The Business Problems of Gnashes - Essay Example

? The Business Plan Contents The Business Problem 3 Background to the Business Problem 4 Gnashes Website-Servicing Through the Online Sphere 5 Location Strategies of Gnashes 5 Conducting Market Research Activities 6 PESTEL Analysis of Dental Services in the European Region 6 Development of Competencies by Gnashes 9 Financing Plans 10 Business Mission 12 Framing of the Budget 12 Product Development Analysis 14 Promotion and Advertising Activities 15 Conclusions 16 References 17 The Business Problem The main business problem centres on designing of a website which would help in the location of dentists in a certain locality. In this context, the website must be adequately designed to include various types of information pertaining to the names of the dentists, the address of their clinics and as well as of the contact numbers. Further the website must be so designed as to contain a dropdown option which would help the site visitors to obtain potential information pertaining to different price ranges of the services involved. The website can also be further enabled to help the visitors to gain knowledge about the prices and service qualities of dentist clinics along other regions. (Mellor, Coulton & Chick, 2008, p.14). This would help the visitor to make subtle comparisons on the price and service dynamics of the dentist clinics available along their own region with that of others spread along regions. Herein lays the main catch while designing the business plan. Focusing on the marketing side the website creators must envisage a plan to market the web interface to the targeted community. Thus focus must be rendered on drawing the interests of the dentist community to render potential information stated along the above mentioned heads like prices, contact information and addresses. Focusing on the revenue paradigm of running the website special focus must be given so as to devise a method of making the dentists advertise their service offerings against a fee structure. In this regard, the business plan relating to the preparation of the website can further draw attention of companies producing complementary products like toothbrushes and toothpastes to also advertise their products in the online sphere. This process would help the company to gain potential revenues to help run the business venture. Further enhancing on the service parameter the website can be further designed to help the consumers gain access to the dentists via the online sphere in regards to health problems and also make payments online. These issues reflect the potential challenges which should be kept in mind by the website company while designing the online site. Background to the Business Problem The profession and business practices of dentists and cosmetic surgeons are facing large amount of competition owing to the pricing and branding tactics involved in such. Dentists are trying to gain the attention of the people through large scale promotional and advertisement activities pertaining to their clinics and services offered. Furthermore the attention of the people is also being fetched through attractive pricing techniques. The dentists and cosmetic surgeons through the proper utilisation of the advertisement and promotional opportunities focus on enhancing the brand value of the services offered. Firstly the dentists should focus on the development of logo which would help in reflecting the quality and criteria of the services being offered. The logo development can be done by the dentists in close cooperation with the web designers in case of online advertisements and can use the same in case of billboard advertisements. Secondly the dentists in order to work on a successful business strategy must focus on dividing the entire market into several target areas based on which the products and service offerings can be designed. Targets group being defined would help the dentists in rightly devising the prices for the products and services and also on focusing on the creation of specific zones for clinics. Thirdly the dentists can now plan of reflecting the potential information about the price ranges and clinic zones through the online sphere. This mode used by dentists would help them to gain the attention of large number of consumers in the specific geographical area to market the products and services successfully. (Bailey, 2008, p.107). Gnashes Website-Servicing Through the Online Sphere The development of the online portal Gnashes can be developed to meet the aforesaid business objectives of dentists to market their products and services through the online sphere. Product development relates to the development of the website to focus on different types of services offered by the dentists in a particular geographical territory with the price ranges. This service sphere enabled would help the consumers in making comparison of the quality and prices of the dental services in the region and thereby can become more consumers friendly. Again working on the service enhancement the Gnashes website can also extend its product portfolio by advertising different types of allied products like toothbrushes, toothpastes and other medicines related to the dental problems. This enhancement of the product portfolio would not only help the website gain huge customer interface but would also help in enhancing on its revenue and brand paradigm. (Mellor, Coulton & Chick, 2008, p.14). Location Strategies of Gnashes The products and services strategies of the online portal being planned, Gnashes website would also need to focus on highlighting specific target markets to market its products and services successfully. The online portal in this fashion can also focus on a foreign market like Europe and encourage the customers to gain visits to such areas. Thus in terms of location strategies the Gnashes website should focus on the location and service dynamics of the dental clinics spread along the Eastern European region and thereby encourage the people to tour to this region for availing checkups. Target market defined being Eastern Europe a large amount of market research activities must be rendered to make the business plan a successful one. (Health-Tourism.com., n.d.). Conducting Market Research Activities The Gnashes website to make successful business in the Eastern European region must conduct proper market research activities to gain a better understanding of the said market. Market Research activities conducted by a business corporation can be divided mainly into two parts viz. Primary and Secondary. In the primary market research activities the researcher has to closely conduct the following activities to gain an in-depth knowledge of the targeted market. Firstly the researcher is needed to take a sample population of the total market. Secondly the researcher is also needed to frame an effective questionnaire to gain relevant insights by gaining answers to the questions framed. Thirdly planning must also be made regarding the mode for taking interviews. The interviews can be conducted through telephonic and as well as conversations held on the physical level by taking interviews of the focused groups. On the other hand the research activities can also be conducted based on secondary mode through gaining information from the online sphere. Operating on the online sphere the business research can be conducted to gain hold of large volumes of data from the targeted market and also in gaining views rendered by eminent experts in the relevant field. To enhance the market research options specific analysis can also be rendered through tools like PESTEL analysis. (Mellor, Coulton & Chick, 2008, p.14). PESTEL Analysis of Dental Services in the European Region Political Factors Gnashes website to launch successful marketing programs for drawing large number of people in the European region needs to focus on the political paradigm of the European region. It is observed in this respect that like the social systems the political conditions of the regions render huge impact in deciding on the pattern of financing and organisational structuring of the dental and health clinics involved. Thus while developing the Gnashes website on drawing the consumers to a region like Norway it must be observed that dental clinics are developed in the region both by government and private support. These clinics developed in the Norway region are partly subsidized for which the price structure of the services offered can stand reasonable enough to gain customers from foreign nations. (Pedersen, Odont, Vigild, Nitchke, Berkey, 2005, p.991). Economic Factors Focusing on the economic factors would help the development of Gnashes website to make certain value additions in the scope of services rendered. This process would attract potential customers in visiting the European region for gaining medical treatments. For example the website focusing on the pattern of dental care services rendered in the Norway region is required to state that medical insurance services rendered in regards to dental care do not encompass the elderly people. However again while focusing on Sweden the Gnashes website must relate to the consumers that dental services are available both in the public and private sphere where a major portion of the expenses are covered by insurance schemes available in the region. Again in Germany the range of social schemes offered largely cover the dental care services applied by the patients. (Pedersen, Odont, Vigild, Nitchke, Berkey, 2005, pp.992-993). Social Factors Focusing on the social factors the Gnashes website can develop an understanding as to the varied demands for dental care services along the several European regions. This process would help in drawing business from such areas where large number of dental clinics would be properly available. Market Research conducted by Gnashes reflects the increasing demand for dental care services in several European regions owing to the rise in the growth of old population and large number of medical facilities adhered to such. These social factors thus show that dental care professions and services are in huge demand in the European region which would help the online portal for fetching large number of consumers in such places. (Pedersen, Odont, Vigild, Nitchke, Berkey, 2005, pp.991-995). Technological Factors In terms of technological factors the European regions are fast developing to help in the expansion and growth of potential research opportunities to render effective health care services in the region. These services are being hugely supported by both government and private institutions which would again help the Gnashes website in gaining access to large amount of sponsorship revenues. (Pedersen, Odont, Vigild, Nitchke, Berkey, 2005, p.988). Environmental Factors It is found that owing to the growth of large scale industrial activities several people in the European region along with those pertaining to the older generation are suffering hugely from the growth of health problems like dental problems. These environmental factors are thereby triggering the growth of dental clinics in the region catering to the needs of the people both national and international. (Pedersen, Odont, Vigild, Nitchke, Berkey, 2005, p.987). Legal Factors Focusing on the legal side it is observed that in regions like Norway and United Kingdom special legislations are passed which focus on helping the growth of dental care facilities in such areas. Thus Gnashes website portal can focus on drawing customer attention to such areas where they can gain treatment done in an easy manner owing to the availability of large number of dental clinics. Support from the legal side also reflects the increased allotment of both financial and other resources for the development of such dental clinics. (Pedersen, Odont, Vigild, Nitchke, Berkey, 2005, p.992-993). The development of the Gnashes website based on the above analysis is considered to gain a large success in encouraging the growth of health tourism in the European nations. Development of Competencies by Gnashes To develop competencies along the business sphere the business corporations must focus on optimising on the level of resources available both in regards to human resources and technological development. Henceforth web portals like Gnashes in order to develop their internal competencies must focus in integrating the operational activities along the separate sectors to generate required value. The business entrepreneur can focus on making optimal utilisation of the existing resources available to the firm through separate strategic models. (Mellor, Coulton & Chick, 2008, p.14).The entrepreneur can make use of the Value Chain Analysis to earn competitive advantage in the industry in strategising the employment of existing internal and external resources available to achieve the end goal. Value Chain Analysis in the Information Technology industry focuses on some special sectors like conducting of outsourcing operations. Information Technology industry pertaining to the services sector focuses on the development of speciality functions that would enhance the development of the customer servicing activities. The first part of the value chain dimension of the information technology industries focused on the development of the relation between the firm’s information technologies departments with other operational sections of the concern. Through the above activity the value chain focuses on the development of the holistic interface of the information technology dimension with other human and supporting sections of the concern. Hence information technology can now function in a collaborative fashion with other functional departments like marketing and promotion, manufacturing and operational resources and with existence human capital of the firm. Moreover the value chain analysis of the information industry can also be conducted to explore the competitive position of the company in the light of the potential competitors. Thus value chain analysis in respect to information technology industry need to explore on the dimension of outsourcing to enhance the competitive advantage of the firm. Moreover the value chain activity in respect to the information technology industry through the strategic set of activities focus on reducing the cost of the firm and enhancing on the quality dimension. (Pour, 2006, pp.130-131). Financing Plans Entrepreneurial actions revolving around the creation of new business firms focus on drawing huge amount of finances both from the internal and external environment. The entrepreneur renders a potential amount of the business capital from the personal end. Such amount of financial resources constitutes the equity capital of the company. Further the entrepreneur focuses on drawing capital from the external business environment consisting of potential stakeholders like shareholders and the government at large. The business companies generate the initial public offer in the market to draw in large amount of capital from these sources. Further the entrepreneur enhances the financial mix of the firms through the use of debt capital. The company generates large number of financial instruments like debentures and other external financial instruments to accrue large amount of financial resources. However the entrepreneur must take the right decision in deciding on the right financing mix to generate potential amount of revenues for the company. The entrepreneur should incorporate a financial body in a company that works on setting the right ratio in deciding the financial mix of external and internal financing options. Generally it is held that business companies which have a larger percentage of equity or own investments generally tend to reflect a better solvent position that those firms depending largely on external funds. (Walden University, 2010; Mellor, Coulton & Chick, 2008, p.63). The growth of the information technology environment significantly altered the pattern of financing chosen by pioneering firms in the said sector. It is observed that entrepreneurs before the inception of the information technology environment tended to draw finance by initially focusing on meeting the expectations of a limited client base. The entrepreneur first sold the products developed to the initial clients and used the revenues generated thereof as potential investments for commencing new projects. Again the amount of revenue generated can also be used against the loan drawn from banks. However with the development of the internet technology the entrepreneurs can easily get access of larger funds from big lending firms. These big lending firms are referred to as ‘Angel investors’ who help the modern entrepreneurs in getting large amount of funds for beginning their new business venture. Modern financing options consist of ‘venture capital’ generating firms which render large amount of finances to people entering new ventures. Large number of firms has come into existence which render huge amount of finances to help modern entrepreneurs succeed in their business activities. These firms along with other ‘Angel investors’ which render finances to the new business starters however tend to focus more on the paradigm of profitability of the new projects. Thus entrepreneurs need to properly evaluate the business dimension to better generate potential revenues for the lenders to feel potentially attracted. (Bidgoli, 2004, pp.101-102). Business Mission The business activity of a firm to rightly develop along a stated region must strongly depend on the formulation of a mission statement. Development of the mission statement would help the business company in setting the purposes and goals before progressing on the stated path. Further the mission statement is also prepared by a company highlighting the present status of the concern and the methods and processes it ought to take to develop its competency level so as to escalate along the status bar. Organizational mission to be successful incorporates dividing the entire business task into considerable number of activities which must be based on standard time frames. The development of time frames can be made through the use of Gantt chart which divides future set of business objectives along future time periods. (Mellor, Coulton & Chick, 2008, pp.49-50). The diagrammatic representation of the Gantt chart can be made as follows. Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Focusing on penetrating the market xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Expanding on the market share xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Augmenting on the Revenue Structure xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Focusing on Becoming the Market Leader xxxxxxxxxxxxx Gaining Ability to Pay High Amount of Dividends xxxxxxxx Framing of the Budget While formulating the budget for the entrepreneurship functions the entrepreneur is to focus on making an estimate on the amounts that ought to be expended in accomplishing the several activities. The entrepreneur has to conduct a feasibility study of the amount of investment rendered along the several functions through estimating the amount of revenue that can be obtained in the future. The entrepreneur needs to focus on the development of separate budgets focusing on activities related to manufacturing, operational, financial and sales parameters. The different types of budgets that the entrepreneur needs to develop to plan the investment decisions along the state areas pertain to operation, cash flow and capital budgeting activities. In the preparation of the operation budget the entrepreneur can earn a better understanding of the amount of earnings and expenditures in relation to a particular activity. Such estimates are made focusing on a stipulated time frame. The entrepreneur focuses on conducting the cash flow budgeting activities to specifically understand the amount of receipts and expenses pertaining to cash only. Further the business to run successfully needs to make purchase of a large amount of capital items. Thus the entrepreneur needs to make a feasible estimate on the amount of money that needs to be expended in purchasing the capital commodities. Returns on the amount of capital expenditure are expected to accrue over a year’s time and thus a feasible approach must be taken by the entrepreneur to allocate proper funds for the same. (Kuratko & Hodgetts, 2008, p.323). Thus capital budgeting activities carried on by the entrepreneur helps in rendering effective investments for the purchase of capital commodities like plant and machinery and other equipments. Similarly the entrepreneur is also required to render investments pertaining to special categories like sales and promotional activities and other manufacturing operations. The sales budgets are to be prepared by the entrepreneur in a feasible manner focusing on the amount of sales that the company can achieve in a future time period. Similarly the feasibility of the preparation of the manufacturing budget can be observed through the understanding of the manufacturing potential of the firm. (Hisrich, n.d.pp.277-278). Product Development Analysis The next stage which can be incorporated in the business plan by the entrepreneur developing on production of transactional portals like Gnashes encompasses the development of the products and services in regards to the market demand. To this end, the use of the Boston Consulting Group model can be used which focuses on the development of products along four main grids. The first stage focuses on the development of products to gain advantage of the existing market opportunities. This stage mainly relates to the development of new products. Gradually the product gains impetus with the gain in business demand letting the business concern to make more number of investments in such. Further the business company would endeavour to maintain the strategic position of the product or service to help it in gaining large amount of investments. Finally in the fourth stage owing to the decline of the demand of the products and services in the external market the sales and revenues accumulating from such would finally decline. (Mellor, Coulton & Chick, 2008, p.50). In connection to the above discussion the product development of Gnashes can also be analysed as it focuses on penetrating a new area in the Eastern European region. The Gnashes website firstly conducts a survey of the entire market based on certain focus groups through which it reflects the existence of different dental clinics in several regions. Further it reflects the different price ranges of the products and services offered to gain the attention of large number of consumers in the region. Again the website further develops its service interface through the development of online payment channels. Customers can conduct a search of the relevant dental clinic and also of the different price parameters before deciding on making the payment for such. Thus the Gnashes website falls on the first grid of the Boston Consulting Group matrix and thereby focuses on improving on its market share through large number of promotional and advertisement activities. Promotion and Advertising Activities The business plan further progresses to reflect on promotional and advertisement activities to help the business company gain hold of a larger number of consumers both in the existing and in the new market. Large number of promotional activities can be designed by the business corporations like rendering of coupons and other leaflets to different interest groups in the target market involved like dentists and general people. Further the promotional activities can be further enhanced through advertising the products and services offered through the online sphere which creates interest in the minds of customers pertaining to both in the national and international markets. Media channels like print and visual media can also be incorporated by the online companies to gain the attention of large number of consumers. (Mellor, Coulton & Chick, 2008, p.59). The Business Plan devised by Gnashes focuses on drawing increased attention of large number of dentists to advertise their products, clinic locations, range and prices of the services offered and other such information through the web portal. In that, Gnashes website can focus on the advantages the dentist population can receive while advertising their product and service offerings through the online portal. Facts and figures can be stated as to the large number of regions which the service encompasses along with the number of potential visitors visiting the site on an average basis. Focusing on the revenue option additions can be made in the online portal wherein the dentists can submit free online articles against a certain amount of fee. Again Gnashes website can also encourage the dentists to make registrations under the ‘dental tourism’ option to help invite foreign nationals to their clinics. Similarly the dentists can also be encouraged to make use of the online portal to render news to the external market pertaining to additions to the service offerings and opening up new centres. (World Dental.org, 2011). Conclusions Any business corporation needs to form a business plan which acts as a framework or backbone behind the development of specific business activities of the company in both existing and newer markets. Focusing on the above criteria the business plan activities of a web portal like the Gnashes is studied which mainly focuses on the marketing of dentistry services through the online sphere. Thus like any business corporation the web portal firstly focuses on marketing of its goods and services firstly by conducting mass scale market research based on both primary and secondary activities. Through market research activities the web portal seeks to understand the demographic profile of the new market. Further the business plan progresses to generate adequate measures to help in the gaining of proper investment measures so as to grow on the targeted market. Development of a specific organisational mission must be made to make specific time frames for the accomplishment of key organisational objectives. After the mission has been framed the business plan can proceed further to generate a budget for the said tasks. Finally the promotional and advertisement activities must be enhanced to encourage large number of dentists to make use of such portal which in turn would help in revenue generation. References Bailey, L. (2008). Dental Practice Health Check. Radcliffe Publishing. Bidgoli, H. (2004). The Internet encyclopedia. , Volume 2. John Wiley and Sons. Health-Tourism.com. (No date). Dental Clinics in Europe. Available At: http://www.health-tourism.com/dental-clinics/europe-3/. [Accessed on May 2, 2011]. Hisrich. (No date). Entrepreneurship 6/E. Tata McGraw-Hill Education. Kuratko, D. & R. Hodgetts. (2008). Entrepreneurship: Theory, Process, and Practice. Cengage Learning. Mellor, R., Coulton, G. & A. Chick. (2008). Entrepreneurship for Everyone: A Student Textbook. SAGE Publications Ltd. Pedersen, P., Odont, Vigild, M., Nitchke, Berkey, D. (2005). Dental Care for Aging Populations in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, United Kingdom, and Germany. Journal of Dental Education. Available At: http://www.ifdea.org/gkc/jde/Documents/Dental%20Care%20for%20Aging%20Populations%20in%20Denmark,%20Sweden,%20Norway,%20United%20Kingdom%20and%20Germany.pdf. [Accessed on May 2, 2011]. Pour, M. (2006). Emerging trends and challenges in information technology management. Idea Group Inc (IGI). Walden University. (2010). About Finance Options for Starting a Business. [Online]. Available At: http://thinkup.waldenu.edu/finance-and-accounting/financial-planning/item/11874-about-finance-options-starting-business. [Accessed on April 19, 2011]. World Dental.org. (2011). Dental Advertising and Marketing: Dentists Promotion. [Online]. Available At: http://worldental.org/dentalads/. [Accessed on May 2, 2011]. Read More