Description of Business
My Local App Company will be introduce a new product to traveller to help customers easy to find a parking space this is one of our business seasonal. So, the business we are in is design a Parking Apps with the short name is “ParkApp”. The status of the business is “Startup” it means that we are trying to turn our idea into the Apps and create the company. The business must be from partnership and it will going to be profitable, because the product that we will be sell it is a newest product in Vietnam, easy to use, faster and very simple. We decided that the ParkApp will be sell in next year this is a good time for our business start. The company will start work from 8am to 5pm and 5 days per week.
By partnering with the existing company in Vietnam, an agile business model will be developed. Besides that, we are able to offer a tailored solution and provide an innovative products and services to our customers. In addition, the car park management plays an important role in developing the company in the tourism industry. Other than that, the technology, comprehensive reporting, key performance indicators, equipment of the highest standards, wealth of the experience and the financial audits may affect the performance of the company as well. From the results above, we believe that the smarter daily operations will be provided to maximize the efficiency of the company. As a result, we are able to increase the competitiveness of the market and seek more profit in the future time.
From the mobile parking app that we have planned to develop in Vietnam, the information has been provided. The users can check the daily rates for street parking and lots by using the parking app at anytime and anywhere. In the tourism industry, it can bring out convenience for the tourists who first time travel to the place or not familiar with the place. Besides that, we are trying to set up a parking timer to assist and remind the users in avoiding the overpaying, overstaying or getting a ticket. The tourists can also check and see the real-time information on the available parking spots by the app as well. In addition, by using the app, the users can find out the nearest lot entrance easily and it will show out the accurate location to help the users can get the accurate directions (Me, 2017).
Other than that, the mobile payment technology has developed to make the tourists can reserve the parking that they want more easily than buy on the spot. In the parking app, there is an innovative payment solutions that the tourists can pre-booking the parking lot and make the payment on the spot through their mobile phones. The payment solutions include online booking, validation systems payable on invoice, including pre-paid voucher parking accounts and monthly accounts. The payment technology of the parking app is used to increase the business opportunities for the company and increase the customers’ experience and satisfaction. Besides that, they’re also set up a reminder to notify the users when their parking is going to expire and the customers can choose to pay extra for additional time by using the parking app as well.
Product/Service
The main objective of this mobile parking app is to bring out convenience to its customers. In the tourism industry, the mobile parking app can bring out much more convenience to the tourists because the tourist can book the parking lots in advance even they haven’t visited the place yet and Throughout the parking app, the user can plan their trip more easily as well. The mobile parking app can help the users in reducing the inconvenience, stress and travel time by forwarding and suggestive trip planning. Rather than just show out the accurate location to customers, a range of options have been provided in the app such as real-time available parking. Furthermore, the real-time information such as the availability of nearby parking space and the traffic conditions can help the user and tourists in planning their trip as well (Staff, 2016).
In fact, there is a huge potential in developing the mobile parking app in Vietnam. On 06 May 2017, there was a mobile parking search and a payment app has been piloted for the first time in Vietnam. The mobile parking app named iParking, it has commenced by the Hanoi Parking JSC that in cooperation with the CIS Investment JSC more than three months. The mobile parking app is used to help the users in searching and paying the car parking by mobile phones at parking lots along Hoan Kiem District, Ly Thuong Kiet Streets and Tran Hung Dao. Besides that, the number and location of the free lots will be updated continuously through the app to make the drivers can check and select an available lot easily. In the tourism industry, the mobile parking app can bring out more convenience to the tourists who choose to travel around by driving. The tourists can also save more time in finding an available parking lot to them (Dan, 2017).
In other words, it means that there is not much company has developed the mobile parking app since the first mobile parking app has just commenced on this year. Besides that, the mobile parking app has showed out the potential to develop in Vietnam.
Other than that, to increase the competitiveness in the market, we have to make our product and service has the competitive advantage and able to differentiate our product and service if compare with other competitors’ products and services. For example, the value added services can be developed and engaged with our customers in order to meet the needs and satisfaction of each customer. The management may tailor the value-added services to our specific car park lot based on the research and understanding on the local area demographics. Some of the services and opportunities may include as well, such as providing car servicing, car washing and valet services to the customers to help our customers save more time and be more convenient to them.
Besides that, the management team can publish a customer loyalty program to their customers, especially the local people. The management team believe that they can attract more customers if they are able to meet the needs and preferences of the customers. A proprietary system can be developed to let the customers can redeem their rewards such as a car wash or free parking. The customers can also earn the loyalty points by the type of service selected, method of payment, the amount of time has parked in a certain period and duration of stay. Throughout the customer loyalty program, the management team can get more information and deliver a better product and service to their customers.
The Market
In addition, the promotional activities are needed to let more people get a better understanding of your company. The management team can promote their mobile parking app thru internet, social media such as Facebook and Twitter, advertisement and public relation. Furthermore, we can enhance the payment system to our customers. The management team can develop a variety of the payment methods such as the local ATM cards and international payment cards. It can make the tourists and users make the payment easily, especially for the foreign tourists. The foreign tourists can plan their trip and book for the parking lot in advance, although they haven’t entered into the country that they wish to travel (Staff, 2016).
The management team believes that they are able to obtain a large portion of the market share if the company can enter into the market successfully. Besides that, the management team believes that as each market grows, the share will increase as well. In addition, the market share of the company will have a massive boost in growing the market share in the tourism industry if they are able to increase the uniqueness of the product and the competitiveness in the market.
Today, Vietnam tourism is expanding to traveller in the world, the number of international tourists and domestic tourists are increasing. Vietnam tourism is becoming more popular in the world, many destinations in Vietnam are voted as the favourite destination by international tourists. Tourism is received the attention of customers. The quality and competitiveness of tourism are issues that received a lot of attention from everybody.
The place of our business will be in Ho Chi Minh city in Vietnam, which is known as “Pearl of the Far East” is the center of economic, educational and entertainment in Vietnam. Attracting more than 70% of foreign tourists to Vietnam. This is a city with a diversified economy, history and culture with many attractive amusement. The first impression left to visitors when coming to the city is the excitement, youthful and very friendly.
Ho Chi Minh City has two distinct seasons: the rainy season from May to November and the summer from December to April.
The main means of transport for tourists to Saigon are motorbikes, cars, bicycles, buses, pedicabs. Today, traffic density in Ho Chi Minh City is very crowded, many road sections in the city occurred traffic jam all the time except early morning and midnight.
The reason why we decided to build our business in Ho Chi Minh City because you can meet high buildings, entertainment areas, crowded shopping centers, but there is no lack of ancient villas, traditional markets existed for hundreds of years. Saigon is large and no shortage of “specialties” such as travel along the Saigon River by boat, visit Pham Ngu Lao street, shopping at Ben Thanh market or Can Gio beach …In the city got a lot of restaurants, hotels, or take away food and drink everywhere. However, it is very difficult to find out the place where you want to come over because there is too many streets, many people and many transport. Moreover, as the economy and commercial real estate market rapidly developed, the largest city in Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City, has been ranked as the fastest growing city in the world, according to the JLL report (JLL is a leading professional services firm that specializes in real estate and investment management). Major infrastructure investments such as the city’s first metro line. Ho Chi Minh City is also contributing to Vietnam’s GDP growth, with 8% being the highest in the region. Ho Chi Minh City is emerging as an important and growing economic center in Asia. Currently, Ho Chi Minh City has a population of about 8 million. With the trend of rural-urban migration, the population of Ho Chi Minh City is projected to reach 13.2 million by 2025, forming a large metropolitan area.
Location of Business
With a long history of development, Ho Chi Minh City today is very large and crowded with more than 8 million people. To help traveller avoid being overwhelmed by the bustle of the city, our company would like to create an App to help traveller easy to find out the way fastest to park their car or motorbike.
This is the first parking app have developed in Vietnam. However, all companies have competitors. No single company, service or product in the world is the only choice a customer, even if there are no alternatives. There are four competing teams with our business. Because dealing with one or more of these always exists in a competitive market environment, it is important that you create the right message and strategy for each type of competitor.
- Direct competitors
These companies are very similar to your business in many aspects of your product or service. They may or may not compete with all the similar services you have, the distribution may be different or they may be using another marketing strategy, for example: maybe you sell tour A and they sell tour B at the same place. You market beautiful scenery in your tour and competitors highlight the service of the tour. Certainly in some cases we will not have direct competitors, but this is not the only one.
- Indirect competitors
Some companies offer products or services that are different to yours, but the purpose is to solve the same problem. This can be quite simple for the consumer, example: they can choose to buy a tour at location A or B. You will never turn places A into B but you can convince many people that the weather in B is very cold and travel at site A is cheaper.
- Competitors in the future
This is the most difficult type of competition, because it requires your marketing team to stop focusing on the business and focus on the customer instead. Tracking is the only way to identify this group of companies. For example: 3D imaging technology may not bring true images, but maybe your target audience thinks they will have the same visual experience from a 3D image and a real tour.
- Competitors become competitive
We have seen a lot of strategic partnerships in today’s business community and this can be extremely important to your communications strategy. Even so, the business is always changing, companies that were once your best referral sources may now be expanding, because what you do looks like a growth opportunity great for them.
PR and social media strategies work best when communicating the differences of the company, product or service, not something better. This distinction should only be based on thorough research, honesty, objectivity, and consideration of all competitors in your target market.
The specific competitors effect to our business is Google Map, Uber and Grabtaxi. However, they are not going to do the particular to help traveller or tourism. So, our business will be useful and easy going to the tourism market in the future.
As the business management expert Kenneth H. Blanchard rightly quoted: “None of us is as smart as all of us.” For any business to develop and culminate, the most essential factor than the product itself is the team of individuals behind it. It all starts with having an energetic and optimistic management team which have the ability to pick the right individuals starting from a laborer to the high level research and development team. A good product with a bad team of low skilled and unenthusiastic workers will lead the business into a complete failure. As our business is concerned we want our staff’s to be skilled enough in all departments, highly passionate, accept constructive criticism and should have a positive frame of mind even the business is facing failure. An efficient team has the ability to overcome the obstacles and take the company to certain heights. We believe in these to ideologies as a startup :
Lean Startup: The vision, steer and accelerate process.
Design Thinking: A design methodology that provides a solution-based approach to solving problems. It’s extremely useful in tackling complex problems that are ill-defined or unknown, by understanding the human needs involved, by re-framing the problem in human-centric ways, by creating many ideas in brainstorming sessions, and by adopting a hands-on approach in prototyping and testing.
The management team of “ParkApp” will have the following management structure:
Board of Directors: We the owners of the company will be in the BOD as we have envisioned our startup and have a definite road map of how we are going to proceed for the next two years after the inception. As most of the startups in this generation, we are a team of highly passionate MBA graduates with absolutely nil managerial experience and we understand it. Our strength is our knowledge about business and mainly our product, the application “ParkApp”. For our business we will be having a highly experienced business analyst as one of our Board of Directors. We unlike many businesses will be appointing a business analyst in our BOD for the fact that he will be able to set a strategy for our functions through his analysis. It is always good to have the analyst briefing about the risks before the trial and error method. Being successful with technology is the key to business success and good business analysis is the key to success with technology. We will also appoint a highly skilled software developer in our BOD who can decide on the application structure and has the right amount of knowledge to guide the CEO of the company. To finalize, the BOD will consist of the following members:
- Le Thi Nhat Ly (MITHM) from Vietnam
- Ming Shien Chai (MITHM) from Malaysia
- Visakh R Pillay (B.Tech, MBA) from India
- Yarina (MITHM) from China
- Business Analyst (with minimum 10 years experience)
We are confident that we can effectively put our knowledge and passion in developing this platform across all users. We the four members has managerial and leadership qualities starting from our school days. Our interest and passion towards creating this application for people around the world is our primary strength. We are motivated to provide people better lifestyle by saving time and reducing stress caused by not finding a parking space from day to day. We as a startup are aware of the risks that we are taking but believe that we have the ability and the team to be successful in a span of 2 years.
Chief Executive Officer: A CEO’s role is in primarily building a solid foundation for the business, guiding technical’s and fundamental’s, expanding or contracting the resource/innovation/R&D bandwidth to suit budgets and attitude to risk and operating that business with sensibilities, delivering cash flow, stability and growth. The CEO’s primary responsibility is to provide leadership, not management. There should be enough senior staff to ensure the day-to-day progress of an organization. Leadership encompasses direction, motivation, encouragement and vision. We think that this is a crucial position and a highly experienced candidate with a minimum managerial experience of 15 years in the software industry will be selected.
Delivery Program Directors: Degree level qualifications in Business, a Technology discipline in Computer Science.
Sales and Marketing Manager: All round sales and marketing experience gained from a similar sized organization with a minimum experience of 5 years. Excellent motivational and leadership skills are necessary.
HR and Admin Manager: MBA with minimum of 5 years experience in a business administration.
IT Manager: Masters Degree in Computer Science with experience of 5 years. A product or system certification will be given priority.
CFO: A minimum of 8, preferably 10, years experience in a senior role.CPA designation preferred. Masters degree in Accounting, Finance or Business.
Software Project Managers: Master Degree in Computer science and minimum 3 years experience as a project manager in a similar organization.
Software Engineers: Bachelor or Master Degree in Computer Science with excellent coding skills.
Other Staffs: Diploma, Cerificate III and other basic qualifications
The final decisions will be made by the Chief Executive Officer of the company with consulting with the Board of Directors.
The Hiring and Training of personnel will be conducted in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. The training period of hired staffs will be six months.
Applying for a loan in order to strengthen the prospects of business will be considered as a negative as well as a positive factor. This is mainly because of the fact that applying for a loan need to be done keeping in mind the manner in which the individual or organisation applying for the loan can repay it (Tseng & Chen, 2015). Applying for a loan will be easy for the company. A formal letter will be provided to the bank managers requesting the grant for the loan to the company. The bank will verify the account details and the legitimacy of the certificates that are being provided to them. This will help them to analyse provide a proper time within which the loan was taken need to be repaid. In this regard, it can be said that the effectiveness of loan will be discussed that will help to understand the pros and cons of taking a loan.
The flexibility of use: The usage of loans can be flexible as the organisation or individual taking up the loan can use it for any purpose such as to repay travel expenses, medical expenses or buying properties. In this case, My Local App Company will be using the loans in order to promote the app and develop technologies and types of equipment that will help in making the app better. This is one of the huge advantages of taking up loans.
Quick availability: As stated by Cowling, Ughetto & Lee (2017) taking loan can be done in a quick manner. This is because the minimum documents are required while taking loans from a bank. This will be effective for My Local App Company as the organisation will look to develop the app as soon as possible in order to remain competitive in the market. This can also be used for emergency funds in case of occurrence of sudden requirements.
No security deposit needed: In order to take up loan, organisations and individuals do not need to deposit any security money. This is because banks are interested in the repayment of loans from the customers. However, in the failure of repaying the loans banks may forfeit the securities.
Thus, My Local App Company can apply for loan keeping these factors in mind. At the same time, it is also required that the company analyse the negative impact that may befall the company in case the loan is not repaid on time. Some of the disadvantages of taking loans include:
High-interest rate: According to Berger, Frame & Ioannidou (2016), this can be related with the fact that since taking the loans does not require any security deposit, the interest rate which the loan needs to be paid is high. This is because granting loans can be considered as a high risk for the managers as the chances of not meeting with requirements of the loans are high. Hence, this is the reason behind the loans having a high-interest rate.
No payment in instalments: Organisations take huge loans in order to cover all the areas that are required for the success of the business. This is done in order to ensure that repeated loans are not taken from the banks. However, paying back the same amount without instalments can be challenging for most organisations (Everett, 2015). This is particularly difficult in the case of start-up companies as the finance is low in the companies initially. Some of the banks do not allow such instalments that make it difficult for such companies to repay the loans. Thus, this needs to be considered by My Local App Company before taking loans.
Good credit rating: This can be considered as a risk factor as good credit rating is required for taking up loans. This is because most of the times it is seen that borrowing of loans can be risky and as a result, good credits are needed in order to prevent the rise of the credit sums. Hence, the availability of the loans can be a risk factor for these organisations that do not have a good credit score (Cowling, Ughetto & Lee, 2017).
Hence, it will be said that based on the analysis of the pros and cons of loans, My Local App Company will have to weigh its options and ensure that taking the loans will be beneficial for it. The manner in which these loans will be used will help the organisation to pay off any debts that will be left.
The loan will need to be asked by The Local App Company in order to develop the business. The financial department of the company will need to analyse the financial stability before applying for loan.
The required amount of the loan will need to cover the promotional costs and the manufacturing costs. This will be estimated at based at the market price of the factors involved. For example, $30,000 will be required for advertising the product by using social media, newspapers and hoarding. At the same time $50,000 will be required in order to purchase the latest technology from the market.
The money will be needed in order to ensure that the company does not suffer from any loss of money during promotion of the products. It can also help to improve the facilities of the company and ensure proper development of the structure.
The funds will benefit the business as it will provide financial stability to the company in order to undertake different ventures.
Such loans are important in order to set up a business in a proper manner. Although debates have been raised owing to the safety of taking loans, the process remains the best in the market as the funds can be repaid by investments.
Technology in the business world has proved to be an effective factor for the success of a business. Hence, it is no surprise that the application of technology in the tourism industry has developed. The effectiveness of such technology has helped in the proper growth of tourism sector in Vietnam. The new product that has been launched by My Local App Company will help the customers owing cars to find a parking spot without any difficulty. Such a product is unique in the market and the application of it will help in the increase of people in the tourism industry. The fact that not many companies have developed the app can help it to dominate the business market. The arrangement of a customer loyalty programme can help in the development of the mobile app and bring about the promotion of the application. In order to conduct a successful business, it is needed that the company is located in a convenient place. The setting up of the company in Ho Chi Minh City will be a bold move as the city is known for attracting tourists from all over the world. Despite being the first company to develop the product, competitors will arise at a point in time. In order to mitigate the threats, strategies will be prepared so that My Local App Company remains the best and innovative company in the country. The advantages and disadvantages of loans will be carefully examined before applying for it.
References
Buhalis, D., 2002. eTourism: Information technologies for strategic tourism management. New York: Financial Times Prentice Hall
Narayana Reddy, P., Appannaiah, H. and Sathyaprasad, B. (2010). Business management. Mumbai [India]: Himalaya Pub. House.
Lussier, R. N. (1996). A startup business success versus failure prediction model for the retail industry. Mid-Atlantic Journal of Business, 32(2), 79-93.
Lowrey, Y. (2009). Startup business characteristics and dynamics: A data analysis of the Kauffman Firm Survey.
Simon, H. (2008). The sciences of the artificial. Cambridge, Mass. [u.a.]: MIT Press.
Reis, E. (2011). The lean startup. New York: Crown Business.
Dan, N. (2017, May 06). Mobile parking search and payment app piloted in Vietnam for the first time. Retrieved from Vietnam Investment Review: https://www.vir.com.vn/mobile-parking-search-and-payment-app-piloted-in-vietnam-for-the-first-time.html
Me, P. (2017, December 08). Find & Pay For The Perfect Spot. Retrieved from https://www.parkme.com/
Staff, A. P. (2016). Ace Parking- Professional Car Park Solutions. Australia: Ace Parking.
Tseng, J. & Chen, C.J., (2015). The effects of interruptions of banking relationships on loan terms. Pearson
Cowling, M., Ughetto, E. & Lee, N., (2017). The innovation debt penalty: cost of debt, loan default, and the effects of a public loan guarantee on high-tech firms. Technological Forecasting and Social Change.
Berger, A. N., Frame, W. S., & Ioannidou, V. (2016). Reexamining the empirical relation between loan risk and collateral: The roles of collateral liquidity and types. Journal of Financial Intermediation, 26, 28-46.
Everett, C. R. (2015). Group membership, relationship banking and loan default risk: the case of online social lending
Order an Essay Now & Get These Features For Free:
Turnitin Report
Formatting
Title Page
Citation
Outline
