feasibility assessment
TRANSCRIPT
RMIT International University Vietnam
Bachelor of Commerce Program
ASSIGNMENT COVER PAGEYour assessment will not be accepted unless all fields below are completed
Subject Code: BUSM4092
Subject Name: Applied Entrepreneurship
Location where you study: RMIT Vietnam – SGS
Title of Assignment: Feasibility Report
File(s) Submitted Feasibility Report – The Guardian – G4
Student name: Trinh Hoang Dao – [email protected] Thi Ngoc Tuyet- [email protected] Hoang Tung – [email protected] Nam Anh – [email protected]
Learning Facilitator in charge: Eytan Schmal
Assignment due date: 3/1/2013
Date of Submission: 3/1/2013
Late Submission Approval n.a.
Number of pages including this one:(Please number your pages like this:
page 1 of 7, page 2 of 7, etc)
27 pages
Word Count:(Main Content)
6,149 words
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Executive Summary
A group of students from RMIT Vietnam University soon will graduate this year and they decided to
establish a business in HoChiMinh City for motorbike repair services, The Guardian. Therefore, this
report has been written to assess whether The Guardian is feasible or not when it operates in
market. Some important contents that will be covered in this report are: original ideas of The
Guardian, the industry and market analysis of motorbike repair services, business model analysis
with high focus on the revenue sources as well as cost drivers of the business and future action plan
that aims to make some preparation for the future.
Firstly, service quality for motorbikes in HoChiMinh City are getting concerned, as there are multiple
motorbike burning-accidents in 2011 and a lot of complaints from customers. In addition, survey of
our team (appendices) stated that demands of customers are not well satisfied due to limitation of
offered services. Hence, a premium motorbike shop that offers services like: repair and
maintenance, engine and gearbox rebuilds and decoration, has been established in District 4.
Secondly, industry and market analysis disclosed that this industry is in growing state and it’s
profitable for The Guardian to access this market. However, there will be no easy for The Guardian
to access and excel the market easily since there are some available direct competitors in the market
like: authorised retailers, An Phuc Co. and Anh Tuan Motor. Though the intensity of competition in
the market is high, but some techniques to penetrate the market are: utilise The Internet to target
the “Youngster” segment and leverage local publications to serve the “Gentlemen” segment.
Thirdly, business model analysis stated that the break-even point of The Guardian would be in 3 rd
quarter, year 4 and profit will come afterward if they can operate according to the provision of Cash
Flow Chart. Beside of revenue and cost, Critical Success Factors in this section also stated some
improvements for the financial performance of The Guardian like: improve decoration service, turn
the subscription revenue to become a loss leader, change the structure of remuneration payment.
Some potential risks of The Guardian were forecasted like: high turnover rate, high inflation rate and
competitors imitate the service models.
Finally, market may be quite competitive and if The Guardian wants to execute the differentiation
strategies to compete then the initial investment will be approximately $200,000. Though there are
some uncertainties along the way like: politics and law, questioning passion of each member in the
team for this business. But if everyone is committed to execute the business idea till the end and
with the help from our supporters, we truly believe that this business is feasible for this market.
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Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2
THE BUSINESS IDEA 4
1. BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES 42. SERVICE DESCRIPTION 43. ENTREPRENEUR’S PROFILES 5
THE INDUSTRY AND MARKET 7
1. CURRENT INDUSTRY 72. MARKET POTENTIAL 83. COMPETITOR ANALYSIS 94. TARGET MARKET/CUSTOMERS 105. PENETRATING THE MARKET 116. STAKEHOLDERS ANALYSIS 12
BUSINESS MODEL ANALYSIS 12
1. REVENUE SOURCES 122. COST DRIVERS 133. RESOURCES REQUIREMENTS 144. CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS 155. INVESTMENT SIZE 166. RISK ANALYSIS AND MANAGEMENT 17
FUTURE ACTION PLAN 18
1. SOURCES OF START-UP CAPITAL 182. FURTHER INFORMATION NEEDED 183. SUPPORT NEEDED 19
REFERENCES 20
APPENDICES 21
1. SURVEY RESULTS 212. PEST ANALYSIS 233. BENCHMARKING COMPETITORS 234. COST DRIVERS 265. REVENUE SOURCES 266. PROVISION FOR SUMMARY OF TOTAL REVENUES AND TOTAL COSTS IN THE FIRST 5 YEARS 267. PROVISION OF THE CHART OF NET INCOME IN THE FIRST 5 YEARS 278. PROVISION OF THE CHART OF ACCUMULATED CASH FLOW IN THE FIRST 5 YEARS 27
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The
1. Business Opportunities
Xa Luan (2012) stated that the current number of motorbikes in HCM City is approximately 5
million and this number will be double in 2 years due to the labour movement toward HCM
City as well as the increase in population lead to the increase in motorbike usage. Thus, it is
obvious to assume that the demand for motorbike repair services will get higher but there is
such a paradox in Vietnam, quality of motorbike repair shops are getting worse. For
instance, Vnexpress (2012) informed that there were 39 cases of motorbike-burning
accidents due to poor maintenance during the year of 2011 or audiences of E-Newspaper of
Industry and Trade (2011) have reported that even authorised retailers of Honda, Yamaha,
SYM have conducted very poor service quality. Moreover, customer’s demands for repair
shops are getting higher and people start deeming motorbikes are not only considered as
sole vehicles but also means to express: social status, characteristics and life styles.
Realised that there is a certain gap between supply and demand, our team have worked
together for months and come to decision to open a motorbike repair shop, which
specialised for high quality and best customer services, The Guardian. Our shop will not only
provide basic services like every other repair shops did but also some premium services will
be available for customers as well. The Guardian strategically positions itself as premium
service provider for motorbikes and targets on middle-income customers from 18 to 40 years
old.
Vision: Become standards for all motorbike repair shops In HoChiMinh City for our
outstanding services
2. Service Description
Initially, The Guardian will focus on core services and premium services will be established
and expanded gradually to serve customers in need.
Services Description
Repair and Maintenance
This will be the core service of The Guardian and we will excel it by serving customers with skilled technicians and modern automated machine. For instance: accident repairs with insurance option; recovery repair; chain adjustment; repair or replace tyres, punctures, and brakes.
Engine and Gearbox Rebuilds
Understanding the needs of young customers, who usually want to play with their motorbikes by increasing the power of their motorbikes or changing certain components, a team of technicians from The Guardian will be responsible for consulting and assist
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customers to upgrade their motorbikesPolishing and
Cosmetic WorkThe current trend of young people is to decorate their motorbikes by changing the default stamps and colours of the original motorbike. The Guardian also offers one of the most luxury decoration services, airbrushing. Customers can discuss with our professional artist to develop ideas for painting their motorbikes or they can simply forward their design and airbrushing team will work out the rest.
Value-Added Services Description
18/7The Guardian will operate 18 hours/day for the whole week to assist customers in need. With such a long working-hour schedule, we hope to create a more flexible motorbike repair shop, where customers can always have access to the services. In addition, long working-hour will also help The Guardian process orders of customer for repairing, rebuilding, airbrushing quicker and result high customer satisfaction
Pick-up Service This is a complement for repairing services as customers can call The Guardian to ask for assistance if their motorbikes are broken down on the street. However, this service is only available on centre districts of HCM City like: District 1,3,4,5.
Bundling Option There will be an option for customers that they can choose suitable service package, which is appropriate with their needs. For instance, highest service package will provide monthly motorbike maintenance with free of charge of rebuilding engine and 15% discount when customers want their motorbikes to be airbrushed.
3. Entrepreneur’s Profiles
Doan Hoang Tung – Strategic Planner:
Tung has been working as a tutor in German Institute for years and his job also setting
objectives for students to achieve their targets. Thus, his strongest point is developing
strategies to leverage internal resources in order to achieve set objectives. In addition, being
a commerce student in RMIT Vietnam also helps him to develop certain soft skills like:
effective negotiation with partners, good time management and self-motivation.
Duty: Responsible for setting goals, objectives of The Guardian in long-term and short-term.
In addition, he will be the linkage between different teams inside The Guardian to integrate
every activity of the shop to achieve common goals
Tran Thi Ngoc Tuyet - Marketing Manager:
Tuyet has been working, as an assistant for her mom in family business from 2009, so she
has very firm background of how small business should be operated. Moreover, she has
been affiliated with many marketing campaigns of her company and done so many business
plan in her course, Bachelor of Business – Marketing, so it can be said that she has
expertise in marketing field. Tuyet’s strengths lie in the ability of planning and deploying
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marketing activities in a very professional way due to working experience and good
connection with people in the ICT industry.
Duty: Firstly, Tuyet will be responsible for all marketing activities of The Guardian. Secondly,
she will take care of setting the homepage of the shop on the Internet; collaborate with
partners to do e-marketing like Search Engine Optimisation for our website.
Ho Nam Anh – Operations Manager:
Nam Anh is very enthusiastic, especially when he works on his passion as setting new
business. Therefore, he can spend many times to find out mistakes and adjust the flow of
business for compatibility as well. Moreover, Nam Anh has good communication to other
persons and he also has persuasive ability, which can help our team to introduce the
business effectively or make important negotiations. Finally, Nam Anh has his own intuition,
which leads to new directions or new solutions when we meet some problems.
Duty: Control daily operations of the shop and he will work with line managers to deal with
human capital’s issues. He’s also responsible for the logistics procedures and fulfils
customers’ orders on time
Trinh Hoang Dao – General Manager & Accounting Manager
Dao is currently studying Bachelor of Commerce (Management Stream) at RMIT VN; the
course has been very beneficial to develop his managerial skills. In addition, he has good
quantitative skills in accounting and finance fields, as he is qualified for Chartered Financial
Analyst level 1. He’s also a person that can work under high pressure, cares for details in
everything and a harmony agent that connects the management team together.
Duty: Oversee all the activities of The Guardian, representative to deal with suppliers and
partners, control the budget of the shop in a reasonable way.
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The Industry and Market
1. Current Industry
Porter’s 5 forces analysis
From Porter’s 5 forces analysis, there are some insights of this industry can be recognised:
The industry is identified in the current state of growing from these 2 indicators:
high rivalry between competitors in the industry and ease of getting entry into the
market.
Bargaining power of buyers in the industry is low but for potential customers of The
Guardian, who can afford to pay for premium services, there bargaining power is
moderate as The Guardian will aim for niche market.
The relationship between The Guardian and its suppliers (Thien Nhan Ltd and Hung
Vuong Vocational Training Institute) should be look as collaborative relationship
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Bargaining power of buyersFirstly, Sgtt (2012) stated that the number of motorbikes travel in centre districts each day is more than 1million and probability of having trouble with motorbikes is increasing due to bad quality of infrastructure and uncertain quality of petrol in Vietnam (nld, 2012). Secondly, the number of motorbike repair shops with high skilled technicians and high investment on machinery are low as the survey stated. Thus, the bargaining power of buyers are considered quite low in the industry.
Bargaining power of suppliersMain suppliers of The Guardian are Thien Nhan Ltd, who will be responsible for importing machinery and components for repair motorbikes and Hung Vuong Vocational Training Institute will provide technicians for The Guardian.To have consistent quality for both tangible and human resources, The Guardian will only collaborate with these 2 suppliers for long-term relationship. Therefore, the bargaining power of suppliers will be classified as moderate since every partner conducts business in a collaborative manner and The Guardian is bulk buyer.
Threat of new entrantAccording to decree Number 122/2004/NĐ-CP of Government, getting license for business in service transportation is quite easy and capital requirement to open motorbike repair shop is not much. In addition, core service of any motorbike repair shop is repairing and maintenance, so not much differentiation can be implemented here. Moreover, there are a lot of small motorbike repair shops on street due to low barriers of entry and incentive market from huge demand. Therefore, threat of new entrants is high
Threat of substitute servicesThree main services of The Guardian are: repairing and maintenance; engine and gearbox rebuilds, polishing and cosmetic work. We believe that there are no substitute for all of the provided services cause the core values are unique themselves. For instance, airbrushing will paint motorbike's surface many layers by special paints, hence the applied paints won't be faded quickly. Thus, the threat of substitute services is very low
Rivalry amongst existing competitorsThere are many competitors who will compete with The Guardian in motorbike repairing industry due to the ease of access of low barriers to entry. However, core services of The Guardian will be conducted in a very professional way and aids from value-added services will make us outstanding compared to other competitors in the same field. However, The Guardian is classified itself as premium service provider in HCM City, hence there are only few competitors will compete directly with us like Saigon Motorbike Repair Service, Anh Tuan Automatic Motorbike Service. Therefore, the intensity of competition is low
cause every party wants to have win-win scenario and a family member of
management board is a founder of Thien Nhan Ltd.
Therefore, this industry is profitable from the position of The Guardian and it worth to enter
and invest.
2. Market Potential
Market Demand
In past five years, follow the statistics of Hanoi traffic and transportation institute (2011);
there was the impressive rise of the motorbike quantity in Vietnam, from over 10 million to
about 20 million. Therefore, the number of damaged motorbike also is very high
correspondingly with the huge quantity of motorbike. Moreover, according to Vietnam
General Office for Population and Family Planning (2011), the quantity of motorbike still is
increasing quickly in Vietnam, parallel with increase of Vietnamese population. Even when
the Vietnamese government has some adjustment to control motorbikes, they also predict
that the number of motorbike will be over thirty-five million in 2015. It means that nearly each
2.5 Vietnamese people will have a motorbike. In addition, according to Hanoi traffic and
transportation institute (2011), they exposed that Vietnam has young population with high
number of teenagers who will use motorbike and become the potential customers for
motorbike repair industry. Therefore, the motorbike repair industry is growing significantly in
Vietnam and our team has the reason to believe that customers’ demands are significantly
high
Opportunities and Challenges
However, opportunities always come along with challenges in any growing industry. From
the PEST analysis (Appendices), four key drivers of change are determined as: unfavoured
politics, economic slowdown, high spending in transportation and improving technology.
Opportunities and threats of these key drivers will be assessed below:
Unfavoured Politics of HoChiMinh City currently don’t have adverse impact on
motorbike industry in general and motorbike repairing industry in specific. However, if
the proposal is accepted by the Parliament, there is a probability that significant drop
of old motorbikes will lead to fall down of motorbike repair industry
Economic Slowdown in 2013 is the bad news for motorbike repair industry because
the purchasing power of customers is decreased significantly. So spending for
premium services of The Guardian and the growth of number in new automatic
motorbikes are decreased as well.
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High interest in transportation indicates that expenditure for transportation is till
highly regarded when it comes to spending money of Vietnamese. There is a chance
that this social trend will make the industry become quite stable.
Improving technology is a good sign for high technology repair shop like The
Guardian. It indicates that human capital will be trained well and apply new
technology in repairing motorbikes will be easier, thus productivity is increased
3. Competitor Analysis
Based on the market research of the management team, there are 3 direct competitors of
The Guardian in the market, which are: An Phuc Co., Anh Tuan Motor, Authorised Sellers of
Honda, Yamaha, SYM. Multi-criteria Decision Matrix method has been used to benchmark
The Guardian with its competitors, but below section will provide more details about
strengths and weaknesses of these competitors.
An Phuc Co.: An Phuc Co. is one of the very first repair shop that focuses on providing
profession services for motorbikes like: repair and maintenance, painting, rebuilding and it
has operated since 2000. It also has long history in HoChiMinh City and implementation of e-
commerce like homepage, online assistance, Facebook fan page have promoted their name
to a larger pool of customers. However, there are certain weaknesses in their company like:
quiet location in Tan Binh District that doesn’t attract many random customers, machinery of
the shop is already old and unclean operating area that would have adverse impact on their
brand image. In addition, their strategy is differentiation in providing services as they
committed to deal with all types of motorbike as long as customers agree with their set
prices.
Anh Tuan Motor: The history of Anh Tuan Motor is even longer than An Phuc as it was
established in 1997. However, their brand name is not so popular due to several reasons.
Firstly, locations of their stores are in very quiet place like No Trang Long Street of Binh
Thanh District or Ten Lua Street of Tan Binh District. Secondly, their marketing channels are
not effective cause they have hired people to distribute flyers on the street and very poor e-
commerce website. Though their marketing activities have been conducted poorly, but they
do have some really good technicians and their strategy seems to be effective that they only
focus on fixing automatic motorbikes.
Authorised Retailers: Authorised Retailers of motorbike manufacturers are those have
bought franchise licences from Honda, Yamaha, SYM. One of their strongest points lies in
the brand name as most of Vietnamese people will prefer to bring their motorbikes to
authorised stores rather than private repair shop. In addition, locations of these authorised
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stores are very convenient because most of them are located on the corner of intersection.
Moreover, technicians of those stores are certified by motorbike manufacturers, so
customers usually assume that quality of authorised stores is very high. However, using cost
leadership strategy and limitation of current offered services only make these authorised
stores less attractive for young customers, who usually like to polish or upgrade their
motorbikes.
4. Target market/customers
Core services of The Guardian provide 2 main benefits for customers:
Long-lasting protection for motorbikes by scheduled maintenances and trusted repair
services
Freedom of customisation for motorbikes by high quality of rebuilding and airbrushing
With these core services, The Guardian aims to target on 2 types of customer in the market:
SegmentationSegment’s Name Youngster Gentlemen
Demographics One of the important characteristics of this segment is that customers are young people, mostly 18-30. For gender, majority will be male and their education is undergraduate or graduate. Income for this segment will be from middle to high
For gentlemen segment, most of customers are in the age of 35-50 with high income due to working experience. In addition, education of this segment mostly are graduate and post graduate
Psychographics Mindset of this segment will be differentiation seeking, as new or unique things will be prioritised over perceived quality. However, loyalty of this segment is quite low due to rapid changing preferences of young people
Maturity of this segment makes their preferences will be focused on quality before they purchase, so this segment seems to be hard to please. However, this segment has very strong brand loyalty due to characteristic of uncertainty avoidance from mature people.
Target decision For “Youngster” segment, The Guardian will focus on core the services of motorbikes customisation because it will fit with preferences of seeking new things like new improvement for their engine, new design for airbrushing.
For “Gentlemen”, perceived quality of services is very important to their purchase decision and they seem to interest on stable quality of repairing and maintenance services. Therefore, Quality Assurance will be an important job responsibility for operations manager and line managers
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5. Penetrating the market
Tactics to penetrate the market of The Guardian will be explained by using marketing model
7Ps because we offer services to customers. However, Product, Price, Process and People
have been mentioned throughout the feasibility plan so these won’t be discussed below.
Marketing tactics Description
Promotion Two main segments of The Guardian have different characteristics
and they also expose to different marketing channels. Therefore,
suitable marketing channels will be implemented:
The Internet: this will be the main channel to communicate with
“Youngster” segment because of high exposure to the Internet
from leisure activities of customers. Website of The Guardian
will be established to provide information and techniques like
Search Engine Optimisation, Google Adwords will be utilised to
draw traffic or customers’ recognition. We also leverage the
coverage of social network like Facebook and Twitter to make
known more potential customers about the presence of our
shop
Local Publications: The Guardian will pay for some local
publications like Saigon Marketing, ThanhNien, Vietnam Car to
write positive reviews about our shop. In addition, significant
investment will be spent for advertising on these publications in
the first few years to attract “Gentlemen” segment
Place An official store will be located on corner between Pham Ngu Lao and
Nguyen Thai Son street with area of 250 m2. The shop will be a place
to provide services for customers as well as a place for customers to
visit and sightseeing some of our prototypes of new engines or new
artworks of airbrushing
Physical Evidence
Physical evidence of services is about their tangible expressions that
take part in conducting these services. To differentiate The Guardian
to normal motorbike repair shops on the street, operating area and
customers waiting area will be separated. To be precise, customer
waiting area will be fully equipped with air-conditioners, comfortable
sofas, Wi-Fi and light drinks will be served for everyone. From the
waiting area, customers can watch how their motorbikes are being
treat to make sure that everything is done appropriately.
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6. Stakeholders Analysis
Owners Suppliers Employees Investors Customers
Org
anis
atio
n/
Ind
ivid
ual
The Guardian management team:Trinh Hoang DaoDoan Hoang TungTran T.Ngoc TuyetHo Nam Anh
1. Thien Nhan Ltd.2. Hung Vuong Vocational Training Institute3. Klassy Furniture
All of the employees of The Guardian
Family members, friends of the management team
Individual customers seek benefits from our provided services
Val
ue
to
Ven
ture
Main contributors for finance and manage all activities of the shop
1. Importing machinery from Japan and Taiwan2. Sole supplier for human capital3. Retailer of furniture for The Guardian
Main actors for conducting services to customers
Make contribution to initial investment of The Guardian
The most important stakeholder as they contribute mostly to the revenue of the shop
Leve
l of
Infl
uen
ce
Very high Moderate High Moderate Very high
Tac
tics
to In
itia
te R
elat
ion
ship
Regular communication between members in the management teams to understand each other and have common voice when facing decision
The Guardian will establish a cooperative management network, where members in network will utilise Collaborative, Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment (CPFR) to manage movement of goods and enhance relationship
Operations manager will control the remuneration budget and give bonus for hard-working technicians. If employees have any concern about working condition, they can discuss directly with General manager
Investors will be updated regularly about how the business is going on with provided Cash Flow Statement from General Manager
Customer Relationship Management programs like Opt-in Email or greeting calls on special occasions will be implemented by Marketing Manager
Business Model Analysis
1. Revenue SourcesService-based revenues This stream will account the most of the revenue for The Guardian with the 3 main services
as repair and maintenance, upgrading and decoration motorbikes. Most of the services are
dependent so there are fix prices for customers. However, provision for the average revenue
for each type of service based on assumptions of Operations Manager is provided below
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Type of Service Price
Repair and Maintenance 150,000 – 200,000 VND
Engine and Gearbox rebuilds
(Service charge only)
300,000 VND
Decoration (Airbrushing) 5,000,000 VND
Service-based revenues are expected to account for 95% of total revenue in the first year
with growth rate of 15% as the key objective for The Guardian.
Subscription Annual Premium Membership is one kind of bundling, where customers can enjoy multiple
services by subscribing to following packages:
Service Package PriceStandard
(Monthly maintenance and free of charge for 12 service-repairing times)
6,000,000 VND
Special(Monthly maintenance + free of charge for repairing + free of charge for 1 upgrading time + 15% discount for any decoration)
12,000,000 VND
Annual subscription is expected to account for 5% of total revenue. Though the revenue
percentage is quite low but this stream can be used as a way to retain customers and
extracted revenue in the long-term can be very attractive if the customer base grows larger.
Advertising The Guardian shop has quite large area and it’s located on the corner of the street so
banner, flyers and posters from companies like: motorbike insurance, motorbike helmet and
motorbike oil will be charged for advertisement. The revenue is expected as 3,000,000 VND
per month
2. Cost Drivers Fixed costGuardian will locate in a 250 m2 house, where is at the crossroad in district 4. A contract will
be sign for 5 years and the price would remain 50,000,000 VND per month during this
period.
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Variable costsThere are 3 kinds of cost in this section, which are utilities costs, costs of service and
advertising. All these cost will increase 10% (except advertising) in comparison with previous
year.
Utilities costs include the Internet, electricity and water. And every month Guardian
will pay 10,000,000 VND for all.
Costs of service are approximately 30% of service-based revenues
Advertising on the Internet and local publications will cost approximately 20,000,000 VND per month for the first 5 years. (Please refer to appendices for details of
advertising costs)
Semi-variable costWages for employees is the sole semi-variable cost of The Guardian and there will be 2
types of employees in our shop
10 technicians and each will receive 7,000,000 VND per month as the base salary,
there is no guarantee for bonus in holiday but 13th salary will be granted.
3 line managers will receive 10,000,000 VND per month and bonus for each month
will be paid if the shop operates well
Non-recurring costMachinery investment for the first year will be approximately 1,000,000,000 VND for
machines, furniture, equipment, repairing stations of the shop in the first year. In addition;
600,000,000 VND will be reserved as the budget allowance for any overhead cost for
purchasing extra-machinery
3. Resources Requirements
Type
Label Source How to Acquire
Responsibility
When Priority
Mat
eria
l
Motorbikes components; Equipment for repairing, decorating and upgrading; Machinery; Furniture
Thien Nhan Ltd.; Klassy Furniture
Establish relationship with these suppliers and sign a long-term contract for having good discount
General Manager and Operation Manager
Before start-up till the time, when contracts end.
3rd
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Fina
ncia
l
Initial investment for the business
Families, friends of the management team; Loan from bank
Provision of the cash flow statement will be presented to initial investors. Bank personal loans
The Management team will be in charge to persuade investors
Before start-up the business
1ST
Hum
an
10 operating technicians2 Line managers
Vocational Training School;Relationship
Operating technicians are hired directly from training school. Line managers are mutual friends of General Manager
General Manager
Before Start-up the business
2nd
Know
ledg
e
Managerial Skills of management team and hard skills of operating technicians
University, Training School, Training Courses,
Learn from experience when running business; Learn from parents and experts in the field
All of member of The Guardian
Learning is an endless process and knowledge should be accumulated every time, everywhere
4th
4. Critical Success Factors Johnson (2011) defined critical success factors are those provide significant advantages in
terms of costs or particularly valued by customers. For this feasibility plan, critical success
factors are analysed mainly based on assumptions and provision of both cost drivers with
revenue sources.
Improve service of decoration
There is an assumption in the revenue streams that the growth forcast is 15% each year for
the business to cover the high inflation rate in Vietnam. Therefore, all of the revenue streams
are supposed to be constant in the first 5 years. Amongst revenue streams, revenue from
decoration is highest as it accounts for nearly 40% of income for The Guardian. With such
high figure for revenue, it’s obvious that improvement for this service can generate higher
profit for our shop. Here are some suggestions to improve decoration services:
Hire more skilled artists to design and execute decoration process for customers
Import the special paints for motorbikes from Japan to improve the quality of
airbrushing
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Invest more on equipments of decoration like paint pistols, working stations in order
to improve the productivity
Promote more on local publications to make known customers about this service
Annual Subscription will be a “loss leader” Purpose of annual subscription is the way to tie customers with The Guardian by providing
annual payment options and customers will have certain advantages. However, the revenue
subscription is expected to only provide 4.4% of the total revenue and it may not wise if we
still focus those “petty cash”. Therefore, annual subscription’s fees will be decreased by 20%
and more benefits will be given in order to attract larger customer base.
Changes the remuneration packages from year 6 From provision of cost drivers, the most significant cost when operation is wage of
employees as it accounts for 25.9% in the first year and it can go up to 38% percent in the
fifth year due to the policy of annual increase in salary from the management team. From the
sixth year, salary will be based according to this formular:
Base salary each year + Bonus based on the performance + Bonus for outstanding profit
Therefore, there is no guarantee of the bonus annually if employees don’t really try their
best. Moreover, increase of base salary will be considered only for the “ The best employee
of year” so that every employee will have motivation. With these changes, we hope to
decrease the cost for wages by 10% in year 6 and it will increase by no more than 5% in the
future.
5. Investment SizeFollow the analyses from the cost driver; our operation team realized that we need at least
$185,000 USD to launch the business for the first year. This number includes the deposit of
renting in year 1, employees’ salaries, facilities and machineries buying. Therefore, our team
decided that we should have at least $200,000 USD for year 1 investment that took into
account the fund of risks. In the first 1 to 3 years of the business, entrepreneurs usually
cannot make profit from their businesses and they must have the waiting time for this period.
In fact, many businesses meet a lot of difficulties or unstable situations in the first 3 years of
operation, so the budget for all risks is necessary. Moreover, we also considered the
revenue at each year and expose the revenue accumulation chart, so Guardian shop’s
operation team aims to cover all the investment after 4 years operation
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6. Risk analysis and ManagementRisk Probability Level Priority Responsibility Mitigation Plan
High turn-over rate of employees due to very high intensity of working hours (18/24)
3 5 15 Operations Manager and General Manager
1. Operations Manager needs to discuss very carefully with employees about job description2. Strategic Planner needs to forecast allocate logical timetable for every employees3. General Manager has to contract with other Vocational Training Schools to have some casual employees
Other competitors will imitate services of The Guardian by getting the same suppliers and offering same service models
4 5 20 The Management Team
1. Marketing Manager has to assess and understand specific needs of customers. Then, she will be in charged for developing a good R&D team2. Strategic Planner has to develop a good set of strategies for The Guardian to differentiate The Guardian
High inflation rate of Vietnam, which will reduce expected profits
3 4 12 General Manager and Strategic Planner
1. General Manager will collaborate with Strategic Planner to forecast the potential changes in short-term and set appropriate objectives to maximise profit2. General Manager has to set up a back-up budget, just in case that the store may experience low profit years
Conflicts between members in management team that can lead to the separation or even withdraw of capital contribution
2 5 10 The Management Team
1. Every member of management team has to commit for staying the business in the first 5 years2. Contractual term states that no withdraw of capital before the break-even period3. Weely meetings to discuss any problem and enhance communication linkage between each other
17
Future action plan
1. Sources of Start-up Capital Plan 1: Our team has 4 members, so we divide the start-up capital into four and each person will
contribute $50,000. This amount of money will be collect from the family, friends or personal
saving as long as $50,000 per member.
Plan 2:Guardian operation board recognizes the opportunity from the Vietnamese government’s
program, which can reduce the interest rate for businesses from 4% to 8% every year. The
second source of finance will be considered from VietinBank, VietinBank provides the loan
package for businesses follow the rule of government as “support for entrepreneurs and their
businesses” with the reduction from 15% to 11% (VietinBank 2011). Moreover, the paper
work and the loan condition of VietinBank is quite simple comparing with the other banks.
2. Further Information Needed Establish a start-up business is difficult in the changing environment like Vietnam, but to
keep it alive is a much harder work. Thus, these are some uncertainties that Management
Team currently worries about as they can have impact on the business:
Politices and LawsThe attitude of Government towards traffic jams due to the excessive amount of motorbikes
is unclear. At first, Minister of Transportation said that there would be additional charges for
every transportation vehical but they hadn’t collected yet. The People’s Committee of HCM
City also proposed to Government that out-dated motorbikes should not be allowed to trade
and being used anymore and Government hasn’t confirmed anything yet. It seems like
they’re facing dilema and a lot of consideration have been spent for. Therefore, Management
Team is not sure about their attitude cause they may restrict usage motorbikes or find out
other ways to improve transportation. Either of the solutions can have big impact on the way
we run business
To find out more information, there is a way that Marketing Manager has to involve with
more with People’s Committee of HCM City to understand what they want infrastructure of
this city to be.
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Passion for the business
All of members in Management Team will graduate soon from university and we consider
ourself as very young people, who may lack of some skills, attributes and knowledge to run
business. However, those can be covered by very generous support of our families, friends,
and people in network. But what can’t be supported is passion for business, which comes
from inside of each member in the team. The question should be asked here is the passion
for starting up a new business really a true passion? Or it just comes out instantaneous and
someday, someone will start to question his or her decision and it can eventually lead to
withdraw of that member.
Thus, everyone in Management Team will have 3 to 6 months to think about whether they
should join the team or not. In addition, a business advisor will be hired to mentor everyone
in the team for few sessions before executing the business plan so he/she can help us to
know more about ourselves.
3. Support NeededBelow are names of some of our supporters that will contribute significantly to our business.
Their supports are invaluable to youn people like us:
Pham Duy Hung: He is currently a member of Greend0t, a well known website
design firm in Vietnam. With his help, The Guardian’s website can be done quicker
than expected time and a bargain price comes along as well
Dinh Hong Nhung: She is an associate in Bates 141 Vietnam, a multinational
company that specialised in promotion. Actually, Nhung is cousin of General
Manager so she is willing to help us by giving some contacts of people in the media
when we want to promote ourselves on local publications
Nguyen Huu Khanh Toan: Toan is another friend of General Manager, who
currently works at a psecialised firm for staffing and outsourcing, Le & Associates.
With his help, The Guardian can get access to network of Le & Associates to know
which Vocational Training School is specialised for training students in motorbike
repairing courses and hire these students directly.
Truong My Ly: She is family’s friend of our strategic planner and currently working at
Phuoc & Partners, a law firm in HCM City. She can assist us in procedures of
starting-up a business.
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ReferencesXaluan.com 2012, ‘TP.HCM: Phương tiện giao thông tăng gấp đôi trong 3 năm’, Xaluan.com, 17 March, viewed 27 December 2012, <http://www.xaluan.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=358478>
Đoàn Loan 2012, ‘Bộ trưởng Thăng: ‘Bộ sẽ chịu trách nhiệm về xe cháy nổ’’, vnexpress, 4 January, viewed 20 December 2012, <http://vnexpress.net/gl/xa-hoi/2012/01/bo-truong-thang-bo-se-chiu-trach-nhiem-ve-xe-chay-no/ >
DDDN 2011, ‘Độc giả đồng loạt ‘tố’ chất lượng xe Honda’, baocongthuong, 14 March, viewed 20 December 2012, < http://www.baocongthuong.com.vn/p0c275n6767/doc-gia-dong-loat-to-chat-luong-xe-honda.htm >
Từ An 2011, ‘Xe oto, gắn máy ở TP.HCM vượt con số 5,3 triệu chiếc’, sgtt, 9 November, viewed 20 December 2012, <http://sgtt.vn/Thoi-su/155421/Xe-oto-gan-may-o-TPHCM-vuot-con-so-53-trieu-chiec.html>
-Young population holds potential for vietnam's retail growth. (2009, Mar 03). Xinhua News Agency - CEIS. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/451908768?accountid=13552
-Vietnam reports lower population growth this year. (2005, Dec 21). Xinhua News Agency - CEIS. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/452634329?accountid=13552
-Vietnam responds to world population day july 11, 2011 (VNA)... [derived headline]. (2011, Jul 11). Vietnam News Agency. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/876005603?accountid=13552
Như Ý – Phương Uyên 2009, ‘Xe gắn máy hư hàng loạt vì xăng pha nước’, nguoilaodong, 31 May, viewed 22 December 2012, <http://nld.com.vn/20090531104913976p1014c1016/xe-gan-may-hu-hang-loat-vi-xang-pha-nuoc.htm >
Ngọc Ẩn – Quang Khải – Sơn Bình – T.Phùng 2012, ‘Sẽ cấm xe máy cũ?’, tuoitreonline, 7 August, viewed 22 December 2012, <http://tuoitre.vn/Chinh-tri-Xa-hoi/505541/Se-cam-xe-may-cu.html >
Income and Expenditure: Vietnam, Euromonitor, viewed 30 Dec 2012, <http://www.portal.euromonitor.com.ezproxy.lib.rmit.edu.au/Portal/Pages/Analysis/AnalysisPage.aspx >
Scheneider, I 1993, ‘Customer Service’, in the Conference Group (ed.), the Conference Group, USA, the Conference Group, USA, viewed 26 December 2012, Google Scholar Database.
Westcott, S 2005, ‘The important of reputation’, PROFITguide.com, viewed 27 December 2012, Google Scholar Database.
Grewal, D, Krishnan, R, Baker, J & Borin, N 1998, ‘’The Effect of Store Name, Brand Name and Price Discounts on Consumers’ Evaluations and Purchase Intentions’, Journal of Retailing, vol. 74, no. 3, pp. 331-352.
Quang Vinh 2012, ‘Sửa xe ở trung tâm hay cửa hàng nhỏ?’, Baomoi, 31 November, viewed 27
December 2012, <http://www.baomoi.com/Sua-xe-o-trung-tam-hay-cua-hang-nho/145/4675349.epi>
Johnson, G, Whittington, R and Scholes, K 2011, ‘Exploring Strategy: Text & Cases’, 9th
edn, Peason Education Limited, England
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Appendices
1. Survey Results
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*This survey is done by asking 20 random males in RMIT Vietnam University with the age from 18 – 50.
22
2. PEST Analysis
Factor DescriptionPolitical HCM City People’s Committee proposed the law that restricts usage of old motorbikes in
centre districts due to concern of safety from out-dated motorbikes.Key Driver of Change: Unfavoured Politics
Economic Vietnam’s economy experienced one of the highest inflation rates in the world in 2011, 18,6%. In 2012, economy of Vietnam has stepped into the “recession” stage due to the effort of slowing down inflation rate from Government as well as negative effects from the economic crisisKey Driver of Change: Economic Slowdown
Social According to Euromonitor (2012), Consumer Expenditure from 2005 – 2010 disclosed that fact that there is strong interest in transportations it accounts more than 15% in consumer expenditure per annual.Key Driver of Change: High interest in transportation.
Technological PricewaterhouseCooper Global Entertainment & Media Outlook ranked Vietnam as a fastest growth country in technology improvement from 2009-2013.Key Driver of Change: Improving Technology
3. Benchmarking Competitors
In this part, six factors such as Customer Service, Price Competitiveness, Location
Advantages, Customer Base, Reputation and Number of Outlets are used to analyze the
competitors. During the research, there are some direct competitors of The Guardian, which
are An Phuc Company, Anh Tuan Motor and other official Center of Honda, Yamaha, SYM
and Piaggio.
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The first factor is customer service and it is the most important which takes 30% in total
100%. According to Schneider (1993), the service of the company is the main reason for
customer decides to stay or switch to new one. As the purpose of The Guardian, the
customers are promised to receive the best service in fixing and repairing their motorbikes.
Since it focuses on 24/7 service, the Guardian gets 5/5 on the table. An Phuc Company is
marked 4/5 in the customer service’s factor. This is because An Phuc Company provides
various types of services like fixing, painting, maintenance and replacing spare parts.
However, the company do not have a 24/7 service. Moreover, their fixing service is only
available on specific period of times. Another competitor is Anh Tuan Motor and gets 3/5 in
customer’s service. Although Anh Tuan Motor has a long history, but the services they
supply are not much as expect. The authorized sellers of Honda, Yamaha, SYM and Piaggio
receive 3/5 in this factor. Those centers are opened through franchise system. Their main
activity is selling motorbikes under the controlling of the head company of those brands,
and services like warranty and maintenance are added after the purchasing of customers.
Those centers deliver all basic services relate to their motorcycles. Therefore, they have not
many services like others.
The price competitiveness is second factor and takes 20%. Grewal, Krishnan, Baker and
Borin (1998) state that since the customers have experiences on researching about product
and price, the increase in awareness makes them become more sensitive price. Then, with
the suitable price and best quality of service, the Guardian is 4/5 in the price competitive
factor. Same with the Guardian, An Phuc Company and Anh Tuan Motor receive 4/5 in this
sector. These two competitors set price lower than others and give the discount to attract
the customers. For example, Anh Tuan Motor has a special discount to celebrate a New Year
Eve. The price of tires for many different types of motorbikes will be decreased
approximately 25%. On the other hand, Authorized Sellers only get 2/5. Some customers
prefer going to the small shops than going to those authorized sellers. This is because they
are sometimes charged a lot by the staffs and their motorbikes still have problems even
worse than before fixing.
Location advantages and customer base have the same weight, 15% each. In the location
advantages, the Guardian gets 4/5 because the venture is located in one of districts in the
center of Ho Chi Minh City. The customer can easy go to the Guardian and it is not too far.
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Different from the Guardian, both An Phuc Company and Anh Tuan Motor are in Binh Thanh
District, Binh Tan District and Tan Binh District. Those districts are quite far from the center.
Then, customers may feel inconvenience when they want to go to the shops. Then, An Phuc
Company and Anh Tuan Motor only get 2.5/5. However, Authorized Sellers get a highest
mark 5/5 in the location advantage. There are a huge amount of authorized sellers of
Honda, Yamaha, SYM, and Piaggio through the franchise system in Ho Chi Minh City. It is
appeared everywhere and customers can find it easily than those businesses above. In the
customer base factor, the Guardian gets 0/5 because it is a new venture. Then, the
management team of it has to work harder to attract the customers and retain them.
Furthermore, An Phuc Company and Anh Tuan Motor receive the same mark, 3/5. These
companies are established long times ago, so they probably have numerous loyalty
customers. In addition, Authorized Sellers gets 4/5. The number of those authorized sellers
helps them have specific amount customers.
Two last factors are reputation and numbers of outlet; its weight is 10%. Although the
reputation’s weight is only 10%, it is important as other factor. Without the good
reputation, other components like idea innovation and strategy are almost meaningless
(Westcott 2005). Firstly, the reputation of the Guardian is scored 0/5 because it is new
venture. While the Guardian gets 0, authorized salers get 5 because of the good reputation
from those brands. Moreover, An Phuc Company and Anh Tuan Motor get 3/5. With the
long history and the good service, the companies have a strong reputation in the current
market. The last one is the number of outlets. The Guardian is just established, so it is clear
to get 0/5 in this factor. Although An Phuc Company is start operated in 2000, it does not
have any brands. Then, An Phuc Company is also 0/5. However, Anh Tuan Motor gets 2/5
and Authorized Sellers get 5/5. Anh Tuan Motor has 2 outlets, one in Binh Thanh District and
one in Binh Tan District.
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4. Cost drivers
5. Revenue sources
6. Provision for summary of total revenues and total costs in the first 5 years
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7. Provision of the Chart of Net Income in the first 5 years
8. Provision of the Chart of Accumulated Cash Flow in the first 5 years
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