Sensis Limited Company - E-Entrepreneurial Business in Australia - Case Study Example

Title: Critical evaluation of an E entrepreneurial business in Australia (Sensis Limited Company) Name Institution Date of submission Introduction Businesses are globalizing so as its processes as well. Globalization has enhanced spread of ICT around the world especially to new economies in developing regions. The access to new ideas from Information Communication Technology (ICT) world has helped in nurturing entrepreneurial spirit and skills in most of the entrepreneurs in the world. As evidenced by the case in Australia, most of the people who are marginalized may not lack creativity, but rather they have limited subsidiaries to exploit their potential and improve their innovative abilities (Koppl, Horwitz and Desrochers, 2010). E-Entrepreneurism is the establishment a business that uses electronic platform in offering products (goods and services) to the customers (Kollmann, 2010). This is a net –based business where an entrepreneur interacts with the customer by use of technological communication media. The essential part of the business is that the value is achieved through advance in information technology. This will depend on the following success factors: a) Computer Science: Provide appropriate knowledge about change in technology and how to merge the business in the current net economy. b) Information management: The information obtained from computer science must be managed in order to create a warehouse security for the data. c) Business administration: This is a building block of e-entrepreneurship where it puts business knowledge into practice for instance, online market research, promotion and creating business strategy. Sensis E-Business Sensis is an e business that tracks the use of technology by the Australian business entities. It is the leading search and digital marketing limited company in Australia. Sensis Company is classified as a large entrepreneurial e-commerce due to its extensive diversity in terms of its operations. A part from tracking the use of advance technology, Sensis Company helps SMEs to find, buy and sell products easily through at low cost. Most of the companies in Australia are incorporating innovative ideas brought by advance in technology in order to become competitive in the business environment. Sensis E-Business has been tracking these changes since 1995 (Sensis report, 2006). The business ensures that there is a clear scrutiny of SME markets therefore providing an understanding of the trends of technology in different sectors of Australian economy. Growth potential of Sensis Corporation Australian Bureau of Statistics Report (2013) showed that there is expected 30% increase in SME enterprises the coming two years especially in Western Australia. This report shows that Sensis expects a plenty of work in the coming years since the confidence of growth in SMEs is stronger. Growth of Sensis Corporations is directly proportional to economic growth. This means that as economic growth increases, Sensis benefits positively from this growth. Key findings Last quarter of 2013: There was a substantial increase in SMEs, and this implies that the economy was growing. This increase reflected an 11% positive rise compared to the past quarters. The SMEs perception is therefore positive to the Australian economy as well as to Sensis. Alongside, this increase, the future expectations of increase in the usage of new technologies was well realized since most of entrepreneurs were globalizing. The following table shows economic trends of SMEs relative to the growth of Sensis Corporation. Current Australian Economy 1st Quarter 2nd Quarter 3rd Quarter 4th Quarter Growth 12% 22% 10% 31% Slowing 40% 28% 38% 19% Balance -28% -6% -28% 12% Future economy Trends Better 20% 31% 31% 52% Worse 32% 26% 27% 11% net balance -14% 5% 4% 41% Perspective of economic changes in Australia relative to Sensis growth performance From the above table, SMEs will be increasing in Australian Economy therefore, there will be increase in the use of new technology. This reflects a positive growth to the operations of Sensis Corporation. The company in this case have successfully monitored the changes in economic growth and how to increase efficiency in terms of its operations to benefit from the changes. For example, increase in Small and Middle Enterprise would mean an increase in the use of new technologies. Australian Statistics report (2013) indicates 44% entry of new SEMs in the year ending 2012. Sensis Limited recorded a positive growth in terms of market share and overall market value compaed to its competitors. The financial condition of Sensis Corporations Financial summary of Sensis Limited Income statement Revenue $25,771.35 Gross Profit $0 Operating Income $0 Net Income $ 3, 478.442 Marketing strategy The main objective of Sensis Corporation is to attract and retain users as they search, buy and sell products. The company simultaneously track the use of new technology when there is active play of sellers and buyers using online digital platform. Test phase in marketing: The Company used Apptus’ Page Booster to extract key information from advertising agents. This information includes business opening hours, connection links to social advertising platforms (Facebook and Twitter) and payment methods. A successful test phase by use of Apptus, would mean Sensis was to use the product from Apptus Technologies. This created value to the company thus attracting more SMEs in the market. Pricing: The Company ensures maximization of customer’s value of investment by the customer such that at the end of the day, products within Sensis’s operations are handled with high expected returns. Company’s website: Sensis’s website is easily accessible at anywhere in the world, and it is search engine friendly. Majority of the customers will have a better chance to locate and find out the services offered by the company within a small time possible. This increases the reliability of the company compared to other in the market. Sustainability in terms of community: The Company works with the government, environmental agencies as well as labour unions to promote both social and economic sustainability. For example, other than promoting its products through direct emails and other internet platforms, it also use social functions as community participation and fundraising to capture the interest of most of the target groups (SMEs in particular). Market Competition EIU is one of the biggest ICT Company providing similar products as Sensis Limited. It is the major competitor to Sensis since their operations are easy and simple to use by the customers. They offer digital connections as well not only within Australia but also across the regions reaching China. The intense competition has made the company to get strongly attached to Telstra Company. This has positively affected Sensis in the following ways; Organizational downsizing: 800 jobs were to be cut down to give room for outsourcing. Sensis Limited Company decided to outsource ready knowledge from Philippines and India in order to raise its competitive advantage in the industry (Halvey and Melby, 2007). Development of sales centres of excellence: Sensis Company looks forward to build flexible operating systems where sales team meet face to face with customers. This would reduce administrative work load and on the other side providing immediate response to the clients. The centres are to be located at major cities as Sydney and Melbourne. Content development: Sensis Limited Company has moved from electronic games developers to offering mobile contents, from film making to curriculum development. All these strategies are set to increase competitive age in the market. Global sourcing: Australia is more concern with global risk reduction as businesses globalizes. With the stable geopolitical environment, project management within Sensis Limited will receive supportive regulatory from the government as well as reliable infrastructures. Therefore, this will promote high quality services at noble price (Halvey and Melby, 2007). Recommendations As the business globalises, culture is crucial. In order to achieve company’s global objectives and goals, CEO should broaden his/her perspective beyond operations and finance to opened opportunities and challenges. This implies that, every global step that the organization is making, the manager (CEO) should change organizational culture as well as social dynamics. Finding many resourceful stakeholders is very essential. Telstra Company is a key stakeholder to Sensis Limited but looking for another service provider especially in the emerging economies would provide extensive exploration of the customer needs at that particular target market. The CEO should be ready to make tough talent decision especially with the changing nature of technology. Pushing an innovative idea without right people is impossible. From the table 1 above, the company’s growth over the last quarter of 2013 means the CEO should integrate people with advanced skills and commitment in order to move beyond what they achieved in that quarter. References Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2013).3101.0. Retrieved April 24, 2014, from http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/ Halvey, J. K., & Melby, B. M. (2007).Business process outsourcing process, strategies, and contracts (2nd ed.). Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons. Hindle, K., & Rushworth, S. (2002).SENSIS GEM Australia, 2002. Hawthorn, Vic.: Swinburne University of Technology. Kollmann, T. (2010). E-entrepreneurship and ICT ventures: strategy, organization and technology. Hershey, PA: Business Science Reference. Koppl, R., Horwitz, S., & Desrochers, P. (2010). What is so Austrian about Austrian economics?. Bingley, UK: Emerald. Marketplace. (n.d.). Sensis Pty Ltd. Retrieved April 25, 2014, from http://about.sensis.com.au/sustainability/m Small business, big opportunity: winning the right customers through smart marketing and advertising. (2006). Melbourne: Sensis. Sustainability compact between Sensis Pty Ltd and the Department of Environment and Conservation NSW. (2006). Parramatta, N.S.W.: Dept. of Environment and Conservation. Read More