Achieving Project Management Success - Case Study Example

BUSINESS PLAN The report deals with developing a business plan that shows the potential of a new company that deals with international cuisine. The new company has been developed as a response to the growing number of international students in university campuses who wish to enjoy food from their own culture. With the increasing number of students from different cultures and the demand for product diversity, comes the question: “Do students from other countries like American food?” The fact that gave the inspiration for this new business idea was whether international students enjoy English food or do they miss food from their home country. The store cannot fulfill the needs of all international students. That is why it will focus on the majority. There are a few characteristics about the international students: Age from 18 years old Study fulltime or part-time at university campuses Home country (Asian): China, India, Nigeria, Sri-Lanka, Bangladesh Purpose of the Business The business idea is a store which sells food that international students miss from their home country and cannot purchase locally. While there are other stores that offer the same product, the business plan aims to create a shop within the vicinity of university campuses so that students do not have to travel long distances. Also the range of products in this shop would be more as compared to the competitors. Internet would also be used in conjunction with the shop so that students can order online also. The company will be opened in the name of Oriental Bazaar. Oriental Bazaar will provide the international students their specific nourishment need. The primary cost drivers for the shop would include the cost of the products; transportation and packaging of the products; the installation and maintenance of the shops; the wages of the part time labor employed for working the shop; promotional material and the cost for developing and uploading the website for the business. The initial capital for starting the business will be collected from the joint saving pool of the founders of the business. The rest of the capital will be attained from investors who have been contacted will the initial plan and they are willing to invest in the venture. Internal and External Stakeholders The internal stakeholders of the company include: Employees Investors Management The external stakeholders of the company include: Customers Community Suppliers University Administration Assessing the Internal and External Stakeholders The Internal Stakeholders Employees Employees in the organization play an important role since they manage the day to day operations of the organization and thus their attitude towards the organization impacts productivity of the organization. In the case of a retail stores such as ours, the employees interact with the consumers on a daily basis. Thus, employees have a great involvement in the organization but their influence in the organization is medium. This is because they may offer suggestions for improvement but the actual decision lies with the management. Investors and Management The investors are also the managers in the organization. It is the management that could be arranging for the initial investment in the organization. As a result, the involvement of investors is the greatest since they are going to both invest financially in the company and in terms of their time and skills also. The influence of the management and the investors is also the highest. They have the authority to take the decision and their involvement in the business increases their authority. The External Stakeholders Customers The customers in this case are university students who come from other countries and miss their local food. Also local students who wish for a different flavor can try out the restaurant. Since the organization is centered on the customers, their influence over the organization is great. The management will have to evolve the shop to cater to the needs of its customers if it wants to survive in the high competition in the food industry. However, customer involvement is limited to their occasional feedbacks. University Administration Since the organization would open its operation in university campuses, the administration of the university is also an important stakeholder. The university administration has the power to define certain policies for the organization. It would be regulating the business to a great extent so that it does not impact the culture of the university. Therefore the involvement and influence of the university administration is quite high. Suppliers The suppliers selected for this business are warehouses that are located in the vicinity of the university campuses. These suppliers import food stuff from foreign countries and sell them to retailers and shops after stocking them in their warehouses. For this business, a number of suppliers would be contacted in order to get a good price and to provide a good range of products to the customers. The involvement of the suppliers in the business is low since they are only going to supply the products and thus they have little influence over the activities conducted by the organization. Community The community in this case is the people who will be impacted by the shop indirectly. It includes all the students who may not even be the customers of the shop. The community has indirect influence over the business through its customers. Their involvement in the business is limiting to regulating illegal or immoral acts committed by the organization. If the organization maintains fair business, it faces no threat from the country but in fact the community may increase business through good word-of-mouth publicity (Weinstein and Jaqueus, 151). Business Functions The function for the business is to provide a wide range of international food to international students within the vicinity of the university at competitive prices. This will allow the business to capture a large customer base since international students will be able avail a good range of products without having to travel long distances. Also the wide range of products would not only serve limited international students such as the Indian or the Chinese but students from different ethnic background. Appropriate technology would also be used in order to market and sell the products. Structure of the Business The key players of the business would mostly be the founding members of the business. This would consist of a small group of three people. The first member would be the shop manager. As a shop manager, the member would be responsible for not only looking over the shop but also looking after the online web portal. The shop manager would be concerned with dealing with the customers basically and thus customer relation is something he would focus on. The next member would be the supply chain manager. The supply chain manager would be responsible for the stock of the products and maintaining the inventory. The supply chain manager has to ensure that the best products at the best prices are being brought by the store. The supply chain manager would also be responsible to keeping a check on the suppliers and exploring other suppliers if the current suppliers are not feasible. The third member of the group would be the book keeper. The book keeper would ensure that the accounts are kept in order and that the costs are not greater than the profit of the business. The responsibility of the book keeper is also to arrange for capital if the store runs any deficient. In addition to these founding members, a small number of people will be recruited for the diverse functions of the shop. They would include sales assistant, delivery men, website assistant etc. Human Resource Recruitment The personnel required for the shop would basically be non-technical. The shop staff could be hired from within the university and it would be increasingly better if the staff belong to a minority that is being catered as our target market such as an Indian or a Korean. Part-time staff would be the best option for the shop at this point of time. The reason for preferring an Indian or a Korean would be that customers would find it easier to communicate their needs since the personnel would be aware of the different names and nature of the products being offered. These personnel would also help in providing insight about the target market when needed such as their buying preferences, psyche etc. Marketing Approach The Product being offered by the Oriental Bazaar would include a range of international products including Indian spices, Chinese noodles etc. These products would be imported from their original country and sold at our Oriental Bazaar. The main attraction of this shop is the diverse range of products available. At this point, such shops are offering a limited range of products. The range of products available in the shop will be competitively priced. Since America is a mix of people with different cultures and countries, international products are easily available to the population. Thus, in order to compete with other such businesses, the products have to be priced competitively. Also since the shop will aim to target university students, we need to understand that the prices cannot be too high that students would be unable to afford them or thus consider the competitor’s products. A survey conducted on food demands revealed that the consumers focus on three main factors when making a buying decision regarding food. This included food safety, animal protection and also the price of the product (Appleby et. al, 6 The shop will be opened within two major campuses in the United States. The idea of opening a shop in the location is to cater to the growing number of international students studying and living in the campus. The suppliers for the products sold in the shop would be the warehouses near the university that sell international products to other such shops. Promotion for the product will be done mostly through the online medium, with the focus on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Since a large number of students access the internet of daily basis and mostly spend their times on social networking sites, it would be the best option for the shop. Another medium of promotion would be through word-of-mouth. Word-of-mouth promotion has become most effective for the Generation Y as they have become cynical towards the traditional mediums of advertising and would most likely depend on their classmates and friends to guide their buying decisions (Yarrow and O’Donnel. 172). Promotion will also be done within the store and through flyers distributed around the university campus. Budget for the Business The investment for the shop would be small in size. The idea is to create a small business that is able to remain in business using a limited investment. Since the size of the shop would be small, maintenance and installations costs would also be limited. The business would not stock inventory since it would require additional investment in terms of not just space but also capital required to buy these quantities. The use of the website as a selling platform would further reduce costs for the building. The initial investment of the business would be used in setting up the shop. A physical presence is necessary for a business in order to develop trust within the customers and to create a brand identity. The profits of the initial investments would later be used to develop a website and a good user interface to allow customers to shop conveniently over the internet. Risk Assessment Every business faces certain risks from different angles. In this case, the biggest risk for the business comes from university administration. The university administration has the power to regulate the business to a great extent since the business would directly impact the reputation and culture of the university. The management would have to convince the university administration that business would conduct its operations fairly and that the university would be benefiting from the diversity that the shop would bring in. Hiring part-time employees can also be risky for the business since they may leave at any point that they wish. They would not be compelled to stay and this could disrupt the normal activities of the business. In order to minimize this risk, the best option is to keep a log of potential employees who may be contacted in case of such disruptions. From a financial perspective, the organization may face investment issues in the beginning. During the first few months, the organization would likely operate in loss as assets have to be purchased and overhead costs have to be maintained despite the limited sales of the business. Conclusion Overall, Oriental Bazaar presents a good opportunity for the business entrepreneurs since it allows the business to explore a new target market which are international students living in the university. These students have limited time and budget therefore they look for options where they can enjoy their local food without having to travel long distances and pay high prices. The retail shop would be opened within the university campus so that both local and international students may benefit from the ventures. However, the business is not without its risks. Risks include managing the university administration and complying with their rules and regulation. Also the business faces financial risks since the investment is limited by the owners of the business who would also be handling the management. References Appleby, Michael, Cutler, Neil, Gazzard, John, Goddard, Peter and Milne, Colin. What Price Cheap Food? Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, Vol. 16, Issue 4, p 3-12, 2003 Weinstein, Jonathan, Jaques, Timothy, Achieving Project Management Success in the Federal Government, USA: Management Concepts, 2010 Yarrow, Kit, and O’Donnell, Jayne (2009) Gen buY: how tweens, teens, and twenty-somethings are revolutionizing retail, California: Jossey-Bass Read More