Business Plans and Analysis - Essay Example

Business Plans and Analysis Introduction: This brief analysis will seek to analyse the specific strengths and weaknesses of two different business plans offered from two different web resources. As such, the operability, initial investment figures, marketing scope, time to implementation, existence of external investment, effects that technological change will have on the plans, as well as an analysis of likely consumer response will all be weighed as a function of the likelihood that each plan has towards implementation and overall success. Likewise, it is worth mention that neither one of these business plans are intended to be seen as an example of either a good or a bad business plan; instead, they are to be viewed as vehicles towards understanding positive and negative components of each. Business Plan 1: http://www.businessplans.org/Momentex/Moment00.html The first business plan that this analysis will weigh relates to Momentex LLC and their proposed line of Gulp N Go products. Momentex would like to target the untapped market of vending services that are located within toll booths throughout the United States. The plan exhibits multiple strengths. Firstly, regardless of what one thinks of the business plan, it is undeniable that the proximity of the product to the customer is perfectly positioned. The second strength ties in alongside this proximity and evokes the strength of suggestion while the customer is already in the process of making a financial transaction – all of which further encourage him/her to make an impulse buy while at the toll booth. Lastly, for this proximity and these powers of suggestion during a financial transaction, the firm has very few costs associated with marketing as the product is positioned 24/7 and practically free marking takes place at the point of sale on a daily basis. With respect to the weaknesses exhibited in this plan, the first of these regards the legal impacts of commercialization of the toll booths and what this may portend with respect to state, local, cross jurisdictional, and tax laws. In effect, a public good (roads) will now be turned into a way of further generating funding by private businesses. This fact in and of itself has a host of both legal and ethical dilemmas associated with it. Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, there is the issue of traffic flow. Toll booth areas are already high traffic areas that usually only exist in major metropolitan cities. As such, having tens of thousands of people each and every day pausing as to what particular snack or drink they would like to choose while others wait in queue behind them is a recipe for compounding already tense traffic problems. Lastly, the issue of payment will need to be hashed out. With a non-uniform system of payment already existing at most toll booths, how the customer will pay for the goods becomes a primary question (Lawther, 2000). If with cash revenues will be noticeably lower as fewer and fewer people carry cash. If with credit card will the same credit card be used to pay for the toll? If with a pay-pass for high frequency travellers will the beverages and food by debited from the same funds that the customer has loaded on the card or will they need to be paid separately? This particular business plan could be improved by measuring the indirect effect that the sale of these goods will have on traffic patterns and wait times for other customers. If a thorough analysis is performed and it is found to adversely affect the commute in a measurable way – it is fairly obvious that the business plan should be abandoned as the negative press and aggravation it will cause will doubtless render the plan futile. Secondly, the method of payment should be thoroughly researched and fleshed out prior to any further research or implementation. If customers have to resort to an alternative form of payment in order to purchase the goods being sold, there is little likelihood that the impulse buy which was previously referenced will take place at all. With regards to specific lessons that this plan brings to mind, the first is the fact that proximity to customer does not always yield a sale. The conditions surrounding the proximity have a strong effect as well. Secondly, free marketing, although it goes a long way towards defraying costs is not as vitally important as the business plan counts it to be. Thirdly, without a quick and seamless transaction process, any business plan, no matter how brilliant, is likely to be found lacking. Fourthly, it is absolutely necessary to take into account the aggravation factor and the trouble that the customer and those dependent on the customer’s quick and easy transaction can have a choking effect on the business plan. Lastly, business opportunities exist in all places at all times. As this business plan showed, even at something as mundane as a toll booth. As compared to the second plan analysed within this short essay, Momontex is significantly more expensive a start-up endeavour. Because the vending services must be installed and catchy marketing obtained to drive customer interest in the new products, the money necessary at the outset of the product is much greater than that which one might expect. Secondly, Momontex is operating under an assumption of many unknowns within the marketplace. Market research has not determined what percentage of travellers are likely to purchase their products, market research has not entertained the notion that customers will become agitated at the increased wait times caused by their product offerings, and market research has not projected a potential return on investment for the first calendar year of operation. Because of these shortcomings, the plan is not necessarily a bad idea – but deservers a more full analysis by professionals within the specific fields of offering to determine the viability/suitability of such a plan for the target market. Business Plan 2: http://www.bplans.com/medical_billing_business_plan/executive_summary_fc.php#.UCyxLcUu8a8 Physicians 1st Billing and Claims is a service industry whose intention is to provide security in medical documentation through professional verification that all insurance requirements are met and adhered to. Currently, only around 70% of all doctor and hospital insurance claims are reimbursed on first submittal. Physicians 1st Billing and Claims reports to increase that percentage up to 98%. Additionally Physicians 1st Billing and Claims reports to turn claims around with a 14 day window of time; this is compared to the traditional period of time that a doctor’s office or hospital must wait as between 60-90 days. The service applies to both traditional health insurance as well as government programs such as Medicaid and Medicare. Due to the fact that the Health Care Financing Administration can now levy heavy fines towards medical institutions and individual practitioners who incorrectly bill Medicaid and Medicare for services rendered, it is a huge benefit to practitioners and medical institutions alike to invest in non-human compliance software. As such, Physicians 1st Billing and Claims is being marketed to medical professionals and health care providers across the United States as a way to maximize profits while minimizing the risk of fines and other legal ramifications that could occur as a result of faulty human errors in medical billing documentation. The plan itself is strong for a number of reasons. Firstly, there is no question that the medical billings and claims market is a large market and one that a correctly positioned firm with a viable, easily used, and affordable package could gain entry and retain market share within. Secondly, the plan does not necessitate a large amount of up front spending to set it into action. Instead, a relatively small investment can be made to create the pilot and then market that pilot in much the same way that pharmaceutical firms market new drugs. Thirdly, the size and growth of the Medicare and Medicaid systems gives hope that the market size will, at the very worst, remain static, and at the very best, continue to grow. Fourthly, the plan sets aside reasonable growth targets that are not investment intensive in order to reach the goals set forth in the analysis. Lastly, the system provides a much needed service to an industry already weighed down with the burden of excess paperwork they are all too ready to let go of. With regards to the weaknesses inherent in this plan, the first of which is brazenly obvious. With the current political landscape pockmarked by legal battles with relation to Health Care Reform, the entire system is unlikely to remain static and unchanged as a result. In short, no firm or even medical practitioners themselves can be confident of how the field will operate and invoice payments to the government after all of the legal battles are decided (Modern Healthcare, 2012). Secondly, the plan does not take into account the likely changes to technology that is inherent within the field. For instance, the work being done by Physicians 1st Billing and Claims could foreseeably be done via a complex computer algorithm within the coming years; leaving Physicians 1st Billing an Claims without a viable way to promulgate their business model. Lastly, although the cost beneficial as compared with its competitors is inherent, Physicians 1st Billing and Claims cannot rely on cost differential alone to break into the market and gain market share. Standardization within the medical community is something that was not considered and as such will leave Physicians 1st Billing and Claims and any would-be medical typing software entrants at a distinct disadvantage. As compared with the first business plan put forward, Physicians 1st Billing and Claims requires a significantly lower initial investment. Although service industry start-up is usually an intensely expensive endeavour, due largely to the fact that personnel have to be maintained in order to perform the service, Physicians 1st Billing and Claims has put forward a reasonably small initial investment that attempts to break into the market without leaning too heavily on initial investment. In much the same way as the first plan, the marketing budget is miniscule in comparison to most start-up business plans. This is mainly a result of the fact that the firm intends to employ the same type of marketing techniques that are used by the pharmaceutical firms with such a high degree of success. This tactic coupled with an aggressive strategy of literature disbursal among medical professionals accounts for a low cost, yet effective, marketing plan. Additionally, as compared with the first plan, the levels of unknowns in this plan are considerably less than those of Momontex. Lastly, the plan is solely dependent upon tis marketability and the needs of the market. With Momontex, the plan hinges upon state, regional, and local laws as well as the unknown response from potential customers that may not be satisfied with the increased wait times that their product offerings are likely to entail at the toll booth. Bibliography Cash, J. I., Earl, M. J., & Morison, R. (2008). Teaming Up to Crack Innovation & Enterprise Integration. Harvard Business Review, 86(11), 90-100. Lawther, W. (2000). Privatizing toll roads : a public-private partnership. Westport, Conn: Praeger. Rubera, G., & Kirca, A. (2012). Firm Innovativeness and Its Performance Outcomes: A Meta-Analytic Review and Theoretical Integration. Journal Of Marketing, 76(3), 130-147. doi:10.1509/jm.10.0494 The long, long road to national health reform (A short history). (2012). Modern Healthcare, 42(27), 14-19. Read More