Katie Pages Contributions Towards Harvey Normans Growth
Question
Discuss about the Entrepreneurship for Development and Growth of Katie Page.
Answer
Introduction
This essay will be a biography of famous entrepreneur Katie Page and reason associated to her personal as well as professional success. The biography explores the roles played by family, social cultural backgrounds as well as associates and competitors towards influencing and individuals performance. Her professional life will be explored and business ventures defined to help determine factors which could have influenced the entrepreneur’s performance and success (Faul, 2016). The essay also explores the types of business Katie Page owes and will conclude by providing recommendations of the industry’s future growth as well as possible business venture alternatives.
Short our view of Katie pages background
Katie page was born in Australia in 1956 and are 4 siblings all sisters. Her father is a bank managers and the family has experienced several relocations over the years. This also resulted in Katie changing several schools which would teach Katie to master the skill of friend creation. She finally graduated as a surveyor from Brisbane State School in 1973 but also soon realized the high demand of the industry as well as low pay-out. At the age of 19 years Katie Page organized her first fund raiser by participating in an intelligence test aimed at raising funds for children diagnosed with Autism.
Gerry Harvey a panel judge during the autism fund raiser would approach Katie with a business proposal to promote Harvey Norman store operations and also helped with the Harvey group. Gradually the two got closer and in 1988 after almost a decade after they first met both Katie and Garry married.
Katie Page joined the Harvey group in 1983 and gradually climbed the rankings after proved performance. By 1999 Katie Page becomes the Harvey Norman CEO and Garry was ranked as Executive Chairman.
Since being promoted to the CEO position, Katie Page has directly contributed towards the businesses expansion to New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Ireland and Slovakia. Since she shared marketing her salary package has gradually increase from 2.07 million in 2014 and has received steady appraisals since then. In 2015 Katie Page had helped Harvey Norman to expand to 277 stores distributed in 8 countries. She is today listed as being among the top 50 most powerful women globally. Since 2015 she has also organized for several professional sponsorships and actively supported various events globally in Australia.
Katie Page is classified as being amount the power aggressive female promoter due to her capability to persistently maintain her focus towards marketing projects. This has been an important asset for Harvey Group since the organisation also generates considerable income. Besides her professional life, she has also been able to secure several important positions as well as established several projects which were not available presently. She has managed to be selected ad a board member for the NRL (National Rugby League) in 2004 and initiated the women of national rugby league in 2005. In 2013 Katie was publicized with a special price of $500,000 and in 2014 and 2015 she was awarded with the Racing Women’s incentive bonus. In addition to this she was also the ambassador of Zara Phillips and announced the sponsorship of Muslin Australian Football League.
Katie Pages family role towards her personal, professionals and career success.
Katie Page has 4 sisters and not brother and her father worked as a bank manager. From an early age, Katie’s parents trained her to be the leaders of the family and to be responsible for all the chores as well as her sisters. Due to being from a banking background, her family were forced to move to new cities every few years which delivered another form of exposure to Katie that would improve her professional career. The city and school changes allowed Katie to master the skill of friend making but also taught her to limit friendship to certain parameters and focus on her own and family’s development
Graduation would once again deliver a great blow to Katie, where she would learn that graduation alone does not ensure you will secure a job. Her first job interview was for a surveyor position but she lost the position due to gender discrimination and lack of experience. This would help change Katie perspective of life and her profession whereby she made the decision to focus on building her portfolio which would help her demonstrate her knowledge and experience which will automatically attract potential clients and employers (Walton, 2013). This strategy worked as planned but well before Katie had anticipated the plan to attract a potential client. She was approached by Gerry Harvey immediately after organizing a dyslexia education awareness campaign aimed at collecting funding for dyslexic children. One of the panel judges was Gerry Harvey who immediately identified Katie potential and approached her immediately after the fund raiser. He requested her to meet him at his office and offered her an attractive package to promote and build the brands reputation and global reach.
Her networking skills have been boosted by her school experiences where she needed to change schools, each time needing to make new friends and colleagues. This resulted in her developing a skilled which limited attachment to friends and colleagues and focusing only on her profession and family. This skill was carried on to her professional life and adulthood where Katie Page has been able to develop and maintain very strong professional relationships and networks among people.
This is a major requirement in business as it ensures one’s ability to identify and build relationships through networking, than use those relationships to boost their professional aspirations.
Factors influencing Katie’s entrepreneurial success
Harvey Norman accredits its success towards the organisations operations growth and expansion directly to Katie’s efforts. Her attitude and knowledge of the field has been directly reflected on the organisations success and growth. Unlike many professionals who are driven by financial gain, Katie has always had a stable financial background which allowed her to focus her full attention towards her professional development. Her ability to develop strong professional networks and maintains a professional relationship with each of the individuals has allowed Katie to build a huge following which she has used to build the company’s reputation and exposure which is a direct indicator of the businesses operations and growth. Harvey Norman has recently been able to expand its operations rapidly resulting in the brand becoming an internationally recognized entity as opposed to a decade back which the brands recognition was not known.
Recommendations for future development and growth
Harvey Norman has only achieved this level of due to a single individual’s contribution towards the company’s growth. Katie Page has dedicated the majority of her professional life towards the organisations growth and development and not directly associated to the brand. Being a professional in the public relations and marketing department, it is important for the Katie to seek a dedicated apprentice which will allow her to transfer her knowledge and skill which will help increase the businesses growth and development. Successful businesses should never be limited to family and friends thus it’s upon the management and leadership to seek out individuals who have a personal interest in the field to improve continuity (Walton, 2013).
Katie Page may love her profession but it’s also important to consider continuing towards the society and personal needs. She is a highly dedicated professional who maintains her focus to her work but in its also healthy to share the acquired knowledge and gradually relax to avoid over staining yourself. This makes it important to hand over ones professional responsibilities gradual to apprentice who are highly dedicated to the profession thus ensuring the business long term success and continuity (Bruce. 2012). Involving a younger professional will also ensure the business utilized new and modern ideas which will ensure business continuity.
Conclusion
Katie has helped Harvey Norman expand its operations to a staggering 277 stores in 8 countries that generated a staggering 4.8 billion dollars in 2015 and a net profit of $165 million. The company still has considerable space for expansion which is also an area which needs to be explored. There remain major markets like India and China which still need to be infiltrated as they deliver both manufacturing and retail potentials which can be highly beneficial for the company.
References
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Chief Executive Women (2016) Katie Page. [Online]. Available at: https://cew.org.au/members/katie-page/ (Accessed: 30 November 2016).
Faul, J. (2016) Harvey Norman is under pressure as consumers increasingly move to online retailers. [Online]. Available at: https://analysisreport.morningstar.com/stock/research/c-report?&t=XASX:HVN®ion=aus&culture=en-CA&productcode=CAN&cur= (Accessed: 30 November 2016).
Kent, M., and Leaver, T. (2014) An Education in Facebook?: Higher Education and the World's Largest Social Network. UK: Routledge.
Korporaal, G. (2015) 50 most powerful women in business: 4. Katie Page. [Online]. Available at: Page, K. (2015) It’s time for the networks to give women’s sport a fair go. [Online]. Available at: https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/rendezview/its-time-for-the-networks-to-give-womens-sport-a-fair-go/news-story/bac4e992220485b82e3a598f8dc7f7ac (Accessed: 30 November 2016).
Schwedt, B. (2015) Secrets of Online Entrepreneurs: How Australia's Online Mavericks, Innovators, and Disruptors Built Their Businesses... And How You Can Too. USA: John Wiley & Sons.
The Australian (2014) Total success: For business and pleasure, all the Harveys need is love. [Online]. Available at: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/life/total-success-for-business-and-pleasure-all-the-harveys-need-is-love/story-e6frg9zo-1226841082718 (Accessed: 30 November 2016).
Walton, W. (2013) Marriage and Revolution: Monsieur and Madame Roland SIÂN REYNOLDS. Women's History Review, 22(6), pp. 1038-1040.
