Entrepreneurial and Small Business Management - Assignment Example

Introduction Prior to operation, businesses ought to perform sufficient research about their products as well as the market to enable them make solid decisions. The business can chose to use a number of research strategies to get the information they require about the market, such methods may include observations, interviews, and even surveys among others. Our media advertisement business chose to perform a survey on various hotels and institutions on the need for advertising. This report will mainly focus on the feasibility study of the business, the marketing techniques, the human resources as well as the funding and other financial plans. This study will also highlight on the business planning process as well as the various risks attached to it. The feasibility study In this study, interviews were seen to be so important in the process. They present various opinions regarding the market as well as people’s attitudes towards utilization of advertisements on the social media. Interview in hotels The interview began with hotels, which we thought were our greatest targets. We interviewed thirty hotels across the region and we were keen to observe their advertisement techniques. One manager Mr. Rahul from the Auris plaza hotel informed us that they have often depended on the internet to perform their advertisement and marketing. He welcomed the idea and informed to get back after one week to allow for sufficient consultation. Another thing that Mr. Rahul informed us about was that the number of customers they received was not sufficient and they needed more improved means of attracting customers to their hotel. Other hotels that we visited for interviews like the Golden sands hotel apartments, the Grosvenor house and Ramada Reira among others all welcomed the idea of magazine advertisements and they expressed their willingness to adopt the idea. Most of these hotels complained of poor attendance my the locals and claimed that most of their customers came from abroad, the locals need to be aware of the services available in this hotels so as to offer them equal chances and remove the perception of these hotels being so expensive. Also on our survey and interview list were large businesses and companies. These included local supermarkets and other manufacturing concerns. Most of them welcomed the idea and accepted to invest in this marketing plan. Most companies according to our interviews did not utilize the advertisement tool effectively since they majored on exporting to already established markets. However, some companies expressed their dissatisfaction, for instance the horticultural companies expressed their great worries over the seasonal markets that existed in the industry. They said that the time they export most is when demand for their products arises, and this is mostly during functions like valentines and Ramadan and Chrismas celebrations when people buy and present one another with gifts. The idea of publishing their products on a local newspaper and advertising them to citizens locally was a good idea and could largely boost their market. Of all the companies, we interviewed, only three were adamant about using our advertisement means, and this was majorly due to security reasons that they could not expose so much of their company profile. The others accepted. One thing however, that most of these companies wanted was advertising for them at low cost and then later on increasing the rates when the project is picking at a high pace. The last group that we visited was the single businesspersons. Most of these were not ready to adopt the magazine advertisement system since they saw it as an extra expense on their side. Of the 20 businesses that we visited, only 8 welcomed the idea of using magazine to advertise their products. From the feasibility tests performed in the hotels, industries and the businesses, hotels are observed to be readily available to adopt this strategy despite a few others still not courageous enough to take the step. Companies too also showed a positive feedback with nearly three quarters of the firms visited accepting the idea. Single businesses however recorded the lowest with only less than half the business interviewed offering positive feedback. THE MARKETING PLAN Our media advertisement company embarked on a marketing plan to enable them achieves their goals and objectives of getting high number of clients as well as many customers for the magazines. Therefore, their main targets at the initial strategies were the hotels, companies, and business entities both small and large. The aim of this is to attract them as many as possible and convince them to utilize our advertisement media to get more customers. In order to make our products attractive and appealing to the customers, it is important for us to apply various marketing strategies that will make our products appealing to people. The strategies are as follows: The products and services: our media-advertising magazine will be designed in such a manner that is beautiful, organized, and highly presentable. With a colorful design, the magazines will be printed in normal newspaper but high quality and appeasing words. These are meant to attract as many readers as possible. We will also give our magazines eye catching headlines such as “ Have you ever wondered which the best hotels is?” such an heading will compel readers to yearn to know more about the products offered (Harvey and Margaret 14) On the interior cover of the magazines, we will display the pictures and the fantastic features of the hotels that will attract customers and lure readers at the first glance. Delivery of these magazines will be every weekend by our appointed vendors. They will be walking with them on the streets, villages and homes just to find people who are interested in reading them. We will ensure deliveries are made on time very early in the morning over the weekends, and we will produce sufficient copies for everyone who may be in need. The market segmentation: our media advertising company analyzed the current market. The market segmentation is good since not businesses are engaging in the advertisement sector. Most magazines like the UAE dailies majorly advertise news. The uniqueness of our business makes it one of its kind and competition is not as stiff as one may expect. The other possible competitors do not major in advertising only business entities, but also engage in news articles hence making the competition to be stiff. Therefore, we intend to capture a market share of 30% within the first year and then slowly increase it 50 percent and finally capture the entire market in terms of advertising. Geographic Segmentation Country - Region United Arab Emirates UAE - Dubai Demographic Segmentation Age 10 years and above Gender Male and Female Occupation Students and civilians Companies Manufacturing, hotels and small businesses Target businesses Local and international businesses Psychographic Segmentation Daily lifestyle Quick adverts of the most fabulous hotel offers in the market Behavioral Segmentation Benefits Sought Encourage people to read our media magazines. Urge businesses to use our advertisement channels to advertise their products and services. Usage Rate Over the weekends The pricing strategy: since we are a profit oriented company, we will set prices that will suite the general operations of the business and allow us to make profit in return. We will be expecting revenues from both the selling of the magazines as well as the payments from the companies and the businesses whose products we advertise. One strategy that we will use for market entry is offering the first issues at discounts to customers. This is aimed at encouraging them to buy and read the amazing stuffs that we post on our newspaper. In addition, our pricing will be below the normal magazine prices, this is meant to attract more customers as well as give us a fair chance to compete fairly against our competitors. Through this marketing strategy, we intend to capture a large section of the market within the first year, and the main target is to have a 30 percent of the market in place. Promotion: On the part of promotion, we intend to advertise our products in hotels, supermarkets, companies and other businesses, both small and large firms. Our message in the promotion will be quality advertising at a lower cost. We will distribute posters to these organizations. In addition, we will use the advertisement magazines to promote our products. This is effective since the advert and our contact details will placed conspicuously in places where people can easily see them. Apart from this type of promotion, we will open a social media account to advertise our products and services. Social media like facebook and twitter are very effective in marketing and can offer a business adequate exposure to a business within the shortest time possible. The facebook like button is also legendary for its viral nature, and within a very short time, a business can have thousands of people liking its products and services. One of the things that we will do is linking our customers to our social media pages. This idea is very good and lucrative and can earn us a great public visibility in terms of the number of people viewing our products and services. To even make the process easier for our customers, we will create a website through which our customers will be directed after viewing our products on the social media. Such websites are normally furnished with all the information that the customer may need to know especially when it comes to the cost of advertising as well as our contact details. Other social media like TV and radio will also be used in advertising our services to the citizens. The TVs are important and reaches a wide range of audience within the shortest time possible thus, they can be relied upon to advertise the various services that the business will offering. People: our company believes in quality as well as full customer satisfaction. We will therefore seek to employ qualified personnel to form part of our team. The people selected to offer these services would be professionals who are trained along the same area. Many preferences will be given to people who hold vast experience both in using computer softwares like the Photoshop and the adobe corals and readers. The marketers will also be people who hold experience in customer care services and can find the targeted audience and convince them that the magazines are good and very creative in ideas. Consequently, we will have a 24/7 business number through which customers can reach us for inquiries, complaints, and compliments. This will ensure that all the customer needs are perfectly addressed so as to prevent any form of misunderstanding that may come about in the course of business. The customers’ representatives as well as the field marketers will be trained and equipped with all the necessary information that pertains to customer needs. Such a system will ensure openness in operations and will attract many people towards using these services. During our recruitment, we will consider residents of the region. This is because they understand the neighborhood and can move across its corners when seeking customers. Similarly, since they understand the proper communication language within the area, they will be better placed to communicate the business objectives to the customers. THE HUMAN RESOURCE PLAN The human resource plan here is very important in managing the performance of employees. It helps in bringing harmony between employees and the various tasks assigned to them (Heriot, Kirk C & Norman 67). Proper management of human resource is important in ensuring that all the available financial and other material resources are used efficiently without any wastage. Below is a brief illustration of the organizational chart that will be used in the business. Organizational chart JOB DESCRIPTION AND QUALIFICATIONS The manager This is the person responsible for controlling, directing, monitoring, coordinating and planning the activities taking place within the entity. The manager motivates the other technical employees towards attainment of the organizational goals and objectives. Apart from leadership, the manager is entitled to provide direction and supervision of the employees (Noack 23). The manager also checks on the preparation of the financial reports of the organization. Job qualifications Bachelor in business administration Excellent communication and managerial skills Financial coordinator Offer financial advice to the company. Such a person coordinates with manager and plan effectively for the project. They foresee the use of funds in the business and offer relevant assistance to the subordinates. Qualification for job The ideal candidate should posses a bachelor degree in accounting. Possession of a diploma or higher diploma in business administration is an added advantage. Marketing coordinator This is the person in charge of formulating marketing strategies to help in promoting the goods and services offered here. Such a person should be innovative and creative so as to come up with tangible ideas that will lead to business growth. Their duties include product development, advertising, promotions and distribution. Qualification for job Bachelor degree in sales and marketing with over 1 year experience in the same field. Human resource coordinator This is the person responsible for implementing various employee policies within the business. He/ she coordinate the activities of the employees and deals with all the issues that relate to their welfare. Motivating the employees is also part of his duty. Qualifications Bachelor degree/ Higher diploma in Human resource management with at least one year experience in similar or related position. Customer care representatives The main role of these people is to attend to various customer needs. They also interact with customers in the field to sell and distribute the magazines to them. Responding to inquiries and other customer related issues is part of their duties. Qualification Diploma in business administration/ sales and marketing/human resource management Number of employees Job Title Number of employees Payment Method (Salary) Explanation Manager 1 AED 4,000 monthly Full time Financial coordinator 1 employee AED 3,500 monthly Full time Marketing Coordinator 1employees AED 3,000 monthly Full time Human resource coordinator 1 employee AED 1200 monthly Full time Customer care representatives 30 employees 1,200 Full time THE POLICIES AND PROCEDURES Days/ hours of operation: the employees will be attending job daily and will be required to report by 7.30 am and leave work at 5.00 pm. The customer care representatives will however be working on a rotational basis since they will be majorly working over the weekends when the papers are distributed. Recruitment policies: The business will recruit both men and women that are qualified for the respective posts. The recruits will be from the local community and will consist of citizens from that particular region. This will help in eliminating communication barriers that may exist between the sellers and the community. Vacation program: the employees will be allowed to take a one month leave at the end of the financial year, one person at a time. This will act as motivation to them and allow them attend to other businesses. Performance evaluation: This helps the manager and the other chief staffs to check and review the efficiency of the services offered by the employees. Performance appraisal is important in evaluating the various areas of weakness within the employee body. This should be done every 3 months of the business operations. Training and development: The organization will organize a quality assurance seminar for the employees. On the seminar, the employees will be trained on various management and customer relations skills. New recruits of the customer care representatives will be given special training to acquaint them with the system. Compensation package: Since this is a partnership business, the partners will be entitled to a 20% compensation package at the end of each quarter. Each member will be paid under a planned program, which will include the 20% Compensation figure. Business critical risks: The business risk is that it is only limited to operating within the UAE. Its size and nature cannot allow it to go international. This factor makes them not compete fairly against other advertisers that have gone international. Their magazines can only be read within the UAE environs (Allen 26). Also, the business being new in the market, the entrepreneurs can expect anything ranging from business failure to its success. It is thus a high level of risk taking. Conflicts between partners: This refers to a circumstance where the business partners conflict over certain issues pertaining to the business operations. Such conflicts can cost the company since they tend to lose time and money hence failing to compete fairly in the market. However, partnership agreement has been formed to help solve such disputes among the top leaders. This in turn will help them solve their conflicts effectively and translate them into benefits. Economic risks: Our media distribution magazines may face an economic risk in case the business does not meet the targeted sales revenue. This is because the company will have insufficient funds for production as well as paying the workers. Such economic risks are very dangerous and can completely lead to failure of a business. Therefore, to overcome this, the company needs to engage in multiple advertisement and promotions to ensure many people are aware of existence of these magazines, and the offers that they bring each weekend. Competitive risks: Companies and other businesses may view the idea as an extra expense hence decide to continue with their normal trend. This in turn will lead to low demand of our magazines and ads hence giving us low revenue returns. Such risks can also disadvantage our business and make us not compete favorably in the market. To overcome this, the companies need to be informed of the importance of this advertisement media and why the cost is worth the activity. Limited experience: Our business committee comprises of young entrepreneurs who have never involved in any business. We therefore lack the necessary experience to enable us manage and run the business effectively. We however take pride in the knowledge earned form college and such will equip us to successfully set the company on its foot. Furthermore, our management team and staff will consist of experienced and knowledgeable persons; these are the individuals who will offer assistance and guidelines to us on matters regarding management. Conclusion According to this research, the business presents a viable opportunity through which the entrepreneurs can capitalize on and successfully launch the business. The interviews and the feasibility test performed have enlightened us on the viability of the magazine ads business. One of the reasons that signify the great success includes the positive response got from the various hotels, companies and the businesses. This was just conducted in a small range, thus the business can perform well when run in its entirety. The marketing strategies put in place are also effective and can earn the business a great exposure to the general public. Furthermore the use of website and social media in advertising the products and services is equally of great impact. The social media is known to offer excellent results in terms of marketing and awareness creation. The business has also set up a human resource strategy that will ensure attainment of quality results (Stokes, David & Nicholas 16). Similarly, the projected cash flow statements are also satisfactory and can run the business effectively. The business can also survive through loans and grants from banks and the partners. Such can boost the business performance hence making them the greatest magazine advertisers. Works Cited Noack, Sascha. Business Guide: Doing Business in Dubai & the United Arab Emirates. Norderstedt: Books on Demand, 2009. Print. Tripp, Harvey, and Margaret Tripp. Culture Shock! Success Secrets to Maximize Business in the United Arab Emirates. Portland, Ore: Graphic Arts Center Publishing Company, 2002. Print. Stokes, David, and Nicholas Wilson. Small Business Management and Entrepreneurship. Andover: Cengage Learning, 2010. Print. Longenecker, Justin G. Small Business Management: An Entrepreneurial Emphasis. Mason (OH: Thomson/South-Western, 2006. Print. Allen, Kathleen R. Growing and Managing a Small Business: An Entrepreneurial Perspective. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 2007. Print Heriot, Kirk C, and Norman M. Scarborough. Cases in Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2006. Print. Read More