BACKGROUND STORY
You are a professional business practitioner; you have been working in a company/business/enterprise for more than 10 years. You have a good salary and your partner is also a working professional. You also have financial commitments for bank loans, personal loans, car loan, and others.
Your position at the company looks promising but you always felt that you have more potential as well as creative ideas which you always demonstrated during project developments in the company as well as coming up with new initiatives which were sometime disregarded and others were taken seriously. Having said that, you always felt that you were not happy with your work because of the limitations in your contribution to the decision-making process in the company. You had many thoughts about "What I am doing here???" and you always had the wish that you can be making decisive decisions because of your confidence that your ideas will influence the overall productivity and profitability of the company. You also felt that you have considerable experience in leadership as you have successfully been leading a small group of people in the business development department at the company.
Lately, you have been discussing with your partner (who also is a professional working in an accounting company in the city) your "dream" of starting your own entrepreneurial business. You spent many hours discussing and assessing the pros and cons of you leaving your job and start your own venture. You realized during these discussions that you have only $35,000 as a start-up sum as well as what will happen to the entire financial obligation that you currently have.
You finally decided with your partner that you will go ahead with your plan. This means you leave your secure job, or both of you will leave your secure jobs or any other decision.
Overview of the Assignment
Length: Approximately 4000 words, including charts, pictures or tables (but excluding references).
- The formal assignment is to produce a complete business plan based on the story above.
- Choose any relatively small product/service company, but it is suggested that you should make your selection carefully and check that there is plenty of information in the public domain on your selected business before commencing (It is recommended that you consult with the lecturer if you are in doubt)
- It will be in your best interest to choose a business that has only a few products so that you do not have to expend too much time on product descriptions.
- Research information on the web, in books, financial newspapers (the library has a collection) and biographies (think about famous contemporary manufacturing leaders such as Richard Branson and Bill Gates).
- You may wish to use a Business Plan structure to address the relevant issues
- Marks will be given for presentation, clarity and demonstration of a breadth of study through suitable referencing, as well as information content.
• Final Report will attract a 10% penalty out of 100% per working day late.
You might need to consider the below structure:
The Venture
• The history of the business and its major products or services.
• The main successes factors of the business (you might want to look at competitors' success/failure ventures).
• What the major failures of the business would be and why.
• What kind of organisation it is and how it will be managed.
• What are your services/products?
• Who are the competitors to the business?
• How you see the business developing in the future.
• What are the main strengths, opportunities, weaknesses and threats of your venture?
• How the business might be developed to maintain good management and leadership style.
• Why would this new product/service be needed?
• What is the approach by which the product/service could be brought into the market (for example through collaboration with other businesses)?
• What are the benefits of the product/service over other competitive products and of the selected approach?
• What is the major competition to the product/service and the key risks associated with launching it?
• Apply financials where relevant.
IMPORTANT: You must make sure that you include the followings in your final report:
1- How did you reach the decision with your partner?
2- What were the considerations you had to take in making your decision?
3- What financial help you got? How? From where? How much? And why?
4- Your business plan and marketing plan?
5- Your financial plan?
6- Finally, make sure that you submit a complete business venture which is ready to start
Report Proposal
Company
Author
Date
Abstract
State company selected, come up with an organisational structure and describe the key products. State any overarching issues and-or most significant points in your report.
Body of Report
Decide how you will organise this - there are many ways in which you might present the information you are being asked for. It will include your literature survey/background, your research methodology, your results and a discussion of your results including any omissions.
Conclusion
Remember your employer will be using this document both to help through the interview process and later as a spring-board for change management. Include comments on further or future work, for example other services you might offer or other research you might do on related topics which would be useful.
Timeline
Your proposed timeline for completing the project
A few helpful hints for bringing product/service to the market
Given a product or a service, Kotler suggests the STP framework (segmentation, targeting and positioning process) which includes the following procedure for bringing the product/service to the market (note that Kotler assumes the market exists).
1. Analyse long-run opportunities in the market
2. Research and select target markets
3. Identify segmentation variables and segment the market
4. Develop profiles of resulting segments
5. Evaluate the attractiveness of each segment
6. Select the target segment(s)
7. Identify possible positing concepts for each target segment
8. Select, develop, and communicate the chosen positing concept
9. Design marketing strategies
10. Plan marketing programs
11. Organise, implement and control marketing effort
Structure for the Project
You must adhere to the following structure when preparing your project
1. Introduction
a) Executive summary - complete this after you has finished your report. This should end up being about 1-2 pages (double spaced) with only a bare minimum of historical and product/service information. It should summarize your suggested objectives and strategy.
b) Scope of discussion - what you will be addressing and what you won't be addressing
c) Research Approach - what methods will you be employing to gather your information (annual reports, articles, journals, etc.)
2. Company
a) Brief overview of company and the relevant products
• Try to keep this as brief as possible as the strategic operatives are more important than the founding fathers (for this paper.)
b) Potential competitors historically relevant initiatives
• Successful initiatives
• Failed initiatives
c) Goals and Objectives
• State the company's goals and objectives - at some point in the paper where you feel it is appropriate (possibly prior to the conclusion) you will need to review each point with your opinion of whether or not these objectives are realistic and/or how they will/can be achieved
3. SWOT, PEST and DEMAND Analysis
• This should be as detailed as possible as it can be the impetus for further dialogue. I suggest that you bullet point this in a grid then address the larger points in a narrative form.
• The PEST analysis is a good way in which to address Industry Trends.
4. Business Strategy
a) What market are you addressing?
b) Who are your potential customers?
c) What will you use as your selling points? Will you try to be the cost leader? Focus on your uniqueness? Or a combination of both?
5. Competitors
• Look at the competitors the same way you would look at your own company. This will give you an indication of where you may have a competitive advantage.
6. International Strategy
• Is an international move feasible? If so, how? (Strategic alliances, joint ventures, etc.)
7. Available Options (e-commerce, traditional business, brick and click etc.)
• After reviewing the above, you should have a few strategies in mind:
i. State these strategies
ii. List advantages & disadvantages of each
iii. State benefits and "costs" of each option
iv. State which strategy/strategies that you recommend and what the next course of action should be.
Attachment:- Project Report Format.rar