An entrepreneurial journey : from a market observation to an identified business opportunity based on an example of the current furniture and home décor market

Abstract

"This thesis examines and describes an entrepreneurial journey. It starts by being based on a subjective market observation triggered by the co-creation trend and tendency for mass-customization in the furniture and home décor market Extensive research in the field of marketing and entrepreneurship was done to determine a roadmap to follow during this journey. The outcome is a unique entrepreneurial framework the like of which has not been seen before. Five stages lead the entrepreneur from his or her subjective market observation to an objective evaluation of a business opportunity. This entrepreneurial framework describes the very first steps any entrepreneur or person must do before going straight into writing a business plan or even worse just jumping into the business itself. During this thesis, focus was put on the early stage of the suggested entrepreneurial framework as well as the generation of strong user insights. Trend research was mainly done by using two methods. The first method narrowed the fuzzy front end and widespread availability of information to a specific trend worthy of further investigation. This specific trend is the currently, quite popular, do-it-yourself trend (DIY). The second method examined this particular trend in detail. The outcome is a fact based picture of the DIY trend which is demographic specific. This means that the trend appears differently in different countries and that major differences were recognized in the United Stated and Europe. Next, consumer insights were provided in order to fully understand the role of the consumer within the DIY trend. By choosing a consumer experience mapping approach, valuable insights about the DIY process became apparent. Furthermore, user insights appeared which allowed an understanding of the demographic specific differences of the DIY trend examined. The thesis concludes with future prospect and a rational argument that the next step in the DIY trend might be to leverage the consumer from not just influencing the product design process but also to physically being part of the product development and product creation process. This statement seems especially true for the product category of furniture and home décor."