Edible Cutlery: An Innovative Solution for Plastic Waste Reduction

This project analyzes the proposed innovation solution of Edible Cutlery and designs a marketing strategy for its effective launch. Learn more about the value proposition, market analysis, short-term and long-term objectives, resources and capabilities needed, and the growth potential of Edible Cutlery.

Running head: EDIBLE CUTLERY
Managing, Entrepreneurship and Innovation
[Edible Cutlery]
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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Executive summary
This project analyses the proposed innovation solution from various perspectives. Moreover, it
designs a marketing strategy to support an effective launch of the proposed “Edible Cutlery”.
The proposed marketing strategy is an effective guide to launch a new product. However, it all
depends now in the startup venture like how they manage necessary resources and generate
strategic capabilities.

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Table of Contents
1. Innovation Solution (Value-proposition).....................................................................................3
2. Market analysis............................................................................................................................3
3. Short-term and long-term objectives...........................................................................................4
4. Resources and capabilities needed to start the business..............................................................5
5. Marketing.....................................................................................................................................8
Four P’s:.......................................................................................................................................8
Advertisement Cost:....................................................................................................................9
Revenue Stream:..........................................................................................................................9
6. Growth potential..........................................................................................................................9
7. Conclusion.................................................................................................................................10
8. Time frame.................................................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................12

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1. Innovation Solution (Value-proposition)
The proposed innovation product or solution is an “Edible Cutlery”. The innovation used
here is a “Product Innovation”. Sorghum flour is the only material to be used to make the
organic cutlery. This is better than disposable utensils used in restaurants and many other places
in terms of sustainability. Disposable utensils used across the restaurants are non-biodegradable.
This means it cannot be completely decomposed (Miandad et al. 2016). On the contrary, the
proposed organic cutlery will leave any wastes behind. These cutleries and spoons will itself be
eaten as they are made of Sorghum flour and are treated with no preservatives. Hence, these
cutleries and spoons are safe (Ragaert, Delva and Van Geem 2017).
The innovation should create value for the national economy. This will provide a solution
to the plastic waste provided that the venture is successfully launched and is able to maintain
steady growth in the long-term (Eesley and Miller 2018). This will also create value for the
environment in which the business will operate by encouraging reduced plastic waste and
providing a sustainable solution to the businesses (Eesley and Miller 2018). The innovation
solution will create value for the society that they serve. Reduced air pollution through increasing
usage of organic cutlery will also reduce the level of the adverse impact of air pollution on the
health of people (Eesley and Miller 2018).
2. Market analysis
The customers for edible cutlery are those who are health-conscious. By doing effective
promotion of the product people other than those who are health-conscious can also be
encouraged to buy this product. Under geographic segmentation, the product at the initial level
will target restaurants and other food-centers where non-biodegradable utensils are used. If the

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product could get a hold of people in these places, this should be a great boost to this new
business. Under demographic segmentation, people those who belong to the matured age group
will be targeted. It is of no sense to target those who have the least awareness of plastic waste or
are significantly ignorant of it.
The one company who is truly applying sustainable thoughts to reduce plastic waste is
Bakey's. The company can be a tough competitor to the proposed venture. Bakey's knows
everything that they need to make organic cutlery (Huffingtonpost.com.au, 2019). Both the
proposed startup and Bakey's have similar product strategy. There is very little room to do better
than Bakey's except by enriching the knowledge of plastic waste and ways to reduce it, and by
doing extensive promotion of the proposed product.
The proposed product should get the support of the country’s political state. Not only in
Australia but at the global level the environment pollution and its supporting factors are
discussed during international meetings of global countries (Nasiritousi and Linnér 2016). The
technology should also drive the opportunity for the proposed business. Technological firms may
see this as an opportunity to produce new technologies to support the production of organic
cutlery in more numbers. Expectedly, the demands for organic cutlery should grow leading to
higher production of edible cutlery in less span of time.
The threat of new entrants (high): The material required to produce edible cutlery is
easily accessible in Australia. Moreover, the production cost is also very manageable. The key
success factor will be to work more closely with farmers to enjoy an uninterrupted supply of
Sorghum flour, which is used in the making of organic cutlery.
3. Short-term and long-term objectives

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Short-term:
 To attain a sales growth of 2-3% in the first annual year
 To attain a 70% employee satisfaction rate
Long-term:
 To boost the customer base to 25000
 To increase customer loyalty
4. Resources and capabilities needed to start the business
To be able to effectively run a startup it is important to have required resources to support
various activities. In addition to these resources, the startup venture will also need to develop
capabilities in certain areas to sustain the acquired skills and to perform in the long-term.
Resources can be classified broadly into three distinct categories. These are (Norman 2017):
Physical resources:
This category of resources is required to operate the business. Without having these
resources the business will not even take off. Some of the resources in regards to the proposed
venture will be the raw materials such as Sorghum flour, the suppliers and a manufacturing site.
Sorghum flour will be sourced locally from the farmers. Interestingly, Sorghum flour is hugely
grown in Australia (Khan et al. 2015). This should give a positive boost to the business. There
should not be any issue in getting Sorghum flour supplied from the farmers. However, working
closely with farmers and establishing a firm bonding with them should affect the venture’s
capability to insource Sorghum flour from farmers. Working closely with the local farmers will
help to understand the factors, which affect the production of Sorghum flour. Moreover, the

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business will grow in capability and would be able to know the supply capacity under various
external circumstances (Davies and Brady 2016). A productive bonding with the farmers will
ensure that the venture does not get affected by new entrants in terms of insourcing the materials.
The farmers will keep trust in this venture and will continue their relationship with it. However,
for effective bonding, the venture must ensure a few things such as paying standard pay to the
farmers and that on time.
Human resources:
Human resources or capital is an essential and integral part of a business of any size.
Human capital is formed from people who are recruited or hired to work for the business in
respective job positions. The proposed innovation solution will be initiated by a startup
company, which will initially operate at a small level. This means initially there won't be too
many departments in the start-up company. Rather, only a few people will support the business
during its early few days. The startup company will not have an established human resource
department. Rather managers will take up the responsibility for the recruitment and hiring of
people.
During the initial few days, those who are professionally trained in making organic
cutlery will be recruited. They will take care of the different support activities needed to run a
business. For example, a few of the newly recruited people will take care of the manufacturing of
edible cutlery. These people will definitely be possessing prior experience in making such
product (Abomeh and Peace 2015). The startup business will require some promotional activities
to be performed to explore this innovation solution on a wider platform. For this to happen the
startup firm will require one or few people experienced in doing the advertisements. They will
take care of the feasible activities and promote this innovative solution to make it visible to the

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target audience. With times these newly recruited people will grow in experience in their domain
of work. Moreover, they will be an asset for this startup firm. Gradually, after a few months or a
year, the startup firm will have enhanced capabilities in the manufacturing of organic cutlery and
in doing effective promotions.
In the long-term, this new startup firm will need more people in their company to meet
the market demand and to improve its efficiency in making organic cutlery. They have to
develop these capabilities in order to receive an unexpected competition from the competitor
firm and the new entrants. It is worth noting that sorghum flour is a hugely grown material in
Australia (Khan et al. 2015). This means the proposed innovation solution can easily be copied
by a competitor firm or a new entrant. They will have not to worry about the material needed to
make organic cutlery. Moreover, workers can easily be hired by offering them attractive perks.
Any established or a new entrant firm who is financially capable to launch a platform or produce
organic cutlery they will definitely offer better perks and benefits to attract more capable workers
and marketing professionals. Moreover, they will look to attain comparatively better human
capabilities as compared to the proposed ventures in this study.
Financial resources:
To be able to effectively run a new venture, financial stability both in short and long-term
will be one of the keys to success and sustain. There are various solutions that can be used to
create financial resources. There are various options that can be used such as joint venture,
strategic alliance, franchising, and merger and acquisition (Hollender, Zapkau and Schwens
2017). A joint venture is hardly possible for a startup company. It is due to the market risk for
investing in a product, which is very new and has not yet made an arrival to the marketplace.
Merger and acquisition involve an exchange of assets and liabilities. Moreover, the new startup

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firm will be needed to control a portion of the company’s shares. This is at the startup level is
hardly possible until and unless the venture has a healthy financial backup (Stoian, Rialp and
Dimitratos 2017). Franchising will also be a tough task for this startup. The best and most
feasible solution for this startup will be to work in partnership with a firm, which also operates at
a small level; however, possess capabilities, not owned by this new venture (Stoian, Rialp and
Dimitratos 2017).
5. Marketing
This section gives a detailed marketing strategy for the proposed new venture.
Four Ps:
Product: The product is an "Edible Cutlery". This will be made from sorghum flour, which itself
is a portion of very safe food and is grown locally in Australia. In fact, the growth of sorghum
flour in Australia is very huge and is easily accessible also.
Price: The pricing is AUD0.90 for every 100g unit of sorghum flour. Initially, the production
will happen in a limited number. Once it picks up in demand the production quantity will be
needed to increase.
Place: Edible Cutlery will be made and prepared in a small site owned and dedicated for the
production purpose. Depending on how the business turns out the production capacity will also
be modified. Edible Cutlery will be sold to retailers who supply raw materials to restaurants.
Moreover, the product will also be sold through small retail stores. After a month or so the
innovative Organic Cutlery will be sold in department stores, popular hypermarkets and
supermarkets.

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Promotion: It is because these suppliers will do a kind of promotion for Organic Cutlery. They
can prompt their restaurant partners for buying and using the newly launched Organic Cutlery
provided they have some motivation to do so (Hackley and Hackley 2017). To ensure that these
suppliers are motivated they should be given some monetary benefits may be in the form of a
commission on the units being sold by them. The product can be promoted in the form of a
scheme in stores such as convenience stores. The promotion will be done through attractive
offers like buy one get one free and so. Online advertisement could be highly effective. Popular
channels like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube can help to reach to thousands of people in less
span of time.
Advertisement Cost:
The advertisement cost could range between AUD13, 500 to AUD15, 000 per month.
The budget can vary depending on the choices of channels and the advertisement partner.
Revenue Stream:
There will be two revenue streams possibly, Channel Sales (Indirect Sales) and Retail
Sales. Indirect sales will be generated through popular stores like convenience stores. Organic
Cutlery will also be sold through small and street side retailers.
6. Growth potential
The proposed “Edible Cutlery” has growth potentials. This will be proved from various
perspectives. “Market size” is expected to get bigger for this product as demands for natural and
sustainable products is rising. The product should have a very healthy “Market Growth”
considering the growing concern of the Australian government to reduce plastic waste (Golev
and Corder 2017). “Competition” at this point in time is very limited with just Bakey's produces

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the organic cutlery. However, it is expected to get bigger considering that the product has huge
growth potential and also that it will attract both SMEs and major organisations. Strategic
resources and capabilities will be key factors to counter the expected market competition
(Davcik and Sharma 2016). This is expected to be a “Profitable” venture as demands for an
alternative that can fully replace the plastic is growing. Consumers of the proposed organic
cutlery will be highly educated and possessing sufficient knowledge of the product. They will be
specialised in making informed decisions. Organic cutlery will fall in the “Specialty Products”
category as it has unique characteristics and is currently rarely available in the marketplace.
7. Conclusion
To conclude, it can be said that the proposed “Organic Cutlery” should sell through
provided that the start-up venture fulfills the critical success factors (CSFs) for “Edible
Cutlery”.Some of the critical success factors (CSFs) will be an effective advertisement of the
product, growth in firms’ strategic capabilities, healthy cash flow in both short and long-term and
effective human capital management.
8. Time frame
Project Week
1
Week
2
Week
3
Week
4
Week
5
Week
6
Week
7
Week
8
Week
9
Week
10
Week
11
Week 12
Meet With
Client (First
Meeting)
Gather Client
Information

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Research
Design Brief
First Concept
Client Meeting
#2
Revision
Client Meeting
#3
Refine and
Execute Final
Design
Send to Printer
Proofing &
Print Time
Due in Hand
Table 1: Gantt chart
(Source: As created by the author)
The above chart shows how different activities related to the proposed start-up business
will happen at or within the allocated deadline.

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References
Abomeh, O.S. and Peace, N.N., 2015. Effects of training on employees’ productivity in Nigeria
insurance industry. Journal of Economics, Management and Trade, pp.227-235.
Davcik, N.S. and Sharma, P., 2016. Marketing resources, performance, and competitive
advantage: A review and future research directions. Journal of Business Research, 69(12),
pp.5547-5552.
Davies, A. and Brady, T., 2016. Explicating the dynamics of project capabilities. International
Journal of Project Management, 34(2), pp.314-327.
Eesley, C.E. and Miller, W.F., 2018. Impact: Stanford University’s economic impact via
innovation and entrepreneurship. Foundations and Trends® in Entrepreneurship, 14(2), pp.130-
278.
Golev, A. and Corder, G.D., 2017. Quantifying metal values in e-waste in Australia: The value
chain perspective. Minerals Engineering, 107, pp.81-87.
Hackley, C. and Hackley, R.A., 2017. Advertising and promotion. Sage.
Hollender, L., Zapkau, F.B. and Schwens, C., 2017. SME foreign market entry mode choice and
foreign venture performance: The moderating effect of international experience and product
adaptation. International Business Review, 26(2), pp.250-263.
Huffingtonpost.com.au 2019. HuffPost is now a part of Oath. [online] Huffingtonpost.com.au.
Available at: https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2016/04/26/edible-cutlery_n_9782282.html
[Accessed 17 May 2019].

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Khan, I., Yousif, A.M., Johnson, S.K. and Gamlath, S., 2015. Acute effect of sorghum flour-
containing pasta on plasma total polyphenols, antioxidant capacity and oxidative stress markers
in healthy subjects: A randomized controlled trial. Clinical nutrition, 34(3), pp.415-421.
Miandad, R., Barakat, M.A., Aburiazaiza, A.S., Rehan, M. and Nizami, A.S., 2016. Catalytic
pyrolysis of plastic waste: A review. Process Safety and Environmental Protection, 102, pp.822-
838.
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involvement in international climate change negotiations. International Environmental
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Norman, D., 2017. Equality of What: Welfare, Resources, or Capabilities? 1. In John Rawls (pp.
169-192). Routledge.
Ragaert, K., Delva, L. and Van Geem, K., 2017. Mechanical and chemical recycling of solid
plastic waste. Waste Management, 69, pp.24-58.
Stoian, M.C., Rialp, J. and Dimitratos, P., 2017. SME networks and international performance:
Unveiling the significance of foreign market entry mode. Journal of Small Business
Management, 55(1), pp.128-148.