GUEVARRA, Ezekiel J.

January 18, 2019

MBA 003A: Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation Case Study

CASE STUDY: ‘GetStarted Advertising’ (New Zealand)

GetStarted is a three-year-old dynamic business; a form of online advertising enabling and

facilitating highly targeted advertising of new business and SMEs across private and public sites (portals,

hubs, commercial sites, corporate sited, internets and extranets). GetStarted is typically targeted to

novice businesses and SMEs by providing them with a competitive advantage through online promotion

‘right from the startup point’. Jackie and Brigitte, two fifty-year old teachers from Wellington, New Zealand,

first launched a business for high-school entrepreneurs in 2000; their business ran for fifteen months, but

it never tunred a profit and the two decided tp close it. However, they developed a new concept in the

advertising sphere, which later evolved into the launching of GetStarted.

Jackie was a high-school mathematics teacher with over 15 years’ experience and Brigitte was a

remedial teacher assisting underachieving pupils with learning need on an individual basis. They worked

in the same district school for over 10 years. Jackie quit her job due to severe differences opinion with the

school principal and suggested that Brigitte joins her on an entrepreneurial venture. Brigitte accepted but

later retained her job at the school. “One of the main difficulties we faced in our first business was in

locating businesses that would be willing to assist high-school entrepreneurs; we were looking for novice

business to mentor high-school students in the entrepreneurial process. We believed that it would be a

win-win situation; yet, novice businesses used poor advertising due to financial constraints at the startup

stage. We found it very difficult to locate them,” said Jackie.

The reasons for the first business failure were only partly related to this, but having discovered

the lack of advertising in business’ startup stage, they developed a practical model to assist young

businesses in online advertising. Following the closure of their first business, it was Brigitte who come-up

with the idea to start a new virtual venture in advertising. Jackie was hesitant, as neither of them had any

professional experience in the advertising world. Brigitte’s enthusiasm convinced Jackie and they decided
to exploit this possibility. Encouraged by some local agencies, they conducted a search among business

people in New Zealand of their need for an online advertising forum; the results were inconclusive and

could not assist the two in developing a concept to assist those business people. They decided to enlarge

their search to Australian business people, but again the results of their search were vague.

At that time, Brigitte had many commitments at the school and almost dropped the whole idea of

launching a second business. But one day, on her way to the mall, she came across ‘the smallest and

most charming, adorable, innovative shop she had ever seen; with a sign at the front door saying ‘Sorry,

after five years we are closing our boutique.’ It was a concept boutique focused on products related to

‘royalty’ and included almost anything on that topic. e.g. stationery, kitchenware, furniture, ceremonial

clothes, books, letters , and much more – all authentic and collected from all over Europe. The owners of

this boutique-shop were a retired married couple from Germany who decided to settle in Ne Zealand.

“This was the breaking point for me, and I decided to assist them in advertising free of charge,” said

Brigitte. “I called Jackie and told her that U was completely ‘in’, and that we had our first client. I must

admit that Jackie was very disappointed to find out later on that this was pro-bono work.”

They did tremendous job and the boutique survived; via online advertising, they reached clients

from all different places in New Zealand and around the world who collected royalty-related products.

They both gained experience and knowledge from their pro-bono work and understood that in order to

succeed in the business this time, they needed to create their own opportunities. Brigitte started

delivering presentations at the school where she worked on the need for advertising and its importance at

the business’s startup stage for its rapid growth; she invited the students’ parents and people from the

community to several free presentations at the school, and started to promote the concept of their new

business.

Jackie used a different strategy: the ‘Walk-In’. She visited entrepreneurs who had launched

businesses in the prior six months and presented them with the benefits of engaging in virtual advertising

at that point in time. Nine months after the launched of GetStarted, Brigitte gathered all her friends and

colleagues for a ‘professional afternoon tea party’ to collect their views and feedback on GetStarted. She
asked them to point out the potential constraints they perceived that GetStarted could face and asked

those who were already experienced in the entrepreneurial path to describe their entrepreneurial

evolution. Jackie made use of the ‘devil’s advocate’ approach by asking one member in each group to

present all the limitations of GetStarted, while the others had to think of solutions to minimize those

limitations. The afternoon was a great success and has since been adopted by many other

entrepreneurs.

On the firm’s third anniversary, GetStarted clients received a virtual cake with the number 3 on it

and a ‘free-coffee-and-cake’ voucher at a well-known coffee-shop chain in New Zealand. Brigitte and

Jackie are very proud of their achievements and are developing other strategies to assist their clients in

exposing their competitive advantages right from the start.

Answer the following Questions

1. Identify the opportunity-recognition process Brigitte and Jackie conducted for GetStarted. Explain
its differences from the ‘typical model’ of opportunity recognition.

In the aforementioned case above shows that Brigitte and Jackie were able to get new customers
for the their repositioned and relaunched advertising business. However, the partners are have
different ways on finding their next potential customer.

Brigitte, who is more into the business, was able to find opportunity when she was jus strolling
around the mall and came across with an almost default business closing and offer their service
as a pro-bono. Among the model of opportunity recognition, we could deduce that her “eureka”
moment for opportunity could lie on the Passive Search model. This model states that
opportunity is not yet well defined, and the discovery could add up to the learned capabilities and
sensitivities to the environment (Kariv, 2011), thus the pro-bono work of Brigitte for the old
German couple..

On the otherhand, Jackie, the who is more lethargic with the going back to the business, Her
strategy was personally going to newly opened business and diagnosed the potential needs of
their target market. In this case, Active Search model of opportunity recognition could fit on her
style. This model is a square cut opportunity hunting, as this model does not only sets goal but
also does environmental scanning, competitive analysis, and strategic planning.

Unfortunately, none of them were able to identify or exploit an opportunity through Opportunity
Creation and Fortuitous Discovery models. The first model is defined as that the individual is
the only source opportunity. The entrepreneur does not only introduce a product or services, but
also adjusts or changes market conditions. An example of this is Mr. Jorge Weineke, he is
considered as one of the most creative think tank in the Philippines. He is the man behind the
 Potato Corner, Waffle Time, Pizzacle, and Tokyo Tempura. He is a consultant who does think of
new product and disrupt a current market condition with his ideas.

An example of the a business that could be in the Fortuitous Discovery model is Michael
Burry’s strategy on with his hedge funds during the 2008 market crash as he betted against
(shorting) the market due to his anticipation that the market will collapse due to subprime loans.
With his technical and environmental analysis, he was able to increase his fund’s value to 489%
with an overall profit of $2.69 billion. This model of opportunity as defined by Kariv (2011), that
this model, entrepreneurial opportunities arise when the market are operating in disequillibrium
and alertness allows them to be discovered. Thus, alert individuals discover opportunities that
align with their personal knowledge and aspiration.

2. Is there any connection between Brigitte and Jackie’s career path and their opportunity
recognition processes? Explain the differences between the two in choosing the strategies of
opportunity recognition in light of their precious career experience.

The partner’s professional experience has immensely affected their opportunity recognition.
Brigette as a remedial teacher who is assessing her students on individual basis, she was able to
apply these consultative attitude towards on their business even she’s just strolling to a mall.
While Jackie’s personality was also evident during her opportunity search. Her systematic,
precise, and firm way of looking for opportunity fits well to her as a Math teacher. Their attributes
and personality was even evident during their information gathering on what GetStart should
improve.

3. What is the nature of opportunity-evaluation process conducted by Brigitte and Jackie? In your
opinion, what are the benefits and limitations of such a process for the business’s growth?

Both process have clearly bare fruit for the company. Both of their opportunity-evaluation are well
fit for them. However, there will always be criticsms for Active and Passive search models. These
are like polar strategy that lies on the both end. No tools or can actually help Active search to
come up with a straight cut strategy in acquiring new customer. For Henry Mintzberg (in
Toolhero.com, 2018), it is all about the perfect condition – the balance among the company’s
plan, pattern, position, and perspective.

However, we could also criticize Passive search, as this model of opportunity-recognition is

always a shot to the moon. It not everyday you will encounter an old German couple quitting their
business. It is not healthy for the business to always offer pro-bono service to test their
capabilities.

But as Karive (2011) mentioned, there are really peopl who are easy to identify opportunity and
some are not. Kaufman (2012), there people who would like to give little value to many while
others focuses to give a lot of value to few. I think at this point of the business, it will depends on
how would someone execute their vision and strategies.
4. Would you suggest a different opportunity-evaluation process for GetStarted? Explain

I would no longer contest their opportunity-evaluation process but would rather suggest action
items that needs to be done to sustain their growth as they futher search for opportunity for
GetStarted.

It is already evident that the vision and strategy of the company are materializing with the efforts
of the partners. However, case failed to discuss on how are they sustaining and will sustain these
growth. Though it is a enough sign that they are celebrating their 3 rd year anniversay to consider
them as successful. However, I would like to point three action items tha they should do to be
consistent with their searches and growth on the tactical level.

1. They should record the process. Brigette and Jackie should record their opportunity-evaluation
and recognition process. This could be the differentiator from a small-scale GetStarted to a global
advertising agency franchise like McCann World Group, Publicis, or Ogilvy and Co.. With a
recorded process, this even enabled McDonalds’ to serve the same burger recipe for over 35,000
locations worldwide.

2. Outcomes should be measured. This measurement will be the entrepreneurs tool to track if the
tactics are working.

3. Revise the process. As the company grow, it will need a different tactics, therefore, revision is
necessary for the consistent growth of the company.

5. Of the five major attributes relevant to opportunity exploitation – Creativity, Securing, Expanding,
Exposing, and Challenging, which do you consider most dominant in the case of GetStarted?
Would you recommend emphasizing other attributes as well? Explain

To analyze this, I would like to use a scorecard for this one. I will assess the level of the partners
in the following attributes. The score will be 5 as the highest.

Attributes Score Justification

Are they creative? 2 The case was not
particular on the creativity
side of GetStarted.
Are they securing? 4 They are indeed securing,
for the fact that they have
the grit to acquire
customers by giving pro-
bono service and walk-in
pitches.
Are they expanding? 2 I think GetStarted is not yet
in the expanding stage as
they are still reaching their
potential customers
 Are they exposing?
Are they challenging?
2 Exposing in the context of
the given case is not
explicitly defined.
3 Their value proposition
challenges the idea that
startups could already
have an online presence
even during the early
stages of the business.

Among the five attributes, securing is the emerging dominant attribute. It is clear on how they
grind to have their customers. I would suggest for them to be more creative in their products
and/or services to further reach clients that can actually pay.