Childcare Center Improvement Project

This assignment focuses on improving a childcare center by analyzing its current situation using Porter's Five Forces framework. The analysis identifies the center's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats within the industry. The document then proposes a project budget to address identified areas for improvement, outlining specific activities and their associated costs. Travel expenses are also factored into the budget.

Running head: MARKETING AND MANAGEMENT
Marketing And Management
Name of the student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1MARKETING AND MANAGEMENT
1. Initial consultation
The child care industry is one of the fastest growing industries in New Zealand. With the
rapid change in the lifestyle of the people, the need for the child care organizations have been
growing day by day. This industry is adequately supported and funded by the New Zealand
government. The interaction with the client revealed the facts that that almost 80 children have
been living in the child care centre. The employees of the organization are focused on enhancing
the skills of every student and ensure that each of the children is able to grow up and experience
a healthy environment (Alkon et al., 2016). The organization allows late pick-ups for the
children, in case the parents are not able to arrive on time. However, the organization does not
charge any extra money for the late pick-ups ("Cute Kids HomeBased Child Care & Education |
Affordable and Quality ChildCare", 2017). The operational hours of the childcare organization
are flexible and thus help the parents to ensure safety of the children. 20 hours free ECE and upto
50 hours WINZ are given. Moreover, personalised learning plan for every child is provided. The
extended hours include the timings from 7am to midnight, all round the week. The organization
also provides with low teacher to child ration (Brebner, Hammond, Schaumloffel & Lind, 2015).
However, specialised care and paediatricians need to be increased in the organization, in order to
take good care of the children falling sick (IBISworld, 2017). The importance of this industry in
New Zealand has been highlighted, along with describing the background of the company ("Cute
Kids HomeBased Child Care & Education | Affordable and Quality ChildCare", 2017).. The
SWOT analysis of the company, along with Porter’s 5 forces and value chain has been
mentioned in this assignment. The aim of the project have been stated clearly, along with the
proposed outcome and the most appropriate communication strategy has also been highlighted in
this assignment.

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2. Background of the company
Cute Kids Limited, Home based education and childcare is not a very old childcare
organization. The organization and day care started with the belief that early childhood has a
major role to play in shaping the future of the children ("Cute Kids HomeBased Child Care &
Education | Affordable and Quality ChildCare", 2017). The child education, has a major role to
play in developing the child’s ability to develop various skills and ensure lifelong learning. The
mission of the company is to ensure a safe and healthy childhood for the children that would
result in the bright future of the children ("Cute Kids HomeBased Child Care & Education |
Affordable and Quality ChildCare", 2017). The vision of the childcare centre is to ensure that
childcare is given to each of the children to ensure meeting the stringent health and safety
requirements (Alkon et al., 2016). The organizational structure is a flat one, with low levels of
hierarchy (Oham & Macdonald, 2016). The various designations in the organization include the
educators, the care workers, paediatricians, financial manager, safety and security manager
("Cute Kids HomeBased Child Care & Education | Affordable and Quality ChildCare", 2017)..
The educators are able to communicate with each other, with clarity, thus ensuring development
of the children.
3. Analysis of the organization
The internal and external environment of the business organization is highlighted in this
assignment using the SWOT and Porter’s five-force analysis.
Strengths
 The services provided are package of
diversified portfolio, that includes care
Weakness
 The initial launch of the organization
needed to build customer confidence,

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to learning (Alkon et al., 2016)
 The futuristic approach of the
management has a huge potential in
terms of market share and revenue
growth ("Cute Kids HomeBased Child
Care & Education | Affordable and
Quality ChildCare", 2017).
 Unity in diversity is maintained among
the children, encouraging multicultural
environment
 The strong USPs such as no extra
charge for late pick-up, extended hours
from 7am to midnight, learning based
skill development
thus the initial business was low ("Cute
Kids HomeBased Child Care &
Education | Affordable and Quality
ChildCare", 2017).
Opportunities
 Since most of management staffs is
ethnic based, hence targeting the ethnic
based customers are effective and
successful ("Cute Kids HomeBased
Child Care & Education | Affordable
and Quality ChildCare", 2017).
Threats
 The various health issues and past
history of illness might not get
prevailed in a short span of time
(IBISworld, 2017)
 The child care industry is a highly
competitive one, hence a strong
competition is faced ("Cute Kids
HomeBased Child Care & Education |

4MARKETING AND MANAGEMENT
Affordable and Quality ChildCare",
2017).
Porter’s 5 force model
The external environment is analysed using the Porter’s 5 force model, described below:
1. Bargaining power of the customers
The bargaining powers of the customers determine the extent to which the customer has
control on the business (Dobbs, 2014). For the child care organization the bargaining power of
the customers are high. This is because, there are many day care and child care centres all around
New Zealand (Alkon et al., 2016). Hence, if the charges of the childcare have to be low enough
in order to attract more customers. The bargaining power is edged with discounts and price
subsidies or adding more USPs (Fung, 2014).
2. Bargaining power of the suppliers
The bargaining power of the customers highlights the impacts that the suppliers and
internal staffs have on the business (Brebner, Hammond, Schaumloffel & Lind, 2015). The
suppliers of the food, stationeries and clothes have low bargaining power, since there are a huge
number of suppliers available for the supply of the goods in the day care centre (Fung, 2014).
3. Threats of New Entrants
The threat of the new entrants determines if a new competition is able to enter the market
easily or not (Dobbs, 2014). For the childcare centre cute kids, the threat for the new entrants is
average to high (Oham & Macdonald, 2016).

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4. Threat of substitutes
The threat for the substitutes is low.
5. Rivalry
The level of competition of the childcare industry is high. The major competitors include
the No 1 home care childcare as well as Kiddz.
4. Aim/Purpose of the project
The project aims to identify the target market, focusing on the ethnic base working
professionals from the local Sandringham market. The purpose of the project is to carry out
research to know the various factors that are significant in decision making while choosing
childcare. The aim of the project is to identify the needs of the customers and ensure that the
organization is able to meet the same. The needs of the customers include care being taken by the
educators and childcare centre (Dobbs, 2014). Moreover, the customers also prefer that the
physical and mental development of the children is taken care, in the child care centre Cute Kids
(Sharkins et al., 2016). It is important that the target customers have to be identified and are
catered according to the needs. Moreover, the perception of kindergarten and childcare in
Auckland city is also known, with the conduction of this study.
5. Proposed outcome
The current scenario reveals the fact that most of the customers would like to ensure the
safety of their children at the childcare centre (Sharkins et al., 2016). The basic needs of the
children have to be fulfilled, along with ensuring that the children are provided a healthy

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environment to grow up. However, while the survey results are might reveal a different issue
(Gubbels, 2014). After conducting the survey, different customer needs might be revealed.
6. Scope of the project
The scope of the project is wide. While conducting this project, I have been involved in
various events conducted by the childcare centre. Involving me in the events of the childcare
centre as a volunteer is useful for the organization. I am able to learn about the work that the
childcare centre does, along with assisting in successful completion of the various events
organized by the Cute Kid, childcare home ("Cute Kids HomeBased Child Care & Education |
Affordable and Quality ChildCare", 2017).. Taking part in the marketing events such as
promotion and marketing, by distributing pamphlets and leaflets to the customers are also within
the scope of the project. Visiting various promotional events arranged by the Cute Kids home are
effective in ensuring successful marketing of the child care home.
7. Communication strategies
Communication has a key role to play in any business organization. Regular
communication among the educators, along with communication with the parents is essential.
The care home ensures that the educators and the care workers communicate regularly with the
parents, such that the regular feedback regarding the children is given to the parents from time to
time ("Cute Kids HomeBased Child Care & Education | Affordable and Quality ChildCare",
2017).. Moreover, interpersonal communication is also important for taking care of the children.
Clarity in communication with the children has to be maintained, in order to ensure complete
mental, physical and psychological growth of the children. Regular communication is desirable
with the parents and the educators. This will ensure that a transparency among the customers and

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childcare centre will be maintained. The parents will obtain the regular update of the children,
thus ensuring the gain of confidence among the parents.
8. Risk analysis
While conducting this project, I faced various risks. These risks include the lack of time,
lack of sufficient fund. The time was a major constraint for the completion of the project. I had to
accommodate all the activities within the specified time. Another risk was the limited fund. The
budget was a major constraint, since I had to travel to the Cute Kid childcare home, along with
bearing other expenses, in order to complete the project successfully ("Cute Kids HomeBased
Child Care & Education | Affordable and Quality ChildCare", 2017).. The potential risks are to
be identified and effective risk management have to be done in order to mitigate the risks, or
curb down the intensity of the risks. Another risk faced during while undertaking the project is
the lack of availability of the various resources within the stipulated time. In order to ensure
successful risk identification and analysis, proper planning and communication is required.
9. Project timing
The timeline of the project is as follows:
26th September: Start date
20th October: Finish date
22nd October: Team meeting
24th October: Final submission and presentation to the client
Data collection

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The collection of data is done through survey questionnaire. Statistical analysis is done in
order to highlight the key findings. The stratified random sampling is done in order to identify
the target market. The students are randomly selected. Each of the selected students are
accurately determined to be eligible for being an educator. The selected sample size is 30. 30 of
the students are randomly selected to get quantified result on actual perception of the students,
from 2 institutions and 50 working professionals (Gubbels et al., 2014). The survey will be
conducted on the local market of the Sandringham for unbiased result.
Figure 1: Percentage of services in each service type that returned the annual ECE census via
ELI in 2014 and 2015.
(Source: Annual ECE Data summary, 2015)

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Calculation
Margin of Error: 5%
Confident Interval: 95%
Total Population: 80
10. Project budget
The budget of the project has to be fixed in such a way that all the activities could be
accommodated successfully, within the allocated budget. All the activities to be undertaken have
to be listed, and budget is to be allocated to each. Moreover, the travelling expenses are to be
calculated as well, in order to ensure that the expenses for travelling are within the allocated
amount of money. Thus, it is concluded that the project has been successfully undertaken and
completed, as a part of the internship. Though various constraints were faced, yet, the project
was undertaken and completed successfully, thus fulfilling the set aims and objectives.

10MARKETING AND MANAGEMENT
References
Alkon, A., Nouredini, S., Swartz, A., Sutherland, A. M., Stephens, M., Davidson, N. A., & Rose, R. (2016).
Integrated Pest Management Intervention in Child Care Centers Improves Knowledge, Pest
Control, and Practices. Journal of Pediatric Health Care, 30(6), e27-e41.
Annual ECE Data summary (2015). Retrieved from Education counts:
https://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/statistics/early-childhood-education/annual-ece-
summary-reports
Brebner, C., Hammond, L., Schaumloffel, N., & Lind, C. (2015). Using relationships as a tool:
early childhood educators’ perspectives of the child–caregiver relationship in a childcare
setting. Early Child Development and Care, 185(5), 709-726.
Cute Kids HomeBased Child Care & Education | Affordable and Quality ChildCare. (2017).
Cutekids.co.nz.
E. Dobbs, M. (2014). Guidelines for applying Porter's five forces framework: a set of industry
analysis templates. Competitiveness Review, 24(1), 32-45.
Fung, H. P. (2014). Using porter five forces and technology acceptance model to predict cloud
computing adoption among IT outsourcing service providers.
Gubbels, J. S. (2014). Physical activity in childcare settings: The role of the environment.
Science & Sports, 29, S41-S42.
Gubbels, J. S., Van Kann, D. H., de Vries, N. K., Thijs, C., & Kremers, S. P. (2014). The next
step in health behavior research: the need for ecological moderation analyses-an
application to diet and physical activity at childcare. International Journal of Behavioral
Nutrition and Physical Activity, 11(1), 52.

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IBISworld. (2017, May). Child Care services in New Zealand. Retrieved from ibis world :
https://www.ibisworld.com.au/industry-trends/nz-market-research-reports/health-care-
social-assistance/child-care-services.html Statistics. (2015).
Oham, C., & Macdonald, D. (2016). Leading and Managing a Social Enterprise in Health and
Social Care. Community Training Partners.
Sharkins, K. A., Newton, A. B., Albaiz, N. E. A., & Ernest, J. M. (2016). Preschool children’s
exposure to media, technology, and screen time: Perspectives of caregivers from three
early childcare settings. Early Childhood Education Journal, 44(5), 437-444.