business planning unit 8

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                       Unit 8                                                                                         A2 Business

Business Plan

The business I intend to set up is private ltd company. The manufacturing business is based on producing chocolates to all the major supermarkets, the idea of producing and supplying chocolates came to me after observing various supermarkets and seeing that chocolates are one of the fast selling products. Furthermore chocolate is a type of product which is enjoyed and preferred by all sorts of age groups, moreover to ensure that the product will run successfully and in order to decide what type of chocolate to produce, as there are lots of different varieties available in chocolates for e.g. plain chocolate, whole nut, mint, fruit and nut, short cake etc.

Consequently to produce the most favourable product, I undertook some market research which allowed me to find out what the people who are going to purchase my product exactly want. I carried out a questionnaire amongst a group of people, within the questionnaire I had 13 different questions through which I tried to gather as much as information I possibly could. In addition to this I tried to make the questionnaire as easy as I possibly could because otherwise there were chances of people not wanting to fill out the questionnaire. They may well have taken the questionnaire but didn’t answer it as seriously as they could have, due to the amount or depth of the questions.

Therefore to make the questionnaire friendlier I decided to make it multiple choice so that they don’t have to waste their time in writing, also by giving simple and straight forward questions.

The health conscious issue which a lot of people are worried about, everyone wants to eat and stay healthy. Therefore I had to keep this issue in mind whilst designing the questionnaire as chocolate is one of the products which they will cut down on as it contains a lot of fatty ingredients. In order to meet their satisfaction one of the questions that I asked was what is the most important thing they look for when purchasing a new chocolate, this question will allow me to know exactly what type of chocolate to produce whether it should be low calories, diabetic, low fat etc. as I meet their standards of satisfaction my product will produce high sales.

Secondary research

However not only through questionnaires did I decide to produce chocolate I also did my other part of the research through internet and books.

The internet helped me in making my solid decision of producing chocolate, as I researched on various chocolate sites and the demand for chocolate was high. As it’s a type of product which is ate by all different ages, in addition to this chocolate is a type of product which is bought on all sorts of occasions such as birthdays, Christmas, Easter, Eid, Diwali etc.

Furthermore this tells me that my decision on producing the chocolate is more or less correct as I am producing this after having conducted and researched various different aspects influencing on producing chocolate.

The thought over supplying the chocolates to all major supermarkets/hypermarkets came after having conducted research. They have been able to increase their market share by 1.7% to 53.4%, with this I was able to conclude that the best place for me to distribute my product was to all supermarkets.

Compared to supplying my product to any other place, such as smaller business or selling it in vending machines. As this way there are more chances of my product been recognised and gaining high level of sales.

The chocolate I will produce is going to be plain milk chocolate called “Galaxo” as this is what my customers will be looking forward to; in the questionnaire they said they prefer to eat plain chocolate rather than any other flavours. However it will be low fat because whilst I was designing the questionnaire I kept the aspect of staying healthy in mind, moreover most people are worried over their health. Therefore producing low fat chocolate will attract more customers towards the product.

One of the other aspects I am going to keep in mind is to produce a plain milk chocolate but making sure the quality of the chocolate is extremely good. Consequently as in the questionnaire customers are willing to try a new chocolate bar which Is being bought into the market, as long as the quality of the product is good.

I have to keep inconsideration certain points such as the one above in order to achieve my objectives which I have set for my business. I have to keep my customers satisfied and meeting their needs and wants at all time, if I want to survive in this business society. There is going to be high competition in the market facing all the competitors and trying to stay ahead of them at all times. Therefore I have to come up with different competing ideas in order to stay ahead of the competitors; my competitors within this field will be Cadburys and nestle. As these both companies are manufacturing businesses supplying chocolates. Therefore Ill be using them for my competition analysis, looking at how they produce their chocolate how they keep customers satisfied. Therefore from them I will develop upon my businesses ideas, in order to stay ahead of my competitors.

Batch Production

This process occurs when groups of products are made in a limited number (batch). One batch is completed before moving commencing onto the next batch. The company will switch back to the first type when more is needed.  Bakers use production. They may make a batch of one kind of bread and then switch production to make a batch of a different kind of bread.

As my business is based on producing chocolate it requires the batch production, I will use this method for my business seeing that there will be high scales of production with reasonable cost. The advantages and disadvantages below state how it will affect my business.  

Advantages

  • The needs of different customers can be met by making batches of different goods.
  • Specialist machines automate production, which reduces costs.
  • An ability to supply a larger market

Disadvantages

  • It takes time to switch production from one batch to another. Machinery may need to be altered, which can add to the cost of production.
  • May have to keep additional stocks of material and components to be able to switch production when required. Holding stock costs money.
  • The tasks may be automated and create low work morale.

Examples of Batch production

  • A bakery
  • Chocolate
  • Clothing manufacturers (e.g. Topshop)

The method of production I will be using is batch production this is because it benefits my company the best. When producing my product costs will reduce as specialist machines will be producing masses of my product at once. Using this method of production also means that I will have the ability to supply to a much larger market. Another reason is that the needs of different customers can be met by making batches of different goods.

My business will be located in:

Address: 2 Woodlands Road HA1 2RB

Telephone: 0208 989 3224

Fax: 887 876 233

Email- [email protected]

The trading hours will be:                     Mon-Sun

Ownership Type

My business will be registered as a private limited company this is because, a Private limited company has limited liability (the shareholders cannot lose more than their original shareholdings), and a minimum of two shareholders and a maximum of fifty. It cannot offer its shares or debentures to the public and their transfer is restricted. A private limited company is treated as a legal entity. 

The reason I decided to start up a private limited company was because private limited companies are easy and inexpensive to set up. Yet the most common advantage over this is that it has limited liability. Therefore if any how my newly opened business turns out to be unsuccessful, I wouldn’t be in the risk of loosing my personal possessions. The ownership and the control are closely connected so the board of directors are usually the main shareholders of the business. In a private limited company decisions can be made more quickly, this will allow the work to be done more efficiently.  Furthermore as well as the advantages being their there’s also disadvantage such as lack of capital due to no share issue, as well as it may be difficult to raise capital for a private limited company. Consequently investors may be more comfortable in investing their funds in a better understood cooperate firm.

                                  Organizational Structure                                                          Every business needs to be organized. The best structures help a business to meet its objectives. However this does not mean that every business will be organized in the same way. The actual structure will depend on a number of factors including the size of the business, the number of staff, the types of jobs and the types of goods or services being produced. Most small to medium sized businesses usually employ a flat structure which shows a clear chain of command. There are different types of organizational structures such as:  Hierarchical structure, Flat structure, Matrix structure.                            The business will be organized by using the flat structure reasons being, as this structure is less complicated with less layers of hierarchy. Through this structure it makes it easier to communicate amongst the staff, the staff doesn’t have to go through various different people in order to solve a problem that may arise. This structure has a narrow span of control; this type of structure will increase the efficiency and success of my business. Through this structure there will be greater communication between management and workers, better team spirit also fewer complications in decision making. However there will be drawbacks of using this type of structure such as it may limit the growth of my business; staff may have more than one manager.                                                            Key personnel The Galaxo factory will require several staff to be able to fulfill the business’s needs. The company Is a new business therefore needs to be as efficient as possible, to comply with the financial needs of the business. There will be 8 different staff working within the factory, Galaxo needs to recruit people who are able to produce the chocolate with high quality standards. The staff will need to be trained and work at an efficient pace; the business is restricted to a budget so efficiency must be as important as effectiveness.                                                                                                                    The reason 8 different staff will be recruited is because since it’s a factory it will not be closed staff will be working throughout the day and night. There will be 2 staff working during the morning and 2 during the night, the other two will be recruited as part-time for cover if at anytime a member of the staff is unable to do their shifts they will cover for them. Moreover if there is a lot of workload more staff may be required in which this extra can cover, the left 2 will be the delivery men who will be delivering Galaxo.                                                                                                                 An additional job, which needs to be fulfilled by recruiting extra staff, is delivering the chocolates from the factory to all the supermarkets. This staff will require driving down to all the supermarkets and delivering the chocolates to them.                               However, the health and safety issue needs to also kept in to consideration the factory needs to be kept clean at all times. The current staff will take care of the cleaning as well making sure they keep a clean and healthy environment. As this will be beneficial for themselves as well as the business overall.                                                                          Before the factory opens up all the staff that are recruited will be provided with the full necessary training. As this will enable the staff to be more comfortable with their job, because they will know exactly how to perform their job. How to use the machines, they will be more motivated towards their job. This will allow the staff to increase the effectiveness of fulfilling their job roles. New staff will also be given on the job training, including job induction training method were staff will be shown on the first day how to fulfill their job roles and also given a tour of the factory. All staff will be paid the minimum wages to increase motivation levels. Their wages will increase depending how well they perform throughout job.

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Aims and Objectives

      Aims

  • To produce high profits/sales profit needs to be produced in order to run the business, it can start from a low amount however it should produce a certain amount of profit so that the business can start to run. Once the sales have kicked in promotion could be held in order to increase the amount of profits/sales.
  • Gain at least 10% higher market share compared to competitors within the next 8-10 months more sales need to be produced compared to the competitors to gain a higher ...

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