Category: Business Planning

Mission statement: To be a market leader in bringing customers and buyers into the online e-market place, provide consultancy services targeting the needs of travelling customers, and provide concierge services on an e-commerce platform, provide efficient and cost effective services, increase company productivity, reduce wastes, and provide a platform for quick access to information by the customer.

Vision statement: This will be the most and highly known service provider in the United Arab Emirates in the hospitality industry which will endeavor to own the problems faced by customers in this industry while ensuring customer satisfaction and quality service provision while ensuring persistence of service, prosperity of customers, staff productivity, employee satisfaction and community involvement.

Goals: To ensure the company will generate sufficient profits to sustain its functionality and provide quality service for its customers.

Ensure the company provides service in the hospitality industry that is tailored to meet customer needs while improving on service quality as a continuous process.

To ensure services address customer needs with quality and quality improvements and be a regional and global leader in the hospitality industry.

To be successful leader in the fields of interest including Pet-walking, baby sitting, housekeeping, event planning, running errands (pickup/dropoff of laundry, groceries, gifts, shopping), travel arrangements, food delivery, reservations (dinner, hotels, movies, concerts), sourcing buyers and sellers, transportation services, consulting, fast DIY solutions.

Value propositions of the company will cause it to gain an upper hand on competitors due to a number of key issues. Among them is the cutting edge content. The content incorporated into the website will inspire customers to log into the website for more views. Content will lead customers to discover new and exciting opportunities, service that are provided by the company, specific content tailored to meet customer needs, and products tailored to meet customer needs.

This will also be advantaged by the number of service providers and users that will be hosted on the website. Besides that, the company will benefit from the fee that is paid by companies that will be hosted on the website and those that use the site to conduct financial transactions (Hall & Hall, 1990).

This will be in line with business objectives of the organization spelt in the organizational objective: To be the market leader and employer of choice in the hospitality sector; we plan to provide a sustainable, efficient, effective and profitable personal concierge service for the United Arab Emirates and its residents.

The website will be designed to reflect unique viewer experience. This experience will span all users be they individual customers, or organizations wanting to be hosted on it.

The technology incorporated in the system design will incorporate cutting edge technologies, such as 3D technologies, that will improve and add value to use experiences, provide the texture and color that is lacking in online shopping or market places. Users may personalize the website which will provide such functionalities that will enable interactive experiences.

Specifically, users will experience a textual image dimension where a user typically types textual information describing a product or service and out pops the product image or service benefits as a service cannot be presented in a three dimensions. The site will provide abilities for users to enjoy graphical views of products in three dimensions. Service provision will not be left behind. Service provision will be presented in such a way to reflect customer needs and a closes experience with the system and the customer needs.

The site will be customized to user needs and experience. Each system sage will come with enriched experience to afford enriched user and customer experience and satisfaction. The system will incorporate a technology framework that will enable the systems to respond to likely customer needs and present available options based on customer history and continued usage of the site.

In addition to that, a log management systems will be incorporated into the system to ward off could be intruders and security measures will be incorporated to ensure privacy and confidentiality. Security will incorporate an integration of proven security software incorporated into the design of the website.

The systems will incorporate such a user interface that will direct a user into its usage. Appropriate principles of human computer interface will be factored into the design of the website. The site will be characterized by graphical representation of ideas, pictures, and unique service provision links.

Each object will be represented in a way that when a user clicks on it, all details specific to that product will appear at an instant. Information about objects will be encapsulated in the graphical interface of the object (Keyes, n.d).

The website will build a strong and reliable community of users. These customers will span users, service providers, and product sellers.

A host of benefits are bound to be experienced by sponsors of this project, collaborative partners, and the proprietor. Benefits realized on this website will be the driving force to its sustainability and continued existence.

Among the benefits include a large customer base that will be engaged by the e-market place due to the enabling technologies factored in the design and development of the site. These technologies have been discussed elsewhere and their integration will give this site a cost and business advantage over other business rivals.

In addition to that, other benefits will include a large market place for a variety of service and products where customers can select products and services beds on their prevalence and prior experience. This will act as a tool to woo customers back for the services they enjoyed from this site.

Services offered on this website will be on a global scale. That means political, economic, and financial environments cannot constrain the provision of services at any point on the globe except on special circumstances. The market place will be home to people from different political and cultural environments.

The site will be characterized by unique content that will target different customers and customer needs and product advertising that will target different companies that will be hosted on the site. That will be in addition to the benefits that will be enjoyed by the proprietor of the website. Brand enhancements will be one of the services that will uniquely characterize the site.

Christensen and Donovan (n.d) argue that a number of services should be hosted on such website. These services will span different customer tastes and needs and will be offered interactively.

Among te service to be offered will include Pet-walking, baby sitting, housekeeping, event planning, running errands (pickup/drop-off of laundry, groceries, gifts, shopping), travel arrangements, food delivery, reservations (dinner, hotels, movies, concerts), sourcing buyers and sellers, transportation services, consulting, fast DIY solutions, among others.

The objective will be to Our objective is to be the market leader and employer of choice in the hospitality sector; we plan to provide a sustainable, efficient, effective and profitable personal concierge service for the United Arab Emirates and its residents.

Organizational philosophy will demand that customers be able to track their product movements, service provisions and destination service provision points, online and offline price comparisons, and real time customer interactions. The website will be characterized by interactive browsing capabilities, priced user experience targeted at user loyalty, and security measures that may demand authentication and system authorizations to system resources access.

The business model will be characterized by a website that shall provide e-commerce services and act as a platform upon which e-business transactions will be conducted. It will provide business-to-business services, business-to customer services, and customer-to-business services. It will act as an intermediary between the buyer and the seller, between the service provider and the consumer of the service.

In essence, the business model will be based on computing technologies and will act as a platform, through which products and services will be delivered to the target customer and target market, provide secure and flexible payment methods through the internet (Turban & King, 2002).

The website will be modeled to ease work and information flow to and from the target customer and service or product provider. In addition to that, based on the internet technologies it will focus on collaborative working by facilitating collaboration with different organizations with the perspective of intra and inter-organizational working.

Some aspects of the business model may include pure and partial elements. Therefore, the business model may incorporate aspects of brick and motor but will be digital to a large extent.

Typically, the business model framework will be defined by people, the legal environment or public policy. Public or legal policies may be defined by the privacy, confidentiality, and the security features incorporated into the design of the website. In addition to that, the system will be characterized by e-tailing product and services sales.

Customers will be charged on services and products accessed through the website and on demand services like product delivery will be made after arrangements have been made with the necessary teams involved in the process.

The business model will be characterized by other process architecture components. These will include a transaction model, which will be a tool for generating income based on the value of transactions carried out on the site, the service offered, and the volume of products delivered.

An advertising support model will also be incorporated into the design to generate revenue by charging hosting fee on companies that use the website for advertising proposes. That will drastically reduce charges for hosting the website by shifting the cost to companies which use the website as a platform for conducting their adverts. The architecture will further incorporate a sponsorship model where companies interested in offering sponsorship services for non financial reasons for additional income.

The model will further be characterized by marketing models that may span direct marketing, click and motor e-tailers, and pure play e-tailers.

To ensure a successful business based on the e-commerce platform, the organization will be characterized by offering high quality products coupled with a pricing mechanism that shall place the organization a competitive edge with rival companies or business organizations.

Therefore, the business model will be designed to gain as strong brand recognition by the customer and in the market place, provide a guarantee on products and services to customers to gain customer confidence, ensure timely response to customer concerns and queries, and incorporate an online chart to help address customer related issues and problems.

Most of these products will be in digital form and the physical product will, be accessed upon completion of a payment plan initiated between the consumer and the product or service provider (Harris, & Moran, 1987).

Other features incorporated in this site will include excellent navigational features and prompt webpage loading capabilities. In addition to that, the site will provide desired information and other directions to assist the customer in searching for a product with a lot of ease. Besides that, the design will incorporate other useful site navigation capabilities and content. All products and service offered on this site will be sufficiently detailed to afford easy decision making by the customer and other users of the site.

Purchasing of products and payment of services will be based on an integration of the architecture already discussed above, namely, business-to-business, business-to-customer, and customer-to-business models. This approach will provide a competitive edge to the organization due to its flexibility and focus on both the needs of the customer and business organization.

One of the elements that make a successful business is listening to customer feedback. To effectively capture customer feedback, the business plan incorporates customer feedback on every product and service line. Thus the site will act as a platform for generating customer feedback.

The e-commerce platform also referred to as the e-business platform will be developed on a budgetary allocation detailed hereafter. E-commerce and e-business model will be used to sustain a brand image that dynamically targets changing customer behavior and the business environment. The projected image will reflect a fresh and resourceful environment for the customer.

This model will incorporate elements to enable business acquisitions in the future. Business acquisition will be investigated to enable the management to make appropriate decisions that target organizational efficiency and a strong brand image.

This business acquisition element will be achieved by getting expertise support and consultations from accountants well skilled on accounting matters, the attorney who is well versed with legal matters, bankers who are well versed on financial transactions matters, and broker who play an important role in brokerage activities.

The following information will be vital in decision making. That will include verification revenues and a record of sellers, current and subsequent financial statements, records detailing cash deposits, financial statements that compare the financial positions and health of similar business organizations.

A valuation analysis will be based on appraisal techniques, methods of purchasing products and providing services to the customer, stocks and asset valuations, interview with coercing service providers, and status of the service providers and product sellers. In addition to that, the status quality improvement strategies, litigations, status payables, tax, and motivational approaches targeting sellers and service providers.

The target market will include Pet-walking, baby sitting, housekeeping, event planning, running errands (pickup/dropoff of laundry, groceries, gifts, shopping), travel arrangements, food delivery, reservations (dinner, hotels, movies, concerts), sourcing buyers and sellers, transportation services, consulting, fast DIY solutions, and the like.

These will include persons who have an interest in services provided at concierge’s levels. These customers may be characterized by lack of time commitment for other activities that place demands on an individual as being basic to smooth running of the normal life, life, persons who may find the internet as a source for personal entertainment, persons who identify with transportation services, and a host of other customers as explained above.

In addition to that, the website will span people of different income levels and classes in the United Arab Emirates. In addition to that, the hospitality industry is not well developed in the United Arab Emirates. The site will take advantage of that opportunity to curve a wide swath of the share of the market to reap early benefits before it starts experiencing rivalry from other interested firms.

That will lead the company to achieve its business objective of targeting to be the market leader and employer of choice in the hospitality sector; we plan to provide a sustainable, efficient, effective and profitable personal concierge service for the United Arab Emirates and its residents.

While all these benefits and capabilities will be realized through the new website, it’s worth noting that new market trends are bound to manipulate the benefits and functionality of the system. This is site will be characterized by successful online hospitality industry business operations. These business operations will be offered online. The hospitality industry business success will also be characterized by incorporating of new technologies in the process of service provision through different operations methods.

It will integrate a new advertising model based on performance improvements and systems capabilities and functionalities. The business model will integrate various service provision content s that covers demographics and psychographics. Graphics are an excellent tool for communicating information to a target audience. This strategy achieves a great deal of business success.

competitor information will also be factored in the process to identify who they are, how they offer their services, where they are located in the United Arab Emirates, how they could react to the new look company that endeavors to enter the hospitality industry through the internet, the length of time they have been in the hospitality industry, and their operating capital and market share.

Besides that, the organization will perform a market analysis to determine potential returns likely to be earned from this investment. Projections based on a market analysis indicate potential return that will sustain the profitability and operations of the company. Companies survive on profits generated from their business ventures. Each of the items mentioned in the objectives of the company and other not mentioned are likely to cause positive impact on the revenue of the company.

Prewalking is a need that is identifiably in demand and it has been realized through a market research that potential customers are quieted over the issue because they lack a service provider in that field. Once a service provider in the hospitality industry is identified and brings the services near to the customers, there is the possibility of arousing need and inevitable demand for the services.

On the other hand, baby sitting is a service that is in demand due to the ever challenging issues related to the demands placed on people for more and more time. other issues such as event planning, running errands are avenues of thought that play role in creating a bigger market share and demand for these services. No doubt, the company will see an upsurge of activities on the website.

Marketing of the service offered on this website will be achieved through enabling technologies and will be strategically achieved through a number of mechanisms. While internet marketing in the e-market will form the fundamental backbone in advertising its services, yet grass root marketing will also pour in a host of benefits.

This will be achieved by targeting online chat groups with the possibility of bringing in a large number of web users. These chart groups can enhance customer access and link the company to other sites, who may eventually log in to the hospitality website (Harris & Moran, 1987).

Establishing links with other online companies that have similar content and offer similar or related services is another strategic tool that will be used in the marketing domain. This will be achieved by approaching similar companies with similar contents to offer to heighten the possibility of more users accessing the sigh and requesting fro services from the parent hospitality company.

Operations of the company will span issues highlighted in the mission statement and identified in the objectives of the company. These will be achieved through a number of techniques and tools. Among the salient features of conducting hospitality management tasks is conducting data mining. Data mining is a currently available tool that is technology driven. Among the elements to be data mined to enable the hospitality industry move to greater heights include profiles based on hospitality service providers, among other elements.

Among these elements include invariants such as hotel information that spans hotel size and number of rooms available, room prices and types of meals. This is very important in the hospitality industry as it enables service providers to book their customers at hotels of their choices to enable them cost effective service when they travel from other regions to the destination region for the services to be offered.

Operations will also be executed through various methods. In addition to that, any business organization has a management hierarchy through which business functions can be coordinated. Each managerial position comes with relevant roles and responsibilities. In addition to that, these organizations are partitioned into departments that have definite reporting relationships.

The requisite staff will ensure orders and requests are attended to while customer concerns are addressed in real time. Addressing customer needs and continuously evaluating an organization against established operational standards is a key component to successful business organizations.

These operations will also be characterized by competitive advantage. The flexibility and speed, with which the market can be accessed, enabling technologies, the e-business infrastructure, total quality management in service provision, enabling technologies are some of the competing elements incorporated in the design. The website will be characteristically savvy, and the hospitality service providers will be a critical component in seeing the company roll to success.

In addition to that, there will be a strong team relationship that will create a culture of good relationship with the company and the customer. Good relationship fosters oneness of purpose and motivates both staff and the customer to own a business organization. These two are essential components for the success of a company. The relationship will be cultures into all the hierarchies of management to ensure best benefits are reaped in this industry.

In addition to that, the service provider will benefit from early mover advantage. Based on a survey of business organizations that have endeavored to enter into the hospitality industry, it is clear that the early move advantage will be enjoyed by this company as the field is still uncluttered by competitors or service providers in the same industry.

The company will experience positive and exponential growth based on the technology adopted and integrated into the business. Newer software products come with various advantages spanning user interaction experience among other benefits.

Therefore operations will depend on the target audience, an issue already discussed elsewhere and spelt in the mission statement and objectives of the company, target products which have also been highlighted elsewhere, company values and culture, growth projections, technology platform and balanced goals.

The company’s financial statements will be evaluated on a period not exceeding six months, company executives will convene and evaluate the cost incurred in the investment infrastructure, projected revenue returns, projected costs, and profits generated in that span of time. That will enable the company to audit its financial health and evaluate it’s the impact of its marketing strategies, both in the long terms and in the short term.

In addition to that, accounting software will be integrated into the system and the accrual method will be used in evaluating the financial position of the organization. This method is largely accepted as being compatible with different software technologies and is cross platform. In addition to that, widget accounts will play a critical role in the accounting section of the company.

Tax issues will be appropriately addressed with the relevant authorities and legal requirements on taxation will be stringently adhered to. Besides, bank reconciliations will be conducted on a monthly basis to ensure figures tally and detect any discrepancies with the accounts. On the other hand, a balance sheet will be served on request and will be made available on a quarterly basis. In addition to that, a projected income statement will be served upon request that covers the first six months of the business.

The company will employ well experienced accountants particularly the ones that have had experience in the hospitality industry. This could ensure the business organization’s income is not diverted or fraudulently siphoned through dishonest means. To ensure that is done, an inventory policy will be incorporated in the running of this organization to ensure service delivery and payments are made to designate authorities.

Project financing will be partly from a project sponsored and the proprietor of the new organization, and other stakeholders that are interested in the project.

The company is a legal entity that shall be dully registered following the legal requirements of the United Arab Emirates regulatory provisions. The legal document will include details of collaborations and organizations structure based on various concepts. These concepts include limited partnerships, limited liability partnership incorporated in the business structure of the company (Christensen & Donovan, n.d).

The business organization’s exit strategy will include recouping of invested capital from generated profits from the hospitality services offered on the website. If earned revenue profits exceed projected profits, then ownership will be negotiated on a value that will be agreed upon by stakeholders.

References

Christensen C. M. and Donovan T. (n.d). The process of strategy development and Implementation. Web.

Hall, E. T. & Hall, M. R. (1990). Hidden Differences: Doing Business with the Japanese, New York: Doubleday Anchor Books.

Harris, P. R. & Moran, R. T. (1987). Managing Cultural Differences, Houston: Gulf Publishing Company.

Keyes, J. (n.d). Creating an e-Business plan. Web.

Turban, E & King, D. (2002). Introduction to E-Commerce. New York. Prentice Hall.

Summary

The purpose of this paper is to prepare a business plan for the FlexMation, which will expand its business with existing products in the US market. However, FlexMation will open XYZ New store to address the emerging market demand for aluminum structural framing.

However, The XYZ new store will be located in one of the busiest streets of Blaine, MN, offering a variety of products that would suit with the needs of many other businesses like construction industries, real estates, recycling factories, hospitals, hotels, restaurants, and so on. Initially, the store would provide the local customers with products from categories such as carts, clean rooms, enclosures, fixtures, frames, guards, material handling, and work cells.

Among the products of cart categories, the most high quality ones would include Mobile Test-Cart, Instrument-Towers, Instrumentation-Cart, Label Cart, HEPA Enclosure-Cart, and Controlled-Environment Parts Cart. The clean room product categories will consist of Wall and Ceiling Clean Room and Controlled Environment Wall, and the enclosure categories would consist of Weld Robot, Pharma Enclosure, Machine Enclosure, Dark Room Test Station, and Positive Pressure Enclosure.

On the other hand, the fixtures would comprise of Tool Holder, Adjustable Height Fixture, etc., whereas the frames would comprise of Peristaltic Pump Stand, Test Frame, and the guards would comprise of Cat Walk and Guard, ECOSAFE Machine Guard, and Mazak Stand. In this context, with such a widely diversified product line, it is important for the store to build up popularity among its client in order to acquire a good market position in Blaine. This requires the implementation of a good advertisement strategy through which the store could create awareness between public.

This would be mostly to attract the local customers and therefore XYZ would adopt advertising forms like Billboards and Hoardings, Yellow Pages, Direct mail, Electronic Mail, and Radio for example. In addition, FlexMation will invest 60% of its total starting capital to expand its operation in the US market. As FlexMation will expand its business by opening a new store, it will be easy for the company to generate profit from the first year of its operation.

Timeline

The business plan of XYZ New Store will be placed to the board of directors for review, and approval on January 2011, and design its timeframe to go into operation within three months (90 working days) that counted April12 2011. As parent company FlexMation has very strong credit line with several financial institutes, it will be less time consuming for the XYZ New Store to receive start up and working capital from bank.

Due to an extension of existing business, the XYZ New Store would face less obstacles and time constrains. The arrangement of total startup and working capital would be completed within a month i.e. February 15 2011 as the initial activities would be started from the at once after the approval of board the site selection continues from January 16 to February 15, 2011.

From the second month of 2011 after the sanction of bank loan, XYZ New Store will make contract with the rented premises and start decoration and renovation. To do so, the XYZ New Store will complete all contracts with the suppliers within a week starting from February 16 to February 21 2011.

All preachments, decoration, and renovation will be completed with in March 15, 2011. The project would consider adverting as a most significant tools for success and take it as an ongoing process staring next to rental premises and continues advertise in the print and electronic media in order to attract target customers.

The project XYZ New Store would like to start employee’s selection process from February 16 2011 and complete on March 14 2011. From March 2011 to April 2011, it will continue training for the employees and project has aimed to celebrate opening ceremony on April 15, 2011.

The managers would provide day-to-day update to the CEO by phone or e-mail to know future tasks and start operation seriously with the objectives to reach break-even point within first year of its operation. However, the project would lead and operate complying with the following timeline that will demonstrated more elaborately the work detail and the milestone scheduling for XYZ New Store.

Deadline and milestones

The XYZ New Store will try to finish all the initial functions within three months of project approval by the board of directors, for instance, preparing documents for the registration the name of the company. All the entrepreneurs also arrange their 15% capital within this short period.

Additionally, they will contract with banks to know about initial documents, try to find out a rental premises near to selected location and secure the place by rent, contact with other suppliers, complete the procurements, employee selection and training and start operation as per following timeline and milestone which has also demonstrated in a Microsoft Project Gantt chart –

Relationship of events

Here, it is significant to argue that all the above functions are interconnected with each other, for instance, it would not be possible for XYZ New Store to submit the proposal for bank loan without preparing a business plan.

On the other hand, bank loan is the key factor to start new project, as the entrepreneurs would not be capable to start XYZ New Store without fund, as they would only invest 45% of the total capital involved. In addition, bank loan is also a major issue to coordinate all the operational activities, human resources management, promotional activities, as well as marketing functions.

Moreover, the fund would engage for purchasing raw materials, fixture, fittings, furniture, and appliance. In addition, appointing employees is a longer process as adverting for job position, listing selected applications, interviewing short listed candidates, and appointing potential staff as well as providing training for them.

At the same time, market research is another significant task to selection the location, assesses market risks, external business environment, attitude of the target customers, comparison the size of XYZ New Store with competitors, response of competitors, and to identifying other significant factors.

Finally, XYZ New Store intends to develop an e- commerce site in order to facilitate the customers for online order and payment opportunities, communicating with customer, advertises the company, and introduce home delivery services better than other competitors in the market.

Products

Table 2: Products of XYZ New Store.

The following figure shows the price of the products of XYZ New Store.

Competitive analysis

The marking research demonstrates the result that ergonomic workstations industry is already saturated with numerous conventional competitors. FlexMation has both direct and indirect competitors for all the service and product items like Work In Progress Rack, Parts Presentation Rack, Rear Support Bar, Main Table, and Tool Holder.

Thus, several direct competitors of this industry are ShapeMaster, Terra Universal, Pentz Cast Solutions, and indirect competitors are Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc, Industrial Distribution Group, and MSC Industrial Direct Co. However, Terra Universal is the direct competitor for the Electropolished Stainless Steel Work-In-Process (WIP) Racks, DARLEX Manufacturing’s wide range of aluminum extrusion profiles,

Porter 5 forces

Porter (2004) argued that market competition should assess by considering the following five forces.

Threat of New Entrants: The threats of new entrants are relatively low in this industry due to the presence of a number of obstacles to pierce the market; therefore, despite of a quite high international demand it is rather hard for the new comers to capture a large part of the market at first instance. However, new entrants may find it easy to penetrate if they concentrate on a niche market rather than mass market.

Just like many other commercial sectors, the biggest obstacle to come into this industry is the enormous expenses related to set-up and sustain the business in such a competitive market embraced by price wars. Nonetheless, it is important to argue that since FlexMation Enterprise is already an efficient, renowned, and moneymaking business, XYZ new store will not suffer from the typical problems like lack of efficiency, finance, and hostile competition like many other new entrants.

Rivalry among competitors: Although there are many indirect competitors of XYZ new store, but, conversely the number of direct competitors are few. Nevertheless, the competitive rivalry is quite high in the market, since the indirect players who focus on niche market have strong market share and customer base from their own positions.

In this context, all the products of the new store of FlexMation will need to compete with many other small and medium sized enterprises like Applied Industrial Technologies Inc, Industrial Distribution Group Inc, and MSC Industrial Direct Co Inc as well as the giant players like ShapeMaster, Terra Universal, and Pentz Cast Solutions.

Bargaining power of buyer: Hollingbery (2007) pointed out that the bargaining power of the buyer is low because the market demand for the products including aluminum solutions, steel products, and ergonomic Workstations is high in global market.

On the other hand, this power is low due to availability of similar products the in the market, and numerous diversified product range offered by the customers. However, the new store of FlexMation will target both individual customers as well as small medium sized companies to market these products.

Bargaining Power of Suppliers: Hitt, Ireland & Hoskisson (2001) argued that suppliers play crucial role for the well functioning of the company and the bargaining power of the suppliers in this industry is average.

In this case, this power is interrelated with many other external and internal factors, for example, production area of raw materials, availability of the products, political circumstances, financial downturn, transportation facilities, transportation costs, and so on. FlexMation will expand its business by opening a new store, so, the marketer of this store hope to buildup strong supplier base. However, XYZ New Store will focus on the existing local suppliers to avoid extra transportation costs.

Threats of substitute product: The new store has selected products like ergonomic workstations of FlexMation Enterprises, which are already available in the market. However, the threats of substitute products are comparatively low in this sector as the modern world relies on Aluminum Framing Solutions for inestimable reason.

For instance, these Aluminum products are used in everywhere from construction industry to skyscrapers; the new store XYZ will offer technologically advance products, which would substitute to the traditional appliances. The risk of substitute product is low for the XYZ store because the products would be updated in accordance with the technological change, market demand, and customer choice.

Marketing Plan

Market Positioning Strategy

Jankowicz (2005) argued that positioning is an essential feature of a company’s strategy, which shows its main advantages in association with competitive offerings.

Although XYZ new store need to spend a large amount of money for starting its new business operation, it would pursue “more for more” or “more for same” strategy. Because despite the fact that the Blaine MN is a completely new place to start and expand its business, and that the costs are higher, the most important thing that would provide XYZ with the highest support is that its existing business is quite strong and it could use the revenues from that business to establish its Blaine operations.

Brand positioning map of XYZ

Since, XYZ is a new business in the Blaine market, in first few years of its formation, the brand positioning of the company will look like something illustrated in figure 4. Although there are many established brands in the entire US industry, the brand-positioning map of XYZ will consider the comparison of the brands present in the Minnesota market for a better understanding of XYZ’s current position in Blaine; players of this market are companies like Keystone Display, Wirefab, Apex Wire Products Co, Shelving Direct, Material Handling Solutions, and Braeside Displays.

Although a few number of these stores are not direct competitors of XYZ, but undoubtedly they in a better position than XYZ because they are already quite popular among the people of Minnesota. With many other recognized stores present in the market, XYZ would therefore seem to hold lower market share in the state.

Promotional Strategy

The promotional strategies of the new store would vary accordingly with changing consumer trends, demands, and other external circumstances.

The company will plan the promotional packages depending on the factors such as different seasons, New Year festivals, Christmas Eve, occasions like Valentines Day, Easter Sunday, Black Friday, St Patrick’s Day, Earth Day, Mother’s Day, USA Independence Day, Father’s Day, Halloween, different national holidays, etc. The reason for these strategies lies behind the fact that the most of the customer groups of XYZ will be having a fluctuation in demand of the products offered by the company depending on these specific periods of the year.

The customers of Carts, Work Cells, Material Handling, etc (for example, hotels, restaurants, chain stores, pubs, supermarkets) more often order for more of those products when the public demand for their services increase. During New Year, Christmas, Mother’s day, Valentines Day the number of people visiting restaurants, or chain stores raises for which reason those businesses need more number of carts in their production process of goods.

Depending on the type of festival or occasion, XYZ will set its special offers; for instance, special promotional packages that include discount-vouchers, XYZ promotional-codes, money-off coupon codes for great discounts, and many other packages for clients of hotels and superstores. These offers will help the company to gain competitive advantage over the competitors by augmenting sales during these special periods of the year.

The discount vouchers offered on the products will vary according to the originals prices of the products, for example, for less costly items, there would 20% off, whereas for expensive product, the discounts will be about 35% to 45%. These discount vouchers will also vary for different clients, because the new store’s strategy would be to set more discounts for the loyal customers and Blaine residents rather then the seasonal customers whose aim merely remains on gaining an advantage of the discount coupons.

This strategy will benefit the company by generating an interest among the new clients for being loyal in order to gain full advantage of the promotional packages, which in turn, would raise the profit margins of the company together with the advertising campaigns.

Target market

The target customers of the new store are hospitals, hotels, real estate companies, restaurant kitchens, chain stores, building constructors, supermarkets, airports, automobile production units, laundries, Blaine residents for their household kitchen fittings, several recycling businesses, and so on.

While deciding the location of the business the strategy maker of XYZ had to bear in mind all the factors that would influence the accessibility of the target customers from the Blaine market. These include factors such as the distance of the superstores, laundries, recycling businesses, and other manufacturing industry businesses in the city.

It is arguable that the location of the store has placed in such a way so that it is easier for the main customers of XYZ to come in touch with the company. The figure below shows that the main customers of the company are the recycling businesses (for example, cell phone, bicycle, refrigerators, and industrial waste recyclers), building constructors, local residents (for household kitchen equipment), and local restaurants.

Advertising Strategy

While starting a new business out of an expansion strategy of the existing one, it is important for the new store to advertise it to create awareness among public for making them conscious about the products or services it would offer. Good advertising strategies would help XYZ to bring success in its market positioning by obtaining familiarity among customers, raising sales, and ultimately by achieving a good percentage of the market share in Blaine.

Attainment of all these goals requires the implementation of advertising in both local and national markets. Moreover, as the parent company of XYZ is a large organization, like many other new businesses, it would not have to face financial limitations while expending in advertising campaigns and it could take financial support to promote the new store.

However, the store is able to advertise by itself and the following advertising strategies would assist XYZ to attract its targeted customers throughout the local market.

Financial Plan

The XYZ New Store would prepare this financial plan in order to measure the prospect of the business, and estimate the target profit. Pandey (2007) argued that business expansion plan should realistically evaluate sales, variables costs, cash flow, and working capital; therefore, this financial plan will consider a pro-forma profit and loss statement, and balance sheet to estimate the profit/loss for the fiscal year 2011 to 2013.

Important Assumptions

FlexMation has decided to start the XYZ New Store with the total capital of $280,000 where bank will invest 40% of total fund as bank loan with 2% interest rate. On the other hand, the owners of FlexMation will invest 60% capital to expand its operation in the US market.

Projected Profit and Loss

Table 3: Income Statement for XYZ New Store for 2011 to 2013, (all numbers in $ 000).

Projected Balance Sheet:

The financial management team also provide pro- forma balance sheet of XYZ New Store for the year 2011 to 2013.

Table 4: Balance Sheet for XYZ New Store for 2011 to 2013.

Table 5: Pro-forma Cash Flow for 2011 to 2013.

Break-even Analysis

Brealey & Myers (2002) pointed out that break-even is a point where there is exist no profit or loss from the business operation, and loss occurs when business generates less revenue than from the break-even, and the business produces profit when business generates more revenue than the break-even point.

As FlexMation will expand its business by opening a new store, it will be easy for the company to generate profit from the first year of its operation. However, the marketer of XYZ New Store intends to reach break-even point at the third quarter of 2011, and it will reach at break- even point when projected sales revenue will be $37,47,800.0 and expenses $37,47,800.0 that indicates no profit no loss situation, which can be represented graphically in the figure below.

Store Managers Expectations

Supervisory management functions for the New XYZ Company

Being a logistic equipment supplier the New XYZ Company has keen concentration on their Manager’s leadership quality as well as supervisory management functions. Briefly, supervisory management of the Company has deal the acts^[1] for managing their employees in doing business operations.

Training on relevant professional skill development is the most effective tool to handling teamwork and improve supervisory positions in terms of fulfilling clients and Company’s needs and demand as well. Mangers of the Company have to work hard and soul to contribute most effective supervisory performances (Ellis-Christensen, 2010), the manager’s role has demonstrated in the following diagram.

Effective leadership style and qualities

Like any other industries, the New XYZ Store has followed several common effective leadership style and qualities. From this viewpoint of this company, Mangers have enthusiastic to learn new skills and to provide guidance to their subordinates.

Gordon (1998, p5) mentioned that, in the light of goal setting theory, key qualities of managers have concerned with frank listener, strategically draw clear guideline, always supporting optimistic proposals, following time-frame, participate both official and informal presentation, assist subordinates to resolve dilemmas, draw proper organizational behavior, appreciate other’s contribution, establish idea sharing, conflict management and delegate duties and responsibilities.

Effective supervisory management program in terms of leadership role

Strategically for New XYZ Store, “On-Job” training is the most effective approach for the Mangers of the Company to promote their working position and additionally, execution of their responsibilities. Following are the eight strategic steps for effective leadership role for logistic supply (EIO, 2005),

• Planning: in order to existing and current obstacles of Company, Mangers have got involved in defining key vision and objectives of the firm and hence, it will be easier for them to direct their subordinates,
• Organizing: allocation of three major dynamics scheduling, workforce and financial resources least amount of wastage of New XYZ Store,
• Controlling: under team management distribute duties and responsibilities among the subordinates of the Manger therefore each and every employee has to motive through “do it all by me”,
• Positioning performance standards: Being a follower a Manger has the right to expect better performance from his/her subordinates and for the reason it has urgent for them to draw performance standards position for staffs individually,
• Performance appraisal: It is a motivational tool for the subordinates to perform better,
• Communicating: Opposite to the Company’s needs and demand, an employee has also few expectations from his/her supervisor and the Company as well. Concerning this view, the New XYZ Company’s Managers have efficient in communication and make liaison with his/her subordinates,
• Motivation: without any compromising employee morale, Managers have adequate motivational skill to get marginal effort from their subordinates.
• Application of decision-making strategy: Managers of this Company have enough frank and friendly to discuss with their subordinates during decision-making and additionally, get effective desired results.

Key benefits

Effective leadership role of the New XYZ Company has contributed several benefits through satisfying three party consumers, the Company, and the entire employees. Some of them have included potential team management, protect and prevent individual personal problems, advance managerial skills as well as ensure self discipline issues like leadership role and style, liaison, motivation, controlling, and sequence maintenance of the emergence tasks, correction of pay-off tasks, time management, training aid, discipline, minimizing dilemmas, decision-making and performance appraisal (Business Works, 2010).

Key challenges

Logistic supply of the New XYZ Company has currently faced several challenging dynamics due to twisted competitive global market. Both hypothetically and in practice, logistic equipment supply is an area of proactive business operation and conversely reactive responses towards changes.

Consequence of this the Company has faced labor crisis challenges. Additionally, there have four key constrains for business expansion. These have involved in lack of public awareness about the industry, dynamics of the business operation has changed promptly, crisis of sufficient employee/workforce skill improvement program and socio-economic pressures (Alberta, 2010).

System Analysis

The aim of the system analysis of XYZ New Store is to providing an IT^[2] strategic plan that will consider the purpose of IS^[3] strategy, to provide better and more efficient service, and to advance knowledge sharing process and networking for all its stakeholders. The First part of this analysis would deliberate on the necessary software and the second part would particularly on the demand of particular hardwires those would be necessary to run the software.

Identifying the Necessary Software

The purpose of the IS strategic plan for XYZ New Store is to put together every department’s IT requirements with business strategy and this plan represents the incorporation of thoughts and requirements for an all-inclusive business view of how to handle the IS assets of the company.

The IS strategic plan has various purposes for XYZ New Store starting from the integration of information technology in its corporate structure through which the primary operations are conducted through integrating IT from the products inventory to sales and marketing ensuring the most fast and convenient services to the customers.

It is one of the foremost suppliers of the company FlexMation includes Aluminium fittings and assembling services in the US market while the XYZ New Store has aimed for not only the development of these products, but also for their marketing and distribution.

The function and maintenance of the company’s information technology system has executed altogether by an amalgamation of outsourced and centrally managed services; these systems comprise of billing, organizational resource planning, business intelligence, corporate network, and payroll, data warehousing and desktop infrastructure to encounter in the market. To integrate all above functions through IT implication XYZ New Store would develop an online resource with php, and mySql database where some essential software would be integrated.

Moreover, this site would work as an e-commerce site where the customers could buy its services in one click staying at home- this would ensure their convenience and satisfaction thus contributing to increase sales, as more customers will be attracted towards the products of XYZ New Store for less effort required to acquiring them.

The E-commerce facilities would turn as XYZ New Store’s main competitive weapon while it strives to reduction of costs; the operation of e-commerce habitually let businesses to enjoy large cost diminution scope to amplify its competitive advantage.

The major software for XYZ New Store is SAP, which has solid base on ERP including HRM, accounting, materials management, sales, and services and will facilitate the company with most of the functionality of its business process. Moreover the parent organization of XYZ New Store the FlexMation already been in use of SAP and licensed to use it at any outlet. Thus, selection of SAP would facilitate the XYZ New Store to reduce high cost of such ERP software and bring operational efficiently.

SAP (2006, p.1) pointed out that the SAP NetWeave platform has introduced to serve the business process management to boost their capabilities those would facilitate the users to incessantly settle in their processes to new business models and strategies that will appropriately address to the modern quick shifting business environment enabling ICT^[4] opportunities to respond quickly to the raising needs.

In case of XYZ New Store, the SAP platform will provide the technological tools to support its business processes with free integration and application platform that will positively decrease the TCO^[5] for complete IT integration for the company while its BPM^[6] provide open opportunity to effectually meeting any new system integration.

SAP will also facilitate the XYZ New Store to analyze business processes, its dynamic modification combining with internal and external resources, dynamic modification of business, workflow system, messaging interface, and value creation for the company by maximizes the returns, and advanced decision-making. EMC Corporation (2006, p.5) mentioned that built-in intellectual property safety measures of SAP has strongly guaranteed security authentication at various level to protect all the system.

Identifying the Appropriate Hardware

The necessary hardware to integrate SAP at XYZ New Store would depend upon a number of issues like minimum system requirement, network integrity, and actionable information that the company is willing to process. At the opening, the store may face minimal workload that will gradually increase, so here the chosen configuration would be heavy duty single server, multiple system, and optional load balancing interface.

EMC Corporation (2006, p.5) mentioned for such environment SAP integration will be needed a content and database server hosted within in a single machine with at least Pentium IV, two pin processor for Windows 2000 with 4GB RAM and 100 GB Hard Disk including RAID 5 and initial JAVA Heap Size of 512 MB. For multiple systems, it will require two same hard disk configured machine, while one will be dedicated for the content and database server and the other server is for SAP archive services.

Regarding the choice of database, SAP is friendly with most of the database software, so new store have the opportunity to use mySql, Oracle 9 or latest and even MS SQL for its web Application Server as needed. Both for UNIX hardware and Windows, SAP installation utilizes almost equivalent processor speed, memory consumption along with I/O performance, so, XYZ New Store has the liberty to choice any of the hardware group.

Employee Handbook

Employee handbook 2010–11 has composed for the entire employees of the XYZ New Store to inform and clarify employee’s working policies and procedures those have coherently attached with the employment process. The personnel have enthusiastic to welcome optimistic suggestions to amend and improve the handbook as well as possibly will conferred to the HRD/HRM^[7] supervisors to approve.

Employees have to be pointed that codes of the handbook possibly will amended or superseded at any moment of the working period to get better personal and professional growth. Entire workforces of the XYZ New Store have responsible to read, understand, and employ the codes of conduct of the handbook and the XYZ New Store has committed to afford a friendly and constructive working atmosphere. (FISD, 2010)

Employment application

The XYZ New Store has selected their employees based on accurate information available in the employment application and additionally, available data during hiring process. Under this circumstance any type of misconduct^[8] would keep out from employment and in case of final selection, it might be resulted termination

Employee status definition

The XYZ New Store has represented a person as an employee whilst the person (he/she) has appointed to work regularly in terms of wages and salary. Under employee status of the XYZ New Store diverse classes of employees have worked^[9] where the XYZ New Store has the authoritative power to supervise duties, responsibilities and performance appraisal (US/DOL, 2001).

Employment policies and procedures: Under this clause of handbook, XYZ New Store would emphasis on the issues to illustrate brief account of the employment policies and rules.

Equal Opportunity Status: The XYZ New Store has followed equal employment regulation where job applicants have not any scope of facing discriminations^[10]. This status has applicable in the entire employment affairs but does not restricted towards employment phases^[11]. Moreover, this Enterprise has obeyed the Federal laws and regulations to protecting additional classes of applicants like certain diseases bearer (HIV/AIDS), homosexual persons (Anon, 2010).

Disabilities Act compliance: An employee selection and compliance rule of the XYZ New Store has adhered towards the ADA^[12]. In the light of ADA, it has prohibited to discriminate a competent applicant with disability. Recruited employees have responsible to inform the XYZ New Store about such dilemmas as said by the ADA. Moreover, the XYZ New Store has dedicated to accommodate an undue hardship support in such cases.

Following are the issues of few known disabilities according to the ADA (Anon, 2010). Firstly, person has physical/mental injury that has substantially restricted his/her key daily like activity/activities or second, have such previous record of impairments and third, have regarded to know impairments.

Classification of the employees: As defined by the HRM an employee in an “Employee at will”. In addition, this slogan has displayed that both employer and the employee has right to terminate employment relationship under several considerations^[13]. In case of advance notice employer should notify the employee before two weeks on termination.

The employment personnel have responsible to clarify about the employee classes of the New XYZ Company. A written employment contract should included termination, working hours, and types on employment. Considering these three views following are the employee categories of the New XYZ Company.

Regular full-time: they have required working as a minimum 40 hours within a week and have not any termination time frame and moreover, either termed as non-exempt (hourly) or by the exempt (salaried).

Regular part-time: working schedule has outlined to work between (10 – 40) hours during a week and has no termination period.

Temporary employee: have recruited for a certain length of time and their payment have paid according to the hours performed and have not receive any fringe benefits like holiday/vacation payment.

Provisional employee: employees have not yet completed 90 days provisional/training period after they have recruited and after successful completion of the provision period, an employee would be graded as a regular staff.

Exempt employee: this grade of employment has usually paid a salary through including few terms^[14] and does not require overtime.

Non-exempt employee: they have not eligible for the exempt status and usual payment has paid through hourly basis where overtime has included.

Confidentiality: Consequence of final selection, an employee of the XYZ New Store has responsible to obey confidential issues^[15] of the Enterprise as an exclusive property as well as employment continuation in this organization.

Working schedules/Office hours and overtime: The XYZ New Store has opened their store Sunday through Saturday opening at 12.01 am and closing at midnight 12.00 am and the employees have to attend standard 40 office hours of a week excluding holidays (US/DOL, 2001). Only non-exempt staffs are eligible to perform overtime^[16] in excluding 40 office hours per week and paid 1.5 times weigh against to regular pay hour. (SLS, 2010)

Meal/lunch hours: Usual lunch break has between 11am – 2.00pm of minimum 30 minutes for each employee and hence; clients would has not feel any inconvenience due to absence of an employee.

Break/refreshment hour: In accordance with the notification of the immediate supervisor an employee would have taken his/her break time for the unexpected personal business conduct but employee who has not adhere to this policy would be subject to the disciplinary action as well as termination (US/DOL, 2001).

Personnel file: Accurately a record of personnel information at 24 hours 7 days has greater significant in avoidance of upcoming dilemmas such as shift change and the employees have to responsible to keep attach with their superiors of the HRM with updated information^[17].

Personnel data changes: All the employees of the XYZ New Store have responsible to notify accurately their HRM supervisor of any changes of their personnel information as soon as possible. Here, the list of personnel information.

Emergency closing: Due to emergency circumstance such as inclement weather (over rain flow, snowfall) HRM supervisors have instructed to flex working hours (SLS, 2010).

Performance review as well as planning conferences: This term of condition has guided the HRM supervisors to conduct for the entire regular full time and regular part time after completion of the 6 months of employment and for the provisionary employees it has applicable at the end of 90 days/3 months. All of the performance review and planning approaches should followed job description and job specification for each individual staff.

Outside employment: According to the company policy of the New XYZ Company, an employee has legally permitted to attend outside jobs/employment if it has not made any inconvenience on current job duties, responsibilities and working hours but internal tools of the Enterprise has not authorized to employ during outside employment.

Employment relationship/ corrective action: Due to certain deviates from required working conditions of an employee supervisors of the XYZ New Store have instructed to taking corrective action including several initiatives^[18]. Additionally, evaluation of the parameter of infraction supervisors should consider employee’s past working record along with several aspects^[19].

Termination: Employment termination is an inevitable portion of the personnel activities in the XYZ New Store due to several rationales. During terminated from their employment, non exempt employees have given a written notice before at least 2 weeks and for the exempt employees it has before 4 weeks. Consequently, both employer and provisional employees of the XYZ New Store has authorized to employment termination and the terminated staff has right to payback his/her all of personnel files as well as financial obligation as per Company policy. Following are the common termination aspects.

Resignation: A voluntary employment termination has initiated by the staff.

Termination: an involuntary employment termination has initiated by the Company.

Layoff: an involuntary employment termination has initiated by the Company due to non-disciplinary performances.

Safety: The XYZ New Store has as much as necessary concern on utmost priority on employee safety in consistent^[20] with the OSHA^[21] 1970. Conversely, employees of the company have also responsible to taking part during this management and in case of a single violence of the rules employees has instructed to reporting their immediate supervisor. Moreover, the XYZ New Store has committed to covering accidents during workplace in terms of WCI^[22] pursuant towards the Country’s Labor Act (Anon, 2010).

Health related issues/ Required medical attention and insurance

Heath status of the Company has required that employees have to notify their HRR^[23] supervisors any of health related complicacies including pregnancy and the Company has responsible to initiate those in terms of written work permit by an authorized doctor and for the emergencies should grant leaves as well as transportation supports.

The XYZ New Store has a compliance policy of the compensation package for their eligible employees^[24] insurance^[25] as well as their family members (SLS, 2010).

Security: Security issues have included office keys, alarm system, door lock, and proper lighting system and employees should strictly obey the rules of security purpose as well as not to utilize Company properties after working schedules without authorization of the supervisors.

Supplies, expenditures, and obligating the organization: Without any written authorization, a single employee has not allowed to purchase supplies in the name of the Company.

Expense reimbursement: On behalf of the Company, employees should have a written authorization by his/her manager to incur any expense and should submit the expense report or vouchers and this policy have also applicable on employee’s personal vehicle cost (SLS, 2010).

Parking: Employees should park their vehicles in the restricted areas provided by the organization.

Visitors in the workplace: In the XYZ New Store, only authorized visitors have allowed during workplace due to employees’ safety and security and the Company as well.

Immigration law compliance: The XYZ New Store has employed those individuals who have legally authorized working in this country in reference to the IRCA^[26] of 1986 and in addition, the XYZ New Store has not allowed an employee whose legal work permit in this country has terminated in the country.

Wage and salary standards

Increase of wage or salary: Duties, responsibilities, and working performance of an employee are determinants of wage and salary increase after end of performance review period^[27].

Timekeeping: The XYZ New Store has utilized time card approach in timekeeping for their all exempt employees, the non-exempt employees are not allowable to eligible to issue a time card during their first employment day, and the personnel authority has reviewed the time card records each week. Additionally, the Company should not pay any breaks for the personal business and employees possibly will charge for replacing/lost/stolen the time card.

Paydays and payroll: Employees of the XYZ New Store will be paid at the 15^th of each month in terms of check and their payment would calculate on the 1^st of each month. In case of holiday during a regular payday accounts division should pay the checks before on the payday (SLS, 2010).

Code of conducts

Work Rules: Standards work rules of the XYZ New Store has significant to regard and the entire employees have also instructed to familiar with them and additionally, obey and follow them faithfully during conducting Company’s business.

Attendance and punctuality: The XYZ New Store has believed in employee’s quality as well as better performance in terms of attendance and punctuality. The Company has required that entire employees should attend in the workplace before 15minutes of the work schedule except sick leave or previous notification.

Absence without notice: Employees have instructed to notify their immediate supervisors due to leave of absence and absence without notification would be resulted cut of payment from the payroll.

Leave of absences: Employees of the XYZ New Store has an opportunity to consume sick leave, funeral leave of 3day with pay, maternity leave of 90 days with pay, military leaves circulated by the government. Alternatively, the Company has the authoritative power to notify their eligible staffs to join in leave period in terms of “jury duty”.

Discipline

Harassments and discrimination policies: A common harassment and discrimination policy of the XYZ New Store has treated each and every employee with respect and dignity where workplace has to be free from all classes of unlawful discrimination as well as harassments^[28].

Cellular telephone use: The Company has allowed their employees to use cellular telephones only for the job related business; otherwise, it might bone a subject of termination and indiscipline as well.

Computer use & E-mail policy: Likewise, cellular telephone computers and e-mail an account of an individual employee has authorized only for job duties and responsibilities perform.

Public image: Individual professional appearance of the XYZ New Store has significantly reviewed during contact with a consumer. In addition, the employees have to be well groom as well as appropriate dressed in consistent with their job position and additionally, inappropriate working attire^[29] has treated as violence of office discipline.

Substance abuse and tobacco products/ smoking, drug, and alcohol use

As per Company policy, the personnel of XYZ New Store have strictly instructed to free from substances like alcohol, tobacco, and drug during work schedule. Supervisors should taken immediate action in terms of termination during such abuses.

Dress code: Dress code of the Company should followed well individual grooming and hygiene and additionally, safety accessories provided by the Company for each and every employee. Conversely, management, sales personnel, and the executive staffs have to wear traditional business clothes in consistence with the company image.

Employee benefits and services

Cobra benefits: Several common qualifying events^[30] have conduct in consistence with the COBRA^[31] benefits in the New XYZ Company.

Social security and simple IRA

Income tax, medical support has included in the social security of the XYZ New Store employees and the simple IRA plan has administered by an investment firm appointed the Company where an employee has authorized to consume (1–3) % cost of living.

Record keeping: The HRD of the Company has maintained vacation days in consistence with the employment classification and work hour required to perform.

Holidays: Common government holidays^[32] for all employees (non-paid for the non-exempt employees) of the Company have been treated as at every year.

Educational assistance, training and professional skill development: For professional skill development as well as personal growth the XYZ New Store has always be friendly to support their entire employees.

Employee communications: Employee communications of the XYZ New Store has conducted through staffs meeting, bulletin boards; suggestion box and has necessary steps to handle clients complains. Staffs meeting of the Company has held at the end of each month to submit and resolve any type of difficulties during workplace both employee and consumers.

Identify Potential Quality Projects

Product quality is reflection of the consumer’s response to what degree of available logistic supply of the XYZ New Store has fulfilled retained the potential clients and satisfied their needs and demand. Any product of the Company would be denoted either as high quality or as low quality in terms of consumer’s satisfaction. Alternatively, product quality can be termed as the strategic response of the trade participation difficulties removal containing following “three Cs”. (UNIDO, 2006)

• Competitiveness: minimize supply chain difficulties through developing competent logistic potentiality.
• Conformity: The product conformity has developed and ensured through both technical and market demand fulfillment of XYZ store.
• Connectivity: market connectivity has drawn through superior integration.

Illustration of the product quality projects for the XYZ New Store

Pareto Chart

The Pareto chart has identified and analyzed causes behind low product quality and this tool has widely utilized in developing superior product quality and arranged through a team management.

In consistence with the tool, key difficulties of logistic products has included repetitive product faults, time consuming repairing of the defective products, high level of material requirements and comparatively lower productivity. The Pareto chart has suggested to drawing an inspection checklist in order to maintaining quality control where key default reason, working hours should be incorporated.

Similar to the following table, supervisors of the Company have to calculate percentage (%) of defects and successively cumulative defect percentage. Finally, according to the 80/20 principle of the Pareto chart, 20% potential defect cause of the product has generated 80% defective products. Alternatively, this chart has also been composed through utilizing A0/A1 size MS Excel paper of computer (ILO, 2010).

Key contribution of the Pareto chart has illustrated major defect cause, suggested quality development modes and save financial resources as well as time. Conversely, key limitation of the approach has enabled to analyzing quality information.

Fishbone Diagram

The fishbone diagram has integrated through two broader ingredient cause and effect where actual and potential difficulties have pointed and additionally, has provided a group discussion module to illustrate causes. Alternatively, it is a communicating tool to make trade-off among product defect causes and product quality difficulties.

Additionally, this integration has offered the product quality controller to build employee performance development interventions^[33] to overcome potential and actual defects of a product. Before illustration of the fishbone diagram, it has urgent to clarify about client’s demand and actual problem statement (WBI Evaluation Group, 2007).

Major advantage of the strategy is that it has optimistic clarification on fundamental defects against consumer demand and additionally, less time consuming as well as supplement defect dynamics of the product have also evaluated. On the other hand, simple form of the defect evaluation is the key weakness of this approach as well as its strength and therefore, this tool has incompatible to analyze complex attributes (WBI Evaluation Group, 2007)

Diversity council guideline for the XYZ New Store

Diversity council of the XYZ New Store has termed as the “bulletin board” where workplace ethical dilemmas and discrimination issues have discussed in order to developing diversity along with equality practice. Major vision of the board has to explore and patronize consciousness on diversity, equality, and child issues during workplace. The bulletin board of the company has guided its employees though different modes and counseling (OMC, 2006).

The major diversity counseling of the XYZ New Store has aimed to motivate employee’s thoughts to protect and prevent all classes of biasness and discrimination as well as interact to take initiatives to build development services for the helpless children along with their family members. For this noble task, the Company board has followed the guideline prepared by the NCCC^[34], which has a vast tool to educate employees against workplace diversity, inequality, and discrimination prevention.

Meanwhile, make assistant for the critical reflection of one’s own though as well as show the road map of modern thinking and illustrate the significance to know about diversity and equality policy practice relates towards the women and children workers. Five, propose a complete guideline for team working and networking as well.

To develop a guideline to prevent discriminatory issues during workplace, XYZ New Store would evaluating modes to appraise critically better childcare atmosphere and make support on necessary data and information on workplace racism towards both male, female and childcare. At the same time, XYZ New Store will evaluate to allocate modern resources, development program, and the rest amendments on current diversity management rules and policies to accumulate latest supporting skills to modify workplace equality issues as well.

Reference List

Alberta (2010) Building and Educating Tomorrow’s Workforce: Alberta’s 10 Year Strategy. Web.

Anon (2010) Employee Handbook 2010-2011. Web.

Anon (2010) Fishbone Diagram: Factory Improvement Programme, Module 2: Quality, Tool 7. Web.

Business Works (2010) Effective Supervisory Management. Web.

EIO (2005) Eight Steps to Effective Supervisory Management. Web.

Ellis-Christensen, E. (2010) What is Supervisory Management? Web.

EMC Corporation (2006) Minimum Hardware Configurations for EMC Documentum Archive Services for SAP Practical Sizing Guide. Web.

FISD (2010) Employee Handbook 2010-2011. Web.

Gordon, T. (1998) Effective Leadership. Web.

Hitt, M. A., Ireland, R. D., & Hoskisson, R. E. (2001). Strategic Management. (4^th ed). Singapore: South- Western Thomson Learning.

ILO (2010) Using Pareto Charts in Quality Control. Web.

Jankowicz, A. D. (2005) Business Research Projects. (4^th ed) London: Thomson.

Kotler, P., & Armstrong, G. (2006). Principles of Marketing. (11^th ed). New Delhi: Prentice-Hall Private Limited.

Kuratko, D. F. (2008) Entrepreneurship: Theory, Process, and Practice. (8^th ed). South-Western College Pub.

OMC (2006) Diversity and equality guidelines for childcare providers. Web.

SAP (2010) SAP Solution Brief: Business Process Management with SAP NetWeaver. Web.

SLS (2010) Employee Handbook Template. Web.

UNIDO (2006) Product quality-A guide for small and medium-sized enterprises. Web.

US/DOL (2001) Template for Employee Manual. Web.

WBI Evaluation Group (2007) Fishbone Diagrams, Needs Assessment Knowledge Base. Web.

World Scientific Publishing Co. (2010) Chapter 4: Topics in Lean Supply Chain Leadership. Web.

Footnotes

1. Meetings, reviewing performance, scheduling, assigning raises or bonuses, and hiring or firing employees could all be part of someone’s job in the supervisory management field
2. Information Technology
3. Information System
4. Information & Communication Technology
5. Total Cost of Ownership
6. Business Process Management
7. Human Resources Development/ Human Resources Management
8. Misrepresentations, falsifications or material omissions in any of this information or data
9. Exempt, non-exempt, regular full-time, regular part-time and temporary persons and others employed
10. On the basis of race, religion, color, sex, age, national origin, mental or physical disability, veteran or family status, genetic information, or any other status or condition protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws, except where a bona fide occupational qualification applies
11. Recruiting, interviewing, job assignments, training, compensation, benefits, discipline, use of facilities, participation in Company-sponsored activities, termination, and all other terms, conditions and privileges of employment
12. The Americans with Disabilities Act
13. At any time, with or without cause, and with or without advance notice
14. An executive, professional, administrator, outside salesperson or manager
15. Personnel information, suppliers, procedures, cost of merchandise, sales data, price lists, financial information, records, business plans, prospect names, business opportunities, confidential reports, customer lists and contracts as well as any other information specific to Enterprise
16. No lunch, sick, holiday or vacation time is included in calculating overtime
17. Name, home address, telephone number, number of dependents, or any other information pertinent to your employment with Company
18. An oral warning, a written warning, probation, and finally termination of employment
19. Theft in any form, insubordinate behavior, vandalism or destruction of company property, being on company property during non-business hours, the use of company equipment and/or company vehicles without prior authorization by the Executive Staff, untruthfulness about personal work history, skills, or training, divulging Company business practices, and misrepresentations of the Company Name and image to a customer, a prospective customer, the general public or an employee
20. Strives to provide a clean, hazard-free, and safe environment
21. The Occupational Safety and Health Act
22. Worker’s Compensation Insurance
23. Human Resources Representative
24. Eligible employees are all full-time employees who have completed ninety (90) calendar days of employment; and part-time employees who work at least twenty-five (25) regular hours a week and have completed ninety (90) calendar days of employment
25. Health insurance, life insurance and accidental death coverage (group benefits)
26. Immigration Reform and Control Act
27. Every six (6) months from the date you were hired with the exception of the three (3) month review at the end of your provisional period
28. Racial and sexual harassment on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, age, national origin, mental or physical disability, veteran or family status, or any other status or condition protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws
29. Open-toed sandals, Spaghetti-strapped shirts, Tank tops or revealing shirts, Short mini skirts, Sheer clothing, T-shirts with inappropriate or offensive gestures or advertising
30. Resignation, termination of employment, or death of an employee; a reduction in an employee’s hours or leave of absence, divorce or legal separation and a dependent child no longer meeting eligibility requirements
31. The Federal Consolidated Budget Reconciliation Act
32. New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, Day after Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day
33. A combination of mentoring, job aids, training, motivation, new expectations
34. National Childcare Coordinating Committee

Description

Four entrepreneurs would like to build a multi dimensional entertainment center “Qassim complex”, and this complex will provide a number of facilities, such as, cinemas, creative activities, different sporting zones, and food courts (which will focus on diversified cuisines from around the world) together with extensive emphasize provided upon flourishing cultural practices, like music, dance, exclusive occasions, and painting exhibitions.

Features of the Product or Service

All the products and services in this complex will contain high- level of differentiations in every aspect. A distinctive touch of many diversified cultures will be present in the facilities of the complex through all spheres to add on an exceptional experience for the customer.

For example, there will be numerous foods courts, bars, and cafes throughout the area to avoid boredom of the customers and these food courts will comprise not only the local dishes of Dallas, but also the most popular dishes from the rest parts in the world.

This conveys the idea that each restaurant would be specialized in a particular type of cuisine, with some focusing on tendering Chinese and Thai food and spicy non-veggie Bengali dishes accompanied by delicious Bengali desserts and pickles, appetizing Indian curries, America’s specially featured doughnuts, pastries and cakes, together with Arabian Kabsa lamb, falafel, etc.

The sporting zones will be consisting of various types of sports like snooker and pool, billiard, video games, gambling, long tennis, table tennis, blackjack, video poker, poker, craps, slots, roulette, pai gow poker, keno, wheel of fortune (the big six), basketball, archery, chess, and many more.

In addition, there will be eleven swimming pools in the entire complex, out of which three will be used for weekly swimming competitions by the holidaymakers coming to visit the Qassim complex.

On the other hand, the exhibition hall will be occupied every evening with different painting exhibitions of many renowned painters from throughout the world – this must be including paintings of Donatello, Sandro Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo Buonarroti, Albrecht Durer, El Greco, Camille Pissarro, Gustav Klimt, and Pablo Picasso.

However, the artifacts of modern day artist, like M F Hussein, Naoto Hattori, S M Sultan, Zainul Abedin, Robert, and Shana Parkeharrison will also be present in the galleries of this complex.

Some hall rooms will be present for practicing other cultural activities, like dancing and musical concerts. There will be a wide range of dance forms for the visitors in the Qassim complex, starting from ballet, salsa, tango, rumba, samba, street dance, Bharatnatyam, and Bengali tribal and classical dances like Kathak and Kuchipudi presented by group of specialized dancers from America, Bangladesh, Brazil, India, UK, and some African countries. In the musical concerts, both folk / tribal music and contemporary music will be performed.

The concert organizers will invite different international musicians from the most famous bands like Backstreet boys, Miles, Fannypack, DM & Jemini, Souls, Magnetic Fields, Dolchut, and Le Tigre; conversely, tribal and folk musicians will include popular solo performers from a number of countries specializing in diversified folkloric music of different cultures to entertain the daily visitors at the Qassim complex.

In addition, the entrepreneurs of the Qassim complex will make sure that the most blockbuster and award winning movies are demonstrated everyday in the cinemas, so that the holidaymakers remain pleased with the provided services. The key aims of the entrepreneurs would remain with satisfying the customers to the highest level and offering them the best possible services so that they become loyal visitors.

Superior quality services will make sure that the customers are not feeling any distress regarding the high price of the products and services and they would be gratified to pay for such excellence and variety in the world of entertainment. Because of this vision from the part of the entrepreneurs of the Qassim complex, they will also design the bars in such a way so that visitors from any particular ethnicity receive the gratification; moreover, the most rocking DJs will be appointed over there for ensuring the best possible musical pleasure.

Customer Benefits

The features of the products and services above describe the kind of benefits that the customers will receive from the Qassim complex as a whole. They will get each of the segments of this complex as highly differentiated and unique from any other entertainment centers in the city.

Moreover, they will be benefited by enjoying the cultures of not just Texas, but there will be cuisines, music, dance, exhibitions, and games that originated from different culture from across the world.

Uniqueness (USP)

The differentiation will be not only in terms of the features of the products and services offered, but in fact, a marked significance will also exist in terms of aesthetics, architecture, key concepts, project layout, innovative design, and authenticity.

Therefore, for offering such an exceptional experience for the customers, the entrepreneurs have planned to charge them a bit higher than those of the competitors in the market do. The unique selling price will therefore have a higher mark up cost.

Profit Potential and Durability

The entrepreneurs believe that the because of the “never before experienced” thrill that will be present in the Qassim complex, the prospect that a potentially high number of visitors will come to enjoy here increases.

This is the reason for which the profit making potential is high as well. In addition, as the entrepreneurs will be focusing on integrating a range of services for the four key segments with the touch of different aesthetics and flavors, the chances of a feel of repetitiveness or boredom from the part of the customer reduces.

This will in turn increase the durability of the products and services by lessening the necessity of renovating, diverging, or reshuffling the Qassim complex. However, the entrepreneurs presume that at least for the first five years the requirement of the renovations are not so important and after this time, some changes will be brought in different periods depending on the rate of depreciation on each sector. A presumption of the durability of the sectors and the period after which the owners will start renovations has been shown on the table below:

Table 1: Requirement of the renovations on each sector. Source: Self generated.

Patent or Other Forms of Creativity Protection

Owing to the fact that the entrepreneurs of the Qassim complex are going to start their business in Dallas of Texas, they will need to contact the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for getting their business idea protected. Apart from patent protection, the USPTO will also be offering copyright and trademark protection.

However, the most alarming issue that the owner of this business will have to face is the chance for the applications to be rejected by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. It is important to note that in recent years, the chances of abandoned applications are raising as shown in the graph below:

Figure 1: Rising Number of USPTO Abandoned Patent Applications Each Year. Source: Generated from Crouch (1).

With more and more start up businesses trying to protect their ideas, the number of the applications is rising as well. The following graph shows the number of patent grants per year (some parts of 2011 are estimated):

Figure 2: USPTO Patent Grants Each Year. Source: Generated from Crouch (1).

Process and Plans for Obtaining Protection

According to EMKF (1), the process and plans for obtaining patent protection is practically quite complex – beginning with a convoluted procedure of “listing” the start up business, tangible patent claim has split into numerous components, comprising an obvious/ succinct account of the start-up’s affirmation of uniqueness and solitary originator, engraved illustration of discovery, reporting charges, and “claims” of exclusivity.

This delineates the real limits of the special rights that the originator expects protecting throughout the period of the patent; through inadequate drafting, impressionists or rivals would be capable to bring out analogous working or courses devoid of tormenting about breaches; conversely, through inadequate drafting, the originator will face the risk that the examiner will reject the proposed claims.

In this context, the entrepreneurs of the Qassim complex will have to be very cautious about applying for the claim and carry out a cost and benefit analysis regarding the fruitfulness of the protection in comparison to the possible advantages achievable. They will have to answer a range of questions to themselves for conducting the cost and benefit analysis in order to decide whether the business idea should be protected; this has shown in the flowchart below:

Figure 3: Analyzing the decision for the need to protect the business idea. Source: Self generated from Business Link (1) and USPTO (1).

As stated by USPTO (2-12) and USPTO (8), entrepreneurs should also be cautious about drafting the written illustration of the business to make sure that it is neither possible the patent examiner to reject the patent nor it so weak that the rivals in the market are able to break it. The entrepreneurs of the Qassim complex will be following a simple process for obtaining patent protection, as shown in the diagram below.

Figure 4: Process for obtaining patent protection. Source: Self-generated from USPTO (64) and USPTO (49).

The Production Process

The main departments of the Qassim complex will be Cine complex, Exhibition galleries, Food courts, Sports zone, and Bars. However, except of the food courts, none of the other departments will have any requirement of an integration of the production processes. The rest of the sections will highly concentrate on services.

Nevertheless, in case of the food courts, it is important to deliver freshly processed and deliciously cooked meals to the visitors every hour. In order to deliver fresh foods every hour, highly specialized chefs will be appointed from different parts of the world that are better acknowledged about the way of making dishes belonging of diverse ethnic origins.

Therefore, the owners of the complex will select chefs from the Chinese, Thai, Bengali, American, Indian, and Arabian origins. With the facilities of a strong supply- chain of unprocessed vegetables, meats, spices, etc., the chefs will be able to cook freshly every time by getting fresh supplies just in time from the potential supplier groups (for example, farmers). A brief production process has figured out below:

Figure 5: A brief production process at the food courts. Source: Self generated.

Raw Materials

The raw materials will consist of musical instruments and enhancing infrastructures for bars and hall rooms, as well as chairs, tables, large screens, TVs, cookeries, decorative materials, fresh vegetables, meats, spices, milks, other raw foods, sofas, apparels, and other furniture. In addition, different kinds of alcoholic drinks (like ram, vodka, whiskey, beer, red wine, champagne, and so on), soft drinks (colas, orange drinks, and various juices), coffee beans, and fresh chocolate from Kenyan farmers are necessary. Apart from that, a range of gaming instruments like snooker, table tennis board, etc, together with sanitary equipment, disinfectants, dishwashers, etc., are necessary to prepare the Qassim complex every day for producing the required services for the visitors.

Key Suppliers

The key suppliers of the business will be farmers of vegetables, coffee beans, cattle, fishes, and producers of processed items, like colas, juices, hardcore drinks, furniture, decorative products, music systems, and so on.

Costs of Materials

The owners of the business will try to keep the production costs at low levels so that the profits of the Qassim complex are maximized. With this view in mind, they will be focusing on finding low cost suppliers for the raw materials in order to make sure that chances are present for the business to achieve economies of scale in near future, after attaining the break-even point. Therefore, the key suppliers will be providing material at reduced prices owing to their low bargaining powers.

Future Products or Service Offering Plans

After about five to six years, with the retained profit from the business, the owners planned to integrate a new shopping mall segment in the complex as well as an extension in the sports zone center to include games like sky diving, parachute jumping, ice-skating, golf court, and car racing facilities in the outer sports ground of the complex.

The Target Market

The entrepreneurs have targeted people of all ages for the Qassim complex to be successful. Because of including people of all ages in the list of customer groups (starting from children aging from 5 to 12, youngsters aging from 13 to 19, youth groups of 20 to 40, as well as middle aged people in the community), the owners have designed the departments of the complex in an all-inclusive pattern. For example, some parts of the sports zone are for kids (like video games), some parts are for young people (like tennis or swimming), whereas other parts are for middle- aged people (for example, gambling).

Conversely, the bars, concerts, and dance shows will be especially made for the young people, exhibitions for middle- aged and old people, and restaurants and cafes for everyone. However, it is important to argue that because of the high priced offering of the Qassim complex (owing to its high differentiations); it would not be wise for the owners to target the lower or middle- income earners. The higher income earners will be the best group of people to pay for these specialized services of the complex.

The strategy of including higher income earners is perfect for the business as Dallas is a luxurious area and higher income earners usually live there. In addition, because of the fact that the complex will be upholding the culture, heritage, and tradition of a range of different countries and ethnic groups, it is quite natural that both international and domestic customers will be visiting the area (that is the target customer groups are not merely the US customers).

Tourists form different parts of the world that are coming to visit the United States is also targeted by the business. With such a board group of target customers, the assurance of profit maximization is quite predictable for the business.

Demographic Profile

The Qassim complex will initially run its business with merely one building in the Dallas city centre; however, within 10 to 12 years, as it would turn out to be a successful complex in the county, it has a vision to open stores not only in Texas, but also throughout the entire United States. In 2011, United States has a total population of 313,232,044; the average age of the total population is 36.9 years (with an average of 35.6 years in men, and 38.2 years in women) and a populace growth rate of 0.963 per cent annually (US Census Bureau, 1).

Recently, the birth rate of the country is 13.83 births per 1000 people and death rate is 8.38 deaths per 1000 people; moreover, the net migration rate of the US is 4.18 migrants per 1000 people.

The urban inhabitants represent 82 percent of the total population with a rate urbanization of 1.2 percent; the life expectancy of the total population is 78.37 years and total fertility rate is 2.06 children per woman. According to Indexmundi (1), the government expends about 5.5 percent of the total gross domestic product for education purposes of the US and it is arguable that the literacy rate of the total population is 99 percent; the following table shows the age composition of the total US population:

Table 2: Age Composition of the US Population. Source: Self generated from US Census Bureau (1).

At the time of opening the Qassim complex, it is imperative for the owners to ensure that it has the apposite arrangements and competencies to serve people from every ethnic background; the table below illustrates the ethnic and the religious groups present in the country:

Table 3: Religious and Ethnic Groups. Source: Self generated from US Census Bureau (1).

Other Customer Characteristics

According to the US Embassy (1), the characteristics of the customers of the country are critically diverse; its population is an astonishing blend of nearly every ethnic assembly and race found on earth; additionally, all communities possess their own ethnic backgrounds, cuisines, and beliefs; which is now familiar as the local American legacy making-up the key characteristics of its people.

Customers’ Motivation to Buy

In the pace of the massive economic turmoil in the American society from 2008 to 2009, the motivation of the customers in the country to buy products suffered from serious impact. Where people strived to meet up their requirements of purchasing the basic necessitates, it seemed quite insensible for the luxury item producers to hope for profits from their businesses. However, as the economy started to develop from the very beginning of 2010, it now seems that the customers are gaining back their confidence and are showing quite optimistic motivation towards purchase of luxuries.

Market Size and Trends

It is notable to argue that the Qassim complex will not belong to any particular market or industry, as it would integrate the features of a number of industries within itself. Therefore, it is crucial to consider the trend of all the industries separately. According to IBISWorld (1), the average turnover of the sports zone or physical fitness industry in the US is 24,227.5 million, where as the turnover growth rate is 2.2 per cent.

On the other hand, the bar and nightclub industry of the United States has a total turnover of USD 22 billion, with a growth rate of – 0.3 per cent from 2006 to 2011 (IBISWorld, 1). Conversely, surveys suggested that food courts industry in the country has an average turnover of USD 178.1 billion, with a growth rate of 2.3 per cent. The following figure shows the categorization of different types of restaurants and the market size:

Figure 6: Categorization of different restaurants and market size. Source: IBISWorld (1).

How Large Is the Market

It is noteworthy from the above provided data that the restaurant and food industry is the largest market in the country in contrast to the bar and nightclub industry, which comes the second and the physical fitness industry, which come in number three.

Trends

With a growth rate of 2.3 per cent, the food courts industry is in a higher growth pace; however, although the sports and fitness industry’s growth rate is 2.2 per cent, the growth rate of the bar and nightclub industry is falling by – 0.3 per cent.

Competitors and Competitive Advantage

The Qassim complex does not have any direct competitors because of having numerous offerings. Whist the indirect competitors focus on a single type of product or service, this business will focus on all at a time – this is the most influential competitive advantage of this business; nevertheless, the following table outlines some major competitors of the complex:

Table 4: Major competitors. Source: Self generated.

Strengths and weaknesses

Key strengths are –

• Large Start up capital and location of the complex;
• Multiple service in a single complex will be one of the most important factors of success;
• Experience of the employees will assist the company to develop brand image (Kotler & Gary, 122).

It has many weaknesses –

• The marketers have already researched on market and find out a suitable location for the company, but they were not emphasis on the cultural factors and the ability of the owners to ensure good environment for the diversified customers;
• Coordination of the functions of the employees and management of different segments can be one of the most significant factors to organize the complex.

Advertising and Promotions

To develop brand image, the complex will offer gifts and discounts for New Year, mother’s day, father’s day, teacher’s day, and Christmas day; moreover, besides of advertisements in weekly magazines, Google, Yahoo, MSN, Facebook, and Twitter, business’s own website will also play an important role.

Media Use for Generating Publicity

Newspapers, radios, magazines, billboards, multimedia, and online advertising will remain as the key media through which the business will attempt to generate publicity in the US market.

Pricing Strategy

The owners of Qassim Complex would ask comparatively high price as it would provide diversified service in a single complex; however, it must consider several factors to set up price for its products and services –

• As there are numbers of sports centre and bar exist in Dallas, the marketers should offer competitive price but it would not possible due to high start-up costs;
• Global economic downturn and adverse impact on purchasing power of the company;
• Key challenges and success factors;
• Major strengths and weaknesses;
• Buyer’s behaviour analysis and so on

Distribution Strategy

Qassim Complex will distribute products and services from a single complex and it has no subsidiary complex in Dallas; though the management will expand business in outside Dallas and develop the distribution channels.

Sales Strategy

The entrepreneurs of the Qassim complex will definitely adopt customer oriented sales strategy rather than production oriented selling because this business will place the customers at the heart of its operations and emphasize merely on their comforts.

Company summary related to location, layout, and operations (downtown, Dallas, TX)

Operations

The entire operational system would be managed by the managers of particular department in accordance with the direction of CEO and other board of directors, existing rules, and regulations of the country, the provisions of article of association, code of conduct of the company and so on (Johnson, Kevan and Richard 29).

However, the marketers have already selected a suitable place for the Complex in Dallas and they have considered number of factors in order select the place, such as, the population of the place, target market, transportation facilities, business opportunities, customer behavior, parking place and so on.

Operating Cycle (e.g. hours, shifts)

As the complex mainly deals four different segments, it should have effecting operational plan to reduce costs of the business and control all business units properly; however, related operational plans are-

Table 6: Operating cycle. Source: Self generated.

Location

Description of identified location

According to the report of City Mayors Statistics (1), Dallas is the 9^th largest city of the US though this city was not in top 100 cities in 1960; however, the total population of Dallas was about 1,232,940 in 2006. However, the following table shows the population chart of top ten cities –

Table 7: Top ten largest cities in the US. Source: City Mayors Statistics (1) and Hove (1).

Demographic analysis for location

Table 8: Demographic analysis.Source: Self generated from Onboard Informatics (1).

Lease, rental rates

According to the report of Trulia (1), the Average price per square foot was more than $59.0 last year, but this rate is increasing significantly, as this rate is now about $71.39; however, the price of lease, or rent for the Qassim complex would depend on the size of the business and total required area.

Labor needs and wage rates

Wage rate of the employees in Dallas depend on the efficiency, education, experience, job rank, nationality of the employees and so on; however, the management of Qassim would provide hourly basis and it would fix price after negotiation though the company would ensure equal opportunity to provide benefits of the same rank holders.

Overall advantages

According to the report of Indexmundi (1), United States is one of the most suitable places for private companies since the government of this country has changed controlling techniques and decreased tariffs and other taxes to assist the small private companies from economic crisis and legal barriers.

Therefore, overall economic situation is favourable for the sports zone and food sector while purchasing power parity (PPP) increase significantly (Indexmundi 1) though the unemployment rate is increasing dramatically, but it not affects on our business as the marketers of this complex would not target unemployed customers (IndexMundi 1). However, the following table shows some key features to find out economic condition of the suitable location as the business would expand all States of this country –

Table 9: Economic factors of the United States. Source: Self generated from Indexmundi (1).

Facilities (retail, manufacturing) and layout

Four partners would visit many places and research on the markets (socio-cultural factors, business risk, and the market demand) to identify the best place for Qassim Complex in Dallas; however, they select a place considering the following advantages –

• The marketer of Qassim Complex will choose a place besides the road for a clear view and it will be walking distance for the many target customers.
• They must consider large place for car parking;
• The place should have all the advantages to arrange party;
• It should have the opportunity to use natural assets;
• The marketer of this complex will concentrate on the transportation facilities to increase loyal customer base

Ownership

Legal structure and discussion of reasoning behind choice

Four entrepreneurs decided to form Qassim complex under partnership agreement; however, the memorandum and articles of association of this complex have included some significant provisions about their interests and liabilities, such as –

• According to the article of association, all the partners have to equally share profits and bare losses;
• The partners must follow local rules and regulation in order to avoid legal barriers, conflict of interest among the directors;
• Most importantly, four owners have to participate in the board meeting and join in management team to take decisions with mutual understanding.

Ownership percentages

• All entrepreneurs will equally invest for this complex and invest 40% of total capital, as a result, the distribution of capital would be –

Table 10: Total Capital. Source: Self generated.

Key managers and employees

It has already decided that the complex will recruit five managers for five major segments and recruits many employees considering the requirement and pressure of works.

Company Structure

The company structure of “Qassim complex” would be comparatively complicated because it must have four different business segments, such as, sports zone, Movie, gallery for events and printings, food corner with dancing facilities, and so on. However, the management has intention to expand the business in all States of the USA excluding Texas, they will open new complex after developing the brand image of Qassim Complex and they widen the products and service line in the future.

However, a chief executive officer would control the entire company and all managers and employees would bound to follow the decision of the CEO tough it is a difficult task for the CEO to control entire complex, as it should have many business-units in a single complex. In addition, each business segment should have four different departments in order to maintain the particular segment, for example, human resource, production, and finance are essential to control each department.

Organization Chart

It has already mentioned the CEO would control the company, it should have four managers to mange four segments, and managers are responsible for their functions. The employees of different department would perform their own activities though manager of one department can ask help from other department, such as, employees of production department of food sectors are responsible for controlling quality of ordered food items. However, the following diagram shows the organizational structure of Qassim Complex –

Compensation and benefits

The compensation plans of Qassim complex would also be complicated as it has four departments to serve the function of different segments. However, they would perform different way in different environment and receive salary with different salary structure; therefore, the budget of the compensation plan would be difficult to measure in a single table.

In addition, the compensation of the employees of Qassim complex would increase per year considering the performance of the employees as they get other rewards if they help the company to increase customer base by giving highest effort. The management has decided that employees would receive payment hourly basis and get benefits for quality and experience of the performance, however, the following figure shows the salary structure of few employees and four manager –

Table 11: Compensation structure. Source: Self generated.

Directors, supporting professionals and advisors

Since the organisational chart of Qassim complex is not simple, they need to prepare a code of conduct besides memorandum and article of association to direct the higher authority to arrange annual meeting, design rewarding and remuneration policy, and take necessary steps for the future development and so on.

However, this complex would not have any non-executive director at initial stage, but it should appoint NED in accordance with the disclosure requirement if the company listed in the stock market. However, Board of Directors of this complex would take all decisions considering external and internal environment and these decisions need approval of the CEO; however, they should arrange training program to develop customer service and efficiency.

As the market is uncertain and competitive, the management of Qassim Complex need to take help of the supporting professionals and advisors to sustain in the challenging market. Many large companies like Enron and Worldcom have collapsed for the unethical behaviour of the executives; therefore, Qassim Complex should develop strong financial management system by contacting with accounting firm and consultants to improve internal management system.

Moreover, this complex has to contract with different companies, suppliers, individuals and so on; therefore, the company would face legal problem if they breach clause of the agreement and this risk influences the company to contact with law firm to mitigate cases or avoid any claim.

On the other hand, Qassim Complex is highly diversified service provider and the success of one business segment depends on the performance of another segment; therefore, it should have to recruit at least two consultants who would be able to give proper suggestion to co-ordinate the performance of all employees and make profits from all sectors of the business.

Potential problems, risks, and remedies

Qassim complex may suffer number of problems to start business and buildup brand awareness, for instance –

• The total capital for the project is only $7 million and large parts of the capital have to spend for decoration, startup the business, purchasing equipment for the sports zone, and arrange other entertainment facilities. As a result, the management of Qassim complex may face financial crisis if they can’t manage their capital in accordance with the financial plan;
• The purchasing power of the US customer has decreased due to adverse impact of global financial crisis and the concurrent “Occupy Wall Street” movement has spread out in all States. In this context, the management need to concentrate on the prospect of the business more carefully in order to prepare strategic plan for the future;
• As the customers get the opportunity to book this complex for various events, the scheduling will have to be flexible and efficiently responsive;
• However, Qassim Complex has to face legal barriers in order to carry on the business;
• In addition, short budget for the promotional activities and brand development projects will create hindrance for the future development;
• It would be really difficult task to control operating expenses because of increase the price of equipment, raw materials, remuneration of staff, and marketing activities;
• At the same time, this company can become bankrupt due to mismanagement, and lack of the experience.

Alternative courses of action

The entrepreneurs of Qassim complex should design alternative course of action considering the above-mentioned risks –

• As the budget is short for the projects, the partners need to find out other sources of capital and invest fund if necessary to start operation and reach break even points;
• They must recruit efficient, dynamic, and educated employees, who would not leave the company within short period. Therefore, the management of this complex should recruit employees from Asian countries as they work hard with low price and they become efficient if they get proper training;
• The market should consider multimedia marketing strategy as it is one of the most effective marketing tools to develop brand (Hisrich & Michael, 87);
• They must follow one-to-one strategy and have to create companies’ own website within three months of its operation;
• This company can use joint venture strategy to expand business and avoid financial hardship;
• It should arrange integrated marketing communication campaign to aware people about the facilities of new complex;
• The directors should arrange regular meeting (quarterly or monthly) with the employees and managers in order to know the actual position of the business and give proper guidance.

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Location and Layout

Location

Fujairah city has about 130,000 inhabitants. The majority of the people in the city are aged between 15 and 40 years. More than 55% of the population is made up of employees, business people and other expatriates.

Fujairah City Center is a shopping mall set to provide retailers with a good business environment. It has about 34,000 square meters of space for retailers. Therefore, the facility is a strategic position for 7E Sports Company because the facility targets high and middle-income earners, expatriates, tourists and other professionals.

Accessibility to businesses at Fujairah City Center is easy because the city has a good link with other regions in the city and the world. For instance, modern highways have been developed to link the city with Khor Kalba, Masafi, Kalba, Abu Dhabiand Khor Fakkan. Public transport charges AED 4 per journey. They provide an easy access to the facility.

The rent price for each stall depends on its size and facilities/equipments therein. The 7E Sports Company will apply for a standard facility that costs approximately AED 7,000 per annum. This price is reasonable because the facility provides a unique and strategic position that attracts younger generations, middle income and tourists, which makes the largest target group for the company.

The company will employ approximately 26 employees to carry out the daily chores. The public relation department will have 6 professional employees, finance and corporation department will have 12 employees while marketing department will take 8 employees.

Salaries and wages will be provided on monthly basis for all employees. The wage rate depends on the position held, which is subject to education levels, experience and profession.

Layout

The company will occupy about 3,860 square meters of space at the facility, which provides adequate position for business. This will include spaces for stock display, cash sections, offices and other requirements.

In addition, the facility provides enough space for all kinds of people, including the disabled. For instance, to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, it is necessary to provide adequate space for people using wheel chairs, walking sticks for visually impaired people and a spacious waiting bay that has comfortable seats.

Moreover, the facility provides ergonomic support for all people, which includes ergonomic seats and chairs, tables and spaces for standing while viewing and purchasing products.

Management Team

Omar Hamour will have the overall responsibility of a chief executive officer at the company, while also acting as the manager of public relations. Abduraheem and Ahmed Salah will be the marketing manager and finance and operations manager respectively. Hamour is an experienced business manager, having obtained a bachelor’s degree in business management from the prestigious American international University at Dubai.

Ahmed Salah is a graduate of the American international University in Dubai, where he obtained a bachelors degree in economics and finance. Abduraheem holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and finance from the same university.

In addition, the company will hire three assistants in each of the three executive offices to help in the daily running of the business. Other employees will report directly to the three assistants. The three assistants will be required to have a strong background in finance, marketing and human relations in order to run the business with success.

The company will hire a legal firm to provide legal support and advice. The purpose is to seek legal advice and representation in financial and economic dealings as well as in court procedures, given that none of the partners has a legal background. In addition, the company will hire a financial expert, which will act as the advisory board in matters relating to finances and financial dealings.

Financial projections

The company is a retailer of sport products for people seeking to obtain local and foreign shoes, jerseys, caps, jackets, sporting kits and other types of items within the wide range of sporting fashion.

The price of the products will depend on the quality, manufacturer, supplier price, important expenses and competitor’s retail price. Therefore, the company will set a reasonable and competitive price for each product in order to provide the customers with a price set comparably lower than that of the competitors.

In addition, the number of units for each product will depend on the client’s needs. For instance, some clients are retailers who want products in bulk. Such people will obtain the products at a reduced price and a quantity discount of 2% compared to customers who are consumers.

In the first fiscal year, we expect to have an initial stock worth $180,000 and make sales worth $324,000, which will translate to a gross profit of $240,000. We expect the expenses to be approximately 60,000 and the net profit for the year to be $180,000. We also expect to have a gross profit margin of 13.3%.

The initial cash flow statement is expected to be a simple financial statement that will contain cash flow from operations worth $40,000, cash flow from investing worth $24,000 and cash from financing worth $8,000. Thus, we expect to have a net cash flow worth $8,000 in the first initial year. Nevertheless, we expect it to grow by 12% per annum in the subsequent financial year.

The initial balance sheet will be a simple book of account because the company will have limited assets such as cash worth $60,000, accounts receivable worth $32,000 and tools and equipment worth $140,000.

In addition, the company’s initial liabilities will include notes payable worth $25,000 and accounts payable worth $45,000. The capital stock and retained earnings will account for $30,000. This means that the closing value of assets in the first year is expected to be worth $135,000, which will be adequate to finance its debts and other liabilities.

Loan and investment proposal

The company will request an initial loan worth $110,000 from banks, but it is expected that the financiers will agree on a lesser amount by providing the loan in terms of accounts payable ($45,000) and notes payable ($25,000). The company will obtain the rest resources from personal and family contributions by the three partners in equal shares.

The purpose of these funds is to set up the company because it is a start-up business venture. The funds will be used to meet all the expenses including monthly wages and salaries, electricity, rent, transport and communication, water and sanitation and other expenses.

Although we expect the business to be highly profitable and remain legal throughout the year, we have considered an unlikely case of exit. In case a partner wishes to exit the venture within the first year, he will have to wait till the end of the financial year in order to obtain repayments, which will be made according to the value of contributions and the profits made within the year.

The exiting partner will get 100% of the contribution and 1/3 of the total profit or loss for the year. In addition, in case of a total dissolution of the venture, all the assets and profits will be made at the end of the year and each partner will obtain profits and cash out depending on equal terms because the contributions will also be made on equal basis.

Abstract

This report proposes the various issues that Mt. Helen MedTech should consider in its pursuit for a high competitive advantage by integrating e-commerce in its operation. The report focuses on the critical issues that the firm’s management team should consider in the process of implementing e-commerce.

First, the most effective e-commerce model that the firm should take into account is identified and evaluated. The report proposes that the revenue model, applications security, and e-marketing requirements should be integrated. The sales revenue model is identified as one of the most effective models that should be adopted.

Moreover, the report proposes the various measures that should be implemented in order to enhance the security of the implemented e-commerce technologies.

Other issues that are evaluated relate to the payment method, privacy issues, customer service issues, legal issues, and how the firm can utilise web analytics in improving the effectiveness and efficiency of its e-business activities.

Introduction

Mt. Helen MedTech is a small and medium sized retail enterprise that is based in Mt. Helen, Victoria. The firm retails a range of surgical and medical assistive technologies. In addition to retailing, the firm also operates a wholesale export business. However, its core business entails selling surgical and medical assistive technologies to domestic healthcare providers in Australia.

The firm has undergone significant growth since its inception. The firm’s capitalisation is estimated to be $A 10 million, while its annual sales volume is estimated to be $A 6 million. The firm’s annual sales revenue is growing at an annual rate of 10%, while the net profit is estimated to be 10% of the total sales.

Despite the firm’s growth, Mt. Helen MedTech is experiencing a number of challenges emanating from the external business environment. Some of these challenges relate to increment in the intensity of competition, changing economic environment, and change in consumer behaviour, which pose a major threat to the firm’s survival.

Mt. Helen MedTech management team has an obligation to enhance the firm’s competitive edge. One of the avenues through which the firm can develop its competitiveness is by integrating electronic commerce. Gangopadhyay (2002) defines e-commerce as “the trade of goods and services by electronic means” (p. 200).

The emergence of e-commerce has enhanced businesses’ competitiveness by enabling them to venture into the international market. Furthermore, businesses have improved their capability to attract and retain customers by addressing their service and product needs more efficiently and effectively.

Aim

This report proposes how Mt. Hellen MedTech can improve its competitive advantage by integrating e-commerce. The report evaluates the issues that the firm has to take into account in order to ensure that e-commerce is incorporated successfully in the firm’s operations.

E-commerce models

According to Canzer (2006), many businesses that have incorporated e-business in their operation have done so depending on their customer focus. For example, some businesses utilise the Internet in undertaking their operations with other businesses.

Mt. Helen MedTech core business entails selling surgical and medical assistive technologies to other healthcare providers. The firm’s management team should consider integrating business-to-business (B2B) electronic commerce model.

According to Canzer (2006), B2B business model is critical in developing a strong relationship between companies, which might be dispersed geographically. Incorporating B2B e-commerce model will improve MedTech’s ability to interact with its institutional customers via the Internet.

B2B business model will play a critical role in minimising the costs involved in developing customer relationships. For example, the firm will not be required to develop annual purchase orders in addition to eliminating the cost associated The firm will be in a position to develop and sustain a strong network of institutional customers.

Considering the nature of its business operations, Mt. Helen MedTech should consider incorporating two main B2B systems, which include Electronic Data Interchange [EDI] and the Enterprise Resource Planning [ERP].

EDI refers to a form of e-business system that is used in the process of exchanging electronic documents between trading partners through private or value added telecommunication lines. According to UNCTAD (2006), EDI is based on codes, which are agreed upon by the trading partners.

Incorporating EDI will allow Mt. Helen MedTech to improve the effectiveness with which business transactions are conducted. For example, EDI will lead to the elimination of paper-based purchasing processes.

The second aspect that the firm should consider relates to the implementation of ERP. Canzer (2006) defines ERP to include “the back-office accounting software systems that handle data entry, purchasing, invoicing, and inventory control” (p.21).

Implementing the ERP technology will improve the efficiency with which the firm undertakes it data exchange processes with the customers. Incorporating EDI will enable the firm to develop an efficient customer response, hence improving its supply chain (Kalakota & Robinson, 2000).

Revenue model

The success of e-business is dependent on the effectiveness with which a firm develops the revenue model. Manzoor (2010) defines revenue model to include the process through which a firm intends to make money from its business operations. Businesses can implement different revenue models including transaction fee, subscription model, affiliate model, and sales model.

One of MedTech’s objectives is to maximise its level of profitability via improving its sales capability both in the local and in the international market. The sales revenue model entails integrating measures aimed at generating sales revenue by providing information, offering services to clients, and selling goods (Jawadekar, 2013).

Given that the firm deals with tangible products, it is imperative to consider implementing a merchant model as its core sales revenue model. Therefore, the firm will be required to develop an electronic storefront.

The firm can achieve this goal by implementing and effecting information-technology infrastructure. The infrastructure should be integrated in its official website. Moreover, the website should have the capacity to receive and process the customers’ orders (Shaw, 2001).

Applications

For successful implementation of the e-business, it is imperative for the firm to implement effective e-commerce applications. The firm can consider a number of applications. One of the applications relates to procurement application.

The application will improve the effectiveness with which customers purchase medical and surgical products from the company. For example, the procurement application will improve the effectiveness with which the firm identifies the customers’ needs by interacting with them through the company website.

Moreover, the firm’s customers will solicit bids and proposals hence providing the firm with an opportunity to evaluate the bids effectively. Subsequently, the firm will be in a better position to deal with the customers’ purchase orders.

It is also imperative for the firm to integrate effective online marketing and advertising applications. One of the ways through which the firm can achieve this goal is by conducting comprehensive marketing campaign through Internet-based mediums such as search engines and e-mail marketing.

Moreover, it is imperative for the firm to consider adopting the concept of electronic publishing to create sufficient level of market awareness regarding the firm’s operations amongst the healthcare providers in both the local and the international market.

In addition to the above applications, it is imperative for the firm to implement an effective e-banking application. This application will improve the effectiveness with which customers pay for goods and services.

Some of the e-banking applications that the firm should consider include Internet banking and mobile phone banking. Integrating effective an e-banking application will make it effective for both onshore and offshore customers to pay for the goods purchased efficiently.

Security

It is imperative for the firm to understand that the Internet exposes both businesses and customers to numerous risks. Jawadekar (2013) emphasises, “The vulnerability of the e-business systems, applications, and processes increases due to the very nature of its openness to both internal and external individuals” (p. 109). Subsequently, the firm should implement effective security measures.

The security measures should aim at protecting the software and hardware on which the implemented applications run. This move will play a critical role in safeguarding the firm’s reputation, hence improving the level of trust amongst the customers in the course of involving themselves with various online activities such as e-procurement.

In a bid to enhance the security of its e-business activities, Mt. Helen MedTech should focus on integrating a number of security measures.

First, the firm should ensure that only authorised persons are allowed to access the e-business network. The firm should also consider integrating digital certificates such as credit cards to ensure that only authorised parties can access the firm’s applications.

Other security measures that should be implemented include effective antivirus software, intrusion detection systems, firewalls, and encryption. The firm should also undertake a penetration testing in order to gauge the security level of its e-commerce applications.

E-Marketing requirements

The effectiveness of Mt. Helen MedTech in its e-business activities will be determined by how well it undertakes it e-marketing activities. In order to maximise its sales revenue, it is fundamental for the firm to consider a number of factors. First, the firm should implement optimal Internet capabilities.

One of the ways through which the firm can achieve this goal is by developing effective intranet and Internet capabilities. The intranet capabilities will provide the firm an opportunity to exchange business information with its customers.

The firm will be required to hire qualified and experienced web and Internet marketing developers to aid in optimising the benefits associated with online marketers. For example, marketers will effectively design and post the necessary online marketing content on the firm’s website for clients to view.

MedTech should train its marketing workforce on how to optimise on the benefits associated with the Internet. This aspect will improve the likelihood of the firm maximising its sales revenue.

In addition to the above requirements, the firm should also consider implementing an online performance measurement. Subsequently, the firm will be in a position to evaluate the effectiveness of the implemented e-business activities.

Payment

In a bid to develop sufficient e-business capabilities, MedTech has to provide customers with an opportunity to pay for the goods purchased effectively and efficiently. Consequently, the firm should implement an effective e-payment system.

One of the ways through which the firm can achieve this goal is by implementing an effective Electronic Funds Transfer system. This technique will enable the firm to eliminate paper-based payment transactions. The firm should also consider designing payment cards.

However, the firm should ensure that optimal security measures are integrated in the cards so as not compromise the payment process. Moreover, the firm should also consider incorporating electronic money systems. Specifically, MedTech should integrate the software-based form of electronic money.

Botha, Bothma, and Geldenhuys (2008) define this form of electronic money as “a form of payment that operates through computer networks and the Internet, hence providing customers an opportunity to undertake remote payments” (p.234). Other payment techniques that the firm should consider include electronic cheques and electronic wallets.

Privacy

According to Joseph (2012), privacy is one of the major challenges facing electronic commerce. Therefore, to develop strong customer relationships, it is fundamental for the firm to observe high levels of privacy. The firm should formulate a comprehensive privacy policy. The policy should restrict the firm’s employees from reusing the customers’ confidential information without their consent.

Secondly, the firm should not share customers’ information with third parties. Moreover, the firm should desist from using technologies that can capture the customer’s confidential information. Such a policy will play an essential role in promoting the level of confidence amongst its customers.

Legal issues

The firm should be cognisant of the likelihood of encountering diverse legal issues. In order to safeguard itself from different legal issues, the firm should formulate a comprehensive set of online terms, policies, conditions, and laws. The firm should ensure that customers understand the prevailing terms and conditions of engaging in e-commerce activities with the firm.

Given that the firm intends to maximise its sales revenue by engaging in international marketing, it is imperative for the firm to understand the prevailing international issues. One of the issues that the firm should take into account relates to jurisdiction. The firm should also consider incorporating copyright and trademark.

Customer service issues

Optimal customer service is critical in businesses’ effort to maximise the sales revenue. The firm should focus on nurturing a high level of customer service. Considering the view that customer service in e-commerce is provided through automated technologies, it is imperative for the firm to ensure that a high level of customer satisfaction is developed.

This goal can be attained by providing customer service in three main stages, which include pre-purchase, during the purchasing process, and after the purchase.

Pre-purchase customer service should entail providing customers with electronic presentations and catalogues, while the purchase phase entails enhancing the customers’ purchase process through online payment systems, online order entries, and online negotiations.

With regard to post purchase level, the firm should address the issues raised by customers regarding their purchase process and product experiences.

Analytics

It is important for the firm to integrate effective web analytic tools in order to understand the customers’ behaviours. The web analytic tools will aid in gaining insight on different issues.

Some of the metrics that the firm should track include the visitors’ trend, page views, referrals, bounce rates, keywords, and phrases. Subsequently, the firm will gain insight on how it can improve its site into sales. One of the analytics tools that the firm should consider is the Google Analytics.

Conclusion and recommendations

This report shows that Mt. Helen MedTech can improve its competitive advantage and hence its long term survival by implementing the concept of e-commerce. E-commerce will enable the firm to attain its cost minimisation objective by eliminating different operational challenges.

However, it is imperative for the firm to consider taking into account different issues, which include an effective e-commerce model, revenue model, e-commerce applications, security measures, and e-marketing requirements. Moreover, the firm should take into account payment, privacy, and customer service, analytics, and legal related issues.

References

Botha, J., Bothma, C., & Geldenhuys, P. (2008). Managing e-commerce in business. Cape Town, SA: Juta.

Canzer, B. (2006). E-business: strategic thinking and practice. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.

Gangopadhyay, A. (2002). Managing business with electronic commerce: issues and trends. Hershey, PA: Idea Group Publishers.

Joseph, T. (2012). E-commerce: An Indian perspective. New Delhi, India: Prentice Hall.

Jawadekar, W. (2013). Management information systems: texts and cases; a global digital enterprise perspective. New Delhi, India: McGraw-Hill Education.

Kalakota, R., & Robinson, M. (2000). E-business 2.0: Roadmap for success. Boston, MA: Addison-Wesley.

Manzoor, A. (2010). E-commerce; an introduction. Saarbrucken, Germany: Lambert Academic Publishers.

UNCTAD: Information economy report: the development perspective. (2006). New York, NY: United Nations.

Shaw, P. (2001). E-business privacy and trust: planning and management strategies. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.

Summary Of The Business

The business entails tours to people of age 55 and above. It takes advantage of the changes in technology in which tours are arranged through the internet.This makes traveling interesting and easy especially due to company created through chatting with people who have the same interest of traveling.

It also targets people of that age because they have disposable income to spend. The shareholders are not allowed to get any salary from the profits in order to retain the profits for expansion of the business.

The business is enhanced through advertisement and provision of services. The tours are flexible enabling the travelers to plan at ease. Promotions such as offering packages are available to improve the satisfaction of consumers. The start-up capital is to be acquired through venture capitalists and bank loans.

Introduction

The analysis of the business plan is very important to identify and correct omissions and errors that may have been made since everything in it is accountable to the company and is reflected in the business. This makes the business remain and attract more customers making the plan important in starting a business.

Body Of The Plan

1. The name and address of the company has been included in the plan. The names of co-owners have been listed but omission of addresses has to be corrected.
2. The business has been described well in a way that is able to convince any customer of the benefits derived from joining it and that the business really exists.
3. The finances are capable of running the business up to the standards required and this makes it easier to assure customers of satisfaction although they are acquired through credit which gives room for liquidation.
4. The statement of confidentiality of the report makes the plan more complete and trustworthy. It is simple and clear.

Executive Summary

1. The sections should be analyzed in a more simple and interesting way, the sections discussed should be summarized into; the company, objectives, mission and keys to success. However, the details provided are enough to attract customers and keep the business going.
2. The plan has not explained clearly about the organization and the members of the management hence otherwise the customer may get confused enough not to trust the business.
3. The objectives and mission of the business is clear, interesting and more convincing of benefit to both the vendors and the customers.
4. The plan makes the business appear confident to succeed since no exaggerations identified.
5. The executive summary is quite short in words and this might make the business appear to target a small market hence additional information might make the business more attractive.

Industry Analysis

1. The focus and trends created for the business are quite impressive and if achieved there is assurance of success of the business.
2. The company is very positive about the growth of the business and this helps attract not even the customers but also the inventors and increases accessibility to finances.
3. The outlook of future transactions and success of the business is described in a sensible manner, in a way that there no doubt the business will succeed.
4. The company is able to identify its competitors and provide solutions to compete with them effectively.
5. Continuous assessment and analysis of the competitors’ trends and outlooks will help the company a lot in terms of keeping pace with changes in technology and customer attraction since its existence may encourage the competitors to make their own changes too.
6. Market segmentation has categorized the needs of customers according to business customers more than individual customers which is quite risky but at look of it might not affect now but later.The company should be in a position to differentiate the different social status, special interests and more influences of purchase decisions.

Conclusion

The changes to be made are minimal but very important. Making the plan more simple will make it easier for people to read since the aged tend to have variety of problems such as health and slow in getting attracted. The plan if carried out as analyzed will definitely succeed.

The management should therefore adopt the plan and initiate the necessary action. The plan will definitely help people of age 55 and above to travel at ease and enjoy themselves due to the availability of internet that helps them gain insights into tours they are interested in and chat with people interested too.

The order of the plan is very sensible to the customers since it’s very simple and attractive in its outline except in the case of executive summary. In my opinion, I would prefer it categorized into sections such as:

1. The company
2. Objectives
3. Mission
4. Key to success

The addresses of the co-owners have been omitted but they are very important both to the company and to the customers in terms of communication and legal establishment. The overall plan is good and impressive.

Introduction

Some essential practices are carried out before starting a new business to establish if the business idea is sensible and to evaluate the required capital needed to start the business. It also helps identify the length in which the business will begin to show profit.

Bringing together in-depth business plan needs a significant investment of time, so it is very important to investigate the feasibility of business idea and to establish if it has a value. Feasibility study is the initial stage a person pursues before producing a complete business plan (Reuvid, 201, p. 135).

A feasibility study is applied to analyze the probability of the business idea being effective and the business plan uses the data received in the feasibility study to demonstrate the way the business will function, market, develop, and create income.

The business plan must come after the feasibility study and if the projected business idea is not feasible, a person must progress the business plan until he or she revises the business idea. The business plan is often used as a tool to portray completely the business and its fiscal projections.

Purpose of Feasibility Study and Business Plan

A feasibility study offers an impression of the major factors of the business idea to investigate if it is appropriate and practical, and to establish any issues that may build or damage the undertaking. This study examines the market area, the prospective business form, the provision of products, and advanced financial features such as the accessibility of capital and prospective proceeds on venture (Reuvid, 201, p. 135).

The feasibility analysis addresses different settings for the function of the business and provides all the benefits and drawbacks to establish the effective and reliable options. For instance, if a person arranges to commence a business that offers the products related to clothing, the study establishes if the products will sell better online or in a local store setting.

After the feasibility analysis is performed and the projected idea is feasible, the person should apply this information to gather his or her complete business plan.

This report or plan offers an efficient direction or path for establishing the venture and contains a description of the situation that has been chosen from those enclosed and described in the feasibility study. It describes issues like the potential business model, projected possession, and legal structure, and the idea for execution (Gartner and Bellamy, 2008, p. 242).

Structure of Feasibility Study and Business Plan

A feasibility plan has a structure that contains aspects of the product or service and the rationale that offers how person anticipate customers to buy this product or service. It examines the materials applied to produce the item or the procedure by which the person obtains the product or service for sale.

A feasibility study determines the mass and features of the projected market, the key players and all present blockages to operating in the market. It investigates the environmental factors that might influence the effectiveness of the venture, such as advance technology expenses, government policies, and waste disposal matters.

The business plan contains in-depth picture of the functions, the products to be offered, capital expenses, marketing strategies, and accessibility of budget. The plan encloses the potential time limit for starting the projected business and the main individuals required within this period.

The business plan lists the potential strategies of the venture in the market and determines evidently the part of the market intended to purchase the products of the business.

It also provides the descriptions of the pricing strategies of the venture and evaluation of the immediate competitors of the business and their pricing (Gartner and Bellamy, 2008, p. 242). The business plan contains descriptions on the way the person proposes to finance his or her introduction expenses and early inventory purchases.

Identification of Feasibility Study and Business plan

While it is carried out before the person begins to plan the product, proceed on the business, and market the products, the feasibility study joins the analysis regarding the industry, product or service growth, production, cost factors, pricing, and functions.

It is intended to determines that there are demands of the customers for the product offered by the business and if it is possible to create a profit and meet the available demands. The business plan also offers practical ideas and information the business may apply in planning and initiating the business (Allen, 2011, p. 25).

Business Plan Identification

Taken from the reality discovered by the feasibility study of the business, a person may plan the way he or she will provide the product at a cost that permits the new business to attain the end users’ price demands and again receive projected profit.

Feasibility study also describes the business’s projected customer and helps in making a marketing strategy part of the business to draw more customers to make a profit.

When creating a business plan, it is necessary to go on to apply the feasibility study that produces important information for the business form, intended customer, marketing strategy, revenue form, industry information, investigation of competitors, and emergency strategy (Allen, 2011, p. 25).

A business is likely to be unsuccessful if its feasibility study is carried our inadequately in the beginning. Nevertheless, business plan passes through several iterations and are intended to develop to explain a continuing business.

References

Allen, K. (2011). Entrepreneurship For Dummies. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Gartner, W., & Bellamy, M. (2008). Creating the Enterprise. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.

Reuvid, J. (2011). Business Insights: China: Practical Advice on Operational Strategy and Risk Management. London: Kogan Page Publishers.

Introduction

Finlay’s group is a global grower, wholesaler and exporter of flowers and plants. Global operations permit Finlay’s group access to various marketing channels and financial information, storage and logistics facilities.

Grower is the primary suppliers in the floricultural value chain while exporters, importers, wholesalers, cash-and-carry stores and retailers provide the demand for the products (Finlay, 2011). One role of Finlay’s group is to group suppliers and buyers, and so they fix prices. Another role of Finlay’s group is to increase productivity by breaking large deliveries from growers into smaller amounts for buyers.

Business Requirements

Emergence of electronically driven flower markets has influenced the necessity of a computer analyst manager. Computer analyst manager will be responsible for devising a system, which can simplify Finlay’s business success, and development of the company, to involve more with the suppliers, retailers and other stakeholders (Finlay, 2011).

The electronic system to be developed and maintained by the computer analyst manager should have the input, output and process which incorporate real-time process to expedite efficient of the organization.

Job Analysis of Computer Analyst Manager

There are different specializations in IT, in line with information technology needs in organizations. In this age, most organizations need the services of a computer analyst Manager. Computer analysts are individuals who have the technical know- how in a computer program creation (Info Tech Employment, 2007).

This field is highly specialized and needs proper understanding of logical sequencing. Therefore, the first assignment a computer analyst can have is a software development. However, given software development means one can also troubleshoot and correct say instructions on software, computer analysts also offer support and maintain systems (Info Tech Employment, 2007).

Qualifications for a Computer Analyst Manager

Computer analyst needs to have a sound knowledge and relevant professional training in computer programming. Despite what the computer analyst does, he or she must have the capacity to design and implement software solutions. Computer analysts are involved in the testing of computer programs, operating systems and other advanced software’s.

To implement an IT solution, many times organizations source ready- made software from the market, but they can also develop software in-house. When the software has been bought or when the system has been developed entirely, a computer analyst has to test it (Info Tech Employment, 2007). Once the system or software has been installed and is running, the computer analyst focus is on offering support in maintaining the system.

The second technical skill requirement is designing. The computer analyst is responsible for creating and designing the system by selecting major components. He or she investigates the possible ways of designing the system from the requirements gathered. Thirdly, the he or she ensures that the new system being designed will meet the user’s requirements; he or she analyzes and predicts input, output, memory, software and hardware aspect of design to ensure they meet the required development standards.

Fourthly, the computer analyst has to understand software validation and verification of data. Computer analysts formulate and subsequently implement verification for the systems to ensure that they meet the requirements. He or she develops test plan and test data, which is used to validate the system to ensure it works to its specification.

A computer analyst has to entail apt communication to communicate well with the team that he or she is working with or involved. Efficient and accurate verbal and written communication is necessary for giving information. Secondly, the person should have needs to have strong analytical and judgmental skills. These skills are essential as they help in analyzing the processes involved during the development of the system to ensure every step is considered basing on the requirements.

Good communication, analytical, problem-solving skills and good judgment should be complimented by strong leadership or management skills. The system analyst should display assertiveness; confidence and hard work to enable him or her produce the best of what he or she is doing. Good leadership goes hand in hand with being a good team player.

Sourcing Plan for Computer Analyst Manager

developing a good sourcing strategy enables an organization to ensure that it only hires excellent and qualified candidates at a reduced cost and within the shortest time possible. Hence, this should be a plan for Finlay Group. Finlay’s group has to embrace internal recruitment and agencies.

Internal sourcing or recruitment refers to the practice of selecting among the existing workers in an organization to take up vacant position. Finlay Group can advertise the vacant post internally, which will then be filled by existing workers in the company. Tapping of internal human capital is essential especially because the employees to be hired already have been in the organization, and thus are familiar with company values and best practices (Pulakos, 2005).

Moreover, sourcing using a recruitment agency will also be useful for Finlay. The recruiting agencies provide an efficient means of recruiting ideal candidates from the others because they have knowledge and skills in sieving various applications to ensure only qualified, and candidates who meet the organizations criterion are selected. Besides, recruitment via agencies reduces costs and the quantity of time used in the selection and hiring progression.

Assessment Criteria for Potential Candidate

in attracting a potential candidate, appropriate assessment system has to be implemented. One of the plans is conducting a job interviews. A job interview is recruitment strategy whereby a prospective candidate is evaluated for a potential job opportunity in the organization. During a job interview, an employer aims in determining whether the job applicant merits the position or not. It succeeds hiring decision and preceded by assessing the credentials submitted by interested job applicants.

Job interview aims at achieving different characteristics about the job applicant, which ultimately can be assessed to either grant or deny the post. Finlay Group will benefit by conducting job interviews on potential applicants. One of the roles will be identifying the general traits of an applicant.

This is in terms of cognitive ability, personality, goals, values and interests. These traits are evaluated to determine if the candidate can fit in the organization. Secondly, experiential factors are also considered. Aspects such as; experience, professional training, education in relation to the job specification. Besides, key job elements such as; motivation, procedural skills and declarative knowledge are also factored during interview.

Another important criterion, which will be useful for Finlay Group, is the virtual job tryout and simulation. This is a hiring processing which entails hiring through a recruiting agency. The tool asses if the applicant will perform. According to Pulakos (2005), this process encompasses hi-tech approaches will tend to be cost-effective for the organization.

The process engages a candidate in a computer structured exercise that mirrors tasks, problem-solving environment or operational context they may encounter on a real job environment. Since the simulation is performed by computer systems, it is accurate and reliable thus they can predict actual performance by a person once selected.

Selection Process

Selecting a candidate among a pool of others is a complex task. Hence, suitable strategy has to be encompassed. Employee selection is designated as a process of picking a fitting person for the right job. In other words, it is a process or technique of matching the organizational requirements with the abilities and professionalism of a person.

Philips and Gully (2011) argues that a systematic selection is only achieved when effective matching is accomplished. By embracing impressive selection for the vacant position, the Finlay is inclined for better quality and improved performance.

The employee selection, just like a job application process entails various stages, and each stage has requirements, which should be fulfilled by the candidate. The first stage is the preliminary interview. This interview is done in order to exclude applicants who do not meet the least benchmark, or eligibility as stipulated by the organization.

The candidate competencies and interests, family and academic background and skills are assessed. The preliminary interviews are less formal and planned. In addition, during this process, a candidate is briefed about the organization and job profile.

Application of blanks is the other stage in the selection process. This stage involves a candidate filling application blanks. Application blanks contain data records such as; qualifications, details about age, details for leaving the previous jobs, job history among other reasons about the candidate.

After application blanks, written test follows. This is the third stage. Written tests of varying number are given to the candidate. The tests are extremely; aptitude, reasoning intelligent and personality, just to mention a few. The aims of the tests are to evaluate the prospective candidate.

The fourth stage is the employment interview. Employment interview involves formal interaction between the interviewer and the candidate. It is used to assess whether the candidate qualifies for the job on offer or not. The stage involves a series of questions which the candidate as to respond to ascertain his or her abilities about the job in context and the organization at large. Honest and integrity is important between the interviewer and the candidate to increase accuracy of information given.

Medical evaluation is also conducted to determine the candidate is physically fit and does not cost the organization expenses in-case of any ill-health. Besides, medical examination will reduce the chances of decreased performance due to absenteeism.

Lastly, basing on the performance of the aforementioned stages, an organization may perform cross-referencing about the candidate selected. If the candidate performed well, an organization gives formal appointment letter. However, when a candidate performed dismally, or did not meet the organization job requirement, a regret letter is given to the candidate.

On- boarding and Socialization Strategy

Onboarding and Socialization plays an important role in aligning new employee in the organization. Hence, by understanding an organization diversity and culture, a new employee can fit well in the organization. For the computer analyst manager, to fit in the organization, the initial step will be scheduling orientation program.

Orientation program will aim at familiarizing with the organization, culture, history and values of Finlay’s group. This will facilitate smooth start (Pulakos, 2005). Secondly, the organization needs to provide the new employee with support tools and processes. This tools need to include written on-boarding plan.

Written on board plan includes support in terms of responsibilities and support available for new employees. Additionally, coaching and support is also important. The stakeholders in the organization need to support a new employee to adjust to the working environment.

Similarly, training is necessary in boosting new employee confidence, skills and transparency in the organization. An important area which training accomplishes includes; developing new employee soft, hard and on boarding skills. These skills are essential for a new employee in surging productivity in the organization.

Success of Recruiting and Staffing Plan

According to Philips and Gully (2011) recruitment and staffing presents a comprehensive structure for the whole process of employee recruitment, selection and subsequent hiring of an employee. Hence, the primary purpose of recruitment and staffing is to establish the perfect and most versatile employee an organization can obtain.

To ensure the Finlay’s group accepts the ideal candidate for the position of the computer analyst manager, it is important to determine the need for hiring, craft a detailed job specification derived from job analysis and job description, plan for recruitment meeting with HR department or hiring agency (Philips and Gully, 2011).

Besides, by embracing job specification, Finlay’s may revise history of equivalent employees who have successfully occupied a similar position, rate the indispensable qualities, education and traits for the anticipated successful candidate.

Additionally, Finlay group has to plan for interview panel and track the process. Hence, the panel will decide on the screening questions. They may also determine if a test can be given to get the best candidate. Through these processes, an analysis can be implemented.

Conclusion

Employee recruitment and staffing is an important aspect of most organization. Hence, Finlay, by planning and implementing the mentioned guideline in the report, they will ultimately find the ideal candidate for the position of a computer analyst manager.

Reference List

Finlays. (2011). Welcome to the World of Finlay. Web.

Info Tech Employment. (2007). Computer Jobs with the Growing Information Technology Professional Services Sector: Mid-Atlantic States. New York: Partnerships for Community, Inc.

Phillips, J., and Gully, S., (2011). Strategic Staffing. New York: Pearson Education, Limited.

Pulakos, E. (2005). Selection Assessment Methods: A Guide to Implementing Formal Assessments to Build a High Quality Workforce. Alexandria, VA: The SHRM Foundation.

Executive Summary

Remix will be a fast food restaurant. The restaurant will offer food such as pizzas, fried chicken, Doughnuts as well as chips. Similarly, the restaurants will also sell soft drinks such as sodas as well as fruit juice to its customers. The restaurant will be located in one of the city in United Arabs Emirates. The restaurant will be started as in form of a partnership between Ahmed and Ishmael.

After establishing the restaurant in one of the major cities in United Arabs Emirates, the restaurant is expected to expand as a chain of fast food restaurants to other parts of United Arabs Emirates as well as across the border. The restaurant will be started using the money that Ahmed and Ishmael will raise from their saving as well as from a loan they intend to apply from a bank.

The money raised will be used to refurbish the premises they intend to rent to run their business. In addition, the money will be used to buy appropriate stock that is needed to start the restaurant. The money will help in making the restaurant appear appealing in order to attract prospective customers in large numbers.

General Description of the Business

We intend to venture into restaurant industry. I will act as the operational director, whereby I will use my vast acquired management skills to organize my skilled workforce to work as a team.

Vision Statement

The vision of Remix is to become the leading fast food chain of restaurants in United Arab Emirates.

Mission

Remix restaurant will embark in offering fast foods to tourists as well as to those people that live in United Arab Emirates. The restaurant will provide foods such as chips, fried chicken, Doughnuts as well as soft drinks such as sodas and fruit juices.

Business Philosophy

Remix restaurant philosophy will be ‘Eat Healthy at an affordable price.’

The restaurant industry is still very young in United Arab Emirates. Initially, we will open a restaurant in one major city in United Arab Emirates and then extend our restaurants to other cities of United Arabs Emirates as well as across the border.

SWOT Analysis

The Strength of the restaurant will be based on its very competent workforce. Having worked for McDonald chain of restaurants at management level, I have acquired relevant experience that I will use to help Remix compete well with other restaurants in United Arab Emirates.

The restaurant will initially operate in form of partnership. I opted for this form of ownership in order for the two of us to combine our financial as well as professional resources to maximize our chances of excelling in our new venture.

Products

Remix restaurant will specialize in offering its customers fast foods such as chips, fried chicken, Doughnuts as well as soft drinks and other foods. Remix will try to diversify its menu in order to cater for all its customers.

Marketing

Remix will use its competent marketing as well as sales team to market its products. The marketing team will conduct a primary as well as a secondary research in order to determine the tastes as well as the preferences of its customers in order to advice the production department accordingly.

The primary research will entail collecting appropriate data from its customers. On the other hand, the secondary research will entail the marketing team conducting a review of available literature about the strategies that other successful restaurants such as McDonald have adopted in order to succeed in the restaurant industry.

Economies

Remix restaurant will start as a fast food restaurant in the city of United Arab Emirates. The demand for fast food is very high within the United Arab Emirates. Remix restaurant will start as a partnership, but will expand later and transform into a public ownership enterprise through privatization. Through this process, the restaurant will get enough capital to expand its operations through mergers and acquisition.

Customers

Remix customers will be mainly the rich residents of United Arab Emirates as well as those tourists who have visited UAE. Conversely, there are some of Remix customers who will belong to the middle class. Thus, Remix management will consider all these factors and designed appropriate menu for all categories of the anticipated customers.

Advertisement and Promotion

Remix will use its website to market its brand online. Similarly, the restaurant will use ads from the local TV to enhance the awareness of its brand within the United Arab Emirates.

Location

The first Remix restaurant will be located in the one city of United Arab Emirate and afterwards other Remix restaurants will be started in other parts of the country.

Suppliers

Remix restaurant will get chickens, fruits, milk as well as vegetables from farmers in the United Arab Emirates. Other raw materials that will be needed will be bought from super markets that are nearby the restaurant.

Management

The restaurant will have two directors Ahmed and Ishmael. Remix restaurant will also have an accountant who will manage the financial aspects of the restaurant.

Finance

The Restaurant will require approximately $ 50, 000 to start its operation. The directors will raise $ 20,000 while the remaining $ 30,000 will be raised from a from a bank loan.

An important aspect of the product or service marketing is product (or service) design and development planning. In order for the company to stage a competitive and fruitful marketing for its products or services, a product or service plan must be put in place to match will the particular target market that the company intends to serve (Kotler & Keller, 127).

The failure of proper planning of the product or service can spell doom to the company’s efforts. Very often we have seen products and services being introduced, but been withdrawn from the market all just because of a poor product design and development phase.

Product design refers to the sum total of actions involved in creating and styling the look and feel of the product itself, it also involves making decisions on the product’s mechanical compositions and actual technical composition. Furthermore the product design involves selecting various materials and all relevant processes, together with various constituents that are necessary to make the product appealing to the consumer.

On the other hand product Development is a term used to collectively explain the whole process of pointing out a market opportunity, creating a product that is highly attractive to the identified market segment, testing the product itself making necessary modifications, until it is ready for production.

The two go hand in hand and complement each other. If this process is well undertaken, it is more probable that the product or service will succeed in the market (West, Ford & Ibrahim 36).

The product development plan will tell the consumer the purpose of bringing a new product or service into the market and the necessary marketing strategy that the company intends to follow in order to achieve this purpose as far as the product is concerned.

It also tells the company about target market at the same time it tells you the marketing weapons you’ll employ to designing innovative new products. Therefore, reducing risks and uncertainties for the organization, this would otherwise have put the organization in a more risky situation.

The development and design plan will explain to the relevant stakeholders the amount of work that remains to launch the company products, what factors need to come together to make our concept work, and what the company is doing to bring them together.

The company therefore tries to explain how installs systems to define measure, analyze, implement control the processes of producing products in proper time for consumption and in the best quality. The process of product design and development belongs to the marketing, design and manufacturing departments, and therefore demands for cooperation and a lot of interaction between different divisions in the organization.

The product (or Service) design and development plan will handle the issues of product quality, value, and time that will take to roll out the product or service and all relevant costs and incorporate them to achieve an equilibrium in the process of coming up with the product or service.

When customers purchase Wormtech product they expect accurate delivery and quality that guarantees satisfaction. While Wormtech as an organization ensures that its product design costs are low but the end product quality is high, therefore systems to ensure innovativeness and quality management must be put in place that ensures the intended goals are achieved (Doyle & Stern, 108).

Wormtech designs and tests its Agro worm products with the Soil Food Institute and Southern Cross University, Environmental Analysis Laboratory to deliver to its consumers the best possible environmentally friendly organic soil improving fertilizers.

The process of development and design takes place between Wormtech and other division whom use latest technologies to make its product. Research and analysis costs money but Wormtech finds this necessary for its consumers who consists of schools, clubs, farmers, water companies, and other fertilizer manufacturers.

The process of developing and designing products and services in Wormtech aims to produce organic fertilizers and other products that ensure, organic and all natural environmentally friendly products that restore soil and plant health, and at the same time de- toxify soil increasing soil fertility and increase resistance to pest attacks.

Such products are further designed to increase resistance to disease for stronger plant growth increased flowering and water holding capacity of soil by up to 30%use on any plant.

The new Agro worm product will be enriched with microbes, ferments, enzymes, vitamins and other biologically dynamic constituents that are vital to promote healthy plants. It will be abundant in essential nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and other elements which assist in promoting healthy growth in plants.

Agro worm is known to have an elevated organic content that helps to develop nutrients and enhance moisture retention of the soil, thus improving drainage and water-holding ability, thus an excellent option for potted plants such as flowers, small fruits trees and other plants. Agro worm also helps produce disease and pest resistant plants.

A good research and design process of Wormtech should consider the following when designing and developing products:

1. Customize the needs of the customer;
2. Identify the concepts that should go into the design and development of the product;
3. Ensure the employees are relevant and up to date with the current technology;
4. The design should aim at optimizing on manufacturing output; and
5. Validates the product

The customer should always be at the center of the product design and development process a business that puts other objectives ahead of the customer needs and wants may most likely fail in this process of designing products and services.

The human resource division should strive to recruit highly talented individuals that will foster technological advancements that are ahead of their time. At the same time product and service development planning software can be used to create schedules that are accurate and optimal (Otto & Wood 35).

A good or a service can be generally categorized as either market-pull product or technology-push product. In the instance of a market-pull product, the marketing division of an organization is assigned with the task of coming up with a convincing argument that that a given good or service would sale properly if it was designed to attract to a well designed segment of its target market.

The product design department is then given a go ahead to determine the likelihood that it can technically match the expected consumer standards with the new product. This is the total opposite when it comes to technology-push product.

When a technical advancement opens the way for a new product, marketing division tries to determine the idea’s prospects in the marketplace if good then the company pursues the marketing opportunity if unsuitable then the marketing department makes recommendations to the concerned divisions to make changes (Belair 41, Trott 105).

Many are times that the technical department may not outright come up with a totally new and different new product. Consequently Marketers take up the enormous task of brainstorming and packaging the product in the way greatest way possible get the maximum attention of its customers.

After all these it then becomes the burden of the manufacturing department to come up with figures that will estimate the total amount of financial resources that will be required to manufacture the product which often comes in handy when creating profoma financial statements.

After performing the economic analysis and knowing the product potential precise quantitative terms. The involved divisions should therefore prepare detailed development blueprint and reports which include a list of incremental activities, and those responsible for handling these incremental tasks and the necessary resources and expenses that will be required to release the product/service.

After which development schedule that is time specific is formulated and sent to different departments so that each department can use it to evaluate and control the entire process to achieve suitable results and implement changes if necessary.

It is therefore necessary to prioritize development project and not to overstretch resources, identifying the project staffing requirements plan development resource requirements allocate and manage resources use modular design approach.

Standardizing parts and material firmly synchronize development activities learn to work with partial information and at the same time organize to release the product early enough and involve subcontractors and suppliers in the development plan.

Coordinate production requirements resolve production problems quickly and create comprehensive, realistic project plan balance testing and time-to-market to come up with a real and feasible time frame of delivering the product from the top of the chain to the consumer.

Fig. 1: Product design diagram

Works cited

Belair, Georgette. Implementing Design for Six SIGMA: A Leader’s Guide: Getting the Most from Your Product Development. Milwaukee: ASQ Quality Press, 2006. Print.

Doyle, Peter & Stern Phillip. Marketing Management and Strategy, 4 edition. New York, NY: Prentice Hall, 2006. Print.

Kotler, Phillip & Keller, Kevin. Marketing Management (13 edition). New York, NY: Prentice Hall, 2006. Print.

Otto, Kevin & Wood Kristin. Product design: techniques in reverse engineering and new product development. New York: Prentice Hall, 2001. Print.

Trott, Paul. Innovation Management and New Product Development, 4 edition. Essex: Pearson, 2008. Print.

West, Douglas, Ford, John & Ibrahim, Essam. Strategic Marketing: Creating Competitive Advantage, 2 edition. New York: Oxford, 2010. Print.