplied, the foremost advantage of human resource is the assistance it provides in Recruiting staff and in coaching, and training employees. The human resource department is mostly responsible to develop the systematic plan according to which they hire the staff and help to build a professional work team. The fact that there are many issues that the employee or work-team of an organization faces, one more advantage resulting form the supply of human resource is that it's a medium which provide all the consulting that a employee needs and also answer general queries. The effectiveness of OWHC's Human resource in an organization is just that it helps to settle down any managerial dispute or employee problem in a professional and proficient manner.

OWHC's supply of Human Resource consulting also deals with the long-term management of the business. This initiative evaluates the future scope of the business and devises strategies which would be profitable to the organization in the longer run and bring in stability to the business and provide it an established medium to stand on in the future. OWHC also helps its clients' businesses and commerce to make public relations and built a proper referral system. It is very necessary that the business develops an association with other businesses in the market so it could propel its earning through collaboration with other business sectors. The human resource department arranges seminars, business meetings and official gathering for the company so that it gets acquainted with the market and other businesses. These advantages therefore clearly illustrate how important the OWHC's supply of human resource strategies are for any organization, whether the business is small or it's a big budget industry, building and maintaining a high profile human resource system is very necessary if the business wants to avoid disputes and problems in the longer run. The human resource can be deployed in a small organization at a low scale by hiring minimal staff and growing it gradually as the business progress.

One of the main disadvantages observed within OWHC's business model is that, it does not possess a department actively participating in business and marketing decision. The human resource system comprises of highly dedicated professionals who have the ability to devise new plan and implement human resource related strategies that would bring more business and capital to the organization. But, the fact that the organisation investigated does not comprise a department responsible of a constant implementation of innovative and creative measures rally impede this latter organisation in terms of providing it with a competitive advantage, which will therefore help the company face external challenges affecting/impacting negatively the organisational course of work. The fact that the type of client hunting, marketing path mainly rely on a word of mouth assumption and therefore there is no efficient strategic conduit utilised in the attainment of competitive stability, massively impede an eventual brand awareness of the company and a prospective pathway suitable for the company's growth and ultimate expansion.

4.3. Entrepreneurial intensity of the business

The figure above depicts a low level in degree and frequency of entrepreneurship within OWHC, the fact that over years; the companies' managers have not implemented strategic managerial tools that could equip efficiently the organisation with the necessitated attributes to successfully apply an aggressive entrepreneurial scheme of activity has placed the company in a reflectively low type of entrepreneurial intensity, and contributed to a noticeable entrepreneurial poor performance in the organisation. The management style actively implemented shows a lack of initiatives among employees and especially amid key managers of the company. The lack of entrepreneurial initiatives is therefore explained by the comfort zone neglecting innovative entrepreneurship in which OWHC'c managers find themselves. Nevertheless, the organisation's key managers recognized a strong few competitors in the market such as Mac Consulting, Gemini Consulting, when it comes to HR consultancy; and DIG, and Rand per when it comes to recruitment. As depicted in the figure above MINDCOR was identified as the company's main competitor, due to its high level of entrepreneurship and its aggressiveness in the frequency of entrepreneurship.

The companies' managers do not demonstrate the abilities required to be qualified as proactive and risk-takers as employees and managers do not depict the following characteristics: A high level of drive and energy; Enough self-confidence to take carefully calculated, moderate risks; A clear idea of finance as a way of providing stability, and as a means of generating more incomes still; The ability to get others to work with you and for you productively; High but realistic achievable goals; Readiness to learn from the past mistakes and failures; A long-term vision of the future of your business; and an Intense competitive urge, with self-imposed standards. As opposed to risk-taking, the lack of proactiveness is reflected by the lack of initiatives, planning, and appropriate preparation to face external challenges exogenous factors such as competition, new market, and global trends. The fact that the company's managers assume that the business will maintain a continuity pattern simply by relying on a conventional and traditional type of management, which does not anticipate upcoming trends and indicators of change; will not qualify the organisation for a prospective survival and/or a potential growth. This latter fact is merely observed within the organisation as its growth rate has not been improving steadily, the organisation experienced a stable growth from 2000 to 2008(when the global recession struck the country and the South African market), subsequent to the global recession the organisation faced a period of survival, where the few market and contracts remaining were valued and devotedly protected. From 2008 to present time the organisation has been «surviving», obviously as it can be seen the management style is as a result defective and insufficiently proactive.

Thus, from an analytical point of view; following the global recession in 2008, lessons were to be learnt and efficiently applied in the core business model. Nonetheless, the managerial team settled down and illustrated signs of satisfaction and sufficiency from the current situation, due to the fact that the remaining contracts assured a sustainable financial continued existence to the company.

4.4. Marketing assessment of the business

The type of management prevailing within the organisation would not qualify it as a market-driven organisation simply because it does not use its market knowledge to determine the corporate strategy of the organization. The fact the latter organization does not possess a customer focus, together with awareness of competitors, and understanding of the market, simply corroborates this latter fact. Instead, the organisational type of management reflects a lack of instruments and tools for the effective accessibility of market advantages. And therefore relies on a conventional/ traditional type of management which does not secure the company a competitive advantage (Avila, Ramon, Raghu, and Tadepalli, 1999). Consequently, the implications that can be drawn from this latter situation are namely: the neglecting of major opportunities that have critical implications for strategy implementation. The role as well the relevance of marketing in today's organisations of whichever size is critical for enabling companies to partaking in markets and competitive advantages. Therefore, Shuller (1996) elaborated a linkage between market-driven companies and human resource management, the rationale of this linkage provides key managers with a basis for predicting, studying, refining, and modifying both strategies and practices in specific circumstances. Used together, market-driven and human resource strategies can be described under two major headings (1) Market-Driven strategies and Needed Role Behaviours and (2) Market-Driven strategies and integration.

The rationale utilised is based on what is needed form employees apart form specific technical skills, knowledges, and abilities required to preform a specific task. Based on a extensive review of the literature, several role behaviours are thought to be instrumental in the implementation of the competitive strategies. Table 1 shows numerous dimensions along which employees' role behaviours can vary. The dimensions shown are the ones for which there are likely to be major differences across strategies. This can be illustrated by describing the various Market-Driven strategy and their necessary organisational conditions in more detail along with the needed behaviours from the employees

1. Highly repetitive, predictable behaviour

2. Very short term focus

3. Highly cooperative, interdependent behaviour

4. Very low concern of quality

5. Very low concern of quantity

6. Very low risk taking

7. Very low concern of process

8. High preference to avoid responsibility

9. Very inflexible to change

10. Very comfortable with stability

11. Narrow skill application

12. Low job(firm) involvement

1. Highly creative. Innovative behaviour

2. Very long term behaviour

3. Highly independent, autonomous behaviour

4. Very high concern of quality

5. Very high concern of quantity

6. Very high risk taking

7. Very high concern of results

8. High preference to assume responsibility

9. Very flexible to change

10. Very tolerant of ambiguity and unpredictability

11. Broad skill application

12. High job(firm) involvement

4.5. Critical resources required to effectively capitalise on the key

1. In my personal opinion OWHC's managers need to develop an appropriate structure that will sufficiently tackle all the issues related to innovation. As observed in the core business model of the company, which is grounded on recruitment and human resource consultancy? The human resource area is successfully performed, and the expertise provided to its clients is sufficiently transmitted. Thus, in order for the organisation to expand; new managerial instruments and tools such as the development of a marketing department dealing with the entrepreneurial function needs to be actively established within the company.

By putting into service a marketing/entrepreneurial managerial function into the organisation, a competitive advantage will be accessed. By only relying on a word of mouth type of marketing, company's key managers depict a delusional managerial style which assumes that the company's continuity will evolve steadily without involving brand awareness indicators and market-driven measures. As opposed to the lack of entrepreneurial measures taken on a regular basis, marketing strategies involving an aggressive type of innovation should be elaborated.

Since OWHC's managers offer to the clients' appropriate products and/or services, without a good marketing strategy the product or service would not be known. Their Marketing department would require a lot of creative thinking and successful ideas to be able to launch or re-launch any goods or services. Each of the subsections of the department will have their own importance such as market research, benchmarking, business development, business strategy, advertising, design and budgeting.
Should the company's managers envisage to launch a product for example; before the launch, the market research team would need to review the market and possibly send out surveys or sign themselves up to consumer opinion websites to gather people's views about the product idea. Information gathering is the key within this side of the marketing department as any feedback from consumers would allow the company to see whether a product would be feasible or not within the market. Sending out samples for people to test and requesting for feedback is also an effective marketing and information gathering strategy.

It cannot be assumed that all product and services will be unique and enter a niche market; there will always be similar products or services around, therefore it is important that the company can stay competitive within the market. The increase in advertising will lead to an increase people's awareness of the service or product offered by the company as well as getting the brand visually known.

Nevertheless the fact that competitors, a product or service have been around in the market for many years, it would still need to have some sort of advertising and marketing plan in order for the company to continue being recognized. Without the continuation of a marketing plan the competition may take dominance within the market, therefore it is important that the marketing department is able to come up with new ideas to prevent the company from being left behind within the market.

Overall, the marketing department will play an important role within the core business model and without it; the company may not be as successful nor be able to compete with other companies in the industry.

2. The company's key managers also recognized the need to hire a bigger effective for the growth of the company. One of the managers, Malcolm namely mentioned that it was prerequisite to find new components to add in the organizational core human resources. The main barriers faced by the key organisational players are consequently financial, since the hiring of new employees will imply fundraising/funding for the organisation. Since funding can be described as the financial resources available to make a project or initiative possible. Fundraising, however, will be an organized activity to solicit money to conduct activities for an organization. Funding will be either core, long term, or project-based. Core or long term funding will be consistent over a period of time and will not be related to one project. Project-based funding will simply imply that the organization will funded onto the delivering of a particular project or event.

Since all corporate organizations of any size are concerned with funding and/or fundraising. The investigated organisation might face difficulties related to not having a budget and do not receiving funding from government departments, foundations or other agencies. As a result, it may only be through fundraising that revenue will be generated.

3. As explained in the two subsections above reflecting the need for hiring a strategic marketing department, issues related to its implementation such as financial raising problems were also highlighted. Therefore, should a marketing department be implemented, managers will consequently face the dilemma of either implementing an in-house marketing or outsource the expertise related to its implementation. A cost analysis will then be required for the effective assessment of the outcomes resulting from the development of moreover the in-house department or the outsourcing.

4.6. Assessment of the business cost structure

After analysis of the core business model form a financial point of view, it was observed that the management style reflects flexible type of cost structure, since it is both a fixed-cost-based and variable based. The system can be defined as a fixed-cost-based system, since for most employees there are basic and fixed salaries, and latter cost can be elaborated as business expenses that are not dependent on the activities of the business^,but which tend to be time-related, such as salaries or rents being paid per month. But the system is therefore variable-cost-based since for the employees who perform as consultants, apart from the basic salaries provided they are additionally rewarded on commission based remuneration.

4.7. Core competencies of the venture at the present time

OWHC as any other business needs to acquire core competencies for its business to develop, therefore in the OWHC's case core competencies can be defined as the instruments and tool that lead to the development of core products and to the offer of a given service. Core products are services delivered to clients; and thus are key elements used to build a larger number of networks in terms of reliable and satisfied clients. The business units of the corporation each tap into the relatively few core products to develop a larger number of end user products based on the core product delivery. It has been observed that OWHC's core competencies arise from the integration of multiple factors such as the qualified workforce and the coordination of diverse production skills. Those above developed competencies are considered critical due to their appropriateness as they provide access to a wide variety of markets, contribute significantly to the end-product benefits, and be difficult for competitors to imitate. Thus, as the business unit does manage to sustain its own core competencies over time, due to its autonomy it may not share them with other business units. As a solution to this problem, it is suggested that corporate key managers should have the ability to allocate not only cash but also core competencies among business units. Business units that lose key employees for the sake of a corporate core competency should be recognized for their contribution.

Equally, OWHC's key managers recognise recruitment as a key function/core competency that is perhaps on the edge of the debate around what constitutes a `core-competency' for the enterprise. If getting the best talent in is so important to a businesses success, then should this be something that you rely on a third party to do for you? Which explains the fact within OWHC the recruitment performed on their clients' behalf is assumed to be sufficiently effectuated as indicators in terms of unsatisfied clients have proven to be positively in their favour. To corroborate this latter fact, key managers interviewed for the purpose of the study stated that «they have never lost a client, since the company has started».

When the founders of the organisation started the venture in 2000, the core business was mainly grounded on HR consulting only. Then as the market was evolving and organisations depicted the growing need to outsource third party companies for employees recruitment, the management style in 2004 evolved to including recruitment as a core competency to the core business model, and hiring individuals such as Mark Holshausen and Kathy Black for the sake of rendering professional the recruitment department in the organisation. The type of recruitment in practice was centred on engineers merely, as a result companies outsourcing from OWHC would then be given the opportunity to hire qualified engineers, and to obtain programs for the upgrading existing engineers facing difficulties due to the newness of recent technologies.

4.8. Traits and characteristics associated with the entrepreneurial personality

Ø Improvers: since OWHC's managers operate their business predominately in the improver mode, they are focused on using their company as a means to improve their relationship with the clients. Their overarching axiom is: morally correct and ethically run companies will be rewarded working on a noble cause. As improvers, they have resolute conviction to run their business with high integrity and ethics.

Ø Advisors: As in their business personality type they provide an extremely high level of assistance and advice to customers. The company's managers reckon that by helping clients achieving their goals in providing them with sound advices, a strong relationship based on trust and satisfaction will be built. The only risk that they may face by being advisors is simply that they can become totally focused on the needs of their business and customers that they may ignore their own needs and ultimately perform poorly as na organisation.

Ø Analysts: as they run the business as Analysts, the venture is focused on fixing problems in a systematic way. Often the basis of HR related knowledge the investigated company excel at solving clients' problems.

Ø Heroes: leaders/owners of the company namely Lindiwe Dube and Malcolm Campbell have an incredible will and ability to lead the business through any challenge. They are the essence of entrepreneurship and can assemble greatly the business. This latter fact can be substantiated as they managed to remain the company comfortably surviving after the global recession struck the country in 2008. Even tough the company lost several clients, the above mentioned leaders managed to maintain the organisation afloat.

Ø Healers: the above cited leaders/owners of the organisation can also be considered as healers. Since they provided nurturing and harmony to their business. They have shown characteristics of having an uncanny ability to survive and persist with an inner calm (Zahorsky, 2010).

4.9. Critique of the dominant management style in the business

OWHC's managers have proven to exercise a flexible type of management as their core business style gives a great importance to the understanding of each and every employee's situations, strengths, and skills on an individual basis. Keep an open line of communication. To do so, they explained to the employees of their management style and of their expectations from them. This was also an opportunity to ask the employees where they stand and what their expectations were.

To take this step further, to create an even more open line of communication, the companies' managers went as far as to understand an employee's family responsibilities and create a familiar environment. For example, if an employee has circumstances at home (i.e. worries about unsupervised children or an ill family member requiring extra care) that are a distraction from their responsibilities at work, managers can work with the employee to create a more flexible work schedule, different work/project responsibilities, etc. In doing so, not only does the employee benefit from reduced stress, but the employee also becomes more productive. By being flexible, managers created a cost-effective solution that benefits both the worker and the supervisor.

Once the relationship was established, managers worked with the employee by giving them goals, but then letting the employee offer suggestions and methods to achieving those goals. By allowing some freedom to the employees to take the objectives in their own direction, the employees felt a sense of ownership in their work, which was translated into enthusiasm, which consequently meant more productivity.

While a flexible management style allows a little leeway in letting the employees direct themselves, managers kept a commission-based type of remuneration to motivate employees outperform. Managers realized that the employees had to be skilled and professional, that is why in their hiring practices the made sure prospective subordinates were qualified for the positions available. By doing the progress reports, managers can anticipate some troubles or questions employees may have, perhaps providing answers and tools before they are requested.

In addition to goal-setting, action plans, and progress reports, managers encouraged teamwork and intangibility within their staff. To adapt to the needs of the employees and allow for more flexibility, considered cross-training employees. This allowed others to fill in where needed, should a member of the staff need additional support or not being available for his/her conventional task. Another way to create a feeling of teamwork was to post goals, progress, and problems for the entire staff to see. It was elaborated as a motivational tool that implies that the manager is involving the staff in his decisions and is open to their input and suggestions.

While flexibility in management can be asset to the core business, it is important to be wary of situations where employees may take advantage of such adaptability. While a manager wants to keep an open line of communication, that line should not be crossed into being too friendly. An effective manager can be aware of the needs and problems facing an employee, but he/she should not be involved in them. Any abuse of a manager's flexibility must be addressed immediately. Managers should never be adaptable at the company's expense.

Employees are one of, if not the, most important assets a company has. By implementing more flexible management techniques, the business took ownership of the most out of their employees while keeping them productive and fulfilled.

The type of management involving delegation is inexistent within the organisation as it was observed that key managers do not hand out responsibilities to individuals in the organisation to make decisions rather than everyone having to be told what to do by top managers in a hierarchical way. This is coupled with the decentralisation process whereby instead of all decisions being made at the centre (e.g. Head Office) of an organisation, they are made throughout the organisation. As the leaders of the organisation perform a modern-day type of management, which implies that in today's competitive business world; any company desiring to enlarge has to accept the paradox that to grow big they have to act small.

In this new way of viewing the organisation, self-contained teams are responsible for a specific and major part of the business or for a particular project. Individuals work to targets set by key management. They take advice and assistance as necessary from the specialist departments such as Research and Development. They also take goods and services from outside suppliers when these are judged to be more cost-effective. Occasionally, key management, or one of its teams, may decide to subcontract an entire project to an outside supplier.

The main disadvantage resulting form the lack of delegation within the company is purely the reality being that it may impede the organisation for increasing productivities (when well implemented). It is also a managerial tool for subordinate accomplishment and enrichment. It also requires highly developed leadership skills such as sensitivity to subordinate capabilities and needs, and the ability to communicate clearly and directly, the willingness to support and encourage subordinates in carrying out delegated tasks and the vision to see how delegation might result in increased personal growth for subordinates.

4.10. Critique of the structure of the business and its support/constrain of entrepreneurship

By encouraging uniformity casualties, key managers discourage innovation, creativity, and free thought. As economic uncertainties forced companies to avoid risk rather than generate ideas. And by not having realised the importance of innovation and its execution, the company being analysed adopted a traditional management style which encouraged a word of mouth type of marketing. The fact that key managers selected as their recruitment basis candidates with brilliant qualifications and knowledges, that could be implemented for their company's growth; had already put the organisation on an entrepreneurial path grounded on daily innovative schemes, instead the recruitment effectuated was merely based on HR consultants and for that reason constrained the organisation to progress in an entrepreneurial manner.

Another factor reflecting the inappropriateness of the type of management as a motivational factor contributing to corporate entrepreneurship is the reality being that key managers only take responsibility of acquiring new markets and new contracts. Therefore the rest of the workforce portrays some sort of laidback behaviour assuming that they are not ones in charge of clients hunting, and consequently illustrate a very much observed lack of innovation.

Since innovation never happens randomly. The key managers need to implement a culture that encourages it. Brewing an innovation culture will simply be part of the innovation game. An innovation management system that evaluates ideas, culls keepers and discards the balance is thus crucial.

4.11. Critique of the business control system

Kuratko, Montagno, and Hornsby (1990) defined slack as the constraints obstructing entrepreneurial initiatives in the organizational plan to engage into corporate entrepreneurial activity to obtain the required resources needed. In this particular investigation, levels of slack resources may affect the firm's decision to respond to various corporate entrepreneurial initiatives. There is theoretical and empirical evidence that slack resources may facilitate OWHC's managers to innovate by promoting experimentation with new strategies, ideas, and projects that otherwise would not be approved. In the OWHC's case «slacks» would be considered as factors such as the lack of marketing related activities such as an organisational brainstorming for the sake of the improvement of the client hunting performance is handled.

4.12. Organisational rewards and evaluation of employees

Since OWHC is a small company, consequently the type remuneration prevailing does not comprise awards for outperforming employees. Instead, individuals working as HR consultants and recruiters receive their wages on a commission-based basis. Key managers stipulated that, the commission-based salary model motivate employees to perform out of the ordinary and the sustainability of the current clients. Key managers substantiated in their own opinion that commission-based salary remuneration encourages entrepreneurship in the workplace, as employees are entrepreneurial to certain extent; since their rewards depend on it.

4.13. Hiring practices from an entrepreneurial point of view

Key managers declared that their hiring practices meet the standards, since meeting recruitment requirements is part of the core business model; key managers select with scrutiny every prospective employee's application. As an explanation to this concluding statement, key managers assume that the type of recruitment of staff members contribute to the entrepreneurial activity of the organisation, since employees will be rewarded accordingly to their efforts placed for the progress of the venture and the allocated tasks.

4.14. Critique of the organisational culture

From an immediate point of view, the type of organisational does not reflect the cross-cultural type. As the cultural structure of the organisation consists of South African employees only, it was observed that the company's workforce does not comprise foreigners. After observing the profile of the company's head office, it was identified that out of eleven employees working in the head office, eight of them were white employees. When it comes to an observation from a gender basis, it was surveyed that five employees out of eleven were male, which can be illustrated as 45 percent of the labour workforce in the head office. But after collection of data related to the call center effective, the survey reflected that twenty out of 35 employees were female as 57 percent of the workforce constituting the call centre. This can therefore make one conclude that the overall company's performance is manily composed female employees.

Besides the fact that the organisation does not possess a cross-cultural workforce, in addition it was also noticed that key managers reinforce ethical values such as honesty, and integrity event to the detriment of the company's growth. After interviewing Guy Meikle, who is a company's associate and is in charge of search and placement stated that «there are times when the competition get dirty» and where in order to access to contracts, companies' managers have to go through bribes and corruption, and corroborated that other organisations go through processes of CV's selection meeting unethical requirements.

Therefore it can be concluded that the high importance given to the implementation of ethical values in the core business model, contributes to the improvement of an entrepreneurial scheme within the organisation as it provides guidelines as to which the business practices are socially and morally acceptable and which are not. In cases where there are no laid down rules as to the right and wrong ways of doing business, Ethics fill in the gap and give the much needed direction.

It is through awareness of ethics that an ethical type of entrepreneurship will desist from engaging in business practices that lead to loss of human life and human rights compromise the environment or bring about gain at the unfair expense of other businesses, employees, consumers, etc. A sound business ethic will benefit the organisation as it strives to direct the business in an open and honest manner; to their customers about the product/service that is offered.

4.15. Identification of two innovation champions in the business

After investigation, and interrogation of the organisation's employees; it has been identified that employees considered Lindiwe Dube and Malcolm Campbell who are the business owners as the innovation champions, since they are the ones who assures the clients hunting function; and they use several innovative ways such the guarantee of good service to clients, for the persuasion of prospective clients and the acquirement of new markets.

The remaining part of the of the organisation corroborated that, the above mentioned key managers are regarded as champions because of their leadership skills that prevented the company following the global recession to «sink». And the fact that they are considered as mentors by other employees, confirms their identification as champions.

4.16. Analysis of the level of bureaucracy within the company

The organisation investigated reflected a high level of lack of bureaucracy at all level of the venture, as in terms of procedures and policies; the organisation does not perform formally in terms of elaboration policies, procedures, and rules. Given the fact that the working environment reflected an open-communication type of environment where communication is made easily and there are note barriers related to various post attribution. Therefore, policies, procedures and rules are not elaborated formally.

The approval cycles and speed in decision making do not suffer from any bureaucratic scheme in the organisational structure. When it comes to the consent, agreement, acceptance of a given project; the approval cycle is not performed formally, since employees possess a constant access to internet via their Laptops and their «Blackerry Cell phones», the assessment, appraisal, estimation, evaluation of a given project is made informally, with no time restriction and/or circumstance constraints. Key managers have declared to be working» 24/7», as any project approval can be effectuated on a Sunday evening.

Schramm (2006) stated that Bureaucracy is, in its quintessence, a incentive of communication whose rationale is to lessen the amount of risk. When it comes to organizations, the risk-averting exchange of ideas is expressed in rules that clarify employess' behaviors and control processes. Additionally, there is also an inter-institutional dialog that establishes rules which similarly limit individual decision making in order to reduce risk and to comply with larger social objectives articulated by the legislature. Unavoidably, by limiting risk, bureaucratic types of management are perceived as unsociable to entrepreneurs. It can not be overstated by stipulating that both in private firms and in government agencies, entrepreneurs have often been silenced and ignored. As, their troublemaking behaviours present a challenge to the objectives of predictable (low-risk) results.

On can therefore conclude that, the lack of bureaucracy within the OWHC's core business model significantly contribute to the organisational entrepreneurial practice, sine the propensity allocated to risk-taking behaviours within companies, is highly developed due to the inexistence of formalities lessening employees' abilities to take risks and become entrepreneurial.

4.17. Description of the open-communication environment

OWHC's organisational structure has depicted a friendly and open type of communication model within the company. Due to its smallness, the organisational structure provides an easy accessibility among employees. Nevertheless, the fact the friendly milieu can be explained by the smallness of the business, since the working environment is not comprised in an open-plan structure; as employees possess their individual offices, the open-communication can be thus concluded caused by the type of management prevailing.

It has been noticed that employees can efficiently communicate with anybody without barriers or limitations of any form. Communication, through both formal and informal channels, is the lifeblood of the organization. At the center of the organisation analysed are people held together by slender threads of cooperation. These threads are maintained by employees sharing information with each other. The result is a delicate network of human relationships linked through communication and offering a great service.

The open communication climate encourages corporate entrepreneurship by providing employees with a supportive environement, through allowing them to participate in decision making, and, through trusting them, which assures the integrity of information channels. Ultimately, the openness the communication climate is improved be the character of organisation as a whole. Yet, while open communication climate makes formidable personal demands, such openness ultimately rewards both the individual and the organization in providing an environment where people thrive and the enterprise flourishes.

4.18. Employees' perception of change

The employees' perception of change is quasi-inexistent as the organisational core business model has remained identical for the past years. Beside the fact following the global recession the company retrenched massively (thirteen employees: which constituted of three in the head office and ten form the call centre), employees have respectively mentioned the retrenchment that prevailed last year as the «main change that the workforce has ever faced».

Therefore, the massive retrenchment as considered as being the main change that organisation experienced beside its growth pattern form 2000 to 2005. The cutback in the workforce stimulated employees to perform efficiently and successfully. This latter fact can be considered as a motivational factor improving the level of entrepreneurship within the organisation.

4.19. Toleration of failure within the company

Lindiwe Dube (co-owner) stated that failure is over tolerated to the familial and friendly working environment. This latter fact can therefore impact negatively the organisational level of corporate entrepreneurship, as employees can «easily take advantage of the system» and consequently fail to remember that productivity is part of the core element in any entrepreneurial venture.

Malcolm Campbell (co-owner) stipulated that cases of failure have not really been faced within the organisation, «since the company has never lost a client over the ten years of activity».

4.20. Most entrepreneurial organisational achievement in the past two years

Key managers of the company stated that the most important `thing» accomplished was the implementation of Research and Development tool to equip the company with the essential knowledge required to provide sufficient coaching and training for clients companies and prospective employees.

5. Conclusion and recommendations

In my personal opinion the first suggestion that needs to provided to OWHC's key managers, is that this latter (key managers) except from having a core business founded on HR consultancy and recruitment, the organisation should envisage a more diversified venture containing more features such as: change management assistance, development of coaching skills, technology implementation, strategy development, or operational improvement services. Management consultants will bring their own, proprietary methodologies or frameworks to guide the identification of problems, and to serve as the basis for recommendations for more effective or efficient ways of performing business tasks. And therefore, can be enumerated a set of advantages and disadvantages that will be resulting from the diversification:

· If properly managed and empowered, the internal consulting expertise provided to the clients will evaluate engagement on projects in light of the corporation's strategic and tactical objectives.

· Often, the internal consultant requires less ramp up time on a project due to familiarity with the corporation, and is able to guide a project through to implementation, a step that would be too costly if an external consultant were used.

· Internal relationship provides opportunities to keep certain corporate information private. And relationships made with clients provide a sustainable continuity to the business.

· It is likely that the time and materials cost of internal consultants is significantly less than external consultants operating in the same capacity.

· The internal consultant expertise may not bring the objectivity to the consulting relationship that an external firm can.

· Where the consulting industry is strong and consulting compensation high, it can be difficult to recruit candidates.

· It is often difficult to accurately measure the true costs and benefits of an internal consulting group.

· When financial times get tough, internal consulting groups that have not effectively demonstrated economic value (costs vs. benefits) are likely to face size reductions or reassignment.

The organisational HR structure must match the business structure related with to the market demand. As a single-business company, OWHC would have an HR department organized by functions (staffing, training, rewards, organization design, etc.). But, since most large organizations diversify and operate with a multiple-business-unit structure, most HR departments are governed by more complex organization structures. Another interesting trend that has changed the HR managerial portfolio is outsourcing. Outsourcing is a concept that works on the principle of recruiting knowledge and expertise as compared to owing the same. Hence, outsourcing serves as an extension of corporate HR helping corporates to leverage through economies of scale. Thus, service centres, E-HR and outsourcing are new trends that have redefined HR responsibilities and roles, opening newer and more challenging avenues for the new-age HR managers, since the HR environment evolves constantly, OWHC's key managers need to successfully implement new trends such as service centres, E-HR consulting and outsourcing for the sake of the organisation to remain competitively involved in HR consultancy expertise.

The organisation investigated depicted an urgent need to be a market-driven organisation, as it will provide the organisation with the market orientation needed which will equip the company with following attributes and advantages:

Ø The organization will acquire a thorough understanding of customers and potential customers, including their changing needs and wants.

Ø A key activity for a market-driven organization is information gathering. Therefore, the organization will continuously gather data in all environmental sectors: competitive, cultural, political, economic, technological, human resources, physical resources, and consumer.

Ø The organisational market-driven concept is a managerial concept. Close attention will be given to business processes and activities. Emphasis must be placed on the organization's ability to respond to environmental changes.

Ø The market-driven concept as a cross-functional concept, will affect organizational decision-making, organizational learning, and a review of internal competences. All aspects of the organization will be aware of and consider environmental changes.

Ø Market orientations will impact on the business performance, and will emphasize on measurement issues. OWHC's managers should implement an appraisal system for the continuous assessment of current processes and activities against current business performance. Continuous process improvement is mandatory for the organisation to be qualified as a market-driven organization this is supported by Barrett (2001).

Another main factor that will improve the entrepreneurial intensity is innovation, as stated by Pittburgh(2002) «A culture of innovation can be a company's primary source of competitive advantage, and it can pay off steadily over the years. Any high-performance culture is difficult to replicate, but innovation is in a class by itself. Once embraced by employees, innovation becomes a way of life. It ensures that all the human capital is in step and striving to produce outcomes of value for the organisation.» And the benefits resulting from the introduction of innovation will be:

· Creativity and high performance will be among the most important shared values;

· Monitoring changes in the markets and adapting to them will be a high priority, as it will ensure that business processes are aligned to satisfying customers' needs;

· Employees will be open and supportive to changes and the implementation of new ideas;

· Generation and implementation of new ideas, improvements in the work organisation and organisational processes will be normal, day-to-day activities at all organisational levels;

· Management will consider and treat human resources as a strategic resource of the company;

· Continuous development will be a high priority both for the company and the employees;

· Human resource and recruitment practices development expenses will be considered investments which pay off in the medium and long term;

· There will be a healthy level of competition between individuals and project teams, pushing creativity and performance to higher levels;

· There will be a reasonable balance between recognising individual and team performance; and

· Networking and sharing knowledge will be a company-wide and continuous activity.

6. References

Avila, Ramon A., Raghu, and Tadepalli.(1999). «Market Orientation and the Marketing Strategy Process,» Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, Spring 1999.

Barrett, B. (2001). Market-Driven Organizations. Available form http://www.prodmarketing.com (accessed 10 may 2010).

Kuratko, D. F., Montagno, R. V., & Hornsby, J. S. 1990. Developing an Corporate entrepreneurial Assessment Instrument for an Effective Corporate Entrepreneurial Environment. Strategic Management Journal, 11: 49-58.

Pittsburgh, PA. (2002). The Culture Connection: Creating a Company Culture That Fosters Innovation. For a review copy or author interview, contact Dottie DeHart at (828) 459-9637 or DSDeHart@aol.com.

Schramm, C. (2006). Entrepreneurial Capitalism and the End of Bureaucracy: Reforming the Mutual Dialog of Risk Aversion. American Economic Association 2006 Meetings. Boston, Massachusetts January 6, 2006.

Entrepreneurial audit

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