Entrepreneurial Profile: Gerry Harvey and the Success of Harvey Norman

This report provides an in-depth analysis of Gerry Harvey, the Executive Chairman of Harvey Norman Holdings LTD, exploring his journey as a successful Australian entrepreneur. It delves into his personality traits, including creativity, motivation, risk-taking, and competitiveness, which have contributed to his achievements. The report examines Harvey Norman's business operations, its establishment, and its retail focus on furniture, computers, and electronics. Furthermore, it explores various entrepreneurial theories, such as economic, resource-based, psychological, sociological, and opportunity-based theories, and how they apply to Harvey's business practices and decision-making. The report highlights how these theories have shaped Harvey's approach to risk management, resource allocation, and adaptation to market changes, ultimately contributing to the sustained success of Harvey Norman in the competitive retail landscape. The report also provides an overview of the company's operations, franchise model, and online presence, emphasizing its commitment to providing high-quality products and building customer trust. The analysis offers insights into Harvey's ability to identify and capitalize on business opportunities, making him a prominent figure in the Australian business sector.

Entrepreneurship

Executive summary
Entrepreneur is a person who is creating a new business in order to gain profit from it. An
entrepreneur is responsible for taking all risk as well as managing various functions of
business. The entrepreneur will bear all risk of business and enjoy most of the rewards earn
by company. Entrepreneurship is can be define as those businesses which has higher risk as
well as chances of earning more rewards. These businesses are serves to grow and generate
economic wealth, growth and innovations so that company can achieve desired goals and
objectives. Chosen entrepreneur for this report is Gerry Harvey. He is a successful Australian
entrepreneur who is a Executive Chairman of company Harvey Norman Holdings LTD. This
is a multination company which is dealing in business of bedding, furniture, communication,
computer as well as other electronic goods. Gerry Harvey is one of the richest men of
Australia. His personality traits and goals has helped him in become as successful
entrepreneur. This report includes different personality traits of entrepreneur which leads to
become a successful entrepreneur. It consists of goals and aspirations of an entrepreneur that
helps in achieving its set objectives and desires. This report includes entrepreneur theory
which helps entrepreneur in conducting its business activities as well as managing it
effectively and efficiently.

Contents
Executive summary....................................................................................................................1
About entrepreneur.................................................................................................................3
About business........................................................................................................................4
Entrepreneur theory................................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................................6
REFERANCES..........................................................................................................................7

About entrepreneur
Gerry Harvey is a Executive Chairman of Harvey Norman Holdings LTD. He was born on
September 18, 1939 in Springwood, New South Wales. Gerry Harvey is an Australian
entrepreneur who runs Australian retail chain of Hervey Norman. When Gerry Harvey was
young, he was determined to become a farmer. His schooling from Bathurust and Katoomba
and after that he moved to Sydney for his further studies. In Sydney, when Gerry Harvey was
of age 17 he joined a University. But after couple of years he dropped out his University
because he did not enjoy. He was never interest in studying accountancy; economics and he
use to hate this stuff as he wanted to be a farmer. After this he started door to door selling of
vacuum cleaners as well as fridge. While working as a door to door sales man he met with
Ian Norman. He was also working with Gerry Harvey in same job profile. Their friendship
leads to partnership and they open their first store in 1961 Sydney. After some time they both
has developed their business as well as expand business. Gerry Harvey has owned the ratial
business of Domayne, Joyce Mayne and number of other small business. About Gerry
Harvey family, he has two children from his first wife Lynette and after some time they both
got divorced. Gerry Harvey remarried in 1988 to Katie Page and she becomes the CEO of
Harvey Norman in 1999. Gerry Harvey has claimed that his wife Katie Page is a mastermind
and has ability to handle operations of his business. Form over last decades Gerry Harvey has
developed his interest in Race horses and he started involving in breeding with race horses.
Gerry Harvey owns the auction market of Magic Millions racehorse as well as he controls a
property portfolio. He can be considered as a self made person as he is counted in top 50
richest persons of Australia. Gerry Harvey real time net worth is $ 1.6 B (Gerry Harvey,
2019). At age of 70, he likes to play tennis and he is very passionate about this game His
personality traits as well as his attitude are a major reason of this success. Gerry Harvey has
set vision which inspirers him to accomplish and attain his goals.
Personality traits of Gerry Harvey.
These traits of his personality can be considered as a biggest reason behind his success as
well as his business (Drucker, 2014). Personality traits are refer as characteristics of a person
which define a pattern of thoughts, feelings as well as behaviour of a person. Personality
traits or characteristics of Gerry Harvey are mention below.
 Creativity: This can be described as a trait of a person that helps them to think
differently from other. Gerry Harvey is a very creative person which leads to develop
original idea as well as create something new. This characteristic is very important is
an entrepreneurs as they have to use their imagination as well as invent something
new so that they can attract more and more customers towards their business or idea.
 Motivation: This word can be defined as a power or reason to act in a particular way.
Motivation characteristic in as person influences them to behave in a certain way in
order to attain desired goals and objective. These personality traits of Gerry Harvey
helps him to acchive its set goals as well as develop a successful business.
 Risk taker: Risk is a very huge factor in determining success of a business. A
business is full of risk and an entrepreneur must have capability to take risk in order to

grow and develop its business. Gerry Harvey is a risk taker and he like to explore new
thing (Kirzner, 2015). Sometime taking risk can have negative impact on business but
risk can be considered as a key to success. This personality trait of respective
entrepreneur leads to increase it business and gain success.
 Competitiveness: It can be refer as strong desire of a person which helps an
entrepreneur in becoming more successful than others. Gerry Harvey is a very
competitive person and this has developed a feeling in him that he should person
better than its competitors as well as achieves his desired goals. This personality trait
of Gerry Harvey helps him in continually improving himself so that he can person
better than others.
About business
Harvey Norman Company is dealing in retail sector and it is providing furniture, computer
and other electronic products. This company was established in 1982 and founder of Harvey
Norman are Gerry Harvey and Ian Norman. Both of them were working as a door to door
salesman and offering vacuum cleaner. In 1961 they have opened their first store which is
providing electrical goods and other appliances. In October of 1982 they have opened first
store of Harvey Norman in the outer Sydney. Headquarter of this company is in Homebush
West, New South Wales, Australia and its stores are located in many locations. This is the
largest Australian based multinational company which drop shipping business. Harvey
Norman mainly operates as franchise with its main brand (Parker, 2018). This company
operates through stores and online business. Its stores are owned by independent franchisees
and these franchises operated Harvey Norman business activities. Online stores of Harvey
Norman Company are developed with the motive of providing shop with confidence to
customers. This company is providing valuable and high quality products to its customers.
This has helped company to gain trust from customers as well as develop good brand image
in market area.
Entrepreneur theory
Entrepreneur is a person who takes all the risks as well as conduct different activities
in order to gain success from its business. They put together a business as well as all accepts
of firm which are related to risk with the motive of making profits. An entrepreneur has to
conduct different activities in order to convert idea into success business. For this there are
number of entrepreneur theories that helps him in full fill all required tasks and achieve
desired motive of organisation. Entrepreneur theory is divided into five category such as
economic, resource based, psychological, sociological, opportunity based theory. All of these
theories of entrepreneurship have helped Gerry Harvey in gaining success as well as
achieving set goals and objectives.
Economic theory
This theory can be described as idea of entrepreneur taking risk for achieving success.
Economic theory was introduced in first half of the 1700s by Richard Cantillon. It is basically
divided into different parts such as classic, neo classical and Austrian Market process. This
theory states that economic growth as success of an entrepreneur take place when economic

conditions are in favour to business. From this theory Gerry Harvey has understat that
economic incentives play a major roles in business and they are the motivators for
entrepreneur success (Kuratko, 2016). Richard Cantillon has viewed entrepreneurs as a agents
purchase factor of productions at certain prices with the motive of selling it with uncertain
price in future by combining them. Drawback of this theory is that it fails to provide
satisfactory analysis about the role of entrepreneurship as well as its supply.
Resource based theory
This theory is based on different resources of an enterprise as well as efforts which
helps in gaining success. Resource based theory has put importance on various resources of
an organisation that needs to be managed carefully. This theory helps Gerry Harvey in better
understating about the different resources of business such as financial resources, social as
well as human resources. Resources are the major part of enterprise and these can be consider
as those factors which helps in gaining success. Gerry Harvey has used this theory in
effectively and efficiently managing resources of its business so that he can earn most of it.
Psychological theory
It is completely based on psychology of an entrepreneur and this theory is developed by
David McCLellad. Psychological theory of entrepreneurship is based on different traits of
an entrepreneur. It consist of mental or emotional elements of an individual which helps in
taking right decision for business as achieving success. Through this Gerry Harvey has
analysed that entrepreneurship will achieving success and get boost when individual has
necessary psychological traits or characteristics to manage business effectively. Gerry Harvey
has different psychological characteristics which is the main reason for its success. Different
characteristic of Gerry Harvey includes need of achievement, clear vision foresight as well as
ability to face completion. He is a very competitive by nature which helps him in performing
better than other and conducting business activities in such a way that it leads to gain success
(Burns, 2016). There are some drawbacks of psychological theory of entrepreneur that it only
focus on personality traits or characteristics on an individual. This theory is not able to
provide proper guidance for achieving desired objectives.
Sociological theory
This theory of entrepreneurs is based on different social context which provides
various opportunities to an individual for its leverage. Sociological theory is developed by
Paul D. Reynolds who was a research professor at George Washington University. He has
developed this theory with the motive of explain different aspects of society and social
networks which helps a person in successful running of it enterprise. An entrepreneurship
will get growth or boost in a specific social culture. This theory has helped Gerry Harvey in
gaining more knowledge about various social factors such as value of society, religious
beliefs, customs and so on. An entrepreneur must perform its business as per expectation of
society. Social networks, desire for getting meaningful life as well as different social-political
environment factors play a major role in developing success of business. Drawback of

sociological theory is that it ignores organising abilities as well as risk taking of an
individual.
Opportunity based theory
This theory can be described as different opportunity of business environment which helps an
entrepreneur in building a successful business. Opportunity based theory was introduced by
Peter Drucker, he was an author, professor as well as corporate consultant. Motive of
opportunity based theory is to explain about the different opportunities that should be
grabbed by entrepreneur in order to excel it business (Martin, McNally and Kay, 2013). From
this theory Gerry Harvey has identified that it is very important for taking advantage of
different possibilities which is created by changes in social, technological as well as cultural
environment. Opportunity based theory has helped by providing a conceptual framework for
entrepreneurs so that they can grab opportunities of business environment that occurs with
the changes in different factors. An enterprise should be always ready to seek different
opportunities as well as explore them.
From the above theories of entrepreneurs it can be analysed that there are different factors
which helps an entrepreneurs to gain success as well as achieves set goals of business. Gerry
Harvey has deeply understood theories of entrepreneurship and conduct its business activities
by considering these theories. These theory has helps Gerry Harvey in developing his
personality and capabilities so that he can perform better. Dynamic capabilities of an
entrepreneurs can be consider as a major reason for their success (Frese and Gielnik, 2014).
By recognizing changes in technologies, policies as well as demands of customers an
individual can effectively conduct its business activities as well as accomplish targets.
entrepreneur theories has helps in providing better understating about resources of
organisation, social environment, psychosocial factor, advantage of seeking opportunities and
so on.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be concluded that there are different traits and characteristics of
entrepreneurs personality that helps them in achieving success. An entrepreneur is
responsible for carry different activities as well as takes all risk in order to accomplish
desired goals and objectives. Several theories of entrepreneurs is developed with motive of
providing a proper framework or guidelines to entrepreneurs so that they can excel in their
business activities and get desired results.

REFERANCES
Books and Journal
Drucker, P., 2014. Innovation and entrepreneurship. Routledge.
Kirzner, I.M., 2015. Competition and entrepreneurship. University of Chicago press.
Parker, S.C., 2018. The economics of entrepreneurship. Cambridge University Press.
Kuratko, D.F., 2016. Entrepreneurship: Theory, process, and practice. Cengage Learning.
Burns, P., 2016. Entrepreneurship and small business. Palgrave Macmillan Limited.
Martin, B.C., McNally, J.J. and Kay, M.J., 2013. Examining the formation of human capital in
entrepreneurship: A meta-analysis of entrepreneurship education outcomes. Journal of business
venturing. 28(2). pp.211-224.
Frese, M. and Gielnik, M.M., 2014. The psychology of entrepreneurship. Annu. Rev. Organ.
Psychol. Organ. Behav. 1(1). pp.413-438.
Wright, M. and Stigliani, I., 2013. Entrepreneurship and growth. International Small Business
Journal. 31(1). pp.3-22.
Venkataraman, S., 2019. The distinctive domain of entrepreneurship research. In Seminal
Ideas for the Next Twenty-Five Years of Advances (pp. 5-20). Emerald Publishing Limited.
Fayolle, A., 2013. Personal views on the future of entrepreneurship
education. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development. 25(7-8). pp.692-701.
Online
Gerry Harvey. 2019. [Online]. Available
thorugh:<https://www.forbes.com/profile/gerry-harvey/#7c7c44a850a7>

Interview questions
Q 1. What inspired you the most to choose this business and what was your goal or
aspirations regarding your business?
A. Well, I worked as vacuum cleaner salesman, I specialized in one thing, I could sell.
Norman and I, we thought of an idea that could serve multiple product lines but under one
roof. We wanted to specialise in something that wasn’t been done before.
Q 2. According to you, which personality traits of entrepreneur will lead to success of its
business?
A. Leader, you ought to be a leader before you can be anyone. If you don’t have the
confidence in yourself, you cannot excel. Your people, your team, they see you, they learn
from you, they idealize you.
Q 3. How do you handle or deal with tough situations?
A. The thing about tough situations, they never leave. I have seen it all in my life. I’ve had a
tough time setting up myself for tasks, both for business and personal life. The fact that
setting up this Business has been challenging enough, and all I’ve done through this time was
to stay upright and hold on to your nerves. You stay sane, you manage.
Q 4. What will be your next step in expanding your business and achieve growth?
A. We are looking forward to expanding to countries where we can operate more freely. Our
foreign units are performing a lot better pertaining to the fewer operational and trade
restrictions. I believe in chasing profits, that’s what you are running the businesses for! I am
very much banking upon how we have performed overseas, we are going to capitalise on
that! More chains, more profit.