Katie Page: The Women Business Entrepreneur And CEO Of Harvey Norman, Essay.

Introduction: Meaning and Qualities of Business Entrepreneur

Discuss about the Business Entrepreneur for Women Business Entrepreneur.

Entrepreneur has evolved from a French term entreprendre which means to undertake (Kuratko, 2008).Today business entrepreneur are consider to be one who takes risk and creates, organizes and manages the business. Entrepreneurs are business leaders, innovators, developers. They are imbibed with qualities like passion, self – discipline and competitive spirit. (Zimmerman, 2008), Business entrepreneurs generally do those things which are not done in normal course by challenging their own strength.

Katie page is 59 years Australian born renowned women business entrepreneur. Her net worth is Net Worth $50.8 Million (Katie Page Net Worth, 2016). She is the CEO of Harvey Norman an international retail store. She is named as the fourth most powerful women by The Australian Business Review's list of the "50 most powerful women in business". (Korporal, 2015). She was born in year 1956 .she grew up with her other three sisters in Mareeba, Queensland, Australia. Her father was a banker. She grew up in a middle class family. She did her high education from Brisbane high school and started working in Sydney at an age of 21. She had all the qualities of a strong business entrepreneur (Kay Lesley Harvey Page, 2016). Before joining Harvey Norman she worked as a surveyor for a short period. She joined Harvey Norman in the year 1983 as an assistant. She was responsible then to carry out ad campaigns, sales and marketing strategies. She married Gerry Harvey in the year 1988 .They have two kids. Gerry Harvey is the chairman of Harvey Norman with a net worth of $1.75 billion (The World Billionaires, 2016). Both are working together since 1987 when the company first listed on the Australian exchange. Page became the CEO in year 1999 and currently she is the longest serving CEO in Australia. She has also served as director of Rebel Sport Limited and is a director of Pertama holding limited (page, 2016). She is responsible for revolutionizing the retail market in Australia through her company Harvey Norman. She together with her husband is providing platform to the young entrepreneurs to sell their goods. Harvey Norman is dealing in electronics, furniture and consumer electronic goods. (Bartlett, 2012)

Harvey Norman is Australian based retailer which deals in, bedding, computers, furniture communications and consumer electronic products. It is operating in more than seven countries in retail sector and has an overall turnover of $ 2.6 billion. It has a franchise operation with over $ 4.8 billion a year. Harvey Norman was found in Australia by Harvey and Ian Norman in year 1961. They opened an electronic appliance store. Since then Harvey Norman is creating history. Page joined Harvey Norman in 1983. She became the CEO in the year 1999 since then she is proving to be the biggest asset to the company. It is under her guidance the company showed tremendous market growth. Her vision of expanding the market operations to other nations made Harvey Norman a renowned name everywhere. It was her entrepreneurial skills which made Harvey Norman a household name. They have their stores in Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia Slovenia, Ireland and Singapore. It has a good market standing in all over Australia and serves the needs of new business enthusiast (Company Profile .2016). Harvey Norman is providing a good platform to retailers to sell their goods. Retailers from all over Australia can apply at Harvey Norman. It is providing franchise to small retailers in Australia to sell their goods .As a franchisor Norman grants franchises to independent business operators. Those who want to deal in products like Electrical, Computers & Communications, Small Appliances, Furniture, Bedding  ,Home Renovations , Lighting and Carpet & Flooring can apply for franchising (Company Profile .2016)..  Harvey Norman expanded its operations in New Zealand in 1996, in Singapore in 2000, Malaysia, Ireland and Slovenia in 2003. Currently it is operating in seven countries and has a future plan to expand (Korporal, 2015).It started its online operations in 2001 since than they are growing at a steady rate. Harvey Norman annual revenue of 4.9 billion in the year ended June 2015 and a net worth of $ 165 million". (Asia’s power Businesswoman, 2015). Page with Gerry Harvey is taking their business to other horizon. They believe in creating business opportunity in Australia. Ever since its incorporation the company is doing wonder in Australian Market. The company has shown tremendous growth in these years (Cook, 2015). It is ruling the retail market in almost all consumer electronics segment. Gerry Harvey with his wife is an inspiration for the youth of the country. Gerry Harvey supports the interest of budding business enthusiast. It is due to his business mind and Page vision the company has touched zenith. The main reason behind their success is the love for business. Harvey Norman is built due to excessive advertising; good values and an exceptional business tactics which are carried forward by Katie Page (Humphrey, 2010).Page acknowledge her company to be different from other Australian companies. Where other companies fail to carry their operations locally Harvey Norman is setting a very high bench mark in international market.  Katie Page has a strong passion for designing houses. She loves making investment in real estate. This adds on another feather to her hat (Korporal, 2015). Page believes in supporting young entrepreneurs who wants to make a difference to society. Katie Page considers retail sector has a lot of scope in future and urges to make a good investment (Korporal, 2015). Katie Page net worth is $50.8 million Australian dollars according to the BRW 2011 Rich List. She is the richest female executive in Australia (Katie Page Net Worth, 2016).Katie Page is an example for the rest of the Australian working women. She supports women cause and pioneer women development by supporting through her various organizations. Apart from above mentioned facts Katie page has a set of leadership skills which distinguishes her from rest of the people. Katie Page believes in accepting roles which would add meaningful contribution to her passion (Kidman and Feher, 2016).

Katie Page: Life and Career

Katie page is an active supporter of various sports. Page with her husband co-own Magic Millions auction house of horses , which auctions horses .People from all over the world comes up to buy race horses(Margan,2016). She was the first women to be elected as the president of National Rugby League. She supports women participation in sports activities which would eventually help in their betterment. Page has initiated the cause of women sportsmanship. She asks other entrepreneur to help those sports activities which need any monetary help. She considers women to be the future of the country .It is very much essential to promote their interest. In 2004 she becomes the first woman president of National Rugby League and has sponsored women league in 2005(Bruce, 2012).She has sponsored NRL series for 15 years. Her company sponsored the National Rugby League's State of Origin series for almost 5 years. They still sponsors the Women in League round and Indigenous All Stars match. (John, 2015).  She is an active supporter of Racing Women Incentive Bonus. She is an active ambassador of Zara Philips which is an active Racing Women Initiative (Zoe, 2014).

Page not only support the above mentioned causes but owns Muslim Australian Football League, 2011. She promotes female interest in every kind of sports. Page, herself is an enthusiastic badminton player. She considers sports as an essential activity for mental and physical growth (Bruce, 2012).

Apart from Harvey Norman Katie page has diversified their investment in various others field. She has made a good investment in Australia .Currently she is making investment in New South Wales and Queensland’s. It was due to her love for designing she is making an investment project in Queensland by creating boutique bungalow. The Bungalows are designed under her supervision (Emily, 2015).All the projects are marked excellent on quality standards. These projects are marked one of the best investment projects in Australia (Speghen, 2016)

Harvey Norman is considering being a revolution due to bold aspiration of Page and Gerry. Apart from consumer electronic goods it has several other holding companies. At present it is working only in seven countries but it can be seen the company is doing remarkably well in the countries of operation. Instead of diversifying in different sector the company should concentrate on working at their core strength. There dream was to set an exemplary difference in history of world. Page and Gerry are causing a tremendous growth in the sector of retail industry. They are creating huge employment opportunity in Australia for small retailers. There core strength and strategies are marked one of the best. Katie page has passed all the exemplary criteria and running the most successful business enterprise with her dedication (Kidman and Feher, 2016)

Katie page is sometimes ignored and all credit goes in the hands of Gerry Harvey. But it is only due to her effort the company has shown an exemplary growth. Her vision took her dreams to other level. Today Harvey Norman is a renowned business retailer. It is providing a platform to young blood to showcase their dream of retail business. Page and Gerry are considered to be the most successful business couple. They both have earned recognition due to a dynamic and practical approach (page, 2016). Page seems to be the most idealist business women .Its only due to her ambition and passion which made her a familiar name in Australia. Her approach towards seeing positive things in almost every business opportunity has bought fame.

References

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