As you know from working with Emma’s Eco Experiences this semester, Emma wants to operate in an environmentally aware and socially conscious way. Being ambitious and growth focused, Emma has transitioned her tourism-based business into one that is successfully servicing the domestic market during the Covid-19 pandemic. She is also ready to take advantage of the recently re-opened border with Australia.
Emma is in the very early stages of going into business with local iwi to develop a windfarm, and she also has future prospects for developing organic honey with iwi too. She has examined Maori business practices and considered how incorporating tikanga might help her with her relationships with Maori and her broader business interactions in general.
Emma has also gone into the production of plant-based milk and she believes that there is potential to add to this product range with ice creams and cheeses. She has also been able to purchase back controlling shares in her business.
Emma has been central to all the decision-making and much of the hands-on work in her growing business. To date Emma has also been able to rely on her existing permanent staff members and five new fixed term contracted workers. She has also been relying on the continued goodwill of the team of volunteers who cycle through her business to support her, and her local community. Emma already has a few employees that have the title of ‘Manager’ but really these employees are in team leader or supervisory roles. The new growth opportunities that Emma is pursuing mean that Emma must now begin planning for the senior management needs of the business.
Emma has discussed this recently with two of her friends, Fatima and Ivan. Both own their own small businesses. Fatima believes that as Emma already has some employees in supervisory roles, she should assess these staff members for their capabilities for development as future senior managers in the growing business. Ivan is not so sure and believes that Emma should look at hiring experienced professional managers from outside the business.
Your tasks:
- Drawing on your reading from Week 10 by Bygrave and Zacharakis (2014) and taking into account what Fatima and Ivan have already said to her, advise Emma on what to do next as she begins to set-up the management structure for her growing business.
- Then explain how your answer in Step 1 might help Emma to transition from being an entrepreneur to an entrepreneurial leader.