Choose a local vacant business site and make recommendations on how it may be developed for business purposes.

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                        Business Studies Coursework                 Hasan Khizar

        ‘Choose a local vacant business site and make recommendations on how it may be developed for business purposes’

        This project requires me to make recommendations for a local vacant business site and how it can be developed for business purposes. To do this, I must research into all aspects of a business, using books, people and computer resources. I will create plans to help me do this that I will evaluate and redesign as I proceed during the project. The reason for doing plans is to help keep track and organise what I am doing and it also shows points that I should cover for my business to be successful. There are certain parts of this project that can be decided before I create my first plan:

        What type of business it is: An Internet Café.

        The aim of Net Palace™ is primarily to be able to compete with other companies in the local area. Other aims are is to break even and make a profit. However, my most important aim is to provide a high quality service to the public.

        I will now make a plan which I will later evaluate and I will create a second plan using my evaluation.

        

        My task will involve me conducting market research in order to determine the local population requirements. The research will give me a clear guide to where I can place my business seeing as there are two vacant sites I can choose from (about 10 metres from each other). There are many factors to consider when locating a new business which all play an important part in a successful sale of a product. For some firms only a few factors will be important. Other firms may need to consider and balance a complex mixture of location factors. One important factor to consider is the infrastructure of a business site: 1)The business needs very good transport systems for the site , the most common are road, rail, river, canal and ports. 2) The business needs good communication systems, telephone systems, fax, e-mail etc. 3) Production is important to a business so a firm needs to know whether there are ancillary firms in the area to help deal with waste disposal, repair machinery and to transport the finished good(s). The cost of the site is another factor. The firm will need to find out how long the site will be needed for, should it be rented or purchased? Will the site need to be drained and levelled? What is the level of rates payable to the local council? Is there room for expansion and are there any risks with the site and will this raise insurance premiums? Another factor is the geographical factor. A business needs to locate near water supplies, especially paper manufacturers, pharmaceuticals and for electricity generation. Waste disposal is also important for the business as some firms produce a great deal of waste during production. There are various laws which strictly control how waste should be disposed of. Prevailing wind is very important as the wind direction can take pollutants away from areas that are densely populated.

        

        

        The research will also give me a clear guide of what type of pricing I will set for the use of the internet and how I will price the products such as coffee, tea, pastries etc. My pricing strategy will depend on my area, so I will carry out a survey to see what pricing structure suits that area. I will then research pricing strategies by visiting other similar local internet cafes and coffee houses. I will also have to research into any planning restrictions that are placed in the Earls Court area.  

        What is the point of market research?

        I must find out how many people there are whom will use the facilities available in Net Palace™ and how many people there are whom will buy the products such as coffee, tea, pastries etc. This is where market is extremely important. It is used to find out:

#What products (or parts of the product) and facilities such as using the computer and internet do people like or dislike?

#How much they would pay?

#Who and where will people use and buy the product ?

#Competition

#Are people thinking of using the internet and the computer?

The information can be gathered in two ways:

Primary research

This is where data is collected for a specific purpose, this involves going out and carrying out questionnaires and interviews. This method of research can be expensive and time consuming. The different types of primary research are:

#Questionnaires

#Interviews

#Observations

#Experiments

Each method of primary research have both advantages and disadvantages:

Questionnaires

This is the most common method of primary research as it is the easiest:

Advantages:

#Detailed information can be gathered

#Customers options can be obtained

Disadvantages

#It will take time to carry out a questionnaire and analyse the results obtained

#The questions must be well thought out, otherwise the results will be misleading

Interviews

This is a face to face conversation. (An interviewer and an interviewee).

Join now!

Advantages

#Questions can be explained if the interviewee doesn’t understand a question

#Very detailed information can be gathered

Disadvantages

#Interviews are very time consuming

#The interviewer may lead the interviewees answer to the questions

Observations

Observations can be in many forms:

#Recording-an example of this is monitoring how many papers you buy

#Waiting-an example of this is you watch how many people ride a bike past a certain

point

#Audits-an example of this is counting how much stock there is

Advantages

#Does not cost much to gather information

Disadvantages

#The information is not very ...

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