Internal and External Information for Planning and Decision Making in Start-up Business

This report discusses the significance of internal and external information for planning and decision making in start-up businesses. It also covers the use of PESTLE analysis and Porter five forces for evaluating market attractiveness and competitiveness. The report focuses on Appear Here, a UK-based start-up company that provides an online marketplace to retailers. The report includes a SWOT analysis of Appear Here and an evaluation of the company's market attractiveness and competitiveness through PESTLE analysis and Porter five forces.

Introduction to business
report

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Determine what type of internal and external information is required by your chosen business
for planning, decision making and control purposes. .................................................................1
Evaluation of market attractiveness and competitiveness through PESTLE analysis and Porter
five forces ....................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Start-up business is concerned with an organisation which is working on its initial phase
and later plan for the growth avenues in future (Bider and Chalak, 2019). In other words, start-up
business refers to new business which will operate its functions for developing a differentiated
position in market. In order to better understand about the influencing factors which impact the
organisation success, Appear Here is taken into consideration. It is an UK based start-up
company which provides online marketplace to retailers. It is established in 2013 and has its
headquarters at UK.
This project report highlights the understanding of varied intrinsic as well as extrinsic
forces that make their influence on the business operations and growth avenues. This project also
demonstrates an understanding of use of PESTLE analysis and Porter five forces for analysing
the attractiveness of marketplace in order to develop growth plans.
MAIN BODY
Determine what type of internal and external information is required by your chosen business for
planning, decision making and control purposes.
There are various internal and external information which is necessary for management
of business to determine to make effective strategies for future growth (Bougie and Sekaran,
2019). As its enables them to find various new methods, ideas and innovations which they can
use in order to improve their productivity, profitability and customer base. Managers of Appear
Here conduct their research to determine the impact of various internal and external elements to
get clear information about each for the benefits of their start-ups reputations. Internal
information is concerned with employees performance, availability of many resources such as
finance, technology, marketing channels, workforce and distribution channels which is essential
to run start-up efficiently. External information is related with innovative strategy of competitors,
pricing policy, customers trends, market condition, law of government and economic condition
of country. Professionals of Appear Here, conduct huge research by using various tools such as
search engine, reports of government and current budget of country to make effective decisions
regarding business operations. In order to determine internal and external information, managers
of Appear Here use SWOT analysis to get clear and accurate data.
SWOT analysis
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It is termed as most important business analytical tool which is used by management of
business to determine their internal strengths and weaknesses as well as external opportunities
and threats in order to get proper insight about position of company in market (Du and Yu,
2021). Professionals of Appear Here can used this tool to know about their strengths and the
areas in which they need to give more efforts for improvement. Further they also use it to
determine various future opportunities which they can grab for development as well as threats for
which they need to be careful in order to safeguard their interest. SWOT analysis in the context
to Appear Here are as follows-
Strengths
 The biggest strengths of the Appear
Here is they used best and advanced
technology in order to provide
innovative services and online market
place to their potential customers.
 The another advantage for Appear Here
is they operates their business with
better finance and human resources
which proved as competitive advantage
for company.
Weaknesses
 The biggest weakness of Appear Here
is employees find difficulties to adopt
new way of working and technology
which leads to decrease in their
productivity and performance.
 The another weakness of Appear
Here is cannot manage and allocate
their resources properly which leads
to increase in cost, time and wastage
as well as decline in their profit
margin due to lack of communication
which creates confusion among
employees.
Opportunities
 The opportunity for Appear Here is
many investors shows interest in their
business operation and they are ready
to invest more amount for expansion.
 The another opportunity for Appear
Here, as management can use all the
funds and investment to expand their
business operations by introducing
Threats
 The biggest threat of Appear Here is
new startups with advance technology
and effective pricing policy which
increase more competition in market.
 Another threat for Appear Here is
change in customer demands,
expectation as well as introduction of
new technology frequently which leads
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more innovative services in another
market
to create issues among working of
employees as they needed a proper
training to adopt changes as well as
meet the desired goals.
All these informations helps the management of Appear Here for planning, decision making and
control process in order to improve effectiveness of company.
Planning refers to the process of formulating or outlines effective strategy, plan and
objectives in advance to set target for future achievement (Farinha, Ferreira and Nunes, 2018).
By using all these information as a base they can make effective plans to improve current
strengths and give more efforts in order to resolve the problems of employees and operations.
After evaluating internal and external information they make effective decisions to expand their
business operation by allocating valuable resources in effective manner to get full benefits of
available opportunity. Further, by making decisions they can monitor performance of employees
and control the wastage of resources to reduce cost and increase productivity. After monitoring
they can make plan and take decision to organise training for employees to improve their skills
or efficiency.
Evaluation of market attractiveness and competitiveness through PEST analysis and Porter five
forces
Pestle analysis can be understood as a strategic framework which is used by
establishments for scanning as well as analysing varied forces that influence business operations
in an adverse manner (Gaganis, Pasiouras and Voulgari, 2019). It is beneficial for organisational
managers as it aid them to frame viable strategies in order to make their differentiated position.
This framework help managers of Appear Here to analyse various factors which is used to
determine the competitiveness in market. Varied forces of PEST analysis in relevance with
Appear Here are as follows:
Political factors consists of elements in relation to administrative system, political
stability of a specified country. In relation to UK, numerous businesses have suffered because of
Brexit agreement which marks the departure of Britain from European Union. Business houses
who were operating in European Union has to close their establishments which led them to
loosing their customers. In context to Appear Here, it is a online marketplace which can help
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many retailers to sell their products in European Union. Political factors have created an
opportunity for Appear Here as they can collaborate with retailers of both UK and European
Union and provide them their customers.
Economic factors essentially encompasses rise in inflation rates, GDP rates and increase
in unemployment rates of a particular country (Haugh, 2020). Organisations have faced many
obstructions due to global pandemic as well as strict covid protocols. This led them to adapt
digital techniques in order to make their reach to their customers. This has created an opportunity
for Appear Here as their business is already based upon digital technologies. This has created a
vast opportunities for Appear Here as after covid pandemic, most retailers rely on their online
marketplace. This business model is adopted by many companies which can poses a threat of
competition to them.
Social factors includes perception, attitudes, taste of people residing in a particular
country. In UK, perception and attitude of people have changed and they mostly relies on online
shopping. This is considered as an opportunity for Appear Here as they can attract massive
number of customer through their business model. With the ease of digitalisation, people want
more varieties and offers which they are getting from different brands working on same business
model as Appear Here. This has created tough competition for Appear Here for which they have
to develop unique features for their business.
Technological forces essentially comprises of launch of a new technology which help
businesses to grow. UK is considered as a leading country which supports start-up businesses in
a significant way. In relevance with Appear Here, they are already working on new technological
advancements that is their online marketplace. Working in technological-driven environment
provides varied opportunities as well as competition to Appear Here whereby they have to drive
their business to create a differentiated position.
Porter five forces can be described as a framework which can be used by managers of
Appear Here in formulating strategy for making better decisions in relation to business
operations (Martinuzzi and Schönherr, 2019). Varied elements of Porter five forces model in
relevance with Appear Here are mentioned below:
Competitive rivalry is concerned with number of competitors in market and how they
struggle to develop their share. In retail market of UK, there are varied companies which have
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grater market share and online channels. There is high competitive rivalry for Appear Here as
there are many competitors such as Tesco, Morrisons and many more.
Threat of new entrants refers to entry of new market players in industry. In UK retail
industry, threat of new entrants is low as it incurs a huge amount of investment to enter into
market. In relevance with Appear Here, threat of new entrant is a big issue to them which they
have to cater through critical decision making.
Bargaining power of suppliers is concerned with number of suppliers and how better
they can make deal with companies (Novak and Janeš, 2018). Bargaining power of suppliers is
low as there are large number of suppliers and can make differential deals with companies. In
relevance with Appear Here, they have to deal with varied retailers and provide them effective
deals so that they can collaborate with them for selling their products.
Bargaining power of buyers can be understood as number of customers present in
market and how easily they can switch to other brands (Pinder, 2022). In relevance with UK
retail industry, bargaining power of buyers is high as they can easily switch their choices by
getting a better deal. In context to Appear Here, managers need to design attractive deals through
their online platforms which compels customers to not leave their brand.
Threat of substitute goods is concerned with ability to find similar products from
differential companies (Rezaee, 2019). In relevance with online platforms, there are closely
similar to each other. Thus, there is high ability of people to find substitute goods. In relevance
with Appear Here, they should adopt strategies which makes them differentiate from others.
CONCLUSION
As per presented information, it has been concluded that, every entrepreneur have to
conduct deep research about the internal and external factors in order to get accurate information
for the operations of business effectively. To start a new business they can use SWOT analysis
to determine internal and external information for the effective planning , decision-making and
control process. By using PESTLE and Porters five forces they can also determine various
external micro factors which has great role in the influence of decision making of a company.
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REFERENCES
Books and journal
Bider, I. and Chalak, A., 2019. Evaluating Usefulness of a Fractal Enterprise Model Experience
Report. In Enterprise, Business-Process and Information Systems Modeling (pp. 359-
373).
Bougie, R. and Sekaran, U., 2019. Research methods for business: A skill building approach.
John Wiley & Sons.
Du, S. and Yu, K., 2021. Do corporate social responsibility reports convey value relevant
information? Evidence from report readability and tone. Journal of business
ethics.172(2). pp.253-274.
Farinha, L., Ferreira, J.J. and Nunes, S., 2018. Linking innovation and entrepreneurship to
economic growth. Competitiveness Review: An International Business Journal.
Gaganis, C., Pasiouras, F. and Voulgari, F., 2019. Culture, business environment and SMEs'
profitability: Evidence from European Countries. Economic Modelling. 78. pp.275-292.
Haugh, H., 2020. Call the midwife! Business incubators as entrepreneurial enablers in
developing economies. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development. 32(1-2). pp.156-175.
Martinuzzi, A. and Schönherr, N., 2019. Introduction: The Sustainable Development Goals and
the Future of Corporate Sustainability. In Business and the Sustainable Development
Goals (pp. 1-17).
Novak, R. and Janeš, A., 2018. Business process orientation in the Slovenian power
supply. Business process management journal.
Pinder, J.P., 2022. Introduction to business analytics using simulation. Academic Press.
Rezaee, Z., 2019. Business sustainability, corporate governance, and organizational ethics. John
Wiley & Sons.
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