2013

MA In Global
Entrepreneurship

Thibault Crespin
Institute of Applied Entrepreneurship
Address: Priory Street,
Coventry CV1 5FB
- Tel.: 024 7688 7688

MANAGING IN AN ENTREPRENEURIAL WAY M102IAE

Introduction
In this report, the writer will explain the company in general as the object of study.
Secondly, there will be an explanation about their organization and their entrepreneurialism,
how they proceed and what they do to improve their entrepreneurialism or to raise the
amount of their sales. In addition, there will also be an explanation related to what their
goals are and what they should change to succeed. Moreover, the writer will also try to
determine what their value and principle, what they want to keep or lost in their enterprise
in order to be more efficient. In the end, there will be some solutions or recommendations
to help the company to be stronger in entrepreneurial industry.

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Details of the company/organisation being investigated

The aim of this investigation is to understand how the company operates currently.
To answer this, relevant facts are needed to be gathered by asking the right questions, to
find out what actually happens and to know their views on how things are going or what
they want to see in the future.
First of all, the company Bruyerre is chosen as the object of study because there is a
chance for the writer to explore the company as his godfather works there in the finance
and accounting service, so that the writer knows this enterprise well. Moreover, Bruyerre is
a Belgium chocolatier and it is an interesting object to explore as many people love
chocolate. To begin this report, there will be a sum up the history of the company and the
organization.
In 1909, Franois Lon Bruyerre established the Bruyerre chocolates. Then in 1922,
he bought an old biscuit factory and began making pralines, chocolate bars, confectionery
and commodities for the Bakery. After World War II in 1945, Franois Lon died, and then his
two daughters and their husbands succeeded him. They extended the range of production
equipment and workshop store. In 1973, their children took the office. The third generation
opened the first Cash & Carry" shop in Gosselies. It also followed the first complete Shop
fitting "Keys to door" and activities of after-sales service. After that in 1984, Bruyerre group
existed with its four main activities: the raw materials, cash and carry" stores, after-sales
and the chocolate factory service.
Then, it came to the dark years, with the death of Martine and Thierry Collet.
Fortunately, Jean Franois Collet managed to meet the business, negotiated extensively with
banks and customers so that they regained their confidence. In the 2000s, he decided to
combine the four main activities on the site Gosselies.
At present, the Bruyerre company is again sitting on a solid, strong base of its 90
employees and a modern infrastructure of 11,500 sqm. The turnover is nearly 32 millions;
it has increased by 64% in 4 years, mainly because the part is made of commodity trading.
On the other hand, it should be noticed that the chocolate is still below the equilibrium
because they use too many labours (it is the smallest percentage of turnover) but Bruyerre
does not want to give this role because they are well known for this activity.
Nowadays, Jean Franois Collet is the CEO of the enterprise. He is described by
colleagues as someone dynamic, demanding but is always listening to his staff. He is trying to
gain market share by diversifying his products but maintaining a family and artisanal
character. However, his role does not stop there. In addition to be the owner, he also
becomes a shareholder as well as an employee of the company. He is located at the top
hierarchy in the organization; this position gives him the status of leader. It should be noted
that this position was given after a relationship. The structure of the organisation is simple.

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There are only three levels of production. Hereby there is a flow-chart of the organisation
structure.

The Finance and

Accounting
Service

A Head of
Technical Services
and Equipment
The head of
commodity
trading

The secretariat

Jean-Franois
Collet (CEO)

The store
manager
A computer
scientist
The human
resources
manager

The head of the

chocolate

Jean Franois Collet aims to ensure the sustainability of the company and gains
market share (USA, Japan). We can say that its objectives are multiple and varied times. As a
matter of economic perspective, his diversification of products and services allows him to be
one of the main leaders in the marketplace. If we look at his leadership style, we can realize
that all his decisions are the result of concerted action. When he needs to make decisions,
he presents his ideas and asks the opinion on each. This deduction is due to the fact that
Jean Franois Collet is an open person who does not hesitate to take the time to listen to his
staff.

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The measurement system/approach used for evaluation: How

entrepreneurialism is judged
Having knowledge of the enterprise and how the employees in the company work,
the writer still needs to examine which parts of the business are currently working well and
which parts are problematic and have to be evaluated, especially related to their
entrepreneurialism.
Lumpkin and Dess (1996) conceptualized entrepreneurial orientation to consist of
five dimensions: innovation, pro-activeness, risk-taking, autonomy and competitive
aggressiveness. Those dimensions will be measured, developed, and used to measure the
Bruyerre enterprise. As Bessant and Tidd (2011:38) said, Innovation is about growth about
recognising opportunities for doing something new and implementing those ideas to create
some kind of value. Furthermore, Burns (2008: 18) added that Entrepreneurial
transformation is about adapting large firms through their leadership, strategies, systems,
structures and cultures so that they are better able to cope with change and innovation.
According to Bessant and Tidd (2011) and Burns (2008), Jean Franois Collet tries to
gain market share by diversifying its products and taking opportunities. Since the beginning
of this year (2013), he has developed the e-commerce. Nowadays, we can buy the Bruyerre
chocolate online. Jean Franois knows that more and more people use the internet to buy a
product that is why he decided to develop this new way of selling. He has significantly
developed his understanding of the market by creating this online shopping. Bruyerre always
seeks opportunities, as we can see in this picture. He uses the website Groupon to open his
circle of customer and to market his products.

Burns (2008: 18) suggested that entrepreneurial management is related to the ability
of leading and managing a larger entrepreneurial organization, and therefore, it includes the
development of an entrepreneurial architecture the network of relational contracts within,
or around, an organization, employees, suppliers, customers, as well as networks. While
Bessant and Tidd (2011:17) argued that an innovative business is one which lives and

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breathes outside the box. It is not only good ideas; it is a collection of good ideas,
motivated staff and an instinctive understanding of what customer demands.
According to Bessant and Tidd (2011) and Burns (2008), Jean Franois Collet takes
care about his employees, customers and suppliers. He is always listening to his staff; we can
see in the organization graph above that there are only three hierarchical levels. This is a
family business where the information goes up quickly. This type of structure allows
adapting quickly to changes and provides flexibility. Jean Franois Collet encourages
teamwork and open discussion by the fact that when he has to make a decision, he presents
his ideas and seeks the advice from everyone. Such deduction is due to the fact that JeanFranois Collet is an open person who does not hesitate to take the time to listen to his staff.
Jean Franois Collet takes care about his customers. For example, the company does
not hesitate to make an investment for a single American customer and decides to maintain
the packaging of chocolates whereas the outcome was their least expensive and this suits
the aim of satisfying a loyal clientele. They also offer cooking lessons and demonstrations to
customers where they explain some recipes.
Since the beginning of the society, Bruyerre wants to keep the family side of the
business. Westhead et al. (2011) discovered several things about the objectives of family
firms. Generally, a family firm focuses on ensuring the survival of the firm as a going
concern. They give more importance on seeking to ensure continued independent
ownership of their firms.
According to Westhead et al. (2011), in the 90s Jean Franois Collet worked hard to
maintain the family business. He first held the technical service and equipment and the
negotiation with the banks to merge all in order to survive the company. The purpose was
not to make a lot of profit but to keep the family business running. The most important
vision of Jean Franois Collet was to keep the family firm safe and the entire employees
knew that. Moreover, his second dream is to export his product, so that Bruyerre becomes
more famous.
Another point highlighted by Westhead, Wright and McElwee (2011), is that family
businesses allocate key managerial positions to family members based on kinship ties rather
than expertise of knowledge. It is true that most of the family member probably knew the
business well due to the fact that they have grown there. However, everybody is different
and he or she was not all born to work on the family business. If family members desperately
think that their children have to work there, they are wrong. They definitely have to hire a
qualified personal instead of family members, which are not meant for that. Ashton (2007)
argued that without good people, the business cannot grow. Recruiting the right people is
vital to develop the firm.

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As Finkelstein et al (2007: 67) said One of the most remarkable features of the
turbulent world of business is the ability to select band of companies to maintain their
dominant position for many decades, the illustrious survivors of numerous challenges, wars,
and financial crises. Refering to this sentence, Bruyerre is in a good position due to the fact
that he survived many events. Indeed, this enterprise has existed on the market since 1909.
The company therefore has certain seniority. Furthermore, the company advocates a quality
image. They export all over the world through it. However, their products have had little
known due to lack of publicity. Thus, we can see that they are not good in terms of
marketing. In addition, they have a lower reputation than other Belgium chocolatier like
Leonidas, Godiva or Galler.
Hisrich et al. (2006) claimed that An entrepreneur needs to understand all aspects of
the environment. We can say that Jean Franois Collet has this characteristic of a corporate
entrepreneur due to the fact that he developed the e-commerce. This allows growing of
online activity and therefore promotes trade. Jean Franois Collet knows that there are
several competitors in the chocolate sector in Belgium while he extends his vision exporting
its brand by the electronics market. Then, for a better understanding of the market in which
the business is located, the researcher asks questions to his godfather to create a Porter
analysis.
Threat of new
entrants

Competitive
rivalry

Bargaining
power of
suppliers

2
4

Bargaining
power of
customers

State power
Threat of
substitute
products

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Competitive advantages
State
intervention

Competitive
rivalry

Threat of new
entrants

Nil

The longevity of
the company
gives him
certain
notoriety and
gives
confidence to
customers. The
company is a
leader in
Wallonia but
still quite
challenged by
bakers,
confectioners
and regional
chocolatiers.
Ranson SA (the
biggest
competitor of
Bruyerre but
they work only
in Flanders) and
Bruyerre do not
want to share
their own work
areas to avoid
conflicts and to
review the
prices down.
Given that
competitors do
not have
exactly the
same activities,
the competitive
analysis is
based primarily
on the
chocolate.

The market is
already highly
competitive and
so there has
little chance to
have new
entrants, with
the exception of
small businesses
like bakers or
pastry.

Points : 0

Points : 3

Points : 2

MA in Global Entrepreneurship

Bargaining
power of
suppliers
Since this is a
large
company, they
can order
large
quantities and
therefore have
discounts.

Bargaining
power of
customers
For smaller
customers'
bargaining
power is not
huge, but for
example one
of their
clients for
whom they
bought a
specialized
machine, it is
lower.
It is the same
for large
areas
because
everyone
wants to
have a place
on the
shelves, so
they have a
greater
bargaining
power.

Threat of
substitute
products
There are
products of
industrial
chocolate or
other
substitute like
sweets,
biscuits and
cakes.
However, they
will never
reach the
quality
required for
their
customers
because
Bruyerre sells
a range higher
than
chocolate
lovers are
looking for.

Points : 2

Points : 4

Points : 3

Page 8

According to Westhead, Wright and McElwee (2011), family firms avoid strategies
focusing only on short-term gains. Therefore, Jean Franois Collet does not take many risks
due to the fact that he will not make an investment if he does not believe with it. It is
because he does not want to lose his family business. When he invests or does any big
change, he thinks it in long-term. He wants to keep the successful business for the future
generation.
Bruyerre tries to become more creative in diversifying its products. On the picture
below, we can see that they create different boxes: for men, for ladies, for collector, for
people seeking luxury, etc.

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The result of the investigation

In this section, the findings will be revealed. Since the data has been obtained by
asking Bruyerre , the aim is to identify whether Bruyerre has the characteristics of an
entrepreneurial enterprise. Furthermore, their entrepreneurialism will also be analysed
further.
First thing that should be discussed is his vision of the leadership. Jean Franois Collet
wants to keep the family side of the business and he works hard to preserve and obtain this
goal. He manages to meet the business, negotiates with bankers and customers, so that he
obtains their trust again. He also continues to use the best raw materials and clever recipes;
he develops a range of very high quality chocolates to keep the craft side. Furthermore, Jean
Franois Collet desires to bigger the business to become more famous, that is why, he then
developed the e-market. Wickham (2004) argues that leadership is increasingly recognised
as a critical part of managerial success. An entrepreneur can rarely drive their goal to market
on their own. Bruyerre knows that it is important to support other people both from within
and outside the organisation.
Secondly, Jean Franois Collet tries to develop his opportunity recognition. Wickham
(2004) explains that an opportunity is a gap in the market where we can find potency to do
something better while adding value. Bruyerre found an opportunity on the e-market and
catch it. He also creates some special packages for events, for example for celebrating
Valentines Day; he creates pralines in heart shapes. He has been very accustomed with
innovation becaue he wants to innovate, he listens to his staff and tries to find new ideas.
Thirdly, in order to risk taking, Bruyerre does not take many risks because they do not
want to get their investment lost, so the family focuses on long-term planning. Employees
also do not dare to take any risk; they prefer to work normally and if they have a suggestion,
they give their proposal to their manager.
Last but not least, Bruyerre is a creative enterprise. It creates several sorts of way to
sell the products. Here we can buy business gifts, seasons packages for every taste, etc. As
Wickham (2004: 10) mentioned, The idea of innovation encompasses any new way of doing
something so that value is created. Innovation can mean a new product or service, but it can
also include a new way of delivering an existing product service. Recently, he expands his
way of selling by using the e-market; he also innovates a new way of in delivering an existing
product. Not only that, Bruyerre also creates and tries to develop many kinds of different
way to eat or taste chocolate. It always tries to combine different flavours. However, it is
better if Jean Franois Collet does not only create an innovation, but also encourages his
staff to be more creative and follow what he does.

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Recommendations; how could they be more entrepreneurial?

Before coming to recommendations for this company, the writer will determine and
evaluate the potential options for improving their entrepreneurialism. Some values need to
be reviewed and advice as well as options should be provided on the operation of the
current business, so that the company will be more entrepreneurial.
The vision of Jean Franois Collet is clear but he does not approach the good way for
the marketing. For example, he uses the website Groupon to open his circle of customer and
on the other hand, he wants to be in the high market of chocolate. Everybody knows that
Groupon is interesting to touch numerous people, but not the wealthy ones. To my part,
Jean Franois Collet has to know better which type of market he wants to reach. If the
company wants to offer a different product from the competitors, they must continue with
this in mind and change their marketing way.
When we talk about opportunity recognition, Bruyerre is in a good position. He
expands his products all over the world and at the same time, tries to develop other market.
However, even if Bruyerre is recognized for its chocolate and imports his products around
the world, he only has few customers out of Belgium. The company is in a long way from
having the same renowned as other Belgium chocolate companies like Neuhaus, Leonidas
and Godiva. The real value is created when that opportunity is exploited by something new
which fills the market gap (Wickham, 2004: 10).
Chell (2008) argues that taking risk is not like a gambling. However entrepreneurs
should be brave to take high risk if they want to succeed. They have to avoid low-risk
situations due to the fact that they think this is a lack of challenge, so they prefer to take
high-risk to succeed. Bruyerre avoid risk and does not accept that its employees take risks.
Wickham (2004) explains that an entrepreneur provide a service by taking the risk that
generally people want to avoid.
After all, Jean Franois Collet has a good company in terms of creativity; he
encourages people and tries to create new products. However, Bruyerre catches an
opportunity in interring in the e-business but it is not the first chocolatier who sells his
product on internet so it does not really a great innovation at all. The company needs to do
things differently.
Thus, Bruyerre needs to differentiate its product from the competition. To realize
this, the company has four ways. First, in terms of design and quality, for example, Bruyerre
might think to a particular style in a new product. This can be done by changing the form of
chocolates or taste or creating new ones. Indeed, shapes or tastes are both the things firstly
faced by the customers and easily attract them. If they like, they will continue to buy this
product.

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Second, it is in the level of service and support. Bruyerre already offers cooking
courses, which is a good thing. The company could offer more and focus on the new
product.
The third thing is at the staff level. Bruyerre should think about getting to know their
new product in an unusual way. It needs to attract peoples attention, so that they
remember the product and will want to buy it. The company has just problems in marketing.
Proceeding internet seems the best solution because nowadays, everyone uses it. They may,
for example, create a small original clip and engage more people to know the product.
Finally as seen in the image, Bruyerre could create events such as posting contests on
their site that would allow the winner to go to any chocolate Bruyerre in the country and use
the chocolates he or she desires for a certain sum. Otherwise, the company can make
competitions allowing customers to imagine and to conceptualize their own chocolates.

Summary
To conclude, the writer thinks that Jean Franois Collet is a great leader but he is not
a good entrepreneur. He wants to extend his market but he does not take risk. He has to
focus and implements a strategy of differentiation. Bruyerre is a creative company and uses
high quality products to produce chocolates. Therefore, they must increase its reputation by
increasing its market shares and distinguishing it from other competitors. They have to make
more publicity. The goal is that the buyers have the feeling of getting something that is not
provided anywhere else. If the customers are more than satisfied with the companys
products, they will continue to buy chocolates in Bruyerre. This results in customers loyalty.

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List of references
Ashton, R. (2007) The entrepreneurs book of checklists: 1000 tips to help you start and grow
your business. London: Prentice Hall
Bessant, J. and Tidd, J (2011) Innovation and entrepreneurship. 2nd edn. West Sussex: John
Wiley & Sons Ltd
Bruyerre. Bruyerre Since 1909. [online] available from http://www.bruyerre.be/
Burns, P. (2008) Corporate entrepreneurship: Building the entrepreneurial organisation. 2nd
edn.Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan
Chell, Elizabeth (2008) The entrepreneurial personality: a social construction. 2nd edn.
London: Routledge.
Finkelstein, S., Harvey, C. and Lawton, T. (2007) Breakout strategy: meeting the challenge of
double-digit growth. New York: The McGraw-Hill Company
Hisrich, R.D., Peters, M.P. and Shelpherd, D.A. (2010) Entrepreneurship. 8th edn. New York:
McGraw-Hill
Lumpkin, G. T. and Dess, G. G. (1996). Clarifying the entrepreneurial orientation construct
and linking it to performance. Academy of Management Review
Westhead, P., Wright, M. and McElwee, G. (2011) Entrepreneurship perspectives ans cases.
Edinburgh: Prentice Hall
Wickham, P.A. (2004) Strategic entrepreneurship. 3rd edn. Edinburgh: Prentice Hall

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