The Settle in Consultancy Business - Coursework Example

Settle In Consultants Business Plan Name Course Institution Executive Summary The feasibility study is that of the Settle In Consultancy business that is set to cater for the needs of all the people that wish to settle in the country but are not sure how. Such are the people that come for work, tour, studies, and volunteer services. The consultancy business is not restricted to foreigners. However, the main market consists of foreigners and migrants because such are the people that are least aware of the different accommodation premise locations and the best services essential for their smooth operations in the country. It includes a discussion of the projected operations, expenses, risks, and the financial, market, and human resource feasibility studies. It also consists of the projected capital for investment in the infrastructure and the initial running costs of the business. The capital fund should push the business up to the second fiscal year when it must start operating on the revenue of the various activities. The business is quite unique and there is no clearly-cut line of the market entry barriers and the legal requirements of such a business. That is because it cuts across service sectors such as the car hire industry, consultancy industry, letting industry, and tour guide services industry. Therefore, all the rules that govern the various industries govern the business in part. Table of Contents Introduction 4 Description of the Business 4 Market Feasibility 5 Nature of the Market 5 Market Size 6 External Influencers and Market Barriers 7 Technical Feasibility 7 Technology Options 7 Options of the Provision, Sales and Distribution of the Services 8 Essential Resources 9 Applicable Laws, Regulations, and Certifications 10 Financial Feasibility 11 Projected Revenues from the Sale of the Services 11 Financial Dynamics and Opportunities 12 References 14 Appendix 16 SETTLE IN CONSULTANTS BUSINESS PLAN Introduction Description of the Business Below is the detailed discussion of the business plan of a startup consultancy business that deals with helping people settle without much of a hassle in the country. The potential clients are citizens that have lived in other countries for a while and need help in finding the most suitable location and house to settle. Other potential clients are foreigners that get employment with the organizations and companies in the country whereby their companies do not directly provide them with accommodation and transportation options. The plan also includes the cheaper housing options for people that plan to be in the country for a short while. That includes tourists, exchange students, and volunteers among others. The plan is to work with individuals and organizations altogether. The services of providing housing options for our clients and doing the accommodation search are the main activities of operations of the business. There are other services offered such as transportation options where we organize with car hiring companies and do the bargaining to achieve the best price for our clients. We work to fit into the budget of the clients and requests for budget changes shall only be made if there are no other options. At the moment, the business shall buy two cars, a tour van and a land rover. Those shall operate in cases where the clients need touring services. As a result, there are tour guide services offered by the company by a reasonable number of employees. At the moment, the employees available for offering tour guide services are seven, a number that is subject to increase according to the dynamics of the business. There shall be occasions when labor and other equipment shall be outsourced in numerous occasions. Such include cars for hire, drivers, and tour guides (on occasions when there is an unexpected inflow of customers). Market Feasibility Nature of the Market The market for the services is unexploited and agencies do most of the work of helping foreigners find suitable accommodation premises. The problem with letting agencies is that they only offer options from the accommodation premises under their care. According to evidence from the Futures Housing Group (2017) website, letting agencies offer a limited scope of housing Futures Housing Groups database. As a result, the clients have to consult with different agencies to find their desired accommodation premises. The problem with the process is that it is cumbersome and expensive[She14]. The clients are usually not informed about the cheap and expensive letting agencies, and the agencies to consult for their specific needs. Some end up with agencies that are not in complete agreement with the landlords, causing ghost costs in the course of tenancy [Pen13]. In addition to that, some of the accommodation premises are directly managed by the owners who sometimes have a minimal online presence[Pro12]. In such situations, it is impossible to access such accommodation premises through letting agencies. Such provides for the business opportunity where we offer the services of doing the hunt for our clients. We shall work with locals from various districts across the country to ensure that the housing options presented to them are informed and diverse. That is important because of the various needs of the clients where some need luxurious accommodation premises whereas others seek the cheapest options. Market Size According to information on the Migration Observatory, foreign-born UK population (especially recent migrants) has lower home ownership rates as opposed to people born in the UK. In 2016, the UK-born population accounted for 42% of home ownership whereas the UK-born part of the population exhibited 68% ownership according to the 2016 statistics. The foreign-born population is also the most likely to be in the sector of private renting. 80% of the foreign-born renters that have lived in the UK for five years and below also are renters. There are various reasons why the foreign-born renters are the majority. The age, income level, type of visa and housing preferences are some of the reasons behind the statistics[The165]. Most of the people do their search online, prior to their arrival. Therefore, the customers are either in hotels and seeking better accommodation. Most of them are outside the country and use the online platform in their search for accommodation with intentions of immigrating here for work or school[Pat14]. The most easily accessible results that come with searches for rentals are housing agencies and a number of new accommodation premises and hotels. Hotels have done a good job on their online presence[Mel14]. However, there are instances when accommodation premises in the rural areas lack online presence[Gov15]. Some of those that have websites have limited information. It is partly as a result of the need to minimize on resources. Some of the sites are not even accessible with simple key words and to find them specific names of the locations and premises have to be used. As a result, most people that are not aware of such accommodation premises miss out on the opportunities to use them. External Influencers and Market Barriers The external factors that come to bear include the government, letting agencies, and landlords. The business intends to charge for every client referred to the accommodation premises on our database. Except for special cases where we direct clients to accommodation premises that are not registered with our website, the others are required to pay a fee for the online presence and consideration with every client that is directed to their accommodation premises. With the right marketing and development of connections and relationships with tour agencies, companies, and letting agencies, we should capture 70-80% of the market share within 12 months. Factors such as the stiff competition and government regulation are the most significant market entry barriers for such businesses[Rod15]. It is also one of the least exploited fields and most people think about starting housing agencies as opposed to housing consultation and assistance services as a business on its own. Technical Feasibility Technology Options There are various options for developing the technology of the operations of the business for increased efficiency and more rapid growth. We purpose to become a customer-centered business where the opinions of the customers matter and are taken into serious consideration. It is for that reason that there is a forum specifically devoted for client inquiries, suggestions, and answers to questions. However, since the business is a startup, we shall also follow the “design-yourself” technology and subcontracts for new advanced technology. Options of the Provision, Sales and Distribution of the Services The various options to deliver the services such include In House, Subcontract, Joint ventures, and combination of various businesses and individuals for the various needs of the business. The various options are set to provide for various services and infrastructure. For instance, the business intends to start up with only two tour vehicles with designated drivers for short-term visitors that need to be shown around places. However, the business offers much more services such as the provision of the visitors with cars for hire for those with international licenses. In addition to that, there are those that need to hire such vehicles to be at their disposal alongside the designated drivers. As a result of the nature of the business and the number of business vehicles owned by the company, outsourcing is inevitable. Other services that require subcontracts include the housing whereby the business does not own or manage any houses. In such instances, combinations and subcontracts with agencies, hotels and landlords are essential. Partnerships can be made with other touring companies with time where the tour companies work with us in finding some of the accommodation as requested by the clients. Most tour agencies deal with high-end and hotel accommodation. In such instances, the partnerships with our company are essential for the clients that are more specific and need someone to do a search for a house in certain areas that suits their budget and preferences. Such activities that deal with partnerships, subcontracts and combinations need a form of authentication to gain the trust of the partners and other participants. It is for that reason that licensing is essential at the beginning of operations. Licensing also protects the business from problems and also assures the clients, partners and subcontractors of the legitimacy and reliability of the services offered. Such is also a marketing strategy. It also ensures the smooth operation of the business without problems such as interruptions by the governments and unprotected lawsuits from the partners, clients, and subcontractors. The same options apply for the marketing and sale of the services. Using various websites and the social sites, the online presence of the business shall be established through advertisements on bought spaces on such platforms. As explained, licensing ensures the credibility of the business and the services offered. The creation of a marketing team is essential to merge various ideas and use them as marketing strategies. Sales and distribution shall be in house and done through the partners and subcontractors. It is a combination of the various options of sales and distribution. Essential Resources The most important resources required for development include housing, transportation, tour destinations and entry costs, drivers, tour guides, sales and marketing representatives, and web developers. The business has some of the resources but has to outsource the rest. For instance, the skills, human resources, and transport are available. However, they are limited since it is a startup. The web developer is one and sufficient for the operations of the business. The business has just enough operation equipment for a startup. However, the rest are mostly outsourced through partnerships, contracts, and subcontracts. Such include relationships with letting agents, the government, and landlords for the various housing options. The others are such as transportation and car hire services. That includes the cars and the drivers. The cars shall be rented out in accordance to the preference of the clients. Such requires a wide variety of car collection with people that register with the car hire companies. We also plan to liaise with some of the car owners to register with us where they can be contacted in case of the demand of their particular vehicle. The registration of the initial vehicles is for free but others that come later shall pay a small fee to be in our database. Since the staff members are few, we shall occasionally outsource freelance reliable tour guides on occasion. Such are the occasions of visitor peak seasons when the staff members are too few to handle all the clients. Applicable Laws, Regulations, and Certifications There are various laws and regulation that regulate such a business as this one. It serves some functions of tour agencies, others of indirect letting agencies, and others of car hire agencies. As a result, all the regulations that apply to such businesses apply to ours. A public liability insurance plan is essential up to the point that the direct operation of the client with the business ceases. Upon the growth and expansion of the business, there shall be various transportation services directly offered by the business and the insurance of such property and the subsequent services is essential. The business must adhere to the 1992 Package Travel Regulations. The law caters for the business and the customer, ensuring the safety of the client and the subsequent accountability and care on the part of the business. Such protection is in the payment, reliability of the packages and services offered, and the reliability of the information offered with regard to the packages[UKG02]. Others are regulations related to car hire services and housing services. Offering clients safe accommodation is ensured by the nature of the letting agencies, their legal status, and reliability. The same applies to private landlords. Ensuring that such housing adheres to the stipulated accommodation requirements is essential in ensuring the safety of the clients within their premises. The ethical issues of concerns within the industry include the misrepresentation of information by the letting agencies and the presence of broker agents that charge unreasonably high rates for accommodation premises. Such brokers are important in representing landlords, especially where the landlord intends to sell the house. However, the involvement of more than one broker agent results in extremely high buying prices, far from the original price. Such issues should be handled amicably. The technological state lies in the popularity of the online platform to sell such services. Financial Feasibility Projected Revenues from the Sale of the Services The projections show sales revenues of $11,000 during the first six months of operation. The sales increase to $16000 during the next six months. The next six months of the following fiscal year yield $19000 and the next six months $12000. The decrease in the sales revenue comes as a result of the possibility of an accident by one of the cars and the replacement of the same. The third financial year, however, experiences fluctuations in the sales revenue as a result of the expansion of the business and the increased clients and expenses. The business is projected to increase annually from the third year of operation. The sales revenue comes mostly from the house-search services. The house search services yield 58% of the revenue whereas the transportation services yield 32% of the revenue. The other 10% comes from the tour guide services. That is because the subcontracts include tour companies that offer compact packages. All that the agencies exclude are the transportation and accommodation services in their packages because we cater for them in accordance to the specification of the visiting clients. The other clients are those that come to settle into the country and do not necessarily need the tour guiding services. Financial Dynamics and Opportunities The running costs of the touring guide services and transport offered by the company took up take up a significant amount of the startup capital because of the human resources and transportation costs. Out of the total startup operation costs, 65% go to the two activities of tour guide services and transportation. Twenty percent (20%) of the costs used in the purchase and replacement of infrastructure is also consumed by the same. A significant number of clients are projected to prefer our affordable transport services and it is on that account that during we account for the possibility of the replacement of one of the cars or an essential spare part. However, the subcontracts with the car hire agencies and the partnerships with the tour agencies should be a cost effective strategy whereby the projection of the running costs totals to 20% of the total running costs. The remunerations and infrastructure maintenance costs are among the variable costs because of the frequent outsourcing and use of both in house and external human resources. The business is set to contact external freelance tour guides during the high season before expanding the work force to cut on costs. As a result, the variable costs are the running costs that vary between 12 and 27% of the operating costs. The total required investment for the effective startup is in the form of human resource commitment and financial investment. According to the financial plan projections, a startup capital of $69,380 is essential for the proper purchase of infrastructure and initial running activities. The legal and insurance costs are still under discussion where the most essential such as work permits and registration costs were among the first to acquire. Improvements are set to continue with time in accordance to the revenue and total profits made by the business. Expansion is not a possibility during the first year of operation. However, the business provides for the possibility of external sourcing of human resources and transportation. As variable expenses, it is difficult to budget for them with specific figures and the miscellaneous projected costs cover that. All those are maintained up to the breakeven point that is achieved during the second half of the second year. There are numerous financial risks that include the backing out of the tour agencies and other subcontractors. The highest risk lays in the plan to hire freelance tour guides during the high seasons. The freelance tour guides do not have much liability and dishonoring the liability and responsibility contract might be followed by a disappearing act. It is easier to follow up with a company or business than an individual. However, weighing the risks and rewards on a scale, the rewards are by far much more with the continual minimization of some of the risks with time and business expansion. It is the same way that the company shall afford better insurance coverage to undertake even more responsibilities, even those dealing with airplane transportation services for the clients. The business consists of unlimited liability with the intention of converting it into a limited company after two years. However, it is risky because a lot could happen in a span of two years. The sources of financing include shareholders and personal investment in the business as the business owner. It is a partnership and the liability is only shared between the two of us. The profits are also shared in the form of remuneration whereas the rest is put back into the business and the rest saved for the further expansion of the business when the time comes. The career paths of the employees are those of growth and innovation as the company shall introduce new positions and roles as the company expands. References She14: , (Shelter, 2014), Pen13: , (Anderson, 2013), Pro12: , (Property Hawk, 2012), The165: , (The Migration Observatory, 2016), Pat14: , (Collinson, 2014), Mel14: , (Michel, 2014), Gov15: , (Gov UK, 2015), Rod15: , (Hore, 2015), UKG02: , (UK Government, 1002), Appendix Startup Expenditures and Expenses Worksheet Read More