Discussion of the strategies and plans developed by the team, including the role performed by you the student In the team. Our task was to set up a business using the Slovenlier software and make our own scenario, creating a business plan In advance and ensuring we would set strategies and make decisions as we go.
We produced a business plan to set out the understanding of the business and to ensure the project ran smoothly however considering the start of the business plan now, certain aspects could have been thought out better before hand, however with only two members of the group been present for the first couple of sessions, we wanted to get the business up and running as soon as possible and to use the money and available resources wisely. Our group consisted of four group members, Michael Charles, Emily Dollar, Shuns Bryan and myself.
We had four roles in the group and each picked an individual topic we thought was most relevant to us, taking into consideration work types and interests. I was in charge of the Finance, Michael was in charge of the Organization, Sauna was in charge of the Operations and Emily was in charge of Marketing. As I was In charge of the finance this included, looking at all the finance and money for the business. Although we had Individual roles the plan was to discuss all plans as a group before making any decisions.
Due to work commitments, unfortunately Emily could not commit to the group at the assigned time, this resulting in Emily leaving the group, which left three group members to cover the four topics. However Sauna missed a number of sessions leaving Michael and myself to prepare and set up the business as much as we possibly could. As there were only myself and Michael at the start of the project we leaned to equally share the responsibility and make decisions on all the four areas of the business.
I believe if we had a larger group we could have discussed and evaluated our decisions more effectively and efficiently and more ideas would have being brought to the business set up. Once each month ended we accessed and evaluated the whole business, considering the money and time we had left. We wanted to boost the business’ awareness of the product using our resources. In Email’s absence I stepped in for the Marketing, I accessed how we had planned the business so far in order to develop the Marketing ND Sales strategy plan. 1 .
Analysis of the impact of the decisions made on the success of the business Marketing strategy; The marketing strategy it had a positive impact on the business. Firstly, the competition research enabled us to see exactly what product we should supply; it illustrated the differences between the quality, performance, features and style. Using this it helped to choose a computer that was able to offer qualities that our We decided the best way to market our product at the beginning of a business would be to create a premium website.
This would hopefully aim to attract a wide audience f potential clients. We employed a website designer so it saved our time, as we didn’t have to appropriate knowledge or skills to complete the tasks within the business, having a professional website would help to increase sales and attract more customers. More promotions were applied as we progressed from month to month; we found the plan was successful for sales, proving the website helped the business grow.
After a couple of months into our business we undertook some Customer Research, the results from this survey indicated that, the style was terrible, the performance as terrible, the price was excellent, the features were good and excellent, and the quality was good, all customers indicated they heard all about the business from the company website. As a result of the survey, we decided to improve the style and performance of the product as these were the weakest areas in the survey.
When setting up the business, we spent a lot of money on customer and competition research, however this showed to pay off and after the initial spending at the start, we spent less on sales and marketing during the year. We didn’t have to spend money on wages during the first few months, until we recruited a member of staff nevertheless although spending extra money on recruitment, we gained more effort time and worked more efficiently. Selling Channels: We chose to carry out our promotion through selling channels.
This was extremely effective as personal selling and selling to distributor’s means they are already interested in the product. We used a consultant for 4 hours, costing the business IEEE, this weighed up as the better option instead of spending 30 hours conducting our own research. In addition to this we undertook a competitor report, sing the consultant again to save time. We completed this at first to gain an accuracy assurance of the business and to ensure we started the business as best we could. Business plan: Creating a business plan in advance and ensuring we would set strategies and make decisions as we go.
We produced a business plan to set out the understanding of the business and to ensure the project ran smoothly however considering the start of the business plan now, certain aspects could have been thought out better before hand, however with only two members of the group been present for the first couple of sessions, we wanted to get the business up and inning as soon as possible and to use the money and available resources wisely. Plan was to make a successful business to accurately target potential customers with the product they wished for whilst making a profit.
In order for us to reach our strategy and plan we discussed and assessed the current business state each month, we considered the money we had available and the availability. After running a month it cleared what effects our decisions made on the business. The business lasted for over a year, receiving advice and guidance on consideration prompts given o us on the monthly run. We choose Solo Business as it had the largest number of enquires, with 178. 66 per month, the average price was around average compared to other marketing segments and the preferences fit in with the business idea we had in mind.
We choose our selling points to reflect what our target segment requires, this will ensure that we meet the needs of our clients and increase the possibility of repeat business and customer satisfaction, the selling points were extreme features, above average value and average performance. Sales/Revenue – profitability; Costs of supply and production: Each month we increased the production of our products which meant more hours and money, we put in more ours ourselves and left our full time Job to concentrate on the business to meet the customer’s wants and demands.
Cash flow analysis: We hired a book keeper to view the financial accounts, this allowed us more time to focus on other aspects of the business and seeing any issues or improvements that could have been made. Resources: We decided to buy a basic vehicle for transport and a set of tools so we could improve our business by delivering the products quicker. Staffing and recruitment: We decided to resign from our full time Job to enable us to concentrate more on the business. However we decided to recruit an extra employee to help us with the running of the business. We advertised the Job post in the local media and opted for a longer interview.
We required recruiting an employee with Marketing and People Management skills, which worked out to be EYE,OHO per year on a full time basis. We interviewed three people which had taken 2 hours of our time. For the recruiting process there were 3 employees, Farina, aged 38 and wished or El 7,000. , Shad aged 28, who wished for El 7,500 and Rachel aged 51, who skill set was of a high standard and has the most experience within this role. No suitable candidates were found during the interviewing process, as a result of this we needed to advertise elsewhere as we are still over worked.
Resources: From a HER point of view, we made the company legal; the business had no formal company in place, any health and safe policy, no customer contract and employment contract. We wanted to have this in place as soon as possible, as this is an important aspect of any business. . Evaluation of the team business strategy, why it may have succeeded or failed? My evaluation of month one and two is, as we were a new business we expected to make a loss as this was an early stage of the business state and we did pay for a number of consultants to carry out work, which saved us on time however it took visible money.
We decided to use a consultant to complete customer and competition research. Evaluating our strategy plan, the decisions we made were good however there were a number of areas we should have focused on more in order in improve the business. Although looking at the figures, the business lasted more than one year I believe it was a success as we managed to stay above the deficit in the first few months and started to receive sales once we increased the production numbers. However by the end of the business we were in our overdraft with the excessive monthly costs, at this stage we ended the business.
There was clearly some decisions made that failed the business, which should have required more thought and input. I believe the main problem we faced was spending too much money on the consultants and other parts f the business at the beginning, which resulted in the sales not being able to cover the money we spent. We were constantly month after month increasing the level of production, which lead to more availability for customer, having a car intended we could get the product to the customer within a reasonable time.
Evaluating the production of the business I believe we made the right decisions by increasing the level month by month so it made products more available to customers, which helped to increase sales. Half way through the business, we purchased 20 components, and had 25 products n stock; we only had one order, as of result of this we decided more marketing is required. We have decided that an advertisement is required, and in a local newspaper would be the best decision, for 3 months to reach a large audience. Increase from previous months, which we related to the increase in marketing.
We decided to focus on operations within this month; we changed the quality to normal rather that minimal however this will take 15 minutes rather than 2 minutes. We increased production to 10 due to the increased interest and increased monthly components to 499. After another monthly run, it was clear we were not making enough profit from our sales; we therefore need to decrease our quality. On the hope of making more money we have increased the price, from IEEE to IEEE. We had five orders and to secure the orders we have produced 10 computers.
We are selling a share of the company for EIA,OHO. We have relocated to small business centre monthly cost of IEEE. O for 200 square foot. After another monthly run we produced 15 units this month; however it clearly stated we are over working ourselves due to online distribution therefore having decided to employ another person for the IT production. We decreased components to 161 as it satisfies existing orders and produced 10 units and also changed our target segment from Solo businesses to CIT businesses 4.
The problems and issues for any business making decisions. The problems that we found that occurred during the tasks, were there were a lot of decided the number of productions against the price baring in mind our competitors and trying to approve the product. This resulting in concentrating on each task and deciding what areas were best to put the money into. I believe we made a number of incorrect decisions as proved in the ending month. I believe we came across many problems as a group.
There was a lot of decisions took that I feel we should have took more consideration into, an example of this could be when we tried to decide the price or the amounts of units we had to take into considering our competitors, making sure our products were a fair price with good quality. One bad decision that caused an error could have caused problems in other parts of the business; I feel we should have taken more consideration into all our business decisions. Although I believe we worked well as a team and all present team embers had equal input.
We had a time limit on the project due to personal commitments and the group was low on members for a number of weeks. It was difficult to carry on making decisions without certain team members, as they could have argued a point on their return against the business idea. We should have thought more about the business in the long run, rather than trying to make a profit in the first few months. 5. Presentation of the argument and supporting evidence including any referencing from background research. The following screen shots show the monthly ends when we ran each month.
