Planning for Growth

This assignment discusses the importance of planning for growth in business and explores the strategies to achieve it. It also covers the various sources of funding for business expansion. The chosen company is Oak Cash and Carry, a wholesaler dealing in grocery items. The report includes tasks on measuring growth opportunities, developing business plans, and making decisions on business continuation or exit. Subject: Business Management, Course Code: BMGT101, College/University: Not mentioned

Planning for Growth

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK1.............................................................................................................................................3
P1............................................................................................................................................3
P2............................................................................................................................................5
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................7
P3............................................................................................................................................7
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................9
P4............................................................................................................................................9
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................12
P5..........................................................................................................................................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
Planning for the growth is the core function which the organisations perform in order to
succeed in the competitive market. Planning in advance will assist the business about the
creation of the business plan and what is to be achieved and how it should be achieve. It is
essential for the business to plan for their future growth and development as this provide the
business with the big picture about their long term goals and vision. SME's are the business
which are generally of small and medium size. In this report the chosen company is Oak Cash
and Carry which is one of the wholesaler deals in the Grocery items. This assignment covers four
different tasks such as the key consideration to measure the growth opportunity and several
sources of funding. Along with this the reports also covers the development of the business plans
to expand the business and also focuses on the determination of the ways through which the
owner of the business can decide whether to exit the business or to continue the organisation
with succession.
TASK1
P1
Planning refers to the ongoing process in every business organisation which assist the
association in accomplishing their goals with proper guidance and strategies. Appropriate
planning also helps the business to analyse the differences between the actual performance and
planned performance (Keough, 2015). The business of Oak Cash and Carry require to focus on
the expansion of their association in the UK market by formulation of proper plans and
strategies. Oak Cash and Carry require to adopt various measures which are mentioned below:
Porter's generic strategy:
Porter's generic model is the one which helps the business association gaining a
competitive advantage over their rivals. This model is the one which provides the business with
the directions which will lead to the enhancement of organisations performance. This structure
consists of the stages such as:
Cost Leadership strategy- This action calls for the low cost of the products. By keeping
the low cost of the products the business of Oak Cash and Carry can successfully gain a
competitive advantage which will help them in competing with the competitors available in front

of them in the market. And will also assist the business in capturing the larger share in the
market with the increased customer base (Barbour and Deakin, 2012).
Differentiation- This strategy involves the creation of the new and unique product which
will help the business in gaining the competitive advantage so that the firms can easily satisfy the
demands and needs of the customers as per their expectations. The Unique features of the
product will enable the business to capture the minds of the customers so that the large customer
base can be built.
Cost Focus- This strategy is the one which gives emphasis on the niche market or narrow
market within this markets the firms tends to gain cost advantage as well as the differentiation.
Cost focus strategy is the only strategy which is used by the businesses after identifying the
changing demands and preferences of the customers so that the business of Oak Cash and Carry
can easily capture mind of the customers.
Differentiation focus – This strategy calls for the creation of plans and strategy so that
the business can easily create their brand recognitions and recall in the brain of the customers.
With help of this, management of organisation can easily gain competitive advantage over their
rivals. Thought and policies can be made for initiating an innovative good in industry in order to
attract large customer base.
Thus, The business of Oak Cash and Carry must focus on the adoption of cost focus
strategy as this will provide the business with the competitive advantage, large customer base
through their low cost products (MacLeod, 2013).
PESTEL analysis
The business must consider all the external factors of the macro environment before the
formulation of their business plan as this will enable them in understanding which factors are
influencing their business. The management of the business Oak Cash and Carry will perform
the PESTLE analysis in business so that the firm can decrease their risks and all those
uncertainties which can directly impact the profit margin of the business. Various components of
the PESTLE analysis have been discussed below:
Political: These factors are those which are regulated by the government of the country.
This involves rules and regulations, policies etc. as the political background of the UK economy
is stable the business of Oak Cash and Carry has broad opportunity to grow their association in
the UK economy.

Economical: Economical factor is the one which involves the inflation rate, interest rate,
growth rates etc. which have been established by the government. The business of company have
higher opportunity to grow and sustain their business by the generation of the higher amount of
revenues into the UK market as the economy enjoys high amount of the growth rate.
Social factors: These needs are the prime requirement of the customers as this involves
needs, belief, values etc. so the company of the Oak Cash and Carry must focus on the taste and
preference of the company for maintaining survival in the market (Lambert and Oatley, 2017).
Technological factors: The business of Oak Cash and Carry must focus on the
manufacturing of their products with the latest and innovative products so that the customers’
needs and demands can be satisfied. Here the prime function is the installation of the new
techniques which support the business to beat their competitors.
Environmental- The business of the Oak Cash and Carry require to consider all those
negative as well as positive aspects of the environment which can have great impact on the
operations of the organisations. For the resolution of all those environmental issues the business
must focus on the adoption of the various laws and regulations to protect the environment on the
systematic manner.
Legal factors- This factor involves all those laws which have been imposed by the
government for the protection of their potential employees and customers such as discrimination
law, employment laws etc. so that the commercial activities of Oak Cash and Carry can enhance
their business productivity and profitability.
P2
Ansoff's Growth Matrix: This model is the effective marketing tools which supports
the business in determining the products and its market growth so that the business can
successfully compete in the market place with their rival firms (Lu and et. al., 2013). Below
mentioned are the series of the strategies which the management of the Oak Cash and Carry have
adopted:
Market penetration: This strategy is used by the business in order to maintain their
stability in the market by increasing the market share with the existing goods and services.
Through the installation of these strategy the business of Oak Cash and Carry can easily maintain
their sustainability in the industry for a longer duration of time. This can be achieved only when

the investment in the marketing tools is done on the higher rate so that the brand can attract large
customers mind.
Benefits:
 Increased amount of the profit can be earned, as the business is familiar to the situation
prevailing in the market and its customers’ demands (Glock, Jaber and Zolfaghari,
2012).
 Large market share can be covered as the product is adopted by the customers in a very
quick manner as the business provides the product similar to the competitors but the
prices of the items are less.
Risk factor:
 Less innovations in the products due to which new market ratio can be captured.
 Negatively affect the brand image of organisation.
Market development: This strategy calls for the expansion of the market to the other
marketplace in order to build the extreme market recognition. By the adoption of this strategy the
business of Oak Cash and Carry can operates their dealings to the non-operated regions such as
Australia, China and in other areas.
Benefits:
 The business can have built strong base of customer’s base for their goods and services
as they are operating in new market.
 The business can easily achieve their targeted goals within the time frame given.
Risk factor:
 Proper tools for the advertising of the products must be used and should give more
emphasis on the understanding of the customers’ demands and preferences.
Product development: this strategy is the one in which the company tries to enhance
their existing customer share launching the innovative good in the existing market. With help of
this action plan, the business can easily determine the opportunities and needs of the market so
that the survival of the business can be maintained and company can sustain in market for long
time (Arzaghi and et. al., 2017).
Benefits:

 By the creation of the product with the innovative and unique feature the company can
earn higher amount of profit and along with this the business can also be termed as a
competitors for the other in the market.
Risk factor:
 The business must focus on the creation of the demand for the unique product in the
market.
Diversification: Diversification is the term that involves the creation of the products and
services so that the business can expand their profit margin in the competitive market. This
strategy of diversification will also help the business of Oak Cash and Carry to launch new
product in the new market segments (Litman, 2013).
Benefit :
 It supports the business earning higher amount of revenues in the new market segment
which enables the business to gain a position of growth by competing their competitors.
Also helps in pulling the customer towards the new products in the current market
segment.
Risk factor:
 Rise in customer’s needs alter rarely due to which targeted goals and standards cannot be
attained and negatively affect the value of company in market.
 The business of Oak Cash and Carry must adopt the market strategy of market
development as this will enable the business to cover large market share and large mass
of the customers towards the new product. Launching of the new product in the market
which is already in existence will increase the level of competition with the rivals which
will indirectly prove as a benefit for the customers as well as the organisation
(Pothukuchi, 2015).
From all the available options, it can be concluded that the best option available for Oak
Cash and Carry is market development. Company can enter in new market or can offer its
current services to new customers. This option is effective as with this, company will get a
chance to offer its services to new customers which will not only increase the profits of company
but at the same time will ensure long term sustainability of organisation in market. Enterprise
require to carry out research in order to be aware about the needs and wants of customers of new

market in which it wants to expand. With all this, company can expand its commercial activities
and can achieve its set objectives.
TASK 2
P3
Funding refers to as the allocation of the finances in such a manner so that the business
goals can be achieved with the proper investments. The business of the Oak Cash and Carry must
focus on their allocation and management of the financial resources through which the growth
and the extreme level of profit can be achieved. The business of the Oak Cash and Carry is
operating their activities with limited amount of the finance for the expansion of the business
across the globe. So the association have focused on the various sources to generate the funds.
These sources are as follows-
Internal sources of funding: These sources of the funding are those which are available
to the business within their internal environment only . These includes the funds raised from the
sale of the assets, reducing working capital, debt collection etc.
External sources of funding: External sources of funding refers to as the extraction of
the finance from outside the enterprise. These involves the raising of the funds from equity
capital, bank overdraft etc.
 Bank loan- Bank loan is the banking term where the amount of the fund is
borrowed from the bank with the promise to pay it within the specific time period
which have been mentioned. This is the amount which an individual borrow for
the shorter span of time or for the longer span of time (Holman and Rydin, 2013).
Advantage- The benefits which the bank loan provides to the associations are that they
can get exact rate of interest so that the business can repay that within the given time frame.
Examples: The business of Oak Cash and Carry can be benefited by the extraction of loan from
the bank as taking a loan from the bank will come up with the burden to repay it within the time
frame by which the company can expand their market and can operate smoothly.
Disadvantage- With the certain advantages there are some disadvantages which are also
attached to it. In this if the business fails to repay their loan the assets of the association can be
seized. Example: If the business of Oak Cash and Carry fails to repay the amount of the loan

than they think of selling their assets which was kept as security because of which the goals of
the business is not meet on time.
 Overdraft- Overdraft is the one in which the agreements between both the parties is
signed for the extension of the credit limits. In this the agreement between the Oak Cash
and Carry and the bank is being signed. Some pros and cons of overdraft are mentioned
beneath:
Advantage- In this the issues related to the arrangement of the finance can be solved
easily as the funds can be raised in the best possible manner. Example: The targeted goals of
the business can be achieved effectively as the amount of the cash in the overdraft can be
collected on the immediate basis (Güneralp and et. al., 2015).
Disadvantage- the most important disadvantage which the organisation has to face is
that if the management wants to extent the overdraft they have to pay some extra fees. Example:
the debt ratio of the business of Oak Cash and Carry has increased just because the business was
charged with the high amount of fees for exceeding the limits of the overdraft.
 Crowdfunding- Crowdfunding is basically a concept of arranging of the funds from each
and every individual. The amount which is raised though the crowdfunding is generally
small. The concept of crowdfunding is used by the social media industry in order to raise
their funds from different individuals. There are number of advantage and disadvantage
attached such as -
Advantage- As this is used mostly by the online sources so the gathering of the funds is
done within the specific time period & it leads to the increment in the brand recognition.
Example: Oak Cash and Carry can easily collect the huge quantity of the funds from these
sources and can accomplish the targeted goals within the time frame (Boddy and Hickman,
2013).
Disadvantage- It becomes challenging for organisations to build interest of general
public for the accumulation of fund. Example: due to the weak relationship with the mass of
people it is difficult for the Oak Cash and Carry to raise the sufficient amount of the funds.

TASK 3
P4
A business plan is the documents which serve as a blueprint to the business for operating
their operations in the best possible manner. Preparation of the business plans in the association
is necessary as its covers all the detailed information about the organisations objectives,
methods, time limits which provides the business with a big picture of how to execute the
operations effectively. A business plan also consists about the information regarding the business
background, its financial condition and it functioning with the strategy which have been
implemented in order to achieve the goals which have been stated. The business of Oak Cash and
Carry which deals in the Grocery items is design to grow their business in diverse areas for
which the preparation of the business plan is decided so that the business can grow with the
increasing rate. Business plan consists of the various elements such as vision of the company,
mission of the company, objective of the company. Creation of the business plan assist the
business in carrying all their business operations in the most effective manner (Hess and
Sorensen, 2015). It also helps while formulating policies and procedures for the success of the
business in the near future. The prime objective behind the formulation of the business plan is to
attract the large number of investors by ensure that if they invest in the business they will get
higher amount of return and also convince them to invest in new undertaking by showing the
business plan as an attractive plan (Lu and et. al., 2013). The business of Oak Cash and Carry has
planned for the expansion of their business by establishing new venture of Finest Organic Foods.
For which the business plan has been prepared as follows-
Vision: The vision of the Oak Cash and Carry is to expand their business by the launch
of the new shop of the Finest organic Foods so that the larger market share can be covered.
Mission: The mission of the business of Oak Cash and Carry is to satisfy their potential
customers by offer them featured goods as per their taste and preferences.
Objectives: The business of Oak Cash and Carry works with the objectives to earn
higher amount of the profits which from 20% to 50% in the coming 3 years. The company also
tends to increase their market share with the help of their potential employees so that the
demands of the employees as well as the business can be fulfilled within the specific period of
time (Zheng and Lv, 2016). The business of Oak Cash and Carry also focuses on the adoption of

the SMART approaches so that they can easily identify that the objective of the business is
Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time bound.
Financial Information : By introducing new finest organic food shop an association
requires large measure of assets because of which the administrator ought to think about various
alternatives to raise finance. These alternatives incorporate bank credit, crowdfunding, overdraft,
heavenly attendant financing and so forth. As indicated by the study, bank credit will be the most
reasonable choice to pick who charges low pace of enthusiasm when contrasted with other
raising money alternatives. Additionally, the firm needs to utilize online stages for advancement
and promoting of their new items and furthermore to impact the buying conduct of their end
clients (Crow, 2015). The estimated budget for the new finest food shops have been mentioned
beneath :
Total estimated Budget
Particular 31/12/16 ($) 31/12/17 ($) 31/12/18 ($)
Employing technology
expenditure
10000 - 7000
Promotional cost 15000 7600 2000
Advertisement cost 1000 9000 2000
Catalogue 8000 6700 4800
Training cost 7200 5000 6000
Total Cost 41200 28300 21800
From the above mentioned estimated budget is can be clearly seen that allocation of the
budget is done according to the requirement as these are necessary for the smooth functioning of
the new undertaking in the new market segment (Špicar, 2014).
Internal analysis: The business of Oak Cash and Carry may focus on the Swot analysis so that
the internal strength, weakness, opportunity and threat can be identified.
Strength Weakness

 The business of Oak cash and Carry
experiences a large customer base as
the business offer their consumers with
high quality of goods and services
(Seto and et. al., 2014).
 The business may suffer from the lack
consumption of their organic foods as
every individual does not consume
organic foods.
Opportunity
 The business has the opportunity to
expand their brands products to the
regions or segment where the people
does not have the knowledge of these
organic foods.
Threat
 The business may suffer from the high
and tough competition as there are
number of companies dealing in the
same products.
Cash flow statement:

Illustration 1: Cash Flow Statement
(Source: OAK CASH & CARRY LIMITED, 2016)
This graph is showing that the business of the Oak Cash and carry can easily pay their
debt as the amount which is pending to pay the debt is available to the firm.
TASK 4
P5
There are different elements that impacted the operations of the business example,
political, economic fluctuation, innovative up-degree and so forth which has come up with large
number of difficulties and has definitely influenced the matter of Oak Cash and Carry because of
which its productivity and business circumstances is in threat (Keough, 2015). It has lead the
director of company to think that they want to leave the market or sustain with the expectation of

achieve success in the near future. A few different methods to exit and progression of business
are referenced underneath:
Liquidation – It is the process which refers to the winding up of the firms when the
business become insolvent in paying its debt.
Advantage:
 Employees working within the company can claims for any holiday pay, unpaid salary
notice pay and redundancy from the funds of the government. For Instance: the business
of Oak Cash and Carry can build strong relations with the employees by asking them if
there is any unpaid salary left so that the goodwill of the business can be maintained.
Disadvantage:
 Once the decision for the Liquidation is taken the firm will no longer be able to trade in
the market. For example: If the business of Oak Cash and carry takes the liquidation
decision they cannot trade in the market and are also not allowed to increase productivity
(Barbour and Deakin, 2012).
Sell of the business in Open market: Under this the business is sold in the open market
to the third party it can be either the employees or the manager of the firm. The firm here decides
to continue the business by selling it to another party rather than winding up of the business.
Advantage :
 The employees who are working within the company turn out to be more familiar to the
working environment due to which the business can easily perform their activities in the
near future. For example: The business can easily achieve their business vision and
objectives by expansion of their business operation in the market. Which has leads to the
increment in the profit margin and sales volume of the business.
Disadvantage:
 The management of the business operation is affected due to the lack of trust among
customers. For Instance: the goodwill of the business in the mind of the customer
decreases as the business is being sold in the open market which leads to decreased level
of profitability and productivity (MacLeod, 2013).
Merger : Merger is generally a agreement between two different entities. It is also
refereed to as a process where the two organisations come together and form a new venture
through a contract and a mutual understanding.

Advantage :
 Merger between the parties can leads to increased profit margin and revenues of the
firms. For Instance : when the business of Oak Cash and Carry come together with the
another company with the mutual understanding than the chances of the business
expansion and revenues increase.
Disadvantage:
 Merger can leads to decreased level of the communication and coordination as it is
difficult for the business to communicate with number of workers. For Example: the
business of Oak cash and Carry may suffer from the decreased level of the productivity
and coordination as there are number of people working within the company with
different culture and mindset.
Acquisition: Acquisition is the process of purchasing the shares of the other company so
that the control over the other company can be gained(Lambert and Oatley, 2017).
Advantages:
 It allows the business to get entry into market with the featured products as the risk
associated with the development of the new product is minimised.
Disadvantage :
 The business may suffer from the issues which arise while integrating the new business
and old entities.
CONCLUSION
From the above mentioned report this can be frame that planning plays a vital and
significant role in the business as it provides the business with number of plans and strategies
which support the business in accomplishment of their goals and objectives. Apart from this
various models have been mentioned such as Porter generic model and Ansoff's model to
evaluate the growth opportunity available to the business. Along with this a business plan has
also been prepared so that the business of Oak Cash and Carry can successfully launch their new
business venture and can provide the employees with the proper directions and guidance.
Different exit and successions options are there that can be adopt by company to exit from the
environment or to grow in the market.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Keough, S. B., 2015. Planning for growth in a natural resource boomtown: Challenges for urban
planners in Fort McMurray, Alberta. Urban Geography. 36(8). pp.1169-1196.
Barbour, E. and Deakin, E. A., 2012. Smart growth planning for climate protection: Evaluating
California's Senate Bill 375. Journal of the American Planning Association. 78(1).
pp.70-86.
MacLeod, G., 2013. New urbanism/smart growth in the Scottish Highlands: Mobile policies and
post-politics in local development planning. Urban Studies. 50(11). pp.2196-2221.
Lambert, C. and Oatley, N., 2017. Governance, institutional capacity and planning for growth. In
Urban Governance, Institutional Capacity and Social Milieux. (pp. 125-141).
Routledge.
Lu and et. al., 2013. Driving force of urban growth and regional planning: A case study of
China's Guangdong Province. Habitat international. 40. pp.35-41.
Glock, C. H., Jaber, M. Y. and Zolfaghari, S., 2012. Production planning for a ramp-up process
with learning in production and growth in demand. International Journal of Production
Research. 50(20). pp.5707-5718.
Arzaghi and et. al., 2017. Risk-based maintenance planning of subsea pipelines through fatigue
crack growth monitoring. Engineering Failure Analysis. 79. pp.928-939.
Litman, T., 2013. Planning principles and practices. Victoria Transport Policy Institute. pp.1-35.
Pothukuchi, K., 2015. Five decades of community food planning in Detroit: city and grassroots,
growth and equity. Journal of Planning Education and Research. 35(4). pp.419-434.
Holman, N. and Rydin, Y., 2013. What can social capital tell us about planning under localism?.
Local government studies. 39(1). pp.71-88.
Güneralp and et. al., 2015. Balancing urban growth and ecological conservation: A challenge for
planning and governance in China. Ambio. 44(6). pp.532-543.
Boddy, M. and Hickman, H., 2013. The demise of strategic planning? The impact of the
abolition of Regional Spatial Strategy in a growth region. Town Planning Review. 84(6).
pp.743-768.
Hess, P. M. and Sorensen, A., 2015. Compact, concurrent, and contiguous: smart growth and 50
years of residential planning in the Toronto region. Urban Geography. 36(1). pp.127-
151.
Špicar, R., 2014. System dynamics archetypes in capacity planning. Procedia Engineering. 69.
pp.1350-1355.
Zheng, X. Q. and Lv, L. N., 2016. A WOE method for urban growth boundary delineation and
its applications to land use planning. International Journal of Geographical Information
Science. 30(4). pp.691-707.
Crow, L. H., 2015, January. Reliability growth planning curves based on multi-phase
projections. In 2015 Annual Reliability and Maintainability Symposium (RAMS). (pp. 1-
6). IEEE.
Seto and et. al., 2014. Human settlements, infrastructure and spatial planning.

Online
OAK CASH & CARRY LIMITED. 2016. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://companycheck.co.uk/company/04092830/OAK-CASH--CARRY-LIMITED/companies-
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