Click Link below To Purchase:
Bus 599 Week 3 Assignment 1- Company Description and SWOT Analysis
n this assignment, you will conduct a SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat) analysis for the type of beverage you have selected, and for your company overall. As you work on the assignment, consider why you have chosen one type of non-alcoholic beverage over another and the reasons for that choice. As you complete your SWOT analysis, be sure to include external factors such as industry / market trends and competition, and internal factors such as your capabilities or abilities to reach certain market segments.
Write a three to five (3-5) page paper, in which you:
- Create your revised NAB company name and explain its significance.
- Develop your revised company’s Mission Statement and provide a rationale for its components.
o Extracting appropriate information from the NAB company portfolio, where applicable. You should fill in other required items in the template using your personal preferences.
- Describe the trends in the non-alcoholic beverage industry, especially the specific type of beverage category you have chosen. Justify at least three (3) reasons why you have chosen this type of non-alcoholic beverage.
- Choose one (1) strategic position from the course text (pp. 142–143) that you believe is the best strategic position for your company. Explain the approach you will use to implement this strategic position in order to distinguish your beverage from other non-alcoholic beverages.
- Provide an overview of your company’s distribution channels. Explain the manner in which your product will reach end users. Provide a rationale for your chosen method.
- Outline at least three (3) types of risks (including any regulatory risks) that your business faces. Describe your company’s plan to mitigate such risk.
- Develop a SWOT analysis for your NAB company using the SWOT matrix worksheet in the course text (p. 153 | SWOT: Strengths / Weaknesses / Opportunities / Threats)
o Hints: What are your company’s likely weaknesses? Is the competition in your industry segment entrenched? Is your own management team inexperienced? Will it be challenging to actually produce your product and maintain quality?
o Hints: What are your company’s opportunities? Does your segment have more demand than supply? Have larger corporations stopped serving smaller or niche markets that you could enter? Is a new market emerging because of demographics, immigration, changing tastes?
o Hints: What are your company’s threats? Is there a clear market leader that will be hard and expensive to displace? Are downward-pricing pressures in the segment making profit margins slim? Are there little or no barriers-to-entry for new competitors; if you have a novel idea that succeeds, can the competition easily enter your market? If you have a global aspect to your company, do factors such as currency fluctuations, political instability, offshoring or outsourcing pose threats?
- Format your assignment according to these formatting requirements:
- Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
- Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required page length.
- Cite the resources you have used to complete the exercise. Note:There is no minimum requirement for the number of resources used in the exercise.
- Analyze the role of a company mission, vision, and objectives and the impact to business strategy.
- Describe strategic planning techniques used to formulate alternative strategies designed to achieve stated business goals.
- Analyze the external and internal environment for opportunities, threats, strengths, and weaknesses that impact the firm’s competitiveness.
- Use technology and information resources to research issues in strategic management.
- Write clearly and concisely about strategic management using proper writing mechanics.
This assignment consists of two (2) sections: a marketing plan and sales strategy, and a marketing budget. Note: You must submit both sections as separate files for the completion of this assignment.
For the first six (6) months your company is in business—to give you time to perfect your product and to learn from actual customers—you will start marketing and selling in your own community, a radius of twenty-five (25) miles from where you live.
For most non-alcoholic beverages, marketing (as opposed to the actual product itself) is key to success. Cola drinks, for example, are fairly undifferentiated, as are many energy drinks, juices, bottled water, and the like. Companies producing these types of beverages differentiate themselves and attract market share through marketing and brand awareness—both of which are critical to success.
Section 1: Marketing Plan & Sales Strategy (MS Word or equivalent)
Write 3-4 page Marketing Plan & Sales Strategy section of your business plan, in which you:
- Define your company’s target market.
- Analyze the types of consumers who will be drinking your beverage in demographic terms (i.e., age, education level, income, gender, ethnic group, etc.). Support your analysis with actual data on the size of the demographic groups in your local community (nearby zip codes).
- Outline the demographic information for your company specified on the worksheet in the course text (p. 107 | Demographic Description).
- Hints: At American FactFinder (http://census.gov), you will find demographic information on potential consumers in your area. If you are selling through other businesses (such as grocery stores), indicate the number of those businesses in your local area. You will find information about such businesses in your local area at County Business Patterns (http://www.census.gov/econ/cbp/). Check Chapter 2 of Successful Business Plan for more research sources.
- Assess your company’s market competition.
- Use the factors listed in the course text graphic (p. 123 | Assess the Competition) to assess your company’s market competition.
- Defend your strategy to successfully compete against market leaders in your segment.
- Hints: For example, in the soft drink market, it is intimidating to try to compete against Coke and Pepsi. Newcomers in mature markets typically must pursue niche markets or even create new market categories, as Red Bull did with energy drinks.
- Defend your plan to differentiate yourself from the competition
using the information detailed on the worksheet in the text (p. 131 | Market Share Distribution).
- Hints: Every business faces competition and the non-alcoholic beverage market is an especially crowded market.
- Clarify your company’s message using the information provided on the worksheet in the text (p. 160 | The Five F’s).
-
- Hints: Before you choose your marketing vehicles, you must determine the message you want to convey through those vehicles.
-
- Identify the marketing vehicles you plan to use to build your
company’s brand. Justify the key reasons why they will be effective.
Provide examples of other non-alcoholic beverage companies that use
these tactics effectively.
-
- Hints: If you plan to use online marketing tactics, refer to the worksheet in the text (p.171 | Online Marketing Tactics) to aid your response. Remember that even if you’re selling through grocery stores you need to build your brand and social media is a major part of that in regard to beverages. Some of the marketing tactics that beverage companies use include: sampling in grocery stores, building a following on social media, sponsoring events, exhibiting at trade shows attended by retailers, and so on. You will use a combination of these tactics. For example, if you decide to give out samples in grocery stores, promote your sampling on your social media networks and those of the grocery store.
-
- Hints: If you are planning to distribute through resellers, describe how you plan to reach them, for example, through industry trade shows or by establishing your own sales force. For information on trade shows, visit the Trade Show News Network (http://www.tsnn.com). You can exhibit or network at these shows.
-
- Format your assignment according to these formatting requirements:
- Cite the resources you have used to complete the exercise. Note: There is no minimum requirement for the number of resources used in the exercise.
- Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
- Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required page length.
Section 2 uses the “Business Plan Financials” MS Excel template (see: Course Required Files in Week 1). Use the “Business Plan Financials Guide” (see: Course Required Files in Week 1) to support your development of the Marketing Budget.
- Complete the Marketing Budget worksheet for your company.
-
- Hints: The goal of the marketing budget is to help you determine how much it will cost you to reach your market and achieve your sales goals.
- Hints: When filling out the “Marketing Budget” worksheet in the Excel spreadsheet:
- Begin in the current year and complete a marketing budget for the first year of your business. The information you enter in the marketing budget spreadsheet will flow through to your “Income Statement” in the Business Plan Financials.
- Leave the number at zero (0) for any marketing vehicles you do not intend to use.
- Remember that all marketing activities involve costs. If social media represents a significant portion of your marketing, assume you will have cost of advertising and that should be reflected on your budget. Even if a social media site charges nothing to use it, you will need to use company resources to manage the site, pay someone to execute your social media marketing campaigns, and will most likely pay for ads on that site.
- Do NOT leave the “Marketing Budget” blank, assuming you will not have any marketing costs.
-
- Recommend effective business strategies based on an analysis of domestic and global operating environments, market dynamics, and internal capabilities.
- Analyze competitive positions including foreign market entry and the resulting impact on business strategy.
- Use technology and information resources to research issues in strategic management.
- Write clearly and concisely about strategic management using proper writing mechanics.
Use the “NAB Company Portfolio”.
Write a three to six (3-6) page paper in which you provide the following information below.
Operations Plan (1 – 2 pages)
Note: Remember to assign a dollar amount to each operational cost you find, as you will need these figures for your income statement and cash flow in Week 8.
- Create an operations plan for your NAB company using the template in the text as a guide (p. 214 | Operations Plan Preparation Form ). Extract appropriate information from the NAB Company portfolio, where applicable. Other required items in the template should be filled in using your personal preferences.
- Provide a rationale for the competitive advantages section using
appropriate functional-level and business-level strategies to explain
the competitive advantages.
- Note: Much of the research pertaining to the hints provided here can be found in the NAB company portfolio.
- Hints: Consider whether you will rent or buy your facilities or outsource production to an existing company.
- Hints: One of your biggest expenses as a startup non-alcoholic beverage company will be transitioning from a small batch prototype of your beverage to production on a large scale. Research the equipment you will need (vats, refrigerators, burners, ovens, bottling equipment, and so on), whether you will rent or buy, how you will maintain and clean it, and so forth. Consider how you will ensure quality control. What capacity do you intend to reach?
- Hints: Deliberate your inventory control. Where do your supplies come from and what is your turnaround time to produce your beverage once you have received an order?
- Hints: Consider your distribution method. Refer back to your notes for the SWOT analysis assignment in Week 2 of class.
- Hints: How will you stay abreast of new developments in your industry? What new products do you have in development now, in addition to your flagship product?
- Describe your research and development activities and explain how they will contribute to the company.
Technology Plan (1 – 2 pages)
- Create a technology plan for your NAB company using the template in the text as a guide (p. 227 | Technology Plan Preparation Form ). Extract appropriate information from the NAB Company portfolio, where applicable. Other required items in the template should be filled in using your personal preferences.
- Provide a rationale for the personnel needs section by incorporating appropriate functional-level strategies.
- Hints: Consider the type of technology your company will use to conduct the following activities: manage personnel; take, fulfill, and track orders; manage inventory; communicate with customers and provide customer service; and produce your beverage.
Management & Organization (1 – 2 pages)
- Create a management plan for your NAB company using the template in the text as a guide (p. 248 | Management Plan Preparation Form ). Extract appropriate information from the NAB Company portfolio, where applicable. Other required items in the template should be filled in using your personal preferences.
- Using the flow charts on p. 242 as a guide, outline your company’s management hierarchy. Note: Charts or diagrams must be imported / included in the MS Word document.
- Provide a rationale for the management structure and style section by incorporating appropriate functional-level strategies.
- Format your assignment according to these formatting requirements:
- Cite the resources you have used to complete this exercise. Note: There is no minimum requirement for the number of resources used in the exercise.
- Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
- Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required page length.
The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:
- Create a plan to implement a firm’s strategy and manage the change from current operations.
- Describe strategic planning techniques used to formulate alternative strategies designed to achieve stated business goals.
- Use technology and information resources to research issues in strategic management.
- Write clearly and concisely about strategic management using proper writing mechanics.
Click Link below To Purchase:
No comments:
Post a Comment