Identifying entrepreneurship readiness for the application of the Lean Startup practices in the service industry – Case study Romania
Abstract
The Lean Startup approach revealed around 2011 came as a novelty in the field of entrepreneurial management. The abbreviated version of the principles that mold the entire concept, states that instead of spending years developing a product towards perfection, a product that in the end might not even be desired by the market, the entrepreneurs should use their time more productively in understanding what clients really want. They should shape their product during the development cycle so that it would satisfy the final consumer. Based on the interviews taken for this research, the conclusion is that private company owners and managers face great challenges but also important opportunities to develop their business and change the economic life of a nation towards sustainable growth. Even though not entirely understood and still looked upon with distrust, Lean Startup is seen as an interesting methodology by Romanian entrepreneurs in the service sector who responded to this study. When promoted by keen adapters, it will go on as a valid business methodology that can lead to eliminating waste and lower the failure rate even though, now, the more trusted approach is the traditional one where the customers are met at the end of the process, after the products or services have been delivered.
Keywords
References
Agilemethodology.org. (2008, October). The Agile Movement. Retrieved September 20, 2016, from Agilemethodology.org: http://agilemethodology.org/
Akcees.com. (2013, September 5). Tu ce faci pentru dezvoltarea antreprenoriatulu în România. Retrieved September 20, 2016, from Akcees.com: http://akcees.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Akcees-StudiuAntreprenoriat.pdf
Andreessen, M. (2012, December 03). Not every startup should be a Lean Startup or embrace the pivot. Retrieved September 20, 2016, from Gigaom.com: https://gigaom.com/2012/12/03/marc-andreessen-not-every-startup-should-be-a-lean-startup-or-embrace-the-pivot/?utm_source=social&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=gigaom
Barbu, P. (2015, May 15). Profilul antreprenorului român în primii 25 de ani după comunism. Retrieved September 20, 2016, from Cariereonline.ro: http://www.cariereonline.ro/articol/profilul-antreprenorului-roman-primii-25-de-ani-dupa-comunism
Blank, S. (2013, May). Why the Lean Start-Up Changes Everything. Harvard Business Review.
Blank, S. G. (2003). The Four Steps to the Epiphany: Successful Strategies for Products That Win. Raleigh, North Carolina: Lulu Enterprises Incorporated.
Blank, S. G., & Dorf, B. (2012). The Startup Owner's Manual: The Step-By-Step Guide for Building a Great Company. CA, USA: K & S Ranch Publishing LLC.
Burgstone, J. (2012, May 10). What's wrong with the Lean Start-up. Retrieved September 20, 2016, from Inc.com: http://www.inc.com/jon-burgstone/flaws-in-the-lean-start-up.html
Christensen, C. M. (2003). The Innovator's Dilemma: The Revolutionary Book That Will Change the Way You Do Business. New York: Harper Paperbacks.
Christensen, C. M., & Raynor, M. E. (2003). The Innovator's Solution: Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press.
Cooper, B., & Vlaskovits, P. (2010). The Entrepreneur's Guide to Customer Development, A "cheat sheet" to The Four Steps To The Epiphany. USA: Cooper-Vlaskovits.
Corbin, J., & Strauss, A. (2015). Basics of Qualitative Reserch, Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory, Fourth Edition. Los Angeles: SAGE Publications, Inc.
Croll, A., & Yoskovitz, B. (2013). Lean Analytics, Use Data to Build a Better Startup Faster. Sebastopol, California: O'Reilly Media.
Deborah, G. (2012, September 20). The Venture Capital Secret: 3 Out of 4 Start-Ups Fail. Retrieved September 08, 2016, from The Wall Street Journal: http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10000872396390443720204578004980476429190#articleTabs_comments%3D%26articleTabs%3Darticle
Duma. (2014). Promoting the Entrepreneurship Education in Europe. On-line Journal Modelling the New Europe, 67-79.
eDevTech. (n.d.). Waterfall Method. Retrieved September 20, 2016, from Modern Requirements by eDevTech: http://www.modernrequirements.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Waterfall-1.jpg
Eisenmann, T. R., Ries, E., & Dillard, S. (2012). Hypothesis-Driven Entrepreneurship: The Lean Startup. Harvard Business School Entrepreneurial Management Case No. 812-095.
Eyromania.ro. (2015, May). Antreprenorii vorbesc, Barometrul antreprenoriatului românesc 2015, ediția a 3-a. Retrieved September 20, 2016, from Eyromania.ro:
http://www.eyromania.ro/sites/default/files/attachments/ESO%202015.pdf
Finneran, J. (2013, April 01). The Fat Startup: Learn the lessons of my failed Lean Startup. Retrieved September 20, 2016, from Jihnffinneran.com: http://www.johnffinneran.com/blog/fat-startup-learn-the-lessons
Glletta, A. (2013). Mastering the Semi-Structured Interview and Beyond. New York and London: New York University Press. https://doi.org/10.18574/nyu/9780814732939.001.0001
Gothelf, J. (2013). Lean UX, Applying Lean Principles to Improve User Experience. Sebastopol, California: O'Reilly Media.
Griffith, E. (2014, September 25). Why startups fail, according to their founders. Retrieved September 20, 2016, from Fortune.com: http://fortune.com/2014/09/25/why-startups-fail-according-to-their-founders/
Gustafsson, A., & Qvillberg, J. (2012). Implementing Lean Startup Methodology. Gothenburg, Sweden: Department of Technology Management and Economics, Division of Innovation Engineering and Management, Chalmers University of Technology.
Hamrouni , A. D., & Akkari, I. (2012). The Entrepreneurial Failure: Exploring Links between the Main Causes of Failure and the Company life Cycle (Qualitative analysis using NVivo 7software). International Journal of Business and Social Science3.4, Special Issue.
Heitmann, J. (2014). The Lean Startup - A pragmatic view on its Flaws and Pitfalls. Twente, The Netherlands: University of Twente.
Hughey, D. (2009). Comparing Traditional Systems Analysis and Design with Agile Methodologies. Retrieved September 20, 2016, from The University of Missoury-St. Louis: http://www.umsl.edu/~hugheyd/is6840/waterfall.html
Humble, J., Moleski, J., & O'Reilly, B. (2014). Lean Enterprise, How High Performance Organizations Innovate at Scale. Sebastopol, California: O'Reilly Media.
Kelley D. cited by Zipkin, N. (2016, February 22). More Than Half of Adults Think They Have What It Takes to Start Their Own Business. Retrieved September 20, 2016, from Entrepreneur.com: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/271127
Kelley, D., Singer, S., & Herrington, M. (2016, February). Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, 2015/2016 Global Report. Retrieved September 20, 2016, from Gemconsortium.org: file:///C:/Users/PC/Downloads/gem-2015-2016-global-report-110416-1460370041.pdf
Klein, L. (2013). UX for Lean Startups, Faster, Smarter User Experience Research and Design. Sebastopol, California: O'Reilly Media.
Kortman, P. (2012, November 21). The problem with a Lean Startup: the Minimum Viable Product. Retrieved September 20, 2016, from Paulkortman.com/: http://paulkortman.com/2012/11/21/the-problem-with-a-lean-startup-the-minimum-viable-product/
Lewis-Kraus, G. (2014, May). No Exit: Struggling to Survive a Modern Gold Rush. WIRED Magazine.
Maurya, A. (2012). Running Lean, Iterate from Plan A to a Plan That Works. Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly Media Inc.
Moore, G. A. (2014). Crossing the Chasm, 3rd Edition: Marketing and Selling Disruptive Products to Mainstream Customers (Collins Business Essentials). New York: Harper Collins.
Mullins, J. W., & Randy, K. (2009). Getting to Plan B: Breaking Through to a Better Business Model. Brighton, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
Nilsen, G. T., & Ramm, N. A. (2015). Lean Startup: A success factor? A quantitative study of how use of the Lean Startup framework affects the success of Norwegian high-tech startups. Reprosentralen, Universitetet i Oslo.
Osterwalder, A., & Pigneur, Y. (2010). Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons.
Patz, M. (2013). Lean Startup – Adding an Experimental Learning. Twente, Netherlands: Universiteit Twente, Netherlands, and Technische Universität Berlin, Germany.
Ries, E. (2011). The Lean Startup, The movement that is transforming how new products are built and launched. Retrieved September 20, 2016, from Theleanstartup.com: http://theleanstartup.com/
Ries, E. (2011). The Lean Startup: How Constant Innovation Creates Radically Successful Businesses. London: Portofolio Penguin.
Scarlat, I. N. (2014, 03). Antreprenoriat în România. Retrieved September 20, 2016, from The Forum for Sustainable Development and Entrepreneurship: http://www.fsde.ro/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Dezvoltarea-ecosistemului-antreprenorial-rom%C3%A2nesc.pdf
Sommer, S. C., Loch, C. H., & Dong, J. (2008). Managing Complexity and Unforeseeable Uncertainty in Startup Companies: An Empirical Study. Organization Science 200920:1, 118-133.
Surowiecki, J. (2014, May 19). Epic Fails of the Startup World. The New Yorker.
Toma, A. (2015, 05 20). Top 5 probleme cu care se confruntă antreprenorii români sub 30 de ani. Retrieved September 20, 2015, from Cariereonline.ro: http://www.cariereonline.ro/articol/top-5-probleme-cu-care-se-confrunta-antreprenorii-romani-sub-30-de-ani
United States Department of Labour. (2016, April 28). Business Employment Dynamics. Retrieved September 4, 2016, from Bureau of Labour Statistics: http://www.bls.gov/bdm/entrepreneurship/entrepreneurship.htm
United States Small Business Administration. (2012, September). Advocacy: the voice of small business in government. Retrieved September 4, 2016, from SBA Office of Advocacy: https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/FAQ_Sept_2012.pdf
Wasserman, N. (2013). The Founder's Dilemmas: Anticipating and Avoiding the Pitfalls That Can Sink a Startup (Kauffman Foundation series on innovation and entrepreneurship). Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
York, J. L., & Danes, J. E. (Fall 2014). Customer Development, Innovation and Decision-Making Biases in the Lean Startup. Journal of Small Business Strategy24.2, 21-39.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.