Portfolio Effectiveness in the Business World (EBWO3001)

Autumn 2017 First-sit Portfolio
Effectiveness in the Business World
(EBWO3001)
Student Name:
Student Number:
Lecturer Name:
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Assessed Learning Outcomes:
1. Demonstrate an understanding of the concept of the organisation and the
environment in which it operates, including determining the competitive
advantage for an organisation.
2. Identify and analyse organisational operations, responsibilities
3. Discuss the needs of the consumer and people who work in a business.
4. Recognise a range of issues related to business and how they interlink.
5.

As a requirement for the completion of this portfolio, you should first decide
on a type of business you have or would potentially like to start up in the
future (e.g. restaurant, shop, service etc.). Your answers to the tasks below
will relate to this business.
Week Contents (350-400 words per task) Page
Learning
outcomes
Week 2-3 a. Briefly describe the nature of business you
have or might like to have in the future.
b. What are the advantages and disadvantages
of owning your own business?
c. In what ways could PESTEL be useful in
planning your start-up business?
3 LO1/4
Week 4-5 a. In what ways can ‘globalisation’ have an
impact on your business? Discuss two
examples.
b. What suitable technology would your
4 LO1/2
EBWO3001 | Effectiveness in Business World 2

business use and how would it improve the
operations of the business?
Week 6-7 a. Briefly identify who your ‘customer’ is likely to
be. Why is it important for a business to
understand its customers?
b. Describe TWO ways in which you might
attract more customers to your business.
5 LO1/3
Week 8-9 a. What is the role of ethics in business?
b. With examples from other businesses, describe
how your business can treat its staff ethically.
6 LO3/4
References 7
Total word limit: 1500 words (+/- 10%)
This portfolio is a working document that MUST be completed over the 10-week course.
By the end of the 10-week course, you should have completed 4 tasks. You will also be
required to work on your portfolio during your weekly tutorial sessions.
ASSESSMENT – PORTFOLIO
Week Task 1 Learning
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Outcomes
Week
2-3
a. Briefly describe the nature of business you
have or might like to have in the future.
b. What are the advantages and disadvantages
of owning your own business?
c. In what ways could PESTEL be useful in
planning your start-up business?
LO1/4
Your answer should go in the box below.
Answers:
a) The business which I would like to set up in future is that of a multi-cuisine restaurant in
Central London. The restaurant would cater to the posh locality’s preferred needs and demands
with cuisines varying from Chinese, Lebanese, Thai, Fish n Chips and various dishes from
starters to desserts. The type of business would be a sole-proprietorship one, though there is
possibility that, with time I might get one of my friends to come up as my partner and thus
change the business type to partnership.
b) The advantages of owning my own business are:
i) One of the main advantages of owning a business is that I can have the full freedom to
go with my choices and carry out operations accordingly.
ii) Have full freedom to convert ideas into actions related to the kind of interior design I
want, the placement of tables and chairs, where to put wall hangings, as a part of decoration
(Ebert 2014). This will also apply in the kind of people I would like to hire, keeping in mind the
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qualities which they need to possess.
There are certain disadvantages associated with owning a business:
i) As the full onus of managing any business is on the owner, so the work pressure
in terms of looking into the stream of activities, from having the raw materials to proper
processing and serving the customers
ii) Any sort of business risk has to be completely borne by the owner,which can be
source for headache
iii) A major disadvantage of starting up a new business is that there can be
uncertainty over income generated because fluctuations are always there.
c) PESTEL – PESTEL Analysis is a tool used by marketers to analyze and monitor the
external marketing environment. PESTEL stands for Political, Economic, Social,
Technological, Environmental, Legal. PESTEL is useful to plan for a start-up business of a
restaurant. The analysis is as follows:
i) Political – Before planning to start-off a business, an important thing for any
individual is to analyze the political scenario of that particular place. This would allow me to
analyze government policy, political stability, tax policies, labour law, environmental law and
many other things.
ii) Economic – Economic factors also impact a business to a great extent. The
different factors include, availability of credit, economic growth, interest rates, rates of
exchange and inflation (Shiyo and Keter 2012).
iii) Social – Social factors put stress on the fact, how culture affects business and
whether they have any positive or negative impact. Taking care of the customers’ needs and
preferences in accordance to their culture is important for my restaurant business to excel (Park
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and Jang 2014).
iv) Technological –Keeping up with the latest trends in the world of technology for a
restaurant to make preparation of certain dishes easier, would help in meeting up the demand
and hence serve the customers better.
v) Environmental – Environmental factor includes climatic condition in the area
where the business is about to be set up.
vi) Legal – Any business, which is looking to set up an office in any area, would have
to abide by the legal formalities. Similar is the case with a restaurant. I will have to consider the
legal implications for a restaurant, aiming to be set up in a particular region.
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Week Task 2 Learning
Outcomes
Week
4-5
a. In what ways can ‘globalisation’ have an impact
on your business? Discuss two examples.
b. What suitable technology would your business
use and how would it improve the operations of
the business?
LO1/2
Your answer should go in the box below.
Answers :
a) Globalisation can have a major impact on my business. People like to explore different places and
experience their culture and cuisines. So adapting businesses according to the likes and dislikes of
customers coming from different cultures would only help in enhancing the image of the business by
having more options (Crane and Matten 2016). The two examples are as follows:
i) Marketing Potential – Globalization gives an opportunity to sell products to customers
across the world. If a business’ reach gets widened, then that would only help the business to grow
(Appelroth 2015). Similar is the case for my restaurant business, where the potential to cater to a large
market segment would help promote and expand the business.
ii) More Options – Any business going global would have more options to look for and
explore. Analyzing customer segments would allow my restaurant to add more customized dishes to the
menu, which shall invariably attract more customers (Khan 2013).
b) Technology advancement is happening in a rapid pace and this is an important aspect which every
business should look to take advantage of. Usage of upgraded technology would help in fastening up the
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process of service delivery. For promotion purposes my restaurant would use social media channels to good
affect, through which the customers would be updated with latest information on menu and additional
offers. Apart from the promotion of restaurant through social media channels, there are various other usage
of technology, through which the operations of this business shall improve:
Some of the usages are described below:
i) Mobile Ordering: Providing customers with the option to order food through mobile would make
things convenient for people to reach out to the restaurant on the go.
ii) Ordering through Facebook Page: Another facility which my restaurant would seek to have is
providing customers with the option to order food through the Facebook page. This would enable the
business to have wider reach (Malthouse et al. 2013).
iii) Online Coupons: Restaurant would like to provide online coupons to customers, through which
they can avail the offers and discounts.
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Week Task 3 Word
Count
Learning
Outcomes
Week
6-7
a. Briefly identify who your ‘customer’ is likely
to be. Why is it important for a business to
understand its customers?
b. Describe TWO ways in which you might
attract more customers to your business.
5 LO1/3
Your answer should go in the box below.
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Answers:
a) Being a multi-cuisine restaurant, there is not set customer profile which my business would like to
target. As the restaurant would be located in central London, so initially local people would be targeted
after doing a thorough market research in order to know about their likes and preferences (Martínez
and del Bosque 2013).
Understanding the nature of customers is of prime importance as that would allow any business to
target the right group. Similar is the case for a restaurant where customers should be targeted as per the
items offered by the restaurant, thereby optimizing their revenue and profit. If a business is not aware
of whom their customers are, then the whole purpose behind starting off a venture would be lost. The
advantages which understanding the right set of customers provide a business with are:
Building the brand – Better understanding of the customers would help businesses to build brand
through PR Strategy. Conducting market research prior to the launch of the restaurant would allow to
frame a picture of the customer base.
Meet customers’ expectations- Level of expectations would be different for different set of
customers. From a restaurant, customers would expect on-time delivery of the orders placed, cordial
behaviour of the staff, clean environment and quality food.
Repeat customers – If any business is looking to prosper, then the best way to achieve the goal is by
having repeat customers (Haghighi et al 2012). Similar will be the case for my restaurant, whereby
satisfied customers would always come back to dine in my restaurant.
b) Two ways in which more customers would be attracted to the restaurant are:
i) Special offers on exclusive items in particular days of the week would keep the customers
interested to come over and dine in the restaurant.
ii) Buy 1 Get 1 Free offers at reasonable prices would entice customers to go an dine
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