Activities in Preparing a New Venture Business Plan - Assignment Example

Activities in Preparing a New Venture Business Plan Introduction Establishing a proper governance system, whereby a new venture can be directed and controlled and properly align strategy with tangible management activity to build a relevant corporate architecture, to respond to market opportunities, is critical for a new venture (Tricker 2009). The many different components of a new venture related to a complex value chain require more than simply the talents and analysis capabilities of a single individual, rather assessing opportunities and ideas is reliant on group discussion, consensus, and planning to achieve a workable business model that will find competitive and market-based success. As a result of the aforementioned complexities, the purpose of this reflective report is to build discourse about how the group assigned for planning and forming the new venture generated ideas and worked cooperatively to provide a feasible framework for launching a profitable business model. Deming (2002) asserts that 85 percent of all business failures are a direct outcome of poor management strategies. Therefore, the ability of a group to function cooperatively and gain consensus on planning, organisation and control is critical for a complex start-up venture to achieve its intended objectives and goals. The report highlights how the planning group functioned as a cooperative, focusing on strengths and weaknesses, to reflect on how group processes might be better coordinated in the future. Key learning of group work is also discussed to illustrate how team-based wisdom has been gleaned through this experience. Group dynamics The group followed the model of Tuckman’s group development model precisely in the forming stage, where individual tasks maintained the most discussion and all team members were motivated and focused on maintaining good behaviour to build acceptance in the group (Tuckman 1965). Group dynamics, overall, were quite positive. Each team member maintained a clear focus on individual tasks and worked cooperatively to produce a high quality project output. Over the development of the project, group members became accustomed to diverse methods by which each team member performed their tasks and embraced these differences effectively. Whilst there was some level of challenge during the initial formation of the group (which will be discussed in detail), the team functioned well once individual personalities and attitudes were respected and esteemed. The group met regularly, however the timeline for these meetings were disparate and dependent on the task deadlines assigned to each team member. If tasks had a three day deadline, a meeting was scheduled on day four to coordinate all individual work, discuss its relevancy and quality, and then incorporate it (as a collaborative group) into the final project. Conflicts and challenges The group appeared to follow the linear path in group development, in which conflict began to emerge in the storming stage. Whilst Connors and Caple (2005) suggest that not all groups follow the linear stages precisely, this group appeared to justify Tuckman’s model. It is in the storming stage where hostilities manifest. In one particular instance, two team members felt that the group was not achieving individual task deadlines proficiently and began overly-assertive efforts to try to reallocate tasks to be completed collectively rather than individually. For example, the individual assigned the marketing and promotion task had created initial advertising mock-ups that were not considered relevant to the market segment characteristics the group had collectively agreed upon. These two individuals were openly critical and challenging about why the individual assigned promotional strategy had selected his original approach. One of the students, so frustrated with the conflict about promotional imagery, even stated that the student’s poor marketing imagery would cause the group to disappoint the marker. One student, who had become the group resource investigator (under Belbin’s Team Roles Model), acted as an innovative team member who began to negotiate new resource opportunities to reshape the promotional strategy and imagery. This team member was highly extroverted and began mediating discourse between antagonistic group members, typical of a resource investigator (Belbin 1993). The resource investigator in the group took it upon himself to download nearly 20 different images that were relevant to our original consensus-based promotional focus and opened lines of communication about how each member felt about each image and how it could be incorporated into advertising strategy related to our selected target markets. The efforts of this group member serving as the resource investigator began to establish group norms where members realised that conflict was inevitable and begin re-establishing consensus so that a singular objective of the project could be achieved. In the norming stage, due to several different conflicts that had previously slowed team progress and challenged communications, there was such a focus on maintaining peace and avoiding conflict that people began avoiding challenging others’ ideas and opinions. Even though the group was developing more positive social relationships, conflict avoidance was marginally slowing the creative process. Several group members hailed from very collectivist regions of Asia where saving face is an important social consideration (Cheung, et al. 2008). This impacted the quality of productive communications moderately where these group members believed in strong team member loyalty and not necessarily having their failures criticised publicly, thereby contributing to conflict avoidance. Roles The group was organised so that individual tasks were aligned with each team member’s personal competencies. For instance, one individual was responsible for approaching marketing planning, another delegated operational concerns, whilst another focused on financial planning and forecasting. This made logical sense based on the in-depth discussions held about experiential knowledge and academic experiences throughout their higher education careers. In this group, I was the shaper under Belbin’s model, one who challenged established norms (West and Markiewicz 2004). Having experience in cross-cultural psychology, I recognised the signs that saving face, as collectivist goals, were driving conflict avoidance in the norming stage. I reminded the group that if the team did not challenge each others’ approaches and creative work, the project would not achieve the quality of outcomes necessary for this important project. I suggested that we utilise text messages that would be sent between different group members when there was disagreement with one’s direction or creative content. I assumed that by making criticism a bit more discreet, it would still allow group members to reconsider their approaches without necessarily forcing those who are self-conscious or uncomfortable with public criticism from becoming unmotivated or frustrated. In the group’s first meeting, delegating tasks was a primary goal and the group discussed how to build an effective brand that would stand out amidst the venture’s main competition. There was some level of initial disagreement about the marketing approach, however allowing all team members to brainstorm concepts and ideas managed to put the project on task and give the group an opportunity to reach consensus. In the group’s second meeting, which was aligned in the storming stage, the team was to discuss ideas for improving resource collection (i.e. journals, Internet imagery and industry reports). In the storming stage where conflict and opinion disagreement was present, methods of procuring valuable resources (qualitative and quantitative data) was a topic of considerable argument. One group member, who had become the group’s implementer, was very organized and disciplined and liked to get things done practically. He grew quite frustrated that resource procurement was such a hot topic and demanded more logical and practical approaches rather than operating in a conflict environment. This individual showed signs of feeling like he was the team’s logical leader and was becoming unmotivated due to the high levels of disagreement and conflict that was slowing progress in the team’s second meeting. Once it was reiterated that this was a collective effort, the team functioned more productively. Idea generation and selection Initially, the group was concerned that Chinese tea might only be wanted by Asian consumers as competitive analyses showed that most businesses charged exorbitant prices on the product. However, after reviewing potential supply chain options, we realised that the raw materials price was much lower than the premium pricing structure placed on the finished product. This gave us the idea for competitive advantages that would make Tea Infusions more attractive to markets other than just Asian consumers. This gave the group ideas about how to build a profile of consumer behaviour for non-Asians that would be attracted to Chinese tea products. By examining relevant journals and theory, we were able to identify profitable markets based on their lifestyle and personality-based characteristics. We had a pre-determined set of profit expectations for the venture which served as criteria for making the product viable to multiple market segments. We had originally not considered that pricing or quality could be advantages until we discussed that the Asian population in our operating region might not be sufficient for ensuring higher sales volumes. Competitor analyses, using industry reports and web data, also gave us ideas for promotional strategy. We quickly realised that most competitors had little brand recognition which made us emphasise the marketing function to focus on brand-building. Our criteria had been a focus on differentiation and by examining the marketing deficiencies of our many small competitors, we recognised that allocating more financial resources to the marketing function would help build a recognised and trusted brand. Evaluation of the module I learned through conflict experiences that groups have such a dynamic disparity of personalities and ambitions for each member and that a productive team is capable of recognising these differences and attempt to meet the socio-psychological needs of each unique personality. When the team allowed practical reason from the implementer to begin building a task and delegation structure, his personal resistance was virtually eliminated which helped in allowing the team to finally reach its most valuable norming stage. If the team had been resistant to the implementer’s perception of his need for control, the group might have sustained more conflict and we would not have benefitted from the sensibility and no-nonsense views that helped get the project back on track. I also learned the importance of organisational culture in new venture development, and how achievement of a set of normative values and beliefs would guide more productivity and team-oriented motivations. Before the module, I had not considered that culture could be a source of competitive advantage, however as the group moved through Tuckman’s different stages, it became apparent that building shared values makes a group more tolerant of failure and more dedicated toward achieving performance outcomes. I have learned that culture is fundamental for achieving internal cohesion and ensuring that all behaviours are aligned with specific goals and objectives of the venture. Petkova (2009) asserts that addressing socio-psychological needs of employees is critical to achieving entrepreneurial success; a fundamental driver of culture development. I gleaned a great deal of information and techniques that were taught by the module. For instance, conducting an industry analysis was critical to fully understanding the market conditions that would impact the venture’s profitability. The PEST framework provided the guidance needed to fully comprehend the political, economic, social and technological factors that were both favourable and challenging. This gave the new venture the ability to position itself strategically and I now have transferrable skills needed to successfully launch a new venture and maintain awareness of macro-economic factors. Prior to the module, I did not realise the critical importance of analysing an industry. Conclusion Planning for the launch of a new venture is not a simplistic task, but involves understanding a vast variety of market factors that will contribute to a successful start-up business model. Concurrently, human capabilities in managing an organisation successfully are critical to whether a venture will be profitable and capable of servicing its customers competently. Tuckman provided a framework of group development which underpins how a group goes from formation through promoting and the challenges of conflict that occur as the group becomes familiar with working collectively and cooperatively. Our group maintained significant strengths in terms of having diverse talents that could be exploited to achieve individual and group-based tasks. However, these strengths were moderately undermined by cross-cultural communications difficulties and poor initial strategy in appeasing the socio-psychological needs of diverse team members. Using strategies to overcome these social differences assisted the team in staying on-track and achieving its original goals and objectives, such as critically analysing Belbin’s model to determine what might drive team member motivations and needs. References Belbin, R.M. (1993). Team roles at work. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. Cheung, F., Cheung, S., Zhang, J., Leung, K., Leong, F. and Yeh, K. (2008). Relevance for openness as a personality dimension in Chinese culture, Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 39(1), pp.81-108. Connors, J.V. and Caple, R.B. (2005). A review of group systems theory, Journal for Specialists in Group Work, 30(2), pp.93-110. Deming, W.E. (2002). Chapter 6, in J. Beckford (ed.), Quality: An Introduction. London: Routledge. Petkova, A.P. (2009). A theory of entrepreneurial learning from performance errors, International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, 5(4), pp.345-367. Tricker, B. (2009). Corporate Governance: Principles, policies and practices. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Tuckman, B.W. (1965). Development sequence in small groups, Psychological Bulletin, 63(6), pp.384-399. West, M. and Markiewicz, L. (2004). Building team-based working: a practical guide to organizational transformation. Oxford: Blackwell. Read More