Reflective Report
Summary of the Group Business idea
In my course assessment, the mentor asked each team to develop the business plan. So with the team, I get an opportunity to work on the business plan. The team initiates the business idea i.e. New Sneakers. Basically, Sneakers are our product that shows advancement in the shoe industry. This product is quite comfortable and easy to wear as a fancy or casuals. However, the group decided to launch this product in the market of China as it has a very large market and Shanghai & Beijing are the best cities to set up the physical store. That’s why, Sneaker select company ready to invest a total of £ 800,000 as a corporate investment into the business idea (Yan et al., 2012). At the same time, company decided to price the product within the 200 pounds for each so that large market can be penetrated. With the affordable price, the company would not compromise with the quality so it focuses high on both the quality and style. Thus from the study, it is identified that the main strength of the business idea is the innovative product i.e. sneaker which is offered in a customized manner. There is no Shoe brand in China market offer the user the customized product and this creates the USP in the product. Other than that, affordable price and high quality are also considered as strength. On the flip side, the weakness could be that the plan is developed by the students not by the experiences people so the chances of errors are more. Instead of weakness, I found the challenge that there is strong competition exists in the China market so in that case to get the recognition from the Chinese people is quite tough. Similarly, to cater every changing needs of the customer are another challenge that could limit the business plan success. But, with the right strategy, the challenges can be eliminated (Stutely, 2012). Thus, the classic sneakers are the business idea and to work on this idea, I learn how to convert the idea into the reality.
The process of Idea Initiation
In the idea development process, the team main focus is to develop such business plan which is accordance’s to current consumer needs. It means that the business needs to be feasible, innovative and sustainable. In order to get the best idea, the team goes through the brainstorming over the business concepts. In regards to this, I also made enough research over the internet and I found that there is increasing trend of shoes and clothes in the market where I estimated that market has made enough experiments in the line of clothes but in shoes. In concern to this, I also discussed with my mentors and they give me information about the sneaker which is a comfortable shoe (Wentzensen and Wacholder, 2013). However, between the clothes and shoes, I decided to develop the business plan for the shoe product. Through this manner, I get an idea and discussed with my team. My team gets an opportunity to implement the idea into reality through the tie-up with the Sneakers Select (Girotra et al., 2010). This company deals with varied shoe even in sneakers. In that case, it gets ready to incorporate our business idea which is basically to offer the customized sneaker to Shanghai & Beijing market. Thus, this manner business idea gets initiated and achieves the acceptance in the business market.
From the process of Idea initiation, the first and foremost activity I learned is the requirement of proper market research. The market research helps to get the idea about the current demand of people and whatever area which shows high opportunity then needs to grab it (Herman and Reiter-Palmon, 2011). Similarly, I also learned about different concepts and terminologies such as innovation, customization concept and much more even I get a chance to prepare the budget of the business plan in which I learned certain calculations. Besides that, I learned to identify opportunity through observing trends, finding the gap in the marketplace and solving a problem. Lastly, I learned to apply five steps of generating creative ideas and different methods such as brainstorming and market surveys.
The contribution of Team Members into the Business Plan
Teamwork plays an important role in complete the project on time without occurring any error. The contribution that team bring is efficiency in the form of generating innovative idea, gather resources, document the idea and convert it into the reality. Thus, these all practice can’t be complete without the involvement of team members. Similarly, in the sneaker business idea, my team contributes a lot when it comes to developing the plan. The different team performs varied roles and responsibility. However, we are 5 people team who worked on the Customised sneaker business idea. I am leading the team and I give responsibility to two team member for preparing the budget and one member conduct the market survey with me. Remaining members are responsible to generate the funds and document the business plan (Smith and Sodano, 2011). Thus, we all members perform a different task but with the maintenance of coordination so that every activity can be performed timely without having any type of errors and delays.
The working in the team helps me to strengthen various skills such as leadership qualities. My leading skills get polish through guiding and coordinating with team members. I also learned the value of time with the working in the team as our team members set time for each activity and try to complete it within the decided time (McDonald and Derby, 2015). Other than that, I can also able to bring improvement in my communication skills through making interaction with the team member. Similarly, I also strengthen the presentation skills through prepare PPTs for showing business idea to the seniors or businessmen for getting approval over the plan. Thus, this teamwork experience will help in my career when I join any reputed organization in future.
The presentation tends to be important in order to show the investor about the business idea. Basically, it helps to give proper or detail information about the business plan so that investor takes the decision whether to invest in this plan or not. At the same time, investor through presentation can focus on the specific solution for the needs of the market that customers are willing to purchase the product. This practice makes the company strong so investors are looking for this dynamic only (Kurtz et al., 2017). The presentation of the business idea also helps the investors to see the craft or creativity of the presenter. This exercise supports them in regards that which business plan can provide high returns to the company. Similarly, I presented the Customised Sneaker business plan during the Dragons’ Den sessions where I get much appreciation from the investor because of my presentation skills and unique business idea. Among the investors, the Sneaker select company choose my business idea for making an investment. Company finds business idea quite unique as it offers customized sneakers and in the China market, there is no shoe brand that offers customized Sneakers. Thus, the presentation also contributes towards my career growth as with the displaying the business idea in front of the investor, I able to polish my presentation skills. This is because I learned how to present and how to put the data in the presentation (Kameg et al., 2010). Likewise, in the presentation, I explained the concept of my idea and then describe that how it helps the business and achieve high returns. The presentation of the business idea tends to be the learning experience for me and it contributes towards my career enhancement.
The external factor is the critical concern area as the internal factor can be controlled but the external factor affects the business idea adversely. Likewise, the changing political, economic environment of China market could affect the business of Sneakers. In that case, it is difficult to predict the external forces (Matin et al., 2010).
Another relevant concern point is the break-even analysis. In the case of alternatives scenario both best and worst of total revenue have been considered as the figure shows the cost line which is calculated with the accounting principle of prudence. It also allows the investors to estimate the success of the presented business plan. The business partnership is also taken into account for reflecting the alternate such as achieve the target market. Thus, these are the area which can guide the investor whether the investment will prove effective or not. Therefore, the figures of cost and profit will help the company to determine the effectiveness of the project. This scenario will help to understand the business plan in a better way. In context to Sneaker select, it makes an investment of £ 800,000 over this business idea and it plans to provide the product within the £ 200. However, customized product or use of sustain method would indicate the succession of the business plan. So, I am quite optimistic towards the business plan achievement. Thus, the innovative features and design of Sneaker will surely grab the large market of China.
References
Girotra, K., Terwiesch, C. and Ulrich, K.T., 2010. Idea generation and the quality of the best idea. Management science, 56(4), pp.591-605.
Herman, A. and Reiter-Palmon, R., 2011. The effect of regulatory focus on idea generation and idea evaluation. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 5(1), p.13.
Kameg, K., Howard, V.M., Clochesy, J., Mitchell, A.M. and Suresky, J.M., 2010. The impact of high fidelity human simulation on self-efficacy of communication skills. Issues in mental health nursing, 31(5), pp.315-323.
Kurtz, S., Draper, J. and Silverman, J., 2017. Teaching and learning communication skills in medicine. UK: CRC press.
Matin, H.Z., Jandaghi, G., Karimi, F.H. and Hamidizadeh, A., 2010. Relationship between interpersonal communication skills and organizational commitment (Case Study: Jahad Keshavarzi and University of Qom, Iran). European Journal of Social Sciences, 13(3), pp.387-398.
McDonald, R.E. and Derby, J.M., 2015. Active learning to improve presentation skills: The use of Pecha Kucha in undergraduate sales management classes. Marketing Education Review, 25(1), pp.21-25.
Smith, C.M. and Sodano, T.M., 2011. Integrating lecture capture as a teaching strategy to improve student presentation skills through self-assessment. Active Learning in Higher Education, 12(3), pp.151-162.
Stutely, R., 2012. The definitive business plan: the fast track to intelligent planning for executives and entrepreneurs. UK: Pearson.
Wentzensen, N. and Wacholder, S., 2013. From differences in means between cases and controls to risk stratification: a business plan for biomarker development. Cancer discovery, 3(2), pp.148-157.
Yan, A.F., Smith, R., Vanwanseele, B. and Hiller, C., 2012. Mechanics of jazz shoes and their effect on pointing in child dancers. Journal of applied biomechanics, 28(3), pp.242-248.
