BABO 3 Business Analysis Project Assignment Sample
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Business Details
Product/service
Now Consult is a marketing consultancy firm that provides several types of distinct services. They offer training for different segments of marketing in order to enhance the marketing skills. The company also provides mentorship as well as assist firms to enhance their strategy. The workshops critically run on a quarterly basis. On the other hand, they charge around 200 euro for each workshop per day and also charge 250 euro for hourly meetings.
Unique Selling Proposition
- Offers evaluation or auditing of the current position of a firm
- Offers executive training (Altman and Hotchkiss, 2010)
- The efficient and hard working team that provide significant customer service as well as offer customer satisfaction
- A higher degree of customer service
Business Communication Needs
Business problem
The major problem that has been identified is intense competition in the market of Ireland specifically from Enterprise Ireland that is a significant rival to Now Consult. The other problem is it is a new company which requires higher visibility to attract customers as well as requires a huge investment in its promotional activities.
Solution to solve this problem
The significant solution to solve these problems is to capture the customers of its rival companies like Enterprise Ireland and offer quality services to the customers so that it can attain loyal customers from the market. Also, the promotional activities can be done at a higher rate or the 1st six months so that the customers can be attained and reduce the activities gradually when it analyses that it has spread its services in the market widely (Barringer and Ireland, 2010).
Idea Generation
This segment is an important criterion for businesses. It is significant to analyze that the company’s name needs to be changed as well as analyzing the logo design and branding. For analyzing the market, identification of key target markets is desired along with the key target competitors.
However, in order to stay ahead in the competition, the company needs to use its unique selling point to attract customers from its competitors. It is also required for the company to increase their service portfolio by expanding their business in order to attain huge client base. This, in turn, can enhance the business sustainability of the company leading to profitability (Burns, 2016).
Objectives
SOSTAC Approach:
Situation Analysis
At present, the business structure of the company Now Consult is stabilizing as the company has started recently. The company is situated on the north side of Dublin where it has attained a significant number of customers due to its wide range of services. However, in order to extend its client’s base and capture significant customers, it is planning to extend its business portfolio in different parts of Ireland.
Objectives
The primary objectives of the company Now Consult are to build a strong customer base and attain strong relationship in the market. It also wants to become the market leader in the market of Dublin as well as Ireland were it’s is planning to expand its business with its effective customer services.
Strategy
In order to attain significant client base, the company is planning to open a new office by expanding its business t outside Ireland. By offering effective training and services the company can attain the new market. The campaign, online promotion as well as an offline promotion is the major strategy the company is planning to enter the new market by enhancing its quality and product service (Safko, 2010).
Tactics
The strategy attained by the company Now Consult are combined with communication mix and marketing mix.
Marketing mix-
Product
Now Consult has efficient and hardworking staffs that are significantly experienced in this field for several years which is essential for the company to deliver quality services. They provide world-class services to its customers without any flaws which creates a special value for its customers widely.
Promotion
The company does both online and offline promotional activities in order to increase reach and visibility to the customers. The company significantly invite people to try out their services in the form of training. They also conduct workshops on a regular basis as well as on hourly basis which offers the company huge customer base.
Place
The company is situated in Dublin with its excellent services to train people with marketing skills. At present, the company is planning to expand its business by opening up a new branch in Ireland which is a prime location.
Price
The company always strategizes its pricing by analyzing the pricing strategy of its competitors. This, in turn, allows the company to charge its customers at a reasonable price that is widely appreciated due to its world-class services (Stokes et al. 2010).
Communication mix-
Now Consult uses the online platform in order to attract potential customer from the market significantly with the use of social media incorporating magazine, Twitter, and Facebook. The company always strive to attain customers to make them try their services in training and workshops which critically enhances their reach as well as referrals (Tompkins et al. 2010).
Schedule and budget
| Activities | Schedule | Budget (Euro) |
| Promotional activities | 1-6 months | 50,000 |
| Equipments and accessories | 1-2 months | 50,000 |
| Requirements | 1-6 months | 40,000 |
| Hire 5 new employees | 6-12 months | 30,000 |
| New opening of branch | 2 months | 50,000 |
Action
At present, the company Now Consult have limited number of staff in the business incorporating the CEO. The role of the CEO is to manage and control the entire task in the business. The system that has been carried by him during the establishment of the company is used at present due to its rationality.
They are focusing to enter a new market because they have significant resources to carry out the task as well as the employees are highly efficient to learn the needs and demands of the customers in the new market to offer quality services. Additionally, the company is also focusing on the aesthetic aspect in all kind of promotion as well as social media (Bell, 2010, p.21).
Control
Customer satisfaction
The company Now Consult is efficient enough to build a strong customer base which earned the company loyal customers as well as built trust among them. However, in order to enhance their business operations and enter a new market, it is significant that the company must build strong customer relationship at a higher level as it is a new venture.
It has been also analyzed that majority of the customers are satisfied with the services offered by the company which resulted in re-purchase orders (Bewayo, 2010, p.9). This is a significant advantage for the company.
Sales
The sales have been gradually increased though it is a new company; however, the company needs to offer much effort and investment to enhance their sales volume. This reflects that the company Now Consult have been effective in offering their niche products.
Shopping experiences
The rate of referrals can increase since the sales occurred as most of the customers would be satisfied with the services offered by the company by referring to their business partners and friends.
Evaluation
Based on the complete business portfolio of the company Now Consult, it has been analyzed that the company is highly efficient in their delivering services as well as the company has a strong brand image value which they maintain critically.
The enhancement of promotional activities in social marketing to connect with several customers and increase its reach through exhibitions, magazine, and training is highly effective. This can assist the company to enter the market Ireland and enhance its business portfolio by attaining sustainability as well as profitability (Brinckmann et al. 2010, p.35).
Gantt chart
| Task/ Week | 1 to 4 | 5 to 9 | 10 to 14 | Semester two | 1 to 4 | 5 to 9 |
| Define the Now Consult business detail (services/ products) | ||||||
| Identify their new objectives and problems | ||||||
| Idea generation/ Solution | ||||||
| SOSTAC Approach | ||||||
| Competitors Analysis |
Competitors
SWOT Analysis
| STRENGTHS
• Niche market (focusing only a few services) • Trying to build a strong customer base • Selling efficiently and offering quality services • Strong communication flow because all of the members are experienced • Better website design compared to competitors, can direct purchase |
WEAKNESS
• New start-up company • Product offered is not as complete as Enterprise Ireland
|
| OPPORTUNITY
• Improving sales through the website • Expanding internationally, as their products are cheaper in Shanghai and UK • Recruiting a new member to improve efficiency |
THREATS
• Enterprise Ireland could try to lower their price because of their buying volume power and price wars • Competition |
Observational Research
After attaining complete market research it has been identified that Enterprise Ireland is one of the significant competitors of the company Now Consult. The company has trained and skilled staffs to carry out its tasks and the pricing of its services are also nominal which possess a significant threat to the company New Consult. On the other hand, Now Consult also have experienced and skilled employees.
The company Enterprise Ireland is focusing to enter the market of Aesthetic and they are maintaining their standard in this area as well. However, the company is focused only on business operation in Ireland whereas Now Consult is also planning to expand its business in the UK. The delivery services offered by the company Enterprise Ireland are comparatively slow than Now Consult services.
Profile
The company Enterprise Ireland is one of the biggest enterprise operating in the market of Ireland offerings services similar to Now Consult. The company has trained and skilled staffs to carry out its tasks and the pricing of its services are also nominal. The company Enterprise Ireland is focusing to enter the market of Aesthetic and they are maintaining their standard in this area as well.
Unique selling point
- Well trained staffs
- Effective market capture
- Reasonable pricing
Competitor Matrix
| Now Consult | Enterprise Ireland | |
| Low price | 4 | 3 |
| Superior quality | 5 | 4 |
| Onboard controls | Yes | Yes |
| Training | Yes | No |
| Quality services | Yes | No |
| Unique features | 4 | 3 |
| Rapid delivery | 5 | 3 |
Market the approach
Brand awareness campaign
The brand awareness campaign can become sustainably beneficial if the company ties up with not for profit organizations as well as Blue September in order to reach out to potential customers. This kind of activities can add value to the business portfolio of the company. The campaign can significantly make customers aware of its business activities and portfolio which can increase the customer base of the company leading to increased sales volume (McGrath, 2010, p.251).
Through leaflets and banners, the company can also enhance their brand awareness program by reaching out to clients and making them aware of their top-class services which are unique and cannot be attained form any other business company. Additionally, the online platform is the best way for brand awareness by reaching out to customers via email, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter as customers in today’s world prefer online platform more than offline.
Marketing mix approach – 7p’s
Product
Now Consult can provide a unique customizable service to its customers without any flaws which can create a special value for its customers a wide range as well as can enhance the business performance of the company.
Promotion
Along with online promotion, offline promotion can be done via newspapers, banners, and leaflets to reach customers directly to the places where internet is not available or affordable by the customers. Tying up with not-for-profit organizations can be also benefitted.
Place
Expanding its business in the market of UK and Shanghai can offer the company growth and sustainability as well as offer the company to reach potential customers form the market.
Price
Analysing the market trend in the market of Ireland, UK and Shanghai for expanding its business are crucial as it can assist the company to set price for its training and services. This can also offer the company competitive edge over others (Mullins et al. 2010, p.1).
People
The CEO of the company must hire candidates who are well experienced in sales and marketing so that they can support the company. The management of the company must motivate as well as train their employees in order to offer quality services to the clients as they would be the only person to have a direct contact with the customers (Sosna et al. 2010, p.397).
Physical environment
The company can offer physically printed evidence to the people who take part in their workshop and training as it can offer the company credibility and the acceptance level of the customers would increase.
Process
The delivery process must be fast enough to provide a tough competition to its competitors which would be highly appreciated by the customers as they prefer fast and quality services.
Market analysis- the gap in the market
The major gap that has been identified in the market is the higher rate of competition in this particular industry (Guffey and Loewy, 2010). As the company Enterprise Ireland is one of the largest companies serving for many years, people tend to go for the company for training and workshops. This, in turn, possesses a significant threat to the company Now Consult.
As the company Now Consult is new people are not much aware of its services which are a significant gap in every market wherever it tries to expand its business. Therefore, to make people aware of its business services and training with daily workshops at reasonable price significant brand awareness program needs to be conducted to fill the gap in the market and capture the market at ease (Teece, 2010, p.191).
Market Research Conducted
Secondary data
The data collection method plays an essential role in the research process to accumulate valuable information from different sources. Talking about the secondary data which can be collected from various resources such as books, journals, articles, magazines, documents, newspaper, financial statements and the internet(Vartanian, 2011).
In this way, the internet is one of the significant resource to collect the secondary data. In this way, most of the researcher use the internet resources to accumulate secondary information. Along with that, valuable responses of the managers and business leaders are also considered as significant secondary data due to an involvement of corporate information.
The researcher can also collect valuable secondary data by communicating with senior management of an organization. In this way, the answer sheet of the researcher consumes vital secondary data while communicating the high management of an organization (Trzesniewski and Donnellan, 2011).
Primary data
The primary data is one of the critical part of the data collection method to develop a successful research paper. In this manner, the researcher can collect the primary information through the field interview process. The primary data collection method includes interview structure, questionnaire and survey method that help the researcher to gather valuable information.
The researcher needs to develop a questionnaire in order to collect the primary information(Cook and Sheikh, 2012). In other words, the questionnaire includes all research questions and objectives for gathering accurate and responsive data from the respondents. However, the researcher needs to communicate with the respondents who take part in the interview process.
According to Goodwin(2012), primary data is also considered as first-hand information as it’s directly collected from the respondents. Meanwhile, the researcher needs to follow the some guidelines while conducting the interview process, such as sampling methods and research equipment.
Methodology
In order to develop a successful research paper, the research needs to analyse the research methods that is divided into two parts such as qualitative and quantitative research method(Cook and Sheikh, 2012). In this manner, both types of research methods includes core competency to measure and analyse the data collection process. A brief discussion regarding these research methods is conducted below:
Qualitative analysis
In order to develop a authenticate research paper, most of the researcher prefer the qualitative research analysis. Besides that, most of the researcher utilise the secondary data for developing a qualitative analysis. The qualitative analysis includes vital feedbacks of the high management and board of directors. In this way, the qualitative analysis also involves statistical calculations for generating accurate information and configuration to develop a balanced research paper.
In order to develop a successful qualitative research paper, the researcher needs to collect the secondary information from different resources such as books, journals, articles, documents and other research papers(Christensen, 2012). Basically, the researcher needs to evaluate significant secondary resources to produce a qualitative analysis based research paper. Conclusively, the researcher cannot develop a suitable research paper without considering the contribution of the qualitative research method.
Quantitative analysis
Most of the researchers implement the quantitative research method to measure the primary data for developing a productive research paper. In this way, the quantitative research method is critically influenced by the primary data collection method. The researcher can develop a suitable research paper by analysing the collected primary information from the field survey process.Apart from that, the quantitative research analysis is mainly analyse the general opinion by collecting information from local respondents(Cook and Sheikh, 2012).
Meanwhile, there is no involvement of the high authority in the process of quantitative research analysis process. The researcher needs to confront the quantitative analysis for developing an effective and fruitful research paper.
Evaluation
Outcomes
- By working on this project for the business plan of Now Consult has been a significant opportunity to analyze the market of the Management Consulting industry in Ireland. The experience that I have gathered while working on the project were significant and it enhanced my capabilities about the particular industry about which I had none knowledge.
- Analysing and identifying the business planning and strategy enhancement procedures for Now Consult has introduced the essentiality of enhancing Gantt chart, SOSTAC and Competitor’s matrix for the business.
- Additionally, the entire project has assisted me to learn the importance of maintaining and undertaking an analysis of both internal and external factors for the business in order to make the project successful. The amount of training and research is highly extensive and knowledgeable as well as it was a significant experience to analyze the particular industry thoroughly.
Recommendations
- Now Consult must try turning its negative factors into positive factors incorporating being I countryside as well as to have a limited number of staffs. It is recommended to the company to expand their business widely in the market of UK as well as Shanghai to reach out to potential customers and must hire a significant number of staffs to conduct its business operating
- The offline promotions need to be enhanced widely as this can attract potential customers form the market by making leaflets and banners of their company (Von Graevenitz et al. 2010, p.109).
- The company must collaborate with not-for-profit organizations such as Irish Cancer Society, Oxford Ireland, etc to promote its business socially by organizing events. Organizing campaigns like Blue September can offer Now Consult to tie up with distinct businesses and charities. This kind of activities can be beneficial for the company to capture the market and gain significant profit (Haynie et al. 2010, p.219).
Pros and Cons
There are several numbers of advantages and disadvantages associated with the project. The advantages are-
- Mentor support in the entire process of the project (Jamie M.)
- Working in relation to a real business background
- This project is applicable to any other business that has more or less similar characteristics in Ireland
- Availability of clients for the meetings
- As the company is located in the countryside, it was a challenging nature of the business
On the other disadvantages are the following-
- Limitations of communication were critical as there was not any direct contact with the client rather the entire process took place based on email or interview
- The scope of visiting the company was not available
- Now Consult did not have any previous research records
Client Feedback
- The feedback from the client was significantly helpful for the project as I got all information based on the operation of the company. The client answered all the questions that I have asked which was helpful. I strongly believe that if there were an opportunity for visiting the company, then the primary research would have been made better.
- Communication with the client was entirely done via phone and email. The members of the group brainstormed a set of questions based on which the entire primary research was conducted. The entire interview was done via email.
- The client was significantly enthusiastic about answering the questions in a timely manner that assisted to form the complete research process.
Meeting Preparations
The meeting preparation was strictly based on the Management Consulting Industry in Ireland with significant research. It also concentrated on the online resources which Now Consult attained. The questions were prepared significantly based on the findings for the client to answer.
Conclusions
Conclusively, it is evident that comprehending and researching the current position of Now Consultant in the Management Consulting industry in Ireland was the essential task to start with. The meetings that were conducted with the clients via email and phone assisted me to build up the entire report by conducting SOSTAC approach model, Gantt chart, Lean Canvas as well as Competitor’s matrix. Additionally, if I was to do the project again then I will undertake a detailed on the field observation of the company with the assistance of online resources of the business as well as interviewing the clients for detailed analysis.
References
Books
Altman, E.I. and Hotchkiss, E., 2010. Corporate financial distress and bankruptcy: Predict and avoid bankruptcy, analyze and invest in distressed debt (Vol. 289). John Wiley & Sons.
Barringer, E. and Ireland, R.D., 2010. Successfully Launching New Ventures. Pearson.
Burns, P., 2016. Entrepreneurship and small business. Palgrave Macmillan Limited.
Guffey, M.E. and Loewy, D., 2010. Business communication: Process and product. Cengage Learning.
Safko, L., 2010. The social media bible: tactics, tools, and strategies for business success. John Wiley & Sons.
Stokes, D., Wilson, N. and Wilson, N., 2010. Small business management and entrepreneurship. Cengage Learning EMEA.
Tompkins, J.A., White, J.A., Bozer, Y.A. and Tanchoco, J.M.A., 2010. Facilities planning. John Wiley & Sons.
Journals
Bell, J., 2010, February. Student business plan competitions: Who really does have access. In Small Business Institute National Conference Proceedings (Vol. 34, No. 1, pp. 18-25).
Bewayo, E.D., 2010. Pre-start-up preparations: why the business plan isn’t always written. The Entrepreneurial Executive, 15, p.9.
Brinckmann, J., Grichnik, D. and Kapsa, D., 2010. Should entrepreneurs plan or just storm the castle? A meta-analysis on contextual factors impacting the business planning–performance relationship in small firms. Journal of business venturing, 25(1), pp.24-40.
Haynie, J.M., Shepherd, D., Mosakowski, E. and Earley, P.C., 2010. A situated metacognitive model of the entrepreneurial mindset. Journal of business venturing, 25(2), pp.217-229.
McGrath, R.G., 2010. Business models: A discovery driven approach. Long range planning, 43(2-3), pp.247-261.
Mullins, J.W. and Komisar, R., 2010. A business plan? Or a journey to plan B?. MIT Sloan management review, 51(3), p.1.
Sosna, M., Trevinyo-Rodríguez, R.N. and Velamuri, S.R., 2010. Business model innovation through trial-and-error learning: The Naturhouse case. Long range planning, 43(2-3), pp.383-407.
Teece, D.J., 2010. Business models, business strategy and innovation. Long range planning, 43(2-3), pp.172-194.
Von Graevenitz, G., Harhoff, D. and Weber, R., 2010. The effects of entrepreneurship education. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 76(1), pp.90-112.
Christensen, L. (2012). Experimental methodology. Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.
Cook, A. and Sheikh, A. (2012). Statistical Notes VII: Managing Data. Primary Care Respiratory Journal, 10(3), pp.71-72.
Goodwin, J. (2012). SAGE secondary data analysis. Los Angeles: SAGE.
Trzesniewski, K. and Donnellan, M. (2011). Secondary data analysis. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.
Vartanian, T. (2011). Secondary data analysis. New York: Oxford University Press.
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