Corporate Entrepreneurship and Innovation

This report discusses the major issues faced by Atlassian, a software company in Australia, and provides interventions for addressing them. It highlights the importance of entrepreneurship and innovation in the growth and development of the company. The challenges identified include managing a large number of employees, slowing or discontinuation of innovation, and issues with the business model. Recommendations include using the classical management theory, promoting open communication, and incorporating the 'own and operate' business model.

Running Head: CORPORATE ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND INNOVATION
TASK 2: CORPORATE ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND INNOVATION

2CORPORATE ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND INNOVATION
Abstract
The report is aimed at illustrating few major issues faced by Atlassian, a software company in
Australia founded by entrepreneurs Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar in the year
2002. Throughout the study a detailed information about what are the problems faced by the
software company are demonstrated and few approaches are mentioned for solving these
problems. It has highlighted the importance of the roles played by the entrepreneurs as well
as innovative strategies behind the growth and development of the company. Different
challenges that the company and its entrepreneurs have to face irrespective of its success and
popularity are mentioned within the report. The major challenges for Atlassian are identified
as managing large number of employees, slowing or discontinuation of innovation in the
company and issue within the present business model adopted by the company. These
challenges have been explained briefly and different solutions like the use of different
business models like own and operate model, Rolls-Royce model and the classical
management theory have been recommended in this report to overcome the identified
challenges.

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Context of the report..................................................................................................................3
Major issues faced by the company...........................................................................................4
Interventions for addressing the issues.......................................................................................5
Recommendations......................................................................................................................9
Conclusion................................................................................................................................10
References................................................................................................................................11

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Introduction
Atlassian is a software company in Australia that was founded by entrepreneur Mike
Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar in the year 2002. The company specialises in the
development of software platforms for business. The significant share of the transaction the
company is not limited on software sales but the repeated annual subscriptions. Atlassian
follows the model of "No sales force" instead of the old model of distribution and strategies
for promotion, where the product is advocated by the customer instead of marketing
(Piperopoulos, 2016). It differs from other companies of technology because it believes in
putting forward its values and focuses on the wellbeing of the company's staff.
The company focuses its capital resources for making good quality products instead
of spending them in marketing with their strategy of satisfying the consumers, and as a result,
they would do the marketing for Atlassian. Garud et al. (2018) mentioned that entrepreneurs
play a significant role in deciding the scale of growth and success of every company. They
supervise and help with various aspects. They fight off the competition in the market with the
necessary innovation that makes Atlassian a popular software company. They also help to
maximize Atlassian's potential and looking after the satisfaction of its employees as well as
its customers.
Context of the report
Atlassian is one of the largest companies in Australia. It has been increasing since the
year 2002 when it was founded. The vast size of the company and its wide expansion makes
the company hard to manage. According to Wu and Huarng (2015), a company also have to
focus on the different changes that are made in the line of technology and the demands of the
consumers regarding them. For the satisfaction of the consumers, Atlassian has focussed on
making their products easily available to their consumers. Atlassian has to keep itself

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constantly updated in its technology so that the software created is flexible for different
platforms and can attract a large number of customers. This is one of the big challenges that
Atlassian faces and is very concerned about the development of its products.
Eftekhari and Bogers (2015) opined this is a concern mainly due to the competition in
the market which the company is well aware of, and it realises that innovation is the most
effective way to stay ahead in the line. One of the other concerns of the company is making
good quality products which will also be cost effective. This is because just producing quality
products is only going to attract a class of people who are capable of buying them, but
producing affordable quality products will attract a larger section of customers (Maritz and
Donovan, 2015). Atlassian also faces significant problems regarding the continuity of
innovation. Due to its large size, a large number of entrepreneurs are willing to work here; all
do most of their innovative ideas are put into reality there are many others which do not get a
chance due to the vastness of the company by not reaching the higher levels. Thus, it brings
about the risk of discontinuity in its innovations.
Major issues faced by the company
Among the many challenges faced by Atlassian and its entrepreneurs, the employers
has taken three major issues and tried to discuss and give the possible solutions for them.
The three issues addressed by the researcher are:
The first issue address in the study is with the vast size of the company that gives rise
to problems in the management and supervision of the staff. This is one of the major
challenges faced by Atlassian. Matthews and Brueggemann (2015) stated entrepreneurs of
large companies often face problems regarding staff employment and most importantly staff
management.

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The second issue addressed is about the challenges faced by the company regarding
the innovation of the entrepreneurs. Due to the large size of the company, there are thousands
of entrepreneurs working for Atlassian. All these entrepreneurs have many innovative ideas
but because of management issues and the size of the company many voices and works are
not able to get to the top level. As argued by Modrego et al. (2015), this in turn, results in a
slowing or discontinuity of innovation by the entrepreneurs in the company. Innovation in
companies is significant aspects as they are what helps them be ahead of other companies in
the market and attract consumers. Harper (2018) added innovative measures increase the
popularity of the products as well as the company. Entrepreneurs being one of the main
sources of innovation, it becomes important to keep them motivated.
The third issue addressed by the researcher in the challenges faced by Atlassian is its
different business model. The business model used by the company varies from other
companies and hence can sometimes be difficult to manage due to the many challenges that it
creates. The “No sales force” model followed by the Atlassian, help them put the focus on the
quality of their products but not focusing on marketing at all has its drawbacks. Huggins and
Thompson (2015) mentioned as it is not always possible to spread the product and its
popularity through customer marketing. However, this business model has helped the
company to have sustainable growth in the market.
Interventions for addressing the issues
One of the major problems faced by Atlassian is that of being a large company with
management issues. According to Bratton and Gold (2017), a large number of employees are
employed by the company for fulfilling the demands and requirements of the company and its
customers. Working with such a large number of employees and having a large consumer

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base can result in confusion, delayed decision making or action taking (Vittikh, 2015).
Additionally, it gives rise to a lack of communication that can make the employees
inefficient. The "Classical Management Theory" can help Atlassian entrepreneurs combat
such challenges. This theory stresses on:
● Proper and clear division of the work between different departments and groups
properly in the company.
● Regulating discipline within the company and respect for one's work and fellow
employees (Arend et al. 2015).
● One man is in command at the top who will be the sole direction of orders, plans and
objectives.
● Placing suitable employees in the positions so that they can carry out the task in an
orderly manner (Kuratko, 2016).
To get out the best of the innovative ideas from the entrepreneurs working under the
management, it is the leaders who need to take the first step to create a proper psychological
working environment and using this business model may help that cause. The entrepreneurs
need to follow a specific framework to get the best ideas out of the major number of
entrepreneurs working under him to produce sustained innovation for the entire company.
1. The entrepreneurs can use the Rolls Royce business model which is based on
performance such as remuneration based on the performance of the people working
there.
2. The leaders of Atlassian can also try promoting open communication among all
sections of entrepreneurs and employees working under the company (Modrego et al.
2015). Using the Rolls Royce business model business model will help eliminate the
work post barriers and may as well help increase the number of innovative ideas that
reach the top levels.

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3. Monetary rewards such as incentives and adequate recognition work as a great
motivation for the entrepreneurs. Atlassian needs to make sure that rewards and
recognition are consistent in the company. As discussed by Mishra and Zachary
(2015) this is another benefit of using this business model as this may help motivate
the employees to put an extra effort to air their ideas to the management.
Although Atlassian is using a different business model which is very distinct from
their contemporaries and may lead to failure if not utilized properly, Atlassian can utilize the
"own and operate" business model in order have a different sort of model which is highly
likely to achieve success and sustainable growth and development in the future (Chen et al.
2015). There are some guidelines that the leaders can follow to ensure success in the long run
by using the very same business model.
Figure 1: Flexible Business Model
(Source: Kuratko, 2016)

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Knowing the target customers are important for sustainable growth and the "own and
operate" business model emphasizes identifying the target audience and their needs in
particular. This is the first step of the business model which Atlassian needs to keep faith in.
This business model will be helpful to know the customers’ needs in detail and also analyse
the importance of the products and services of the company on the life of its consumers. The
model helps to figure out the benefits gained by both the parties, the consumers and the
entrepreneurs (Huang and Knight, 2017). This can be a lengthy process, and it may take time
for the business model to gain Sustainability but sticking to a particular business model will
surely be fruitful for the entrepreneurs. Atlassian can truly benefit by utilising the “own and
operate” business model as the model also focuses on the way the benefit is produced and
delivered to the target audience (Chen et al. 2015). It also focuses on the authenticity of the
products and services of the company. Another important aspect of this business model which
Atlassian can benefit from is that the business model also focuses on the price of the
products. Not just the price paid to innovate but also from the consumers’ point of view,
whether the consumers find the products valuable for the price that they pay for it.
Recommendations
Atlassian has two major challenges and other small problems. All these can be
overcome if its entrepreneurs incorporate certain models and frameworks through various
steps and in all of their sections. After a detailed study about the problems and the solutions
to those problems, the researcher has tried to give suitable recommendations for improving
the challenges faced by Atlassian. To tackle the problems arising out from the vast size of the
company, the entrepreneurs of Atlassian should apply the classical Management Theory

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model that has certain principles which will help the company become more disciplined,
organised and as a result, more efficient cutting back on the confusion.
For solving the problem of slow or discontinued innovation, the entrepreneurs of
Atlassian should take help of the Rolls-Royce model and focus on facilitating the
communication between the various departments of the company this will help in coordinated
working and better management. Better communication also gives rise to better workplace
relationships that will keep the employees motivated and committed to the company which in
turn will help them find innovative ideas for the company. Additionally, incentives or
monetary rewards for innovative ideas is an effective way to keep the employees do their
work with more dedication and interest.
Adding the “own and operate” business model along with Atlassian's existing "No
sales force" model will ensure guaranteed success and development to the company and the
marketing of its products. One of the goals of Atlassian is to produce cost-effective products
for the consumers, the “own and operate” business model is going to help to reach that goal
as it works on making the products cost-effective. This model is also helpful for analysing the
importance of the products that the company has to offer.
Conclusion
The present report has provided a detailed information about what are the problems
faced by the entrepreneurs of a large and successful company and how they can solve those
problems. It has highlighted the importance of the roles played by the entrepreneurs as well
as entrepreneurship and innovation behind the growth and development of the company. The
researcher chose the Australian software company named, Atlassian. The researcher has
provided a brief stating of the different challenges that the company and its entrepreneurs
have to face irrespective of its success and popularity. The two major challenges among those

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of the large size of Atlassian and slowing or discontinuation of innovation in the company
have been identified. Three of those challenges have been explaining briefly and different
solutions like the use of different business models like Rolls-Royce model, the classical
management theory and the Own and operate model have been recommended to solve the
identified issues within the company.

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References
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the 3E theory-assessment framework to a proposed new theory of entrepreneurship. Academy
of management Review, 40(4), 630-651.
Bratton, J., and Gold, J., 2017. Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave.
Chen, Y., Wang, Y., Nevo, S., Benitez-Amado, J., and Kou, G., 2015. IT capabilities and
product innovation performance: The roles of corporate entrepreneurship and competitive
intensity. Information & Management, 52(6), 643-657.
Eftekhari, N., and Bogers, M., 2015. Open for entrepreneurship: how open innovation can
foster new venture creation. Creativity and Innovation Management, 24(4), 574-584.
Garud, R., Gehman, J., and Tharchen, T., 2018. Performativity as ongoing journeys:
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500-509.
Harper, H., 2018. Management in Further Education: theory and practice. Routledge.
Huang, L. and Knight, A.P., 2017. Resources and relationships in entrepreneurship: an
exchange theory of the development and effects of the entrepreneur-investor
relationship. Academy of Management Review, 42(1), pp.80-102.
Huggins, R., and Thompson, P., 2015. Entrepreneurship, innovation and regional growth: a
network theory. Small Business Economics, 45(1), 103-128.
Kuratko, D. F., 2016. Entrepreneurship: Theory, process, and practice. Cengage Learning.
Maritz, A., and Donovan, J., 2015. Entrepreneurship and innovation: Setting an agenda for
greater discipline contextualisation. Education+ Training, 57(1), 74-87.
Matthews, C. H., and Brueggemann, R., 2015. Innovation and entrepreneurship: A
competency framework. Routledge.

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Mishra, C. S., and Zachary, R. K., 2015. The theory of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship
research journal, 5(4), 251-268.
Modrego, F., McCann, P., Foster, W. E., and Olfert, M. R., 2015. Regional entrepreneurship
and innovation in Chile: A knowledge matching approach. Small Business Economics, 44(3),
685-703.
Piperopoulos, P. G., 2016. Entrepreneurship, innovation and business clusters. Routledge.
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