Movie “Hotel Rwanda” analyse three examples of entrepreneurial activities

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Analysis of Three Entrepreneurial Activities of the Lead Character in Hotel Rwanda.
Hotel Rwanda is a movie based on a true-life story of a hotel manager called Paul Resusabagina, who manages Hôtel des Mille Collines. Paul is married to a Tutsi wife, and he lives a happy life. Nonetheless, after the Hutu military initiated a campaign aimed at cleansing the minority, Tutsi, Paul is impelled to house refugees in his hotel. Throughout the film, Paul shows entrepreneurial alertness skills, effectuation and causation process application, all of which are entrepreneurial activities. This paper will focus on analyzing three examples of entrepreneurial activities of the lead character in the film herein.
The first example of entrepreneurial activity demonstrated by the main character is the scene in the hotel where the chef and Paul discover that the twelve of the lobsters are dead. Paul immediately ordered the chef to save the shells of the dead lobsters, fill them with cassava and fish and serve it as ‘fresh lobster in cassava and tipali crust.’ This instance shows Paul applying the effectuation process to come up with a solution to the problem. The effectuation process is whereby an individual takes a set of given means, and he/she focuses on selecting between some possible effects that can be formulated from the given set of means (Sarasvathy 245). In this situation, the sets of means available were the dead lobsters, cassava, and fish. Consequently, Paul evaluated the sets of means given and used them to come up with elements before settling for the dish.

This scenario is a simple application of the Effectuation process.

The movie also exhibits entrepreneurial activities through Paul’s ability to source the good quality products for his clients. He strives to ensure that the clients get the best scotch and even goes and extra mile to ensure that customers get fresh lobsters, a product hard to find in Kigali. A client even commends him for his efforts iterating that he has made them proud of his ability to find fresh lobster in Kigali. This shows Paul possessed the skill of entrepreneurial alertness; He was able to identify a niche market by serving a rare commodity in his hotel thus increasing the number of clients as well as raising the hotel’s reputation. Moreover, Paul was able to infer the commercial potential of making the product available correctly; this is a major characteristic of an alert individual. Accordingly, Paul demonstrated his ability to notice certain opportunities that would otherwise be overlooked (Kirzner 48).
Lastly, Paul’s capacity to manage the hotel and other situations smoothly along with his behavior towards the hotel’s clients displays some entrepreneurial activities by him. Paul was able to formulate a method of running the hotel that enabled its smooth operation. He also made the hotel’s clients his priority and made sure that they were all satisfied with the quality of service offered. Moreover, he worked even harder to please his client’s, who were respected people, in order to store up some favors that he would use at a later time when he needed them. The latter scenarios show that Paul possessed the skill of entrepreneurial alertness and applied the causation process to achieve his goals. Entrepreneurial alertness was shown through his ability to develop a more complex schema with many cross-links to manage his hotel (Katz 97). On the other hand, application of causation process is presented through his ability to take an effect of wanting favors that he could use later and selecting pleasing his clients as his means to this end (Sarasvathy 245).
In conclusion, Paul Resusabagina from Hotel Rwanda shows various entrepreneurial activities and shows his ability to apply the causation and effectuation processes, which are fundamental abilities of a good entrepreneur.

References.
Gaglio, Connie Marie, and Jerome A. Katz. The Psychological Basis of Opportunity Identification: Entrepreneurial Alertness. S.l.: [s.n.], 2001. Print.
Kirzner, Israel M. Perception, Opportunity, and Profit: Studies in the Theory of Entrepreneurship. Chicago: U of Chicago, 1979. Print.
Sarasvathy, Saras D. Causation and Effectuation: Toward a Theoretical Shift from Economic Inevitability to Entrepreneurial Contingency. Estados Unidos: Academy of Management, 2006. Print.