Entrepreneurial characteristics, skills and motives

Characteristics and skills

Characteristics (personal qualities): creativity and innovation, determination and resilience, willingness to take risks, self-confidence, passion, initiative, hard work, and the ability to learn from failure.

Skills (can be learned): planning and organising, communication and persuasion (with banks, staff, customers), financial management, decision-making, leadership, networking and problem-solving.

Exam tip: the January 2022 and June 2024 WBS11 papers both asked candidates to analyse two entrepreneurial characteristics shown by a real founder (6 marks: K2, A2, An2). Name the characteristic, give evidence from the case, and explain how it helped the business succeed (for example, creativity created a USP, which drove sales growth).

Financial motives

• Profit maximisation: aiming to make the largest possible profit (where the difference between revenue and costs is greatest). Owners want a return on their risk and investment.
• Profit satisficing: aiming for a satisfactory level of profit, enough to keep the owners content, while also pursuing other goals such as more leisure time, good relations with staff or ethical practices. Common in small businesses where the owner balances income against lifestyle.

Non-financial motives

• Ethical stance: running a business according to moral values (fair trade, environmental care, fair treatment of workers).
• Social entrepreneurship: setting up a business mainly to solve a social or environmental problem, reinvesting most profits in that aim (a social enterprise, such as a cafe training homeless people).
• Independence: being your own boss, making your own decisions.
• Home working: running a business from home for flexibility, lower costs and a better work-life balance.

Other motives: personal satisfaction, the challenge, turning a hobby into a living.

Worked example

A founder starts a company making packaging from bamboo because she is worried about plastic waste in the oceans. Identify her likely motive and one characteristic she shows.

1. Motive: an ethical stance or social entrepreneurship, reducing plastic pollution.
2. Characteristic: creativity, finding an alternative material.
3. Analysis: creativity gives a USP that attracts ethical buyers, raising sales.

Answer: An ethical / social motive, shown through creativity that creates a USP.

Check yourself

1. A cafe owner aims to earn enough profit to live comfortably while closing on Sundays to spend time with family. This is
   • profit maximisation
   • sales maximisation
   • predatory pricing
   • profit satisficing
   Show answer

   profit satisficing. Satisfactory profit plus other goals.

2. A business whose main aim is to employ and train ex-offenders, reinvesting its profits in that aim, is best described as a
   • profit maximiser
   • social enterprise
   • multinational
   • franchise
   Show answer

   social enterprise. Social aims come first.

3. Which is a skill rather than a personal characteristic?
   • Determination
   • Passion
   • Self-confidence
   • Financial management
   Show answer

   Financial management. Skills can be learned; characteristics are personal qualities.

4. Explain how resilience might help an entrepreneur succeed.
   Show answer

   Resilient entrepreneurs keep going after setbacks such as early losses or rejected loan applications, learn from failure and try again, so the business survives difficult early years.. Persistence through setbacks helps survival.

5. Explain why independence is a motive for some entrepreneurs.
   Show answer

   They want to be their own boss and make their own decisions rather than follow orders from an employer, giving them control over their work and time.. Control over one's own work.

6. Which is a likely benefit of running a business from home?
   • Lower premises costs and more flexible working hours
   • Unlimited space for expansion
   • More face-to-face customer visits
   • Guaranteed higher profit
   Show answer

   Lower premises costs and more flexible working hours. No rent and flexibility.

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Sources

• Pearson Edexcel International Advanced Subsidiary/Advanced Level in Business specification (2018)
• Pearson WBS11/01 mark scheme, January 2022
• Pearson WBS11/01 mark scheme, June 2024

Last updated 8 November 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.