Overview of Toddler Warehouse Facility Business Plan
Businesses must evaluate their business plans so that they determine if they have viable plans or not. The business plan that will be evaluated in this case if the Toddler Warehouse Facility, which is a childcare and development facility that will take care of children aged 3-5 years old. The centre will target double-income professionals who are willing to pay to have their children in the best facilities (Eden & Ackerman 2013). The business plan will be evaluated in terms of the external environment by looking at political, economic, social, technological, legal and economic factors. This analysis intends to give any decision-maker an understanding of changes that may occur within a given market as this have a direct influence on marketing and business success. Doing an evaluation of the business plan will help Toddler Warehouse Facility in making better business decisions (Wheelen & Hunger 2017). Information from the evaluation can be used by the business to determine whether expansion decisions can be made or if the focus should be on growing the current business. It will encourage strategic planning and provide necessary data needed to determine how best the business could tailor itself to its target market. Toddler Warehouse Facility will be able to weigh things in an objective balance.
The Australian political environment can affect Toddler Warehouse Facility through government policies, government change and local authority. The Government of Australia has legislation, which is in existence to protect consumers, the community and environment. The rules and regulations also aim to promote fair-trading and competition. The Toddler Warehouse has to put into consideration what rules affect the operation of a daycare facility in Australia. The laws that will directly affect The Toddler Warehouse are competition laws, consumer laws, environmental legislation, privacy laws and product liability regulation laws.
The Australian competition laws mainly guide businesses on fair trade. The Toddler Warehouse must be aware of regulations under fair trade, which covers issues such as inventory management, selling of their services, customer management, effective communication, pricing, payments and invoicing. The business plan has covered these areas through the target market and competition section.
The Toddler Warehouse also has to consider Australian government laws on consumers. In this case, the consumers are the toddlers who are taken to the daycare and their parents who make payments and drop and pick them up. Consumer policy in Australia is developed by the government and states and territories. All consumers in Australia enjoy similar rights and businesses have the same obligations irrespective of the state. The Toddlers Warehouse has considered this law by incorporating into its mission statement the fact that they intend to provide top-level childcare (Mugurel-Alin 2017). The business plan also speaks about how the company considers the attracting and maintaining of customers as important.
Political Factors Affecting Toddler Warehouse Facility in Australia
Environmental legislation in Australia will also affect operations of The Toddler Warehouse. All Australian businesses are expected to play a part in environmental management but different environmental laws apply depending on the type of business being carried out. Federal, State and local authorities jointly administer Australian environmental laws (Slack 2015). The Toddler Warehouse should understand which environmental laws directly affect them and once identified they should be included in the business plan.
Australia also has privacy laws, which affect various businesses. The act guides organizations on the coverage of the act and other legislation. It looks at issues such as telecommunications, data matching and handling of personal information. The Toddler Warehouse has to include this in the business and outline how customer information will be handled according to the privacy act.
As much as The Toddler Warehouse is a service company, provisions of the product liability regulation act have to be taken into consideration. The company has to use products, which are in line with the act. The children will play with toys, have different meals at the centre and in some cases use medicine kits. Parents have to be assured of the safety of anything that their children will take and this will be included in the brochures that will be issued as indicated in the business plan.
Any changes that the government makes in the country as pertains to businesses will also affect The Toddler Warehouse (Mugurel-Alin 2017). The company must therefore be up to date with any changes in the Australian business environment and should be able to adjust accordingly so that they do not flout any rules.
The economy of Australia will have a direct impact on the operations of The Toddler Warehouse. Issues like interest rates, child benefit, employment rates, housing prices and general tax will have an impact on business success. Australia has had economic resilience and a sustained growth pattern hence leading to the provision of a low-risk environment for businesses to operate in. Australia has a diverse market and is a stable and democratic country, which encourages business setups (Khan & Khalique 2014). The country’s economy is also supported by healthy political and economic ties with different continents and with the European Union.
Industry revenue has steadily been increasing hence enabling households to find more room in their budget for childcare. The Toddler Warehouse is specifically targeting parent with a higher income and this will be of great benefit to them. The company aims to provide quality daycare services to a specific niche market that will be willing to pay more money for the sake of their children’s development.
Consumer Laws Affecting Toddler Warehouse Facility
The demand for childcare in Australia has been growing steadily over the years. The Australian Government fully supports these kinds of businesses and there has been a baby boom, which has contributed to average real growth in revenue over the years. The government regulations have made a requirement for higher staff to child ratios and staff qualifications are likely to increase the cost of wages. This leads to pressure for companies such as The Toddler Warehouse. The company has however included cost of wages in the business plan. This is important as it means the company has a realistic picture of what staff wages will actually cost them.
There has been an increase in the population of children aged below 10 years hence having a positive demand for childcare services. Millenials are also keen on careers and this has led to an increase in demand for childcare services especially those in favorable locations. The Toddler Warehouse is targeting such parents who are very busy with their careers but at the same time want quality services that will enhance the development of their children. The business plan covers this in target market and sales plan by outlining target market and how it will be captured.
The affordability of homes in Australia and the rent that is paid affects family decisions on home location and affects the budget that families are able to spare on childcare. Childcare is however now regarded as a necessary expense as many parents are both working and some parents are single. Due to this, The Toddler Warehouse will benefit from getting a number of customers who require their services. The business plan under market segmentation explains how double-digit income parents who want sophisticated learning and development for their children have been targeted.
The way a society behaves directly affects businesses (Brown 2014). The culture, which has been developed by the Australian people, will have a direct effect on The Toddler Warehouse and will determine the number of customers, which it will get. Some of the societal issues that will affect the business are lifestyle trends, childcare costs, parenting styles, language barriers and birth rates.
The social environment of a child is dictated by where the parents stay and send them to school. It also largely determines whom children form social relationships with and the quality of these social relationships. Many relationships, which are formed by children, are form within their families or neighborhoods. The decisions that parents make therefore directly affect the health and well-being of their children. Children who engage in healthy social relationships perform better academically than the ones who do not. Those who live in environments with residential stability are more likely to perform better. The Toddler Warehouse is targeting middle-class and upper- class parents and these definitely live in residential areas that are stable. These parents are highly concerned about the type of social relationships that their children develop and therefore want the best and are willing to pay for it. Parents in Australia generally encourage healthy social relationships for their children. Early childhood education has a direct influence on the kind of relationships that the child will develop later in life. Children who attend pre-school are less likely to repeat grades in the future. The Toddler Warehouse is providing an environment, which will be conducive for children to develop socially healthy relationships. The business is also targeting children aged 2-5 and this will influence the academic outcome of a children hence will be attractive to parents.
Environmental Legislation Affecting Toddler Warehouse Facility
The business will also be located in Sydney, which is a largely diverse area. The location is convenient to parents due to the proximity to their areas of work hence making it convenient for them to pick and drop their kids. The Australian society is also largely made up of millenials and many are getting children hence leading to a baby boom. The millenials want the best in terms of child development, as the globe has become a very competitive place when it comes to job and business opportunities. Due to this, many young parents are willing to sacrifice and pay more so that they give their children the best education (Rothaermel 2015). The Toddler Warehouse has considered this in their business plan by coming up with a budget that will enable the company to open up a quality daycare centre with top-notch facilities. This will attract the right clientele. They have also made a provision for staff costs that will enable them to hire the best hence providing the children with quality learning facilities.
Technology has been evolving globally of the decades and has a direct effect on different businesses. Many businesses are now embracing technology as it generally makes life easier and gives a convenient way of reaching customers through advertising, marketing and communicating. Technology can affect The Toddler Warehouse in terms of availability of IT resources, affordability of IT resources, competency of IT use and social networking.
The business plan of The Toddler Warehouse does not really give a focus on technology though it makes a provision for assets like computers and printing hardware (Kuznestova & Markova 2017). The company has to consider technology as it could be the difference between failure and success.
The company should make a larger provision for IT resources as this will enable it to operate in a more efficient manner. The company should have a professional website and incorporate marketing through social media sites like facebook, twitter, Instagram and snap-chat. This will go a long way in enhancing the marketing efforts of The Toddler Warehouse. It will also make it easier to reach the niche-market that the company is targeting, as they are technologically savvy parents who spend a lot of time on the internet. The company must ensure that all the staff is competent in terms on information technology use. Many learning centers incorporate technology into teaching children (Khan & Khalique 2014). Time is given for children to learn on tablets as it enhances their growth in terms of learning and development. The Toddler Warehouse should consider this as it would enable them to offer high quality services to their clientele.
Privacy Laws Affecting Toddler Warehouse Facility
Embracing technology will enable The Toddler Warehouse to know what their competition is doing. They will also get to learn best practice from similar businesses throughout the world. This will give them an opportunity to be able to benchmark and continuously improve their services to the benefit of their clients. Lack of embracing technology can lead to redundancy of a business hence it is very important for The Toddler Warehouse to consider this seriously and indicate it well in the business plan.
The Toddler Warehouse will have to consider legal factors, which directly affect the kind of business that they intend to, do. Any business ha to ensure that they operate within legal mandates so that they avoid any issues with authorities. Some of the legal issues that The Toddler Warehouse will have to consider are local authority requirements like licensing, minimum wages for its employees, employment law regulations and children’s laws.
When it comes to children laws for example, all daycare providers have to ensure that they have a policy that sets out procedures for collection of children. The Sydney state and territory licensing and regulatory process for provision of childcare services have stipulated that a child can only be collected forma childcare service by a parent or an authorized part. The national quality standards under the national framework of quality emphasize this (Brown 2014). The Toddler Warehouse should therefore have enrolment forms that will give detailed information about persons that are authorized to collect a child including their full residential address and their relationship to the child. Policies that will affect the business must be included in the business plan.
The Toddler Warehouse will also have to respect minimum wage and follow employment rules that apply to Australia and Sydney. Employees must be provided with a conducive working environment and safety regulations must be adhered to as required by the local authority of Sydney. This should be mentioned in the business plan (Eden & Ackerman 2013). The Toddler Warehouse also has to ensure that the necessary licenses are obtained, paid for on time and renewed as required. The financials in the business plan give a provision for licensing.
Conclusion
External analysis is very important as it gives a business a clear view of whether they have covered everything in their business plan. The Toddler Warehouse will be able to re-evaluate their business plan and incorporate what they had not previously considered. This will lead to better decisions for the business hence lead to success.
References
Brown, R.S., 2014. Researcher Cognition and the Effect of the External Environment on Business Scholars. Academy of Marketing Studies Journal, 18(2), p.227.
Eden, C. and Ackermann, F., 2013. Making strategy: The journey of strategic management. Sage.
Khan, M.W.J. and Khalique, M., 2014. Strategic planning and reality of external environment of organizations in contemporary business environments.
Kuznetsova, S. and Markova, V., 2017. New Challenges in External Environment and Business Strategy: The Case of Siberian Companies. In Financial Environment and Business Development (pp. 449-461). Springer International Publishing.
Mugurel-Alin, M., 2017. The management of external business environment interaction with the company. Development.
Rothaermel, F.T., 2015. Strategic management. McGraw-Hill Education.
Slack, N., 2015. Operations strategy. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Wheelen, T.L. and Hunger, J.D., 2017. Strategic management and business policy. pearson.
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