Custom «Business Plan» Essay Paper Sample

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

There is need to expand the semi-fallow medication supply market in London to capture both the poor and wealthy population. The area boasts of a few medications distribution agencies that serve the population with many difficulties. Being the capital city of Britain, London is bound to be a central proxy for a large group of customers. The business will require $1,200,000 as the initial capital in order to kick off its services to provide medication supplies at affordable prices to a large population. The company will achieve growth by attracting extra investment from pre-existing investors to allow additional capital to accrue in order to expand the business by building more subsidiaries. The company's mission statement is to be the crème of the crop in the arena of medication distribution in London. The business intends to sustain his policy by meeting all the needs of prospective stakeholders. On the other hand, customer centrism forms the company's philosophy aimed at meeting all the customer requirements to utmost satisfaction.

The employees will also be nurtured to perfection through good remuneration packages and adequate motivation policies. They will also be a part of the interactive management that will allow them to participate in major company decisions. In order to sustain supply from the manufacturers, it would be important to maintain good relations. This relationship can be stabilized by honouring the 30 days payment policy to ensure that the business does not accrue debt from the manufacturers (Cooper & Hiebing 2003, p. 29). There is also need to incorporate advanced technology in order to remain competitive. In the first stages of setting up the business, the supplier portals technology will be used in order to effectively manage the supply chain system. This kind of technology helps to enhance supply chain efficiency, supplier collaboration, and demand planning. It is also important to employ highly qualified personnel that will work efficiently to bring more productivity to the business.

PRODUCT AND SERVICE

The products to be supplied are drugs, injections, and surgical equipments. The service provided is to distribute medical supplies and offer consultations to retail outlets pertaining new drugs. The demand for medical supplies is foreseen to increase because of the lifestyle diseases that have prevailed in this era. It is important to provide the best services and quality products in order to remain competitive (Brian 2010, p. 54). The business will only deal with original drugs and therefore avoid dealing with manufacturers of generic drugs. In lieu of this, the business will implement a strict supplier code of conduct that will restrict procurement from unscrupulous manufacturers. The service system will be geared towards fast delivery to all other outlets that have contracted our services.

ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE

The business will adopt a hierarchical organization structure but is expected to change in the near future (Hatch 2006, p. 20). A Chief Executive Officer who will take orders regarding policy implementation from two directors will head it. The business needs two Human resource Staff, six medical representatives, four sales executives, a receptionist, and a system administrator. Moreover, the business will need security guards, three drivers, two fork-lifters and a cleaner. The organizational structure is represented by the flowchart below.

Organizational style and culture

The business will develop a democratic leadership style that allows the employees to participate in the decision making process. They will be encouraged to provide their valuable ideas in order to implement improvements in the services and products. Employee motivation will be given emphasis to encourage workers to work efficiently since their work will be rewarded. There will be an inclusive workforce that will be cautioned against discrimination of any kind (Ott 2010, p. 54; Hall 2003, p. 77). The business will be run under a fair employment policy that will recruit employees on merit and not based on racial or ethnic background. The employees are viable assets of the business because they have all the information regarding customer reactions, satisfactions, and complain. The organizational culture will be based on customer centrism that will guarantee to satisfy all the consumer needs as much as possible. The employees will be required to treat the customers as royalty and accord them utmost respect. Customers will also be requested to use the suggestion boxes to make their commendations or complains. Strict accountability will be maintained so that each employee will have to cultivate honesty in his or her areas of work. In lieu of this, an annual staff appraisal policy will be developed to enhance promotions to well performing staff and dismissal for the redundant ones.

OPERATIONS

Process description and technology implemented

The supply chain system will be developed in the business to enhance the flow of medical suppliers to the customers. The customers may be retail trades, individuals, hospitals, medical doctors, government dispensaries, or wholesale pharmacies. There is need to develop an efficient technology system that will integrate the needs of all these clients aforementioned. Technology is also important because it reduces administrative costs of hiring extra labour and avoids the storage of unnecessary inventory through implementation of a computerised reorder system (Melewar 2008, p. 34). All the customers and suppliers will be fed into the system in order to collect data regarding all the necessary aspects . the business will also solicit manufacturers that stock high quality but affordable medical supplies in order to realize the pre-determined profit margin.

Research and development

Due to increasing competition and demand in the industry, there is need to invest in technological efficiency. In the distribution of medical supplies, it is important to use advanced technology to maintain the supply chian and reduce administrative costs. Therefore, as the business expands, more finances will be set aside to research on new trends in the medical arena.

Scalability to meet demand

As aforementioned, demand for medical supply will never cease to increase. The customers will continue increasing especially in this era of opportunistic lifestyle diseases. There is need to do research as pertains to the most sought drugs and the needy areas. As the company's base of customers is bound to increase, there should be an advanced system to deal in maintaining the same quality services to a larger population. In addition, there is need for the customers to be treated well and provided with the best products or services in order for the business to maintain the market share.

FINANCE

The financial plan will be based on an initial cost of $1, 200,000 and the amount must be used in an optimal way in order to realize maximum benefits. As the business will expend, the profits will be redirected to investment projects that will earn more returns. Any extra capital will be solicited from private sources such as family and sale of redundant assets. At this point, the business may rethink the possibility of getting a bank loan. Therefore, there is need to accrue expensive assets that may act as collateral in the future.

The key financial indicators are profitability, solvency, and capital investment. Profitability is the most vital aspect as it dictates the manner in which the company is succeeding in its sale of products. The business is anticipated to break even after a period of two years after which massive profits may be realized. Increases in capital investment indicate that the business is growing and forming a base for other subsequent projects that may support the business. In lieu of this, the new capital may be used to build subsidiaries all over the country to increase the profit base. On the other hand, solvency determines the financial strength of the business in terms of being able to pay its debtors.

It is important for the business to maintain low debt level sin order to form good relationships with the manufacturers and create a performance record that will help them acquire loans (Dalton 2009, p 44). In addition, the accounts department will be singlehandedly responsible for all the financial transactions and records of the business. They will develop a budget that will act as a guide for all the departments to incur expenses as stipulated. It will also be responsible for employee payrolls and collection of account receivables from any debtors. The business will develop a 30 days payment policy for its purchases and its delivery services. The customers who do not pay up their debts in a month's time will be required to pay an additional surcharge.

RISK MANAGEMENT

In any business, there is need to evaluate any potential risk areas that may cause losses to the business. There should be a plan that has remedies in case the risks culminate into disasters. In lieu of this, the business should invest substantial amounts in insurance policies such as employee liability, fidelity bond, fire, and other potential risks. The business should also formulate Occupational Safety and Health Standards for the employees to follow. In addition, there is need for the business to cultivate corporate sustainability practices that will guide its practices concerning environment preservation. As the business expands, a risk management system should be developed to monitor potential risks and prevent losses. This will help the business to realize their profit margin since their money will be cultivated towards better investments rather than payment of losses.

SALES AND MARKETING

In the first phase of initiating business activities, two sales executives will mange the promotional activities. The target audience will include hospitals, dispensaries, government ministries and local pharmacies. Two models will be quite useful in forecasting the market demand for the medical supplies.

SWOT Analysis

The Strengths for the business is that it has low cost suppliers who give them medical supplies at affordable prices so they will extend the same to their customers. Again, the location of the business is of utmost importance because it is a central proximity in the capital city. The weakness of the business is that it is a new set-up thus it will have a lower market share than other pre-existing business ion the industry. This means that their advertisements and promotional activities must be rigorous. The opportunity available for the business is the chance to hire graduates from universities in London that will have expertise required for a new business (Belch & Belch 2008, p. 123; McDonald 2007, p.67). The potential threat is that other businesses have already established online sales activities thus becoming global leaders in the industry. The business will have to wait and stabilize their [profit sin order to invest in this kind of system.

Differential Advantage/Competitive Edge (USP)

In order for the business to acquire a large market share, it is important to secure a niche market for their medical supplies (Hart 2009, p. 89). This means that they should be prepared to conduct research on any market gaps that may exist. In this respect, they may focus on areas that have been neglected by other companies such as special needs' groups.

METHODOLOGY

A well-formulated methodology is very important in order to draw an efficient marketing plan. This portion will show the variables under investigation, sample size, research questions, and data analysis. The data required is both qualitative and quantitative as the business is interested in knowing the number of competitors and opinions of the customers about the market.

Research problem

The contentious issue is to investigate the level of competition in order for the business to position itself in the market.

Research Method

There is need to use a combination of both primary and secondary data. The primary data will be obtained from online surveys across London to a sample size drawn randomly. The research method will be mixed in order to allow qualitative and quantitative analysis of the data. The sample size will consist of 60 respondents across London about the manner in which they obtain their medical supplies. 

Questionnaire design

In any kind of survey, it is important to evaluate the data collection tool to be used. The questionnaires should have the readability feature that will allow each respondent to understand the questions. The use of technical language should be avoided as much as possible. In addition, short questions should be formulated to avoid triggering boredom on the respondents. The use of leading questions are a source of sampling error due to interviewer bias thus, should be eliminated.

Research Questions

1. How many medical distributional agencies do you know in London?
2. How many times do you change from one medical supply outlet to another?
3. Dose the quality of medical supplies influence your choice of outlet?
4. Does speedy service influence your choice of outlet?
5. How many kilometres are you willing to travel to obtain medical supplies?
6. Would you want to conduct online transactions for your medical supplies?
7. What are the faults you have discovered from your previous suppliers?

Data Analysis

The data analysis will be mixed and will include inferential and descriptive analysis. This based on the kind of research questions that were earlier formulated. The data collected will help the management devise a suitable plan that will help the business in its positioning strategy.