Current Entrepreneurial Venture - PDF

Running head: ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Entrepreneurship
Name of the University:
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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Background of the entrepreneurship..........................................................................................2
Entrepreneurial Traits.................................................................................................................3
Opportunity recognition and idea development process............................................................4
Competitive Advantages............................................................................................................5
Recommendations......................................................................................................................6
References..................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
Entrepreneurship can be defined as the overall procedure of launching, designing or
running a start up or a new business. The individuals who start or create those businesses can
be referred to as entrepreneurs. In simpler terms, entrepreneurship can be defined as the
willingness or capacity to organize, manage or develop a business venture along with the
risks, for making a profit. The definitions of entrepreneurship typically focus on the running
and launching of the businesses because of the higher level of risks involved around
launching a start up. Many businesses close due to the bad decisions taken in the business,
lack of funds, economic crisis, less market demand or a combination of the factors (Drucker
2014). The purpose of the report is to discuss about a current entrepreneurial venture
‘Birdsnest’ and its founder, Jane Cay. The report throws light on the background of the
venture, entrepreneurial traits, opportunities and competitive advantages. In addition to this,
the report recommends some factors for the future aspects of the business.
Background of the entrepreneur and entrepreneurship
Birdsnest started up as a little clothes store in the high street of Cooma, when Cay
moved to town from Sydney. Jane Cay was a former information technology worked, who
launched a store online and now the company has more than 140 workers. Her workforce
mainly consists of 95% female and most of the staff workers have flexible working hours in
order to fit around their school hours as well as other commitments. She thinks of her venture
as some major customer service business, rather than just a frock shop. Moreover, she does
not want to make her store any bigger, as she has been striving to be the best at what she does
for her customers (Smh.com.au 2018). The employees get to balance their work as well as
personal life. Flexible timing has helped them in balancing their commitments and work as
well.
The vision of the company is all about making fashion empowering, friendly and
making women recognize their own style. Cay promotes creativity and allows her employees
to showcase their talents in the most innovative manner. Birdsnest’s culture emphasizes upon
the positive behaviors of the employees and good values, which makes the workplace great.
Moreover, the employees are focused and goal setting helps them in catering to the most
number of target consumers. Good leadership of Jane motivates as well as encourages the
employees to give their best for the company (Birdsnest.com.au 2018). Such behavior

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provides with focus on what is important and moreover, it assists in bringing in clarity for
decision making. She is well aware of the relevant theories of entrepreneurship and applies
those in conducting her business. The psychological theory helps her in focusing on the
employees emotional or mental elements. The sociological theory helps her in leveraging the
entrepreneurial opportunities. Lastly, resource-based theory and the innovation theory
enable better management of innovative resources as well as time management. The
employees love working for Birdsnest because of its organizational culture and crystal clear
goals.
Entrepreneurial Traits
The founder of the online fashion business Birdsnest, Jane Cay believes that the state
offered her a loyal workforce but however, she struggled to recruit them at higher levels. The
online revolution has allowed her remote business to flourish, but lack of skills is making it
difficult for the business to attract the talents out of cities. The major trait theories which are
relevant for this entrepreneurial venture include innovation theory, cultural and sociological
theories (Garud and Giuliani 2013). Jane Cay is a highly successful entrepreneur who posses
certain entrepreneurial characteristics or traits like self confidence, creativity, imagination,
risk taking, perseverance and others. The trait theories mainly hold the development of
entrepreneurships as the entrepreneurs posses some specific competencies or characteristics
that make them capable of generating new concepts and create new venture (Leutner et al.
2014). Jane Cay believes that flexible working arrangements allow for commitments and
families.
Under her leadership, Birdsnest has doubled the size and it is on the list of top 40
most visited sites of apparels in Australia. The company employs over eighty fabulous birds.
Being an entrepreneur, Jane is very much passionate about inspiring confidence among her
customers. Moreover, she discovers innovative ways of solving the wardrobe dilemma of her
target customers by using latest technologies (Mahmood and Hanafi 2013). Cay, at an early
age committed to herself in being a part of online revolution. In modern days, Birdsnest has
rapidly grown than she could have imagined. She also admits in making huge mistakes all
throughout her career and those mistakes proved to be the best lessons of her life. Cay has a
strong understanding of the importance of creating a sound and positive environment of
work, along with a good organizational culture. In addition to this, she ensures that each new

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member of the team understands their customers’ changing preferences and act in accordance
with that (Olivari 2016).
Opportunity recognition and idea development process
Birdsnest’s mission is to offer the candidates with opportunities and let their talent
shine. The company is situated at the foothills of New South Wales, in the rural town of
Cooma. The fashion apparel online site offers great career to its employees along with
lifestyle opportunities. In modern day’s business environment, the profitability or sustaining
growth is never the guarantee. The scientific and technological advances shorten the life
cycles of products or services. The business models change over time as the new competitors
appear and thus, the companies need to seek new business opportunities (Garud and Giuliani
2013). Firstly, in order to progress, Birdsnest needs to define their business framework for
searching new opportunities that is applying the opportunity based theory. For this, the
entrepreneur needs to understand the direction of her business and have knowledge of the
strengths, capabilities or resources of the company.
Secondly, the company needs to segment or prioritize the market. In order to
understand the demands of the consumers, it is important to prioritize them on the basis of
their buying pattern. It is important to apply the anthropological theory and psychological
theories that will enable in examining the cultural forces and understanding the perception of
the customers. Moreover, purchase situations should also be examined in order to uncover the
opportunities for expansion and development of ideas. Thirdly, the company needs to analyze
the purchasing and demand situations. Keeping a track of the existing players in the market
will let the company know, where they are competing. It is highly important, while
evaluating the business opportunities. Fourthly, opportunities can be found at the time of
analyzing the substitute industries. For example; providing huge offers and discount to the
customers will help them grab their attention (Davidsson 2015).
Competitive Advantages
According to Cay, the company’s biggest competitive advantage is that it is able to
understand the issues or problems of the consumers, better than its competitors. Birdsnest
always try to leverage their data and solve the wardrobe dilemmas of its customers in the
most effective manner. The company encourages its employees to recognize more innovative
methods in order to cater to the most number of customers and establish their competitive

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advantage (Liu 2013). The company has managed to provide a number of customers, with
their favorite apparels and won their hearts. With the power of a good retail experience,
background of Information Technology and the power of internet have helped Cay establish
her business. Moreover, the website is now on the top 40 list of apparels, which has ensured
best experiences of the consumers. In addition to this, the online apparel store provides an
option of one day delivery as well, which enables them to stay competitive
(Businesschicks.com 2018).
The economy of the country has provided Birdsnest with huge opportunities to open
up and increase their market opportunities. Moreover, it has helped in expanding their
opportunities for the communities as well, in order to make them inspired by her story. The
employees are so pleased to be a part of the company and their success depends on the
company’s overall success (Johnson 2016). The competitive advantages of the company will
assist in the growth or success of the business. The company’s innovative and creative minds
will help it gain tremendous opportunities and competitive advantage, which will prove to be
beneficial for the Birdsnest on the long run (Gamble and Thompson 2014).
Recommendations
From the analysis above, it can be recommended that the company can further expand
its business by merging with some other business of similar industry. The advantages of
merger and acquisition are depending on the existing businesses for long term strategies.
Moreover, Birdsnest can get highly benefitted if it collaborates with some other renowned
company. It will help in increasing the value efficiencies of the venture and this in turn, will
assist in shaping the returns enrichment as well as cost benefits. In addition to this, scale
economies can be formed through sharing of the services or resources. Furthermore, this will
assist in reducing the overall costs and thus giving competitive advantage to the company
itself. Another biggest advantage of merger and acquisition is the benefits in terms of
taxation. The financial advantages may instigate the corporations to build the usage of tax
shields, utilize alternative benefits of tax and increase the monetary leverage as well.
Therefore, in order to become competitive, Birdsnest can merge with some reputed apparel
website and get benefited on the long run.

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References
Birdsnest.com.au (2018). [online] Available at: https://www.birdsnest.com.au/ [Accessed 5
May 2018].
Businesschicks.com (2018). [online] Available at: https://businesschicks.com/jane-cay-
birdsnest/ [Accessed 5 May 2018].
Davidsson, P., 2015. Entrepreneurial opportunities and the entrepreneurship nexus: A re-
conceptualization. Journal of Business Venturing, 30(5), pp.674-695.
Drucker, P., 2014. Innovation and entrepreneurship. Routledge.
Gamble, J. and Thompson, A.A., 2014. Essentials of strategic management. Irwin Mcgraw-
Hill.
Garud, R. and Giuliani, A.P., 2013. A narrative perspective on entrepreneurial
opportunities. Academy of Management Review, 38(1), pp.157-160.
Johnson, G., 2016. Exploring strategy: text and cases. Pearson Education.
Leutner, F., Ahmetoglu, G., Akhtar, R. and Chamorro-Premuzic, T., 2014. The relationship
between the entrepreneurial personality and the Big Five personality traits. Personality and
individual differences, 63, pp.58-63.
Liu, Y., 2013. Sustainable competitive advantage in turbulent business
environments. International Journal of Production Research, 51(10), pp.2821-2841.
Mahmood, R. and Hanafi, N., 2013. Entrepreneurial orientation and business performance of
women-owned small and medium enterprises in Australia: Competitive advantage as a
mediator. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 4(1).
Olivari, J., 2016. Entrepreneurial traits and firm innovation. Eurasian Business Review, 6(3),
pp.339-360.
Smh.com.au (2018). [online] Available at: https://www.smh.com.au/business/small-
business/australias-nine-most-influential-female-entrepreneurs-2017-20170224-gukte5.html
[Accessed 5 May 2018].