Module 1

Personal Entrepreneurial Competencies (PECs)

CONTENT STANDARD PERFORMANCE STANDARD

The Learners demonstrate an The Learners shall be able to prepare an

understanding of one’s PECs in Computer activity plan that aligns with the PECs of a
Systems Servicing. practitioner/entrepreneur in computer
systems servicing.

Quarter I Time Allotment: 4 hours

In this module, you will learn more about entrepreneurship and the entrepreneurial
competencies related to Computer Systems Servicing. You will have a first-hand experience in
educational activities leading to assessment of your personal entrepreneurial competencies (PECs) and
the entrepreneurial competencies of a successful computer technician within your province. You will
also have several activities that will align your competencies with those of successful practitioners.
Moreover, this module will encourage you to think about entrepreneurship and its role in the business
community as well as in the economic and social development of an individual.

Understanding Entrepreneurs and Entrepreurship

Entrepreneurs are those with the skills and capabilities to see and evaluate business opportunities. They
are individuals who can strategically identify products or services needed by the community, and have
the capacity to deliver them at the right time and at the right place.

Entrepreneurs are agents of economic change; they organize, manage, and assume risks of a business.
Some of the good qualities of entrepreneurs are: opportunity-seeker, risk-taker, goal-setter, excellent
planner, confident problem-solver, hardworking, persistent and committed.

Entrepreneurship, on the other hand, is not just a simple business activity but a strategic process of
innovation and new product creation. Basically, entrepreneurship is both an art and science of
converting business ideas into marketable products or services to improve the quality of living.

Now that you have background knowledge about entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship, you can now
walk through in assessing your PECs. Always remember that successful entrepreneurs continuously
develop and improve their PECs.

Assessment Objectives
At the end of this module, you are expected to:

 identify areas for improvement, development, and growth,

 align your PECs according to your business or career choice, and
 Create a plan of action that ensures success in your business or career choice.

Assessment of Personal Entrepreneurial Competencies (PECs) and Skills vis-à-
vis a Practicing Entrepreneur in a Province

Entrepreneurial competencies refer to the important characteristics that should be possessed by an

individual in order to perform entrepreneurial functions effectively. In this module, you will learn some
of the most important characteristics, attributes, lifestyle, skills and traits of a successful entrepreneur
or an employee to be successful in a chosen career.
Important characteristics / traits / attributes of a good entrepreneur

1. Hardworking: One of the important characteristics of a good entrepreneur is hardworking. This

means working diligently and being consistent about it. Hardworking people keep improving
their performance to produce good products and/or provide good services.
2. Confident: Entrepreneurs have self-reliance in one’s ability and judgment. They exhibit self-
confidence to cope with the risks of operating their own business.
3. Disciplined: Successful entrepreneurs always stick to the plan and fight the temptation to do
what is unimportant.
4. Committed: Good entrepreneurs assume full responsibility over their business. They give full
commitment and solid dedication to make the business successful.
5. Ability to accept change: Nothing is permanent but change. Change occurs frequently. When
you own a business, you should cope with and thrive on changes. Capitalize on positive changes
to make your business grow.
6. Creative: An entrepreneur should be creative and innovative to stay in the business and in order
to have an edge over the other competitors.

7. Has the initiative: An entrepreneur takes the initiative. You must put yourself in a
position where you are responsible for the failure or success of your business.
8. Profit-oriented: An entrepreneur enters the world of business to generate profit or
additional income. The business shall become your bread and butter. Therefore, you
must see to it that the business can generate income.

Listed below are the important skills of a successful entrepreneur:

1. Excellent planner: Planning involves strategic thinking and goal setti ng to achieve
objectives by carefully maximizing all the available resources. A good entrepreneur
develops and follows the steps in the plans diligently to realize goals. A good
entrepreneur knows that planning is an effective skill only when combined with action.
2. Possesses people skills: This is a very important skill needed to be successful in any
kind of business. People skills refer to effective and effi cient communication and
establishing good relationship to the people working in and out of your business. In
day-to-day business transactions, you need to deal with people. A well-developed
interpersonal skill can make a huge difference between success and failure of the
business.
3. Sound decision maker: Successful entrepreneurs have the ability to think quickly and
to make wise decisions towards a pre-determined set of objectives. No one can deny
that the ability to make wise decisions is an important skill that an entrepreneur
should possess. Sound decisions should be based on given facts and information and
lead towards the pre-determined objectives.
 Module 2
ENVIRONMENT AND MARKET (EM)

CONTENT STANDARD PERFORMANCE STANDARD

The Learners demonstrate an The Learners shall be able to create a

understanding of the concepts of business vicinity map reflective of potential
environment and market and how they computer system’s servicing market in the
relate to the field of computer system’s locality/town.
servicing, particularly in one’s
town/municipality.

Aspiring entrepreneur need to explore the economic, cultural, and social conditions prevailing in
an area. Needs and wants of the people in a certain area that are not met may be considered business
opportunities. Identifying the needs of the community, its resources, available raw materials, skills, and
appropriate technology can help a new entrepreneur seize business opportunities.

To be successful in any kind of business venture, potential entrepreneurs should look closely at
the environment and market. They should always be watchful of existing opportunities and constraints,
and to take calculated risks. The opportunities in the business environment are factors that provide
possibilities for a business to expand and make more profit. Constraints, on the other hand, are factors
that limit business growth, hence reduce the chance of generating profit. One of the best ways to
evaluate opportunities and constraints is to conduct a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and
Threats (SWOT) Analysis.

SWOT Analysis is a managerial tool used to assess the environment. It is used to gather important
information which is then used in strategic planning. Strengths and weaknesses are internal in an
organization. They relate to resources owned by an organization that you have control over and also the
extent of its marketing.
Opportunities and threats exist in the external environment. Opportunities relate to the market,
new technologies, and the external factors such as government policies, climate, and trends. Threats
replace what the competitors are doing. It also includes legal and other constraints.

Now that you have read some important considerations to explore to be successful in any
business, you are now ready to explore more about the environment and market.

To begin with, let’s find out the competencies that you will master as you finish this module.

Objectives

At the end of this module, you are expected to:

 identify what is of “value” to the customer,
 identify the customer to sell to,
 explain what makes a product unique and competitive,
 apply creativity and innovative techniques to develop marketable products, and
 employ a unique selling proposition (USP) to a product and/or service.
 When we talk of product development, we are referring to a process of making a new product
to be sold by a business or enterprise to its customers. Product development may involve modification
of an existing product or its presentation, or formulation of an entirely new product that satisfies a
newly-defined customer’s needs, wants and/or a market place.

The term development in this module refers collectively to the entire process of identifying a
market opportunity, creating a product to appeal to the identified market, and testing, modifying, and
refining the product until it becomes ready for production.

There are basic, yet vital questions that you can ask yourself about product development. When
you find acceptable answers to them, you may now say that you are ready to develop a product and/or
render services.

These questions include the following:

1. For whom are the product/services aimed at?
2. What benefit will the customers expect from product/service?
3. How will the product/service differ from the existing brand? From its competitor?
In addition, needs and wants of the people within an area should also be taken into big
consideration. Everyone has his/her own needs and wants. However, each person has different concepts
of needs and wants. Needs in business are the important things that an individual cannot live without in
a society. These include:

1. basic commodities for consumption,

2. clothing and other personal belongings,
3. shelter, sanitation and health, and
4. education.
Basic needs are essential to an individual to live with dignity and pride in a community. These
needs can obviously help you generate business ideas and subsequently to product development.

Wants are desires, luxury and extravagance that signify wealth and expensive way of living.
Wants or desires are considered above all the basic necessities of life. Some examples of wants or
desires are: fashion accessories, expensive shoes and clothes, travels, eating in an expensive restaurant,
watching movies, concerts, having luxurious cars, wearing expensive jewelry and perfume, living in
impressive homes, among others.

Needs and wants of people are the basic indicators of the kind of business that you may engage
in because it can serve as the measure of your success. Some other points that might be considered in
business undertakings are the kind of people, their needs, wants, lifestyle, culture and tradition, and
their social orientation.

To summarize, product development entirely depends on the needs and wants of the
customers. Another important issue to deal with is the key concepts of developing a product. The
succeeding topic shall enlighten you about the procedure in coming up with a product.

Concepts of Developing a Product

Concept development is a critical phase in the development of a product. In this stage, the needs of the
target market are identified, and competitive products are reviewed before the product specifications
are defined. The product concept is selected along with an economic analysis to come up with an outline
of how a product is being developed. Figure 3 shows the stages of concept development of a product.
The process of product development follows the following stages:

1. Identify customer needs: Using survey forms, interviews, researches, focus group discussions, and
observations, an entrepreneur can easily identify customers’ needs and wants. In this stage, the
information that can be possibly gathered are product specifications (performance, taste, size,
color, shape, life span of the product, etc.). This stage is very important because it would
determine the product to be produced or provided.

2. Establish target specifications: Based on customers' needs and reviews of competitive products,
you can now establish target specifications of the prospective new product and/or services. A
target specification is essentially a wish-list.

3. Analyze competitive products: It is imperative to analyze existing competitive products to provide

important information in establishing product or service specifications. Other products may exhibit
successful design attributes that should be emulated or improved upon in the new product or
service.
4. Generate product concepts: After having gone through with the previous processes, you may now
develop a number of productconcepts to illustrate the types of products or services that are
technically feasible and will best meet the requirements of the target specifications.

5. Select a product concept: Through the process of evaluation between attributes, a final concept is
selected. After the final selection, additional market research can be applied to obtain feedback
from certain key customers.

6. Refine product specifications: In this stage, product or services specifications are refined on the
basis of input from the foregoing activities. Final specifications are the result of extensive study,
expected service life, projected selling price among others are being considered in this stage.

7. Perform economic analysis: Throughout the process of product development, it is very important
to always review and estimate the economic implications regarding development expenses,
manufacturing costs, and selling price of the product or services to be offered or provided.

8. Plan the remaining development project: In this final stage of concept development, you can
prepare a detailed development plan which includes list of activities, necessary resources and
expenses, and development schedule with milestones for tracking progress.
Finding Value
People buy for a reason. There should be something in your product or service that would give
consumers a good reason to go back and buy more. There must be something that will make you the
best option for target customers; otherwise, they have no reason to buy what you are selling. This
implies further, that you offer something to your customers that will make them value your product or
service.

The value you incorporate in your product is called value proposition. Value proposition is a
believable collection of the most persuasive reasons why people should notice you and take the action
you’re asking for. It is what gets people moving, what makes people spend for your product or service.

Innovation
Innovation is the introduction of something new in your product or service. This may be a new
idea, a new method, or a new device. If you want to increase your sales and profit, you must innovate.
Some of the possible innovations for your products are change of packaging, improvement of taste,
color, size, shape, and perhaps price. Some of the possible innovations in providing services are
application of new and improved methods, additional featured services, and possibly freebies.

Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

Unique Selling Proposition is the factor or consideration presented by a seller as the reason that
one product or service is different from and better than that of the competition. Before you can begin to
sell your product or service to your target customers, you have to sell yourself in it. This is especially
important when your product or service is similar to your competitors.
USP requires careful analysis of other businesses' ads and marketing messages. If you analyze
what they say or what they sell, not just their product or service characteristics, you can learn a great
deal about how companies distinguish themselves from competitors.

Here's how to discover your USP and how to use it to increase your sales and profit:

1. Use empathy: Put yourself in the shoes of your customers. Always focus on the needs of the
target customers and forget falling in love with your own product or service. Always remember,
you are making/providing this product not for yourself but for the target customers to
eventually increase sales and earn profit. Essential question such as what could make them
come back and ignore competition, should be asked to oneself. Most possible answers may be
focused on quality, availability, convenience, cleanliness, and reliability of the product or
service.
2. Identify customer’s desires. It is very important for you to understand and find out what
drives and motivates your customers to buy your product or service. Make some effort to find
out, analyze and utilize the information that motivates the customers in their decision to
purchase the product or service.
3. Discover customer’s genuine reasons for buying the product. Information is very
important in decision making. A competitive entrepreneur always improve their products or
services to provide satisfaction and of course retention of customers. As your business grows,
you should always consider the process of asking your customers important information and
questions that you can use to improve your product or service.