Chocolate Industry Analysis & Sustainability

This assignment delves into the global chocolate industry, requiring students to analyze current market trends, consumer preferences for ethical and sustainable products, and the impact of various factors on the industry's future. It emphasizes understanding key players, supply chain dynamics, and the role of innovation in driving sustainability within the chocolate sector.

Running Head: IT & Entrepreneurship 0
chocofills
IT & Entrepreneurship
12/17/2018

IT & Entrepreneurship
1
Course Work 2
Executive Summary
The Choco fills chocolate company is starting their new venture of manufacturing and
producing chocolates. Their tagline is “Punchy Munchy Crunchy”, which delivers a variety
of flavors and taste through chocolate bars and truffles. Their main Unique-selling
proposition is to maintain stability and focus on delivering the best quality products to their
customers. Their marketing budget and sales forecast are to be estimated, which increases the
growth and profitability of the company. In the following, an effort has been made to discuss
the business plan and pitch it to the potential investors.

IT & Entrepreneurship
2
Contents
Executive Summary...............................................................................................................................1
New Venture Formation........................................................................................................................3
Background and Branch........................................................................................................................4
Unique Selling Proposition................................................................................................................4
Company values................................................................................................................................5
Core Competencies............................................................................................................................5
Resources..............................................................................................................................................6
Market Research....................................................................................................................................7
Market segment.................................................................................................................................7
Target Market....................................................................................................................................7
Market Size and Trends.....................................................................................................................7
Porter’s five forces analysis...............................................................................................................8
SWOT analysis................................................................................................................................10
Competitor analysis.........................................................................................................................11
Customer analysis................................................................................................................................12
Planning and Costing...........................................................................................................................14
Sales forecast.......................................................................................................................................16

IT & Entrepreneurship
3
New Venture Formation
Firstly, we are planned to starting a new venture Choco fills chocolate company, which is a
chocolate manufacturing company that offers “Punchy Munchy Crunchy” in a variety of
tastes through organic chocolate bars and truffles. The organization will concentrate to
capture philosophies from customers by fulfilling their needs and preferences. The
organization delivers high-quality chocolates, truffles in a clean, and hygiene atmosphere by
serving 78% population of children and youngsters in U.K (Gallo, Antolin-Lopez and
Montiel, 2018).
The company brand name will be “Choco fills” chocolate company, which is a private
limited company and is the most business vehicle. In this, the stakeholders have no obligation
for the company’s debts above the amount payable to the company. The stakeholders are
more willing to invest in the business because of their legal structure and capital structure.
The several options are available for the foreign organization to develop a business presence
in U.K. The most common approach is to develop a framework as suppliers, lenders, and
local customers will be familiar with the overall structure and can retain a higher degree of
control and power (Fosfuri, Giarratana and Roca, 2016).
It is to be state that by setting a private limited company in United Kingdom, the Registrar of
Companies retains several details of companies through a public register held at Companies
House, which incorporates registered number and address, copies of constitutional
documents, details of directors, and share capital (Boyarskaya, Ushakova and Schwaninger,
2014).
The issues, which are involved in creating a new venture, are a crowded market, compliance,
market condition etc. It is seen that in an economy with a creation of small business inhibited
the capability to attain access to customer needs and preferences. The statutory legislation,
tax policies, and industry regulations are significant for the decision-making process. Despite
these, the wider economic market condition can avoid or delay in the establishment of a new
venture. It is to be stated that the market condition when considering a new venture are
rapidly changing the competitive market and highly unstable (Huybrechts, Nicholls and
Edinger, 2017).

IT & Entrepreneurship
4
They need to take care of the uniqueness and innovativeness of the product. They should also
ensure that premium chocolate offers smooth-melting and signature intense chocolate taste.
They should take care of the intensity of the product, which lies in the aspect that custom-
made chocolate with differences to the size, taste, and packaging as per the preference of the
customers. Intensive quality assurance in the selection of cocoa beans indicates that highest-
quality beans should be selected. It this chocolate product, proprietary blend of cocoa beans
that is refined to offer the organization’s intense and different chocolate taste. Then, it has to
be noted that the business signature flavor profile is constantly maintained and managed in all
chocolate products. It induces the customer to buy the products as it safeguards that chocolate
melts in the mouth. It is seen that nowadays individual looking for tasty chocolates because
of the competing nature of the environment. It is a good opportunity to involve in the
chocolate industry because of the prospect to generate positive revenue and growth. It will
progressively become the choice of every people in the United Kingdom and create
productivity (Sarasvathy et al., 2014).
Background and Branch
The Chocolate industry is evaluated around 45,000 tonnes valued at approximately $8
million. Bars of chocolate such as milk chocolate, truffle, nestle milky bar, Amul, and dairy
milk have covered the biggest segment accounting for 37% of the total market as per value.
The chocolate companies have increased sales, which have been targeted to attract adult
audiences. It can be displayed as snack food for the new target audiences and characterized
by huge expenses, price sensitivity, high volumes, and low margins. It has been rising at a
steady growth rate of 34% (Schjoedt et al., 2013).
Unique Selling Proposition
The uniqueness of the product lies in stability and flavor. It should be according to the
customer’s expectation and preferences.
Stability
The stability and reliability of the product made from two distinct skim milk and cocoa
powders. It is to be stated that highly stable chocolate generated from sustainable aspects that
will offer a more favorable alternative to chocolate customers in the U.K. confectionary
market (Jia et al., 2016).

IT & Entrepreneurship
5
Taste and Flavours
Choco fills will give a huge rivalry to its competitors through taste and flavors. It will offer
“Punchy Munchy Crunchy” in diverse flavors with high quality such as vanilla, crunch,
coffee, dry fruits, and caramel flavor to the customers. It is stated that utilizing high quality of
cocoa will improve the taste and flavor of chocolates. Choco fills will be defining the taste
and flavor of chocolates and it is best to share among relatives and friends (George, 2016).
Company values
Their main objective is to deliver customer with the best quality products to the best interest
of the customers.
Research and Innovation
It states that innovation will generate value for our customers. Maintaining production
processes and innovative research will attain brand loyalty of the customers and develop high
customer retention. They will concentrate on the development of the best quality products
and progressively innovate as per the positioning and nutritional values (Running, Hayes and
Ziegler, 2017).
Quality
Quality assurance induces those customers who are highly conscious about their health and
hygiene. Choco fills will deliver good quality products to the best interest of customers in
sustainable development and hygiene in order to meet the standards of U.K. standard and
Quality Controlled framework (Recanati, Marveggio and Dotelli, 2018).
Core Competencies
The core competencies on which the organization will compete are:
High quality
They need to take care of consuming the “Choco fills” as it is of supreme quality and
generate productivity. They have sufficient quantities of cocoa beans and become sticky at
room temperature. The Choco fills chocolate company will have to ensure that a customer
gets quality products at low cost (Pandi and Watson, 2018).

IT & Entrepreneurship
6
Taste
The Choco fills chocolate company maintains the pleasure in tasting the chocolate as it is
hard to focus on the particulars of flavor. The customer would describe for the chocolate as
Punchy Munchy Crunchy (Sharma and Ghosh Choudhury, 2014).
It is to be stated that the main objective behind this is to attain customer loyalty, confidence
and market share in the U.K. industry. They can utilize these Choco fills as gifts to their
customers and business clients, which help an organization to develop and grow.
Resources
The business issues involved in the Choco fills chocolate company, as it is the most exciting
product in the confectionary industry. Many products are out-dated as Choco fills maintain a
pattern of growth and success and continues to innovate as per the needs and preferences of
the customer. In the United States market, dark chocolate filled with nuts and essences such
as caramel, fruits, and chili are becoming common. The negative health connotations of
chocolate will continue to decrease sales in the United Kingdom. As, people are more
focused towards a healthy diet and need not be compromised with this, which can be a
challenge faced by the Choco fills chocolate company. Their products can stay in the market
as it can capture the health trends of the customers and success can be achieved (Nelson and
Phillips, 2018).
They cannot achieve its goals and objectives, which states that profitability and growth can
be achieved. They should develop its highest market share and compliance with the
regulation of the United Kingdom. They should take care of health and hygiene as always
provide customers with good quality and tasty chocolate product (Jones, Comfort and Hillier,
2016).
The resources involved in the Choco fills chocolate company are-
 Labour-They is the most important asset of the company as they involve transporters,
farmers, etc., which help the organization to grow and develop.
 Capital-It is the start-up capital to launch a company, which produces products and
innovate in a distinct way.
 Manufacturing, distribution, and marketing-They are also the most important
elements, which help in the careful planning of the business.

IT & Entrepreneurship
7
 Raw-material-It is an important resource, which involves milk, packaging material,
which is required for production processes of Choco fills chocolate company (Berlan,
2016).
Their primary goal is to attain customer loyalty and generate awareness among the customers
and society. It is the primary responsibility of the Choco fills chocolate company to attract
them and maintains the profitability, success, and growth of the business. They should spread
the message of good quality chocolate through the internet, television, billboards, and print
media. The digital marketing can also play an important role as they can spread awareness
through Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other social media channels. In this way, the
Choco fills chocolate company can easily grab the minds of the consumers and focus on
increasing the sales and profitability of the company (Colley, Fretwell and Bourdeau, 2017).
Market Research
Market segment
The segmentation of the market for Choco fills chocolate company is depending upon three
aspects. The first aspect is the gift segment as providing chocolates as gifts is a trend that is
rapidly growing in the United Kingdom. The next segment is based on geography as
chocolate is segmented upon customer preferences, which are sold in the areas, which
consumes more chocolates. The last segment of the market is income and revenue as higher-
market groups are ready to pay for premium chocolates. They also need to cater to the needs
and preferences of the lower-income groups also (Poelmans and Rousseau, 2016).
Target Market
The population of the United Kingdom is approximately 32.57 million consists 89% ration of
children and youngsters. Choco fills will target children and youngsters as they are more
expected to prefer chocolate or it can be stated that they love chocolates more than any other
confectionary. It is not just the flavor and taste but also the happiness on the people face
comes out from the chocolate (Lancaster and Massingham, 2017).
Market Size and Trends
It has been predicted that the chocolate market in the United Kingdom will develop to $ 96
million in 2019 from the $89.3 million in 2015. Presently, Asia is maintaining sales in the
market as it has lower penetration in the market and is expected to hold a 30% market share

IT & Entrepreneurship
8
in 2019. It has been seen that it is expected to rise to $23.7 million in 2019 from the $19
million in 2015. Their market is expected to generate a high CAGR degree of 6.8% because
of the lower penetration (Neilson et al., 2018).
The United Kingdom chocolate market is expected to rise by a value CAGR of approximately
9% at continuous prices of 2018 during the forecast period, which is aligned with the value
CAGR of 8% at continuous prices of 2018 during the increase in development rate. It is
attributable to the penetration of chocolate product in the children and youngster segment
(Lipton et al., 2015).
Porter’s five forces analysis
Competitive Rivalry
 The chocolate market is a developing market that slowly increases the competition
between the competitors in the industry.
 The chocolate market has both high fixed cost and storage costs.
 The chocolate market has high exit barriers.
Threat of new entrants
 It has been stated that its level of competition is intense from the well-developed
brands.
Competitive
Rivalry
Threat of
new
Entrants
Bargaining
power of
buyers
Threat of
substitute
products
Bargaining
powers of
suppliers

IT & Entrepreneurship
9
 Their cost of legal requirement requires registration of the company.
 They have well-developed distribution and marketing channel.
 Their start-up and advertisement costs are high because of the business premises as
they are at the initial stage.
Bargaining power of buyers
 The chocolate market has an innovated product, which decreases the powers of
buyers.
 It has been stated that buyer substituting costs in the cocoa and chocolate industry is
moderate to rise as the product is differentiated.
 Departmental stores are the major customers as large volume retailers can decrease
the profit and revenue.
 It has been stated that buyer has lack of threat of backward integration.
Threat of Substitute products
 The threat of substitute chocolate products in the United Kingdom is high.
 They must compete with various substitute products such as ice-cream-brownies;
bakery items can give threat to the industry’s profitability.
Bargaining powers of suppliers
 It has been stated that the bargaining powers of suppliers are moderate.
 The suppliers of the cocoa and chocolate market have substantial bargaining power
over the market due to the limited number of suppliers.
 In this market, the bargaining power of the supplier group is the reliance of the
industry product on the supplier product.
 It has been predicted that if the supplier’s product does not meet the expectations of
the customer then the industry will suffer largely (Wilson, 2015).

IT & Entrepreneurship
10
SWOT analysis
Strength
 It has been seen that customers are craving
for best quality chocolate product and it
serve well to persuade customers.
 A large group of professionals is
continuing the Choco fills chocolate as a
gift and spreading the culture of fine
chocolate.
 They are matching the needs and
preferences of the customer as it is raising
the demands.
Weakness
 It has been stated that competition is
intense and industry is saturated.
 The profit margins are discouraging as
it faces difficulties in maintaining a
cost-effective business, which is the
greatest weakness of the market.
 In today’s era, the competition is
intense and in the promotion of these
chocolate products need much
investment.
Opportunities
 There are business-to-business
opportunities as to fulfill the needs of the
customer's standards should be raised.
 With the increase in reputation of the
confectionary industry in U.K., they are
looking forward to selling and promote the
chocolate products in the overall market.
 The social media can be utilized for great
exposure in satisfying profit margins for
Choco fills chocolate company.
Threats
 They are facing threat with big
manufacturers and dealers who are
trying to give trouble.
 It is been predicted that many
companies are now generating low
margins.
 Many people want that their health
should not be compromised and seek
that juices should be consumed despite
chocolate.
(Beg et al., 2017)

IT & Entrepreneurship
11
Competitor analysis
Competitive
factors
Cadbury Nestle Mars Choco fills
Unique Selling
Proposition
Taste Quality Quality and
Flavour
Innovation and
Stability
Products Dairy Milk, Fruit and
Nuts, Caramel
Sonnet and
Paradise
Snickers and
Mars
Truffle
Price 30-40 40 and above 35 40-60
Promotion Ad Campaign Direct Selling TVC’s Sales
Promotion
Company size Very large Large Moderate Moderate
Market share 56% 45% 30% 40%
Quality High Good Low Good
(Madar, 2018)

IT & Entrepreneurship
12
Strategic Group Mapping
Quality
High
Nestle
Low
Cadbury
Narrow Broad
Geographic Market scope
(Kaur and Malhotra, 2016)
Indirect Competition-
It has been stated that the target audience incorporates customers of not only chocolates but
also involves other confectionary products such as candies, biscuits, and have proved to be
indirect competition (Allen and Ward, 2018).
Customer analysis
It has been seen that the customer has established aspects of chocolate consumption. In the
United Kingdom, the Choco fills chocolate can secure a substantial brand status. It has
identified three main consumer patterns of Impulse, take home, and gift, which reveals the
decision-making processes of customers (SHRIVASTAVA, 2016). It has been stated that
impulse purchases are typically purchased products for continuous consumption. The pattern
of taking home is progressively purchased in a supermarket and is often directed by a
particular need or desires to achieve something. The customer makes a decision that is more
rational at some point because of the price issue or quality. The gift can be given for
maintaining business relations or improving personal or professional relations, which can
make a strong bond with customers and achieve success for the future perspective
(Alhawsawi, 2016).
It to be stated that Choco fills chocolate company should successfully recognize and isolate
customer segments in a different way. In this way, it becomes easier to target potential
products and advertising in a more significant way to generate consumption. The new
Mars
Choco
fills

IT & Entrepreneurship
13
products have played a significant role in increasing market as brands strive to deliver
something to a customer in a different way (Doherty, 2018). It has been stated that changing
lifestyle patterns i.e. impulse buying, eager to purchase the product and behave according to
that, which continues to play an essential role in the chocolate industry. The Choco fills
chocolate company can address the needs and preferences of each and every from childhood
to adult age. The analysis of gift gives stress to the importance of maintaining innovative
products in the chocolate industry. The Choco fills chocolate industry should make plans to
utilize in Valentine’s Day, Father’s day, Christmas, Mother’s day, Easter, and other patterns
of occasions. They should utilize marketing strategy to motivate a link among Choco fills
chocolate company and customers, which ensure its reliability and productivity (Iqbal, Grigg
and Govindaraju, 2017).
The Choco fills chocolate company should capture the minds of customers through
advertising and sales promotion. It can stick the brand in the minds of every customer, they
will also remember the brand, and its tagline says “Punchy Munchy Crunchy”, which induces
the customer to purchase the product and achieve the growth. They should improve the
marketing strategy to communicate the brand recognition, core competency and values to
attain the attention of customers (Slavova, 2017). In order to make its product competitive
and innovative, Choco fills should take care of the management policies and approaches to
use while making the product innovative. They should produce an advertising campaign,
which attributes new values and philosophies to a brand, which provides a competitive
advantage to the customers to purchase the product. Brand strength capability and healthy
brand engagement is important in a competitive market. They should attract their prospective
as well as new customers through advertisement and sales promotion, which draws an
important role in securing a competitive advantage. The Choco fills chocolate company
engages all categories of advertising from posters to internet, from T.V. to cinema, and from
radio to print media. Therefore, customers are equally important for maintaining the brand
image for Choco fills chocolate company (Mierzwa and Zimmer, 2017).

IT & Entrepreneurship
14
Planning and Costing
Total Output=
$9.00units
Particulars
Cost Per
Unit Total Cost
Raw Material
Honey = $7.02
Peanuts = $8.76
Almonds = $6.43
Sugar = $ 8.32 10.5 $240.00
Boston Baked Bean = $5.50
Cocoa Butter = $7.34
Milk Solids = $6.78
Vanilin = $4.65
Cocoa Solids = $6.90
Chocolate Coated Rasins = 5.40
Direct Labour = $10.23 5.67 $10.23
Carriage on Material = $9.50 4.65 $9.50
Prime Cost 20.82 $250.73
Factory Expenses
Fixed-
Factory Insurance = $4.50
Rent = $4.50
Supervisor's Salary= $3.50 5.5 $220.00
Power and Consumable Stores= $5.50
Depreciation on Plant and Machinery= $6.50
Variable-
Running expenses of Machine= $4.32
Electricity charges= $6.54
Power and Consumable Stores= $5.65
Factory Cost 26.32 $460.00
Office and Administration Expenses
Salaries to administrative staff= $5.65
Carriage outward= $7.65
Furniture= $6.54
Rent= $4.43
Rent, rates, and taxes= $5.54 6.5 $400.00

IT & Entrepreneurship
15
Depreciation on Furniture= $5.64
Telephone= $6.65
Computer= $3.43
Office staff salary= $5.55
Office and Administration Cost 32.82 $860.00
Selling and Distribution Expenses
Packing rates= $5.34
Delivery vehicles= $8.76
Advertisement= $9.55 5.5 $300.30
Bad Debts written-off= $6.55
Maintenance of delivery vehicles= $5.55
Petrol= $5.55
Total Cost 38.32 $1160.30
Net Profit 2 $9.00
Sales 40 1200
(Bilgic, Kantardzic and Cakir, 2015)
It is being analyzed that the Choco fills chocolate company introduced with a new venture in
the confectionary industry with a competitive advantage. The positive image and goodwill of
the market will assist the Choco fills chocolate company to capture the whole market in a
very short span of time. The company will introduce their new venture just before Christmas
and New Year to attain the market share and growth rate. They are producing 9000 units of
chocolates at the rate of $38.32, which again suggest that the profit will be $2 is attained on
the single unit of chocolate (Kandrashina et al., 2016).
It is predicted that the Choco fills chocolate company can earn some percentage of profit,
which is above the cost that means improving cost can be the favorable condition for the
organization. As the organization is earning some profit so it is proved that the business can
be launch to the feasible condition. The punch line of the Choco fills chocolate company is
“Punchy Munchy Crunchy”, which will make the customers attracted towards then chocolate.
It is seen that the pack is designed and packaged in such a way like the one superior of all
chocolates is displayed at the shop (Dolgun and Köksal, 2017).
The planning and costing of Choco fill chocolate company had a great as well as immense
scope in the U.K. market as it differs from all other kinds of the chocolate product under

IT & Entrepreneurship
16
distinct brands. They can capture the minds of the customers and the industry quickly and in
a very short span. As per the survey conducted, it is found that 95% of customers consume
chocolates, 32% customers are of 8-13 age group, and 56% customers are of 15-25 age
groups, which says that both the age groups consume chocolates in a regular and progressive
way. They should be competitive in nature and maintain the innovativeness in the industry
(Fayard et al., 2014).
Sales forecast
According to the chocolate consumption survey conducted in 2015, children age group of 8
to13 consume 5 chocolates daily and their consumption ratio is 95% and youngsters age
group of 15-25 consumption ratio is 92% in the United Kingdom. It is predicted that the
population is evaluated approximately around 56.32 million and the market size of the
potential market is evaluated 45.34 million. The Choco fills chocolate company evaluated 20
million populations will target monthly in the United Kingdom (Zahller, 2017).
Sales projection of Choco fills chocolate company through Linear Regression Line:
The linear regression line is of the form Y =a+bX, in this Y is predicted to be the value of the
dependent variable, b is the slope i.e. change in sales, and X is the independent variable i.e.
market factor.
Projection of sales: Y=a+bX
Y= projected sales
‘a’=unit sales
‘b’=change in sales
‘X’= market factor
Sales = $23000+35000(4.20)
= $170,000
It is stated that Choco fills chocolate company will evaluated sales $15000 units as semi-
annually and are expected to develop to $17000 at the end of the prospective year and over
$20000 in 2019 and $22000 in 2020. Therefore, the Choco fills chocolate company operation

IT & Entrepreneurship
17
and production overall capacity, and the distribution agreements need to be projected
reasonably and progressively. The Choco fills chocolate company should promote through
advertising and sales promotion, will generate sales and improves growth, which will be
profitable for the organization (NOTHING and EVERYTHING, 2017).
Manufacturing units 2015:
Projected Sales: $15000 units
Add-Propose (12%) $ 1800 units
Requirement $16800 units
Less-Inventory $(6000) units
Units produce $10800 units
(Kühn, Strelow and Gallinat, 2016)
They should synchronize their department as sales manager projects the sales forecast, which
maintains the accounts and records of the Choco fills chocolate company. It manages the
revenue, sales, expenses, etc. of particular periods. They need to take care to generate leads
and educate prospects to satisfy and fulfill the needs and preferences of customers and turn
the prospective customers into loyal customers. They should design and maintain the
products as per the needs and preferences of the customer (Hendarty et al., 2014). They need
to enter the industry as a strong competitor as many other competitors are already present in
the market, as it is very tough to enter into the industry. It is stated that if customers get the
value for the product, they can progressively oppose with the competitors and can maintain
the positive attitude of the consumers towards the product. The financial budget of the Choco
fills chocolate company stated that the cost of commencement of business comprising the
expenses, legal fees and other sorts of ownership. They need to communicate the budget to
the prospective customers so that they get an idea about the sales of the product.

IT & Entrepreneurship
18
References
Alhawsawi, R. (2016) Marketing Mix in FMCG’s leading Companies: Four Ps
Analysis. International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, 7(2), pp.734-737.
Allen, K.E. and Ward, R. (2018) Local Food Entrepreneurship Support, Needs and Gap
Analysis. International Journal, 67, pp.90-111.
Beg, M.S., Ahmad, S., Jan, K. and Bashir, K. (2017) Status, supply chain and processing of
cocoa-A review. Trends in Food Science & Technology, 66, pp.108-116.
Berlan, A. (2016) Whose business is it anyway: Children and corporate social responsibility
in the international business agenda. Children & Society, 30(2), pp.159-168.
Bilgic, E., Kantardzic, M. and Cakir, O. (2015) Retail store segmentation for target
marketing. In Industrial Conference on Data Mining, 76, pp. 32-44.
Boyarskaya, T., Ushakova, E. and Schwaninger, M. (2014) A Systems Approach to Business
Strategy: The Case of Chocolate Production. International Journal, 34(8), pp.34-65.
Colley, M.C., Fretwell, C. and Bourdeau, B. (2017) From Social Entrepreneurship to
Sustainable Entrepreneurship: Improving the value chain and marketing of Haitian
chocolate. Journal of Strategic Innovation & Sustainability, 12(2).
Doherty, B. (2018) Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment through Fair Trade Social
Enterprise: Case of Divine Chocolate and Kuapa Kokoo. In Entrepreneurship and the
Sustainable Development Goals, 7(1), pp. 151-163.
Dolgun, L.E. and Köksal, G. (2017) Effective use of quality function deployment and Kansei
engineering for product planning with sensory customer requirements: A plain yogurt
case. Quality Engineering. 18(1), pp.20-31.
Fayard, D., Lee, L.S., Leitch, R.A. and Kettinger, W.J. (2014) Interorganizational cost
management in supply chains: Practices and payoffs. Management accounting
quarterly, 15(3), pp.1-9.

IT & Entrepreneurship
19
Fosfuri, A., Giarratana, M.S. and Roca, E. (2016) Social business hybrids: Demand
externalities, competitive advantage, and growth through diversification. Organization
Science, 27(5), pp.1275-1289.
Gallo, P.J., Antolin-Lopez, R. and Montiel, I. (2018) Associative Sustainable Business
Models: Cases in the bean-to-bar chocolate industry. Journal of Cleaner Production, 174,
pp.905-916.
George, B.P. (2016) Unique Selling Propositions in the Caribbean Tourism: A Longitudinal
Analysis with Special Reference to the Role of Attraction Diversity. International Journal,
87(5), pp.56-88.
Hendarty, H., Bard, G., Foretay, O. and Jie, F. (2014) Information sharing and information
quality at a chocolate firm. International Journal of Information, Business and
Management, 6(4), p.73.
Huybrechts, B., Nicholls, A. and Edinger, K. (2017) Sacred alliance or pact with the devil?
How and why social enterprises collaborate with mainstream businesses in the fair trade
sector. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 29(8), pp.586-608.
Iqbal, Z., Grigg, N.P. and Govindaraju, K. (2017) Performing competitive analysis in QFD
studies using state multipole moments and bootstrap sampling. Quality Engineering, 29(2),
pp.311-321.
Jia, F., Wang, X., Mustafee, N. and Hao, L. (2016) Investigating the feasibility of supply
chain-centric business models in 3D chocolate printing: A simulation study. Technological
Forecasting and Social Change, 102, pp.202-213.
Jones, P., Comfort, D. and Hillier, D. (2016) Water stewardship and North America's food
and beverage companies: a case study in corporate sustainability. International Journal of
Corporate Strategy and Social Responsibility, 1(1), pp.26-43.
Kandrashina, E., Zotova, A.S., Smolina, E.S., Dorozhkin, V. and Dneprov, S., 2016.
Competitiveness as the Factor of Settlements Terms Forming at the Market of Chocolate
Producers. International Journal, 33(8), pp.56-99.
Kaur, R. and Malhotra, H. (2016) SWOT analysis of m-commerce. In Securing transactions
and payment systems for m-commerce, 89(6), pp. 48-67.

IT & Entrepreneurship
20
Kühn, S., Strelow, E. and Gallinat, J. (2016) Multiple “buy buttons” in the brain: Forecasting
chocolate sales at point-of-sale based on functional brain activation using
fMRI. NeuroImage, 136, pp.122-128.
Lancaster, G. and Massingham, L. (2017) Markets and customers: market boundaries; target
marketing. In Essentials of Marketing Management, 43, pp. 70-101.
Lipton, J.I., Cutler, M., Nigl, F., Cohen, D. and Lipson, H. (2015) Additive manufacturing for
the food industry. Trends in food science & technology, 43(1), pp.114-123.
Madar, A. (2018) REMOVING THE PRESSURE FROM COMPETITION BY USING
DIVERSIFICATION STRATEGY. Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Brasov.
Economic Sciences. Series V, 11(1), pp.99-108.
Mierzwa, D. and Zimmer, J. (2017) The Analysis of Competitive Behaviour of Enterprises in
the Chocolate and Confectionary Industry. Business and non-profit organizations facing
increased competition and growing customers’demands, 45, pp.76-89.
Neilson, J., Pritchard, B., Fold, N. and Dwiartama, A. (2018) Lead Firms in the Cocoa–
Chocolate Global Production Network: An Assessment of the Deductive Capabilities of GPN
2.0. Economic Geography, 66, pp.1-25.
Nelson, V. and Phillips, D. (2018) Sector, landscape or rural transformations? Exploring the
limits and potential of agricultural sustainability initiatives through a cocoa case
study. Business Strategy and the Environment, 27(2), pp.252-262.
NOTHING, P.A. and EVERYTHING, P.I. (2017) Sales and Operations Planning. Managing
Supply Chain Operations, 56, p.81.
Pandi, S. and Watson, D. (2018) Transformational Change and the Implications of Food
Safety: A Case Study of a Greek Chocolate Manufacturer. Acta Scientific Nutritional
Health, 2(7), pp.16-24.
Poelmans, E. and Rousseau, S. (2016) How do chocolate lovers balance taste and ethical
considerations?. British Food Journal, 118(2), pp.343-361.
Recanati, F., Marveggio, D. and Dotelli, G. (2018) From beans to bar: A life cycle
assessment towards sustainable chocolate supply chain. Science of the Total
Environment, 613, pp.1013-1023.

IT & Entrepreneurship
21
Running, C.A., Hayes, J.E. and Ziegler, G.R. (2017) Degree of free fatty acid saturation
influences chocolate rejection in human assessors. Chemical senses, 42(2), pp.161-166.
Sarasvathy, S., Kumar, K., York, J.G. and Bhagavatula, S. (2014) An effectual approach to
international entrepreneurship: Overlaps, challenges, and provocative
possibilities. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 38(1), pp.71-93.
Schjoedt, L., Monsen, E., Pearson, A., Barnett, T. and Chrisman, J.J. (2013) New venture and
family business teams: Understanding team formation, composition, behaviors, and
performance. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 37(1), pp.1-15.
Sharma, S. and Ghosh Choudhury, A. (2014) A qualitative study on evolution of
relationships between third-party logistics providers and customers into strategic
alliances. Strategic Outsourcing: An International Journal, 7(1), pp.2-17.
SHRIVASTAVA, A.K. (2016) COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF FAST MOVING
CONSUMER GOODS: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF CADBURY AND
NESTLE. Global Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 5(3).
Slavova, G. (2017) GLOBAL AND DOMESTIC BULGARIAN PRODUCTION OF
COCOA AND CHOCOLATE ARTICLES FOR THE PERIOD 2013-2016. Trakia Journal
of Sciences, 15(1), pp.10-17.
Wilson, R.C. (2015) Mayhem: A hands-on case playing activity for teaching Porter’s five
forces to undergraduate business students. Small Business Institute Journal, 11(2), pp.48-59.
Zahller, K.A. (2017) Truffle in paradise: Job costing for a small business. Journal of
Accounting Education, 40, pp.32-42.

IT & Entrepreneurship
22
Appendix