Subject category:
Strategy and General Management
Published by:
London Business School
Abstract
In 1983, Mary Spillane founded CMB Image Consultants, a firm which advises people on how best to present themselves. The profile describes the circumstances which led her, a former US public service career woman, to start this business. It explains how the business evolved in response to perceived opportunities, rather than in line with a planned, long-term strategy, and how Spillane overcame the problems of creating a new market with limited financial resources, prompting consideration of the skills and character needed to make an entrepreneur. The story questions the common wisdom that entrepreneurs are born rather than made, and provides an insight into the rewards and sacrifices associated with entrepreneurship.
About
Abstract
In 1983, Mary Spillane founded CMB Image Consultants, a firm which advises people on how best to present themselves. The profile describes the circumstances which led her, a former US public service career woman, to start this business. It explains how the business evolved in response to perceived opportunities, rather than in line with a planned, long-term strategy, and how Spillane overcame the problems of creating a new market with limited financial resources, prompting consideration of the skills and character needed to make an entrepreneur. The story questions the common wisdom that entrepreneurs are born rather than made, and provides an insight into the rewards and sacrifices associated with entrepreneurship.