A business plan A report detailing the marketing strategy, production costings and financial implications of a business start-up. Using a business plan:
The sources of information should include: small business advisors, accountants, bank managers and government agencies.
Ghana's Grace Amey-Obeng, one of West Africa's most successful businesswomen,
made her fortune promoting products which emphasised the beauty of the black
skin, at a time when many of her competitors were selling dangerous
skin-bleaching formulas.
Choosing the right legal structure: Sole traders, partnerships, private limited companies and public limited companies. You need to know definitions, advantages and disadvantages of each type of legal structure. You could start here. Or you could click on the picture:
There are some good notes on this topic from this website.
Would you prefer to purchase an existing business? If so, what type?
What type of research would you do before starting your business?
1.1 Criteria
Types of businesses:
1. New businesses based on an original idea.
2. Purchase an existing business.
Click on the picture:
Or........
Business Aims:
What aims might you have if you are starting a business?
It is essential that any business owners determine the aim of the business to help stakeholders understand the direction of the business.
Aims / Objectives should be SMART.
Key concepts: Business Planning Attractiveness of the idea Unique selling point (USP) Demand for new business Competitive edge Checking profitability Business trends External influences
1.2 Identifying a target market. Think about who these products might be aimed at:
The best way of identifying a target customer or market is to undertake market research.
Methods of primary and secondary market research:
Primary research is the gathering of first-hand data that is specific to a firm's needs.
You could use: surveys or observation to collect information.
Secondary research is information collected from second-hand sources such as Google, reference books, government statistics or market intelligence reports.
Quantitative research means research using pre-set questions among a large enough sample size to provide statistically valid data. An example would be using a questionnaire to question 200 people in a particular market segment.
Qualitative research is in-depth research into the motivations behind consumer behaviour or attitudes. It may include the use of focus groups.
Sampling: choosing a group of respondents selected to be representative of the target market as a whole.
The choice of sampling method and size of the sample will be influenced by:
-the finance available.
-the nature of the product.
-the risk involved.
-the target market.
What method of sampling and what sample size would you have used before bringing this product to market?
Market segmentation - analysing a market to identify the different types of consumer.
