3502FETQR-Introduction to Business
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Success story with vision and mission-
Jennifer Compton is a successful entrepreneur. She owns a large children’s retail

chain worth £80 million called Under 10s.
She first demonstrated her entrepreneurial skills when running a baby-sitting
agency whilst studying for her A levels at sixth for college. Then after working in a
small store making and selling children’s clothes in Preston, she started buying very
cheap housing in the Preston area. She used the properties to provide student
accommodation in Preston. After four years she sold her property business for £2.7
million.
Jenny then saw that the small store that she worked in earlier was for sale. She
bought it and began building her chain – Under 10s. The store had been run down
and needed a number of key changes to become profitable. She sourced a new and
exciting product range from a number of countries in South-East Asia to
complement her tailor-made clothes. She also employed young and flexible staff
who she motivated with her warm and enthusiastic brand of leadership.

Jenny worked very hard opening six new shops per year for five years in the North-
West and then 12 shops a year for 10 years nationally. She is now a respected

businessperson, the CEO of Under 10s and has a reputation for retail development.
She has recently started a consultancy business to help young people develop their
stores.
To motivate them she conducted a conference and started the conference by
narrating some real life examples with the attendees who also were the
prospective entrepreneurs, leaders, and managers.
She started sharing about the well known Bill Gates.
Bill Gates is the founder of the Microsoft Corporation, a worldwide leader in
software, services and solutions that helps people and businesses realize their full
potential, Bill Gates formed Microsoft in 1975, dropping out of Harvard University,

which might have been considered a risk at the time, to devote his energies to
software development.
His original vision was reported as ‘A computer on every desk and in every home’,
running Microsoft software. Bill was a visionary person and worked hard to achieve
this vision. In 1980, Gates made a deal with IBM to provide the MS-DOS operating
system on the new IBM PC for a fee of $50,000. However, he stipulated that he and
Microsoft held onto the copyright of the software. When the PC market took off,
Microsoft also sold MS-DOS to other PC manufacturers. Not long after, Microsoft
operating systems dominated the world.
In 1985, Gates released the Microsoft Windows operating system, similar to one
introduced by Apple® in 1984, taking what some might consider another risk.
Originally, some thought that the Apple version was better than Microsoft
Windows. However, the Apple operating system only ran on Apple machines,
whereas Microsoft Windows could run on a variety of PC-compatible machines.
Microsoft won the operating system market and was soon installed on nearly 90
per cent of the world’s personal computers. Gates went on to introduce further
products such as Windows Office programs like Word® and Excel.
In 1986, Microsoft was floated on the stock exchange. The company was valued at
$520 million of which Gates owned 45 per cent. As the company grew rapidly, the
share price soared. At one point, Gates’ share was worth over $100 billion. In 2000,
the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was set up to support philanthropic initiatives,
with Gates devoting a lot of his time to working with, and funding, a wide range of
charities.
The story about Bill Gates
Bill Gates was known for his passion for computer programming from a young age
and while at college. During his early years at Microsoft, he reportedly oversaw the
business detail, yet personally reviewed every line of code and often rewrote parts
of it if he felt it was needed. Gates was appointed as president of Microsoft in 1981.
He met regularly with senior and program managers, with a management style that
some may have found intimidating. He was passionate about the quality and
performance of Microsoft products and was reported as rigorous with his
employees in ensuring robust business strategies, to protect the company from
long-term risk. It was reported that Gates expected his employees to share his drive

and dedication, and that he challenged their ideas as part of the creative process,
testing out whether they were convincing. His competitive spirit drove Microsoft’s
success and the company’s strength was used to reinforce its dominance in the
marketplace.
Bill Gates stepped down as chairman of Microsoft in 2014 and was the richest
person in the world in 2015, with a net worth of $78.3 billion. His philanthropic
work, reported as totaling grants from the Foundation of $21.8 billion in 2015, and
to involve diplomacy and persuasion, has won many awards. He is known as one of
the most influential people of the 20th century.
Jennifer, after narrating this story found, the presents looked interested in knowing
more about her thoughts and future vision and mission. Looking at the enthusiasm,
she continued and narrated two more live examples with them, that they
appreciated a lot.

She shared-
Warren Buffett is one of the wealthiest individuals in the world. In 1964 he was

appointed CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, now a US multinational holding company.
The company owns businesses in a wide range of industrial sectors, such as
confectionery, retail, railways, home furnishings, vacuum cleaners, jewellery and
newspaper publishing, as well as several regional electric and gas utilities. In 2014,
the business was worth around $350 billion with the share price reaching $200,000
for the first time in August 2014.
Warren Buffett is known intonationally as an investment guru as a result of his
success in buying businesses and watching them grow. His leadership style is widely
reported as laissez- faire. He allows subsidiary heads lots of freedom. In his 2009
letter to shareholders he said, ‘We tend to let our many subsidiaries operate on
their own, without our supervising and monitoring them to any degree, and that
most managers ‘use the independence we grant them magnificently, rewarding our
confidence by maintaining an owner-oriented attitude that is seldom found in huge
organizations.”
Some people argue that a laissez-faire style of leadership results in low levels of
productivity. However, in the case of Berkshire Hathaway it was widely reported to
have worked well. This might be because Warren Buffett was effective in hiring

talented and well-motivated people to run the various businesses. He also gave
them complete autonomy and enough resources to enable them to meet company
objectives. However, if these employees needed guidance or support, Warren was
available for consultation. It was also widely reported that laissez-faire leadership
worked well because each business had its own culture, and each person appointed
by Warren understood the way that each particular business worked.
Source: adapted from www.berkshirehathaway.com
Jennifer, didn’t stop and continued motivating the listeners by sharing one more
live example that she herself was inspired about.
Right formula is a London-based sports marketing agency. It deals with clients who

want their businesses and products hospitality and events, and business-to-
business opportunities associated with Formula One racing. They organize

promotions, for customers who have included Hilton, BlackBerry and Sky Sports.
For example, Right Formula might organize an exclusive, intimate VIP hospitality
event as part of a grandstand programme for a client. A package might include
catering, grandstand seating, VIP transportation, arranging driver appearances,
access to show-cars and simulators, driving experiences and the organization of
merchandise and gifts.
The business was set up in 2009 by Robin Fenwick. Since then, Right Formula has
grown quickly and in 2013 turnover was €5.7 million with 20 staff employed. In
2014 the business featured in the Sunday Times Virgin Fast Track 100 companies
as the sixth fastest-growing company in the UK. Before setting up Right Formula,
Fenwick was employed by Sky Sports, marketing agency Octagon, McLaren and
then Hilton Hotels, where he was in charge of sports marketing. A few years later
Hilton was bought out and Fenwick decided to set up his own business, with Hilton
immediately prepared to become his first client.
The business went from strength to strength. In an interview in 2013 Fenwick
reported a really busy year where they had to increase the number of staff quite
quickly but still maintain quality. Fenwick suggested it was a challenge that a lot of
small businesses go through when they grow quite quickly. They need to manage
the growth effectively, especially in an industry like Formula One where reputation
is everything. He couldn’t take on too much and then let down the clients already

on their books. Despite the glamorous image of Formula 1, Fenwick acknowledged
that long working hours were required to be successful in business.
Source: adapted from www.rightformula.com
She wanted to go ahead but looking at the golden opportunity she took a break
and asked opinion from the listeners about one of her plans. She said, she is
planning for online recruitment process, which could be rigorous, and takesseveral
months to complete. This is in line of her vision of mass recruitment, training ad
staffing for globalization.
She planned three key stages, beginning with an online application.
1. Candidates have to complete an application form online. These are then
reviewed and successful candidates are invited to complete a short test, which is
also online.
2. If candidates do well on the test, they are then invited to participate in a video
interview, normally held via Skype. These consist of a set of questions that all
applicants are asked and often are competency-based questions. So, candidates
might be asked to describe a time when they dealt with a difficult customer, for
example. These interviews last around an hour and are conducted by a Manager.
3. Once the interviews get over, candidates will then be moved to the ‘offline’ stage
of the process. Candidates will be invited to group interviews at local stores where
they will be assessed by at least two people. Activities such as role plays are used
to assess suitability.
Many companies have their own training programme for graduates. The training
and development provided is revered across the industry and is often tailored to
the company’s needs. Training for Jennifer’s venture will start with an introduction
to the whole of the business, so that recruits understand the overall objective of
the business before delving into the detail of their specific business area. Recruits
are paired up with more experienced staff members so that they have all the
support they need. By offering numerous training opportunities and encouraging
their recruits to learn from colleagues. They encourage promotionsin less than two
years.
From the conference attendees, she got 60% applications showing interest to join
hands with her and be a part of her successful venture.