Business Plan and Ethical Dilemmas

The provided report outlines the importance of a business plan before starting a new venture. It highlights the need for market research to identify high-demand products and ensures that businesses operate ethically by avoiding conflicts with employment, equality, and diversity laws. A sample budget is also included, totaling £20,000.

BUSINESS PLAN

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
Company overview.....................................................................................................................1
The location.................................................................................................................................1
Visual identity.............................................................................................................................2
Values..........................................................................................................................................2
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................3
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................4
TASK 5............................................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
A business plan is road map which contains the details of how a business is going to
achieve the goals set by it. It is a written document that describes the plans for various
department such as financie, marketing and operational department. Usually, It is prepared for a
new business but it can also be prepared for an existing business. The chosen company in this
report is “Choco World”. Choco World is a new small company located at Cardiff, United
Kingdom. The report covers, the overview of the company, market research for the company,
ethical dilemma and ways to solve the ethical dilemma, application of laws, rights of the
employees and assets, liabilities, expenses, gains.
TASK 1
Company overview (Story)
Choco World is small chocolate business which will be set up to meet the high demand of
organic chocolate. The demand for organic chocolate was analyzed by conducting a market
research. The chocolate is liked by all the people in the world irrespective of their age but the
demand of chocolate is high among the children. The chocolate will be prepared by creating a
blend between the traditional taste and organic element (Finch, 2013). The data about chocolate
and confectionery industry shows that this industry contributes £1.1bn to the UK economy. Also,
the exports have grown from £370m to £680m which is a straight rise of 84% and it is expected
to contribute 39.1% in the industry revenue in 2018-2019 (Statistical data, 2018). The statistics
shows a whole picture of high demand of chocolate in UK. The fusion of authentic taste with an
element of organic will help the company to capture large market share as more people are
turning to organic produced things. The company will look forward to opportunities for growing
its business all over the UK.
The location
A location of a business is the most important factor which should be considered before
starting a new business or opening a new outlet of an existing business. Choco World might open
in a rented shop which will be used as a temporary location till it recovers all its expenses and
earn profits. Further, it is also considering other options such as installing a stall at the Cardiff
bay. The another reason for opening a stall is that the Cardiff bay is surrounded by the people
and tourists as well the local people visit the bay. Huge number of people visit Cardiff bay on
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Saturdays and Sundays because of the weekends. Also, the Cardiff university is near the Cardiff
bay, so the university students often seen spending much time at the food court situated at the
bay. The temporary location will allow the company to analyze the market without spending
large costs for acquiring or rent a place. Choco World will buy a place at a later date after
attaining the stability in the business. Choco World is targeting the children of 5-11 years of age
and the customers who have health issues, basically who are dietetics.
Visual identity
A corporate identity is a logo or symbol by which company represents itself to the public.
The identity must not resemble to the logo or symbol of a company already existing. The
examples of logos are :
Choco World will be using a symbol which will resemble the products it is going to
make. The logo will be a creative one and will show the fusion of the traditional shape of the
chocolate with organic element. The logo will help the company to gain customers by creating an
unique identity.
Values
The company is looking to fulfill the needs of the people who have stopped eating
chocolates due to various diseases and are looking forward to organic chocolates (Schaper,
Volery, Weber and Gibson, 2014). The chocolate will be 100% natural which means that there
will be no adulteration. Further, the company will give away a certain amount of its earning to
the orphanage charities and feed the homeless people.
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TASK 2
Market research will provide a clearer picture to Choco World about the taste and
demand that is being preferred by the customers currently. It will help the company to
understand the customer better.
 The primary research will be conducted through questionnaires to certain number of
people. The other way to do primary research will be by conducting surveys about the
demand in the chocolates that the customers in the market are have currently. This
research will help the company to analyze the particular needs of the customers. The
company may ask about the choice of customers in the chocolates, whether they like dark
chocolate, ordinary chocolate or white chocolate and what's their opinion regarding
organic chocolates etc. Questionnaire techniques gives appropriate data.
 After primary research, Choco World will analyze the trends, methods, marketing
strategies and other strategies followed by various competitors such as Willie's Cacao,
Land, Beau Cacao etc. This research will give an insight on how to compete with the
competitors and how to attract more customers, what strategies to be followed to create
an identity which will differentiate Choco World from other competitors etc.
 The company will use survey research method for collecting the information about the
interest of population about the organic chocolate. For this purpose, the company used
the sampling technique.
 The company will use narrative research method for doing a social investigation about
the product that it will going to produce.
TASK 3
Ethical dilemma is a situation when a person has to choose between two possible
alternatives of problems that are equally undesirable (Ethical dilemma, 2017).
Case
Choco World is in dilemma, whether to accept the offer of the popular website even after
knowing the fact that, there have been reports of discrimination, bullying and harassment by the
management of the website company. Although, the popularity of Choco World will be greatly
increased among the target customers but there is a risk, that associating with this website
company will affect the business of Choco World.
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Conclusion
Choco World is a new company which means that it is yet to gain popularity among the
people of UK. A new company should always act in an ethical way which is accepted by the
society. In the given case, Choco World should not get into a contact with the website company
even when the company will make it popular. The reason being, that associating with this
website company will damage the brand of Choco World. Choco World wants to create a
positive and unique brand image in the minds of the target customer. Therefore, it should not
associate with this website company (Bjelica and et. al., 2016).
Another case study of ethical dilemma which can help in attaining relevant decision is
mentioned as follows. Mr. J has recently started working in a company and he found that his
CEO has been stealing the company's money. He was confused as to whether he should remain
quiet because he might lose his job for complaining against his CEO or should he report this
matter to his board so that company could be saved from such CEO.
Mr. J gathered evidence and went to the boards. The boards gave an opportunity to the
CEO for presenting his side of evidence but the CEO failed to produce any evidence and was
fired by the board.
The values that Choco World aspires to achieve is to make chocolates that are 100%
organic and it will also donate its earnings to feed the homeless and orphans. This shows that
company wants to be ethical so that it may be accepted by large number of people.
TASK 4
It is mandatory for companies in UK to adhere to certain practices so that discrimination
at the workplace is reduced. Also, equality is maintained at the workplace. Choco World is now
able to employ two members of its staff on zero-hour contracts so the company should comply
with Equality and Diversity law. Equality and Diversity is a term referred to define equality,
diversity and human rights at the workplace. This means that, all the workers in Choco World
including the zero-hour contract employees will be treated equally and given equal opportunities
for achieving their individual targets. Moreover, the work environment will be free from any
kind of discrimination or harassment. UK has Equality Act, 2010, which should be followed by
every company operating in UK (Zhang and et. al., 2012). An equality and diversity policy will
create a healthy environment in the company.
The new employees will have the following rights:
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 Right to get minimum remuneration.
 They will be entitled to sick pay.
 Statutory maternity or paternity leave and pay will be provided.
 The employees will be given a minimum notice period whenever their employment
period is getting over.
 They will have the right to protect against unfair dismissal.
 They will have right to request flexible working.
 They will have right to take leaves in case of emergencies but the employer must be
informed before or after the emergency.
Further, the employer should be open and honest with zero hour contract and the
employees must be aware of their employment status.
In the case of McDonald's v Employees, the employees on zero-hour, approx 40 staff
member went on a strike against the low wages and the use of zero-hours contracts. The demand
of employees were to increase the wage to 10 per hour and to provide more secured working
hours and recognition.
The conclusion of the case was that McDonald's now offering fair wage to the employees
and also accepting their terms on secured working hours (Robinson and Sensoy, 2016). Further,
it has started to provide an option to shift to guaranteed-hours contracts.
TASK 5
Choco World has the following assets, liabilities, expenses and gains:
Assets:
 High Speed Crushing Machine
 Double Layer Warming and Mixing Machine
 Refinery machine
 Vibrator conveyor
 Chocolate Filling Machine
 Building
 Cash
 Intangible assets
Liabilities:
 Loan from bank
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 Investment by other incomes
 Long-term borrowings
 Creditors payable
Expenses:
 Sugar
 Cocoa
 Salt
 Emulsifier
 Cocoa butter
 Chocolate Liquor
Gains
 Sales revenue
 Income from investment
Choco World will forecast a cash flow, track the stock records, keep on top of payments,
access the credit etc. It may use other ways as well to avoid cash flow problems. Proper
allocation of budget will resolve the cash flow problems (Rousseau, 2015). Further, by
maintaining proper accounts will help the company in maintaining the cash flow problems so
that company can focus on its profits. A budget of 20,000 have been provided below:
Budget
Particulars Amount
Machinery lease £5,880.00
Building Rent £2,500.00
Raw Material purchased £3,980.00
Inward Wages £2,910.00
Pre operative expenses £1,150.00
Electricity and water connection deposit £1,100.00
Legal Exp. Related to incorporation of
company £1,340.00
Repair and Maintenance Exp. £1,140.00
Investment in business £20,000.00
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CONCLUSION
From the above report, it has been concluded that a business plan is necessary before
starting a business as it provides details plan on how to achieve the goals of the company.
Further, market research plays a vital role in ascertaining the customers that has the high demand
of the product that a new business is planning to produce. Along with this, a new company
should also be ethical and avoid itself getting into any ethical dilemma. Along with this, it should
have the knowledge about employment, equality and diversity laws that may be applicable on the
company, also may have an equality and diversity policy.
REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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Bjelica, D. and et. al., S., 2016. Ethical dilemmas of sport advertising. Sport Mont. 14(3). pp.41-
43.
Finch, B., 2013. How to write a business plan (Vol. 35). Kogan Page Publishers.
Robinson, D. T. and Sensoy, B. A., 2016. Cyclicality, performance measurement, and cash flow
liquidity in private equity. Journal of Financial Economics. 122(3). pp.521-543.
Rousseau, S., 2015. The role of organic and fair trade labels when choosing chocolate. Food
Quality and Preference. 44. pp.92-100.
Schaper, M. T., and et. al., 2014. Entrepreneurship and small business.
Zembylas, M. and McGlynn, C., 2012. Discomforting pedagogies: Emotional tensions, ethical
dilemmas and transformative possibilities. British Educational Research Journal. 38(1).
pp.41-59.
Burns, P. and Dewhurst, J. eds., 2016. Small business and entrepreneurship. Macmillan
International Higher Education.
Online
Ethical dilemma. 2017. [Online]. Available through: <https://realbusiness.co.uk/the-mcdonalds-
case-pros-and-cons-of-zero-hours-contracts/>.
Statistical data. 2018. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.confectionerynews.com/Article/2018/04/04/Cocoa-chocolate-and-sugar-
confectionery-worth-1.1bn-to-UK-economy>
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