The Keys to Business Development - Case Study Example

Case Study Introduction Business development has been a critical issue to most investors across the world. Sometimes entrepreneurs face various challenges even when the business is performing well. Such challenges include confusion on the best approach to take in order to develop the business, business promotion method and budgetary issues among others. At this stage, entrepreneurs tend to lose concentration on the business and this trend accounts for significant percentage of business failure. To avoid such confusion, an entrepreneur may decide to go for a short retreat to explore various available options. Such step enables him to come up with suitable decision concerning business development. Strategic Analysis and Discussion During the retreat, an entrepreneur is able to concentrate on the business. In this case, he has several issues to address. They include suitable approaches to use in business development, business promotion, cash-flow management and revenue maximisation. Note that this business has been performing well for sometimes since its inception. The business has reliable customer base hence consistent sales volume. The major challenge facing the entrepreneur is making a decision on what to do to expand the business. Further note that this particular entrepreneur has several options ready thus he needs to come up with one viable option for the business. First strategic option that this entrepreneur has is opening an outlet in different location. With an extra outlet, the business may increase sales volume which is the major determinant for maximising revenue. The idea of having an extra shop outlet in another location is ideal strategy for such business (Mandiberg, & Warner 2012). It would help the entrepreneur to serve the population better instead of relying on single outlet. In addition, it helps the business to expand its market size by attracting new customers. It is important to note that this business has no competition and failure to open outlets in different places may give another person an opportunity to do so. The issue of opening an outlet as a competitive strategy tops the agenda during the retreat. An entrepreneur may also consider aspect of supply chain during the retreat. It enhances customer service by ensuring product are nearer to them. Customers prefer getting the products from the nearest place possible. If opening another outlet is costly to the business, entrepreneur may opt to offer after sales service. He may decide to deliver the healthy potion to customer’s door step. It is an ideal strategy that brings customer closer to the business hence building relationship (Menzly, & Ozbas 2010). However, it may be more costly than opening a shop in separate location. It requires businesses where various customers place large orders to utilise benefits of economies of scale. Another approach of business development is minimising operational costs while maximising revenue. With reliable market size, an entrepreneur may decide to reduce the number of employees by adopting technology in customer service. He may decide to introduce online shopping where customer orders healthy potions online and entrepreneur delivers the product at the specified location. Online business requires less employees since one can serve hundreds of customers (Sharma, et al 2010). The service rate increases hence facilitating efficiency at the lowest cost. It also fosters personal relationship with the customer due to direct interaction. The entrepreneur receives customers’ views and complaints directly thus able to address these challenges in timely manner. Business development may also require product development and market segmentation. To serve the customer better and expand the market base, these two aspects are essential. Product development calls for proper analysis of customer needs (Malhotra 2010). Once the entrepreneur understands the needs of his customers, he is in good position to deliver the right products to match the market demand. He may decide to upgrade product quality thus enhancing customer satisfaction. Maybe the reason why he has consistent customer is because there is competitor in this particular market. In respect of this aspect, entrepreneur need to ponder on this factor to ensure the business acquires sustainable market share. When customers get satisfaction, they are more likely to stick with the business even when there are potential competitors around (Sharma, et al 2010). Customer satisfaction through quality product and service is an effective strategy to enhance sustainability. Market segmentation on the other hand is a form of dividing the market according to specific features. An entrepreneur sub-divides the market in various segments thus enabling him to serve customers depending on their particular need (Menzly, & Ozbas 2010). Some of the features that entrepreneur may use to sub-divide the market include income level, location and consumption level among others. Instead of providing general service to all customers, market segmentation enables the investor to address specific needs particular segment has in common. He may decide the change the packaging style to suit the preference of particular group of customers (Cleveland, et al 2011). The main goal of market segmentation is to enhance satisfaction thus retaining customers. Allocating significant amount of money for promotion is also another method an entrepreneur may use to develop business. Promotion may take the form of advertising through various media with an aim of creating awareness. The advantage of this approach is that business is able to capture the attention of wide variety of people at the same time. Although this may be costly, it is a worthy step towards developing the business. It attracts new customers hence widening the scope of the market (Tom, & Eves 2012). Being a unique business in the area, an entrepreneur needs to think of how to approach this issue of advertising during the retreat. He should develop strategy that would enable the advert to attract as many customers as possible. Using the previous experience in business development, entrepreneur should be in position to explore all these options and come up with most suitable strategy for his investment. Note that the major reason for a retreat is to create adequate time and ample environment for making sensitive decisions. Every business development strategy involves a risk which may impact it negatively (Kotler 2011). An entrepreneur needs adequate time for this decision hence going for a retreat is important step. He is able to analyse all these tools and relate them with his business to ensure suitability. Recommendation There are three alternatives that may best suit this particular business. As a unique business, an entrepreneur needs to concentrate on building stable market-share and sustainability. It is obvious that similar businesses would emerge to bring competition. With this fact in mind, it is important to develop an eye of the future (Fuchs, & Schreier 2012). To sustain and enhance current performance, the business needs to adopt market-segmentation, product development and business promotion. These three alternatives facilitate current and future market stability as well as sustainability. Market segmentation would involve conducting research on market characteristics. Using the existing customers, an entrepreneur may decide to divide them according to various aspects such as income level and locality (Thompson 2013). It would enhance service to the customers thus creating satisfaction. Consequently, the business obtains customer loyalty which sustains its performance even in highly competitive market (Chernenko, & Sunderam 2012). The entrepreneur has adequate time to do this task before potential competitor appears. The entrepreneur should also think of developing his products to suit specific needs of the market. Enhancing quality is one of the aspects of product development and should match the demand and expectation of the market. Failure to this may encourage someone to start similar business and compete for customers (Hoyer, et al 2010). In this regard, entrepreneur should take advantage of current demand to ensure customers are satisfied with the quality. In the long run, the business retains its market share irrespective of the competition (Fuchs, & Schreier 2012). Venturing into other markets and widening the business scope is also an ideal alternative for this business. Advertising is an effective tool that may help the business to advance awareness campaign. The business need to spread its wings to other areas in order to acquire adequate market-share (Malhotra 2010). Such step helps the business to generate higher sales in future thus improving performance. In addition, the business widens its dominance thus creating future stability and sustainability (Andersson, & Johansson 2012). Integrating these three alternatives provides a competitive edge thus the business is able to operate efficiently in future. They develop stable and sustainable market-share while preventing future operational costs. It is a blend of strategies that is suitable for this business and it is able to generate quick returns (Jeppesen, & Lund-Thomsen 2010). An entrepreneur should try to implement the alternatives at the earliest stage possible to realise expected benefits. He should set aside sufficient funds for these activities and engage the right personnel in implanting the strategies. The choice of channel to advance business promotion is also essential in ensuring the business achieves desired outcome. Conclusion The issue of business development requires deliberate and consistent actions. Entrepreneur need to take time to analyse the market and develop strategies that meet and exceed its needs. Without customer satisfaction, the business may not sustain its performance. To enhance sustainability, one need to first cater for the needs of his customers, expand the operational scope to increase market-share and establish good relationship with customers. It may be easier for the business to record good performance in the short-run but fail to sustain it hence collapse. 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