Entrepreneurship Report: Analysis of Ruslan Kogan and Kogan.com

This report provides an in-depth analysis of Ruslan Kogan, the CEO of Kogan.com, focusing on his entrepreneurial capabilities and the success of his e-commerce business in Australia. It explores Kogan's entrepreneurial traits, including his knack for innovation, regret minimization, and risk-taking. The report examines his opportunity recognition process, highlighting how he identified and capitalized on the e-commerce trend. It also details the competitive advantages of Kogan.com, such as its low prices and transformational leadership approach. The report concludes with recommendations for future improvements, emphasizing the importance of customer service and a clear vision for continued success. The analysis draws on various entrepreneurial theories and provides insights into Kogan's business strategies and market performance.

Running head: ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Entrepreneurship
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

1
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Executive Summary
The report has been helpful in understanding the entrepreneurship capabilities of Ruslan Kogan
who is the CEO of the Kogan Company. With the different entrepreneurial capabilities such as
risk-taking approach along with minimization of regret factor, the entrepreneur has been
successful in managing the business successfully in the economy of Australia. However, there
are different kinds of issues which are inclusive of the customer service and satisfaction as these
are the crucial aspects which will be helpful for improving the prospects of the business in a
successful manner.

2
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Background of Entrepreneur........................................................................................................3
Entrepreneurial Characteristics and Traits.......................................................................................4
Opportunity Recognition and idea Development Process...............................................................5
Competitive Advantages..................................................................................................................5
Recommendations............................................................................................................................7
References........................................................................................................................................9

3
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Entrepreneur Name- Ruslan Kogan
Introduction
Background of Entrepreneur
The report throws light on analyzing the different kinds of entrepreneurial traits of a
young and current entrepreneur who is successful in the Australian economy. In this report, the
entrepreneur who has been taken is Ruslan Kogan, CEO of Kogan.com- Australia’s premier
shopping destination. Ruslan Kogan is the serial entrepreneur as well as founder and CEO of
Kogan.com as well as different other e-commerce companies based in Australia. He was born in
the year 1982 and was born to Belarusian parents and later on, they moved with their sister to
Australia in 1989 (Kogan.com.au 2020).
He grew up in Elsternwick housing commission flats and he started his first business
development at the age of ten with the help of the finding lost golf balls, cleaning them as well as
selling them at $0.50/each. By the age of 23, he had been able to work at IT departments of
Bosch, Telstra, GE as well as the management consultant at Accenture. Furthermore, Kogan left
their job in 2006 and started Kogan.com at age of 23 in 2006 from his parent’s garage based in
Melbourne, Australia (Xia 2018).
From his entrepreneurial capabilities, it has been noticed that Kogan was successful in
adopting the Need for Achievement Theory proposed by McClelland. As in the respective
context, it has been seen that the human beings try to take the motivation and exploit the
opportunities for taking the advantage of the favorable trade conditions. In such scenario, Kogan
tried to apply the same as he felt the e-commerce was the new trend which is impacting the

4
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
market positively and through this, he will be able to earn high level of revenues and
profitability.
Entrepreneurial Characteristics and Traits
In case of Ruslan Kogan, there are few entrepreneurial traits which make him effective and
helped him in taking the business ahead. The traits are described as follows:
Knack for Innovation- It is the first and foremost aspect of Kogan as he has been the
innovator from the age of 10. The hunger of Kogan for developing something new and the
widely popular Kogan.com has been the success. The drive of Kogan for creating something new
was the main approach which intensified with time (Welter et al. 2017).
Regret Minimization Theory- It is the other aspect and theory on which Kogan relies on
mostly as he feels that as an entrepreneur of a leading e-commerce website, the main aspect that
is needed to be analyzed is to make tough decisions for the betterment of the organization.
Through the help of Regret Minimization Theory, he tries to take tough calls and being more
straightforward that will be beneficial in improving the growth of the company as a whole.
Kogan has explained that leaving the job and trying out the entrepreneurial venture has been the
right decision through the respective theory (Stam et al. 2019).
Risk taker- It is the other trait which is possessed by Ruslan Kogan wherein with the
usage of the Need of Achievement Theory, Kogan has been successful in taking the risk of
becoming an entrepreneur and achieving the greatest heights through taking risks as there were
different other well-established e-commerce companies already available in the market such as
Amazon or eBay (Spigel 2017).

5
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Opportunity Recognition and idea Development Process
In case of Ruslan Kogan, it can be analyzed that opportunity recognition is considered to
be the crucial process of the creation of the venture. In the respective stage, as commented by
Romme and Reymen (2017), the opportunity recognition is the process wherein the different
individuals as well as companies actively seek out and perceive the different opportunities for the
new products as well as services. With the help of Opportunity Recognition Model, the
successful entrepreneurs such as Ruslan Kogan tried to use their entrepreneurial process along
with different corresponding factors as well as their relationships. Ruslan Kogan tried to apply
his skills and risk taking attitude that helped him in converting the different ideas into successful
venture such as Kogan.com which is the successful e-commerce website in Australian economy
and running successfully.
From the analysis of the entrepreneurial capability of Ruslan Kogan, it has been noticed
that entrepreneurship is mainly driven by the opportunity related perception which will be
capable of developing the new ideas which will be highly successful. Through the Kogan.com,
the CEO Kogan has been able to meet the different demands of the customers and make them
effective in achieving the different aspects in a successful manner. In the process of the business
related innovations, it is helpful for perceiving business opportunity in fulfilling the unmet
demands of the different customers thoroughly (Nielsen et al. 2017).
Competitive Advantages
Ruslan Kogan has been successful in developing the Kogan.com, which is the successful
and leading e-commerce business in the Australian economy. The competitive advantage of
Kogan.com is the low prices which are being offered to the customers while they make their

6
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
purchases. The company has ranked within top 20 in the worldwide ranking in the way of the
selling of electronic products. There are different kinds of products on offering from the digital
media to other clothing and accessories which are liked and preferred by the different customers
in an appropriate manner (Nambisan 2017). With the help of the utilizing the transformational
leadership approach and the need for achievement model of entrepreneurship, the company
Kogan has been highly effective and successful in Australian economy in a successful manner.
The different kinds of aspects such as involving the different employees in the process of
decision-making is the significant element which has been proved to be highly successful in
meeting the needs successfully (McKenny et al. 2017).
Figure 1: key Statistics of Kogan.com
(Source: Kuratko 2016)
The risk-taking was the main element which was being adopted by Ruslan Kogan in
implementing their effectiveness in the management of the entire business and gain high

7
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
effectiveness. Through the help of the figure, it can be seen that the company has been capable of
performing efficiently in the market and they have the capability in managing their business
prospects in a suitable manner as well.
Recommendations
Therefore, after the overall analysis of the entrepreneurial capabilities of Ruslan Kogan,
the CEO and owner of Kogan.com, there are few recommendations which can be provided to the
company and Ruslan Kogan for the future prospects and making them highly successful in nature
as well.
Firstly, while starting a business, the main element which is requires is proper customer
service and satisfaction as they are the crucial asset of the company. It is highly efficient to
understand what is required to become successful and make the customers happy. In case of
Kogan Company, the main thing which is the drawback and therefore, the ratings from
customers has reduced. It is the huge concern which can be solved with the generation of proper
customer service department while establishing the business to succeed and it will be taking a
high impact on the profitability of the business in a proper manner (Burchardt et al. 2016).
In addition, having a proper vision is the other key element that is needed to be adopted
by Ruslan Kogan which will be providing him with the effectiveness to run the business
smoothly. Keeping the vision clear all the times is highly necessary for making the business
successful and generating high level of revenues in the market within a short and stipulated time
frame as well. Through finding good people and employing them in the business of
entrepreneurs is the most significant element that is needed to be adopted by Kogan which will

8
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
be beneficial in improving the progress of the company and create positive impact on the start-up
business (Alsos and Ljunggren 2017).
With the help and implementation of Psychological theory, the entrepreneurs such as
Kogan can be able to focus on individuals along with mental or the emotional elements which
will be driving entrepreneurial ideas in a successful manner (Alsos and Ljunggren 2017). There
are different other theories that can be adopted by the upcoming people who are preferring to
become highly successful in nature and gain competitive advantage in the market and in a
successful manner. It will be suitable for improving the different aspects of the business and gain
competitiveness against the other large established businesses present in the market.

9
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
References
Alsos, G.A. and Ljunggren, E., 2017. The role of gender in entrepreneur–investor relationships:
A signaling theory approach. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 41(4), pp.567-590.
Burchardt, J., Hommel, U., Kamuriwo, D.S. and Billitteri, C., 2016. Venture capital contracting
in theory and practice: implications for entrepreneurship research. Entrepreneurship Theory and
Practice, 40(1), pp.25-48.
Kogan.com.au 2020 Kogan.com- E-commerce Website (Online) Retrieved from
https://www.kogan.com.au [Accessed on 28th March 2020]
Kuratko, D.F., 2016. Entrepreneurship: Theory, process, and practice. Cengage Learning.
McKenny, A.F., Allison, T.H., Ketchen Jr, D.J., Short, J.C. and Ireland, R.D., 2017. How should
crowdfunding research evolve? A survey of the entrepreneurship theory and practice editorial
board. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 41(2), pp.291-304.
Nambisan, S., 2017. Digital entrepreneurship: Toward a digital technology perspective of
entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 41(6), pp.1029-1055.
Nielsen, S.L., Klyver, K., Evald, M.R. and Bager, T., 2017. Entrepreneurship in theory and
practice: paradoxes in play. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Romme, A.G.L. and Reymen, I.M.M.J., 2017. Entrepreneurship research and practice: toward a
taxonomy at the interface of science and design. In Combining rigor and relevance:
Entrepreneurship theory as design and social mechanisms.

10
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Spigel, B., 2017. The relational organization of entrepreneurial ecosystems. Entrepreneurship
Theory and Practice, 41(1), pp.49-72.
Stam, E., 2019. The Multidisciplinary Entrepreneurship Scholar. In From Industrial
Organization to Entrepreneurship (pp. 403-405). Springer, Cham.\
Welter, F., Baker, T., Audretsch, D.B. and Gartner, W.B., 2017. Everyday entrepreneurship—a
call for entrepreneurship research to embrace entrepreneurial diversity.
Xia, W.E.I., 2018. Research on Teaching Mode of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Theory and
Practice Course. In Education Teaching Forum (No. 30, p. 69).