Business Plan: Gofalgar – Caring for the Careers
This paper discusses the business plan which is considered as a quite important activity/ step before making any business into the reality. In a similar manner, Gofalgar-caring for the career tends to be suggested the business plan with the aim to serve the dementia patients. This business plan is not for just making the profit but it focuses more on social help (Kehagia et al., 2010). Thus, this idea would prove to be helpful for the career of dementia patients and it also assists in giving chances to people to become the volunteer in this social cause.
Business plan: Gofalgar- Caring for the Careers
The aim of the business plan is to help out the dementia patient careers. However, dementia is those who have the problem with memory loss and mental disability which create an issue for performing the daily common task. It occurs due to the physical change in the brain. In regards to this, the business idea is to provide career opportunity to these patients so that their life becomes easy. This business plan is more tends to be social one as dementia patients get a help to earn for themselves and it will also help the unemployed people to join this business as the volunteer and achieve the good result.
In addition to this, the scope of the Gofalgar Plan will be identified through double-bottom line theory (Hall, 2011). This theory explains the scope of business based on three dimensions of performance such as social, environmental and economic (financial).
Figure: Triple-Bottom Line
Economic dimensions help to measure the economic growth of business plan in the way through job growth, personal income, the percentage of firms in this sector etc (Thuné-Boyle et al., 2010). On the other side environmental dimension measures the percentage of emission of carbon, solid and toxic waste etc. at the end, social dimension assist to evaluate the unemployment rate, household income etc.
Depend on this theory, it is identified that Gofalgar Plan is quite economically feasible because it allows for generating wealth for the UK economy through supporting the unpaid careers of dementia patient which saves £11billion/ year. This plan will also support the planet by adopting advanced technology. Likewise, it uses the website to make aware the people about the need of the volunteer. At the same time, it also avoids the print media in order to eliminate the use of papers and any raw material. Thus through this manner, the caring for career plan would help to save the planet. Besides that, it will contribute to the society in mainly two ways. Firstly generate the job opportunity for the people and secondly, it assists the dementia patient to earn and contribute towards both business and economic growth. This initiative is more social one as it sufficiently utilizes the available resources without demanding more from the society. Hence, it can be depicted that the business plan of caring the career would add value to society in terms to enhance job opportunity and welfare of the economy.
The triple bottom line clearly signifies that the scope of Gofalagr has quite wide as its purpose is quite appealing towards the growth of business and society. Due to the innovative business idea, investors would invest high for the successful implementation. Moreover, the competition would be less in UK market due to this business plan is considered as unique and innovative. Other than that, the significance of plan is also determined through the study of an example of Wales. However, there are approx. 225,000 people will develop such problem in an upcoming year and it is likely to rise up to 1 million by 2025 (Blank, 2013). So in that case, the business plan proves to be effective for catering the needs of society. This becomes possible with the contribution of dementia patients towards the performing of work. It is also the fact that the cost of investment over each dementia patient is high but with the proper financial plan, such issue will compensate for the manager of the business plan.
Financial Plan will include the following:-
Government Grants | Through applying to purchase the government grants. |
Sponsorship | It is quite a popular strategy to source finance. In this, football matches are the best way to create awareness and generate finance for the business (Chang and Roberts, 2011). |
Events | Conduct events for fundraising. |
Quiz Nights | Quiz nights will help to create awareness among the society and it also allows generating the sufficient funds. |
Therefore, Gofalagr business plan would adopt such techniques to take financial aid through different ways. Based on this study, it is interpreted that caring for the career of dementia patient plan would be proved successful in all the areas such as social, financial and environmental etc.
Key elements & USP of the Business Plan
There are various elements of the social business that will provide USP to the company. In concern to this, these elements add value to the business plan (Silow-Carroll et al., 2013). The following are the elements which contribute to bringing USP into business plan:-
STP is quite a common element which will be helpful to identify the key customer of the business plan.
STP strategy
Segmentation: Caring for the careers business plan will be segmented UK market based on beneficial or geographical segmentation. In this, the market is dividing upon the perceived value, benefits from the product or service. It means that consumer prefers to buy that product or service in which they perceive the benefit. Other than that geographic basis, the market is segmented. In the context of this business plan, the marketer would select the UK market and segment UK market based on needy people who need such services (Khan, 2013).
Targeting: The target will be the patients who suffer from dementia diseases. Similarly, marketer also targets the service users like individual/ family members. These are those people who give full-time careers for dementia patients.
Positioning: Marketers create the positioning of the service based on quality and benefits (Rawls and Turnquist, 2011). In this, business creates trust and faith in the minds of dementia patients so that they feel free to work and contributes towards their career enhancement.
STP Strategy | |
Segmentation Strategy | Geographical & Beneficial Segmentation |
Targeting Strategy | Individual/family members of dementia patients and patients who suffering from such disease. |
Positioning Strategy | Based on the quality of service and price. |
STP Strategy creates USP as this business cares for people through providing the needy once the opportunity to grow in future. The unique and innovative idea is the USP of this plan. Mainly business entity focuses on how to make a profit rather than think how to serve people in society. But caring for career plan give the opportunity to dementia patients to prove as useful assets for the company and contribute revenue to the business. It means that business with the taking support of dementia patients would able to generate high revenue and it also performs the task in a timely manner (Mullick et al., 2013). Thus, such business idea benefits to both the parties.
4p’s of Business Plan
Product/ Service: Gofalgar offers caring service to dementia patients. Additionally, it also provides services to volunteers’ people through conduct the training and classes so that relevant skills will be developed among the volunteer.
Price: The price of service will be low as business use penetration strategy to enter the UK market (Houben et al., 2014).
Promotion: Social Media will use by the marketer to promote the service. The advertisement on social media attracts more volunteers to become a part of this business idea. Other than that, the company will also develop the website in order to inform the volunteers about the social activities (Loss et al., 2014). Thus, this is the best promotional tool through which company could create maximum awareness among the people of UK.
Place: Company selects the place in UK market for delivering the services to different customers. At the same time, manager trains the volunteer in such a way that they guide the dementia patients and help them so that patients perform the functions at their own place.
Such elements create the USP in the business idea in the form of helping those people who couldn’t help themselves and give them employment opportunity. This makes business to earn profits and complete their task on time. Thus, the business idea is quite unique and innovative as it caters the needs of society by making them perform the task. So, it can be stated that the business idea proves to be effective (Chu and Kim, 2011). Another USP is that company offers an opportunity for becoming a part of the project and conduct the training session for the volunteer so that they could improve their skills. Hence, these are the USP which makes the business idea more feasible or realistic.
Analysis of external business environment suitable for entrepreneurial theories
The analysis of the business environment will be helpful to provide a good strategy for the success of the business plan. The entrepreneurial strategy creates the market for the organisation and also shows the factors that can affect the market. In order to provide a social service with profit the social enterprises are developed by the entrepreneurs (Shinnar et al., 2012). The theories of entrepreneurial is classifies in three kinds of principles such as economic, psychological, and sociological. The economic principle focuses on the demand of the customer and an entrepreneur try to supply their services according to the demand. Additionally, the psychological theory focuses on the vision and achievements of the entrepreneurial to achieve the success in the market area. Besides, in the sociological theory, thinks about the social cultural, and need of the society to reduce the social problems. An entrepreneur need to analysis the external market to develop the understanding about the business environment. In this business plan, the Porter’s five force models can be included for analysing external environment.
Porter’s five force model
The five forces model is provided by Michael E. Porter to analysis the competition in the business industry. This model will be helpful for the organisation to develop the in-depth understanding about the competitive market (Schneider and Spieth, 2013). This analysis includes five forces that are bargaining power of suppliers, bargaining power of customer, threats of new entrance, threat of substitutions and industry rivalry.
Figure– Porter’s five force model
Bargaining power of suppliers (Moderate) – There are many suppliers in this hospital and social service organisations who provide different kind of tablets and medicines for the dementia patients. At the same time, the aim of the organization is to provide social service not earning high profit so many suppliers helps the organization (Al‐Aali and Teece, 2014). The cost of medicines is high but the strong supply chain of the suppliers provides effectiveness in the supply. But there is no presence of the substitution that can increases the power of the supplier.
Bargaining power of customer (low) – There are 850,000 people who are suffering with dementia at overall UK and it is also estimated that 225,000 people may have the disease this year. This analysis shows that the bargaining power of the customer is very low. At the same time, the customer also not has another option to take this service nearby (Dobbs, 2014). The number of service provider is also less in overall UK that reduces the bargaining power of the customer. In addition to this, the organization will provide a social service and there is no any intention to earn high profit from customer that will attract the people.
Threats of new entrance (high)- This business is related with the social service and the investment cost is not very high to develop the business. The demand of the service is increasing day by day because the dementia patient will increase in the future according to the estimation. The entrance of the new firm in the same business is easy because of the above reasons so the threats of new firm entrance are high (Ford et al., 2011). At the same time, this business plan includes the social service that can also restrict some new organisations because it has less profit as a business.
Threats of substitution (low)- The customers thinks about the substitute of any service and product to fill the requirement but in the concern of this social service business there is no substitute. The customer needs to treat the patient and this business plan supports to provide good social services. The customers only have some competitors but the business will provide less costly services to the customer by taking the help of different charity firm.
Industry rivalry– The industry has less competition with the competitors because of the fewer firms is included in this service sector. There are some competitive firms in the industry such as Northamptonshire Carers, Alzheimer’s Society, Dementia Connect, etc. who also providing services for Dementia patients at UK (Shaw, 2012). They are proving good service quality and there is no price competition due to need of the customer is higher than service provider.
Identify and evaluate company’s long term plan and growth potential
The long term business plan can be identified by effectively understanding the business such as what service or product is offered. The long term plan of the company is to provide a social service to the patients who are suffering with dementia and Alzheimer. In this social service, the organization will help and care the patients without earning profit. At the same time, if the company will earn profit then it will be plowed back into the business (Douglas and Craig, 2011). The business plan specifies that in this disease the patient have no option to restrict this problem because this disease increases in the old age.
After this, the organization will find out the target audience and will provide effective services. The target audiences of the company will be the individual or family members who careers the patients of dementia. They will come with the patients of dementia and will utilize the organizational services. Moreover, the patients of the dementia are also the customers of the organization. After the identification of the customer, company will create the organizational website in which the volunteers can apply to be a part of this business (Tang et al., 2012). The technological will also be helpful for the organization to provide additional information about different social activities.
Marketing activates | Durations |
Social media marketing | 1-2 months |
Newsletters | 6 months |
Direct advertisement | 1 months |
At the same time, the development of the business can be done by the organizational people and advertize the services of the company by the use social media marketing. This social media advertisement can introduce the organizational services to many volunteers who can be ready for provide the social service for the company (Ford et al., 2011). The symptoms of the disease can also be introduced to the public by the use of social media and people will well know what they should do in this disease. Additionally, in the marketing activities of the organization also includes direct advertisement and newsletters to introduce organizational services in the public. The potential growth of the business will be possible after crating a networking of people who aware about this disease. After the successfulness of the business, the organization will focus expending business idea at another geographical location (Shaw, 2012). This social service will also be provided in the other areas of UK and will help people by implementing the business strategy. The vision of the organization is to provide this service at overall geographical area of UK where more than 1 million people will take service in a month.
Estimated budget
Recourses | Amount (in £) |
Crowd funding | 500,000 £ |
Coffee mornings | 60,000 £ |
Loca; football matches | 2,000,000 £ |
Events/fundraising | 5,000,000 £ |
Quiz nights | 800,000 £ |
This business plan needs the estimated budget for successfully implement the business strategies. In order to provide better service than competitor, the company needs to focus on the collection of the fund from different charities so the above estimated budget is provided. The long term plan of the company can be achieved by the collection of the proper budget for the business. The above estimated budget will be used by the organizational management to provide best services to the customer (Douglas and Craig, 2011). At the same time, a small number of the amount will be spending in the marketing and advertisement of this social service to provide a high benefits to the different customers.
This business will also helpful for the economy because it will provide employment opportunity for the people who are interested to be helper of the dementia patient. This service will highly helpful for the country because they will provide a good treatment to the public to fight this disease. In addition to this, the public will also be motivated to help the people who are suffering from this kind of disease in the old age. So, the think of people will increase about the social welfare by proving charity for these kind services (Tang et al., 2012). The mental health of people of the country will increase that will impact on the economy of family. On the other hand, in order to make the business unique, the organization will provide unique selling point (USP). This USP will differentiate the business by effectively caring the patients of the dementia and they will enjoy the treatment at there. The organization also thing to provide a special training to the volunteers, in this they will learn about the caring of dementia patients.
From the above discussion, it is concluded that business plan of caring the dementia patients careers proves to be unique and innovative idea. This idea is considered as more social one due to it gives employment opportunity for patients and volunteers. At the same time, it also contributes towards the growth of business and economy. Thus, this idea supports all the elements such as advanced technology, funds generation and service quality etc. at last, the implementation of such idea would surely generates the benefits for company.
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