Entrepreneurship and Its Growing Importance

Chapter 1

1.0: Introduction

This chapter provides a brief evaluation of the study topic and what it entails. It includes an extensive evaluation of the study background with an analysis of matters pertinent to the study topic and objectives. The chapter further highlights the research problem, outlining the relevant aim and objectives of the study as well as the study question. The chapter then summarises with an evaluation of the study rational.

1.1 Background of Study

Entrepreneurship has been an important subject in businesses. Moreover, the interest on entrepreneurship has been increased compared to the past. The growing interest on entrepreneurship creates new challenges and it also makes it easier for people to run their business due to the available knowledge and past entrepreneurial related experiences. Before focusing on online entrepreneurship, the entrepreneurship and why is it important and interesting will be analysing here. For the result of the studies Hissich and Peters (2002) argued that entrepreneurship is a process that is related to creating something new with value by allocating the necessary time and effort and at the same time being aware of financial, psychologic, and social risks (Balachandran and Sakthivelan, 2013).There are variety of researches related entrepreneurship and its effects not only on online businesses but in businesses in general as well. For instance, being entrepreneurial or having entrepreneurial orientation is one of the important topics for the businesses. Influence of entrepreneurial orientation and its important performance effect on the firms have been analysed with researches and discussions. At the theoretical level it is found that entrepreneurial orientation has a positive effect on the performance of the firm. At the empirical level, the result of the studies has shown the positive relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and firm performance (POON and AINUDDIN, 2006). When looking from a general perspective, entrepreneurial orientation is related to exploring new opportunities in market and it plays a part in firm’s tendency to accept innovativeness, risk-taking, proactiveness, competitiveness and self-determination (Boso, Story and Cadogan, 2013). Considering the complexity in today’s business world characterised by heighten consumer demands, competition, globalisation, changing consumer culture, and demands for inclusivity within cultural and social structures, entrepreneurial orientation can be regarded as one of the crucial factors in maintaining the success of a business. It is also a crucial point that firms are forced to be involved in searching out new opportunities (Arshad et al., 2014). Especially there is an increasing interest on online businesses and existing organizations are heading for online spaces. For this increasing interest on online spaces, retail stores can be given as an example. The internet is expected to account for 53% of retail sales in 10 years’ time in UK. One in 10 people of all ages said that they planned to shop online more compare to past(Butler, 2019).The rapid increase in the popularity of the Internet and communication technologies, has led to more consumers to inquiry and purchase goods on the Internet. For 2017 its estimated that sales revenue of electronic commerce will reach approximately $2.36 trillion dollars. Year-on-year, retail sales went down 5.8 percent, likewise the greatest decrease ever. In the three months to March 2020, retail sales fell by 1.6 percent when contrasted and the past a quarter of a year, with solid decreases in non-nourishment stores and fuel.

Moreover, the emergence of Internet commerce applications enabled a reduction in the costs of creation and operation of business. This increasing attention on electronic commerce created an opportunity for Internet entrepreneurship (Wang and Lin, 2016). However, at the same time the attention on e-commerce business also created more challenges and entrepreneurs required to change their strategies. For instance, social media has changed the internet and the retail industry. Moreover, people start doing business in social media platforms such as Instagram and Blog. It can be said that in the future not only retail stores, but more businesses will be available on online spaces and this means that there will be new challenges for people who wants to run their business on online spaces.

When it comes to online apparel industry as can be seen from the graph from 2016 to 2018, there is a rapid increase in the sales growth in general. Furthermore, the demand for purchasing products in department stores diminished and the percentage of sales growth in online increased (Statista, 2019). This increasing attention on online product purchasing means more competition and it is entrepreneur ability to deal in this competitive environment and with right actions in terms of entrepreneurial, it is possible to capture achievement. Moreover, according to Office of National Statistics (ONS, 2020), more consumers nowadays research about a product and, to some extent, the company to get background information and important reviews and experiences from other users. This research done online give a potential user glimpse of the functionality, dependability, and quality of the product based on the previous use and other users. Survey conduct by Statista (2019) showed that 79% of the businesses in travel and tourism industry depend on the online to market their products and engage with consumers in the same magnitude as travellers and potential customers seek reviews from other users. Survey has found that increasing number of people who are aged 65 and more now shop online (Read, 2019). In the United Kingdom (UK), four out of five people are making online purchases. The revolution of online shopping has become mainstream among the tech-resistant generation aged 65 and over. In the three-month survey period people who are at the age of 25-34 find to be made 11 or more purchases (Ogonowski, 2019). In online shopping most popular goods purchased were clothes or sport products. According to the British Retail Consortium new figures indicates the amount of empty shops in city centres due to the increase in online shopping (Sweney, 2019). It can be said that innovation has a significant effect on businesses and entrepreneurs. The way in which business operates has changed due to innovation and entrepreneurial orientation. The novel COVID-19 pandemic has forced businesses to shift most of their operations ranging to employee working platforms, consumer engagement, payment services, marketing, and monitoring supply chain in order to remain in business as well as remain competitive. Such innovation is defined as the improvement and use of novel thoughts or behaviours in organizations displayed in terms of novel good, service or technique of production or a new market (Pérez-Luño, Wiklund and Cabrera, 2011).

1.2 Research Problem

Baumol (2002) argued that entrepreneurial innovation was the right national competitive advantage source. For Baumol entrepreneurs were needed when introducing novel ventures that broke with established development paths and undermined established competencies. Consistent with this, in a similar study, Nagy et al. (2016) find out several disruptive innovations that were introduced by entrepreneurial firms, like biotechnology, the personal computer and internet search engines (Autio et al., 2014). Despite survey showing high penetration rate on internet and 93% of the UK households had and used internet (Statista, 2020) as well as 45 million active users of social media in 2019, success rate of online business remain low. Survey conducted by Chivasa and Hurasha (2016) showed that significantly low number of Small and Medium businesses (SMEs) have set up operations ranging from e-marketing, consumer engagement, distribution system, and payment services, however adoption and acceptance rate of the platform remain considerably low. For instance, despite extensive awareness and marketing, shoppers in the UK expressed reservation in shopping for commodities such as groceries and other household product. It can be said that an entrepreneur can affect the business in a positive or negative way. For instance, when the development of the technology and the emergence of new online businesses are considered, there are numerous barriers and challenges for entrepreneurs and it is an entrepreneur’s role to deal with these challenges. One of the challenges that entrepreneurs face, regardless of which business is involved, is gender equality. Moreover, there are also other challenges for entrepreneurs when running a business. Especially, considering the increasing interest on online businesses there are new barriers for entrepreneurs to face. This study as such, sets out to evaluate the various strategies engaged on by entrepreneurs when it comes to online businesses.

1.3 Research Aim and Objectives

The study aims to evaluate the strategies that are significant for online entrepreneurship as well as the various barriers faced by entrepreneurs limiting the setting up of effective online businesses. Among the main study objectives include:

1.3.1 Research objectives

To conduct a critical review of the literature on online entrepreneurship, businesses, and strategies

To evaluate the relevant entrepreneur strategies for successful online businesses

To investigate the challenges and barriers faced by entrepreneurs in developing online businesses

To examine barriers faced by online entrepreneurs in the UK in developing a successful business

1.3.2 Research Questions

What are some of the relevant entrepreneurial strategies of successful development of online businesses?

What challenges and barriers do entrepreneurs face in developing online businesses?

1.4 Rationale of Study

The emergence and rampant development of technology has significantly impacted the emergence of online businesses which present a significantly new aspect in the business environment. While entrepreneurs are effectively informed with regards to various strategies of setting up and developing businesses in the traditional business environment, the online domain comes with new opportunities as well as challenges that require effective consideration for business success. This study in establishing some of the necessary entrepreneurial strategies for developing online businesses as well as shedding a light on the various barriers and challenges of online entrepreneurship provides significant insight that can be adopted by entrepreneurs all across the globe for more successful online ventures. This would subsequently enhance the development of more business opportunities all across the globe eventually impacting an improved global economy.

1.5 Summary

Online platforms have been lauded as the future avenues of conducting business. The rise of social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, and Twitter has pushed organisations to take advantage of the platform to reach out to the potential consumers, engage consumers’ concerns, market their products and brand, as well as exploring consumers’ need and preferences. In the following literature review, the entrepreneurial orientation and its strategies adopted by businesses entities to capture the growing opportunities in online platforms. Moreover, different chapters in subsequent sections each give insight related to entrepreneurial orientation, entrepreneurial strategies, and challenges as roadmap of achieving research aim and objectives as well as answering research questions in a concise and adequate manner.

Chapter 2: Literature Review

2.0 Introduction

It can be said that the competition in business environment increased compared to past. Especially the increasing attention on online businesses makes more firms to move their business to online platforms. This created new challenges for entrepreneurs in online spaces. In this literate review, entrepreneurial orientation and its meaning will be analysed. The strategies that are entrepreneurial in online platforms will be examined. Moreover, the challenges that entrepreneurs face in online businesses will be discussed. Lastly, determining factors effecting entrepreneurial achievement in online platforms will be analysed.

2.1 Entrepreneurial meaning

The entrepreneur is defined as the individual who plays a part in the creation of new businesses, bringing novel products to market, or improving new production processes. (Nijkamp, 2003). Having entrepreneurial approach in online businesses is extremely important for capturing achievement. Because there are numerous liabilities that an entrepreneur has and the way of an entrepreneur running a business or taking decision could affect the barriers that an organization faces in an important way.

2.2 Entrepreneurial orientation

There have been different studies emerged related to entrepreneurship an entrepreneurial orientation (EO). According to Wiklund and Shepherd (2005) on the strategy and entrepreneurship, EO increases the performance of a firm but the empirical results are different. The relationship between EO and performance different depending on the business types. For instance, in their studies Lumpkin and Dess (1996) put forward that internal and external factors to the firm may affect the relationship between EO and performance. Moreover, EO and its effect on performance is also changes depending on different types of environments (external factors) (Wiklund and Shepherd, 2005). Entrepreneurship is a well-known term and it is usually considered as something naturally good, something firms should always maintain. In their studies related to value of the entrepreneurship Dess, Lumpkin, and Covin (1997) put forward that press encourages the belief that entrepreneurship is good. For this reason, managers may face with significant pressures to behave in a more entrepreneurial way to increase or continue the performance of their companies. According to some authors, it is argued that EO leads to continuous high performance or effects the firms in the short-term (Wiklund, 1999). In a study Covin and Lumpkin (2011) argued that with the entrepreneurial orientation construct and its theoretical acceptance, entrepreneurship is considered as an overall strategic posture rather than singular activity like initiation of a new innovation. Moreover, firms with entrepreneurial orientation are the ones which entrepreneurial behaviour recurring (Wales, 2016). Entrepreneurial orientation is related to the processes, practices, and decision-making actions for a new entry. In a study conducted by Madhoushi et al. (2011) put forward that a firm with entrepreneurial orientation is the one that focuses on engaging in product-market innovation. There have been different studies emerged related to entrepreneurial orientation in firms. The findings of the study conducted by Kreiser & Davis (2010) and Frank et al. (2010), it is argued that entrepreneurial firms frequently face complex and turbulent external environments. These environments are the ones that efficient for obtaining and spreading new information. When a firm is more entrepreneurial it means the firm engages in environmental scanning in a more proactive and extensive way (Wang, 2008). When it comes to technology-based entrepreneurs’ internet is one of the most crucial factors to examine. In the next section technology-based entrepreneurs will be analysed, the key challenges and strategies in online platforms for entrepreneurs will be examined.

2.3 Entrepreneurial strategies Used by Businesses

It is also crucial subject to consider that an entrepreneur must have strategies to run the business in an efficient way. To extend this in detail, new businesses create more challenges and require new ways of thinking. Therefore, it becomes a more complex subject for entrepreneur to run a business due to the requirements of new strategies. One of the problems is that the business environment becomes more and more turbulent and global. This continuing change creating new ways of doing business and requires new ways of solving problems (Evans and Volery, 2001). For the result of the studies it is found that entrepreneurial firms are different from other traditional firms from the perspective of innovation, risk taking, and pro-action. Scholars started to study the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and entrepreneurial performance to find out is it possible with these unique characteristics to affect the success of enterprises. For the studies scholars came up with different conclusions. For some studies, results indicate that entrepreneurial orientation can improve entrepreneurial performance significantly. Others put forward that entrepreneurial orientation could have negative or no effect for the entrepreneurial performance. The main reason for the distinct conclusions is the dynamic and uncertain industry environment. The success of new enterprises is depending on different entrepreneurial orientations, overcoming the limitation of needed resources and selecting the convenient entrepreneurial strategy (Gao et al., 2018). The emergence of new digital technologies like mobile computing, cloud computing, social media and more has led to transformation in entrepreneurial processes and outcomes as well as in the way of dealing with uncertainty. New types of digital tools such as crowd funding systems, digital maker spaces and social media platforms have enabled pursuing entrepreneurship in more collective way. Digital platforms, digital infrastructure is known as digital technology tools and systems that enable communication and cooperation for supporting innovation and entrepreneurship. Many digital tools played a part in democratization of entrepreneurship. For instance, crowd sourcing and crowd funding systems facilitate entrepreneurs when it comes to engaging with customers and investors when acquiring variety of resources on a global scale. The emergence of new digital tools has been assistance to entrepreneurs and their activities (Nambisan, 2017).

2.4 Key challenges for e-commerce entrepreneurs

Considering these wide range of available resources in online platforms there are also numerous challenges for e-commerce entrepreneurs. One of the particular challenges that affect e-commerce entrepreneurs including taxation of products and services that sold on the internet, theft related to identity and fraud, new domain names and their introduction, Internet and its international management. Another challenge is that the ability of young venture owners and their capability to recognize a highly competitive environment and change their strategic orientation proactively in order to thrive and to have sustainable place in the market (Gundry and Kickul, 2001). For instance, when online clothing products selling companies considered new tools in e-commerce changing the fashion industry and it is highly crucial for firms to come up with new strategies to adapt that environment. In the rise of e-commerce social networks and apps are examples for this challenging environment. There are many platforms that can be used for online clothing shopping such as Instagram, fashion and lifestyle blogs, and apps like Depop.These platforms have the addiction factor and makes customers to purchase continuously. Therefore, in clothing and fashion industry it is crucial for brands to focus on app functionalities (Cecilio, 2015). For the result of the studies it is estimated that almost three out of every four e-business ventures fail due to fact that insufficient understanding technology and unsatisfactory business planning (Gundry and Kickul, 2001).

2.5 Determining factors effecting entrepreneurial achievement

When analysing entrepreneurship, there are various factors that can be considered for the success of the business. It can be said that there are numerous challenges and barriers that an entrepreneur face in the business environment. As mentioned before an entrepreneur is the person who explores and measures a new situation in the environment and guides these adjustments. The entrepreneur searches for opportunities in the market. Innovation is the key tool for entrepreneurs who mean that the entrepreneur takes advantage of the change for a new opportunity for different business and service. Development of a novel idea is considered as the first challenge for every entrepreneur. Exploring the right business opportunity or developing an idea in a creative way is a challenging task. In order to, success of the business entrepreneur must have an ability to see what others cannot see. What makes the difference is when an entrepreneur sees the problem as an opportunity while others sees as a problem. However, seeing opportunities is the first step. The business challenge is related to having an ability to turn the opportunity into a business idea. (Kanchana, Divya and Beegom, 2013) For instance, some of the common difficulties faced by entrepreneurs are related to external economic environment, life-cycle of the venture, product and its industry, management problems and personality of the entrepreneur. When more organizations start running business in the arena of electric commerce, more researches required for examining how these firms effectively design and integrate new venture processes and practices. In order to build a knowledge based on this rapidly growing sector of the economy some significant questions are needed. For analysing e-commerce entrepreneurship, the basis of a research started. In this research, in order to understand entrepreneurship several questions asked to CEO’s. As can be seen in the below there are some examples of question that is asked to CEO’s. For instance, one of the examining questions were ‘’what degree of entrepreneurial proclivity required in e-commerce organizations?’’. For this question most of the CEO’s in the study put forward that they need to focus on staying ahead of the customer. CEO’s responded this question as ‘’it is necessity to know customers and their needs better than themselves’’. They also put forward that, it is necessity for CEO’s to be forward than customers in both technology and in getting advantage of that technology. In another question it is asked that ‘’how do entrepreneurs pursue the external relationship on which they focus?’’. For this question, one CEO put forward that as an organization they believe in the Japanese Keiretsu concept and they have long-term supplier value. When they are in rushing the supplier staff gives them priority. When a problem happens, they again make it right. The CEO knows their skills and limitations. This efficient relationship makes it easier for organization in terms of running the business and provides advantage (Gundry and Kickul, 2001). As can be seen, numerous studies on e-commerce entrepreneurship have been made and analysed. The findings of the researches indicate different results. One of the significant finding showed that traditional entrepreneurship has changed due to emergence of new technologies. Moreover, findings showed that especially e-commerce in fashion industry has changed and this forced entrepreneurs to use new strategies to run the business.

2.6 Research Gap

It can be said that there are several challenges in running business online. Moreover, the increasing attention on online business creates new ways of dealing with problems for entrepreneurs. Especially, young venture owners are struggling in running business on online platforms. Mainly because the high interest on e-commerce created new ways of doing business and this created new challenges for entrepreneurs. Online clothing products selling companies affected from e-commerce and it changed the fashion industry and pushed firms to find new strategies for online business environment. In the following methodology part, the entrepreneurial orientation in online retail, clothing sector will be studied. Moreover, the online business clothing sector in the UK will be analysed.

Chapter 3: Research Methodology

3.0: Introduction

Research methodology includes the description of the actual methods to be utilized in the conduction of the actual study process in order to be able to derive inferable findings. According to Kumar (2019), the adoption of social perspective in the various activities and endeavours that comprise the research work clearly defines what research methodology is. The chapter sequentially outlines the procedures as well as other activities that are involved in collection of data to produce information useful in deriving inferences regarding the topic of study from the relevant available sources. As such within this chapter, a discussion of the research approach, research method, data collection methodology as well as the analysis method and ethical consideration will be carried out as well as justification of adoption to this study.

3.1: Research Approach

A research approach refers to a procedural plan that consists of the broad assumptions which are necessary in concluding the course of the research (Woo et al. 2017). Three major research approaches are always considered depending on the nature of the research, including; the deductive approach, inductive approach and abdicative approach. The deductive approach would largely tests the validity of any noticeable assumption. The approach starts with simple facts, referred to as hypotheses, which have to be supported or rejected in the course of the research. The basis of deductive reasoning is the premise, before proceeding to the inference (Silverman, 2016). On the other hand, the inductive approach does not involve development of the hypotheses rather; the approach starts from the aims, research questions, and objectives as the genesis of the research process. Notably, an evaluation of the barriers of online entrepreneurship is constructed on the research aim and objectives (Tjora 2018). This study focused on examining the challenges faced by entrepreneurs in setting up and successfully implementing online-based businesses. It hold premises of using aa generalised basis on barriers faced in adoption and implementation of the platforms by shifting from traditional way of doing business to online oriented. Building from this, inductive approach is best suited for the study.

3.2: Research Method

A research method refers to a systematic plan that can be used in conducting research. Three common methods exist to guide researchers especially in social sciences, these include: quantitative, qualitative, and mixed method research. The three highlight platforms that establish the grounds for a collection of tools to be used in a research process (Mackey and Gass 2015; Silverman 2016; Taylor et al. 2015). The qualitative research however is largely an explorative research that garners the understanding of the phenomenon through reasons, motivations, and opinions. It is used in availing insights linked to the research problem and helps in developing ideas concerning the research aims and objectives and as such highlights the most suitable research method for use in the current study. Unlike the qualitative research that demands delving into the underlying factors of a problem capturing ways in which such elements affect the bigger research problems, quantitative approach express the core variables statistically (Bryman, 2017; Basias, and Pollalis, 2018). However, quantitative research holds the statistical and numerical aspect quantifying the relationship of variables to the problem (Brannen, 2017). In this study, quantitative approach was followed. The choice of the approach was based on the fact that directive given out by the UK government on novel COVID 19 pandemic restricted research from directly engaging with participants. Additionally, quantitative approach gives a wider and clear view of influence of various factors on online businesses setting a platform for further exploration. In this study, quantitative approach was employed.

3.3: Research Design

Research design largely denotes the strategy chosen for integrating significant components behind a study in a logical and coherent way. This ensures that that the research takes note of the research problem while forging a blueprint meant for collection, measurement as well as analysis of data. In the evaluation of the challenges and barriers of online business entrepreneurship, the research has a pool of options with regards to the research designs (Marczyk et al. 2017). First, the action research design follows a cycle where the exploratory stance is effectively adopted. This brings in the essence of understanding the problem before producing an interventional strategy. The action research design fosters pragmatic as well as solution-driven research, which is better than simply testing various theories.

3.4: Data Collection Method

The research process has already taken note of the quantitative research method, which is equally of the explorative nature. The process equally takes note of the COVID 19 pandemic measures, which forbids the free interaction of the participants in case of an interview or a questionnaire survey. In an effort to establish the appropriate data collection method for the research process, the research had to take into a number of assumptions. First, it would be presumed that the primary data research is convenient in establishing the most convincing barriers faced by the online entrepreneurs. Secondly, it is assumed that the targeted entrepreneurs have a reliable access to both the mobile and internet technologies for them to have an online engagement. Finally, it would be presumed that soliciting the primary contacts for the entrepreneurs have an impact on the response of the entrepreneurs to the research process. Therefore, in the response to establish the entrepreneurial strategies of online businesses and the barriers online businesses face in terms of entrepreneurial performance, it was more convenient for the research to consider conducting an online questionnaire survey. The questionnaire accessed through an online platform provided an opportunity to the online entrepreneurs to share their experiences and strategies being used in combating the challenges in the business. An online survey is believed to be faster, which means over 1000 responses would easily be completed in several hours. The survey is essentially accurate and provides the necessary insights. It is equally cost effective and offers a faster analysis.

3.5: Sampling Strategy

The research is essentially focused on tapping into the entrepreneurial experience with the online businesses. This means that the focus group constitutes the young online entrepreneurs who are running online businesses, and can therefore have an access to a reliable mobile and internet technology. Therefore, the most convenient sampling strategy that would be used in the context is the purposive sampling. The latter is essentially judgmental, subjective and equally selective, which makes it reliable on the nature of the judgment that would be made by the researcher. Purposive sampling is never random and largely looks into the most specific characteristics attached to the population of interest. Among the approaches used under purposive sampling, the research process would be more comfortable with the homogenous approach, which relies on such sample units like cases or people said to have similar traits or characteristics. Among some of the similar characteristics, the research was more interested in online entrepreneurs aged above 20 years, and who must have operated the business for at least 1 year. Additionally, the targeted population was Small and Medium enterprises operating within the UK. The period is deemed enough for the entrepreneur to have experienced the positive side of the business, and the imminent barriers that one is likely to encounter. In general, purposive sampling, and more so under the homogenous approach, has a common weakness of lack of representation of the general population.

3.7: Data Collection Process

Conducting an online survey can both be demanding and interesting at the same time. This research found it necessary and convenient to make use of one of the online platforms, which is surveymonkey. The latter is known for providing a large platform for collection of statistics on politics, business and economy among other sectors. First, the research finds it necessary to alert the potential respondents over the essence and availability of the survey and the platform to be used. This would be made possible by making a post on social media platforms indicating the goal of the research, the researcher, an email that any interested party would respond through and the platform that would be used in the online survey. Pertinent platforms that would tap into a good number of the online entrepreneurs include Facebook and Twitter. Secondly, the research assessed the response from online entrepreneurs who would share feedback through either business or personal emails. Depending on the kind of the rejoinder, the researcher would quickly assess whether the participant is willing to participate in the survey or not. For those that are willing, the researcher would send an email attaching the written consent form and the participant information sheet. The consent form declares the capacity of the researcher in protecting the contacts; in this case the email-addresses, and observe anonymity and confidentiality. The participant information sheet would share details regarding the research including the research goals, and what is expected at the end of the research. While awaiting the confirmation from the participants, the researcher would create a web link to the surveymonkey platform and post the questions to be responded to. The research process only needed 50 respondents. Based on the number of responses to the consent form and the participant information sheet, the researcher would reply to the emails with the web link to the surveymonkey platform while indicating the date and time the survey would start. The email would specify the nature of the questionnaire, which is closed-ended, and the number of questions as well. Upon the eve of the research, the researcher would only tap into the active respondents, take a count and await the results in 24 hours. After the survey, the outcome from the surveymonkey would be extended to the analysis stage of the research process before making a conclusion.

3.8 Data Analysis

Data analysis is essentially a processed utilized in cleaning, transformation, as well as modelling of data for the purposes of discovering meaningful information that would be utilized in the decision making process. Because the data collected is of quantitative nature, the research finds it meaningful to make use of the statistical analysis. The latter covers a scrutiny of the data sample while insisting on the frequency, the correlation, the statistical summary and even regression.

Chapter 4: Findings and Analysis

The research process relied on the report established by the survey monkey platform, which hosted the online survey. Based on the findings, 103 participants had shown interest when the post was made but only 89 of them replied via the email. 61 confirmed their knowledge of the research and approved the consent, and 57 respondents clicked on the web link and made access to the surveymonkey platform. Only 54 respondents completed the survey with 3 leaving the survey half-way. The findings were grouped into four significant categories, which included the business profile (demographic), online entrepreneurial strategies, challenges, and barriers to business success and business solution. Based on the business profile, the research was keen on the age of the person running the business, the age of the business and the industry that covers the business.

The findings below shows the participants demographic

Business type

Based on the findings, it is clear enough that young people aged between 18-35 owned online businesses. However, the figures spread out in the first four years with only 5 businesses to have existed over five years. Among the industries, the transport sector has caught more attention of the online business, which presumably attracts the online booking system and ticketing. Hospitality is also on the forefront in terms of adopting the online platform.

The idea of adopting the online platforms among the entrepreneurs is in tandem with the findings from the literature review, which taps into the essence of businesses in tapping into innovative ways that would enhance performance. The concept of entrepreneurial orientation still applies to the online businesses that have to adopt the strategic posture which is needed in harnessing the product market. While pursuing business performance, the review equally indicated that the internet technology plays the most fundamental role in terms of making the entrepreneurs reach out to a larger market. The second section of the findings touches on the online entrepreneurial strategies believed to have made the entrepreneurs to enter the online platform, and run the business smoothly. Questions 4 to 10 take note of the findings on the business strategies used by entrepreneurs in entering and running the online businesses.

E-business strategies

From the findings, it is evident that there are several reasons that must have pushed most of the entrepreneurs to the online platform. Most of them have considered the online business for marketability reasons. A good number still believe that online business is more flexible and profitable at the same time.

Apart from the reasons that make entrepreneurs to believe in online business, it is also apparent that there are fundamental strategies that must have been used to enter, and even run the online business. Social media marketing is dominant among the online entrepreneurs. Perhaps, such platforms like those that Facebook and Twitter are given for free as businesses find an opportunity of reaching out to an extensive market. In addition, businesses also find it appropriate to make use of the websites in running the operations, with some of them presumed to be aligned to the ordering functionality, ticketing and even making sales among others. The graph below presents the strategies and their dominance in the UK business environment.

Major of the participants held that social media was the most convenient platform for venturing and conducting online business. This is in line with the findings by Sulistiyani, S. and Sudirjo (2020) indicating that consumers use social media platforms to make informed purchase decisions. The findings also place e-commerce websites, content marketing, and email marketing as significant and leading approaches to online businesses. On been asked to rate the strategy based on meeting the goals and expectations set by the business, participants held different views. Majority (30) individuals stating that the approach aligned with the bigger organisational mission while only 2 participants holding being below standards. In term of recommending respective strategy to other business start-up, approximately a third saying yes, they would while others holding reservation.

Challenges encountered

Figure 4 captures the participants’ responses on the challenges faced while conducting business online, majority of the participants listed operational and competition, 70.58% and 72.55% respectively, as major challenges they faced. According to Winter (2012), rise of cyberstructure has open opportunities to business ventures. However, because of the uniqueness compared to traditional business environment, understanding of the core variables as well as culture associated to it rmain limited. In addition, technology associated to e-commerce changes rapidly. From instance, at one time MySpace dominated social media being synonymous with internet in some society to internet but currently very few people use it. Similarly, more young people are shifting to such platforms as TikTok and Instagram. As such, one can argue that demands business entities to constantly innovate to catch social media trend. According to Savrul et al. (2014), ease of entry into the industry with little initial capital required has led entrepreneurs to mop the e-commerce market heighten competition. Similarly, as indicated by Kwilinski et al. (2019) and Lodder & Murray (2017), e-commerce is not strictly regulated. However, under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR-EU), businesses operating within the European Union (EU) are required to protect customers’ data, meaning that any private and confidential data is a responsible of an organisation if misused or mishandled (Goldberg et al., 2019).

Factors affecting negatively growth of online business

Participants kept indicating customer retention as a major issue affecting growth of online businesses. From table 4, participants who viewed customer retention a major challenge were 70.58%. The aspect of consumer loyalty was seen as low attributable to lack of contact interactivity and engagement between consumers and business entities but rather consumers are driven mostly by convenience and customisation (Alshibly, 2015; Pham, and Ahammad, 2017). On the other hand, participants noted not being able to have develop a long-term growth plans. Others factors that rate high as limiting elements included having ideal prospects, appropriate platforms, and marketing strategy. The findings by Öğüt and Onur Taş (2012) showing that individuals aged below 30 years spend approximately 5 hours a day on social media platforms opened opportunities for businesses entities to reach out through online marketing for potential customers. The shift of the consumer behaviour and growth of social media platforms has led to businesses innovating to take advantage of the market segment. This is because; entrepreneurial orientation reflects the behaviours of entrepreneurs like innovation, enterprising and risk taking (Arshad et al., 2014). Entrepreneurial orientation is related to a firm’s strategic orientation, obtaining particular entrepreneurial aspects of decision-making styles, and methods. For the result of the studies, it is found that with entrepreneurial orientation it is more likely for small firms or new ventures to perform better than competitors and improve the performance of the firm. From the findings, entrepreneurial orientation reflects the way a firm operates. Entrepreneurial orientation can be especially a crucial measurement when it comes the way a firm is organized to understand and take advantage of market opportunities. Considering this information especially on online businesses having an entrepreneurial orientation could influence the business in a positive way (Li, Huang and Tsai, 2009). For instance, with strong entrepreneurial orientation finding gaps and opportunities in the market could lead firm to next level. When online clothing sector is considered as more people start purchasing goods from online these opportunities can be game changing for the business.

Chapter 5: Conclusions

Over the past decade, businesses have shifted their operations to online platforms and at their same seen emergence of online-based business. It growth has been exponentially over the same time with such platforms as social media and e-marketing playing an important role. Currently, business industries range from shopping, store, and shipping, travel and tourism, entertainment, building apps, digital course, and data analysis have emerged. Similarly, popularity of virtual businesses that are internet depended has been pushed by consumer satisfaction with services and products offered. Scholars argue that the rise and growth of online businesses is attributable to heighten consumer engagement with products and organisations, being able to research, review, comment, and engage with other consumers that result in unbiased information and review on the product. However, despite huge potential for existing businesses and entrepreneurs shown by opportunities held by online platforms, the adoption and implementation of online-based business has been slowed particularly in the UK. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the challenges faced by online businesses, focusing on the UK market. In order to address the problem, this study employed online survey where 57 responded to social media invitation while 51 completed the survey. From the literature, business modelling and strategy goes a long way in informing the success or failure of a business. Unlike traditional business platforms and environment built around physical address and entities as well as characterised with face with face customers and employees, online business especially those that have all their business activities online lacks direct interaction and connectedness among the stakeholders. Its young nature following it emergence barely over two decade ago, online business lacks deep strategy, scope, and discussion on the environment. From the findings, the major concern is business adopting similar strategies and approaches in conducting their activities and operations as traditional businesses. Notably, online environment brings in significantly new purviews and ideologies towards organizational culture, consumer purchasing behaviour, demographic variables, consumer and employees engagements, and environmental and government regulations. Therefore, as noted by the participants, it demands adopting approach.

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