Business Management: A Case Study of Original Creations

This report is a case study on Original Creations, a UK-based organisation founded in 1980. It discusses the key issues faced by the company, such as communication with manufacturers, maintaining product quality, and inexperienced staff. The report explores different models and frameworks to address these issues and improve sales, such as the Shannon-Weaver communication model, Hofstede's Cultural dimensions theory, and the Marketing Mix. The report also discusses the role of different business functions, such as operations and marketing.

Foundations of business
management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
PART 1............................................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Overview of Company...........................................................................................................3
Reasons...................................................................................................................................3
Key issues present at Original Creations................................................................................4
Recommendations..................................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
PART 2..........................................................................................................................................11
INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................15

INTRODUCTION
The concept of business management is concerned with the appropriate coordination as
well as arrangement of the business activities within an organisation. This process facilitates the
managers of a company in overseeing the operations and provides assistance to the human
resources in order to reach out at their top levels of productivity. This project is based on two
parts in which the first part is based on the case study of Original Creations which is a UK-based
organisation founded in the year 1980 by Gary Prazen. The second part is based on the reflection
on the learning experiences regarding developing and using key skills in initial learning within
unit and in analysing business case for respective project (BONDARENKO, 2022). The aim of
the first part of the project includes management of Original Creations addressing the process of
better developing and assessing new products along with forecasting the market potential.
Moreover, this report also includes different departments of the company along with the role
played by them within organisation in developing new products as well as improving sales
performance of newly released products.
PART 1
MAIN BODY
Overview of Company
The respective company is dealing in providing the artwork of superior quality to the
manufacturing industries. The products and services of the organisation consist of trophies,
bronze statues, engravings, metal and one-of-a-kind sculptures, metalwork, belt buckles, plaques
and many others. Original Creations is also paying specific attention on the welded metal
sculptures, custom trophies, bronze plaques and belt buckles. It is specialised in mining art,
safety awards, retirement gifts, mine rescue trophies and many more products (Bowden, 2020).
The respective company is always looking for the ideas of the new product because the necessity
of keeping sales moving is interest and novelty. Not all the products of the company got success
but the problem of the owner is that the tenth recent new product has failed and the personnel got
stressed that the organisation is losing its directions.

Reasons
The reasons behind attempting this consultancy report is to provide specific strategies and
approaches or models to the company regarding the concepts in which it is facing issues such as
in conducting communication with manufacturers, understanding cultural differences, quality
management and many others. The addressing and understanding of these issues through
different models and frameworks will provide assistance to the company in achieving its success
and growth. Various kinds of models will help the respective organisation in increasing the
volume of sales operations within the business (Buchholz and Rübbelke, 2019). Some strategies
will also be going to be discussed in this consultancy report regarding the quality and usefulness
of products. This consultancy report will also discuss about the different departments involved in
the organisation which are performing different functions in order to achieve business goals as
well as objectives. Another reason for conducting this business consultancy report is to explain
the aspect of human resource management as there are inexperienced staff within the company.
Furthermore this consultancy report will also include many more models and frameworks
regarding product and market expansion, effective marketing strategies, etc.
Key issues present at Original Creations
The products of the organisation that are marketed involves an automatic air freshener for
bathrooms, a wide variety of rainwear for cats as well as dogs along with 'make-your-own' kits of
birthday cards. However, as per the given case study, the company has just withdrawn from its
latest venture after facing three unsuccessful months of trying to introduce a new product. The
company is having a large number of manufacturers that are based in China and the process of
conducting communication with such manufacturing companies are often difficult as there are
language barriers, cultural differences regarding language and other communication issues. The
manufacturers forward their products in the batches to warehouses wherein only spot checks are
operated in order to check the quality of the products (Denning and Hamel, 2018). The company
is also facing issues in maintaining the quality and usefulness of its products due to which the
sales volume of the organisation gets lowered. Another issue that is faced by Original Creations
includes inexperienced staff of human resources within the business. The company is selling its
products only in the United Kingdom at the moment but in order to expand the sales of
organisation, it should explore its business to other countries or at global level also with the help
of effective mode of entry so that it can raise its sales within the business. The organisation is

also facing issues regarding the investments in the digital marketing and it is not conducting
research as well as not using focus groups and therefore facing issues regarding low sales. These
are some of the issues that are faced by the respective company at the time, before and after
conducting business operations within the workplace. In order to address such issues, there will
be use of different models and frameworks, the application of which will help the company in
achieving the success as well as growth within its business.
Models and Frameworks regarding addressing of issues
In order to address the problem of communication with large number of manufacturers,
the company can use a communication model such as Shannon-Weaver model, Aristotle's model,
etc (Ferrell, Hirt and Ferrell, 2020). The description of one of the communication models is
given as below:
Communication models are systematic process in symbolic and metaphoric form
showing general aspects of communication. Shannon-Weaver communication model helps
Original Creations in conducting effective conversation to its various manufacturers through
breaking down human communication into several concepts such as source of information, noise,
transmitter, message, channel receiver, information destination, encoding and decoding. There
are five key elements of this model and these components are mentioned as under:
 Source of information: It is also known as sender and includes information or message
which has to be transmitted and can be in form of idea, thoughts, opinion and views, etc.
 Transmitter: It is termed as encoder and sender of message uses machines for
converting message or information into signals which are then transmitted to recipient.
 Noise: The physical disturbance like environment, people and other which charges actual
meaning of information or message that is transmitted (Gatto, 2020).
 Receiver: This is also called decoder which is opposite to encoder and uses machines to
convert signal into messages so that receiver can easily understand it.
 Destination: This is end point of conversation to whom message is delivered and
decoded.
In order to understand cultural differences, model of Hofstede's Cultural dimensions can
be applied by Original Creations and the description of this model is given as follows:

Hofstede's Cultural dimensions theory can be used the respective organisation as it is
used to gain the understanding of the cultural differences throughout the countries and also to
discern the methods that business is done across distinct cultures.
 Power Distance Index: It is a power index that can be adopted by Original Creations for
minimising inequalities and managing changes that encourage power among group
members with business performance development (Gibson, 2021).
 Individualism Vs Collectivism: At Original Creations, the main focus should be on
collectivism wherein all manpower are invited to take participation in various business
operations and adopting relevant culture of country which will help in enhancing business
performance.
 Uncertainty avoidance index: It depicts ambiguity and uncertainty within business
operations in the country and in respect to given organisation, there is high level index of
uncertainty with owner which shows low acceptance and tolerance of uncertainty.
 Masculinity Vs Femininity: The company should follow masculinity as it is considered
as a protective force against violence and focus on ambition, acquisition of wealth and
differentiated gender roles.
 Pragmatic Vs Normative: Pragmatic approach is followed by the organisation which is
based on practical considerations instead of theoretical ones.
 Restraint Vs Indulgence: In context to Original Creations, the organisation is following
restrained culture in which it suppresses gratification of wants and control it by means of
strict social norms.
In order to control and check the quality of products, the respective organisation can use
the Model of Quality control which is considered as a set of techniques that can be used by
Original Creations throughout all stages of a business to make sure products or services of
respective company meet the requirements of customers. It is a strategic method that is used in
maintenance or improvement of quality of product. This approach is based on six different steps
in order to develop a quality control process (Jena, 2020). At initial stage of this process, the
organisation is required to set the quality standards of its product and after that it is required to
decide what quality standards to concentrate on. Third stage includes creation of operational
processes in order to deliver quality and after this, reviewing the results of the quality of product.
The last but not the least step is to get feedback from external sources like online ratings,

customer surveys, etc. and the final step is to make improvements within the product or in its
quality in order to check the quality and usefulness of products of company.
To address the issue regarding inexperienced staff, the company is required to conduct
effective hiring strategies within Original Creations. The organisation is also required to conduct
training and development sessions within the company for the staff in order to enhance their
skills and knowledge regarding business operations (Korsgaard and et.al., 2022). Training and
development is an essential tool to manage human resources successfully and enhances
manpower retention and job satisfaction which raise the interest within the employees to work
harder. Within respective company, training and development sessions will help in increasing
morale of workforces of the respected company as well as motivates the human resources.
For developing effective strategies within the business, the company can use the model of
Marketing Mix which will facilitate Original Creations in gaining the understanding regarding
the components or strategies that must be combined within product or service for achieving
organisational goals and objectives. This tool will help the company in planning a successful
product offering through executing effective marketing strategies. Different elements of
marketing Mix of respective company is given as under:
 Product: The company is introducing a wide number of products such as automatic air
freshener for bathrooms, a wide variety of rainwear for cats as well as dogs along with
'make-your-own' kits of birthday cards (Marchiori and Mendes, 2020). It must innovate
its products in order to capture a large number of target base through adding some
beneficial features to them.
 Price: Pricing strategy followed by company should be effective in such a way that the
organisation earns a considerable amount of profit along with gaining a large market
share. It should adopt value-based pricing strategy in order to sell the products of
company in an effective manner.
 Place: The organisation should offer its products directly to the customer-base through
which the cost of intermediary will get minimised and company cam earn and maximise
level of profits within business.
 Promotion: There are various promotional strategies that should be used by company
and these strategies include online and offline advertising its products to aware customers
regarding its benefits and features. Online and offline advertising includes social media

platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, etc., digital marketing, blogs, websites, print
media, publications and many more.
McKinsey 7S model will help the company in assessing the well-being as well as future
success of an organisation. There are seven internal factors that facilitates Original Creations in
determining whether the company has proper structural support or not. The explanation of this
model is given as below:
 Structure: The respective company should follow flatter organisational structure in
which there are less managerial levels and access higher leaders and managers
(Maxmudova, 2020). This helps the company in taking quick as well as effective
decisions through proper flow of communication which will increase organisational
performance.
 Strategy: It should develop effective strategies after analysing business factors which are
clearly defined and communicated to staff and stakeholders. Proper strategies help
company in managing performance of organisation as a whole and achieve all desired
outcomes through gaining competitive advantages over competitors in market and
analysing consumer buying behaviour.
 System: The organisation should develop well-define and clear systems within
workplace which makes sure that all business operations are conducting in a right way
and resolving all disputes and conflicts.
 Shared Values: The core values of respective company such as mission, vision an
objectives should be achieved in an effective manner also supports organisational
structure that motivate staff of company.
 Staff: The organisation should have a number of experienced and skilled staff who can
perform different business functions in an effective as well as efficient way.
 Skills: Original Creations should have highly skilled and capable staff who must be
recruited on qualification base that matched defined job role (Pande and Bharathi, 2020).
They are also provided training and development sessions to increase their skills which
are needed to conduct particular tasks.
 Style: The company should adopts participative leadership style in which organisation
motivates its staff to take participation in the process of decision-making. It is an

effective style that motivate the human resources in order to perform their functions with
full efficiency for achieving specific objectives and goals.
The different business functions that are performing different activities within Original
Creations include finance, marketing, human resource, etc. The role of these business functions
are explained as follows in context to Original Creations:
 Operations: The role of operating function within the respective organisation is to
introduce the products and services of the company through taking support from other
business areas such as human resource, marketing, etc.
 Marketing: The key role of marketing function is to coordinate and introduce all the
materials that are going to represent the business (Peters, Ivens and Pardo, 2020). This
function within Original Creations serves as face of the organisation. The function of
marketing manager is to promote the products and services of respective business through
ensuring that the organisation is communicating the right messaging for capturing
potential market-base along with retaining the existing ones.
 Finance: The primary function of finance manager involves financial planning, investing
and financing in an appropriate and effective manner. The financial health of respective
organisation can be overseen by the finance manager and it continues its viability.
 Human Resource: The main role of HR manager within Original Creations is to
effectively hire and recruit the staff, administering pay, benefits and incentives as well as
leaves along with enforcing the policies and practices of the organisation.
Recommendations
From above discussion, it is recommended to Original Creations that the company should
adopt effective business strategies in order to conduct the operations of the organisation in an
appropriate and profitable manner. The company is also recommended to follow effective
communication and cultural differences model which will help the owner of the organisation in
understanding the cultural differences of the people of other countries. The organisation should
also adopt flatter organisational structure which will facilitate the business in creating a proper
flow of communication within the workplace (Ragas and Ragas, 2021). Original Creations is
also recommended to conduct market research with the help of different methods of market
research such as survey, personal interviews, focus groups and observations. This would help the
company in achieving the success of the product and business as a whole. It will also facilitate

the respective organisation in enhancing the level of sales volume within the business and
thereby its profitability. In such way, the company can better develop its new products and better
assess as well as forecast its market potential.
CONCLUSION
From above explanation of report, it has been concluded that the concept of business
management gives the academic knowledge as well as skills in order to pursue the global career
opportunities. This project is based on the case study of an organisation and its success in
relation with the introduction of products within the market place. This report has included an
overview of company and the issues that have been faced by it at the time, before or after
conducting various business operations within the workplace. In addition to it, this has also been
concluded that different business functions play different roles within the organisation and have
their own significance. Furthermore, various kinds of models and frameworks have also been
used within the project in relation to the success and growth of company.

PART 2
INTRODUCTION
This part is based on the self-reflection on learning experiences regarding development
and using the key skills. In order to develop different employability skills such as
communication skills, problem-solving skills, team working skills and many more, the model of
Kolb's reflection is used.
Kolb's reflective model is a learning cycle that explains four different stages of the
process of acquiring and embedding new knowledge. Such kind of theory encompasses the idea
that I can change as a result of experience, reflection, conceptualisation as well as
experimentation (Soleimanof, Singh and Holt, 2019). This kind of learning model has been
stated that it includes acquisition of abstract concepts that can be applied in a flexible manner in
various situations. The four key stages of this learning cycle are given as below:
Stage Description Activities to help
Concrete The initial stage of Kolb's cycle is concrete
experience and it begins with doing
something in a group, individual and
organisation is assigned a task. By watching
only Kolb's model will not learn as individual
or team have to do.
There are multiple
activities that can help me
in continuous development
of employability skills
such as problem-solving
skills, communication
skills, team working skills,
etc.
Reflective
Observation
It is the second stage within Kolb's learning
cycle in which a person, team or an
organisation have to take time from doing
things and make a review on the particular
task about what has experienced. At this
stage, different questions will be asked and
communication channel will get open for
other people. In order to do so, vocabulary
I will ask for observation,
conduct short report
regarding what has been
done, feedbacks to each
other as well as learning
logs or diaries.

becomes significant as it requires conduct
discussion with other people.
Abstract
conceptualisation
This is the process that facilitates in making a
meaningful sense regarding what has
occurred and consists of conclusion of the
happenings and understanding relations with
them. Hence, the learner makes a comparison
within what they know already and what they
have done.
Model presentation gives
facts as well as theories.
Active
Experimentation
This is the last stage of Kolb’s learning cycle
and at this stage, the learner think how they
have to put the things they have learnt.
Time will be provided to
me for the process of
planning, using case
studies as well as asking
them for making use of
real problems.

SMART Development Plan:
Such type of development plan facilitates me in providing the guidance within the
process of setting the objectives and goals. I have made a SMART development plan which
would help me in improving my different aspects. With the support of this development plan, I
can get the clarity on the things that I actually want to do in my life. SMART development plan
for developing personality is given as under:
 Specific: According to this factor, I am having the defined objective for developing my
personality which would provide assistance to me in the process of improving various set
of employability skills such as communication skills, problem-solving skills, team-
working skills and many others (Wirtz, 2021). The development of such skills would also
facilitate me in developing my capabilities in order to do the task.
 Measurable: As per this factor, I would measure my specific objectives through the
assessments that would be provided by tutor. On the basis of the assessments, I will be
able to measure my actual performance that whether I am going in a right direction or
not. I would also develop my overall personality within the two months and for this, I
would accomplish the assignments that are provided by my teacher. In addition to this, I
would also take the personality development classes of 2 weeks for personality
development.
 Achievable: As per this factor, I will make a lot of efforts in such a way that I will join
the classes of personality development. I would also watch online videos and join
campaigns for the development of my team working skills. I would complete my
personality development classes within 2 weeks and after that I would join at least 5
campaigns which would provide assistance to me in the development of collaborative and
team working skills. After taking part in such campaigns, I would evolve my
communication skills through conducting interactions with strangers and my relatives,
friends and family (Zacher and Frese, 2018).
 Realistic: It is another factor of SMART development plan and according to such factor,
I would develop communication skills, problem-solving skills, team working skills and
so on which would facilitate me in attaining the growth and success within my future
career in an effective as well as efficient manner.

 Time bound: This is the last factor of SMART development plan and as per this factor, I
am stating my time in which I would develop my overall personality. I have set a period
of 2 months for the development of my overall personality.

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