Product Features That Will Contribute Towards Sales Increase - Assignment Example

Business Plan Contents The Industry 4 1.Position of the new business 4 2.Prospects and trends 4 3 of economy 4 4.Market trends and opportunities 5 1.5.Competitors 5 2.The product 5 2.1.The offering 6 2.2.Benefits of the offerings 6 2.3.Intellectual property protection 6 2.4.Competitive edge 6 3.Marketing research 7 3.1.Questionnaire for market research 7 3.2.Analysis of consumers’ response 8 3.3.Analysis of market share 8 3.4.Potential market growth 9 3.5.Monitoring business growth 9 3.6.Anticipating change in demand 9 4.Marketing strategy 9 4.1.Pricing strategy 10 4.2.Segmentation, targeting and positioning 10 4.3.Product features that will contribute towards sales increase 11 4.4.Sales tactics 11 4.5.Warranty policies 12 4.6.Advertising budget and promotional tools 12 4.7.Product improvement in foreseeable future 12 5.Processes 12 5.1.Information flow 12 5.2.Equipment essential for efficiency 13 5.3.Quality control 13 6.Personnel 13 6.1.Founder 13 6.2.Organisational Chart 14 6.3.Responsibility of employees 14 6.4.Training needs 14 7.Finance 14 7.1.Breakeven analysis 14 7.2.Balance sheet 17 7.3.Managing financial shortcoming 18 7.4.Income statement 19 7.5.Cash flow forecast 20 8.Business action plan for Quick Pizza 21 Reference List 23 Bibliography 24 1. The Industry The business environment of Quick Pizza has been discussed in context to the position of the business organization in the industry, its prospects and market trend. Alongside, the external environment has been assessed in terms of economic condition, opportunities in the market and potential competitors of the business. 1.1. Position of the new business The company can be placed in the food service as well as fast food industry as a new innovative business organisation. The concept of mobile trailer pizzeria is yet to take shape of a major food service channel in the US fast food industry. The food purchasing pattern of consumers is not only driven by the taste of the food but the food and the store should also have a pleasing impact on the aesthetic senses of the consumers. Since 2009, the food service and fast food industry is growing at a rapid rate and interestingly growth is high in the fast food sector. Quick Pizza is expected to attract significant number of consumers as a result of its high quality pizzas, cost effectiveness and innovative nature of business (Market Line, 2011). 1.2. Prospects and trends The pizza industry can be classified into three segments, such as, dine-in, takeout and home delivery services. According to market report, delivery services and takeouts form a major share of the industry revenue. Dine-in choices are presented by most adequately sized establishments while takeout is a convenient choice presented to consumers by mobile vendors as well as restaurants. The proposed business idea comes under the purview of quick service business model where the overall cost associated with the business is minimised because of lack of fixed establishment. The current consumer trend suggests that consumers are increasingly becoming health conscious and most fast food sellers are incorporating this requirement in their food menus (IBIS World, 2015). 1.3. State of economy The United States is slowing recovering from the devastating recession and economic slowdown. In last half decade, the fiscal position of the country has improved considerably but the economy is still struggling with income inequality and unemployment issues. The purchasing power of consumers continues to be all time low but is expected to improve in recent time. The cost of infrastructure is increasing in an abrupt manner and the gross domestic product of the country is relatively low among other developed economies. Besides these, the labour wage and price of commodities are increasing at a rapid rate. The consumption pattern in the food service industry has been affected by present economic scenario and consumers are consistently seeking and exploring healthy and inexpensive choices (Market Line, 2014). 1.4. Market trends and opportunities The pizza industry of the US is worth $39 billion with a five year average growth of 0.2 percent. More than thirty eight thousand organisations are operating in the industry and consequently, level of competition therein is very high. The ongoing market trend is all about bringing in creativity in the product development process and as a result of this, gourmet choices with variety of flavour is going mainstream. Another market trend is emphasising on fresh and healthier choice in toppings. Consumers, being price sensitive, exhibit greater preference towards buying from trailers and mobile vendors as these are relatively cheaper than the restaurants and takeaway counters. The market opportunities comprises of adding variety of flavours to pizzas and selling side dishes. The other opportunities include strategic partnership with soft drink brands as most consumers prefer having pizza and soft drink together (IBIS World, 2015). 1.5. Competitors The pizza industry is highly competitive with large number of organisations operating therein. The industry presently homes 73,097 pizza restaurants in the US and employs approximately 958,255 individuals. Most of the competitors in the industry are small and medium business organisations in the form of outlets and vendors with an exception of few large establishments. Some of the prominent market players in the US pizza industry are Domino’s Pizza, Pizza Hut (Yum! brands), Papa John’s and Little Caesar’s Enterprises (Statista, 2014). 2. The product This segment particularly discusses the features of offerings by quick Pizza and their benefits to consumers. The idea herein is to present a clear overview of the features and benefits of the business organisation to its consumers and discuss unique selling proposition (s) of the product that adds competitive advantage therein. 2.1. The offering Quick Pizza will be offering Neapolitan style pizzas through mobile trailers. The pizzas will be in a variety of gourmet flavours and will be affordable to the mass. The company has taken in consideration the growing demand for healthy choices of consumers and as a result, use of additives will be very less at Quick Pizza. The authenticity of Neapolitan pizza will be maintained by the firm. The pizzas will be simple but of very high quality. Special blend of different kinds of cheeses and pizza sauce will be used by the firm in all the pies. Additionally, quality of pizza bread will be maintained by using whole wheat and natural wild yeast. 2.2. Benefits of the offerings Pizza varieties and flavours have been improvised significantly by different pizza stores and presently consumers get to taste evolved form of pizza and often miss the true Italian flavour. Pizza was originated in Naples, Italy and the actual taste of Neapolitan pizza will be brought to the US consumers by Quick Pizza. Neapolitan pizza by Quick Pizza will be relatively healthy compared to the pizza variants offered by competitors. The primary reasons are that the pizza will be made from whole wheat and natural wild yeast and the sauce will be free of additives. Another healthy reason is that the pizza will have healthy cheeses. Arguably, it will be light, crisp, full of flavours and low on calories. 2.3. Intellectual property protection Quick Pizza has propriety rights on its oven, as it is a customised high temperature hybrid brick oven (900-1100F) which is capable of baking pizza in less than 180 seconds. The oven design and concept will be patented by Quick Pizza in order to have competitive advantage. These kinds of ovens are mostly used in large organizations as traditional Neapolitan pizza baker. It is expected that having proprietary rights on the oven design will allow the firm to stay competitive without the fear of being copied by competitors. 2.4. Competitive edge Most competitors of Quick Pizza have single or double cheese recipes and consumers are charged extra for adding more variety of cheese in the pizza. Quick Pizza will have advantage herein as it will blend four varieties of cheeses for normal charges. As a result, consumers will have better product at a competitive price. Additionally, the custom made oven will provide competitive advantage to the business as it will save significant amount (75%) of pizza baking time and the firm will be able to serve more customers than its competitors without comprising the flavour and taste. 3. Marketing research 3.1. Questionnaire for market research 1. Select your age group: 18 years to 25 years 26 years to 33 years 34 years to 41 years 42 years and above 2. How often do you eat pizza? Daily Weekly Monthly Rarely 3. From where do you prefer buying your pizza? Why? Restaurants Takeaway counters Mobile vendors Why: ________________________________________ 4. Will you prefer a pizza trailer that can serve pizza in 75% less time than your regular pizzeria? Yes No 5. Will you prefer Neapolitan gourmet pizza with a blend of four cheeses over your regular favourite at the same price? Yes No 3.2. Analysis of consumers’ response Age group: Most pizza lovers were observed to belong to age group between 18 years and 33 years with only a few who were above 34 years but less than 49 years. It was gathered that preference towards eating fast food such as pizza declined among individuals with increasing age. Frequency: Some of the participants belonging to the age group of 18 years and 25 years voiced that they have pizza daily while majority suggested eating pizza weekly. Rest favoured monthly purchase of pizza with none suggesting rare purchase. This indicates that consumers in the US have strong taste bud for pizza. Choice of purchasing location: Most participants supported purchasing pizza from takeaway counters and mobile vendors as they are relatively cost effective. Restaurants are favoured by consumers belonging to age group higher than 26 years. This implies that affordability matters significantly to consumers. Most individuals between 18 years and 25 years are either students or have just been employed or unemployed. For such individuals, mobile pizza vendors and takeaway counters are most affordable choices. Time factor: Time is an essential factor for all consumers. Especially, when consumers can have same product in less time, then they exhibit preference towards the one that takes less time. Most consumers voiced their support towards baking concept of Quick Pizza. Preference towards Quick Pizza’s offerings: All participants agreed unanimously that they would prefer Quick Pizza’s offerings over their regular favourite because of the cheese blend. 3.3. Analysis of market share The pizza market of the US is highly fragmented and the country presently has more than 70000 pizzerias, out of which 65 percent were determined to be independent in nature. In 2013, Pizza hut was observed to have highest market share followed by that of Domino’s pizza and others. It was interesting to observe that in 2013 and 2014, pizza chains witnessed better performance over other fast food chains. In 2014, Pizza Hut occupied 16.7% of the US pizza market and Domino’s Pizza had a share of 11.1%. Around 56% of the market comprises various small and medium sized sellers. The initial target of Quick Pizza will be to achieve 2% of market share in the industry in next 5 years (Bloomberg, 2014; Market Realist, 2015). 3.4. Potential market growth In the fast food industry of the US, the quick service restaurants comprise around 80% of the market value with consistent growth. The growth is slow but it is expected that in next five years the growth will be moderate (Market Line, 2011). Since the product idea is innovative and consumer feedback has strongly favoured product of Quick Pizza, the company is expected to witness moderate growth. From quantitative perspective, it is expected that the company will witness a growth of 12 percent in next 4 years. 3.5. Monitoring business growth Business growth can be monitored internally and externally. Internal monitoring process involves open interaction with employees and sales management team, financial analysis and comparative analysis. External monitoring can be done by assessing growth in market share and evaluating consumer feedback. Questionnaire survey is effective for gathering consumers’ feedback which along with comparative ratio analysis can prove to be useful in overall assessment of business growth. Another useful technique for determining company’s growth with respect to its competitors is conducting performance analysis (Doyle and Stern, 2006). 3.6. Anticipating change in demand Anticipation is essential in business organisation as without anticipation of profit or loss, forecasting is not possible. The business should be prepared for anticipated growth or decline and should have a contingency plan for either of the situation. If the demand for the company’s offerings increases then the company will have to take expansion measures such as increased number of mobile vendors, opening of takeaway counters and possible development of restaurants; whereas in case of decline in demand, the firm will have to take measures to determine cause of decline in sales and increase its sales such as implementation of promotional and marketing tools (Dess and Lumpkin, 2009). 1. 2. 3. 4. Marketing strategy The marketing strategy of the company essentially focuses on 4P of marketing mix, namely, product, price, place and promotion. The features and benefits of product have already been discussed previously. In this section, pricing strategy, segmentation, targeting and positioning strategy, promotion and advertising strategies, sales tactics and scope for product improvement has been discussed. 4. 4.1. Pricing strategy One of the essential strategic issues in product marketing is deciding upon its pricing strategy. Pricing strategy is essentially associated with product positioning. There are different kinds of pricing strategies that can be implemented by an organisation depending upon nature of product, market competition and pricing objectives such as revenue maximisation, value maximisation and market penetration. Various prominent pricing strategies are penetration pricing, price skimming, psychological pricing, competitive pricing and so on. The brand will be using competitive pricing strategy as in a high competitive market, skimming and loss leader pricing strategy may present consumer with wrong notion. Competitive pricing will enable consumers of Quick Pizza to compare product features, benefits and quality with that of competitor’s products that are priced same. Competitive pricing will also convince consumers that the company is selling better quality product at a given market price (Doyle and Stern, 2006). 4.2. Segmentation, targeting and positioning Segmentation: The consumer market can be largely segmented on the basis of demographic factors such as educational background, income status and age group. Most pizza buyers belong to the age group between 10 years and 33 years as per the survey. These individuals are students as well as working professionals having family income between medium and high range. Targeting: As pizza is preferred by almost every US citizen, large segments of consumers will be targeted by Quick Pizza. The company will not only target consumers who love pizza but will also focus on consumers who are health conscious and avoid pizza for health reasons. Positioning: The product will be positioned as a superior pizza brand over other companies as it retains true flavour of Italian pizza and emphasises on health aspects of consumers. Additionally, the company will align its services with its name and will deliver pizza in relatively less time. The brand will be positioned as authentic, healthy and fast against its competitors (Anderson and Narus, 2007). 4.3. Product features that will contribute towards sales increase Authenticity: Market research suggests that most pizzerias in the US have evolved in terms of taste and consequently have lost authentic flavour of Neapolitan pizzas. The brand is aimed at attracting consumers by means of product authenticity and true flavour of Naples, Italy. Gourmet flavours: Quick Pizza will serve pizzas in a variety of gourmet flavours along with regular flavours. Gourmet pizzas will be sold at a competitive price and it is expected that the offering will have a positive impact on potential consumers of the company. Product superiority: The superiority of the pizzas will be expressed in terms of the ingredients that will be used in its preparation and processing. The company will be using imported tomatoes and other vegetables for pizza preparation. The sauce will be prepared regularly and no artificial additive will be added. Furthermore, unlike its competitors the company will use a blend of four kinds of cheese in the pizza. Faster service: An innovative oven will be used by Quick Pizza which will reduce baking time by 75%. As a result, consumers will have pizza at a relatively less time. Less time implies that consumers can have more number of fresh oven baked pizzas. 4.4. Sales tactics The sales tactics of Quick Pizza are discussed as follows: a) The brand will be focussed on one product at present and it is the Neapolitan pizza. Limited choices in the main product that allow consumers to have better decision making. b) Assorted choices in pizza toppings and sample tasting will allow consumers to know better about the products. c) Assessment of consumer feedbacks and integrating them in product development process will arouse and hold interest of the buyers. d) Other sales tactics include product advertising and promotional tools (Duncan and Moriarty, 2007). 4.5. Warranty policies The company will be liable for maintaining quality and hygiene in all products at all the time. In case of failure to meet the same, the company will refund full value and damage to consumers. The warranty policy does not include time of processing as in case of bulk processing, additional time may required. 4.6. Advertising budget and promotional tools The advertising budget has been presented for a time period of one year: Facebook page and ads: In Facebook ads, the company will invest $1000. The ads and Facebook page of Quick Pizza will increase consumer awareness regarding the brand and its products. Print media: Print ad is traditional in nature yet effective. The budget for printed ad for six months is $600. Advertisement in food networking forums: Applications such as Zomato and Urbanspoon are effective for recommending consumers about the pizza trailer. In this regard, the company will invest $600 for full year subscription. Promotional tools: The promotional tools of Quick Pizza include free samples, price-off offers on bulk purchases, money back programs and discount coupons. 4.7. Product improvement in foreseeable future The product improvement ideas depend on overall satisfaction level of consumers and their feedbacks. The company will incorporate consumers’ requirements in its future products as per feasibility. 5. Processes 5.1. Information flow The consumer management process information flow is described as follows: Order taking, payment clearing and invoice generation ------ order processing (preparation of pizza as per consumer specification) ------ Baking ------ packaging and delivering. Information flow in backend processes is: Placing raw material orders ----- coordination with finance and supply chain department ----- payment ----- quality check ---- inventory storing. 5.2. Equipment essential for efficiency Devices that will be necessary for an overall organisational efficiency are billing device, computer for order management and other process management, kitchen utensils, blender, mini refrigerator and baking oven. 5.3. Quality control Quality control will be done from all aspects of the business. It will be maintained in supply chain management, raw material sourcing, production process and product delivery. All vegetables, meat and cheese will be rigorously tested for quality prior to processing for consumer demand. Quality will be maintained from initial order to product delivery at Quick Pizza. Quality check will be done in terms of hygiene maintained by employees as well (Goetsch and Davis, 2010). 6. Personnel 6.1. Founder Jason Trey, the founder of Quick Pizza will be acting as the manager of the business for initial period of time. He will be responsible for employment management, training and development, marketing strategy formulation and ensuring appropriate business relation with various stakeholders. 6.2. Organisational Chart The overall organisational process will be monitored by the founder and manager of the company. The organisation chart is discussed as follows: Each of the sub management divisions will be consisting of 2 employees each resulting to a total of 11 employees. 6.3. Responsibility of employees The employees in marketing department will be responsible for product advertising, promotion and sales forecasting activities. Supply chain department will be assessing the raw material stock and quality and place order or file returns accordingly. The chefs will coordinate with the supply chain management team besides pursuing kitchen activities. The finance team will take care of cash and working capital management, budget forecasting and capital management. Technical team will manage all the technical devices. 6.4. Training needs The training needs will be addressed by the manager. All the employees will be provided one week training before the business goes online. The manager will be responsible for discussing job role of each employee and training them accordingly (Kermally, 2008). 7. Finance 7.1. Breakeven analysis Fixed cost calculation: Fixed costs Amount Total Printing Menus : 50 copies $ 5.00 $ 250.00 Business card : 20 $ 3.00 $ 60.00 Rubber stamps : 3 $ 30.00 $ 90.00 Letterhead $ 100.00 $ 500.00 Advertising Facebook ads $ 1,000.00 Print media $ 600.00 restaurant search app $ 600.00 $ 2,200.00 Rent and utilities Rent of vehicle per month $ 300.00 $ 3,600.00 Water and garbage charges per month $ 50.00 $ 600.00 Electricity charges $ 70.00 $ 840.00 Insurance $ 200.00 telephone and internet charges $ 40.00 $ 480.00 $ 5,720.00 Equipment Mini refrigerator $ 180.00 Oven $ 700.00 Blender $ 120.00 Computer $ 400.00 Billing machine $ 150.00 Dough Scrapper $ 35.00 Food Storage box : set of 4 $ 35.00 Storage racks : 4 $ 20.00 $ 80.00 Bun Pan rack : 2 $ 80.00 $ 160.00 Pizza knife : 3 $ 30.00 $ 90.00 Pizza holder : 3 $ 30.00 $ 90.00 Pizza Peel : 2 $ 20.00 $ 40.00 Chopping board : 4 $ 25.00 $ 100.00 Apron : 2 $ 75.00 $ 150.00 Gloves and caps: 4 and 2 respectively $ 50.00 $ 50.00 $ 2,380.00 Salary Founder $ 200.00 $ 2,400.00 Marketing team : 2 $ 300.00 $ 3,600.00 finance team : 2 $ 300.00 $ 3,600.00 Supply Chain team : 2 $ 200.00 $ 2,400.00 Technical team : 2 $ 240.00 $ 2,880.00 Kitchen management : 2 $ 260.00 $ 3,120.00 $ 18,000.00 Total $ 28,800.00 Variable cost determination: Variable cost cost/lb Bell peppers $ 0.90 Tomatoes $ 0.80 Onions $ 0.50 Garlic $ 3.20 Mushrooms $ 1.40 Olives $ 2.00 Anchovies $ 2.85 Jalapenos $ 1.47 Pineapple $ 2.39 Wheat flour $ 0.26 Cheese $ 3.50 Pepperoni $ 3.18 Bacon $ 3.36 Hamburger $ 1.39 Sausage $ 1.59 Variable cost per pizza: Variable cost per pizza Amount Dough (Flour and yeast) $ 0.20 Sauce $ 0.75 Toppings $ 0.80 Cheese $ 1.05 paper plate $ 0.10 $ 2.90 Breakeven calculation: Breakeven analysis Particulars Amount Selling price per unit $ 5.00 Variable cost per unit $ 2.90 Contribution $ 2.10 Fixed cost $ 28,800.00 Breakeven sales amount (number) 13,714 Breakeven sales value $ 68,571.43 The concept of breakeven analysis has been drawn from the economic concept of point of indifference. The point of indifference denotes a quantity or an amount at which cost and benefits are perfectly balanced. The breakeven point is a value (qualitatively and quantitatively) at which a firm neither earns profit nor suffers loss. A firm earns loss before the breakeven point whereas beyond the breakeven point, it starts earning revenues. The breakeven units of pizza for the first year was determined to be 13714 units and at this value the firm will neither be at profit nor be at loss. The firm have to earn revenue more than $68571.43 to earn stable profit (Buffett and Clark, 2008). 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 7.1. 7.2. Balance sheet Balance Sheet Liabilities Amount Assets Amount Long term liabilities Non-current Assets Share capital $ 25,000.00 Equipment $ 1,550.00 Loan $ 15,000.00 Profit transferred $ (4,177.50) Current liabilities Current asset Bills payable $ 10,000.00 Inventory $ 29,000.00 Cash $ 14,500.00 Prepaid expenses $ 772.50 Total $ 45,822.50 Total $ 45,822.50 7.3. Managing financial shortcoming The business will be started with a proposed amount of $25000 but determination of fixed cost revealed that it will amount to $28,800.00. As a result, Quick Pizza will take secure loan of $15000 from bank at 7% interest rate. The initial amount will be brought in by applying for venture capital as the founder does not have the proposed amount of capital with him for investment. Bank loan has not been proposed for the lump sum because the business is a startup venture and it is often difficult to access loans for startups (Buffett and Clark, 2008). 7.4. Income statement Income statement Particulars Amount Sales $ 79,250.00 Cost of sales $ 55,475.00 Gross profit $ 23,775.00 Operating expenses Salary $ 18,000.00 Rent and utilities $ 5,720.00 Printing $ 500.00 Advertisement $ 2,200.00 Kitchen expenses $ 830.00 Total $ 27,250.00 Operating profit/loss $ (3,475.00) Non-operating costs Interest $ 1,050.00 Tax $ (347.50) Net profit/loss $ (4,177.50) In the proforma income statement, the gross profit margin was determined to be 30% but the company will earn net loss as a result of moderately high operating and non-operating expenses. However, it was interesting to observe that the company will be earning fairly less amount of loss. Additionally, the company will be successful in achieving its breakeven sales in the first year. 7.5. Cash flow forecast Projected cash flow Particulars Projection 1 Projection 2 Projection 3 Sales $ 83,212.50 $ 86,382.50 $ 93,198.00 Cost of sales $ 56,029.75 $ 56,584.50 $ 57,694.00 Gross profit $ 27,182.75 $ 29,798.00 $ 35,504.00 Operating expenses Salary $ 18,000.00 $ 19,500.00 $ 21,000.00 Rent and utilities $ 5,720.00 $ 5,750.00 $ 5,800.00 Printing $ 500.00 $ 500.00 $ 650.00 Advertisement $ 2,200.00 $ 2,000.00 $ 2,000.00 Kitchen expenses $ 830.00 $ 900.00 $ 1,050.00 Total $ 27,250.00 $ 28,650.00 $ 30,500.00 Operating profit/loss $ (67.25) $ 1,148.00 $ 5,004.00 Non-operating costs Interest $ 1,050.00 $ 1,050.00 $ 1,050.00 Tax $ (4.04) $ 68.88 $ 300.24 Net profit/loss $ (1,113.22) $ 29.12 $ 3,653.76 The projected cash flow has been done for additional three years and at the end of fourth year, 12 percent revenue growth has been shown in the projected cash flow of the company. The profit was determined to be negative for first two years but the company will be earning positive cash flow from the third year onwards. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Business action plan for Quick Pizza Quick Pizza is a new start-up venture in the pizza industry of the US. The company will apply a differentiated strategy in the largely fragmented industry as it was gathered that pizza is an all-time favourite fast food for Americans and most competitors in the industry hardly sell Neapolitan style pizza. The main objectives of the business organisation are: a) Achieving a gross margin of 30% in the first year b) Integration of innovation and quality in product development c) Achieving 12% growth in revenue by end of 4th year. The action plan can be classified in activities such as (Dess and Lumpkin, 2009): Fund arrangement: The founder will be meeting various venture capitalists and financial organisations for fund arrangement. Angel investors can also be a good choice for investment. It is expected that the founder will require around 2 weeks for fund arrangement. Employee recruitment: Five divisions have been created in the proposed organisation and employee recruitment and training will be done by the founder himself. This activity is expected to take two weeks’ time to complete. Supply chain development: It consists of meeting domestic and international suppliers, negotiation of terms and placing of order. The process will take approximately 1 week’s time. Resource gathering: It includes purchasing of equipment, hiring of trailer and raw material warehousing. Resource gathering will take around half a week (3 days). Customer management: Customer management processes include devising plan for attracting and retaining consumers. This process includes advertising and development of promotional tools. The expected time period for this is 6 days. Contingency planning: Contingency planning is essential for avoiding business disruptions and the planning include evaluating consistency of line of credit, evaluation of various kinds of interest rate and others. The planning period is expected to take around 10 days. The Gantt chart of the action plan is provided as follows: Reference List Anderson, J. C. and Narus, J. A., 2007. Business marketing: Understand what customers value. Harvard Business Review, 76(6), pp. 53-62. Bloomberg, 2014. Twilight of the Pizza Barons. [online] Available at: [accessed 10 March 2015]. Buffett, M. and Clark, D., 2008. Warren Buffett and the Interpretation of Financial Statements. 6th ed. London: Prentice Hall. Dess, G. and Lumpkin, G., 2009. Strategic Management: Creating Competitive Advantages. 6th ed. London: McGraw-Hill Education. Doyle, P. and Stern, P., 2006. Marketing Management and Strategy. 7th ed. Hoboken N.J: Wiley. Duncan, T. and Moriarty, S., 2007. A communication-based marketing model for managing relationships. Journal of Marketing, 62(2), pp. 1-13. Goetsch, D. and Davis, S., 2010. Quality management: introduction to total quality management for production, processing and service. 5th ed. USA: Douglas Brooks. IBIS World, 2015. Pizza Restaurants in the US: Market Research Report. [online] Available at: [accessed 09 March 2015]. Kermally, S., 2008. Developing and Managing Talent: A blueprint for business survival. 4th ed. London: Routledge. Market Line, 2011. United States - Fast Food. [online] Available at: [accessed 09 March 2015]. Market Line, 2014. Country Analysis Report: United States, In-depth PESTLE Insights. [online] Available at: [accessed 09 March 2015]. Market Realist, 2015. Domino’s Pizza: Serving 1.5 million Pies a Day. [online] Available at: [accessed 09 March 2015]. Statista, 2014. Pizza restaurant sales in the United States from 2012 to 2014 (in million U.S. dollars). 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