Problem Solving and Innovation — Class 11 Entrepreneurship Notes (CBSE)

The Shark in the Tank — Challenges as Motivation

The Japanese fishing story is the classic starting point of this unit — it shows how challenge keeps people (and fish) alive and fresh.

Stage 1 — Scenario

The Japanese have always loved fresh fish, but waters close to Japan have not held many fish for decades. Fishing boats got bigger and went farther, but the longer trips meant fish were no longer fresh by the time they reached shore.

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From problem to solution — the Japanese fishing story
Problem	Solution
Love for fish	Led to use of bigger boats
Need for fresh fish	Installation of freezers
Taste of fresh fish (not fresh enough)	Installation of fish tanks
To improve taste of fresh fish	Added shark

Key takeaway from the story

To be a successful entrepreneur, one has to be a problem solver.

Real-life example

The shark in your life:In school, the ‘shark’ might be a weekly test or a rival in a science exhibition — it forces you to prepare instead of relaxing. In business, the shark is competition: when a new café opened right next to a 20-year-old chai stall in Pune, the owner started serving cold coffee and snacks. His monthly income actually rose by about 30% — the competitor kept him sharp.

The Entrepreneur — A Problem Solver

Entrepreneur

He/she is the one who undertakes risks.

Why are entrepreneurs called problem solvers?

Entrepreneurial actions are efforts to solve problems for others. Therefore, entrepreneurs are Problem Solvers. When one solves a problem a new value is created. In the business world, problem solvers take risks, but often create value by solving a customer or market problem, which is the key to creating a profitable enterprise. The more or larger problems an entrepreneurial organization solves, the more profit it can generate.

Real-life example

Problems are everywhere — and so are businesses built on them:

•Rapido solved “how do I reach the metro station quickly?” for lakhs of Indian commuters.
•A tiffin service near your college solved “mess food is boring” — and now delivers 200 tiffins a day at ₹80 each.
•Zerodha solved “brokerage fees eat my returns” — zero brokerage turned it into India's largest stockbroker.

Each one turned somebody's everyday problem into a profitable venture — bigger problem, bigger profit.

Solving Problems to Meet Needs — Case Studies

Both KFC and Kellogg's were born when an entrepreneur noticed a problem and used a skill or an accident to solve it.

Stage 1 — Scenario

In 1930, the then 40-year-old Colonel Sanders was operating a service station in Corby, Kentucky, USA, and encountered many hungry travellers who stopped for gas.

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Stage 1 — Scenario

In 1894, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg was superintendent of a famous hospital and health spa in Battle Creek, Michigan. His younger brother Will Keith Kellogg was the business manager. The hospital stressed healthful living and kept patients on a diet that eliminated caffeine, meat, alcohol, and tobacco.

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The Pattern

Most entrepreneurial ventures have survived when they solve problems of people, understanding their needs and accordingly changing the product to their needs.

Same pattern, Indian flavour — Wow! Momo

In 2008, two friends in Kolkata — Sagar Daryani and Binod Homagai — noticed a problem: everyone loved momos, but there was no hygienic, branded momo outletin the city. They started with a single stall in Kolkata's Salt Lake area. Today Wow! Momo runs over 500+ outlets across India — a venture built entirely on reading a customer need and filling it.

Wrong way — assume the need

Two students near a coaching centre assume students want imported gel pens. They invest ₹50,000 in stock, nobody buys, and the shop shuts down in 3 months.

Right way — validate the need

They first ask 50 students and find everyone wants cheap ₹5 pens and A4 sheets. They stock exactly that with ₹15,000 — and recover their investment in the first fortnight.

Same problem, same street — the difference between failure and success was asking the customer first.

Innovations That Led to Successful Ventures

Some of the biggest products in history were accidents. Click a card to read the full story of how it was created.

Lesson

It is clear from these examples that people all over the world have tried various inventions and succeeded, sometimes by mistake. The utility for the invention will be developed later in life, so immediate results for all one's actions should not be expected; rather, one should keep experimenting.

Real-life example

Act on the accident: In 1968, 3M scientist Spencer Silver invented a glue that was too weak. For 12 years nobody wanted it — until a colleague used it to keep his hymnbook page-marked without damaging it. The result? Post-it Notes — a product that still earns 3M over a billion dollars a year.

But the opposite is also true: Kodak invented the first digital camera in 1975 and hid it to protect its film business — by 2012 the company was bankrupt. An accidental invention is only worth something if you act on it.