Kiwi Juice Business Strategy - Case Study Example

REFLECTIVE REPORT Student’s name Code & Course Professor’s name University City Date Introduction The actual making of the business plan was an enlightening activity as it gave me the basic experience that I could connect to a real time company that wants to invest into a product. The business plan sought to introduce Kiwi juice as a product to primary school children as its target market. This venture was seen as prospective owing to the statistics of obesity and the move to reduce this number by providing an alternative healthy solution. Kiwi juice was researched on and found to have several health benefits among them removal of toxins from the body and having a high nutritional value. The plan assessed the macro environment of Hong Kong in order to ascertain the opportunity provided by the venture and the potential risks that could affect the implementation of the plan. The legal and political environment consists of laws and requirements that necessitate the provision of food and beverage products based on compliance with the set standards of hygiene and production. The economic structure if Hong Kong is favorable (Zhang et al, 2015) for the introduction of the product and the organization behind the venture would profit due to the increased purchasing power of consumers in the region. A look at the present culture additionally shows people who are willing to conform to a healthy lifestyle. The business plan further looks at the consumer behavior in Hong Kong and studies the marketing mix in order to best present Kiwi juice strategically to the target market. Among the strengths of the plan is the introduction of a new product to a new market segment; that of primary school children. The plan additionally addresses the concern of parents and teachers over the health of children by providing an extra nutritional diet to their regular meal. The major weakness of the plan is that it fails to adequately research on the target market such as the specific wants of school children, their behavior regarding meal products and their culture to the product. When starting up a small business, it is imperative to note the product that the venture plans to offer to a specific market (Pakroo, 2016). The identification of the target market follows the plan to produce a certain good or service. The business startup further evaluates the ownership of the venture and internal and external factors that affect the prospective business. An assessment of the industry in which the product exists helps to determine the growth of the product in the industry. Furthermore, marketing plan aids in determining how the product will be distributed while a competitive analysis helps to come up with strategies of increasing market share. Initiation of the Business Idea We came up with the business idea after noticing the increased number of articles about overweight students. After discussion and debates on the articles with the issue at hand, we found out that the consumption of fast food and junk food is the leading cause of obesity among children. Consequently, we proposed to come up with a viable solution to assist curb the problem of overweight school going children. The solution would be an opportunity for us to reduce the problem and at the same time launch a successful business. At first the prospective choices included getting into the food industry as a meal provider for schools. This idea was however discarded due to the existing vendors who would create a huge barrier to the entry into the market. Following this, we proposed to come up with a product that would accompany the meals that the children usually take. Upon this discussion we discovered that the school meals are rarely accompanied by beverages and such the idea of a nutritious drink was proposed. The initiation of the idea is the most fundamental process in planning the business (Kurakto, 2016). We were required to come up with a prospective plan based on the problem that we identified from the articles about overweight school going children. We brainstormed on the possible product to implement the plan and decided on the Kiwi juice as mentioned above. It was eye opening to come up with suggestions regarding the business and this influenced me to approach entrepreneurship objectively and be willing to take risks on markets that have not been tapped. The fundamentals in the start up of small businesses exist in recognizing and ceasing a potential opportunity that is mostly presented in a problem. During our research, we interacted with a few professionals over the social network of various food industries and from this we deduced that our idea had not been tapped yet. Following this process I learnt that the definition and seizing of an opportunity with speed is imperative in launching a successful business due to the competitive nature of the business industry. Teamwork The team involved in coming up with new venture consists of founders of the business who had a background experience in the banking industry and experience in risk management. Individuals brought together with different experiences made a strong profile for the implementation of the plan. The members of the team further had different skills to add to the venture. Emma was focused on Accounting, Jan was responsible for sales and marketing, Kiko wias responsible for auditing, Michael will oversaw warehouse operation while Brid managed the inventory. Teamwork is a strategy which if successfully implemented contributes to the richness of an organization and creativity of the product being launched into the market (Lacarenza, Zajac and Savage, 2015 ). Our team was effective in that the members were willing to work together and compromise despite having different opinions on the plan. All the members equally worked hard to come up with an excellent plan for the venture as stated in the business plan. Presentation Experience When looking for prospective companies to fund, investors often look at the focus that the company has, its solution for the problem presented in the market and the feasibility of the product selling in the respective market. It is thus important for the investors to see the intellect, elegance and decisiveness of the people behind the prospect. As such, the presentation of the business plan will be more appealing as compared to submitting papers as its sells the plan on a higher level. Competent presentation will earn the trust of the investors and convince the panel on the maturity and capability of the team (Thirumaleshwar, 2015). Additionally, the panel would not be expected to go through the entire report we formulated precise points based on the plan. Coming up with the slides for the presentation brought forth a challenge as we had to fit the whole plan into the slides in a summarized format while ensuring that the important information would be passed across effectively. From this experience I expanded my knowledge on the creation of slides for presentation. All members presented different parts as put in the slides. Based on the presentation, I learnt the importance of confidence during presentation and the value of giving presentations that retain the interest and attention of the panel. Furthermore, the presentation provided me with more insight on the plan as I had an opportunity to address it from two different perspectives. Alternative Scenario For any business venture to succeed there needs to be positive effects from both the internal and the external environment (Covin et al, 2015). The internal environment has factors that can be controlled while the external environment is more difficult to predict (sAdgrove, 2016). From an internal analysis of the venture, factors such as employee resources and management of operations can easily be control to ensure the production of a specific outcome. The external environment however cannot be predicted as the entrepreneurs have no control over it. Nevertheless, the implementation of the venture was based upon the fact assumption that there would be no major recession and that it would access enough capital to back up the plan. Furthermore, the current economic situation shows that consumers are more inclined to buy a healthy product thus the growth is positive. The presence of an alternative scenario advocates for a contingency plan to manage the venture in case of unforeseen factors which may affect the performance of the business. Usefulness of the Business Plan The experience gained from the activity of forming a business plan thus enlightened me on the different facets of the plan that are imperative in its formation. I understood the importance of the plan before starting a business and saw its usefulness in outlining the fundamentals of the business. Reference List Covin, J.G., Garrett, R.P., Kuratko, D.F. and Shepherd, D.A., 2015. Value proposition evolution and the performance of internal corporate ventures. Journal of Business Venturing, 30(5), pp.749-774. Kuratko, D.F., 2016. Entrepreneurship: Theory, process, and practice. Cengage Learning. Lacerenza, C.N., Zajac, S., Savage, N. and Salas, E., 2015. Team Training for Global Virtual Teams: Strategies for Success. In Leading Global Teams (pp. 91-121). Springer New York. Pakroo, P., 2016. The small business start-up kit: A step-by-step legal guide. Nolo. Sadgrove, K., 2016. The complete guide to business risk management. Routledge. Thirumaleshwar, M., 2015. Towards Excellence… Seminars, GD’s & Interviews. Zhang, H., Zhang, H. and Zhang, J., 2015. Demographic age structure and economic development: Evidence from Chinese provinces. Journal of Comparative Economics, 43(1), pp.170-185. Read More