I have selected a nursery because there is high demand in the UK as well that there is a reasonable amount of profit

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SUMMARY

PEOPLE

I intend to employ on 3 to 4 employees along with my self and cater for approximately 12-20 kids once the business has established itself then I may decide to expand and cater for more children.

THE PRODUCT

I have selected a nursery because there is high demand in the UK as well that there is a reasonable amount of profit, which can be made if the business is planned out correctly. One of the main reasons why demand is so high is that more women then ever before are going to work, and therefore day nurseries provide a suitable environment for their children to be looked after in.

THE MARKET

One of the main reasons why demand is so high is that more women then ever before are going to work, and therefore day nurseries provide a suitable environment for their children to be looked after in.

PRODUCTION

Since my business is basically a service that is a day nursery hence there is no production involved it is the services, which I provide to my customers. I offer milk to the kids, if any of the kid needs milk I will be offering them, then there will be a rest room in which those kids who are tired can sleep in that room, the third service which I offer is playing, I will be having a room in which all the toys will be there all the kids can play there, my childminders will play with them, and the fourth service is giving the kids basic education.

EXPECTED PROFIT

For my business to be successful it is very important that it should make profit , so at the end of one year I will be making a profit of £2454 which shows that my business is going to do well, its just the starting as and when my nursery becomes popular among the people I thing it will be doing well and making more profit.

FINANCE NEEDED

As mentioned in financial and production plan I will be looking to obtain a loan of £5000 from the bank. If the bank rejects my application, then I will consider getting a sleeping partner so that I can apply again for lower amount. I could also find a partner and then half the investment. This is because currently I have personal savings of £3500 and could use £2500 of this to open my business with my partner. When discussing the plan with my father, he agreed to help whenever he could so the last report to raise finance would before him. This is because he has good credit rating with the bank and can obtain a loan for my business.

BUSINESS & OBJECTIVES

BUSINESS NAME Jingle Bells

ADDRESS Uxbridge Road, Ealing W 13

LEGAL STATUS Private Limited Company

Its advantages are:

* Limited liability will be there.

* Control is maintained.

* Easy to get finance.

* Less risk is there.

NATURE OF THE BUSINESS Nursery for Kids

Have 4 staff and I will be the head. The timings will be from 8 am till 6 pm from Monday to Friday.

START DATE 1st January 2005

MISSION STATEMENT "Jingle Bells Limited will be having a committed staff".

Will be attending needs of the customers.

Will have a good service.

SHORT TERM OBJECTIVE Jingle Bells will within the first twelve months of working:

* Increase profit by taking in more children in the nursery, and making a profit of £ 5000.

* My breakeven will be 573bookings in one year

* Achieve enough bookings.

* Will have 3 full time well trained staff.

LONG TERM OBJECTIVE Jingle Bells will within the first three years in Nursery:

* Establish the business name and reputation.

* Increase profitability to 15% by achieving more bookings.

* Achieve a market share of 10%.

* Expand the business by opening another branch if there is reasonable demand.

* Employ 2 more additional staff.

MARKET ANALYSIS

MARKET FOR MY PRODUCT

Market-The UK children's day nurseries market had worth 2.7 billion in 2003. Like the broader childcare sector, the children's nurseries market has grown rapidly in the last 10 years, and is now more than seven times the size than at the end of 1980s. Increasing demand for nursery services and general childcare from working mothers has driven market expansion. The key factors driving demand include delayed family formation, increased female work participation, and a shift in preferences from parents towards childcare and early year's education. Private individuals in the UK spent an estimated 2.2 billion on children's day care services in 2003.

Market Size

A total of 12,075 children's day nurseries in the UK provided 537,450 places for children between 0 and 5 years in January 2004. Average occupancy for the UK was 85%. Nursery sector capacity has more than quadrupled between 1990 and 2004, concentrated solely in the independent sector at a time when local authority provision has been decreasing, though it has started to grow again.

All this shows that there is a high demand for nurseries One of the main reasons why demand is so high is that more women then ever before are going to work, and therefore day nurseries provide a suitable environment for their children to be looked after in. The parents of children will be working people and will be basically upper and middle class parents, some of them will be part time and some will be full time.

The research which I have done for market and about childminders is attached in the appendix 2.

Customers-After analysing the children's day care market I have come to know that the children from the age o to 5 can attend private day nurseries. This is because when children reach the age of 3 in these nurseries they are then taught the national curriculum.

However, volunteer day nurseries can only provide for children the age's 0 to 3 this is because they do not teach the children the national curriculum and therefore the children attend nursery and reception in a primary school.

Parents who want their children to attend a nursery want to have easy access and do not want to travel too far in the morning to drop their kids off. Hence the following has to be considered. The target customers for my nursery will be parents who have got kids aged between 0 and 5 years because they will be the ones who will be willing to put their kids into my nursery. The people will be those who will be having good incomes so that they are able to pay for their kid who will be studying in my nursery and also who will be having good status, they will be basically middle and upper class people who will be bringing their children in my nursery.

Residential Market-this means that most parents would not use the nursery if it was more than 5 miles away from their house .As well as that I have to look at the average income in my area, which I tend to open my nursery in Ealing and see if the parents can pay the anticipated fees. Futher more how high is the demand in Ealing for private day nurseries and how likely is it for the parents to substitute a day nursery for nanny child minder?

Commuting Market-made up of people who will drive past or the nursery when they are going to work. This is so that it will be convenient for the parents to drop their children off in the morning and pick them up in the evening. Finally what are the major transport link near the nursery i.e. bus stop train station.

2001 Ealing borough Census results showed me :(www.ealin.gov.uk)

* Ealing total population 300948

* Average age in Ealing is 35.6 years old

* More people aged under 16 than 1991

* Ethnicity in Ealing 41.3%

* 31.7% households do not have access to a car or a van.

When looking at results above I can see that Ealing is very densely populated when compared to other areas in West London. This is good thing for my business because there is a larger market to target .An average age for resident living in Ealing is 35.6, this is lower than the countries average and therefore it could lead to younger parents and younger children furthermore the number of under 16 years old has increased in Ealing and hence there will be more children who may be suitable for the nursery.

London itself is very multicultural society. However; Ealing itself has ethnicity of 41.3%, this means that when marketing my service I will have to launch a marketing campaign that will attract all ethnicities and cultures. Finally more than 30% of the households do not have access to personal transport i.e. car or van therefore the location of the nursery must have transport links .For instance based near a bus stop or densely populated housing area.

Now I will loot at employment figures and an average income to decide what rate I could charge my customers. Furthermore I will then look at my competitor's price and see what the difference between the two is.

Employment in Ealing

Employment By Industrial Sector, 2002 - Ealing, West London, London and GB.

Ealing

West Ldn.

London

GB

Total No.

%

%

%

%

Agriculture, hunting and forestry

X

X

X

0.1

0.9

Fishing

X

X

X

0

0

Mining and quarrying

X

X

X

0.1

0.3

Manufacturing

2,313

0.6

8.3

6.5

4.2

Electricity / Gas / Water supply

X

X

X

0.2

0.5

Construction

6,149

5.3

4.0

3.3

4.5

Wholesale/retail trade; repair, etc

25,510

21.9

7.8

5.3

7.7

Hotels and Restaurants

6,919

5.9

6.5

6.9

6.5

Transport / Storage / Communication

0,335

8.9

4.7

8.0

6.1

Financial Intermediation

,267

.1

2.4

8.1

4.1

Real estate, renting, business activities

27,270

23.4

21.6

24.9

5.5

Public Admin/ Defence/ Social security

3,520

3.0

4.2

5.1

5.2

Education

7,201

6.2

5.5

6.4

8.4

Health and Social work

9,070

7.8

7.3

8.0

0.8

Other community/ Social Personal Service

6,590

5.7

7.5

7.1

5.2

Total

16,363

00

00

00

00

x=Confidential data - cannot be released

Source: Annual Business Inquiry, Nomis, ONS (c) Crown Copyright Reserved

Analysis of table

There are nearly 117000 employees in Ealing who either full time or part time jobs. The most popular form of employment in Ealing is in business services. (23.4%) This then closely followed by the retail and wholesale sector (21.9%). In Great Britain15.5% of employment is in the business services sector hence there is a difference of nearly 8% when compared to Ealing.

There are 12 boroughs in London and only three have higher employment percentage in retail and wholesale trade than Ealing. This is a good sign because it means Ealing is not doing to badly on employment. However, property prices are very high and therefore it means some people can buy a house and must rent. Furthermore this leads them to have less money to spend and it could result in my nursery having to reduce rates considerably.

PRIMARY RESEARCH

E1 Questionnaires-For my Primary Research I got the questionnaires filled, as they are an effective method and allow the business to ask specific questions from the customers. It can then see what the response of the customer was before making any judgement. The questions I designed are specifically related to my service. I got my questionnaires filled from Ealing high street as my nursery will be in Ealing only, went to different people and firstly asked them if they have a kid who is between 0-3 years if they said yes then only I asked them to fill the questionnaires. The questionnaires and the graphs are attached in Appendix 3.

Analysis of Questionnaire-

My questionnaire was based on people who had children aged 0 to 5. Hence everybody who answered the questions had a child between that age group. If the candidate did not then their questionnaire was cancelled, as they were not a suitable for the research I was looking for.

From the people I questioned 45% said they would need a private nursery 5 days a week, so there is a demand for it.

55% of the people would prefer a better changing facilities and other snacks, along with this having a safe environment is the most important quality for the parents followed by keeping child safe and happy.

At present the parents mostly used the services of Asquith court followed by Saplings.

Most parents said they would require the services of the nursery in February.

I received a 80% response from parents that they would be interested in sending their children to a day nursery. The other 20% did not want their children to attend a private nursery. So overall I can use this as a big positive because there seems to be high level of interest.

8% of people said that they did not have access to their own transport. I have to keep this in mind when situating my nursery. This is so that it should have reasonable transports links, or be accessible for customers.

80% of the candidates were in full time employment. The remaining 20% were unemployed or in part time employment. This seems good because if the number of full time employees increased then it will mean that more people will need some one to look after their children.

80% of the candidates said they would prefer a day nursery than a nanny to look after their children. Once again I can use this to my benefit because the majority would use my service instead of a nanny.

85% of the candidates said they could recommend a friend or a relative who may be interested in sending their child to a day nursery. This also sounded well because if customers recommend my service to others it will mean a higher turnover and possibly more profit for the business.

I received an overwhelming response from candidates saying that sending children to day nursery was one of the best methods to introduce children to the concept of learning. A small minority did not agree with us.

9%of the candidates said they would be willing to pay between £0-100 per week for their children to attend a day nursery. However 21% said they would be willing to pay £101-200 and 70% of people are willing to pay £201+, so I will be keeping my price as £201, since 70% of people agree to this price.

Now that I have completed my questionnaire and have analysed it, I believe that there would be demand for my service and that I should go ahead with opening a nursery. However social and political topics in the future could have a great influence to my business.

Face to face Interviews-For my primary research I also had face-to-face interviews with the customers as I thought it is a useful method to interact with the public, and find out their views of a nursery in their area.

SECONDARY RESEARCH

E1 For secondary research I used the following sources, which were quite helpful for my business.

Newspapers-With the help of financial times I was able to learn about the economy as well about the competitors.

Government-I was able to get information from ONS (Office for National Statistics), DTI (Department of Trade and Industry) that was quite helpful as it gave me information about employment in Ealing.

Internet-I used this source as it's a invaluable research tool and was able to get useful information about the market and its competitors.

Books-I used this source, as I was able to get ideas on topics such as: designing a plan, legal implications, and recruitment.

Pest Analysis on Day Nurseries

C1 The pest analysis may sound very strange however many businesses carry it out to find out what external factors can affect the business. The Pest analysis stands for:

> Political

> Economic

> Social

> Technological

Political-There are many political factors that can affect the market of a day nurseries. This is because external factors such as war or terrorist attacks can cause paranoia amongst the public and they can loose faith in the services being offered to them. What's more is that there are many legal factors that can affect the recruitment for employees. Currently today an employee at private day nursery must have several qualification or must have taken certain courses from them to be legally qualified.

There are several employment polices in the UK which I must follow to operate legitimately. For instance employment regulations such as the Sex Discrimination Act are followed worldwide. However different countries have their own age and minimum wage regulations. I must not break any of these laws otherwise I could face legal action. The current government is introducing subsidised childcare costs/benefits

I should follow those subsidies only.

Economic-Currently, the UK'S economy is battling its way out of an economic recession. Therefore with the rate of a family's income and the state of economy will greatly determine how much I can charge per child. The rate of inflation will also affect the rate I charge because if prices go up then it will mean that I have to increase how much I charge.

The amount of import and export will affect the amount of wealth leaving and entering the UK.Therefore if there is unbalance it will affect my business and how much I charge.

At the moment an average salary for nursery worker is based in the region 12 to 15 thousand pounds. If there were a shortage of workers or the pay went up then it would mean that I would have to pay more to a worker and possibly charge customers extra.

Social-There are many social factors that can affect the looking after of children. This is because recent topics such as paedophilia and child abuse may put of some people from putting their children in day nurseries because they may lose faith.

Some workers who haven't got the legal qualifications must not be recruited if discovered it could become a major media topic and possibly dent the market heavily.

Recently parents have been advised to spend more time with their children at young age and do basic learning activities. Parents who don't have time will be more eager to send their children to a day nursery so that they can don't miss out on their learning.

Furthermore research (Harralambos and Holborn Sociology themes and perspectives fifth edition) has proved that more women single parents are going to work than ever before. As well as that generally more women are going to work than ever before. Therefore their children would require a place to be looked after in. Finally family values have changed dramatically, in previous years most family's had a strong bond and these days some families don't have a strong enough bond. For instance strong bonds grandchildren being looked after by their grandparents .Yet these days this is not always the case hence parents have to find other alternatives.

The research about the social trends is in Appendix 4.

Population Growth

Since around 1650, the world human population has grown massively, at an increasing rate until recently, from some size of the order of 500 million, to over 6 billion now.

Demographic Transition

In the 'industrialised' or 'developed' world, during this period of growth, national populations have largely completed going through what is called the 'demographic

Transition'. The UK population is projected to increase from 59.6 million in 2003 to 65.7 million in 2031. Population growth is expected to continue beyond that date, peaking around 2050 at nearly 67 million and then gradually starting to fall. All this shows that with the increase in population there will be increase in the number of kids hence more people will be sending their kids to nurseries.

All the research, which I have done, based on demographic policies, trends in birth, change in family size, population movements is in Appendix 4
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Source://www.population-growth-migration.info/index.php? Page=population.html

Technological-The technological factors can be the invention of new toys if any new toys or any equipment is being introduced then the nursery has to adopt that because no parent would want there child to be using old fashioned toys or equipment.

THE COMPETITION

Day Nurseries are more in demand than ever before. Therefore many small firms have seen a gap in the market and have tried to expand.

Below is a list of all the major private day nurseries: as you can see that the market leader is 'Asquith Court'. It ...

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