Marketing and Entrepreneurship
Individual Assignment
Sir Richard Branson – Virgin Group
This assignment will be looking at the entrepreneurial skills of the business entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson. Sir Richard is currently the chairman of Virgin Group, which was founded in 1970, and incorporated in 1989, with currently over 35,000 employees throughout the whole business.
Sir Richard was born on July 18th, 1950, to Edward James Branson and Eve Branson. He was born in Blackheath, South London, and is the oldest of 4 siblings, the other three being Linda, Vanessa & Ted. His father, Edward Branson was a barrister, and his grandfather, the Right Honourable Sir George Arthur Harwin Branson was a judge of the High Court of Justice and Privy Councillor. His mother, Eve, was very similar to Sir Richard, who was full of energy and passionate about dancing.
Up until the age of 13, Sir Richard studied at Scaitcliffe School, just like his grandfather before him. For the next three years, he studied at Stowe School. Sir Richard had developed dyslexia throughout his childhood, which had affected his performance as a student. But also at the same time, he had discovered his ability to be able to connect with others with so much ease. This ability also helped him become the captain of both the cricket and football teams whilst at school.
Eve had become aware of Sir Richard’s problem with dyslexia, therefore put Sir Richard through some challenges to help him prepare for more enduring challenges that he would face later on in life. When Sir Richard was 12 years old, Eve had deliberately left Sir Richard a few miles away from home so that he could find his own way home. Not only did he build his sense of direction that day, he also could take on the responsibility of making decisions and being responsible for his own actions. When he got home that evening, he was asked to go to the local vicarage to collect wood to make a fire. This helped Sir Richard develop endurance of physical and mental pain, just to show that he could be patient.
Jennings (2004) mentions that if you stand up to your problems rather than ignoring them, these problems will change to your strength later on in life. This is exactly what Eve wanted to do with Sir Richard. She wanted him to be strong and face the challenges in life, rather than turning away and letting them take over his life. Another example of this can be seen when Sir Richard’s aunt, Aunt Joyce, had told him that he would receive 14 shillings as a present if he could learn to swim within a 2 week period. This would test the patience and endurance of Sir Richard in that period, which he ended up succeeding in, and this proves to be a very memorable experience for Sir Richard.
At the tender age of 15, during Christmas of 1965, Sir Richard started his first business of selling Christmas trees, with his friend Nick Powell, who remains his friend to this day. The reason he decided to sell Christmas trees is because he lacked business knowledge, and was still very young and had a lot to learn about business. However, this did not last, and within a few months he decided to move to London to pursue other opportunities.
Thompson (2004) describes that for an entrepreneur to be successful, they must have something known as the 3 T’s; talent, temperament, and technique. The table below shows why Sir Richard had become so successful, and what were the drivers to make him that successful.
Sir Richard has both leadership skills, and seeing tasks right through to the end, not leaving anything half complete. He was also very clever when talking to his employees, as he got the best out of them at all times, making them work to their full potential.
Bolton & Thomas (2003) state that there must be talent present, either developed or not, for someone to work with. Wickham (2004) mentions that without talent, you have a body with no soul, or mind with no conscious.
From a young age, Sir Richard had always been ill tempered and very impatient. As he grew up though, he learnt to control it, therefore this turned into his strength, rather than his weakness.