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Business Innovation & Planning BHO10504257

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction ................................ ................................ ...................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

2. Literature review:- ................................ ................................ ............ Error! Bookmark not defined.

2.1 Entrepreneurship ................................ ................................ ........ Error! Bookmark not defined.

2.2 Business Start-up ................................ ................................ ........ Error! Bookmark not defined.

3. Methodology ................................ ................................ .................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

4. Business Idea : Smart Trolley

5. Feasibility study ................................ ................................ ................ Error! Bookmark not defined.

5.1 Management: - ................................ ................................ ........... Error! Bookmark not defined.

5.2 Opportunity Assessment: ................................ ............................ Error! Bookmark not defined.

5.3 Primary and Secondary Research: ................................ ............... Error! Bookmark not defined.

5.4 Competitors: ................................ ................................ ............... Error! Bookmark not defined.

5.5 Market plan: ................................ ................................ ............... Error! Bookmark not defined.

5.6 PESTAL Analysis: ................................ ................................ .......... Error! Bookmark not defined.

5.7 SWOT Analysis: ................................ ................................ ........... Error! Bookmark not defined.

5.8 Porters Five Forces: ................................ ................................ .... Error! Bookmark not defined.

5.9 Financial Analyses: ................................ ................................ ................................ ................... 7

5.10 Business Plan: ................................ ................................ ........... Error! Bookmark not defined.

6. Personal Reflection ................................ ................................ ........... Error! Bookmark not defined.

6.1 Johari window ................................ ................................ ............. Error! Bookmark not defined.

6.2 Team working: ................................ ................................ ............ Error! Bookmark not defined.

6.3 Task achieving process: ................................ ............................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

6.4 Developing Individuals: ................................ ............................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

6.5 Decision Making: ................................ ................................ ......... Error! Bookmark not defined.

6.6 Time Management: ................................ ................................ ..... Error! Bookmark not defined.

7. Conclusion ................................ ................................ ...................... Error! Bookmark not defined.4

8. References ................................ ................................ ...................... Error! Bookmark not defined.5




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1. INTRODUCTION Innovation is the core business competency of the 21st century. In order

to not only compete and grow but to survive in a global economy,

businesses must µinnovate¶. Innovation is often about small, incrementalchanges to products, services and processes. It can take the form of

inventions, new technology, new processes and good ideas. Like all other

core business processes innovation needs to be linked to strategy and the

µbusiness planning¶ process. Innovation separate to business strategy and

planning runs the risk of diverting key resources and damaging the focus

of an organisation. Business Planning describes a business opportunity. It

is like a road map because it tells you what to expect and what

alternative routes you can take to arrive at your destination. Hence

Innovation and Business Planning together are the key players to achieve

success and competitive advantage for any organization and business.

This study analysis and focuses on the process of Business Innovation and

Planning in the context of µentrepreneurship ¶. This process involved:

conducting the feasibility study, identifying new business opportunities

and exploring the entrepreneurial traits. The study integrates and

examines the major perspectives of entrepreneurship to position

individual to plan and a start new business. It explores the

entrepreneurship quality, the environment surrounding new venture,

decision making process involved and its feasibility.

The theoretical perspective would be studied and analyzed through

workbooks, class and lecture notes, books and academic journals. But the

practical perspective would be analyzed by conducting surveys, market

research and promotional methods. Following all these is an individual

reflection on the prime aspects of the study consisting of group or team

work, an assessment of entrepreneurship and business plan and a

personal evaluation of the feasibility studies.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW




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2.1 Entrepreneurship

W hat is Entrepreneurship?

The concept of entrepreneurship was first es tablished in the 1700s, and

the meaning has evolved ever since. Many simply equate it with starting

one¶s own business but most economists believe it is more than that. To

some economists, the entrepreneur is one who is willing to bear the risk

of a new venture if there is a significant chance for profit. Others

emphasize the entrepreneur¶s role as an innovator who markets his

innovation. Business expert Peter Drucker (1909-2005) took this idea

further, describing the entrepreneur as someone who actually searchesfor change, responds to it, and exploits change as an opportunity .

In other words, entrepreneurs create value by exploiting some form of

change for example, in technology, materials, prices and demographics.

Burns (2007, p.9) calls this process µ innovation¶ and terms this as an

important tool for entrepreneurs. But most especially important is the fact

that real entrepreneurs have been able to ride the great wave of

innovation in those industries-- such as electronics and information-communication technologies²which in turn have brought the world into

the era of globalization (Cusumano and Selby 1995; Chandler 2001). . A

quick look at changes in communications ²from typewriters to personal

computers to the Internet²illustrates these ideas.

W ho can become an Entrepreneur?

There is no one definitive profile. Successful entrepreneurs come in

various ages, income levels, gender, and race. They differ in education

and experience. But research indicates that most successful

entrepreneurs share certain personal attributes, including: creativity,

dedication, determination, flexibility, leadership, passion, self-confidence,



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Sometimes a person is frustrated with his or her current job and doesn¶ t

see any better career prospects on the horizon. Sometimes a person

realizes that his or her job is in jeopardy. Some people are actually

repulsed by the idea of working for someone else. In contrast, other

people decide to become entrepreneurs because they are disillusioned by

the bureaucracy or politics involved in getting ahead in an established

business or profession.

2.2. Bu'

(

n )

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Start-u0

Start-up is the bedrock of modern day commercial wealth, the foundation

so free market economics upon which competition is based (1 urns, 2007).

A comprehensive business plan is crucial for a start-up business. It

defines the entrepreneur¶s vision and serves as a firm¶s resume. Starting

up business influence in entrepreneurial character has been developed by

cooper (1981). He provided a framework for explaining the various

factors that contributes to the decision to start-up own business.

Antecedent

influences

Genetic factors

Family influences

Education

Previous career

experiance

Incubator

organisation

Geographic location

Nature of skills and

knowledge

Contacts with other

start -ups

Motivation to stay or leave

organisation

Experiance in smallbusiness setting

Enviromental

influences

Economic conditions

Accessibility of

finance

Enterpreneurial role

models

Opportunitiesnforinterm consulting

Avaliability of staff

and supportingservices

Accessibility of

customers




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(Source: Paul Burns, 2007, Entrepreneurship and Small Business)

3. METHODOLOGY The team approach to create a new business venture or plan was

required, so that each team could record the deliberations regarding the

feasibility of business. Three options were there to form the team:

Bailout, Self-selection & Tutor determined. Initially the class was split

into various groups named A, B, C and so on, then µself selection¶ method

was used to form the group. Each team was given the option to select

the business plan of their own; my group chose the business idea µSmart

Trolley¶ agreed by all of us.

The group had to start working on the idea with immediate effect as the

feasibility of the business plan was in a µgrid time frame¶ . Each member of

the team was assigned different tasks of undertaking primary and

secondary research and after completion of them; one had to share the

findings with other members. This is how the group moved together in

the research getting further guidance from the lecturer.

4. THE BUSINESS IDEA: µSMART TROLLEY¶

The business idea of µsmart trolley ¶ struck my mind while deciding the

new idea and was shared in the group for their approval. This was

targeted to the Retail sector and due to the close proximity of µOne Stop

shopping centre - ASDA and TESCO¶ the access to these retailers was

easy and time saving.

The idea was to incorporate a new technology of RF ID scanner to be

fixed in the shopping trolleys in big retail outlets like ASDA and TESCO.

This would help the customers kill valuable checkout time by scanning the

items themselves while placing the items in the trolley. In addition to the




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scanner, a screen would be provided in the trolley which would fetch

information about the item scanned. Our aim was to bring in this new

technology for the big retailers of this country although a few other

retailers like µW aitrose¶ had successfully implemented it. [Refer to Appendix

for more details regarding smart trolley]

5. FEASIBILITY STUDY A feasibility analysis was undertaken to determine the business

proposition¶s viability. The team agreed that both secondary and primary

research would need to be conducted.

Management : Initial day to day management of the business is to be

done by the group people, till the business become profitable. And when

the business starts generating profit it would be essential for the group to

appoint a manager.

Opportunity Assessment : Our group agreed to carry research in order

to ascertain the following:

y Who are our competitors?

y How attractive is the business?

y Is there an opportunity to exploit niche market?

y What is our competitive advantage?

y Is the opportunity financially viable?

y How much will we need to invest?

y What will be our break-even point?

y What external factors could affect the business opportunity?

y What is our marketing plan?

y What is our chance of success?

P rimary and S econd ary Research: Primary research was conducted to

ascertain whether people would like the idea of using a smart trolley for

their day to day shopping activities in the crowded retail outlets like




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ASDA, TESCO, which would help them to cut down the time spend at

checkouts. The secondary research carried to find out the best marketing

strategy, H.R structure, legal requirements, and the various strategies

and the different financial things. [Refer to Appendix for more details

regarding different feasibility studies]

C ompetitors: The research we carried out to find out competitors within

the industry. Our research team identified one such retailer (Waitrose)

already using this technology and product successfully but the Waitrose

doesn¶t offer low price good quality food products and consumer goods as

other big retailers like TESCO and ASDA. Hence it¶s not in the same

league as they are.

Market Pl an and S tr ategy : We drafted a market plan which included all

elements of marketing mix including those attributes to cover the retail

industry.

P E ST E L Anal ysis: PESTAL analysis was carried out, to find the factors of

external environment, which would identify both positive and negative

effects of this new venture.

SWOT Anal ysis: We carried out SWOT analysis to find out the strategic

planning methods to be used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses,

Opportunities, and threats involved in our new venture of implementing

smart trolleys. It involves specifying the objective of our business venture

and identifying the internal and external factors that are favourable and

unfavourable to achieving that objective. The group did not examine the

strengths, weaknesses, opportunity and threats in relation to its

competitors, if done so. It may have generated different result.

P orter¶s Five Forces Anal ysis: The Porter¶s five forces were carried out

for the industry analysis and to develop a business strategy accordingly.

While doing the analysis the group identify barriers to entry and there

was a threat of substitutes.




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Financi al Anal ysis: The financial analysis of the new business venture

was to find out the breakeven point and profit margin sales.

Business Pl an: The group agreed to prepare a business plan the group

felt that making the business plan will help in deciding that weather weshould precede or not with the business idea. The business plan was

divided and the tasks were distributed among the group so that we can

prepare a relevant section assigned. In the process of making the

business plan various technique were used.

6. PERSONAL REFLECTION Never in my life till now did i regard myself as an entrepreneur, as I don¶t

have any experience of developing a new business venture and I am also

a risk avoider. It is evident from the research that entrepreneurship is

more than the mere creation of business; it¶s the characteristic of seeking

opportunities, taking risk and having the tenacity to µpush¶ an idea

through to reality combined into a special perspective that percolates

entrepreneurs.

Gilad and Levine (1986) proposed two closely-related explanations of

entrepreneurial motivation, the µpush¶ theory and the µpull¶ theory. The

push theory argues that individual is pushed to the entrepreneurship by

negative external forces, such as job dissatisfaction, difficulty finding

employment, insufficient salary, or inflexible work schedule. The pull

theory contends that individual is attracted into entrepreneurial activities

seeking independence, self-fulfilment, wealth and other desirable

outcomes. The motivation factors from both the µpush¶ and µpull ¶ theory do

resonate within me. Working with my group and learning so much about

entrepreneurship through lectures, books and research would definitely

be a great help for me to start-up a new business venture after my post

graduation.




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6.1 Johari W indow

The Johari Window is a model used to examine the self-discloser process.

This window provides a pictorial representation of µhow known¶ you are to

yourself and others.

A Johari window is a cognitive psychological tool created by Joseph Luft

and Harry Ingham in 1955 in the United States, used to help people

better understands their µinterpersonal¶ communication and relationships.

It is used primarily in self-help groups and corporate settings as a

heuristic exercise.

Johari Window

Known by self Ask Unknown by self

Known by others

Tell

Unknown by others

(Source: Understanding Interpersonal Communication making choice in

changing times)

1

Open / free

area

2

Blind area

3

Hidden area

4

Unknown area




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1. Region 1: Open self or f ree area: Johari region 1 is also known

as the ' area of free activity ' . This is the information about the

person - behaviour, attitude, feelings, emotion, knowledge,

experience, skills, views, etc - known by the person ('the self') and

known by the group ('others'). As a group, we were all from the

same class, so we already had a large open area and when our

group was formed we started working on our openness which

automatically started to increase, according to the Johari window it

increased horizontally by seeking and actively listening to the

feedbacks from other group member.

2. Region 2: Bl ind area: Tells us about, what is known about aperson by others in the group, but is unknown by the person

him/herself. This blind area is not an effective or productive space

for individuals. This blind area could also be referred to as ignorance

about oneself, or issues in which one is deluded. This area was

reduced through receiving feedbacks from others and increasing the

open area. There were many things that I didn¶t know about myself

but the group informed me about it, and suddenly I could discover

that this process had helped me learn more about myself and

uncover hidden skills in me.

3. Region 3: Hidden area: It¶s about what is known to ourselves but

kept hidden from, and therefore unknown, to others. This hidden or

avoided self represents information, feelings, etc, anything that a

person knows about him/self, but which is not revealed or is kept

hidden from others. There were many things that none of my group

members knew about me, there were times that I was shy sharing

my thoughts with the group members, I was afraid that I¶d be

wrong but gradually I recovered from that behaviour and started

sharing everything with the group members and it helped the group




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in our research. In a way, I reduced my hidden area and increased

the open area.

4. Region 4: Unknown area: This area contains information,

feelings, latent abilities, aptitudes, experiences etc, that are

unknown to the person him/herself and unknown to others in the

group. I never thought that I have something that even I don¶t

know. Last year when I shifted to a new place and had new room-

mates, one of my room-mates always noticed that i was very calm

and had lot of patience even in the worst situations. Instead of

getting tensed i was managed to stay calm and overcome that

situation by making the right decisions because in most cases theworst decisions are made at the worst situations. This habit of mine

which no one knew about including me, but after my friend

continuously observed this and found out a natural ability in me.

This is how my unknown area was bit reduced.

6.2 T eam W orking

Our team was formed through Belbin¶s self-perception model. West

(2004) argues that creating teams will involve thinking through what

types of personalities are going to be required to provide a balance of

traits that will ensure team effectiveness. Number of theories and

approaches are there to team personality issues such as Belbin¶s Team

Roles Models (1993), Barrick and Mount¶s (1992), Big Five Model and

Schutz¶s (1967) theory. Every theory is different for one another but still

they are common in saying that the same things that balances traits are

required for every team to perform effectively.

Diversity in a team always benefits by bringing together new and different

perspectives of individuals. According to Robbins (2007) ³over time a

diverse team will offer a range of views and knowledge, which will turn

produce better decision making, more innovation and higher levels of




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effectiveness´ . Had our class formed their own teams, the heterogeneity

of each group would had been restricted, limiting the breadth of skill and

knowledge brought to the team, leading to reduce to effectiveness. West

(2004) argues that during µstorming¶ and µnorming¶ the team will be in

intense conflict as member try to understand each other, during the

diverse early interactions. While some of us knew each other since quite

some time because of being in the same class, some were still new and

we did have some initial arguments while having a team meeting

discussing of the advantages of smart trolleys, but this in turn helped us

to bring to light the various factors and aspects of our business idea.

6.3 Task Achieving P rocess

Every task was mutually assigned to each individual and was contingent

upon the skills and expertise held by each member. The financial part was

more complex than the other tasks of the project as it required much

more discussion than any other task. Hence this task was assigned to

Priya and Rajeev as they were good in financial analysis, while I being the

President took charge of the product and market feasibility part. There

was no place for non attendance in the team; each member was

supposed to attend the group meeting. Because each task assigned to the

members was equally important as others. This was a good way of

bringing in equality and work efficiency within the team as we all knew

the importance of the other members in the group.

6.4 Devel oping Individual s

Needs like µself esteem needs¶ which covers achievements and recognition

and µself-actualization needs¶ which covers growth and achieving onestrue potential were outlined by Maslow (1943) in his need hierarchy

model of motivation. I personally think that the group helped each other

to meet individual needs by recognizing and accepting that we all had

different set of skills, knowledge and experience which were unique and




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beneficial to the team. In addition every individual was assigned different

tasks to achieve and were given recognition and praise for their results.

6.5 Decision Making

The most important part of the process was to arrive to a decision that

was approved by all the members. All the major decisions were

collectively taken after having a face-to-face meeting with the members.

There were many diverse views in the group but consensus views were

derived on all occasions. I found that the group decision making process

was sometimes very time consuming as we could arrive to a correct

decision in the presence of all which sometimes was not possible as some

members who were not present on the meeting were often not happywith the decisions which were taken in their absence. There was a major

time constraint also in this research and because of this limitation there

was always a fear of making hasty decisions. However, none of the

decisions were made in my absence as I had attended almost the

meetings and I being an active member of the group used to always

encourage views and ideas for active decision making.

6.6

T ime Management

Our main fight in this business plan was against time and therefore, all of

us needed to manage and utilise time optimally. The best part of our

team was that everyone valued time and all the works allocated to us

were almost completed within the set deadline. Personally, for me and my

group it would have been very annoying if someone did not perform the

given task on time as the entire group would be relying on that

information and completion as one task was followed by the other.




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7. CONCLUSION This assignment has helped me to find out new ideas and techniques that

not only helps me innovate and create a better future, but also has taught

me every aspect of being an entrepreneur and a successful person in my

life. Based on the finding of the feasibility study I conclude that I think

the new business plan is not feasible. I cannot justify my group¶s decision

as they are entitled to their own perspective, but i feel as far as I can

understand, my group also decided not to proceed without being formally

documented. The reasons I would put forward for not proceeding are as

follows:

y Existing established businesses compete with a superior position.

y A clear competitive advantage could not be identified.

y From the financial analysis, there is financial risk attached to the

creation of new venture.

y The entry barriers are not high but there must be some reason as to

why the big retailers have not adopted this idea although it¶s

adopted by few smaller players.y The proposal we identified is viable provided that we have sufficient

time and budget to develop it into a sustainable business.

y On this note, I learned that trusting other people judgements bring

value and often turns out better.




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8. REFERENCES Burns, P., 2007. Entrepreneurship and small Business. UK: Palgrave

Macmillan. 2nd Edition. P.9.

Drucker, Peter F., 1985 Innovation and Entrepreneurship. New York:

Harper Business.

Gartner, W.B., 1985. A Conceptual Framework for describing the

Phenomenon of New Venture Creation. Academy of Managemnt. Vol. 1.

Gilab, B and Levine. P., 1986. A behavioural model of entrepreneurial

supply. Journal of small business management , Vol 24. p.24.

Glib, A., 1987. Enterprise culture: its meaning and inmlications for

education and training. MCB university press, Bradford. Cited in Rae

(2007).

Johnson, G., Scholes, L. And Whittington, R., 2006. Exploring Corporate

Strategy 7th Ed, Harlow: Pearson Education Ltd.

Kuratko, D., 2005. Emergence of Entrepreneurship Education:

Development, Trends and Challenges, Enterprise, Theory and Practice.

Rae, D., 2007. Entrepreneurship: from opportunity to action. Hampsire:

Palgrave MacMillin.

Richard West, Lynn H. Turner. 2009. Understanding Interpersonal

Communication making choice in changing times, Wadsworth Cengage

Learning. 2nd Ed.

Robbins, S. And Coulter, M., 2007. Motivating Employees 9 th Ed. Harlow

Pearson.

Tuckman 1965 cited in west, M.A., 2004. Effective team work 2nd

Ed.Oxford: the Birtish Psychological Society and Blackwell Publishing.




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West. M. A., 2004. Effective Teamwork 2nd Ed. Oxford: The British

Psychological society and Blackwell Publishing.

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