Planning for Growth: Evaluating Growth Opportunities and Potential Sources of Funding for Marshfield Bakery

This article discusses the importance of planning for growth and evaluates growth opportunities for Marshfield Bakery using PESTEL analysis and BCG matrix. It also explores potential sources of funding for small businesses like Marshfield Bakery, including personal investment, bank loans, and crowd funding.

Introduction
Planning is the process of managing and organising
the resources, man power and all the essential
resources together in a time frame in order to
achieve successful outcomes. Planning for growth
is the essential for the developed and developing
organisation in order to set the strategies and
direction to achieve organisational goals and
objectives.
Evaluating growth opportunities
There are two models which is analysed below to
identify growth opportunities of Marshfield bakery-
PESTEL analysis- It is the model which is used to
analyse external business environment of a
company and the impacts of the factors of these
model upon a business. In context of Marshfield
bakery, their PESTEL analysis is explained below-
Political factor- It consist of trade policies, tax
rates, government policies and many others (Song,
Sun and Jin, 2017).
Positive impact of social factor- In context of UK, the
purchasing habit of their population is high and they
believe to purchase high quality of products which will
further help them to develop their life standards. For
this they are ready to pay little high. Hence, it is
beneficial for Marshfield bakery to produce high
quality of products and sell them on appropriate price
to attract more customers and earn more.
Negative impact of social factor- In context of UK,
there are large number of probability of strikes on
inequality, skin colour and many others. Hence, during
such strikes less number of customers purchase
products from Marshfield Bakery. Even they have the
treat of damaging their assets in large crowd during
strikes.
Technological factor- It is essential to have good
condition of technology in a country for higher growth
of the companies (Kairuz and et. al., 2020). In context
of UK, they are having modern and advance
technology for UK based companies so that they will
produce more products and help their nation to grow
well.
Positive impact of technological factor- Modern and
advance technology of UK help Marshfield bakery to
use high tech machines and tools in their producing
their bakery products which further help them to
achieve their goal on time with less manpower.
Negative impact of technological factor- There is the
disadvantage of modern and advance technology in
Marshfield bakery and that is their manpower is too
dependent on their machines and tools that the work
which they can do manually, in those task also they
need technological help. On the other hand, to purchase
modern technology, Marshfield bakery has to invest
high.
Positive impact of political factor upon Marshfield
bakery- In context of UK, their government policies
are made to promote the SME's business in their
economy. There are many banking benefits to small
business like Marshfield bakery, they can take loans
on low interest rates for their operational activities.
Negative impact of political factor- In context of
UK, their corporate tax is high which provide
negative impact on Marshfield bakery to pay higher
taxes and retain less earning.
Economic factor- It consist of GDP growth rate,
infrastructure condition, cost of raw material and
many others.
Positive impact of economic factor for Marshfield
bakery- In context of UK, they are having good
economic condition and their GDP growth rate is
also in good condition which further help the
Marshfield bakery to expand their business in
context of selling their products to the higher
purchasing power of population.
Negative impact of economic factor- UK is having
high rates of their raw material which impact
negatively to Marshfield bakery. In case they offer
their raw material from other country then also they
have to pay large amount of money in export
charges.
Social factor- It consist of behaviour, attitude,
purchasing habit, beliefs, values, religion and many
others in context of customers of a particular area
(Ortega and et. al., 2019).
Planning for Growth

Environmental factor- It consist of tourism rate,
climate, pollution rate and many others. This factor
helps to analyse that how natural environment will
impact the company.
Positive impact of environmental factor on
Marshfield bakery- They can adopt CSR activities
like planting more trees or reducing carbon dioxide
generation during preparing any bakery product.
They can also check that their machines will not
cause air pollution to attract more customers and
promote sustainable change in their business.
Negative impact of environmental factor- UK is
having high air pollution which cause almost 8%
deaths every year due to respiratory issues of their
population. This will harm the health of workers of
Marshfield bakery. Hence, it is recommended that
they can use air purifier in their stores and
secondly they can also provide the benefit of free
health check-up of their employees.
Legal factor- It consist of all legal laws made by
the government of a nation to promote discipline
(Lastra and et. al., 2021). It is compulsory to
follow all rules and regulations of laws.
Positive impact of legal factor- The laws of UK
like Food and Safety Act 1990 is restricted to
prepare hygienic food products which will not
impact badly upon the health of customers. This
will help to prepare good quality of products which
further help to attract more customers.
Negative impact of legal factor- Marshfield bakery
has to work according to their law which is restrict
them to work flexibly.
BCG matrix- This is the model which is used in
planning of growth of a company in context of their
product portfolio. BCG matrix of Marshfield bakery are
given below-
Star- This is the category where products have high
market share and gain high marketing growth. In
context of Marshfield bakery, their cake and rusk falls
in this category because their customers mostly demand
to have this product and also prefer to have variety of
these products. Marshfield bakery focuses to maintain
the value of their product by adding new taste.
Cash cow- This are the products which have high
market share and have low market growth (Madsen,
2017). In context of Marshfield bakery, their cupcakes
and bread are cash cow product because these products
have high market share but they are unaware about the
variety of this products which are offered by bakery due
to their perspective that Marshfield bakery only sold
good variety of cakes and rusk.
Question mark- These products have high growth rate
and low market share. Marshfield bakery have
customised cake where they take orders from their
customers that which kind of cake they want to have
then they prepare their cakes according to the
preference and demand of customers. This customised
cake falls in question mark category.
Dogs- This are products which have low market share
and have low growth rate (Guță, 2017). In context of
Marshfield bakery, their coffee is under this category
because there are many other competitors who sell
good variety of coffee then Marshfield bakery.
Secondly, they are lacking behind to adopt innovations
in their coffee product that's why their coffee has low
demand in the market.
It is critically evaluated that PESTEL analysis helps to
analyse the external business environment of a
company. This will help to make strategies to reduce
the threat of these factors and grow high. BCG matrix
also help to identify that which product portfolio falls in
which category and how to develop low revenue
generating products.
Growth opportunities using the Ansoff Growth Vector Matrix
Ansoff Growth Vector Matrix is the strategic tool that consist
different strategies that are useful for an enterprise to achieve
their growth objectives. For the small organisation's like
Marshfield Bakery the Ansoff matrix is useful tool to analyse
the growth opportunities and to use appropriates strategy of
growth as per the company's resources and capital. The matrix
helps the company to analyse the market and the products in
order to identify the choices for the growth. The four growth
strategies of the Ansoff growth matrix are discussed
underneath in context of Marshfield Bakery:
Market Penetration: this strategy simply means that using this
strategy enterprise should use its existing product and services
into already existing market with high demand in order to draw
larger market share (Hollander, 2017). To utilize this growth
strategy, the Marshfield Bakery should use discounts technique
or rewards to attract more valuable customers. Also company
can use effective marketing strategy like social media
marketing, public relations as this will attract more customers
and will also build brand recognition. The market penetration
will provide the benefit to Marshfield Bakery by overtaking the
competitors and will also help in gaining market share.
Through dynamic pricing and discounts at retail counters
Marshfield Bakery can effectively penetrate in there exiting
market.
Market development: this growth strategy means the
expansion of the company in new market with the existing
product portfolio. This strategy is the beneficial strategy for the
growth as this allows an organisation to operate outside the
national borders. The Marshfield bakery has a good
opportunity for growth using this strategy as company has
outstanding product portfolio to attract new customers in new
market. Thus using the market development strategy
Marshfield Bakery can gain an advantage of increasing
customer base, sales and revenue, internalization which will
also help in gaining new market opportunities. For the
successful market development, the Marshfield Bakery must
conduct an appropriate market research in order to identify
suitable market, target customer segment, customer preferences
and lifestyle.

Product Development: this strategy is the well-
known and widely adopted strategy among the
small size organisation in order to gain growth
(Liang and et. al., 2018). Marshfield Bakery is the
small size bakery operating in the food and retail
industry where there is huge scope for the product
development with the changing customer
preferences and habits of eating. The advantage of
using product development strategy to the
Marshfield Bakery is that through this company
can drive innovation, achieve growth and increase
market share. This also help in increasing brand
recognition and in gaining customer loyalty. For
example, the Marshfield Bakery can come up with
new small size flavoured vegan cupcakes, breads,
cakes and cookies. This will also increase the
customer base.
Diversification: the growth strategy in which the
organisations are allowed to enter new market with
completely new product. This strategy of growth
has the high potential in delivering the higher
revenues, market share and customer base to the
organisations like Marshfield Bakery. The
incorporation of diversification strategy in the
Marshfield Bakery will help the Bakery to
introduce itself in new industry thereby gaining
access to new opportunities in future. With the
diversification company gains an advantage of
targeting new customer segment, use of new
labours, skills, and technology to achieve desired
growth.
It is critically evaluated from the four strategies
that all have their own advantage to the small
organisation in related to the growth, market share
and profitability. But for the small organisation
like Marshfield Bakery in order to gain growth and
expand itself geographically and operationally in
terms of product the diversification Strategy is the
suitable growth strategy that company should
incorporate.
Thus the diversification will help the Marshfield to
gain brand recognition in new market with new
product and will also help in terms of revenue
generation. For successful diversification company
must use effective communication and marketing
channels to approach new customer segment in new
market.
Potential sources of funding
For the small businesses to expand and grow the
financial stability and availability of financial
resources plays an important role (Zhou and et. al.,
2017). The money is the lifeblood foe each type of
organisation but for the small businesses like
Marshfield Bakery the flow of money is not frequent
for which company has to search and opt for
different source of funding to run their operations
smoothly and also for the thought and
implementation of expansion. Because without the
availability of proper amount of funds businesses
cannot plan and invest for growth. Therefore,
Marshfield Bakery use different sources of funding
in order to gain the essential resources required for
the growth that are discussed below:
Personal investment: this source of funding the first
and most common form of availing the funds for the
investment in company in order to grow. In this the
owner of the Marshfield Bakery will use its own
saving which is saved as the assets.
Advantage: with this funding source there is very
low risk as there is not requirement of returning back
of the amount to any person. Therefore, it is the
lifetime investment of the owner of the Marshfield
Bakery.
Disadvantage: the personal investment may lead to
careless attitude in the owner of the Bakery as there
is no pressure of winning and returning money. Thus
it can become a cause of failure of growth.
Bank loans: the access of funding from the Banks in the form
of loans where the small organisations like Marshfield Bakery
has to exchange some collateral in 4exchange of loan at the
low interest. There are many banks in UK that supports the
SMEs by providing them funds for growth and expansion,
Advantage: the advantage of this source of funding to
Marshfield Bakery is that it low risk of fraud and also the
interest on the loan is low (Gomes, 2020). Thus the return of
payment is also partially in the months thereby decreasing the
pressure of returning huge amount collectively.
Disadvantage: the drawback of bank loans is that Marshfield
Bakery must possess some kind of asset that can be exchanges
with bank in terms of getting loan. Also it is important to have
appropriate business plan in order to apply for loan.
Crowd Funding: in this source of funding there are multiple
small investors that are outside in the market and have capital
to invest in small and developing business with the potential
of growth. For the access of this form of funding the
Marshfield Bakery will use different portal for the process of
gaining funds from different investors.
Advantage: the advantage of this form of funding is that
owner of the Marshfield Bakery will able to gain the interest
of the many investors in the business plan and also there will
be more visibility of the firm.
Disadvantage: the drawback of this funding method is that it
is time consuming process and also the owner of the
Marshfield Bakery must have patience for the process and
response as there are slow chances of getting funds easily.
It is critically evaluated that small businesses have
multiple options for gaining the funds as there are different
sources and people that invest in the small business and also
the banks and government banks pays huge contribution to
the small businesses to get expand as they serve to the GDP
(Egidi and et. al., 2020). Thus through access of these funds
the Marshfield Bakery can plan for growth in implicit manner.