Assessed Learning Outcomes
This portfolio is a working document that MUST be completed over the 10-week course. By the end of the 10-week course, you should have completed 4 tasks. You will also be required to work on your portfolio during your weekly tutorial sessions.
I would like to enter in the retailing business in the fast moving consumer goods sector. I have chosen this sector due to the reason that retailing in the fast moving consumer goods is one of the most potential markets in the recent time. Variety and diversity in the consumer goods are increasing with time and thus it will be an opportunity for me to target diverse people from retailing consumer goods (Eustace and Martins 2014). On the other hand, consumer good retailing is having huge market penetration due to the presence of necessity items. Thus, it will beneficial for me to have the huge market opportunity in the United Kingdom.
However, it should also be noted that having own business will have its own advantages and disadvantages. Some of the key advantages of having own business are, no chance or probability of listening to others. In having own business, there will be no boss or seniors. Another advantage is catering to the market according to own criterion (Ward 2016). This refers to the fact that having own business will enable to do business or promote business approach according to own terms rather than depending on others. Some of the disadvantages are having the risk of huge financial loss. Venturing in business will involve huge capital for investment. Thus there always will be the risk of losing them. Another disadvantage of having own business is the requirement of maintaining different and diverse areas. Therefore, it will be difficult to look after different aspects at once.
PESTEL is one of the most effective tools to be used in preparing for the startup business. Using the PESTLE analysis will help in determining the different business sectors that can influence the approach and flow of the business operation. One of the key factors is the political environment. This is important in the current time because global economy is facing the issues with political challenges. Social environment is also important because consumer goods sector can be greatly influenced by the social trends (Ho 2014). Therefore, it can be concluded that using the PESTLE analysis will help to determine and estimate the business environment where the startup business is going to operate. The more effective will be the determination of the PESTLE environment, the more effective will be the identification of the strategies by the business organizations for their further business operation.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Owning Your Own Business
a.In what ways can ‘globalisation’ have an impact on your business? Discuss two examples.
b.What suitable technology would your business use and how would it improve the operations of the business?
Your answer should go in the box below.
Globalization is having the greatest influence for the contemporary business organizations in the recent time. With having the majority of the liberalized economies in the world, the impact of the globalization is also more. One of the major impacts on the business is the increase in the rate of competition in the local market of the United Kingdom. Retail sector is already congested with number of competitors. Thus, with the initiation of the globalization, more global firms will enter in the local market of the United Kingdom. Thus, the competition in the domestic market will further get increased. It will have negative impact on the profitability of the startup business (Ying, Chang and Lee 2014). For instance, retail sector of the consumer goods in the United Kingdom is already having brands such as TESCO and Sainsbury. On the other hand, with the initiation of the globalization, brands such as Woolworths and Walmart will get in enter in the domestic market. Therefore, the intensity of the competition will be higher. Apart from the negative impact of the globalization, startup business will also have positive impact as well. This is due to the reason that with the help of the initiation of the globalization, more updated and newer technologies will get entered in the domestic market. Thus, it will be beneficial for the startup business if they can get the access to the latest technologies. Their business operation will get enhanced with the help of the latest technologies. For instance, globalization will help in having the access to the cheaper and effective ERP software from the developing countries. This will enable the startup business to design their business operation effectively and efficiently.
Startup business will use the Enterprise resource planning technologies in their business operation. This will be the most applicable for the retail business due to the reason that effectiveness of the retail business depends on the stock management to a large extent. Hence, with the initiation of the enterprise resource planning technologies, the stock can be managed effectively. These will be no such issue of non availability of stock (Burkland and Zachariassen 2014). It will also help in improving the organizational effectiveness by maintaining the seamless flow of the inbound and outbound logistics. With the help of the enterprise resource planning, stock can maintained according to the market demand and there will be less probability of wastage or shortage of materials. Thus, the business operation will get more effective and efficient with this.
The Role of PESTLE Analysis in Start-up Business Planning
Briefly identify who your ‘customer’ is likely to be. Why is it important for a business to understand its customers?
Describe TWO ways in which you might attract more customers to your business.
The customers for the start up business consumer goods retailing are diverse and large. This is due to the reason that consumer goods sector is highly penetrated in the market. Still, customers with having the need of the daily consumer goods are the target customers. In terms of the income level, customers across different income level will be targeted (Ascarza et al. 2017). This will be possible because consumer goods generally have higher product assortments to cater to different customers from different income groups. In addition, customers from both the genders will be the target customers. Determination or understanding the customers is important for the business organizations because in the current business scenario, products are being marketed rather than they are sold. Thus, effective understanding of the customers will help the business to have the idea about what the target customers are really wanting. Accordingly, the products can be offered. Offering products after effective understanding of the customers will help the business to meet the customer requirement properly and thus generation of the revenue will be more.
There are many ways to attract customers. One way is to initiate differentiation strategy in the business operation. Initiation of the differentiation strategy will help to create distinctive image in the market. In the consumer sector market, the competition is higher and thus having the distinctive image in the market is important will help to attract the customers effectively (Zehir, Can and Karaboga 2015). The more distinctive will be the business operation, the more will be its attractiveness in the market. Another strategy that can be initiated in order to attract customers is the cost leadership strategy. Consumer sector is a sector, which is immensely competitive and having the presence of huge number of competitors. Thus, initiation of the cost leadership will enable the business to offer the products in minimal price in the market. This will attract more customers over their competitors (Kaliappen and Hilman 2013). Having the cost leadership strategy will help in increasing the sales volume in the market.
a.What is the role of ethics in business?
b.With examples from other businesses, describe how your business can treat its staff ethically.
a.Ethics is one of the most effective factors to be considered by the business organizations. Ethics determines the approach of the business operation and the values followed by the organizations. Thus, the impression of the organization along with their effectiveness of managing the internal and external stakeholders is being determined by the ethics of the organization. The major role of ethics is to determine the morality of the business approaches (Michaelson et al. 2014). This can be referred as a tool in enhancing the market impression and brand value of the organization or brand. The more ethics will be followed by the organization, the more morality will be there in their business operation. Thus, customers will have more favorable impression in the market. In the case of the consumer goods retailing sector, ethics also plays the role of determining the customer management. Following ethics in the customer management will help to have satisfied customers in place. Ethics is also having the role of determining the long term business potentiality of the organization. This is due to the reason that, following the ethical principles will enable the business organization to have more positive word of mouth in the market, which will increase their long term viability.
b.Aptiv is one of major business organizations in the United Kingdom, which is the frontrunner in having ethical principles in managing the employees. They are having extensive and effective policies of employee management. The employees are being given proper work life balance in order to keep them motivated in their workplace (Goodwin and Graebe 2017). Moreover, diversity in the workforce is being maintained ethically and employees from different communities are being given equal representation and opportunities. In the case of the startup business, employees will also be given equal opportunities. This will ultimately help in effectively catering the customers from social and cultural backgrounds. Employees will also be provided favorable work life balance in order to enhance their organizational citizenship. Ethics will also be followed in providing compensation to the employees. Properly compensating the employees will enhance their level of motivation, which will reflect in the quality of the customer service.
References:
Ascarza, E., Ebbes, P., Netzer, O. and Danielson, M., 2017. Beyond the Target Customer: Social Effects of Customer Relationship Management Campaigns. Journal of Marketing Research, 54(3), pp.347-363. Ascarza, E., Ebbes, P., Netzer, O. and Danielson, M., 2017. Beyond the Target Customer: Social Effects of Customer Relationship Management Campaigns. Journal of Marketing Research, 54(3), pp.347-363.
Bürkland, S. and Zachariassen, F., 2014. Developing an ERP technology: Handling incompleteness of the system. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 30(4), pp.409-426.
Eustace, A. and Martins, N., 2014. The role of leadership in shaping organisational climate: An example from the fast moving consumer goods industry. SA Journal of Industrial Psychology, 40(1), pp.01-14.
Goodwin, G.C. and Graebe, S.F., 2017. Work-Life Balance. In A Doctorate and Beyond (pp. 179-185). Springer, Cham.
Ho, J.K.K., 2014. Formulation of a systemic PEST analysis for strategic analysis. European academic research, 2(5), pp.6478-6492.
Kaliappen, N. and Hilman, H., 2013. Enhancing organizational performance through strategic alignment of cost leadership strategy and competitor orientation. Middle-East Journal of Scientific Research, 18(10), pp.1411-1416.
Michaelson, C., Pratt, M.G., Grant, A.M. and Dunn, C.P., 2014. Meaningful work: Connecting business ethics and organization studies. Journal of Business Ethics, 121(1), pp.77-90.
Ward, J., 2016. Keeping the family business healthy: How to plan for continuing growth, profitability, and family leadership. Springer.
Ying, Y.H., Chang, K. and Lee, C.H., 2014. The impact of globalization on economic growth. Romanian Journal of Economic Forecasting, 17(2), pp.25-34.
Zehir, C., Can, E. and Karaboga, T., 2015. Linking entrepreneurial orientation to firm performance: the role of differentiation strategy and innovation performance. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 210, pp.358-367.
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