Chapter 5: People: Leading Teams and Networks

1. What are the two key issues that arise when you create an effective entrepreneurial team from scratch?

  1. team mentality and team synergy
  2. team numbers and team quality
  3. team composition and team roles
  4. team experience and team experience

Answer: C

Explanation

Team composition refers to who will be in the team and team roles refers to what part they will play in the team.

2. Establishing a shared vision amongst team members refers to ______.

  1. starting out with an essentially similar set of ideas about what they want to create
  2. sharing moral principles and standards of behaviour
  3. sharing the factors driving them to take part in the venture
  4. sharing profits in an equitable manner

Answer: A

Explanation

Establishing a shared vision amongst team members refers to members of the team starting out with an essentially similar set of ideas about what they want to create.

3. According to Larson and Starr (1993), what are the three broad tasks (in relation to their networks) that entrepreneurs need to pursue in order to develop successful new ventures?

  1. create new ties; develop existing ties; review existing ties
  2. make weak ties stronger and make strong ties more diverse
  3. ensure a mix of different types of ties
  4. ensure that there are both weak and strong ties in the network

Answer: A

Explanation

Creating new ties involves building the network of contacts, developing existing ties involves building existing relationships and reviewing existing ties involves pruning members of the network in order to conserve precious resources.

4. The following example of networking represents which type of activity: In an entrepreneurial setting, you might be: renewing contact with an old school friend, now working in a finance house, to provide advice or support for the venture; converting an informal contact made while on holiday into a potential client; or building a much closer relationship with a supplier, which may lead to a formal alliance or merger.

  1. creating new ties
  2. renewing and pruning existing ties
  3. developing existing ties
  4. extending existing ties

Answer: C

Explanation

Creating new ties involves building the network of contacts, developing existing ties involves building existing relationships and reviewing existing ties involves pruning members of the network in order to conserve precious resources.

5. ______ between people in their personal contact network play an important communications role, enabling the entrepreneur to identify opportunities that are not evident to others.

  1. Good relations
  2. Weak ties
  3. Strong ties
  4. Unique connections

Answer: D

Explanation

Unique connections are important because their existence means that the entrepreneur is able to gather information that is otherwise not available to others.