Analysis of Business Success of Dick Smith Company - Case Study Example

DICK SMITH CASE ANALYSIS Student’s Name Institution Dick Smith Case Overview As a fairly popular entrepreneur, Dick Smith seems to have attained the status of a public figure within the Australian population as well as the entire world as a whole. He has been able to enjoy lots of success in matters related to his epic travels as well as businesswise ventures. Dick Smith operates on a rather childhood philosophy that encourages service to others and intense levels of gratitude. Subsequently, this entrepreneur has successfully devised workable ways of connecting with the larger Australian society, which has allowed him to enjoy higher levels of respect as well as admiration of both employees as well as other business managers as a whole. Dick Smith level of achievements include; First Trans-Tasman Balloon Flight in 2000, Founder of Dick Smith Foods as well as chairing the Civil Aviation Safety Authority Board for two terms. It is important to note that Dick Smith’s level of charismatic influence over the employees and business managers alike has termed him as being a transformational leader. The paper examines the charisma, business success and transformational aspect of this great Australian entrepreneur. A. Contributors of Dick Smith Business Success Dick Smith business success is fairly inclined towards the philosophy he uses for conducting business matters. He bases his business activities on aspects related to gratitude and service to others. Subsequently, it is noted that this entrepreneur instigates and emphasises on values of free enterprise as well as the virtues of hard work and, freedom of speech. It is noted that with the integration of hard work and freedom of speech, employees’ productive capacity increases tenfold at any given moment. These freedoms allow the workforce to develop creative products and processess that are, in turn, utilised for increasing production. Notably, Dick Smith’s personal magnetism is said to have a positive impact and effect on the larger Australian marketplace as a whole. The effects have allowed him success whenever he chose to formulate and develop relevant products for the Australian society as a whole. Another important attribute that has made him a successful business man is based on the fact that he managed to integrate his onetime vision from only focusing on operating successful businesses to the promotion of a single national identity, pride as well as self-confidence amongst the employees as well as the entire Australian potential consumers as a whole. In essence, it is noted that the capacity of this entrepreneur to connect his visions and missions with the personal values of a relative part of the entire Australian community has availed a platform necessary for the success of his business ventures across the Australian and global marketplace. Significantly, Dick Smith has ensured to sustain a positive public image that has gone ahead to attract a relatively higher level of admiration and respect amongst the followers. Stone, Russell, and Patterson( 2004, p353) indicates that leaders that are able to maintain a positive public outlook are fairly positioned to command lots of business ventures and success due to the adoration gained amongst the potential customers. It is evident that the public outlook as maintained by the entrepreneur has attracted substantial levels of attention from the overall society that form the basis of business success (Tonkin, 2013). Dick Smith was able to distinguish the fact that a positive public outlook was a powerful competitive framework that could assist with eliminating possible competition. In relation to this matter, Dick Smith’s approach to business is also another way upon which he has ensured growth and development at all times. It is stated that he always maintains a rather obvious and simple technique of making money by way of copying the success of other business people, putting the ideas under tight scrutiny and advices, maintain hard work approach and thereafter, ensure to keep the original overheads associated with the venture at lower levels. B. Contributions of His Charisma Charisma is a fundamental attribute that has been always attributed to prowess leadership for many business managers and entrepreneurs alike. The charismatic influence that a leader uses for their respective leadership formations revolves around the way they can connect to the people and use positional authority to impact their ideas and realise their goals as well. Dick Smith has been able to focus on his charismatic influence in conducting his business operations. He has employed job involvement as well as referent power forms of charisma as a way of ensuring that his businesses ventures are fairly placed in relation to the overall market competition. Park, Song, Yoon, and Kim (2013, p. 559-562) notes that charismatic influence enables transformational leaders to be perceived as role models with great levels of admiration and respect. They are deemed to be highly qualified for matters related to certain areas of expertise hence their followers always entrust and respect them for this level of prowess. Consequently, followers are encouraged to engage in productive activities in accordance with the ethical and moral framework already established by the leaders at hand. From the case study, it can be learnt that Dick Smith has made substantial efforts to establish business ideas and processess that conform and connect to the public expectations. He understands that a positive public outlook is able to maintain a competitive perspective and it also serves as a unique and powerful competitive technique that can applied at any given moment. Through his charismatic influence, Dick Smith has been able to understand and treat his workforce with utmost respect by allowing them intense freedom. He has been able to link employees’ needs, public interests to his visions and philosophies. It can be fairly argued that Dick Smith’s level of respect and honest as well as his ability to serve others has contributed to his charisma immensely. For instance, it is established that his manner of speech is highly emotive and confident in nature. As a result of this emotive manner of communication, the entrepreneur has been able to connect with his workforce and the Australian market place at large. An emotive approach helps to strengthen the level of relationships leaders have with their workforce because it allows room for little or no criticism (Giroux & Mclarney, 2014). It also allows the workforce to commit their emotional intelligence into executing tasks and, as a result, connect with their respective duties and responsibilities at a higher level. The approach assumed by Dick Smith to promote Dick Smith Foods as an important integral section of the entire Australian society fairly explains the loyalty and success of the business. The entrepreneur ability to command and idealised influence to not only the immediate workforce but also, the entire Australian population is an indication that he has already mastered their respective way of thinking and making important consumer decisions. C. Transformational Leader Or Not In my opinion, I think that Dick Smith is a transformational leader. Transformational leaders expect their followers to exercise personal values and a sense of their higher purpose in serving others as opposed to confining to elements of self-interest. This type of leader is able to restructure possible challenges so that it can conform to his followers’ expectations (Rashid Rehman & Waheed, 2012). For the case at hand, Dick Smith has managed to create an effective vision that focuses on conducting a successful business enterprise while still promoting aspects related to Australian national identity and pride. It is duly noted that Dick Smith created a vision and mission for his business perspectives in manner that could not allow any form of modern internationalism where foreign inputs are employed to manufacture products. Despite a number of criticisms coming his way that claimed he only focused on self-promotion, Dick Smith has been able to attain high level of interconnectedness of his enterprises with the entire national populations. In consequence, research indicates that transformational leaders tend to conduct their duties and responsibilities at a slightly higher level of moral development in comparison to their immediate followers (Ilsever, 2014). The approach can be easily linked with Dick Smith ability to operate successful business while still marinating morality, ethical concerns and honesty at all times. Conclusion From this discussion, it can be perceived that Dick Smith has focused on embracing the aspects related to service to humanity in conducting his businesses. He has been a successful business operator in the Australian market place basically because he understands and values personal ethics and morality. He has utilised his charismatic influence to lead his workforce and attract public attention as well. As a transformational leader, Dick Smith has ensured to allow freedom that has helped to create favourable productive environments. References List Giroux, T, & Mclarney, C 2014, 'Exploring the Leadership Continuum: The Relevance of Transformational Leadership on Organizational Performance', Proceedings for the Northeast Region Decision Sciences Institute (NEDSI), pp. 862-886. Ilsever, O 2014, 'How Relevant Is Transformational Leadership to Technology Adoption and Infusion in Sales Channels?’ Business Studies Journal, vol. 6, pp. 45-57. Park, C, Song, J, Yoon, S, & Kim, J 2013, 'A missing link: psychological ownership as a mediator between transformational leadership and organizational citizenship behaviour', Human Resource Development International, 16, 5, pp. 558-574. Rashid Rehman, R, & Waheed, A 2012, 'Transformational Leadership Style as Predictor of Decision Making Styles: Moderating Role of Emotional Intelligence', Pakistan Journal of Commerce & Social Sciences, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 257-268. Stone, AG, Russell RF & Patterson, K 2004,"Transformational versus servant leadership: a difference in leader focus", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, vol. 25, no. 4, pp.349 – 361. Tonkin, TH 2013, 'Authentic Versus Transformational Leadership: Assessing Their Effectiveness On Organizational Citizenship Behaviour Of Followers', International Journal of Business & Public Administration, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 40-61. Read More