The Economic Factors That Affect Gourmet Express - Essay Example

? Gourmet Express Introduction A business idea is a concept which can be implemented and used for commercial purposes, it’s based on a service or a commodity which can be sold and make money. When business ideas are implemented at the right time, and the demand for these services or products is high the idea can enhance a business that is very profitable. This paper discusses the business idea of Gourmet Express. A competitive landscape assists the business to identify its primary rivals or competitors. Grocery market is a competitive market because there are other companies offering services to clients that Gourmet targets (Brough, 2005). This business targets young urban professionals with a large income and do not want to eat at the hotels, are willing to have services offered at a pay and their leisure time is limited but prefer food cooked at home. Since the customers do not have time to prepare everything, they have to make orders which will be delivered. The primary competitors would be restaurants and grocery stores offering delivery services. The three levels of government are; the federal government which consists of two houses, the senate and House of Representatives. It has responsibilities that include social security, foreign affairs, currency, defense and trade which are exercised through the prime minister. The federal government reverses the power to allow or barn one from opening a business. The territory government and the State is the decision making body, its responsibilities include; consumer affairs, justice, education, health, forestry, main roads and transport. The state is mainly concerned about the consumer affairs and ensures products in the market are to the required standard (Brough, 2005). . The local government has a body that makes decisions known as shire council or city council. It has a number of responsibilities which include; garbage collection, building regulations, public health and land subdivisions. The local authority must ensure that the premises under which the business is run meets the set standards and is neat. The economic factors that will affect Gourmet express are; Economic development and growth. This dictate the amount of money the whole society that you rely on for business earn. The company targets large income earners who want services at their doorstep at a pay. Demand and supply will also affect Gourmet Express services and products. Demand is the ability and willingness of consumers to purchase a commodity and supply is the business ability to provide for the consumers demand (Brough, 2005). . There are several social trends that are changing the business environment. Consumers want to know more about products, people want to know if the company’s products can cause harm to the environment, if the workers of that particular company are treated well? Gourmet Express has to ensure there is smooth coordination to be successful because disclosure of information is mandatory. Advertising has to be done well for success of the company because traditional advertising is less effective. Technology has become key for the success of every business, the management of Gourmet must put up with the pace of technological changes. The business must put up with new development methods and processes that arise since, there are new inventions daily and there they are supposed to be implemented in the business environment. There are many environmental factors that influence business in an economy which include; financial, political, social, employees, product quality and manufacturing. The management of Gourmet Express has to be very keen on all this because they can affect the business negatively. If there is political instability in a country a business will encounter losses because there will be no customers to sell its products to. SWOT analysis is important because it provides helpful information to the company in matching the capabilities and resources of the firm with the competitive environment where it operates. The strength of Gourmet Express is its capability and resources that it can use to develop a competitive advantage. The company can use the good reputation it will build in the market, the strong brand name it will posses will help it in the competitive environment, its determination of using high grade resources will assist it to give customers quality products (p 35). The weaknesses it might experience are absence or lack of certain strengths. Bearing a brand name weak that is weak is a weakness because the firm will not be able to compete fairly in the business environment. If the business will have a poor reputation it will definitely drag it down therefore making its operation difficult, this can be caused by some customers not being contented with the services rendered by the company. Opportunities and threats are the external analysis of the environment. Opportunities offer a good chance for growth and profit. Factors that contribute to this are; when a new technology arrives the firm’s ability to adapt to it gives it a good chance to make more profits and grow. When governments regulations are loosened businesses get better chances to trade and the probability of making a higher profit is high (p. 76). When international trade barriers are removed companies are able to trade worldwide and they can go multinational. Changing the external environment can present threats to a firm. When a substitute is introduced to the market it may outdo Gourmet products and services, when the government imposes new regulations they may affect the business negatively and if customers shift their tastes on a product of the firm is exposed to many threats and if not carefully dealt with they can bring the business down. The problem statement in this case is; Jan Jones is a hard working professional who wanted to come home and find a cooked meal. It was a hassle for her to come from work and go queue at the store. She thought it would be better to have her meal planned and all her ingredients brought home. This brought about the idea of starting up Gourmet Express which would prepare and provide people with menus at home. The actual problem of Jan Jones was cooking, food from fast food joints was not nutritious and one would be bored easily and the food is expensive. Many people prefer home cooked food than the food at fast joints. The best alternative of this is the idea of starting up a business of preparing ingredients and menus and supplying them to customers who ask for them. Gourmet is a good alternative of going out to fast joints and eating unhealthy food from the joint. Staff turnover can be measured by the attendance list that is supposed to be signed by every employee on daily basis. Staff motivation is measured through the quality and amount of work they do. If productivity of a firm is not good then the employee motivation is not very good. A firm is able to identify if there is profit if the amount of capital and inputs is not the same as the output, if the output is great there is profit. A company’s survival is determined if the company can sustain through the tough regulations, substitute in the market and the trade barriers put by countries (p.125). The market share is determined through the performance of the firm through some period of time. The pros of this alternative are that it will assist so many people with the same problem as Jones. Many people working in the same field as Jones experience the problem of fast foods. If Jones introduced that company it would be profitable and it would be a good investment for her. The cons of this alternative are that it’s risky to engage in a business without its knowledge. It can become hard for the business to grow if it does not build a good reputation. The company may not meet customer needs and this can be challenging for the company. I recommend the alternative of creating a company because many people will be at peace going home from work since everything they require to cook will be delivered. In conclusion, Jones idea is good because many other people are faced with the same problem and they have no alternative other than feed in those fast food joints. Gourmet Express will assist many people who feel the need of eating home cooked food. Reference Brough, G. H. (2005). Private limited companies: Formation and management. Edinburgh: Thomson/W. Green Read More