Integrated Cleaning Management - Research Paper Example

LSBF HNDResearchProposal Jose Massala ID Intake and Group August 5 WordCount 1500 Project An Investigation into the factors that contribute to business success and competitive advantage in the cleaning industry. A case study on Integrated Cleaning Management. 2. Project summary The aim of this study is to identify significant core competencies and examine how these factors contribute to a competitive advantage in the cleaning trade. The reason for my interest is that I am planning to run my own business in the cleaning sector in the future. To help me do this I want to undertake this research, to get more and more knowledge about my future project, and about the marketplace, its competitors, commercial cleaning opportunities, financial resources and other issues. I expect to discover significant competencies and their effects in increasing competitive advantage in cleaning trade. I will also be seeking ways of integrating cleaning management. Contents 1.Project title 1 2.Project summary 2 3.Project details 4 3.1Introductory background 5 3.2 Research questions 6 3.3.1 Aims 7 3.3.2 Specific Objectives of the project 7 3.4Significance/Contribution to the discipline 7 3.5 .Theoretical framework and methods 9 3.5.1 Introduction 9 3.5.2 Theoretical framework 9 3.5.3Methodology 10 1.Product 11 2.Price 11 4.Product differentiation 11 5.Marketing strategy 11 6.Customers 12 7.Sellers (my competitors) 12 3.5.4 Data analysis and findings 12 3.5.5 Recommendations 14 4.0 Research plan and timeline and contents of thesis/submission 14 5. References 15 3. Project details I’m going to talk about the Investigation into the factors that contribute to business success and competitive advantage in the cleaning industry. The research will seek to investigate all competitors offering products and services in the cleaning industry. Also, the past and present operation of competitors will be thoroughly analyzed to provide reliable information for projecting their future performance. In addition, customers will be identified as well as their preferred products of cleaning. The information is important to help in staying on top of business activities, as competitors may decide to expand and compete more directly. It is advisable for any aspiring entrepreneur to have the capability of tracking competitors’ progress at least one to two times per month. Farther more, the project will be based on investigating and analyzing a case study of integrated cleaning management. Various research data on both factors affecting success and competitiveness advantage in cleaning industry as well as integrated cleaning management will be analyzed and considered during decision making process. 3.1Introductory background I am going to investigative factors that contribute to competitive advantage in the cleaning industry. I decided to conduct a thorough research in this area because of the great interest that I have in cleaning industry. The level of interest in cleaning industry has made me to come up with a plan to run my own business in the cleaning corporation. My interest is to get background, and how to start a business on the cleaning productiveness and other assets. My aim is to be fully equipped with relevant information concerning various factors affecting cleaning trade so as to be able to compete successfully against the existing businesses. I believe that having the appropriate knowledge about factors that contribute towards competitive advantage will enable me to not only establish my cleaning business but also for sustainability by operating at a higher profit margin (Argus &Shukri, 2012). Various businesses have been facing difficulties just after joining the industry. Some of the causes towards the experienced difficulties have been as a result of the business owner inability to study and analyze existing players in the industry as well as the preferred products among customers. Also, various studies have shown that failure to identify and analyze the present and past history of competitors has hampered the ability of new entrant to realize competitive advantages in the industry. As a result, the level of and duration of success among many new businesses has been shortlived. Many businesses have not been able to put up with stiff competitions from established competitors in the market. For instance, cleaning industry has been on the cutting edge due to the shift in tastes and preferences among customers as well as entrepreneurs’ capability to meet customers’ demand and expectations (Brod, 1999). Cleaning products being offered in the market have received mixed responses from customers. It has not been easy for customers to acquire most of their preferred products from one business premise (Kuratko, 2013). In addition, some businesses run out of stock thereby exposing customers to health risks associated with inappropriate cleaning of their area of residence. Farther more, many businesses operating in cleaning industry have not been able to adequately manage integration of cleaning services and products. Most of the products and services being offered in the cleaning industry cannot be integrated. It is from this perspective that the topic of research became inevitable, considering my interest to start a new business in cleaning industry (Porter, 2011). 3.2 Research questions During the research, a lot of effort will be directed towards identification of background information based on the following research questions. 1. I will ask questions to my work mate like: Who are my competitors? 2. Do I regularly track my competitors moves? 3. Do I take advantage of competitive opportunities? 4. How do my prices compare with the rest of my industry? 5. Who are my customers? 6. What is my vision for my company five to 10 years from now? The above questions will help to determine whether the company has a competitive edge. And get more background, necessary for success of the company. 3.3.1 Aims The main aim of this research project is to conduct an Investigation into the factors that contribute to business success and competitive advantage in the cleaning industry, competitors and customers. The research will be based on a case study on Integrated Cleaning Management. 3.3.2 Specific Objectives of the project To ask customers and other volunteers about all possible competitors offering cleaning services to the people. To determine if it’s possible to always track moves by competitors. To determine if the profit margins of competitors is growing? To determine various marketing and promotional strategies being used by competitors. To determine competitors’ current offerings To determine competitors’ strengths To determine weaknesses among competitors. To determine capabilities of competitors To determine my possible customers To promote possession of all knowledge, will be easy to deal with. 3.4Significance/Contribution to the discipline Conducting a thorough research on the topic will help me on the day operation of my expected business in cleaning industry. The need to acquire background information on the topic has been one of the main reasons leading to its selection for study. Having knowledge on how to compete as well as competition edge means possessing an advantage over ones competitors. This does not take the luck of the Irish, but rather some solid strategic planning. Before you can accurately identify your competition, its crucial to first define and analyse your target market. The success mostly depends on the product that one is selling and to whom, in addition to a list of those companies operating in the same industry. The other crucial areas that requires close scrutiny involves identifying the strengths and weaknesses of competitors as well as their strategies and goals. A business enterprise will only be able to strategize for better performance in future if it has access to activities performed by their competitors (Sirmon et all, 2011). Also, it is important to find out how they draw in customers and if there is anything that makes them to stand out from the pack. Various research findings and recommendations have suggested the need for more studies aimed at introducing integration of management in most of both products and services. Many customers get disappointed upon realizing that they cannot get all their required range of cleaning products from one place. Business enterprises operating in cleaning industry ought to consider varying needs of customers while making orders of products to be sold. There is need to integrate most or all cleaning products by the use of appropriate management styles aimed at addressing all issues raised by customers (Kuratko, 2013). A business that is able to concisely figure out and respond appropriately to all of the factors affecting competitiveness advantage in any given industry has a chance of realizing successful operation. According to Don Reynolds, Jr, one needs to stay ahead of the competitors in order to sustain competitive advantage in business. Existing statistics have described all successful business enterprise as those that have been able to operate ahead of their competitors. Business organizations that are actively involved in technological advancement as well as integrating most of their services and products have been able to maximize their profit margins. Organizations that fail to put up with the current marketing trends have had a hard time while trying to recover and remain relevant to customers. The products and services being offered by businesses to customers have to meet the set quality standards as well as conform to the changing market trends. However, all the factors have to be considered to enable any business owner to be ahead of his or her competitors in operations. For instance, one does not gain competitive advantages without acquiring clear background about customers, the preferred products and competitors with their capabilities (Pearson, 1992). Therefore, the research project will help me in determining all the relevant background about the desired product in cleaning industry, the type and level of existing competition as well as the target customers. A thorough analysis of both past and present operation activities by competitors will be one of the most reliable information for sustaining my business. Analysis of both competitors and the market will help in projecting future trends in cleaning industry (Bryant, 1996). The list of significance associated with identification of various factors leading to success and competitiveness advantage can be long. However, there are a few factors that specific to cleaning industry. Having been interested in establishing a business enterprise dealing with cleaning products, the investigation will help in identification and analysis of various factors that will contribute towards gaining of competitive edge and success in operations. Among the factors that will lead to attainment of a competitive edge by integrating cleaning management services and products. First, it will be important to exploit available opportunities of cleaning products through investigations against cleaning products being offered in the market. All the features and any other associated benefits of the products will be exploited with an aim of coming up with a differentiated product whose performance will be better as compared to products from competitors. Better performance of any given product has been proved to be determining factor of an organizations’ success. A positive response towards differentiated and integrated cleaning products will result to increased sales of my products thereby leading to control of a large market share. Also, increased sales and market share will automatically translate into higher profit margins in both existing and newly acquired markets. Despite the stiff competition from business rivals operating in the same industry, it will be possible to predict survival of my business in the competitive market. 3.5 .Theoretical framework and methods 3.5.1 Introduction My primary research process will entail gathering information documented by various business philosophers as well as conducting investigation on ways of integrating cleaning management. The information contained in most of business management books is very important in offering the desired insights of various approaches of conducting interpretive research strategy. The investigation process to identify all relevant factors that determine competitive advantage in cleaning industry will rely on collecting qualitative data from volunteers, mostly customers of cleaning products. Thus, the process of conducting primary research on factors affecting competitiveness in cleaning industry will be carried out through the internet, websites, newspapers, academic books and interviews as well as focus groups. 3.5.2 Theoretical framework Taking a look at the information documented by Don Reynolds, Jr, it is important to conduct a thorough investigation to determine the key players in the cleaning industry (1994). Apart from identifying the main products being offered in cleaning industry, it is important to identify the available customers. The tastes and preferences of customers will have to be determined to promote easier decision making as well as future projections (Reynolds, 1994). By analysing both present and past trends among customers while purchasing cleaning products, a business owner is able to project the expected future trends as well as coming up with specific strategies and products that will meet all of the future demands. In addition, it will be important to determine the appropriate way of communicating with customers. Good communication between business enterprises with its customers is very important in promoting good relationship as well as increasing product trusts among customers (Newborn 1996). Through proper communication, customers are able to learn various products being offered by a given business as well as identify the quality and reliability of the products. Business owners, also, are able to access necessary information concerning performance of their product in the market as well as listen to suggestions and comments from customers concerning the product. Also, the investigation process will be aimed at identifying all competitors operating in the cleaning industry. Data has to be collected concerning performance of competitors in cleaning industry, to help in coming up with appropriate strategy to counter the competition. As a way of increasing competitive advantages in cleaning industry, it will be important to determine capabilities of competitors by looking at their strengths and weaknesses (Bryant, 1996). The other area that has to be researched on during investigation process is to determine the current revenues of competitors. Competitors’ revenues will bring out clear information concerning profit margins of competitors. If the profit margin is observed to be growing, then the industry is profitable (Reynolds, 1994). However, new entrants into the industry will have to find out marketing and promotional strategies being applied by competitors that lead to growth in profit. It’s also important to determine the future goals of competitors, as the information is important when developing strategies to counter efforts by competitors in future. 3.5.3Methodology The desired data to identify all factors affecting success and competitive advantage in cleaning industry will be collected from different sources. Investigation will be conducted on the internet, websites, magazines, newspapers, academic books and professional journals. The area of focus will be identifying appropriate data that highlights the desired products, available customers and their buying habits as well as competitors’ capabilities. Market trends as well as performance of cleaning products will also be considered while collecting data. Various approaches of obtaining qualitative data from members of the public will be employed. Among the approaches of obtaining qualitative data will include market observation, focus groups and interviews. Structured interviews will be conducted against customers and other volunteers in market. The interview process will entail identification of interviewees, by randomly sampling them. After identifying interviewee, it will now be possible to design interview questions as well as the approach to be used when conducting the exercise (Pearson, 1992). Most of the people to be interviewed will be existing customers of cleaning industry as well as members of the public willing to participate in the study. Customers close to the researcher will be interviewed through face-to-face while those from a long distance will be interviewed either via either telephone or the internet. Both Face-to-face and internet interviews will be designed to last for approximately 15 minutes. Customers will be taken through a thorough process to determine their tastes and preferences associated with cleaning industry. They also are given a chance to list all service providers in cleaning industry together with their perceived strengths and weaknesses. They will also be given a chance to discuss their views on available products performance. Interview questions that will be either send to distance interviewee or to be used during interactive interview sessions will cover wide areas in cleaning industry. The interview questions will focus on obtaining reliable information on ways of integrating cleaning management so as to realize success and competitiveness advantage. The interview will be subdivided into sections, each dealing with a specific area of interest (Howes, Skea & Elan, 2013). The first section of the interview questions will focus on identifying all cleaning products being offered in the market, as this is the main area of interest that i will be dealing with. Next will be the price of various cleaning products. Interview questions 1. Product How do the offered cleaning products perform? Are the products durable? Are the products reliable? Can the products be easily recognized? How are the products priced? Do the products live up to their expectations when in use? 2. Price Do the sellers provide introductory offers following launch of new products? Do regular customers receive special offers against the products? Do sellers provide discounts on the products Are coupons provided? Are financing packages offered? Do we have convenient return policy on defective products? What happens when customers are not satisfied with cleaning products bought? 4. Product differentiation What new spin can be incorporated in the cleaning products? What features make the products to be undesirable? What are the draw backs in product promotional which have been used in the past? What type of product promotional need to be used in the market? Are the available products user-friendly? How is the ordering process associated with cleaning products? Are customers’ provided with guarantees, after buying the products? 5. Marketing strategy How are products marketed? Are there cleaning products that can be classified as either low cost or high cost?............................ How are products differentiated during marketing? Can you conclude that cleaning products are succeffully marketed? Yes................... No ................. 6. Customers Where do most of the customers live? What is the age bracket of most of customers? Which is the most dominant gender of the available customers? What is the approximate age of average customers? What are the common needs among most of the customers? List all possible factors that motivate customers to buy cleaning products. What are the trend defining buying habits among customers? daily........ weekly ......... monthly .......... annually ................ Do the customers carry out product research before purchasing products? What are the most preferred cleaning products among customers? What are the products that customers are willing to spend less of their income on? 7. Sellers (my competitors) What strengths have been displayed by product providers? What can you identify as areas of weakness among sellers? What can you identify as capabilities among sellers? How can you describe customer base of various sellers? Can you approximate revenues of any given seller? Yes ....No ..... if yes, what is the approximate value? Can you identify both promotional and marketing tools most preferred by sellers? What are the current offers by most sellers? What can you suggest as their long term goals? 3.5.4 Data analysis and findings After conducting a successful data collection from various sources, the next step will be thorough analysis. All of the collected data will be analyzed by coding to enable identification of similarities and differences in responses. The next step will entail content analysis of the responses, after coding them. Content analysis will involve interpretive analysis so as to identify the implied meaning by the interviewee responses. Taking a look at the data collected through observation and interview process, a number of issues became apparent. The response received with respect to product issues, it became clear that many customers were not satisfied by the products from competitors. The products e3xpected to last for a long period could hardly live up to their reputation and reliability. Also, some products could be hardly recognized in the market. Revelations from the data concerning product pricing was also shocking. There were no rewards to loyal customers as very few sellers were willing to offer product discounts to customers. Product differentiation also had its own shortcomings (Longnecker, Palich, & Hoy, 2013). Some sellers could not keep up with market trends of product innovation and packaging. Some of the products’ features contributed to their undesirability. When analyzing marketing strategies used by competitors to introduce and market cleaning products to customers, it was revealed that some sellers did not have a back strategy to use after failure of the old approaches. The inability to have a backup marketing strategy resulted to decrease in sells of some business entities (Quinn & Strategy, 2013). Concerning customer identifications, the investigation process was able to capture reliable information. It was determined that customers are spread across all locations. Buyers of cleaning products came from both rural and urban areas. Since some cleaning products can be dangerous to the users, most of the buyers are youths and adults. Youths and adults are capable of reading, understanding and applying the laid down procedures when using the products. They can also take necessary precautions when using cleaning chemicals that are poisonous. Both genders were found to be represented as frequent customers. The level of income was also a predominant factor towards buying habits among customers (Bernard, 2011). It was revealed that buying habits of customers are motivated by factors such as quality, price, location and product credibility (Leinward &Mainardi, 2011). The use of various cleaning products was also part of factors leading to different buying habits among customers. Some cleaning products could be purchased daily, others weekly, monthly and even yearly. After conducting analysis process of the data collected, it is evident that some of the products and services being offered by competitors do not satisfy all of the customers’ needs and expectations. For example, cleaning chemicals being offered to customers do not perform all of the intended purposes, thereby disappointing customers. Some competitors were selling cleaning products that did not live up to the desired performance reliability. Also, some customers pointed out delays in delivery of products to the markets. Analysis of the data revealed that some competitors were overpricing their products. As a result, some customer could not access the products which jeopardized their hygienic life. The information obtained following the investigation provided good and reliable insights into factors that are closely related to success and competitiveness advantages in cleaning industry. According to the information gathered in the investigation, most business organizations that performed poorly in the market failed to align their operation practices with the changing trends in the market. They did not embrace product differentiation necessary for promoting uniqueness. the shortcomings resulting to underperformance of the organizations offering cleaning products compounds to a good stepping stone of introducing my differentiated products after starting my business in future. Since many business entities were described as lacking the capacity to integrate cleaning management techniques in their products, the approach will be part of marketing and product promotion strategies (Bidwell, 2012). The current plan to establish a business dealing with cleaning product will be reviewed to incorporate integrated cleaning management as a way of responding to complaints and suggestions raised by customers (Moran et al, 2011). The research findings provided answers to most of research questions. However, the research failed to gather some information from competitors and instead relied on collecting views from customers. The use of information from customers to classify performance of competitors could be inaccurate, as some customers might have been biased against some competitors while others could be influenced during face-to-face interview. 3.5.5 Recommendations The identified weaknesses among competitors formed a good ground that I will capitalise on when starting my business in cleaning industry. Taking a look at the weaknesses identified during investigation process, it will be important to give consideration to various factors related to lifestyle trends, technological trends, economic trends and government trends affecting success as well as integration of cleaning management. Customers need to be informed on various ways appropriate for integrating cleaning services in a manageable way (Mill, 2005). In order to attain appropriate market penetration, it will be important to carry proper evaluation of the available opportunities in the market so as to specifically meet the most pressing demands and expectations of customers. Basing on the gaps identified in the research, it will be necessary to integrate various cleaning services so as to respond to customers’ demands. For example, I will have to integrate cleaning services for different functions ranging from carpet cleaning, kitchen cleaning, window cleaning and computer cleaning to industrial cleaning. After setting up my business, I will try to ensure timely delivery of products to the market. I will also ensure that I sell quality products with correct pricing (Wagner & Hollenbeck, 2013). Concerning research method applied, there is need for farther investigation to be conducted on competitors. Since the data collected about competitors is one sided, it will be important to involve competitors in the interview process and hear their responses. 4.0 Research plan and timeline and contents of thesis/submission Task Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 -Formulating research thesis -Consulting with professor for approval -Writing of the proposal -Identifying and sampling of interviewees -Primary research; academic books and journals, conducting interviews -Data recording -Data analysis -Project report writing 5. References Agus, A., & Shukri Hajinoor, M. 2012. Lean production supply chain management as driver towards enhancing product quality and business performance: Case study of manufacturing companies in Malaysia. International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, 29(1), 92-121. Ashenbaum, B., Salzarulo, P. A., & Newman, W. 2012.Organizational structure, entrepreneurial orientation and trait preference in transportation brokerage firms. 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