Page 30 - Cambridge IGCSE Business Studies

3 Enterprise, business growth

and size

Introduction
Objectives
Do you know anyone who has their own business? Maybe a member of your family
In this chapter you will
or a friend? Many businesses start from small beginnings. A person has an idea for a
learn about:
business. A bank or members of their family loan them some money to get started.
■ entrepreneurs and enterprise Before they know it, the business is growing fast, and they need to employ other
■ business plans people to help them. In this way, both large and small businesses play an important
part in the economy of a country.
■ how to measure business size
■ why some businesses grow In this chapter you will learn about the people who are responsible for business start-
ups and the importance of these to the economies of the world. You will also look at
■ why some businesses fail.
why and how governments, including your country’s government, support business

start-ups through a variety of different financial and non-financial schemes.
Once a business exists, how do we work out its size? The next part of this chapter
looks at how to measure the size of a business, and the problems involved. Some
businesses decide to remain small. Other businesses set growth as an objective.
You will learn how businesses achieve their growth objective, the advantages and
KEY TERM
drawbacks of growth and why some businesses fail.
Entrepreneur: an individual
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who has an idea for a business
takes the financial risk of starting Enterprise and entrepreneurship
and managing a new business.
New businesses are started by people called
entrepreneurs. They include people such

as Ekta Kapoor from India, Kagiso Mmusi
EXPLORE!
from Botswana, Mo Ibrahim from the Sudan,
Working in small groups, use
Richard Branson from the UK and Pan Shiyi
newspaper, magazines, library from China.
resources or the internet to
Although the ideas for a business are
research an entrepreneur from

your country, or one who your oft en different, entrepreneurs usually:
group thinks has had a big
influence on business activity ■ have an idea for a new business
in your country. Make sure all ■ are prepared to invest their own savings
groups are researching a diff erent
■ accept the risks of failure
entrepreneur, then prepare a
■ want to make all the decisions about the
short presentation to the rest
of your class about your chosen management of the business.
entrepreneur.

What is their name? What The idea for an enterprise – meaning a
qualifications and work experience project or business – may be any of the
did they have before going into following:
business? How did they start in
business? What business did they ■ a new idea for a good or service
start? What is the history of this

■ offering an existing good or service in a way
business? These are just some of that has not been off ered before
the things you could include in

your presentation. ■ offering an existing good or service in a new UK entrepreneur Richard Branson,
location. founder of the Virgin Group