8. Answer these questions using information from the table.

1. What does success in business generally depend upon?

2. What are the main causes of failure in business?

3. Who usually starts their businesses earlier: men or women? Why?

4. Is the difference in male and female business activity large?

5. Where do people usually take money to start their business?

Interesting Statistics for Young Businessmen

What Is Required to Succeed
Hard work 52% Intelligence 21% Better product 10%	Experience 9% Personality 8%
Why Business Fail
Bad management 33 % Inadequate capital 21 % Lack of experience 16 % Lack of education 16 % Economic circumstances 13 %	Poor money management 11 % High interest rates 7 % Overspending 7 % Other 16 %
Start-ups: Who, When, Why
Average age of self-employment: 28 years Males 27 years Females 30 years Started business before age 40: 82 % Males 85 % Females 78 %	Reasons for self-employment Financial gain 3 % Independence 63 % Other 33 % Seed money for start-up came from Personal savings 41 % Bank loans 31 % Friends and relatives 28 %

9. Do the questionnaire, and then compare your answers with your partner.

The questionnaire

How do you rate as an entrepreneur?

1. Are you a self-starter?

1. I only make an effort when I want to.

2. If someone explains what to do, then I can continue from there.

3. I make my own decisions. I don’t need anyone to tell me what to do.

1. How do you get on with other people?

   1. I get on with almost everybody.

   2. I have my own friends and I don’t really need anyone else.

   3. I don’t really feel at home with other people.

2. Can you lead and motivate others?

   1. Once something is moving I’ll join in.

   2. I’m good at giving orders when I know what to do.

   3. I can persuade most people to follow me when I start something.

3. Can you take responsibility?

   1. I like to take charge and to obtain results.

   2. I’ll take charge if I have to but I prefer someone else to be responsible.

   3. Someone always wants to be the leader and I’m happy to let them do the job.

4. Are you a good organizer?

   1. I tend to get confused when unexpected problems arise.

   2. I like to plan exactly what I’m going to do.

   3. I just like to let things happen.

5. How good a worker are you?

   1. I’m willing to work hard for something I really want.

   2. I find my home environment more stimulating than work.

   3. Regular work suits me but I don’t like it to interfere with my private life.

6. Can you make decisions?

   1. I’m quite happy to execute other people’s decisions.

   2. I often make very quick decisions which usually work but sometimes don’t.

   3. Before making a decision, I need time to think it over.

7. Do you enjoy taking risks?

   1. I always evaluate the exact dangers of any situation.

   2. I like the excitement of taking big risks.

   3. For me safety is the most important thing.

8. Can you stay the course?

   1. The biggest challenge for me is getting a project started.

   2. If I decide to do something, nothing will stop me.

   3. If something doesn’t go right first time, I tend to lose interest.

9. Are you motivated by money?

   1. For me, job satisfaction cannot be measured in money terms.

   2. Although money is important to me, I value other things just as much.

   3. Making money is my main motivation.

10. How do you react to criticism?

    1. I dislike any form of criticism.

    2. If people criticize me I always listen and may or may not reject what they have to say.

    3. When people criticize me there is usually some truth in what they say.

11. Can people believe what you say?

    1. I try to be honest, but it is sometimes difficult or too complicated to explain things to other people.

    2. I don’t say things I don’t mean.

    3. When I think I’m right, I don’t care what anyone else thinks.

12. Do you delegate?

    1. I prefer to delegate what I consider to be the least important tasks.

    2. When I have a job to do I like to do everything myself.

    3. Delegating is an important part of any job.

13. Can you cope with stress?

    1. Stress is something I can live with.

    2. Stress can be a stimulating element in a business.

    3. I try to avoid situations which lead to stress.

14. How do you view your chances of success?

    1. I believe that my success will depend to a large degree on factors outside my control.

    2. I know that everything depends on me and my abilities.

    3. It is difficult to foresee the what will happen in the future.

15. If the business was not making a profit after five years, what would you do?

    1. Give up easily.

    2. Give up reluctantly.

    3. Carry on.

Key to the questionnaire:

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16
a	0	4	0	4	2	4	0	2	2	0	0	2	2	2	0	4
b	2	2	2	2	4	0	4	4	4	2	4	4	0	4	4	2
c	4	0	4	0	0	2	2	0	0	4	2	0	4	0	2	0