Major Project Report

MAJOR PROJEC T REPORT 5528: GEOG – World Geography and Cultures Group Number: 1. Harty Virgin Anto Chirakkeran - N01578749 2. Meerasri Sankaran - N01580039 3. Gurvinder Singh - N01579042 4. Simranjit Kaur - N01531036 5. Manmohan Singh - N01538521

TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction to Canva.com ........................................................................................................................... 2 Firm Background and History .................................................................................................................... 2 Industry and Region ................................................................................................................................. 2 Objective .................................................................................................................................................. 2 Products and Services ............................................................................................................................... 2 Timeline - Important Company Milestones ............................................................................................... 3 II) The Role of Geography and CANVA Company in Australia ........................................................................ 3 Geographical Factors: ............................................................................................................................... 4 PEST Analysis: ........................................................................................................................................... 5 III. The Role of Culture and the Firm ............................................................................................................. 5 How the cultural setting can affect CANVA's performance in terms of business culture and practices, negotiation strategies, and motivations: ................................................................................................... 6 Opportunities and challenges working in the cultural setting of the firm .................................................. 6 If the CANVA is a subsidiary with head office in another country, then the business cultures and the interplay of both mother company’s country and the subsidiary should be discussed that produce the successful performance of the company ................................................................................................... 7 Use the national business culture as default. Do not sound like a PR agency ............................................. 8 IV. Firm Strategies ........................................................................................................................................ 9 Successful Penetration .............................................................................................................................. 9 Past and Present Strategies ..................................................................................................................... 10 Navigation of Geography and Business Culture ....................................................................................... 10 Evidence of Success ................................................................................................................................ 10 Expanded and analytical discussion of timeline ...................................................................................... 11 V. OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES ......................................................................................................... 11 Economic prospects of Canva: ................................................................................................................. 11 Performance prospect: ........................................................................................................................... 12 Global supply chains: .............................................................................................................................. 12 Challengers posed by the competitors: ................................................................................................... 12 SWOT analysis: ....................................................................................................................................... 13 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................. 15 Reference ................................................................................................................................................... 16 2

Canva offers a range of tools and features that help you design like a pro, even if you've never designed anything before. They have templates for various purposes like social media, presentations, posters, and more. You can choose a template, customize it with your text, images, and colors, and create something unique and eye-catching. TIMELINE - IMPORTANT COMPANY MILESTONES 2012 : Canva is founded by Melanie Perkins, Cliff Obrecht, and Cameron Adams in Sydney, Australia. 2013 : Canva launches its beta version, allowing users to create designs online. 2014 : Canva introduces an iPad app, making design even more accessible. 2015 : The platform becomes available on the web, making it easy to use on different devices. 2016 : Canva reaches 10 million users, showing its popularity and impact. 2018 : Canva introduces Canva Pro, offering advanced features for businesses and professionals. 2020 : Canva raises significant investment and achieves a valuation of over $6 billion. 2021 : Canva continues to grow, with millions of active users and a wide range of design tools and resources. Canva.com is a company that's transformed the way people approach design. With its user- friendly tools and creative templates, it's become a go-to platform for individuals, businesses, and organizations looking to create visually stunning content without the need for extensive design skills. II) THE ROLE OF GEOGRAPHY AND CANVA COMPANY IN AUSTRALIA 4

Geography plays a significant role in influencing the performance of companies, and CANVA, an Australian graphic design platform, is no exception. The physical features of the region, transportation networks, climate, demographics, development indicators, and the culture and history of Australia have all contributed to shaping CANVA's performance. Additionally, analyzing CANVA's performance through a PEST framework (Political, Economic, Social, and Technological) provides further insight into the major environmental influences on the firm. GEOGRAPHICAL FACTORS: 1. Physical Features : Australia's vast and diverse landscape has influenced CANVA's performance in terms of market reach and target demographics. The country's expansive coastline, unique flora and fauna, and iconic landmarks contribute to the design themes and templates offered by CANVA, catering to various creative needs related to Australia's geography. 2. Transportation Networks : Australia's well-developed transportation infrastructure, including roadways, airports, and ports, facilitates the distribution of CANVA's products both domestically and internationally. Efficient logistics support allows the company to serve a global customer base seamlessly. 3. Climate : The Australian climate, with its varied seasonal patterns, has an impact on the types of design themes and content that are in demand during different times of the year. For example, seasonal changes might influence the creation of marketing materials, event invitations, and other design projects. 4. Demographics : The demographics of Australia, such as its multicultural population and diverse age groups, influence CANVA's approach to customization and localization. The company may need to offer design options that resonate with different cultural and age- specific preferences. 5. Development Indicators : Australia's high Human Development Index (HDI) and stable economy provide a conducive environment for businesses like CANVA to thrive. A well- educated and digitally literate population contributes to the adoption of CANVA's platform. 6. Culture and History : Australia's cultural heritage and historical significance inspire design elements and templates that resonate with the nation's identity, contributing to CANVA's content library. 5

HOW THE CULTURAL SETTING CAN AFFECT CANVA'S PERFORMANCE IN TERMS OF BUSINESS CULTURE AND PRACTICES, NEGOTIATION STRATEGIES, AND MOTIVATIONS: Business Culture and Practices: CANVA, being an Australian company, operates within a specific cultural context. In Australia, business culture often values a friendly and relaxed approach. This can influence how CANVA interacts with clients, partners, and even employees. The "mateship" culture in Australia might mean that personal relationships are given importance. CANVA might focus on building strong connections and fostering a sense of collaboration in its operations. Negotiation Strategies : Australian negotiation strategies often prioritize fairness and open communication. CANVA may adopt a transparent approach, ensuring all parties understand the deal clearly. Since Australians value honesty and straightforwardness, CANVA might be more direct in its negotiations, which can help build trust and credibility. Motivations: In Australia, work-life balance and personal well-being are often important motivations. CANVA could offer flexible working hours or wellness programs to cater to these values. Recognizing employees' contributions and providing opportunities for skill development might also align with the Australian work culture, enhancing motivation among its workforces. Overall, understanding and adapting to the cultural setting of Australia can positively impact CANVA's performance. By embracing the friendly and open Australian business culture, employing transparent negotiation strategies, and catering to motivations like work-life balance, CANVA can create a work environment that resonates with its employees, partners, and customers. This, in turn, can boost company morale, foster strong relationships, and contribute to CANVA's success in the Australian and global markets. OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES WORKING IN THE CULTURAL SETTING OF THE FIRM. Opportunities: Diverse Talent Pool: Australia is a culturally diverse country, offering CANVA access to a wide range of talents and perspectives. This diversity can lead to innovative ideas and creative solutions. Collaborative Environment: The Australian culture values collaboration and teamwork. CANVA can harness this environment to foster a culture of idea-sharing, leading to improved product development and problem-solving. 7

Innovation and Creativity : Australians often have a reputation for their creative and innovative thinking. CANVA can tap into this mindset to create cutting-edge design tools and services that resonate with users. Global Outlook: Australia's geographical location encourages companies like CANVA to have a global perspective from the outset, enabling them to expand their reach beyond local markets. Challenges: Tall Poppy Syndrome : In Australia, there's a cultural tendency to be cautious of people who stand out or excel. CANVA might face challenges in promoting its success and unique offerings without appearing overly boastful. Geographical Isolation : Australia's distance from major global markets can pose logistical challenges for international expansion and distribution. Time Zone Differences : Operating within Australian time zones might mean that connecting with clients or partners in other parts of the world could be challenging due to time differences. Adapting to Global Markets : While CANVA benefits from a diverse culture, it also needs to ensure that its products and services are relatable and useful on a global scale, considering the varied cultural preferences. Work-Life Balance: Although Australia values work-life balance, there can be instances where this balance might lead to reduced working hours, potentially impacting project timelines and productivity. IF THE CANVA IS A SUBSIDIARY WITH HEAD OFFICE IN ANOTHER COUNTRY, THEN THE BUSINESS CULTURES AND THE INTERPLAY OF BOTH MOTHER COMPANY’S COUNTRY AND THE SUBSIDIARY SHOULD BE DISCUSSED THAT PRODUCE THE SUCCESSFUL PERFORMANCE OF THE COMPANY. when a subsidiary like CANVA operates under the umbrella of a head office in another country, there's a fascinating interplay of business cultures and practices that can influence its success. Let's delve into how the combination of both the mother company's culture and the subsidiary's operations contribute to CANVA's performance: Positive Interplay: Global Perspective: The influence of the head office's culture can provide a broader global perspective to CANVA's operations. This can help the subsidiary align its strategies with international trends and market demands. 8

environment, promoting open communication, approachable management, and a friendly atmosphere. Entrepreneurial Spirit : Australians have a strong entrepreneurial spirit, valuing innovation and risk-taking. CANVA's commitment to continuous innovation, user- friendly design tools, and regular updates align with this cultural trait. Work-Life Balance : Australians prioritize a healthy work-life balance. CANVA's flexible work arrangements and emphasis on employee well-being may resonate with this cultural value. Straightforward Communication: Australians value direct and straightforward communication. This could contribute to CANVA's clear and concise communication style in its platform and interactions. Diverse and Inclusive: Australia's multicultural makeup encourages diversity and inclusivity. CANVA's efforts to provide diverse design options and appeal to a global user base reflect this value. Collaboration : Australians often emphasize teamwork and collaboration. CANVA's collaborative features for teams and the ability to work on designs collectively align with this cultural emphasis. Challenges to Navigate: While the Australian business culture offers strengths, there are also challenges CANVA needs to navigate: Global Adaptation: As CANVA expands globally, it must balance its Australian roots with cultural sensitivities in various markets to avoid misinterpretations or insensitivity. Competing on a Global Scale : The laid-back approach might need to adapt when competing with more aggressive business cultures in international markets. Time Zones and Communication: Operating across different time zones can pose communication challenges with international clients and teams. Balancing Innovation and Tradition: Striking a balance between Australian innovation and respect for traditional design aesthetics from different cultures can be complex. IV. FIRM STRATEGIES 10

SUCCESSFUL PENETRATION Canva is a user friendly and simple online platform that helps people to design. It also offer different attractive templates up on which people can make designs. This simplification and online availability made the organization and their product popular. So many people who are not professional graphic designers can design easily in this platform. That popularity helped them to reach different countries. Even though this tool is being developed from Australia, the popularity spread across the seas to every single country in the world. It has managed to establish a significant presence in North America, Europe, Asia, and other 190 countries around the world. PAST AND PRESENT STRATEGIES CANVA was concentrated on the website as the communication method to create conversion and leads. They focus on their home page and product page as a priority to gain the conversions and acquisitions. They would like to make people sign up first. They achieved that making the sign ups easy with a click and them attracting them to use the elegant templates. They provide the service for free to promote people to use the platform for the designing purpose. Still, they provide free version and added more features with the premium use. Canva localized the language that help people from any region to use it. They are partnering with brands, influencers, and organizations to build their brand value. They are developing new features and templates that are attractive and eye catchy. They are also marketing their services through widely used social medias like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. NAVIGATION OF GEOGRAPHY AND BUSINESS CULTURE The main advantage of CANVA to spread across the world is the online availability. Since the CANVA Inc provide the online graphic designing. The adaptive approach and commitment to provide service and updates helped the business to grow beyond Australia. Canva is creating templates that are custom to each region. CANVA have offices in various countries too. EVIDENCE OF SUCCESS Market Share: 38.66% 11

economic crisis, according to Canva cofounder and COO Cliff Obrecht, hasn't stopped the company from experiencing considerable growth in user activity. As more teams become aware of the need for a more scalable, more collaborative, more inexpensive, and more user-friendly design platform, Canva's rapid rise is an indication of the "new normal. “Organisations of all sizes are focusing more than ever on creating a dependable remote workplace and using cutting-edge productivity tools like Canva to keep such workplaces adaptable and scalable. The growth of Canva's user base, according to investor Rick Baker of famous Australian venture capital firm Blackbird, is evidence of the design platform's capacity to meet the shifting demands of the contemporary workplace. PERFORMANCE PROSPECT: The company will also introduce several new tools for workplace collaboration that are intended to foster efficient visual communication among teams of all sizes. Real-time Collaboration, a feature of Canva, makes teamwork possible by allowing users to collaborate on designs concurrently. Canva Brainstorms is a brand-new design style created for groups to work together on notes, mood boards, and idea development using an endless canvas area. By enabling presenters to speak interactively through their slides, Canva Talking Presentations introduces a new method to produce captivating presentations A smooth desktop experience is provided by Canva for Desktop, opening the door for offline editing and other native features before the year's end. GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAINS: Canva is investing in its US business by creating an office in Austin, Texas, one of its main growth markets. As the nation navigates the "new normal" workplace together, the US team will offer strategic support for corporate clients and organizations. It will begin with its first online corporate conference on July 29, Elevate 2020. Melanie Perkins, the CEO, and creator of Canva, will give a keynote address at the conference. There will also be customer panels with representatives from HubSpot, Berkshire Hathaway Home Services, and IDC Global, to name a few. Canva is open to evaluating acquisitions that would allow it to invest in businesses with top-notch engineering and product teams to promote international expansion. It doesn't make Canva's sustainability goals any simpler to attain because they introduced carbon neutrality as their first step to higher ambitions. Canva is one of the SaaS companies with the fastest growth rates in the world. Any company, big or little, will find it challenging to achieve carbon neutrality, much less climate-positive status. Smaller businesses have fewer resources, whereas larger businesses have more issues. However, by implementing several simple adjustments in your company, you will help to improve the world in which we live. 13

CHALLENGERS POSED BY THE COMPETITORS: Adobe announced plans to buy Figma for $20 billion, which is around 50 times the company's recurring annual revenue. It will rank as the sixth-largest software acquisition deal in history if it is successful. Canva, which was launched in 2012 is seriously threatened by the transaction. The company's valuation soared to US$40 billion in 2021, but as the general tech industry started to fall, it fell to an estimated US$20 billion in value. Nevertheless, the business is seen as Adobe's main rival. The Adobe-Figma partnership may allow Adobe, which is typically used by graphic designers and digital artists, to have access to Figma's web-first collaboration tools, which are also utilized by Canva users who are product designers, marketers, and web developers. Adobe Photoshop is also the best-known graphics product on the market. It is the biggest competitor for Canva. 98% of the people said that adobe photoshop delivers good value for the price compared to Canva. Adobe Photoshop has invested more heavily in powerful and advanced editing capabilities. This allows Photoshop to provide deeper functionality for most editing and graphic design needs. In contrast, Canva differentiates by being more accessible for more casual or inexperienced users. Canva provides a free version that is sufficient for many basic tasks and includes a range of prebuilt templates for common use cases, such as social media graphics. SWOT ANALYSIS: Strength: 1. Huge number of users: Canva has a large user base due to the various services it offers. Canva continued to grow its customer base by adding new features to draw in more users. Canva is being used by more than 100 million users each month. With such a large customer base, the graphic design platform may generate enormous money. 2. Fast-Growing Business: Canva is one of the businesses that expanded significantly over time. 50,000 users signed up for the company in its first month of operation. In addition, Canva began to generate considerable revenues just five years after its debut. The business had a $40 billion valuation in 2021, ranking it as the fifth-fastest-growing startup. 14

Every user has an equal chance to compete with billion-dollar online businesses. Even though Canva is currently one of the most well-known graphic design platforms, there are other platforms that also provide digital design tools. There are other websites available now that provide functionality comparable to those of Canva. Furthermore, any online platform can simply emerge and take Canvas's market share because there are no entry barriers for the internet. analysis framework analyzes the opportunities and challenges facing the firm and how it responds to them. To prevent future breaches, Canva put a high priority on investing in cybersecurity measures, hiring cybersecurity specialists, and frequently updating its security procedures. Canva can take on the competition by regularly collecting user input and introducing new features and design components that cater to consumers' changing wants. Canva can potentially stand out by working with other sectors of the economy like education, marketing, or small enterprises. Finally, Canva's strengths are its enormous user base and its quick commercial growth. However, it must contend with issues like competitiveness and data breaches. The business should address these issues by emphasizing security improvement, ongoing innovation, and strategic alliances. Canva can strengthen its position as a top graphic design company by utilizing opportunities like the rise in internet users and the significance of social media in marketing. CONCLUSION Canva.com is a creative platform that helps people easily create beautiful designs without needing to be professional designers. Founded in Australia in 2012, it has become hugely popular worldwide. Canva's goal is to make design simple and enjoyable for everyone. Geography plays a big role in Canva's success. Australia's diverse landscape, transportation networks, and climate influence the design themes and content on the platform. The country's stable economy and multicultural population also contribute to Canva's growth. The culture of Australia shapes how Canva operates. The friendly and collaborative business culture reflects in how Canva interacts with clients and partners. Negotiation strategies are open and fair, while motivations like work-life balance are important. Canva's strategies have led to its impressive growth. It started by focusing on its website to attract users and has expanded globally. They offer a wide range of features and templates, 16

adapting to different regions' preferences. Canva's success is evident from its market share, profitability, and reputation in the industry. There are many opportunities for Canva, such as tapping into diverse talents and fostering innovation. However, challenges include competition from other design platforms and the need to balance global expansion with local preferences. As Canva operates internationally, it combines its Australian roots with the culture of its mother company. This can lead to a broader perspective, resource sharing, and challenges related to cultural alignment. Canva's economic prospects are strong, with a growing user base and investments in the US market. However, it needs to address challenges like data breaches and competition from other platforms. In conclusion, Canva's journey from a startup to a global leader in design shows how geography, culture, strategies, and opportunities have all contributed to its success. Its user-friendly platform, adaptability, and focus on innovation have propelled it to the forefront of the design industry. REFERENCE Beer, A. (2012). The economic geography of Australia and its analysis: From industrial to post‐industrial regions. Geographical Research , 50 (3), 269-281. Gerber, R. V. (2001). Attitudes to geography in Australia. Australian Geographer , 32 (2), 221-239. Hugo, G. (2011). Geography and population in Australia: a historical perspective. Geographical Research , 49 (3), 242-260. Nurfaudzi, Billy, How Canva’s Dynamic Work Enviroment Facing Changes and Challenges (May2,2020).Availableat SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3591000 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3591000 https://hypeinsight.com/canva-marketing-strategy-how-they-grew-to-15-million- users/ 17