Analysis of Ruslan Kogan's Entrepreneurial Journey and Kogan.com

This report provides an analysis of Ruslan Kogan, the founder of Kogan.com, examining his entrepreneurial traits, opportunity recognition, and the competitive advantages that have contributed to the company's success. The report delves into Kogan's background, highlighting his early ventures and the development of his entrepreneurial mindset. It explores his key characteristics, such as risk-taking, innovativeness, and a strong need for achievement, and how these traits have driven his business decisions. The analysis further examines the opportunity recognition and idea development process that led to the creation of Kogan.com, including the strategies used to identify market needs and develop a successful online retail business. The report also assesses Kogan.com's competitive advantages, discussing how the company has differentiated itself from competitors like Harvey Norman and Fiwi Market. Finally, the report offers recommendations for Ruslan Kogan to further enhance his strategic partnerships, competitive intelligence, and future growth strategies. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of entrepreneurial skills and the lessons learned from Kogan's journey, illustrating how passion, skill, and a willingness to take risks can lead to the achievement of business goals.

Student Name
INSTITUTIONAL AFFILIATION(S)
RUSLAN KOGAN

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Background of the entrepreneur.................................................................................................2
Entrepreneurial Traits/ Characteristics.......................................................................................3
Opportunity recognition and idea development process............................................................4
Competitive advantage...............................................................................................................4
Recommendations......................................................................................................................5
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................6
References..................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
Entrepreneurship theories and concept do not indicate the process of finding a new
business only rather define entrepreneurship as a process of appropriation and value creation
led by entrepreneurs irrespective of uncertain moments. The entrepreneurial action driven by
value creation through entrepreneur stems out of an aspiration to achieve entrepreneurial
reward (Mishra & Zachary, 2015). While some theorists consider entrepreneurship from
sociology, psychology and economic perspective, others view it from a management
perspective. "Entrepreneurship is a, therefore, a multidimensional concept” (Bula, 2012, p.
81). An entrepreneur act amidst the static world of steadiness where he gets hold of
favourable opportunities. With this light, this report aims at analysing a current entrepreneur,
Ruslan Kogan operating in Australian online retailing business. This paper will discuss his
entrepreneurial traits, opportunity development process, the competitive advantage of
Kogan.com and recommend him to include other business avenues that may assist him in
future years.
Background of the entrepreneur
Born in November 1982, Ruslan Kogan parents belongs to Belarus. He moved with
his sister and parents to Australia in the year 1989 where he grew up in Commission flats. He
started his first venture at an early age of 10 after he finds lost golf balls. He cleaned them
and sold for $0.50 each to a golf course near his apartments, Elsternwick Golf Course. Kogan
was interested in technology since childhood and built his first computer when he was nine.
Around 20 businesses were started by him since he was 10 along with Kogan.com, a recent
and successful one. Before completing his Bachelor of Business Systems, he went to
Melbourne High School and Brighton Secondary College. When Kogan was 23, he got a job
in IT departments of GE, Bosch, Telstra along with management consultant role at Accenture
(Proteus Leadership, n.d.).
Analysing Kogan entrepreneurial development from personality traits theory, it can be
said that some of his behaviour like making a computer and starting a business at an early age
is associated with entrepreneur traits which tend to be opportunity-driven. Such entrepreneurs
show excellent management skills and business sense. Such leaders are also optimistic as
Kogan early career shows that he worked for other successful companies to learn basic

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business sense (Simpeh, 2011). Overall, Kogan's entrepreneurial trait shows that he thrives on
competitive desires to develop and win and tends to be satisfied with the desire to improve.
Entrepreneurial Traits/ Characteristics
Kogan's characteristics can be reflected in his career and show a perfect example of a
successful entrepreneur. He started his career as a businessman, entered the corporate world,
however, found himself disillusioned. Working every day was not liked by him and so he
developed his path to success. He once again revisited his love for technology when he was a
child. This made him create one of the most successful ventures i.e. online retail business in
Australia (CUB, 2020). According to Ugwoke, Oyeoku, & Obikwelu (2013) entrepreneurs
who become successful usually remains internally driven. Their way of creating a new
venture is regarded as an arduous task which requires firm decision along with goal-driven
tendency. Therefore, Kogan’s characteristic can be compared with the concept like locus of
control as he evaluated his new business opportunities and showed a risk-bearing tendency by
leaving several job opportunities.
Kogan realised that he could establish his own business beyond the factory set up.
The firms where he worked dealt with poorly laid marketing plans and materials,
inappropriate language and so he decided to rework every marketing material. After he sent
his proposal to the US customers, they readily accepted his proposal since it seemed most
professional. Though he faced many hardships in his first deal, for instance when he sold TVs
on eBay and had to pay suppliers but eBay shut his account. Kogan ran short of money in the
very first production time. With credit loans, he went to China and ensured that TVs got
loaded and vessels reached safely to his customers (CUB, 2020). Need for achievement
theory states that entrepreneurs desire to attain good results by setting good standards and
strive to attain them with the help of consistent concerns to do things accurately (Simpeh,
2011). Similarly, Kogan showed risk-taking behaviour, innovativeness and tolerance for
gaining what he desired. His positive attitude had very significant effects on his
entrepreneurial inclination.

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Opportunity recognition and idea development process
As every business develops due to idea generation, most of the business are started by
entrepreneurs after they recognise that people need a particular good or service. This is the
very first step of a business venture which is further developed into a complete organization
(Wurim, 2013). In Kogan's case, his work experience and upbringing initiated his desire to
establish a venture which is most demanded service in Australia. He founded Kogan.com
when he was 23 and did what he felt was a good opportunity for him. He developed an app to
enable direct online selling to the customers and expanded the areas of selling through vast
areas like Kogan Internet, Kogan Mobile, Kogan Travel and Kogan Insurance. By doing so,
he helped people by supplying everyday goods and services affordably and easier way
(Kogan.com, n.d.).
An entrepreneur uses creative techniques to develop opportunities in reality.
According to Wurim (2013), there are three common hurdles every entrepreneur faces before
an idea is developed into reality: identification of an issue, idea generation and selection of
idea. When Kogan developed his new venture in 2006, his parent's garage was his workplace
and his flagship products included new brands on television. But now, he owns a leading
consumer brand due to digital efficiency in his company. He focussed on most demanded
products in Australia and now have an establishment in Melbourne, Australia (Kogan.com,
n.d.).
Competitive advantage
Competitive advantage is gained by companies when positive attributes are developed
that allow them to outperform other competitors in the market. The resource-based theory is
one of the theories which describe competitive advantage as those gains which are available
to the firms in tangible and intangible forms. The resource-based theory focusses more upon
organizational strategies along with industry competition to identify service or product
development which other rivalry companies cannot imitate (Wang, 2014). The ability to
develop a competitive position and good organizational leadership can be seen in Kogan.com
where Kogan attained sustainable learning by using his optimal talent pool along with
abilities to attain competitive advantage.

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Having started his business with no external funding or family support, Kogan has
made his business one of the fastest-growing businesses in Australia. At present, Kogan.com
revenue is around $412.3. More than two million products are developed by Kogan.com
having a daily sale not less than $1 million. Harvey Norman is one of the strongest
competitors of Kogan.com. Founded in the year 2011, Harvey Norman also operates in retail
distributors industry and generates $3.3 billion more than Kogan.com. Other competitor
includes Fiwi Market which is headquartered in Singapore. Fiwi deals in the e-commerce
industry and generates $412.2 million lesser than Kogan.com (Kogan.com, 2020).
Recommendations
Ruslan Kogan personality traits, characteristics and entrepreneurial skills show that he
possesses every essential skill required to build a successful entrepreneur. One aspect that can
be developed in him is concerning his strategic partnership and business alliances strategy
that can be structured in the form of a holding inter-organizational company or a distinct
entity itself. By making such partnership or alliance with other companies, it will allow
Kogan.com to receive unavailable resources, develop skills and increase profit-sharing
besides reducing intense competition from the market (Chiang, 2013). He also requires to be
more engaged with competitive intelligence like technical developments, strategic and market
intelligence etc.
To rule market above others, competitive intelligence involves using public sources
with which data on the market environment and competition can be developed by analysing
customer data. This kind of competitive intelligence collects information by ethical and
lawful means (Wegwu, 2016). When looking for future developmental scopes, Kogan can use
analyser-oriented strategies like developing own manufacturing units or observe other
developing business patterns and invest in special and diversified market segments to
increase competitive advantage. Such entrepreneurial skills development will help Kogan in
changing business environment into more innovative and strategy-driven where competitors
will be forced to follow or react (Chiang, 2013).

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Conclusion
Throughout the history and evolution of entrepreneurship concept and theories, many
scholars and researchers claim that every entrepreneur poses different traits and personality,
however, some common features like idea development, opportunity recognition and risk-
bearing are common in all. By analysing Ruslan Kogan entrepreneur skills and
entrepreneurship theories, it can be said that Kogan holds every potential characteristic of a
successful entrepreneur like risk-bearing, coordinating, leadership skill and innovative mind.
Kogan says, “I went and shared my idea with a few people, and they all told me I was crazy.”
(CUB, 2020). Indeed, Kogan took risks no one would have taken easily and he knew how he
could develop a business different from his competitors just like a good entrepreneur does.
The above report puts in front a lesson on how an idea is turned into practice and how great
entrepreneurs use their passion and skill to gain attainable goals.

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References
Bula, H. O., 2012. Evolution and Theories of Entrepreneurship: A Critical Review on the
Kenyan Perspective. International Journal of Business and Commerce, 1(11), pp. 81-96.
Chiang, L., 2013. An Evaluation of the Levels of Entrepreneurship and Competitive
Advantages in Small Midwestern Agritourism Businesses. [Online]
Available at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4184&context=etd
[Accessed 10 12 2019].
CUB, 2020. How Ruslan Kogan Created An Online Retail Empire and $400 Million Net
Worth. [Online]
Available at: https://cub.club/blog/how-ruslan-kogan-created-an-online-retail-empire-and-
400-million-net-worth-plus-the-8-things-you-can-learn-from-his-success/
Kogan.com, 2020. Kogan Competitors. [Online]
Available at: https://www.kogan.com/au/competitors/
Kogan.com, n.d. Ruslan Kogan. [Online]
Available at: https://www.kogan.com/au/ruslan-kogan/
Mishra, C. . S. & Zachary, R. K., 2015. The Theory of Entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship
Research Journal, 5(4), pp. 1-26.
Proteus Leadership, n.d. Ruslan Kogan. [Online]
Available at: http://www.proteusleadership.com/think/images/case-studies/Entrepreneur-
case-study-Ruslan-Kogan.pdf
Simpeh, K. N., 2011. Entrepreneurship theories and Empirical research: A Summary Review
of the Literature. European Journal of Business and Management, 3(6), pp. 1-8.
Ugwoke , D., Oyeoku , E. K. & Obikwelu, C. L., 2013. Perceived Locus of Control as a
Predictor of Entrepreneurial Development and Job Creation among Students in the Tertiary
Institution. Journal of Education and Practice, 4(14), pp. 49-54.
Wang, H.-L., 2014. Theories for competitive advantage. [Online]
Available at:
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/c1b5/22866248f953ba2167e48d0f4a5f9385b3dc.pdf
[Accessed 10 12 2019].

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Wegwu, M. E., 2016. Distinctive Entrepreneurial Competencies For Competitive Advantage
For Entrepreneurs In Rivers State. IOSR Journal of Business and Management , 18(8), pp. 1-
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Wurim, B. P., 2013. Opportunity Recognition and Business Idea Generation as a Foundation
for Entrepreneurial Businesses in Central Nigeria. International Journal of Business and
Social Science, 4(17), pp. 238-245.