Corporate Strategic Plan for Entrepreneurship - Bluechiip Limited - Case Study Example

Part B: Report-- Why Bluechiip® Limited As a technology start-up whose activities are currently restricted by product development and trials, Bluechiip limited was chosen for use in this exercise because it has the potential not only to expand within Australia, but also internationally. Globally, there is an existing gap for a reliable tracking technology system that can be used in different environments. Additionally, Bluechiip met the criteria given for this assignment – i.e. an ASX-listed company that has not established operations in the international market as indicated in Bluechiip (2012a). Another reason why Bluechiip was selected as the subject for this corporate strategic plan for entrepreneurship is because of the global opportunities that it has as a start-up company. Already (and although this cannot be interpreted as having a global presence), Bluechiip has networked with potential commercial partners in New York – i.e. MiTeGen – and Switzerland – i .e. Inpeco. In addition to being commercial partners, the companies will use the Bluechiip® tracking system on a trial basis, after which they will sell the same on behalf of Bluechiip (Bluechiip, 2012b). Bluechiip was also selected because as a start-up business, it can be used to illustrate the stages that (some) firms go through before it finally becomes an export. In the strategic plan above, Bluechiip is set to develop adequate skills and productive capacity in its domestic home market (i.e. Australia) by recruiting staff and expanding its business to other cities. This corresponds with Bell’s (1995) observations that firms go through a series of stages before they can export their products or services. Ideally, the foregoing helps in laying the necessary foundation that the company needs in order to export its services into the global market in future. The second stage according to Bell (1995) involves identifying export markets and transferring knowledge to them. The third stage involves the firm engaging in global production networks for the final production of goods and services in the export market. Understandably, Bluechiip is still in the first stage of a firm with an interest in the export market. Whether or not the firm becomes an exporter of the new tracking technology will depend on several factors which may include its performance in the Australian market, business opportunities abroad, external environmental factors in the export markets, and the competition therein. Bluechiip’s selection was also based on Searle and O’Connor’s (2010) observation that while multinational companies are the dominant exporters, small firms that produce products that can serve niche markets can also excel in the same field, especially if they have the skills and innovations that will appeal to the export market. For Bluechiip, the initial market is the biomedical industry specifically because biobanking has indicated having challenges dealing with the current tracking options available in the market. This can be interpreted to be indicative of the evolving global intelligence in superior innovations. In other words, Bluechiip wanted to develop a superior product than the existing products specifically for serving some of the presently unsatisfied consumer needs and it has arguably done so. Risk management and its appeal in the international market was also considered when selecting Bluechiip as the subject organisation for the strategic plan. The entire reason why logistics managers and different firms use tracking technologies is to minimise the risk of loss or of products being miscalculated and unaccounted for. As part of the information technology devices, the tracking devices fall into Hunter’s (2007) definition of IT risks. He defines them as “the potential for an unplanned event involving a failure or misuse of IT to threaten an enterprise objective” (Hunter, 2007, p. 9). The realisation by firms that IT risks can threaten their entire business has spurred an increased interest in tracking technologies (Adrian, 2009), hence opening potential markets for the likes of Bluechiip. The fact that Bluechiip is currently located in the Australia (at least its manufacturing) alone also informed the decision to being picked for strategic planning. As a firm that has not expanded to other markets, Bluechiip was an ideal firm that has served to illustrate the factors that a small-scale businesses need to consider during expansion. The SWOT analysis above is specifically a tool that reflects the firm’s internal capacities. Notably however, the firm would also need to scan the external environment in order to establish factors such as the political, economic, socio-cultural, technological, environmental and legal factors. According to Middleton (2003), the findings in the suggested scan of the external environment should then be included in the SWOT analysis. The firm will also need to establish its potential competitiveness by identifying how easily other competitors can gain entry into the market, whether customers can easily substitute its services, the relevant bargaining powers of suppliers and buyers, and the degree of rivalry in the industry (Porter, 1998). Overall, and as noted above, different reasons have informed the decision to pick Bluechiip as the subject for the strategic plan. Bluechiip is arguably a firm that will expand in Australia and into the global market soon. As the subject of a corporate strategic plan for entrepreneurship, the use of Bluechiip has served the purpose of pointing out the different considerations that small and medium-scale businesses need to make to expand their businesses. The expansion into the Australian market is especially relevant, because as Bell (1995) observes, venturing into the export market requires businesses to establish a foundation in their domestic markets first. The argument by Bell is especially relevant from a marketing perspective since customers in the export market would in some cases want to know the performance of the product or service in its market of origin. A product/service with inferior performance would hence be expected to be regarded as having the same qualities in the export market. The domestic market is also a good testing ground for business, since it serves to grow talent, identify risks and challenges in the business and develop solutions for the same. The Australian market is also a good testing ground for Bluechiip to test its leadership and management style since the firm will be evaluating its dealings with commercial partners and its human resources to determine what needs to be improved upon. Bluechiip was also picked for use in the strategic plan because it is indicative of evolving entrepreneurship and some of the careful planning that goes on before a firm can commercialise its products. Specifically, Featherstone (2012) observes that Bluechiip has been designing and developing the product that it now seeks to commercialise for more than 10 years. However, the company is still not assured of commercial success, since it has to rely on the test-trials currently being carried out by its commercial partners. Depending on the results of the test-trials, the partners can choose to sell the product on Bluechiip’s behalf or not. Overall, this is indicative of the multiple considerations that entrepreneurs have to make and the challenges they have to deal with. For Bluechiip, Australia has already served as a source of funding – especially since it listed in the stock exchange and raised money through an initial public offer of its shares. However, before going to the export market, the firm first needs to test the markets while still based in Australia. When Bluechiip finally decides to operate in the global market, it will not only have the funding needed to do so, but will also have the human capital needed to expand its business abroad. As indicated in the strategic plan, Bluechiip will recruit and train more quality staff as a way of not only expanding its capacity to handle more work from customers; but also ensuring that the same quality and reliable service provision that it starts with in the commercialisation phase are upheld in future. --Part C— As indicated in the introductory part, the advice of Glen Searle – an associate professor at the University of Queensland – was sought. However, since he was not available for comments, his works (especially Searle and O’Connor, 2010) was used in the development of the strategic plan. Searle is a passionate writer about information technologies, and in the quoted research paper which he co-authored with Kevin O’Connor, he evaluates reasons why IT industries in Australia go global. He specifically mentions that their ability to build a strong foundation domestically in Australia gives them the technical, financial and human resource potential needed to handle the global market. This advice by Searle and O’Connor (2010) helped me shape the strategic plan because of the realisation that much as Bluechiip already has a fully developed product, it needed to have the human resource, the technical and the financial capacity needed to expand into the global market. Based on this knowledge, the development of Bluechiip’s human resource capacity, while not a necessary part of the commercialisation agenda that the firm has, was included in the strategic plan. Searle and O’Connor (2010) specifically observe that a firm is well able to understand its potential in the global market based on its potential in the domestic market. Used in this context, this could mean that Bluechiip needs to understand its potential in Australia before venturing into the global market. This is captured in the strategic plan whereby, Bluechiip is set to transform from the current state – i.e. a small research firm – into a large company gradually, while developing its own capacity to manufacture and distribute increasing numbers of orders in future. References Adrian, M. (2009). Data growth challenges demand proactive data management. IT Market Strategy. Retrieved July 03, 2013, from http://public.dhe.ibm.com/common/ssi/ecm/en/iml14218usen/IML14218USEN.PDF Bell, J. (1995). The internalization of small computer software firms: a further challenge to “stage” theories. European Journal of Marketing 29(8), 60-75. Bluechiip. (2012a). Annual report for the year ended 30 June 2012. Retrieved July 06, 2013, . Bluechiip. (2012b). Bluechiip licenses its technology in deal with US tech company MiTeGen. ASX Announcement. Retrieved July 06, 2013, < http://www.mitegen.com/pressreleases/121205-Bluechiip-Ltd-MiTeGenAnnouncement.pdf>. Featherstone, T. (2012). Bluechiip bets on biobanking. BRW. Retrieved July 06, 2013< http://www.brw.com.au/p/sections/fyi/bluechiip_bets_on_biobanking_1BFe7xu9ZTWSx5WJYVQBYM> Hunter, W. R. (2007). IT Risks. London: Harvard Business School Press Middleton, J. (2003). The ultimate strategy library: the 50 most influential strategic ideas of all time (the ultimate series). Chichester: Capstone Publishing Limited Porter, M. E. 1998. Competitive strategy: Techniques for analyzing industries and competitors. New York: Free Press. Searle, G & O’Connor, K. (2010). What makes Australian IT industry companies go global? Academic Research Paper. 1-13. Read More