History
Bosshardt is a real estate and property management company that focuses on real estate products. The current president and founder of the firm are Aaron Bosshardt, and the general manager is Glennette Maxwell. The company was founded in 1987, which means that it has more than 30 years of experience (“Bosshardt commercial & land,” 2020). The company can be divided into six major divisions, which include commercial real estate, property management, title insurance, maintenance division, relocation, and charity division. The firm is located in North Central Florida, where the facilities are based in Gainesville and Ocala (“Residential real estate,” 2020).
The products are commercial and residential real estate, with the market segment being Florida. Although there are no publicly available records of the company’s financial history, there are no controversial data, which means they might be a decent history. Most of the employees are realtors, who actively seek out various deals in the real estate market.
The major turbulence faced by the company was the market crash of 2008, which directly impacted their products. The economic crisis has generated a wave of peculiar expectations of both a positive and catastrophic nature. They concern, and, often, not only and not so much the actual economic problems, but rather the problems of socio-political and geopolitical ones (Peters, Besley, & Paraskeva, 2015). On the one hand, such expectations are a natural phenomenon, and economic crises of the past two centuries have always led to some social upheaval and change (Clench-Aas & Holte, 2017). A financial crisis inevitably entails one form or another of a social crisis.
As for the geopolitical theme, it is quite clear that economic losses may well lead to a loss of political weight by certain states. However, on the other hand, genuine science should be cautious in general forecasts. One thing is the short-term forecasting of specific social and economic trends. Another thing is the predictions of the global historical plan, in which people can inevitably enter the field of speculation (Chen, Cheng, Ku, & Liao, 2019). Even if general historical trends are predictable, then linking their manifestations to these specific events requires careful analysis and caution in conclusions.
Market orientation is mostly focused on commercial real estate due to its high validity and security. The organizational lifecycle is manifested in the fact that Bosshardt is gradually growing due to its assets appreciating over time. However, the issue of corporate culture, which includes norms, was developed much later – it is a question of ideals, mission, organization’s value system, norms, and traditions (Black & Warhurst, 2019).
They are aimed at achieving the goals set for the organization. It is in this way that a directed organizational culture can ensure that both the organization’s leadership and its team act based on the goals set for the organization, the goals of meeting the needs of society. It also can ensure the organization’s integration to achieve its goals (Gonzalez-MulĂ©, Courtright, DeGeest, Seong, & Hong, 2016). At the same time, the organizational culture should first of all be guided by the needs of the society served by the company, that is, its basis, as at the first stage of the life cycle, should be a commitment to the idea of ​​a product – product development.
The charismatic leader should not leave the stage, and he should be the core of the organizational culture (Jablonowski, 2017). The organizational culture of the first life cycle should not disappear, and it should develop and expand (Primc & ÄŚater, 2016). At its base, there should be a dynamic, charismatic leader with the idea of ​​developing the organization’s product, while the basis of the economic development of the organization should be provided by the producer leader and a stable rational organization.
Company Assessment
Core Business Model
The firm’s approach in creating value is based on the functional aspects of its divisions, where Bosshardt helps to sell or buy their customers’ real estate through realtors. In addition, its internal competency can be observed in its orderly structure, because customers can refer to selected specialists on their specific issues. Bosshardt differentiates the market into four major segments, which are commercial real estate, residential real estate, insurance, and property management (“Residential real estate,” 2020). Its economic and growth model cannot be fully stated conclusively due to the lack of its publicly available financial statements, but the fact that the firm is constantly and gradually expanding its facilities and actively seeking new realtors indicates that it is growing.
Corporate Entrepreneurship
In the entrepreneurial grid, Bosshardt can be located in the periodic and discontinuous section because real estate deals are mostly rare but yield higher cash flow. The most innovative approach undertaken by Bosshardt is its segmentation of the divisions into six components, which allow the firm to use its resources more efficiently. For example, the firm possesses a charity division, which increases its overall brand image among its customers (“Bosshardt charitable fund,” 2019).
The company cannot be classified as a serious risk-takers because it is mostly focused on the Florida market and does not significantly expand its reach. For instance, the firm encourages innovation, which is the only aspect where risk-taking can be plausible (“Resources,” 2020). The latter can also be associated with the proactiveness of its realtors, who are willing to provide a high-quality customer experience (“Who we are,” 2020). Thus, the firm is mostly risk-averse and seeks to preserve its reputation.
Leadership Critique and Entrepreneurship Environment
The primary critique of the leadership team in Bosshardt is based on the fact that the co-founder does not participate in all divisions. Aaron Bosshardt is actively engaged in the residential and commercial real estate division, which means that other divisions may lack proper leadership (“Our commercial real estate team,” 2020). In addition, the overall entrepreneurship environment is manifested in the fact that the company’s main strategy is to dominate only the Florida market.
The facilitator is its multi-divisional approach, and the obstacle is its other competitors. The structure of the environment is hindered by locational limitedness, whereas the facilitator is its outstanding experience in the market. Bosshardt’s human resource management focuses on hiring top realtors with good records, but it seems that the company lacks young and enthusiastic realtors in the team (“Bosshardt realty’s real estate agents,” 2020). The overall corporate culture is shifted towards proactiveness and innovation, with a primary focus on the quality of service.
However, the obstacle is the fact that it does not possess fluidity in its culture. Organizational culture is understood as beliefs, norms of behavior, attitudes, and values, which are unwritten rules that determine how people in this organization should work and behave. The value component is emphasized by all researchers, but it should be noted that, based on the meaning of the definitions, positive changes occur due to leadership (Gibb & Burns, 2018).
Value is a concept accepted in philosophy, ethics, aesthetics, and sociology with the help of which the socio-historical significance for the society of certain phenomena of reality is characterized, which can be the whole variety of phenomena of reality in which a person exists (Tomic et al., 2017). Value orientations are shared and internally accepted by a person’s values, manifested in the subjective significance for a particular person of any material or spiritual objects. This orientation concludes and expresses the personal importance of certain social benefits, the attitude towards them. Social values, being refracted through the prism of individual consciousness, enter the psychological structure of the personality in the form of personal values ​​or value orientations (Mei et al., 2017).
The basis for close attention to value orientations is the enormous influence of this phenomenon on the development of the individual and various aspects of her life, including professional activities. Although Bosshardt survived the market crash due to its low risk-taking control, the main obstacle is the lack of its aggressive expansion. In general, the firm is a solid company with proper management, but the key problem areas are its human resource team and leadership.
Functions
It is important to understand that both the most and least entrepreneurial areas of Bosshardt are due to the nature of its divisions. The division of commercial and residential real estate is the most entrepreneurial section because realtors are mostly independent and actively engage with the clients. However, the firm’s insurance and charity divisions can be classified as the least entrepreneurial because the latter depends on the company’s resources, and the former has to comply with strict regulations.
Audit
Bosshardt’s innovation strategy is mostly adherent to the traditional approaches, such as categorizing their services into six divisions. It is difficult to state for certain which company is the first mover because real estate referral firms have a long history. However, by observing the firm’s primary competitors, it clear that its main competitors are young companies. These include HomeLight and Zillow, which were founded in 2012 and 2006, respectively (“About us,” 2020). Therefore, the primary innovation strategy of Bosshardt compared to the competitors is the fact that the firm primarily focuses on one location. It is stated that the risk preference factor is prevalent among later followers (Buhren & Steinberg, 2019). Therefore, diagram 1 shows Bosshardt as a first-mover in comparison with other firms.
It is highly challenging to state the factor of economies of scale since it is mostly a small or medium-sized company. However, the primary expenses or costs of the firm are marketing and employee training, such as getting licenses. Bosshardt mainly offers services for its customers, and thus, there are no products and associated production costs. The gradual growth of the company can have an effect on its economies of scale, where its current brand image can reduce the overall expenses on its marketing. I think that the firm is already exploiting economies of scale to its advantage because Bosshardt is a relatively established company with more than 30 years of experience.
In regards to Rothwell’s 5 Models of the Innovation Process, Bosshardt is a relatively new firm. This puts the company in the fifth category, which is system integration and networking (“Five generations of innovation,” 2020). It is important to note that fact that Bosshardt is mostly a real estate agency, which needs an integrated platform, such as its official website. In addition, it requires networking procedures, which can be conducted in conjunction with marketing, such as reaching out to potential home buyers or sellers. Thus, networking plays an essential role in determining the overall success of the firm, because even its divisions need to be able to interact with customers of other divisions.
Bosshardt shares its success stories, which can be considered as an internal source. Knowledge share in innovation means that the latter can be stimulated by several discoveries or results of other units. The paradigm can be used in the example of Facebook, which allegedly leaked the data to Cambridge Analytica, and the British company innovated with marketing and PR approaches to assist Donald Trump during his campaign (Lewis & Hilder, 2018). This is a highly controversial case, but the main paradigm can be applied to non-controversial firms. A piece of knowledge can be used to fuel innovation, which can lead to either positive or negative results.
It is difficult to state whether Bosshardt significantly contributes to the nation, but it certainly is a part of the State of Florida. The real estate market has always been one of the largest and influential segments of the regions’ economic state. It is mainly because with an increase in population, there is a demand for shelter and places to live. The latter can be manifested in renting or buying the property, but eventually, real estate agencies will be needed for their expertise and knowledge. Thus, operating a business in the real estate market will have a positive effect on the economic development of the region. Open innovation will allow Bosshardt to increase its market share, which will lead to further growth.
Recommendations
Goals
The key recommendation for Bosshardt is to increase its aggressiveness of expansion outside the Florida state, which will allow it to operate nationally. It will increase the firm’s reach for potential customers and more profitable deals. The entrepreneurial intensity can be altered by providing opportunities for younger realtors, who might lack the clientele base. However, the latter can be a determining factor in reaching innovative goals, which can be manifested in some social media marketing or mobile applications. In addition, functional area goals can be expanded to other regions by actively engaging both experienced and enthusiastic realtors.
Action Steps
The action steps should include major changes in Bosshardt’s structure and strategy, and some minor changes in human resource management, control, and culture. As was mentioned previously, strategy changes should involve expansion outside of Florida. The structural change should include putting Aaron Bosshardt as a supervisor and top manager of all six divisions. Thus, he will be engaged in all the company’s activities and not only commercial and residential real estate divisions. In addition, changes in human resource management are manifested in the fact that it should hire younger realtors as interns.
Control systems should be able to balance between risk-taking and risk-averse approaches, whereas the culture should be more fluid by allowing innovations to emerge. Bosshardt can consider expanding its charity division’s reach because it will increase the firm’s image in other regions, which will prepare potential customers for the given expansion.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Bosshardt is a real estate management company, which focuses primarily on assisting its clients in acquiring or selling their real estate. It also provides insurance and property management services alongside charities, maintenance, and relocation. It is leadership concentrated in its largest division of commercial and residential real estate section, which might be hindering its growth. However, the firm’s risk-averse culture allowed the company to survive the real estate market crash.
References
About us. (2020). Web.
Black, K., & Warhurst, R. (2019). Seeing the unseen: Visualizing organizational culture in the classroom. Management Teaching Review, 4(3), 258-270.
Bosshardt charitable fund. (2019). Web.
Bosshardt commercial & land. (2020). Web.
Bosshardt realty’s real estate agents. (2020). Web.
Buhren, C., & Steinberg, P. J. (2019). The impact of psychological traits on performance in sequential tournaments: Evidence from a field tennis experiment. Journal of Economic Psychology, 72, 12-29.
Chen, J., Cheng, C., Ku, C. Y., & Liao, W. (2019). Are banks improving risk governance after the financial crisis? Journal of Accounting, Auditing & Finance, 1-9.
Clench-Aas, J., & Holte, A. (2017). The financial crisis in Europe: Impact on satisfaction with life. Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, 45(18), 30-40.
Five generations of innovation. (2020). Web.
Gibb, S., & Burns, C. (2018). Organizational values: Positive, ambivalent and negative interrelations in work organizations. Journal of Human Values, 24(2), 116-126.
Gonzalez-Mulé, E., Courtright, S. H., DeGeest, D., Seong, J. Y., & Hong, D. S. (2016). Channeled autonomy: The joint effects of autonomy and feedback on team performance through organizational goal clarity. Journal of Management, 42(7), 2018-2033.
Jablonowski, L. (2017). Healthy organizational culture – healthy employees? Effectiveness of organizational culture on perceived health of German police officers. International Journal of Police Science & Management, 19(3), 205-217.
Mei, X., Iannacchione, B., Stohr, M. K., Hemmens, C., Hudson, M., & Collins, P. A. (2017). Confirmatory analysis of an organizational culture instrument for corrections. The Prison Journal, 97(2), 247-269.
Our commercial real estate team. (2020). Web.
Peters, M. A., Besley, T., & Paraskeva, J. M. (2015). Global financial crisis and educational restructuring. Citizenship, Social and Economics Education, 14(1), 15-18.
Primc, K., & ÄŚater, T. (2016). The influence of organizational life cycle on environmental proactivity and competitive advantage: A dynamic capabilities view. Organization & Environment, 29(2), 212-230.
Residential real estate. (2020). Web.
Resources. (2020). Web.
Tomic, B., Spasojević Brkić, V., Karapetrovic, S., Pokrajac, S., Milanović, D. D., Babić, B., & Djurdjevic, T. (2017). Organizational culture, quality improvement tools and methodologies, and business performance of a supply chain. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part B: Journal of Engineering Manufacture, 231(13), 2430-2442.
Lewis, P., & Hilder, P. (2018). Leaked: Cambridge Analytica’s blueprint for Trump victory. The Guardian. Web.
Who we are. (2020). Web.