University Case Study: Atlassian's Business and Strategic Analysis

This case study examines Atlassian, an Australian software company specializing in team collaboration tools. It analyzes the company's strategic plans, including its response to external environmental forces using PEST analysis. The study investigates Atlassian's capabilities and competencies, emphasizing its unique business model and low sales and marketing costs compared to competitors. The VRIO model is applied to assess the company's competitive advantages. The case highlights Atlassian's impressive revenue growth and its focus on innovation and customer loyalty, concluding that effective strategy implementation is crucial for achieving a strong competitive position in the IT sector.

Running head: A CASE STUDY ON ATLASSIAN
A Case Study on Atlassian
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1A CASE STUDY ON ATLASSIAN
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The main objective of the concerned paper is to analyse a case study on a company named –
Atlassian. The study focuses on analysing the overview of the company and moves to analyse
the strategical plans of the concerned company. In this connection, the company researches
the details of the external environmental factors that creates recognizable impact on the
company. Further, the report examines the capabilities as well as the competency agility of
the company. Furthermore, the report brings into light the effectiveness of the analysed
competency level and concludes with the understanding of the importance of the same for
every business entity.

2A CASE STUDY ON ATLASSIAN
Table of Contents
Introduction to the company......................................................................................................3
External environmental forces influencing the company...........................................................3
The capabilities and competencies of the company...................................................................6
The effectiveness of the capabilities and competency of the company.....................................8
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................9
References................................................................................................................................10
Appendices...............................................................................................................................12
Appendix 1...........................................................................................................................12
Appendix 2...........................................................................................................................13

3A CASE STUDY ON ATLASSIAN
Introduction to the company
The given paper is focused on examining the case study of a company named-
Atlassian. The Atlassian is an Australian company; debuted in the year 2002 (Carslon, 2017).
It is a team collaborated software based company that specialises in the sector of production
as well as collaboration appliances for several business entities. The software developed by
the concerned company helps the employees of a business to organise, discuss and execute
their shared parts of work. The relevant company is examined to work for a team of five
million active users every month and a rough of 51,000 business firm clients that are indulged
in using the software products developed by the Atlassian (Carson, 2017).
External environmental forces influencing the company
As opined by Ansoff et al., (2017), the external environmental forces are those factors
that create a significant impact on the strategical goals and plans of a business entity. In this
connection, concerning examining the case study about Atlassian and implementing the
theory of PEST analysis, the extrinsic factors that influence the working structure of the
concerned company can be analysed as below.
PEST Analysis
According to the viewpoint of Kabakova & Plaksenkov (2018), PEST factors are the
macro-environment factors that affect every powerful business entity. The PEST factors
influencing the Atlassian are determined as below.
Political
The political factors in the business environment are the government policies that
impact the corporate social responsibility of a business entity (Kolk, 2016). The political
factors influencing the working structure of Atlassian are.

4A CASE STUDY ON ATLASSIAN
 The stability of the political considerations and the significance of IT services that
contribute to the GDP of the country.
 The threat of corruption, specifically the rate of regulatory rates in the field of
technological sectors.
 The framework of legal consideration that describes the enforcement of contractual
considerations.
 The rates of tax and invasions.
 The compulsory benefits leveraged to employees.
 The need for labelling the products in the field of IT services.
Economic
As stated by Charter & Tischner (2017), the economic factors of the macro
environment analysis influence the present as well as future values and prospects of a
business organisation. The economic factors in context with the Atlassian are specified as
below.
 The economic system and condition prevailing in the country where the company
operates.
 Interference of Government in the market of technology.
 The rate of exchange and stability rate of other host countries.
 The quality of infrastructure in the industry of Information Technology.
 The cost of labour rate and rate of production in the economic system of the country.
 The rate of unemployment.
 Rates of interest and inflation.
 Workforce labour skills and interests.

5A CASE STUDY ON ATLASSIAN
Social
According to Hillary (2017), social factors influences the business following the
attitude of its potential customers. Every particular individual has different tastes and
preferences. In this context, the social factors affecting the Atlassian are determined as:
 The demographics of the country.
 The hierarchy structure of the society and country as a whole.
 The cultural background of the citizens.
 The behavioural attribute of potential customers.
 The nature of the society towards entrepreneurial entities.
 The rate of leisure interest in the targeted market.
 The level and standard of education both in the company and market.
Technological
Everything from production until supplying requires proper technology in it (Porter &
Kramer, 2019). Efficient technology provides effective production and efficient supply. The
technical factors require enormous investment and maintenance and affect the sales rate of a
company and the rate of its customer satisfaction. The technological factors influencing the
Atlassian are examined below.
 The change in the innovation strategies of the business market.
 The current technological modifications by the potential competitors of Atlassian.
 The average rate of diffusion in technology.
 The impact of technology overproduction and offering of products.
 The impact on the supply chain management due to change in the technology sector.
 The increase in the cost of production in the IT sector because of the numerous
advancements in innovation and technologies.

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The capabilities and competencies of the company
As implied by Heemskerk et al., (2019), several technological changes may affect the
process of Atlassian; starting from its products and services to the computing of its business
models. However, considering the differences in technologies and the modified trends and
trades of the market, it is expected that several companies will enter the market of IT
department with innovated digital products and services. Thus, the capability and the
competency tool of the concerned company remains to develop their software team base to
create and innovate their product and services offered to the customers and survive in the
market for a more extended period. The development in the technological factors of the
company is specified as the core factor of determining the competency agility of the
company. Second, comes the process and effectiveness of the Research and Development
team. Thirdly, the focus of the company towards its Corporate Social Responsibility and last
but not the least its efforts towards the environmental informs.
Based on the above pieces of findings, it was examined with the help of case study
that in the year of 2015, due to the rapid changes in the technology and innovation, the
potential customers of the IT department demanded frequent changes for improving the
products and services. They also wished the same to be at the best quality and the lowest
price. These rapid modifications led to a disturbance in the software technologies and
delivery of the services demanded by the customers and in turn affecting the business models
of IT companies. However, the Atlassian remained unaffected with this because of its unique
philosophy of no sales force. The concerned company has been recorded to spend 21% of
their total revenue to sell its products (Schonell, 2017). The competitors of Atlassian have
limited their earning to just the sales of software, whereas, the business strategy of Atlassian
Company uniquely revolves on recurring the fees of subscription from the customers rather
than just the sales volume of software. In this connection, it was examined that the costs of

7A CASE STUDY ON ATLASSIAN
sales and marketing of Atlassian remained significantly low as compared to its potential
competitors. The same can be analysed with the help of the table below.
Name of the company Annual Sales (in a million) Sales and Marketing Costs
(in a million)
Atlassian $319.5 $68
Salesforce $537 $276
Workday $787.9 $315.8
Box $216.4 $207.7
ServiceNow $682.6 $341.1
HubSpot $115.9 $77.8
NewRelic $110.4 $89.2
Figure 1: Showing Annual Sales and Cost of Sales and Marketing
(Source: Based on Mahroum, 2016)
As shown in the above table, it is analysed that the sales and marketing cost of the
concerned company Atlassian is at the lowest rate of only $68. Although the annual sales are
determined to be low, Atlassian still generates the highest revenue because of marketing costs
being low, and the final revenue of a company is determined after deducting its cost incurred
from the sales generated. In this connection, the competency level of the organisation can be
determined with the limitations of VRIO model.
VRIO model
VRIO model determines the different level of traits an organisation indulges that
makes it advantageous from other. The VRIO model for Atlassian is specified as below.

8A CASE STUDY ON ATLASSIAN
Figure 2: Showing VRIO model of Atlassian
(Source: Based on Barahona, 2015)
The effectiveness of the capabilities and competency of the company
Based on the case study and the evidence presented above, the research tends to prove
that the Atlassian has effectively and efficiently achieved the competency. This is determined
by the statistical data presented in the above table (Refer Appendix 1). Along with this the
case study also shows that since the day of its existence, the concerned company has been
gaining a high level of success and that too at a very short span of time. The annual revenue
generated at the very first year was recorded to be $1 million. This revenue rate increased to
14.9 million in the year of 2005-2006. Moreover, this revenue kept on expanding on a record-
breaking pace and reached 39.5 million in the year of 2015. Researches in this context proved
that the revenue rate of 2015 increased by a rate of 49% to that of 2014 (Zaheer et al., 2019).
It was also examined that the company follows a balanced distribution model for its supply
chain management that ensures the smooth flow of products and services from the place of its
Valuable
The valuable product deigned by Atlassain is its software designs.
Rare
The software designed are rare in the case that it helps the business
to operate,dicsuss and execute their processes and plans.
Inimitable
The inimitable nature of the product is the security concept indulged
in it.
Organise
d
The company works a well organised team an treats both its customer
and employees as family.

9A CASE STUDY ON ATLASSIAN
origin to the area of consumption. The company is also focused on risk-taking abilities on the
highest priority and also continuously work with innovation strategies and technology
implementation that helps them to gain a better competitive advantage in the market. This, in
turn, helps the company to sustain itself in the market in the long run.
Conclusion
Based on the case study examined in the following paper about the strategies and
changes in the strategic plan of the company Atlassian, it was contemplated that effective and
efficient implementation and execution is necessary for a business entity. The strategic plan is
the ones which define the future working process and paradigm of business. In this case, it
was examined that the concerned company has received a sufficient degree in achieving the
most significant competitive advantage in the market field of Information Technology. The
company is analysed to have a transparent wall with its customer that helps it gain customer
loyalty. Moreover, the company works together as a team with its all level of employees and
they foster in being the change rather than just seeking for it.

10A CASE STUDY ON ATLASSIAN
References
Ansoff, H. I., Kipley, D., Lewis, A. O., Helm-Stevens, R., & Ansoff, R. (2019). Implanting
strategic management. Springer.
Barahona, M. M. S. M. C. (2015). Internationalization strategy of Labirinto Shoes to Sydney
(Australia) (Doctoral dissertation).
Carlson, R. M. (2017). Atlassian: Analysis and strategic recommendation.
Carson, G. (2017). Hidden opportunities in the software sector. Equity, 31(9), 8.
Charter, M., & Tischner, U. (Eds.). (2017). Sustainable solutions: developing products and
services for the future. Routledge.
Heemskerk, M., Turner, B., Hinch, J., & Studman, M. (2019). U.S. Patent Application No.
16/147,211.
Hillary, R. (Ed.). (2017). Small and medium-sized enterprises and the environment: business
imperatives. Routledge.
Kabakova, O., & Plaksenkov, E. (2018). Analysis of factors affecting financial inclusion:
Ecosystem view. Journal of Business Research, 89, 198-205.
Kolk, A. (2016). The social responsibility of international business: From ethics and the
environment to CSR and sustainable development. Journal of World Business, 51(1),
23-34.
Mahroum, S. (2016). Atlassian in Sydney: Beating the Tyranny of Distance. In Black Swan
Start-ups (pp. 215-231). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Porter, M. E., & Kramer, M. R. (2019). Creating shared value. In Managing sustainable
business (pp. 323-346). Springer, Dordrecht.

11A CASE STUDY ON ATLASSIAN
Schonell, S. H. (2017). Case studies 5: Atlassian.
Zaheer, H., Breyer, Y., Dumay, J., & Enjeti, M. (2019). Straight from the horse's mouth:
Founders' perspectives on achieving ‘traction in digital start-ups. Computers in
Human Behavior, 95, 262-274.

12A CASE STUDY ON ATLASSIAN
Appendices
Appendix 1
Name of the company Annual Sales (in a million) Sales and Marketing Costs
(in a million)
Atlassian $319.5 $68
Salesforce $537 $276
Workday $787.9 $315.8
Box $216.4 $207.7
ServiceNow $682.6 $341.1
HubSpot $115.9 $77.8
NewRelic $110.4 $89.2
Figure 1: Showing Annual Sales and Cost of Sales and Marketing
(Source: Based on Mahroum, 2016)

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Appendix 2
Figure 2: Showing VRIO model of Atlassian
(Source: Based on Barahona, 2015)
Valuable
The valuable product deigned by Atlassain is its software designs.
Rare
The software designed are rare in the case that it helps the business
to operate,dicsuss and execute their processes and plans.
Inimitable
The inimitable nature of the product is the security concept indulged
in it.
Organise
d
The company works a well organised team an treats both its customer
and employees as family.