Business Plan for Organic Light Emitting Diodes - Research Proposal Example

Business Plan for Organic Light Emitting Diodes Introduction This report is a preliminary business plan for an innovation of ‘Neoview OLEDs’. With the growing need for innovative and newer technologically developed products in the market, this report has been made to provide the customers with a new and innovative product. The ideas used in this report is to develop a new product and the provide bikers with an easy solution to easy hassle free riding. Thus I have been able to develop a product which will be very beneficial to all riders and will help make riding more of a pleasure than it already is. An overall view of the product has been described in the next section. This report will provide a detailed explanation of the components of the product, and also a detailed plan for the operations, and financial needs to develop ‘Neoview OLEDs’. Company Overview Neoview is a company which is aimed at providing its customers with innovative solution for motorcycling. The decision to create such a product for the customers is mainly because of the number of hassles that bikers face on a daily basis and the need for an innovative product to help making riding a complete pleasure. The proposal is to offer all bikers with a solution which is inbuilt to the helmet and does not require any extra fitting for the bikes. This is a simple product and is a part of the visor of the helmet, which ensures that the bikers do not need to carry the product every time they leave for a destination. Traditionally, the services that are provided from this one single product alone would separate products or would require the rider s attention to be moved from riding for examples, a GPS navigator is a separate product and requires the rider to look of the road into the navigator to be able to reach a particular destination. Similarly the rider’s attention can also be de – focused with the need to check the gas level or even answering a phone call while riding. Neoview products aim at reducing all these distractions for the riders to ensure complete safety, and also comfort while riding. Mission, Vision and Objectives Mission Statement: NeoView’s mission is to create products which help contribute to the richness of the life and contribute to the development of civilization. Build a community which is uses technology to improve the style of living in partnership with our customers and all stakeholders of the company. Vision Statement: Creating a business that is unique by forming a mutual consumer partnership in making a better and healthier technological community. Become the world leaders in OLED products. Objectives: The motorcycle market in the US has grown very rapidly in the last few years. The number of motorcycles owned and used in America is approximately 10.4 million in 2008. This is a 19 % growth since 2003 (Webworld, 2009). NeoView will be targeting the entire market of motorcycle owners, and this objective is segmented into various phases. This will enable the company to focus on particular segments in each phase. Each of these phases will try to increase and improve the market share of the company and the product awareness among customers. A break up of a few of the activities for the four phases is provided below: Phase 1: To market our product, to create and establish consumer awareness of our product To attract and retain customers through effective customer service, marketing and creation of product awareness. To aim at targeting the main cities in the US. These include, New York which has the highest population in the US, Los Angeles, Chicago and Houston. The total number of bikes in New York alone is over 1,100,000 (as of 2004). The aim is to gain as much as 50 % of the bikers to buy the product. Phase 2: With the establishment of the market expertise, consumer loyalty and word of mouth marketing, our focus is to look forward at capitalizing on these major cities. After this, efforts will be made to reach out to other smaller cities, like Philadelphia, Phoenix, Dallas, San Antonio, Detroit, San Francisco and others Aim will be to reach out to as many customers as possible, by use of marketing techniques and sales promotions Efforts to develop links with motorcycle companies and helmet showrooms will be made to reach out to a wider range of people. Ensure complete customer satisfaction of customer and keep up continous development and improvements in the product. Phase 3: This stage will aim at reinforcing the brand, and strengthening our corporate position Expand the business to most of the states of US in terms of physical stores Develop an eCommerce website for the company and cater to various parts of the world. Gain a return on invest and try to reach breakeven at the earliest. Develop the e Commerce website, with a lot of information and possibly into a network for bikers to share experiences. Include real time traffic updates and other biker related update gradually from the basic eCommerce website. Phase 4: Complete target on globalization Try to reach out to countries with high number of motor vehicles Develop physical stores in places like the United Kingdom, and across Europe. About the Innovation This innovation has been developed to provide motorcyclist with an exemplary product. The ‘Neoview OLEDs’, is a product which provides the customers, i.e. the riders, with a helmet which has a visor with the ability to conduct a number of functions. The innovation aims at including within the normal helmet, a visor which provides the rider with numerous information like, a navigation system with a voice command, a Bluetooth which will be connected to the phone and will work on a voice command, details of the bike, like the gas level warnings, and any and all warning lights that would be required by the motorcyclist to have a safe and tension free ride. The next section provides a detailed understanding of OLEDs which is the main element of this innovation. To provide the readers with a better understanding of the working the details have been provided below. Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLED) With the growing technology there is a constant effort being made by manufacturers to meet up to the needs of customers for compact yet high level products in the market. The needs of customers have been becoming more technologically developed because of the constant and fast developments and new findings that are gained every single day. In the near future people would also want 80 inch flat screens which would be less than a quarter inch thick with features to save as much power as possible and also be rolled up when not in use. There are a number of other features that customers would definitely like to see in the products in the near future, like a ‘heads up’ display in the car, or a display monitor built into the clothing, and many more. However complicated and bizarre this might sound, it is now possible for items of these sorts to be developed in the near future. This is possible due to the new technology that has been developed over the past few years this technology is referred to as Organic Light Emitting diodes (OLEDs). The OLED technologies are solid – state devices, which are composed of thin films of organic molecules which create light with the application of electricity. These can provide clear, bright pictures with the use of lesser energy than the normal light emitting diodes (LEDs) or even the Liquid crystal displays (LCDs) which are being used in recent times. It is important to understand that all OLEDs are made of carbon, or organic materials. The LEDs which are presently being used as mentioned earlier stands for ‘light –emitting Diode’. These use electric energy to make light and the process is called LED. There are four main types of OLEDs which include: transparent, top – emitting, foldable, and white OLED. Top – emitting OLEDs have a substrate, i.e. the support which is either opaque, or reflective. These kinds of OLEDs are best suited for active matrix design. The top – emitting OLEDs have been used in smart cards by manufacturers. Foldable OLEDs have the support made of flexible metallic foils or even plastic. These are generally light weight and are also very durable. OLEDs of these kinds are used in mobile phones, and PDAs to help reduce the breakage and help customer have lesser reasons for return or repair. These types of OLEDs can be attached to clothing as well and can lead to ‘smart clothing’. This can be included in outdoor survival clothing, cell phones, GPS receivers, computer chip and the OLED can be sewn onto them. The white OLEDs on the other hand are used in cases where there is higher need for brighter white light to be emitted. This is mostly more uniform, and more effective and efficient in terms of the energy usage than the fluorescent lights. These can be easily made in large sheets and thus is used more often than others in homes and buildings. Also the white OLEDs are more energy effective and also can lead to reduced energy consumptions. White OLEDs also has true color qualities of ‘incandescent lighting’. The next section will deal with transparent OLEDs as this is the main component of the innovation. Transparent OLEDs The transparent OLED is built using all transparent components, i.e. the substrate which is the support, cathode adds the electrons to the device when the current flows through it, and anode which works on removing the electrons. Also the other component is the organic layer which is made of molecules and polymers. The diagram below provides an understanding of the same. Figure 1: The OLED structure – components (HowStuffWorks, 2009) The benefit of using the transparent OLEDs is that it allows light to pass through both the directions. The displays in this kind of OLEDs can be active matrix or passive matrix. This type of OLEDs is best used for ‘heads up’ display. Thus this is the kind of OLED that will be used for the innovative idea of NeoView. Uniqueness of the Product The uniqueness of this product is the merged benefits of the product. As mentioned the product provides a vast variety of features like the fuel level, speedometer, mileage, indicators, break lights, headlights, and incoming call on mobile. It also will provide details like the speed limits in the area and whether the individual crosses the speed limit. This is possible with the help of the GPS signals and the details on the visor. The product will provide all these details on either one screen or even on separate tabs on the visor. The easy usage is one of its unique features. Also, this is the first ever product which is available within the helmet itself. Management Plan Management Team: A functional and flat structure will be adopted for NeoView OLEDs. The Board of directors will include the directors and partners based on their skills and knowledge of the specified fields, who will be designated as the Head of Department. The department heads will be directly associated with ‘getting the job done’. The main advantage of this style of structure is that there is an easy integration of the various departments. The figure below will provide details of the heads of each department and the Board of Directors. Human Resource Needs: The human resources needs have been divided into six main teams: 1. Procurement Team: A number of people will be hired to work for the procurement team. This team’s main duty is to deal with the suppliers. This team will need the employees to constantly find suppliers of raw material. The main aim of this team will be to find quality raw material at lowest prices. Also the team will be responsible to keep track of all inventories and all details of money spent on the raw materials and inventories for the product. 2. Production Team This team is a major team in the company. The teams within this team will be responsible for the various operations and the work flow for the production of the NeoView helmets. It consists of three sub divisions: a. Work Floor Team This will be a team of workers on the floor. This team will deal with the mechanic details of the helmet and will be part of the production team. b. Technical Team This team will deal mainly with the technical part of the development of the helmets. i. VLSI Team: This team is referred to as the ‘Very Large Scale Integration’ Team. This team will deal with the production of the microchip and programming of the helmet. It will basically include personnel with good knowledge and experience of ‘Programmable Logic Control’ (PLC) and Low Cost Automation (LCA). ii. Fabrication Team This team will work in coordination with the VLSI team and the Work Floor management team. Here the personnel will receive the parts completed by the other two teams and the assembly of the parts to develop the finished product will be handled. c. Research and Development Team As mentioned the main aim is to ensure that the customers are satisfied and there is constant improvement and developments in the product. This team will deal with research and development and constant efforts of improving the product. d. Quality Control Team Here like in every company, a group of professional personnel with a keen eye for detail will be employed. This team will ensure to check that all completed products that move out of the company are up to the standards and with no defects. 3. Logistics Team This team will deal with transportation of the product from the company warehouse to the retail stores and distribution to all the point of sales. 4. Marketing Team The marketing team will deal with creating the market awareness. This team will deal with the promotional activities, advertisements, flyers brochures, and all the direct mail to increase the awareness of the product and also to provide a clear understanding of the working of the product. 5. Support Team This will include three main teams, namely: i. IT Support: This team will be responsible for the internal affairs of the company. It will provide complete Internal IT support to all teams and will deal with all repairs anc improvements for the teams. ii. Customer Support: This is a very important team and is sub divided into three main groups: a) Technical Support: This team will provide support to customers in terms of any technical errors for the product. This will provide all technical support to the customers. b) Sales Support This will be a team set for sales of the company. It will help customers with any queries regarding the sales and will in most cases respond to email and phone queries of the customers. c) Service Personnel The service personnel will be experts who will be sent out to the customers’ residence and even work out of the retail outlets. These individuals will have complete knowledge of all the components of the helmet and will be present to assist the customers sort out any technical issue with the helmet. 6. Retail Management Team The retail management team will be the group of individuals needed to support at the retail stores. These individuals will mainly be sales personnel and will be trained on the helmet and the components. These individuals will be the customer facing and will demonstrate all the features of the helmet to the customers. Operations: Production: Financial Plan: The startup cost for the development of the NeoView OLED Helmets will be very high. Hence to help provide for the finances one of the best sources of capital will be joint venture and venture capital. There is a high need to be able to strike a balance between debt and equity capital of the company. To do so, venture funding is a solution and fills the gap by providing the ‘Value Added Finance’. Process Timeline: Read More