Business Plan - Private Security - Research Paper Example

Even established business groups struggled to survive because of stiff competition in the market. Although, all the business people like to have monopoly in the market, practically it is difficult to achieve monopoly. The business idea should be unique in order to establish the product or service in the market. Moreover, the market should have adequate demand for the new venture to prosper. Prentice (2010) has mentioned that “the key to success is not usually having a new idea, but implementing it well, getting customers, and wowing them so that they come back for more and recommend you to others” (Prentice, 2010).

Private security is not a new business concept. In most of the countries, private security services are in place. Because of the growing threats to the security of the people from all corners, governmental agencies alone cannot ensure 100% security to the life and wealth of the people. Even ordinary people nowadays seek the help of private security services in order to keep their life and wealth intact. This paper is written as a business plan for introducing a new private security service in America.

Discuss the marketing research process for the product/service of the new venture Cooper (2001) argued that for every seven new product ideas, about 4 enter development, 1.5 are launched, and only one succeeds (Cooper, 2001, p.11). The above comment from Cooper underlines the importance of planning in introducing new ventures. The success of a new venture in the market also depends on the competence of the team of people working on it. Proper planning, supervisions, promotional activities, quality of the new venture, proper communications and discussions between the team etc will lead the private security service to a success.

Some of the basic elements needed to be researched before the introduction of a new venture like private security are; What is your target market?; How big is it?; Who buys your service?; Why do they need it?; Who pays for it?; Who uses it?; How much are they willing to pay?; Why would they buy from you?; What business problems are more important to them than this one? (NVBC Seminar: Market Research and Product Marketing, 2010). Market research is essential for taking good marketing decisions especially for a new product or service.

Several new ventures are entering the market periodically. Some of them might be new to the market while others are completely new and will create totally new markets. Many of the new ventures, products or services are merely minor modifications of existing products or services. Private security is not a new concept. Many other private security services are currently operating in America and in order to compete with them, the new venture should offer some unique facilities to the customers. It could be better security at cheaper rates; security with the help of advanced tools and methodologies etc.

The new venture should devise a solution that addresses the customer’s unmet needs. Discuss the target market for the product/service “Amidst heightened public fears in the wake of the Oklahoma bombing, fresh threats by the UNABOMBER, and recurring references by the press and politicians to the menace of foreign terrorists, the private industry is poised for boom times” (Zielinski, n. d). 9/11 terrorist attacks, recent Mumbai terrorist attack etc are some other incidents which increased the public awareness about the need of private security.

People have realized that government, military or the police alone cannot ensure their security and it is necessary for them to seek other options or ways to protect themselves. The new venture can target wealthy individuals and business groups for marketing their services. The new company should realize that it cannot be all things to all people always. Private security is not necessary or affordable to all people. The services of private security are often sought by the wealthy people. In most of the cases, the poor or ordinary people may not have many things to protect.

Under such circumstances, the new venture should target wealthy people who have precious and valuable things to protect. Even though security is a big problem to all, it is not necessary that the expenses of seeking private security assistance might be affordable to all. In short, the new venture, private security should target wealthy people and organizations who/which have precious things to protect. Discuss the marketing mix components: product strategy (position, branding), pricing strategy, distribution (marketing channel) concept and promotional (marketing communication) strategy The proposed private security venture should have a good brand name in order to catch the attention of the public.

The brand name and the logo should reflect the uniqueness of services offered by the company to the public. Massive advertising campaigns with the help of some celebrities like Arnold Schwarzenegger or Jackie Chan might help the new venture to catch the attention of the public rapidly. People normally purchase product or services in order to satisfy their basic needs, to solve their problems and to make themselves feel good (Guille, 2010). Heavy pricing may results in failures of the new service offered in the market.

Customers will always compare the features and prices of the new product/service developed with other similar products/services existing in the market before taking their purchasing decisions. The selling prices of the services offered should be fixed based on competition and customer feedback. The initial period after the launch of the new private security service is important. Sometimes some fine tuning will be required in overall characteristics of the service offered in order to make it more attractive to the customers.

Beta testing is another aspect in which the new venture company can focus more. The feedbacks obtained though beta testing is utilized for fine tuning the features of the service offered to the public. Discuss the legal structure of the organization and the rationale for this structure Sole Proprietorship, General Partnership, Limited Partnership, Limited Liability Partnership (LLP), Corporation, Limited Liability Company, Non-Profit Corporation, Professional Corporations (PC's), Professional Associations (PA's) and Professional Limited Liability Companies (PLLC's) etc are some of the legal structures of an organization in United States (Allen, 2010).

In my opinion, Professional Limited Liability Company (PLLC) structure could be ideal for the new security service venture since high professional expertise is needed for the smooth functioning of security related services. Selection of proper legal structure will help the organization; to avoid problems with respect to tax; to attract customers and to avoid unnecessary legal problems. Private security companies may have limitations in functioning like the public security agencies. They may not be able to use sophisticated arms and security equipments.

There are legal restrictions in keeping and using arms by private security agencies. Discuss the organization structure for the organization and the rational for the structure Organizational structure is defined as the way in which the day to day operations of an organization are divided, grouped and coordinated. Normally organizational structure is structured in three ways; by function, by product/market and in matrix form. In my opinion, functional structure is ideal for the proposed new venture.

According to Rohan Wickremsinghe (n. d), functional structure is good enough for an organization which has limited product range. It ensures the efficient use of specialized resources and it makes supervision easier (Wickremsinghe, n. d, p.2). Private security venture has only one service which is providing security to the life and wealth of the individuals or organizations. Moreover, it utilizes specialized knowledge and skills of the security personnel who might be professionally trained or have experience of working in other security related agencies.

In short, functional organizational structure could be the ideal choice for the private security venture. References 1. Allen, S. (2010). Business Legal Organizational Structures. Retrieved from http://entrepreneurs.about.com/od/businessstructure/a/bizstructures.htm 2. Cooper, R.G. (2001). Winning at New Products: Accelerating the Process from Idea to Launch. Publisher: Basic Books. 3rd edition June 5, 2001. (pp. 4 – 11). 3. Guille, M. (2010). How To Find And Sell To Your Target Market Part 1: Finding Your Target Market.

Retrieved from http://sbinfocanada.about.com/cs/marketing/a/targetmarket.htm 4. NVBC Seminar. Market Research and Product Marketing. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.newventuresbc.com/2010/04/nvbc-seminar-market-research-and-product-marketing/ 5. Prentice, S. (2010). New Business Ideas. Retrieved from http://articles.bplans.com/starting-a-business/new-business-ideas/305 6. Wickremsinghe, R. (n. d). Organizational structure. Retrieved from http://www.docstoc.com/docs/1021276/TYPES-of-ORGANIZATIONAL-STRUCTURES 7.

Zielinski, M. (n. d). Armed and dangerous: Private police on the march. Covert Action Quarterly. Retrieved from http://mediafilter.org/caq/CAQ54p.police.html