Foundations of Business Management: Project Plan and Budget

FOUNDATION OF
BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART 1............................................................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
BUSINESS FUNCTIONS...............................................................................................................3
Rationale......................................................................................................................................3
Understanding of business functions...........................................................................................4
Project Plan and Budget...............................................................................................................4
Return on Investment...................................................................................................................6
PROJECT MANAGEMENT TOOLS.............................................................................................6
Task management and scheduling...............................................................................................7
Gantt chart...................................................................................................................................8
Critical path.................................................................................................................................8
Work breakdown structure..........................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
PART 2..........................................................................................................................................10
Personal Reflection stating Skill development..............................................................................10
Communication..........................................................................................................................10
Numeracy...................................................................................................................................10
ICT.............................................................................................................................................11
Problem-solving.........................................................................................................................12
Working with Others.................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

PART 1
INTRODUCTION
Foundations of business management refer to a comprehensive understanding of the key
disciplines of management that is which includes marketing, decision-making, finance, and other
fundamentals of management. Business functions are the activities and functions that are carried
out by a corporation and consists of core and support functions. The core activities yield income
and revenue by production of final goods and services. Project management is used for leading
the core functions in a team for attainment of objectives and goals of the business in order to
meet certain criteria in a specific period of time (de Melo and et.al., 2020). This individual report
focusses upon the core business project of production of a newly developed health drink: Protein
Water for the global market and application of project management techniques for the project.
The rationale for selection of the project topic will be elaborated, along with business functions
like finance, decision-making, organisational behaviour and marketing along with a detail of the
project plan and budget for the project. The benefits for the company will be illustrated by an
analysis of potential return on investment. The project management tools have been explained
using techniques like task management and scheduling, creation of project milestones,
developing a Gantt chart and assessment of critical path along with creating a work breakdown
structure.
BUSINESS FUNCTIONS
Rationale
The major reason for going forward with the project of producing a newly developed
health drink i.e., Protein Water is the changing trends in consumer behaviour in context to food
and beverage industry. the tastes, preferences, behaviour, needs and demands. The target
customers, are the health-conscious people and people who go for heavy workouts in gyms.
There is an immediate need for protein after the muscles get tired. Protein water fulfils that
immediate need as it is infused with whey protein isolate and helps in the growth of lean muscle
mass. Protein water is also needed when a person undergoes specific forms of diet such as low
carb high protein, intermittent fasting, ketogenic diet or paleo diet. The development of this
health drink would undertake an extensive manufacturing process in a specific facility and
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involves business functions like financing, budgeting, project planning, decision-making,
marketing etc (Alghannam and et.al., 2020).
Understanding of business functions
Operations: Operations management refers to the function of management of processes
for the manufacturing of the health drink and it consists of planning, organising, coordinating
and evaluating the resources that are needed for the development of the project. It encompasses
management of technology, people, equipment and aims to convert the raw materials into output
(Gaspar and et.al., 2016).
Finance: Financing consists of major decisions like investment and funding sources, long
term loans, share capital, internal funds and working capital, leasing assets and capital budgeting
decisions that have to be taken for the production of the health drink. The aim is to create
revenue, save costs and make profits. The major financial decision that have to be taken are
sources to be considered for raising funds that is equity and borrowings. Other contingency plans
have to be made for the financing of the whole project. The financial resources have to gathered
from long term borrowings and investors.
Marketing: Marketing includes the primary marketing research done and the initiation of
product development process based on the market analysis and research. A marketing plan has to
be followed for the promotions and advertising oof the product once ready and distribution for
sale, public relations and customer service has to be elaborated (Niazi, Mahmood and Alshayeb,
2020).
Project Plan and Budget
Project planning is the foundation of the project of developing a health drink for global
market and is the heart of the project life cycle. It involves documentations of the plans of the
project, deliverables and requirement definition, and scheduling the project.
Time scale of the project: The total duration estimated for the production of the health drink:
protein water will 1 year.
Resource plans: The plans for attaining appropriate human, financial, tangible resources is to be
evaluated. The processing would involve mechanised and automated operations and would
employ blue-collared and semi-skilled workforce. The common jobs in the production facility
would include filling of machine operator, packaging, fork-lift operators, manual as well as
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