Own Group Business Idea - Report Example

Topic: Individual Reflective Report XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX Summary of your Group’s Business Idea Game prepaid cards have been one of the most successful developments in the world of online gaming. This technology has made it easy for gamers to purchase credits and rights to access games. The prepaid cards have shifted the gaming products closer to gamers and made the costs of transactions in this business to go down. This has had a positive influence on sales due to increased affordability and accessibility. My group identified the huge potential in this sector. We plan to establish a company which deals with selling game prepaid cards to Chinese players. Why the Chinese? This card, which is top up for Chinese internet games, helps Chinese players who are out of their home country to access a reliable payment method in order to access their favourite games just as if they were in China. The Chinese internet banking needs are cumbersome unlike payment methods such as VISA. Our prepaid card makes the whole process of accessing one’s favourite game so much easier when the player is in a foreign country. There are a number of other companies providing a payment method though not exactly the same as ours. We will compete with them due to our projected lower price. This lower price is as a result of operational efficiency and cost associated with a smaller workforce capable of multitasking in different departments. We plan to retain all our customers due to our honesty policy by which we work for the best interest of our customers. The staff should have good knowledge of internet gaming and online transactions. The company should create a website to facilitate online payments and also set real world stores. There are more than enough suppliers who would be willing and ready to increase our penetration into the target Chinese market via internet. Process of Idea Initiation The process of idea initiation was quite interesting. Each and every member of my group had an idea to propose. Some of the ideas were quite interesting but were quickly objected due to the existence of highly effective competitors. Other ideas were ruled out due to varied reasons such as lack of enough information about how prospective the to-be proposed business would be and lack of originality. After intense discussion on which idea our group would embark on, the group did not come up with a final decision. We decided to dismiss the group and meet on a later date. Every member of the group was supposed to refine his or her idea before the next meeting. On the following meeting, all members showed up. Some dismissed their previously proposed ideas due to reasons such as lack of enough information, them being not practical and low success potential. The group was left to choose between three ideas. Members of the group discussed on the specifics of the ideas before voting for the best idea of them all. A clear majority of the group members agreed on the game prepaid cards as the most lucrative and potentially successful business idea. The occurrences of the process of idea initiation match content of literature. Brainstorming is one of the most common ways of coming up with new ideas. Pinson (2008, p. 21) advises that immediate decision on the best business idea should not be immediately made since brainstorming lacks the virtue of enough information. Group members should dig deeper into knowing facts and other relevant information of their proposed ideas before reaching an agreement. Making a decision straight away after a brainstorming process may result to the dismissal of the idea due to poor project fundamentals later on after time and other resources have been invested in developing the business plan. Team Work I enjoyed the level of cooperation and the group’s synergy. Majority of the tasks assigned to group members were completed on time. This shows the dedication of individual in making the team work come out successful. Team members contributed in form of ideas and time used in searching information related to our proposed business. We preferred to work together for the crucial section of designing the business plan. This was important in ensuring that mistakes likely to be caused by individual work were minimized. This was therefore a form of check and balance which ensure that the project was fine tuned. Working together on a very crucial section of the business plan also ensured that our plan benefited from ideas from more than one person and thus made our business plan strong in every section. While working as a team in my group, I discovered that some members of the team had stronger writing skills than others. Some also had superior technical knowhow of the specifics of the business proposed. Members with superior writing skills specialized in wording the business plan while those with technical expertise concentrated in ensuring the business fundamentals made business sense. The group leader efficiently led the team in working efficiently toward achieving the goal of the team. The leader also moderated the team to enhance group communication without which the team was bound to fail. Despite facing some barriers that hampered proper interaction and a rough start, my group was able to overcome the challenges. As expected, there must be challenges present when working in groups due to the individual uniqueness of each member (Isa, 2012, p. 56). Communication and organization presented a problem for my team. As regards to the appropriate times to schedule meetings, there were conflicts associated differentiated personal timetable. The problem of communication mostly came up when a member of the group aired his or her opinion without considering those of other members. This problem was also present when group members conveyed their opinions in a manner that was not clear. Keeping this in mind, there was need for us to reduce the difficulties associated with working in groups and improve our interpersonal positions. To understand each other better, our team carried out a SWOT analysis on the members (John, 2005, p. 45). The manner in which each member aimed at ensuring a shared win-win agreement between group and individual efforts evidenced synergy. After finding a solution to the main personality and interpersonal differences that were present in the initial meetings, the group process was successful. Presentation Experience It is important to present a business plan as opposed to just submitting the paper document. In a presentation, one has the opportunity to give deeper explanation of the content of the business plan. The presenter can also clarify and answer question that are raised by the audience or the person evaluating the plan. Making a presentation also has the advantage of expressing the excitement and potential of the business plan over a mere submission. A mere submission leaves the all the judgment to the person evaluating the plan unlike in a presentation where one can use forms of communication such as gestures and postures to portray one’s confidence in the proposed business. From the presentation made to the panel, I have learned that prior planning of the presentation is important. A good business plan can be under-rated if the presenter performs poorly in presentation. A good way to prepare for the presentation is by ensuring that one familiarizes himself/herself with the contents of the plan. This will enable the presenter to avoid a scenario where he or she seems only to be reading the content of the business plan. Such a scenario shows lack of the proposers knowledge of the content of the plan and thus, the audience might judge the business idea proposed as not being original. I also learned the importance of portraying confidence while presenting. One can boost his or her confidence by rehearsing for the presentation before a friend and ask for their opinion on the presentation. Rehearsing in front of a mirror is also recommended in order for the presenter to build self-image. While presenting, I learnt that spending more time on the strong points of the business plan is a plus as compared to dwelling on the weaknesses of the proposed business. Weakness should only be stated and ways of overcoming them articulated in order to gain the confidence of the targeted audience. Other important aspects of a presentation are to ensure that one uses gestures, postures and movements that portray confidence and enhance interaction between the presenter and the audience. Alternative Scenario The business plan predicted the growth of the game card business. This prediction was under the assumption that adequate resources were invested in marketing and operations. I believe the prediction was optimistic and very achievable with sound management of the business especially in its start-up period. According to Pinson (2008, p. 21), consideration of alternative growth trajectories determines how realistic projected growth in a business plan is. This would in turn increase financiers’ confidence in the business and thus increase chances of obtaining the required assistance for capital or any other resource. I am confident that the business plan was practical and that there are high chances of success if the business of selling prepaid game cards is established. Even with the challenges experienced while coming up with the business plan, the group work process was quite enjoyable and educative. References DiSanza, J. R. & Legge, N. J., (2012), Business and Professional Communication: Plans, Processes, and Performance (5th Ed.), Boston: Pearson. Isa, N., (2012), Working in Groups (6th Ed.), London: Prentice Hall. John, O., (2005), Group Communication Pitfalls: Overcoming Barriers to an Effective Group Experience, New York: Sage Publications, Inc. Pinson, L., (2008)., Anatomy of a Business Plan: the Step-by-step Guide to Building Your Business and Securing Your Companys Future (7th Ed.), Tustin, CA: Pearson. Read More