Introduction to Entrepreneurship• There is tremendous interest in entrepreneurship around the

world• The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), a joint research

effort by Babson College and the London Business School, tracks entrepreneurship in 40 countries.– The 2003 GEM Study showed that about 300 million, or 12.5 percent, or

adults in the countries surveyed are involved in forming new businesses. – It also tracks whether people are becoming entrepreneurs because they

spotted an attractive opportunity or because they can find no better choice of work. Overall, about 2/3rds of those surveyed reported they were starting a business to pursue an attractive opportunity.

• However, motivation alone is not enough; it must be coupled with good information, a solid business idea, and effective execution to maximize chances for success.

Entrepreneurship

• It is the process by which individuals pursue opportunities and put useful ideas into practice.

• This can be accomplished by either an individual or a group and typically requires creativity, drive, and a willingness to take risks.

• Looking at the eBay example, Omidyar saw an opportunity to create a marketplace where buyers and sellers could find each other online, he risked his career by quitting his job to work at eBay full time, and he worked hard to build a profitable company that delivers a creative and useful service to consumers.

Why become an Entrepreneur?

• The 3 main reasons that people become entrepreneurs and start their own firms are:– To be their own boss– To pursue their own ideas– To realize financial rewards

• The most common reason it to be one’s own boss. This doesn’t mean these people are hard to work with, but it means they have a long-time ambition to own their own firm or are frustrated with traditional jobs. (p.6)

Be your own boss!

• Many people also long for independence, a desire that can be satisfied by being their own boss.– Those who become entrepreneurs for this reason

only, typically do not grow their firms beyond their immediate control. In the eBay example, Omidyar had to hire a manager– clearly his goal was not to only be independent.

Pursue your own ideas!

• Some people are naturally alert, and when they recognize ideas for new products or service, they have a desire to see those ideas realized.

• Established firms often resist innovation so employees are left with good ideas that go unfulfilled. They may choose to leave this firm to start their own business and develop their ideas.

• Some people, through hobby, leisure activity, or just everyday life, recognize the need for a product or service that is not available in the marketplace. If the idea is viable enough to support a business, they commit tremendous time and energy to convert the idea into a part-time or full-time firm. – We will later look at how entrepreneurs spot ideas and determine

wither they represent viable business opportunities

Financial rewards $$

• This motivation, however, is typically secondary to the first two and often fails to live up to its hype.

• The average entrepreneur does not make more money than someone with a similar amount of responsibility in a traditional job.

• Some entrepreneurs even feel that the financial rewards associated with entrepreneurship can be bittersweet if they are accompanied by losing control of their firm. (p.7)

Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs

• There are several characteristics common to successful entrepreneurs:

1. Passion for the business: this is the number one characteristic. This passion typically stems from their belief that the business will positively influence people’s lives. It even explains why some hugely successful entrepreneurs (Bill Gates, Steve Jobs) continue to work after they are financially secure. They strongly believe that the product or service they are selling makes a difference in people’s lives and makes the world a better place to live in.

Passion for the business

• This Passion is important because the process of starting and building a new firm is demanding. You must be fully committed.

• However, this doesn’t mean you wear rose-coloured glasses; it is important to be enthusiastic about a business idea, but it is also important to understand its potential flaws and risks.

• An entrepreneur must remain flexible enough to tweak the idea when it is necessary to do so.

#2 Product/Customer Focus

• This quality is exemplified by the following statement made by Steve Jobs:– “the computer is the most remarkable tool we’ve ever build… but

the most important thing is to get them in the hands of as many people as possible”

• There is an understanding here of the two most important elements in any business– products and customers.

• Its important to think about the management, marketing, finance, etc., but none of these make a difference if the firm doesn’t have good products with the capability to satisfy customers.

• This focus stems from the fact that most successful entrepreneurs are, at heart, craftspeople. They are obsessed with making products that meet their customer’s needs.

#3 Tenacity Despite Failure

• Because entrepreneurs are typically trying something new, the failure rates associated with their efforts is naturally high.

• The process of developing a new business is somewhat similar to what a scientist experiences in a lab: developing a new business idea may require a certain degree of experimentation before success is attained.

• Setbacks and failures inevitably occur during this process, but successful entrepreneurs have the ability to persevere through these setbacks.

• A certain measure of fear is healthy when pursuing a new idea. Acknowledging that unforeseen circumstances or a competitor’s aggressive action could ruin a company’s plans produces vigilance in entrepreneurs that may help them succeed.

#4 Execution Intelligence

• The ability to fashion a solid business idea into a viable business is a key characteristic of successful entrepreneurs.

• An ancient Chinese saying warns, “To open a business is very easy; to keep it open is very difficult”.

• The ability to effectively execute a business idea means developing a business model, putting together a new venture team, raising money, establishing partnerships, managing finances, leading and motivating employees, and so on.

• It also demands the ability to translate thought, creativity, and imagination into action and measurable results. The founder of Amazon.com, Jeff Bezos, once said, “Ideas are easy. It’s execution that’s hard”.

What went wrong? The Singing Machine: How Success can Breed Failure

• Many entrepreneurs learn the hard way to be leery of quick success. If a firm’s products catch on quickly, the ability to execute properly becomes double important. Success is fun- but it if comes too quickly, its easy to get caught up in the euphoria and start making careless decisions. That is exactly what happened to the Singing Machine, a maker of karaoke machines.

• The Singing Machine started out making karaoke machines for professional singers, a relatively small market. The company’s products were made in China, so it had a fairly small staff and a modest overhead. Then the company had some good luck- karaoke caught on. Soon it started selling its machines through Circuit City and Best Buy, and it looked as though the sky was the limit. In fact, Business Week named The Singing Machine the number one hot growth company for 2002.

• All of this sounds good, right? Wait til you read what happened. Expecting continued growth, The Singing Machine loaded up on karaoke machines for the 2002 Christmas season, getting as many machines as possible on retailer’s shelves. But the big retailers were savvy and protected their own self-interests, despite the popularity of karaoke machines. For example, one retailer demanded that The Singing Machine place their machines on shelves on a consignment basis. It wouldn’t actually buy the machines, it would only display and sell them, and if they sold, great! If not, the Singing Machine would have to take them back. Another retailer demanded that The Singing Machine provide it a guaranteed gross profit margin, essentially shielding itself from any risk.

• As it turned out, the karaoke craze waned in late 2002. After the Christmas season was over, The Singing Machine was in trouble. Rather than helping it liquidate its inventory, the retailers it contracted with moved on to the next “hot” item and more than $30 million in karaoke machines ended up in the Singing Machine’s warehouses. Reflecting on the agreements that his company entered into in its haste to get sales during the 2002 Christmas season, Y.P. Chan, the company’s new CEO, said, “it’s a classic business school case of growing pains… One needs to be disciplined enough to walk away from a business deal which doesn’t make any sense.”

• Quick success– every entrepreneur’s dream– can rapidly erode into failure if a business becomes overly optimistic about its products or services and starts chasing deals that don’t make sense. Execution intelligence is as important in the good times as it is in the tough times.

Common Traits and Characteristics of Entrepreneurs

• Achievement motivated• Alert to opportunities• Creative• Decisive• Energetic• Has an internal locus of control• Is a moderate risk taker• Needs to achieve• Is a networker• Persuasive• Promoter• Resource assembler • Self-confident• Self-starter• Has a strong work ethic• Tenacious• Tolerant of ambiguity (lack of clarity, certainty) • visionary

Common Myths about Entrepreneurs

• There are many misconceptions about who entrepreneurs are and what motivates them to launch firms to develop their ideas.

• Some misconceptions are due to the media covering atypical entrepreneurs, such as a couple of college students who obtain venture capital to fund a small business that they grow into a multimillion-dollar company.– Venture capital is financial capital provided to early-stage, high-

potential, high risk, growth startup companies. The venture capital fund makes money by owning equity in the companies it invests in, which usually have a novel technology or business model in high technology industries, such as biotechnology, IT, software, etc

Myth 1: Entrepreneurs are born, not made

• This myth is based on the mistaken belief that some people are genetically predisposed to be entrepreneurs.

• The consensus of many hundreds of studies on the psychological and sociological makeup of entrepreneurs is that entrepreneurs are not genetically different from other people. No one is “born” to be an entrepreneur; everyone has the potential to become one.

• Whether someone does or doesn’t is a function of environment, life experiences, and personal choices.

• However, there are personality traits and characteristics commonly associated with entrepreneurs. These traits are developed over time and evolve from an individual’s social context. For example, studies show that people with parents who were self-employed are more likely to become entrepreneurs. After witnessing a father’s or mother’s independence in the workplace, a child is more likely to find independence appealing.

• Similarly, people who personally know an entrepreneur are more than twice as likely to be involved in starting a new firm than those with no entrepreneur acquaintances or role models.

Myth 2: Entrepreneurs are gamblers

• A second myth about entrepreneurs is that they are gamblers and take big risks. The truth is, entrepreneurs are usually moderate risk takers, as are most people. The idea that entrepreneurs are gamblers originates from two sources:– First, entrepreneurs typically have jobs that are less structured, and

so they face a more uncertain set of possibilities than managers or employees. For example, an entrepreneur who starts an e-business consulting service has a less stable job than a phone company employee.

– Second, many entrepreneurs have a strong need to achieve and often set challenging goals, a behavior that is sometimes equated with risk taking.

Myth 3: Entrepreneurs are motivated primarily by money

• It is naïve to think that entrepreneurs don’t seek financial rewards. As discussed previously, however, money is rarely the primary reason entrepreneurs start new firms.

• Some entrepreneurs warn that the pursuit of money can be distracting. Media mogul Ted Turner said, “If you think money is a real big deal… you’ll be too scared of losing it to get it”.

• Similarly, Debbie Fields, the founder of Mrs. Fields Cookies, said that if you chase money, you’ll never get it.

Myth 4: Entrepreneurs should be young and energetic

• The average entrepreneur is 35 to 45 years old and has 10 or more years of experience in a large firm.

• While it is important to be energetic, investors often cite the strength of the entrepreneur as their most important criterion in the decision to fund new ventures. In fact, a sentiment that venture capitalists often express is that they would rather fund a strong entrepreneur with a mediocre business idea than fund a strong business idea and a mediocre entrepreneur.

• What makes an entrepreneur “strong” in the eyes of an investor is experience in the area of the proposed business, skills and abilities that will help the business, a solid reputation, a track record of success, and passion about the business idea. The first four of these five qualities favor older rather than younger entrepreneurs. In addition, many people turn to entrepreneurship in lieu of retirement.

Myth 5: Entrepreneurs love the spotlight

• While some entrepreneurs are flamboyant, the vast majority of entrepreneurs do not attract public attention.

• How many entrepreneurs can you name? Most of us could come up with Bill Gates of Microsoft, Steve Jobs of Apple, and Michael Dell of Dell, Inc. Whether or not they sought attention, they are often in the news.

• However, few of us could name the founders of Google, Nokia, or GAP even though we frequently use these firm’s products and services. These entrepreneurs, like most, have either avoided attention or been passed over by the popular press. They defy the myth that entrepreneurs, more so than other groups in our society, love the spotlight.

Opportunity vs. Idea• An opportunity gap is a gap between what is currently on the market and the possibility

for a new or significantly improved product, service, or business that results from emerging trends.

• Essentially, entrepreneurs recognize an opportunity and turn it into a successful business.

• An opportunity is a favorable set of circumstances that creates a need for a new product, service, or business. Most entrepreneurial firms are started in one of two ways:– 1) Firms that are externally stimulated: an entrepreneur decides to launch a firm, searches for

and recognizes an opportunity, and then starts a business, as Jeff Bezos did with Amazon.com. – 2) Firms that are internally stimulated: an entrepreneur recognizes a problem or an opportunity

gap and creates a business to fill it. • Regardless of which of these two ways an entrepreneur starts a new business,

opportunities are tough to spot. It is difficult to identify a product, service, or business opportunity that isn’t merely a different version of something already available.

• Opportunity recognition is part art, part science. An entrepreneur must rely on instinct, which makes it an art, and on purposeful action and analytical techniques, which makes it a science.

Opportunity

• An opportunity has four essential qualities: it is (1) attractive, (2) durable, (3) timely, and (4) anchored in a product, service, or business that creates or adds value for its buyer or end user.

• For an entrepreneur to capitalize on an opportunity, its window of opportunity must be open. This is a metaphor describing the time period in which a firm can realistically enter a new market. Once the market for a new product is established, its window of opportunity opens. As the market grows, firms enter and try to establish a profitable position. At some point, the market matures, and the window of opportunity closes. Example: Search Engines

Idea

• It is important to understand that there is a difference between an opportunity and an idea.

• An idea is a thought, impression, or notion. It may or may not meet the criteria of an opportunity.

• This is a critical point because many businesses fail not because the entrepreneurs that started them didn’t work hard, but rather because there was no real opportunity to begin with. Before getting excited about a business idea, it is crucial to understand whether the idea fills a need and meets the criteria for an opportunity.

• When it doesn’t, it can lead to a disappointing outcome as shown in “What Went Wrong”.

What Went Wrong?Online Postage: An Idea Instead of an Opportunity

• If a seemingly attractive new product or service idea turns out to be more trouble than good for its customers, its almost sure to fail. The story of two Internet companies trying to sell stamps online provides a vivid example of the importance of one of the four qualities of an attractive opportunity; namely, the opportunity must be anchored in a product or service that adds value for its buyer or end users.

• Until recently, buying stamps was a chore for small businesses and for people who work from their homes. Because of the cost, most small firms don’t have postal meters, which are devices that store prepaid postage. So the only choice for most of these businesspeople had been to stand in line at the post office.

• Then, the Internet came along, and two start-ups, E-Stamps and Stamps.com, offered a solution to the problem. The companies, with the U.S. Postal Service’s blessing, rolled out services that allowed customers to purchase stamps over the internet and print them out from their PCs. The media was captivated. “Now there’s a new way to go postal,” exclaimed ABC News. Investors were equally enthralled. Collectively, the two companies raised more than half a billion dollars from investors and through initial public offerings.

• But regrettable, both E-Stamps and Stamps.com fell flat. One of the most important reasons for their failure is that their service didn’t deliver sufficient “value” to attract the interest of enough paying customers. In fact, for many businesses, the service turned out to be more trouble than benefit. Here’s why.

• First, although the idea of avoiding trips to the post office sounded good, there was no price break for buying postage online. In fact, in most cases, it cost more to buy postage online because of the service fee charged by the online providers. Both E-Stamps and Stamps.com lobbied the Postal Service to allow them to offer their customers stamps at a discount. Their argument was that online postage relieves congestion at post offices and makes the mail easier to sort. But the Postal Service didn’t agree. Second, downloading postage turned out to be a hassle, largely because of security provisions required by the Postal Service. A downloaded stamp doesn’t look like an actual stamp. Instead it is a tamper-proof bar code that is affixed to a letter in place of a regular stamp. To download stamps, a customer had to jump through several hoops, making the process somewhat awkward. Finally, other complications made the service cumbersome, at least initially. For example, in some instances, businesses had to buy special hardware to attach to the computer that stored the downloaded postage.

• As this story shows, the services offered by E-Stamps and Stamps.com failed one of the key tests of an opportunity: the idea wasn’t anchored in a product or service that created enough value for it’s buyers to represent a legitimate opportunity.

Ways to Identify an opportunity• Observing Trends: the first approach to identifying opportunities is to observe

trends and study how these trends create opportunities for entrepreneurs to pursue.

• Economic factors, social factors, technological advances, and political action and regulatory changes are the most important trends to follow.

• There are two ways entrepreneurs can get a handle on these trends. • First, they can carefully study and observe them. Some entrepreneurs are better

at this than others, depending on their personal characteristics and levels of motivation.

• Entrepreneurs who have industry experience, who have well-established social network, who are creative and who are, in general, alert are more likely to sport trends and interpret them correctly.

• The second way entrepreneurs understand emerging trends is to purchase customized forecast and market analyses from independent research firms. These tools allow for a fuller understanding of how specific trends create opportunities.

Trends• Economic Forces: State of the economy, level of disposable income,

consumer spending patterns• Social Forces: social and cultural trends, demographic changes,

what people think is “in”• Technological Advances: new technologies, emerging technologies,

new uses of old technologies• Political and Regulatory Changes: new changes in the political

arena, new laws and regulations.

• If any of these trends fill a business, product, or service opportunity gap (the difference between what is available and what is possible), then it can lead to new business, product, and service ideas.

Solving a problem

• Sometimes identifying opportunities simply involves noticing a problem and finding a way to solve it.

• For example, Norton antivirus software- this company took advantage of a problem that resulted when new technology was introduced.– To be continued…

Identifying Opportunities by Solving Problems

• Look for problems. People complain about it being hard to sleep through the night, get rid of clutter in their homes, find an affordable vacation, trace their family origins, get rid of garden weeds, and so on.

• Someone may simply notice a problem that others are having and think that the solution might represent an opportunity.

Personal Characteristics • Some personal characteristics tend to make some people better at recognizing opportunities than

others. • Opportunity recognition refers to the process of perceiving the possibility of a profitable new

business or a new product or service. – Prior experience: while working in industry you may spot a particular niche that is

underserved. You may also build a network of social contacts who provide insights that lead to opportunities.

– Cognitive Factors: some people believe that entrepreneurs have a “sixth sense” called entrepreneurial alertness, which is formally defined as the ability to notice things without engaging in deliberate search. Some research indicates that alertness goes beyond noticing things and involves a more purposeful effort. It is largely a learned skill, and people who have more knowledge of an area tend to be more alert to opportunities in that area than others.

– Social Networks: a large network of social and professional contacts will result in exposure to more opportunities and ideas than people without these networks.

– Creativity: this is the process of generating a novel or useful idea. It involves preparation (through background, experience, and knowledge), incubation (mulling over ideas), insight (the flash of recognition when the solution to a problem is seen or an idea is born), evaluation (when the idea is subjected to scrutiny and analyzed for viability), and elaboration (when the creative idea is put into a final form, the details are worked out, and the idea is transformed into something of value).

Advantages and Disadvantages• Whether to be self-employed or work for someone else: that’s a choice that

only you can make, and one with no right or wrong answer. • There are a host of factors, personal and professional, in a decision about

whether to go solo. Factors to consider include:– Situational: Do you have many family responsibilities? Do you have support from

friends and family? – Talent: Do you have the skills to make it on your own? – Psychological: Do you have the temperament and the discipline necessary? – Financial: Do you have the money you need to get started? Or have enough saved to

keep you afloat until your venture runs smoothly? – Benefits: Are employee benefits available through your spouse’s employment? Can you

afford the high bills of health coverage or can you take the risk of being without it? – Legal: Do you understand and can you handle your increased liability as an independent

professional? – Ownership: Do you understand the differences as to who owns your work -- the

copyright or patent or recipe -- if you create your creation as an employee? As a self-employed? As a work-for-hire?

– The Unknown: How prepared are you for an emergency such as getting hurt while working? A long bout with the flu? A shortage of clients? Computer crashes? Car breakdowns? A no-show babysitter?

• Whether you're running your own business or working as an independent contractor, you'll soon realize that working for yourself isn't just another job, it's a way of life.

• Are you someone who likes a nine-to-five routine and collecting a regular paycheck? When you're self-employed, you must be willing to make sacrifices for the sake of the job. You're going to work long hours, which means that you won't have as much time as you used to for family or leisure activities. And if the cash flow becomes a trickle, you're going to be the last one to get paid.

• Can you get along well with all types of people? Being self-employed is all about managing relationships--with your clients or customers, your suppliers, perhaps with your employees, certainly with your family, and probably with your banker, lawyer, and accountant, too. If you're the type who wants to be alone to do the few things that you're good at, then you should do that--for someone else.

• Are you a disciplined self-starter? Being self-employed means that you're your own boss. There may be days when you'll have to make yourself sit at your desk instead of going for a long lunch, or (especially if you work out of your home) place those business calls instead of reading the newspaper.

• Finally, do you enjoy wearing many hats? Depending on your line of work, you may be involved in handling marketing and sales duties, financial planning and accounting responsibilities, administrative and personnel management chores--or all of the above.

DISADVANTAGES OF SELF-EMPLOYMENT• All the important disadvantages of self-employment can be summed as one big piece

of bad news: nobody is taking care of you. • You alone are responsible for yourself – and often for a lot of others too.

– If you need to raise additional money to get started, you may need a cosigner or collateral (such as your home) for a loan.

– You'll need a cash backup so you can pay your bills while you're waiting for business to come in or waiting to be paid for completed work.

– must pay employee and employer portions of Canada Pension Plan contribution - see CPP contribution rates

– more record-keeping required– often work longer hours with no extra pay– cost of purchasing and maintaining own equipment– risk of loss– liable if contract obligations not fulfilled, thus liability insurance may be needed– no employee benefits- you'll have to provide your own health insurance– after first year-end, usually must make income tax installment payments– must register to collect GST, except for small suppliers– cash management and planning required to ensure funds available for tax

remittances– may require services of bookkeeper or accountant for the record-keeping and

government reporting

ADVANTAGES OF SELF-EMPLOYMENT

• The same thing that makes self-employment scary is what makes it attractive and adventurous. Nobody will take care of you, but instead of dwelling on that as bad news, embrace it as good news: it means you will be in charge. You will be responsible for yourself – and often for others too. No big daddy will tell you what to do, how to do it, and when to do it. Nor can they fire you. You’ll have more control of your time and your life.

Advantages• no employment insurance premiums, unless voluntarily paid• more expenses are tax-deductible - for example, expense of travelling to and from clients'

places of business is tax-deductible• more freedom to choose own working hours• can work for more than one client• opportunity for increased profits: the possibility of more money for the same work• If you're working for yourself, chances are you'll be doing work that you enjoy.• You'll get to pick who you'll work for or with, and in most cases you'll work with your

customers or clients directly--no go-betweens muddying the waters. As a result, you may have days when it hardly feels as if you're working at all.

• Being your own boss means that you'll be in control of all of the decisions affecting your working life.

• You'll decide on your business plan, your quality assurance procedures, your pricing and marketing strategies--everything.

• You'll have job security; you can't be fired for doing things your way.• As you perform a variety of tasks related to your work, you'll learn new skills and broaden

your abilities.• You'll even have the flexibility to decide your own hours of operation, working conditions,

and business location. If you're working out of your home, your start-up costs may be reduced.

Entrepreneurs Compared With Small Business Owners

• Entrepreneurial ventures are not necessarily the same as small businesses, although lots of entrepreneurial ventures start out as small businesses. Some of the big differences between entrepreneurial ventures and small businesses are that the person who starts them thinks differently and have very different goals. Because entrepreneurs think differently and have different goals than people who start small businesses, they make different decisions.

• First, entrepreneurs generally do something new, and different. This is often called innovation today. Example of innovation in the food industry might be a new way to serve prepared meals, process and package food, or provide catering services in remote locations. Examples in other industries might be developing a new welding process, using computers in ways no one has thought of before, and so on. People who start small businesses often copy what other people have done or are doing. Another restaurant, a small welding shop, or a business that repairs computers and trains people how to sue them, might be examples of small businesses.

• Second, entrepreneurs want to do something that is highly valued, something that will draw people to the business. CD players are a very different way of playing music. The sound quality is better than with cassette tapes, and very much better than records or LPs. This is called “creating value”, people value high quality sound, so they buy CDs and CD players. Today, with MP3 and WAV computer files, people who own personal computers can get whatever music they like from the Internet, put it on their own CDs and play what they like. With MP3 music files, they can also put many more songs on one CD that was possible a few years ago.

• Third, entrepreneurs want to start businesses that grow, and grow and grow. Entrepreneurs are not satisfied to start a small business, make it profitable, then run the business for the rest of their working lives. Because of this they make long term plans, sometimes called a “strategy”. Entrepreneurs want to have the very best, biggest, most widely spread business possible. People who start small businesses may only want to make enough money so they can care for their families, have a comfortable life and retire to leave the business to their children; these are often called life-style businesses.

• So, entrepreneurs want to innovate (do something new), create value, and will grow and grow and grow. Small business owners generally have different goals and ambitions. Because of this, entrepreneurs make different, longer term plans (strategies), deal with people differently than small business owners, often by making them more responsible for what they do and giving them more power (called empowering employees), provide more training, and help pay for more education for the people who work for them, and very often give, or sell, a share in the business to their employees.

ReviewEntrepreneurs:• Innovate (do something new)• Create value (do something people want)• Want to grow and grow• Make long term, strategic plans• Empower employees• Train and help educate them; and• Often give employee part ownership of the businessPeople who start small businesses/small business owners:• Want to make a living (sometimes called lifestyle businesses)• Do not want to be “the biggest fish in the pond”• Will often employ people in their families; and• Want to retire and leave the business to their children

Assignment #2

• Based on our class notes and the presentation from Chef Bromley, discuss the advantages and disadvantages of owning your own business.

• Along with the details provided in class, include your own personal opinion on whether you feel the advantages outweigh the disadvantages or vice versa.

• Answers should be at least 1 page, typed, and double spaced. (20%)