Winai Wongsurawat, for the invaluable support and guidance provided throughout the process, as well as for introducing and providing extensive knowledge on the Entrepreneurial Strategy Compass Framework, one of the main focuses of this research paper. The purpose of this research paper is to observe whether the choices that entrepreneurs face and that are considered crucial are similar to the choices that the Entrepreneurial Strategy Compass Framework considers important, how the choices influence the development of the strategy of entrepreneurial companies , and whether the choices they make influence the development of the strategy of entrepreneurial companies. The choices of the entrepreneur and the choices that the framework suggests for certain strategies are consistent. The first area is to investigate whether the choices that are important according to the framework are the same ones that entrepreneurs might also consider to be the crucial choices they had to make, especially in the early stages of the startup and in determining the company's strategy .
The second area will be to look at how the choices play a role in defining the strategy of the company and whether the entrepreneur's choices and strategy correspond to the choices that the framework for certain strategies suggests.
LITERATURE REVIEW
- Entrepreneurial Strategy Compass Framework
- Four Main Choices That Matters
- Choosing the Customer
- Choosing the Technology
- Choosing the Identity
- Choosing the Competition
- Formulation Of Entrepreneurial Strategy
- Intellectual Property Strategy
- Value Chain Strategy
- Disruptive Strategy
- Architectural Strategy
- Conclusion
In addition, observations and forecasts should be made of how the chosen technology may develop over time and how it may affect the innovation and value creation of the start-up. Therefore, it is important for the entrepreneur to be aware of the S-curve of the technology and also the S-curve of the market while choosing to implement and adopt the technology for the startup. It gives the company the opportunity to communicate internally about the start-up's goals and values, as well as act as a guide to the obligations and competencies that the company will prioritize.
At the same time, the identity of the enterprise reveals the positioning of the start-up and the market segment in which the enterprise competes to the stakeholders. The startup that follows the IP strategy will serve the end users of the established business and therefore the choice of technology must be compatible and can be integrated for the potential partnership enterprises. The identity of the start-up would be an idea factory that focuses on inventions and innovations and develops capabilities for innovation and facilitates technology transfer.
If an entrepreneur chooses to cooperate with established entrepreneurs, but invests in the implementation of the idea rather than in control, he is following a value chain strategy. The startup needs to find a customer group that is currently underserved by existing businesses and could be better served by the startup's innovation. The last strategy of the framework of the entrepreneurial strategic compass is the architectural strategy, where the start-up invests in the control aspect of choosing a competitive orientation.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Background Information
- The Entrepreneur and the startup
- Jaggery: The forgotten gem of Myanmar tradition
- Reinvention and revival of jaggery through TFJ
That incident piqued her curiosity enough to set her on her way to the nearest jaggery-producing toddy palm tree owner in search of the answer. C returned home and later bought some raw materials from the toddy palm tree owners and tried to make her own bite-sized jaggery pieces in her own kitchen. Jaggery producers are usually the small families of the villages in rural areas and small towns that own toddy palm trees and jaggery is still made by hand in traditional ways.
Most of the families consist of three to six family members and each member has to undertake the task of climbing the trees to collect toddy palm sap and sap, make jaggery or toddy palm juice. Fresh toddy palm sap is required to make jaggery, but as it tends to ferment easily, climbers usually have to collect the pots on the trees that collect the sap twice a day. Shortly after collection, the toddy palm juice is poured into a pot on the stove in batches to bring to a boil.
Each kiln typically has between three and eight pots, depending on the amount of palm sap typically collected by a particular producer. The process continues until the palm sap reaches the last pot and thickens enough to form jaggery. However, according to a video report by RFA Burmese (2016), as the consumption of jaggery and other toddy palm products has decreased significantly, the number of toddy palm climbers and businesses has also decreased in the central region of Myanmar. which was once famous for its farms and tody palm products, so the tradition and future of the industry are at risk.
Interview Questions
RESEARCH FINDING
Four Main Choices That Matters
She wanted the product to convey the traditional cultures and values of Myanmar and present it to foreigners as well as people who are away from their homeland at the moment. Furthermore, she wanted to reintroduce these to younger generations and also to the urban lifestyle, reminding them of the forgotten values of Myanmar's traditional snack that also offers various health benefits. This became TFJ's identity and therefore she positioned her product against imported and modern foods and into the souvenir market.
To effectively reach its target market, it believes that using the technologies available for online business models, as well as modern distribution channels such as malls and supermarkets instead of local markets, would be the best choice. good for her and she believes that the idea could be tangible and she could capture the value as her product idea was unique to existing markets and also without strong and direct competition against traditional mushroom producers as the target market is different. Therefore, she founded TFJ to turn the idea into reality and act on the choices and hypotheses she had in mind. C had to make for new startups matches the choices that the framework has identified as crucial choices that entrepreneurs must make for their startup strategies.
Formulation Of Entrepreneurial Strategy
- Choosing the Customers
- Choosing the Technology
- Choosing the Identity
- Choosing the Competition
She also claims that if she had targeted the conventional jaggery market first, the development and creation of the product would have been different and it could have been more difficult to expand her business into the souvenir market. According to the responses, choosing a client was the very first and crucial step in the establishment of TFJ. C's choice of customer was the niche groups underserved by the existing jaggery producers and the way the product was developed and developed seems to support the claims of entrepreneurial strategy's compass framework about how the initial choice of customer can the development of the product influence as well as the evolution and expansion of the beginning.
C explained that she did not use any latest technology in making jaggery as she wanted to preserve the traditional values of the product. The analysis of this part of the interview was particularly challenging due to the fact that it was initially perceived that Ms. C was deeply integrated into TFJ's identity and played a key role in determining the startup's commitments and directions.
C to determine which capabilities are critical to TFJ's survival and growth and to have a clear focus on the direction TFJ would take in the future. Furthermore, the clear definition of TFJ's identity also ensures that external stakeholders understand what TFJ is all about and that TFJ can be associated with others in the same ecosystem. She revealed that her resources were very limited and so she spent almost everything she could on constant experimentation and execution of the business.
Analysis Of The Strategy Of TFJ
CONCLUSION
Limitations of the Research
This research paper mainly focused on observing whether the choices suggested by the compass framework of entrepreneurial strategy are consistent with the choices that entrepreneurs actually have to make in the real business situation, as well as how the choices combine and work together to form a unique strategy for business. However, due to the limitations of opportunities and time, the research was only based on a single case study, which is TFJ, and the data collection was through researching the data of Ms. C and TFJ available on published materials, such as journals, articles and videos, as well as TFJ's website and social media profile with the addition of two face-to-face interview sessions with Ms.
Finally, the scope of the study was based on the framework and many other factors related to the business environment and external factors could be explored in depth for better understanding. Therefore, these factors should be taken into consideration if additional research were to occur in the future.
Recommendations
Second, regarding the further expansion of target customers, TFJ should focus on identifying more under-tapped niche markets with under-served customers instead of targeting the majority and the existing customers of traditional jaggery producers. It will allow TFJ to use the opportunities to experiment according to the specific needs of the customer groups, while reducing the risk of coming into direct competition with current jaggery producers. C revealed that it was challenging for her to turn her idea into a profitable business model due to the lack of business knowledge and analytical tools, so she simply followed her intuition and desire.
C considered herself lucky that all her choices led her to where she wanted to be, and that TFJ was stable enough for her to explore opportunities to expand and grow the business. She added that she might not have been able to take advantage of the opportunity if the market had been more mature and actively aggressive. C explore and develop a better understanding of the corporate strategic compass framework and consider its use as one of the tools to assist in strategy formulation and decision-making.
Since the framework is quite simple but effective and can be studied without advanced knowledge about analytical and strategic business tools, Ms. C be able to expand her capacity for strategic knowledge that can help make effective decisions for TFJ. In addition, the framework provides an efficient testing tool, referred to as "Test two - choose one" approach to evaluate different options and make decisions more efficiently without too much investment which will be valuable for making important strategic decisions for the future of TFJ.
APPENDICES
Appendix A: Interview Questions
