Analysis of Entrepreneurial Characteristics: Katie Page Report

This report provides an analysis of Katie Page, the CEO of Harvey Norman, focusing on her entrepreneurial characteristics and traits. The report examines key aspects such as personality traits, including passion, motivation, creativity, and risk-taking. It explores how she recognizes opportunities, drawing from experience, mentorship, and market trends. The report also delves into her attitude towards risk, including financial, operational, and strategic risks, and how she has managed them. Furthermore, it highlights her goals and aspirations, such as taking the company to a good position, building an efficient team, and maintaining relations with shareholders. The report also discusses the skills she has adopted, like motivation and communication skills, and how these skills have contributed to her success. Overall, the report offers insights into Page's entrepreneurial journey, her leadership style, and her impact on Harvey Norman.

Analyse an
entrepreneur
for their characteristics
and traits
compared to
entrepreneurship
theory

Executive Summary
The report is about the characteristics and traits which an entrepreneur must posses to
work efficiently for the organisation. This report is based on the entrepreneur “Katie Page”. The
report has various information about the personality traits needed by entrepreneur to be
successful, how and opportunity can be identified and many more. The report gives the
information about the entrepreneur selected and what are her skills and how she has taken her
company to a good position. The role of entrepreneur is very important in the company and she
must know how to work in different environment.

Table of Contents
Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................2
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................4
Personality traits of an entrepreneur ...........................................................................................4
Opportunity Recognition Approaches.........................................................................................5
Attitude and Approach towards risk............................................................................................5
Goals and aspirations...................................................................................................................7
Skills adopted by entrepreneur.....................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10
Appendix A....................................................................................................................................11

MAIN BODY
Entrepreneur is a person who by his own experience and will starts a new business in the
market to earn profits. There are various successful entrepreneur in the market who are
performing different activities of the organisation. The entrepreneur chosen here is Katie Page
who is the CEO of Harvey Norman. This company was founded in 1982 by Gerry Harvey and
Ian Norman. Harvey Norman is a multi-national shipping company which deals with furnitures,
bedding and many wooden things.
Personality traits of an entrepreneur
Various personality traits which can be identified of a entrepreneur are:
1) Passion to do work: All the entrepreneurs want profits so that they can stay in the
market and pay all its expenses. But this is not the only aim of the entrepreneur.
There main aim is not related to profit but they work because it is their passion.
They want to stand somewhere in the market. Katie Page is a very famous
entrepreneur who is well known for her work and entrepreneur skills. She doesn't
work just to earn money but working is her passion. Building any business takes
time and efforts of the entrepreneur(Marques and et.al., 2018).
2) Motivation: entrepreneurs are motivated by the objectives they achieve. They
does not want anyone on their head who will push them to earn their goals. They
are either self motivated or are motivated by famous entrepreneurs. Katie page is
a very famous motivator. She just by saying his life stories can motivate people to
their best.
3) Creative: Every successful entrepreneur is creative. No business can work without
the creative skills of an entrepreneur. Creativity helps the business to bring new
product in the market. Opportunities are taken only when a person is creative and
he want to be successful in the world. Business are made with creative and big
ideas and these ideas come to those entrepreneurs only who think creatively and
everyone's way of thinking is different and no two people in the universe think
same (Bird, 2019).
4) Risk-takers: No business can run without taking any risk. Every business has
some risk associated with it. It is the skills if the entrepreneur which converts the
risk into profits of the company. Katie Page is good in decisions. She identifies

risk earlier only and she converts those risks into opportunities which are
beneficial for the company. Taking risk at the right time can lead to a lifetime
success of the company (Al-Shammari and Al Shammari, 2018).
Opportunity Recognition Approaches
The entrepreneur must be smart to recognise every opportunity that he faces.
Entrepreneur camn learn various skill from different sources like:
1) Learning from a mentor: Various skills can be learned by an entrepreneur when he work
with his mentor. Mentors provide various guidance to the entrepreneur that how he can
work in different situations. The main reason of working with the entrepreneur is that
mentor can check the result at that time and he can correct them and give new ideas for
completing the task. Mentors helps the entrepreneur in identifying the opportunities that
the company face and how to grab them.
2) Experience: the experience of an entrepreneur play a very important role in identifying
the opportunities and strength of the company. An experienced entrepreneur will dealt
with a complex situation more calmly and correctly. He will try to understand the
problem and then taking the right decision rather than taking the wrong decision fast.
Less experienced people are the main reason for the failure of the organisation as they
don't know how to dealt with a complex situation. Katie Page is very experienced and she
knows how to take decisions properly and effectively(Reuber and et.al., 2018).
3) Observe trends of the market: Entrepreneur must always all the trends which are going in
the market. This will help in bringing new products in the market which are needed.
Katie Page is very good in identifying trends and because of her there are number of new
products in the market. Observing trend is a continuous work and need continuous
observation.
Attitude and Approach towards risk
A company is always adhere to some or other risk. No company works in the
environment in which there is no risk. An entrepreneur has to take various decisions related to
risk in different situations. Katie Page has a positive attitude towards risks or any mishappening
that has occurred in her life. As in 1996, she suffered from a Neurological Disorder which
resisted her from all the athletic activities. Firstly the doctor's ignored it by saying that it was just
something casual that happens to students. But the other day the flu started showing it's effects.

Her body was in a terrible condition, the glands under arm got swollen up that ached badly. Her
situation was so alarming that she was told that she can be partially paralysed and can be bound
to wheelchair but she was so determined to walk again that she logged in computer and studied
about the nutrition diets, stress management activities and everything that is related to the body
and mind that will keep them focused and motivating to get better. Katie Page has to positive
mindset towards the worse situation she faced in her life. The best part was she never thought of
giving up. She even believed that one can look things according to their different set it can be
positive or negative. She has a motivating personality, anyone who reads her story can be
motivated towards not giving up and everything is possible. There are many situations from
which an entrepreneur passes and it is very important that he must face them with positive
attitude. There are various other risk that the entrepreneur faces like:
1) Financial risk: These risks are related to the risk of wrong decision of companies funds.
Any wrong decision related to funds must be taken carefully by the entrepreneur as it can
cause a loss to the company. The company can follow various theories which can reduce
the risk like the Uncertainty-Bearing theory of Knight. This theory says that profit is the
reward for the company for bearing a risk. According to Knight there are two types of
risk which the entrepreneur takes ,i.e., Insurable risk and non-insurable risk. Insurable
risk are those risk which can be measured before and can be minimised to a certain extent
and they are called as insurable risk. The risk which are non-measurable and cannot be
identified are called non-measurable risk like change in demand and supply. Katie page
knows how to deal with financial risk and in many situations she has reduced the risk for
company to a great extent (Pan, Gruber and Binder, 2019).
2) Operational risk: There are various operational risk that entrepreneur faces while working
in the company. Fast decision must be taken by the entrepreneur because problem in
operation can stop the production. Old machines and equipments are the reason for this
type of problem. Company should use innovative goods for reducing operational risk. For
reducing this risk Schumpeter's Theory of Innovation can be used. Entrepreneur must
bring innovation in the product. It must bring new products in the market time to time so
that demand of product increases. New and innovative methods can be used by the Katie
Page in the company for reducing operational risk.

3) Strategic risk: These risk are associated with strategies which are made by the top
management of the company. Katie Page after concerning management takes some
decisions related to the company (Marques and et.al.,2018). Strategies are generally made
in the starting of the company but they can be changed with change in situations and
time. Competition can also be the reason for less profits of the company. The company
and entrepreneurs must know their competition and take various steps to reduce it
(Bandera, Collins and Passerini, 2018).
Goals and aspirations
The end goal of every company is to earn profits with maximum social welfare and
customer satisfaction. But it is very difficult for a company to earn all the three. The goal of
every company is different from other. Various goals of an entrepreneur are:
1) Take the company to a good position: This is the main goal of an entrepreneur to take the
company to the best position. The entrepreneur must be that skilled and experienced that
he can take the company to a good level. Development of the company should never stop.
Katie Page by her skills has taken the company to a good level and she is doing all those
things which can benefit the company. She by his innovative ideas has bring changes in
the company. The company should be so managed that it can easily face the competition.
The work should be properly divided and the top management should timely check the
development of company (Brieger and De Clercq, 2019).
2) Build an efficient team: An efficient team is very important if a company want to attain
the goal in right time and correctly. CEO of a company can make a team which is very
efficient and effective. There are various qualities which should be checked before
choosing an employee like good communication skills, decision -making power,
leadership skills etc. These skills will help the employee in working as he can solve tough
questions and situations easily. Efficient team will always bring innovation in the
company and they with less resources can produce more. An entrepreneur is also known
by his team. Katie page has 2 teams under her and both the team are very effective. There
are people from different fields in that team who are excellent in their work.
3) Maintaining relations with the shareholders: Shareholders of a company are the owners of
the company. They are the people who have invested their funds in the company. CEO is
the main person who passes information to the shareholders. Shareholders may give

advice to the top management about the working of the company. Katie Page try to
implement the advice and suggestion of shareholders in the company so that the company
will growth and relations are improved (Raith and Siebold, 2018).
Skills adopted by entrepreneur
The main reason that entrepreneur works is the passion. The entrepreneurs put all their
efforts to make their business successful and help it flourish (Ngatia and Rigolini, 2019). Katie
Page was passionate about business and so is the successful CEO of Harvey Norman. Successful
entrepreneurs are those who can motivate people and market their products with their excellent
communication. Other skills that an entrepreneurs must have is the power to boost people
around them. Katie Page is a good motivator and has instructed others to be successful. There are
very less people who are determined and are ready to take risk and entrepreneurs are one of
them. They are driven by determination to remove all the problems. They don't believe that there
is an end to some things or can not be done. And Katie Page is a good example of it. She has
skills that are necessary to run the business successfully. Many entrepreneur are creative and
being creative is ability that makes the person different from others(Obschonka and Hahn,
2018). They find relation in unrelated situations and things. Katie Page has a different mindset
towards every situation that has helped in handling the situations positively and in becoming the
CEO of organisation like Harvey Norman. The competition is increasing with the development
of new industries. Entrepreneur is that person who has the will to fight the competition (İspir,
Elibol and Sönmez, 2019). He must have all the skills which are needed to fight the competition
effectively. Katie Page has the competitive spirit that helped her focus on market and make
Harvey Norman one of the leading companies. Entrepreneur must be open minded and this skill
is very important if it wants to sustain in the open market. Katie Page is open to every new
change that has come in the environment and is positive to opinions given by people. One more
skill that an entrepreneur should have is that he must be confident towards his work and
employees. Entrepreneurs don't usually keep doubts in their mind about anything (Lau, Cheahb
and Abdullaha, 2018). They are confident about their knowledge that will lead their business
towards success. Katie Page is a good example of confidence. She has always taken all her
decisions confidently and it benefited the company very much.

CONCLUSION
The report concludes the various entrepreneurial skills which are needed to run the
business. In the competing environment entrepreneurs need support from various
parts. The reports concludes various traits like risk-taking, motivation and skills
that an entrepreneur posses. Lastly the report shows the various skills that are
adopted by the entrepreneur in his life.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Al-Shammari, M. and Al Shammari, H., 2018. The Impact of Bicultural Knowledge, Skills,
Abilities and Other Experiences (Ksaos) on Individual Entrepreneurial Behavior: The
Context of Entrepreneurial Discovery, Evaluation and Implementation. International
Journal of Entrepreneurship.22(2). pp.1-18.
Bandera, C., Collins, R. and Passerini, K., 2018. Risky business: Experiential learning,
information and communications technology, and risk-taking attitudes in
entrepreneurship education. The International Journal of Management Education.16(2).
pp.224-238.
Bird, B., 2019. Toward a theory of entrepreneurial competency. In Seminal Ideas for the Next
Twenty-Five Years of Advances(pp. 115-131). Emerald Publishing Limited.
Brieger, S.A. and De Clercq, D., 2019. Entrepreneurs’ individual-level resources and social
value creation goals: The moderating role of cultural context. International Journal of
Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research.25(2). pp.193-216.
Haenfler, R., 2018. The Entrepreneurial (Straight) Edge: How Participation in DIY Music
Cultures Translates to Work and Careers. Cultural Sociology.12(2). pp.174-192.
İspir, Ö., Elibol, E. and Sönmez, B., 2019. The relationship of personality traits and
entrepreneurship tendencies with career adaptability of nursing students. Nurse
education today.79. pp.41-47.
Lau, Y.W., Cheahb, W.K. and Abdullaha, A.A., 2018. Chinese Entrepreneurial Capabilities and
Practices: Case of Malaysian SME.
Marques, C.S. and et.al., 2018. Effects of traits, self-motivation and managerial skills on nursing
intrapreneurship.International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal. pp.1-16.
Marques, C.S. and et.al.,2018. Entrepreneurship education, gender and family background as
antecedents on the entrepreneurial orientation of university students. International
Journal of Innovation Science.10(1). pp.58-70.
Ngatia, M. and Rigolini, J., 2019. Addressing Skill Gaps: Continuing and Remedial Education
and Training for Adults and Out-of-School Youths in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Obschonka, M. and Hahn, E., 2018. Personal agency in newly arrived refugees: The role of
personality, entrepreneurial cognitions and intentions, and career adaptability. Journal
of Vocational Behavior.105. pp.173-184.
Pan, N.D., Gruber, M. and Binder, J., 2019. Painting with all the colors: The value of social
identity theory for understanding social entrepreneurship. Academy of Management
Review.44(1). pp.213-215.
Raith, M.G. and Siebold, N., 2018. Building Business Models around Sustainable Development
Goals. Journal of Business Models.6(2). pp.71-77.
Reuber, A.R. and et.al., 2018. International entrepreneurship: The pursuit of entrepreneurial
opportunities across national borders.

Appendix A
QUESTIONNAIRE
Q1 Where do you see your company in next two years and how do you see yourself creating
that change?
Ans. The company does not want a CEO but it wants a leader who can think where the
company is going and if it is going at a wrong direction then how it can get back on the right
track. I want to do every possible change that can make the company profitable. I want my
company to be standing at a very good position in next few years.
Q2 To whom do you Owe your success to?
Ans. Basically I owe my success to myself. But there are many sources from which I get
motivated and some people also continuously motivates me from their work like Bill Gates and
Steve jobs. I always like to read their material and I get motivated from reading their book.
Other than their books I have developed many skills from various personalities like my hard
persistence and targeted focus. I also attribute my success to my staff who are motivated to earn
the goals.
Q3 What are the characteristics that makes you and your company successful?
Ans. There are various characteristics that an entrepreneur must have and they are very helpful
in running the business smoothly. Some of them are like risk-taker. In various situations I need
to take decisions fast and that time a person needs to have skills. I usually prefer to do things
creatively other than using the old method. Money was never my only motive but earning other
benefits are also very important.
Q4 What are the things that you think are risk for you and your company?
Ans. A company faces various problems everyday and to solving them is the main task of the
CEO. There are various risk that company faces like risk of product failure, wrong decision
related to company and more. There are many financial decisions, reputational decision and
more which the CEO has to take and any wrong decision can lead to loss of the company.
Wrong decision can get me out of the company and the company can incur huge loss.