Analysis of Small Business Management and Entrepreneurship

The assignment involves a comprehensive analysis of multiple research papers related to small business management and entrepreneurship. It covers topics such as financial decisions, strategy, ownership diversity, entrepreneurial competencies, and social embeddedness in ethnic minority businesses. The analysis aims to identify key success factors, competitiveness, and growth strategies for SMEs, providing valuable insights for entrepreneurs, policymakers, and researchers.

Small Business Enterprise

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
(a) Profile of selected business...............................................................................................1
(b) Comparing performance in other areas.............................................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
(a) Measures to overcome weaknesses of business................................................................4
(b) Ways to enhance existing performance............................................................................5
(c) New areas of expansion....................................................................................................6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................8
(a) Existing business plans and objectives.............................................................................8
(b) Reviewing of business plans.............................................................................................9
(c) Action plan......................................................................................................................10
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................1
(a) Impact of change management on the business and its personnel....................................1
(b) How to manage the changes.............................................................................................2
(c) Monitoring the performance.............................................................................................2
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................3
Books and Journal..................................................................................................................3

INTRODUCTION
A business is defined to be an economic activity started to gain profits. A business can be
divided on the basis of scope and size of operations. Small business enterprises are the
organisations that operate their business at a small scale and they are comparatively new in the
market (Abebe, 2014.). The government categorises enterprises on the basis of turnover and
number of employees. The small enterprises are one that have turnover below 6 million euros
and not more than 50 employees. The leading examples of such businesses are bakery, clinic,
small scale manufacturing and parlours. This assignment takes into consideration the profile of
company and its comparison with its rivals for measuring performance.. The assessment of
strengths and weaknesses will be done here in the report. The future plans of company will be
ascertained as well as action plan will be created to implement the same. Changes introduced in
business will be documented and evaluated here as well.
TASK 1
(a) Profile of selected business
 Name of the Business: Mainstage Travel
 Owner structure: Company is owned and managed by Rob Tominey and Aden lewin.
15% of the equity in company is owned by venture (Dragon) investor Piers linney. He
had invested 100,000 euros for the 15% of ownership in the company.
 History and background: This enterprise was formed by two young entrepreneurs back
in the year 2011 ( Acs and et al., 2013). It mainly organise tours and concerts for the
young generation. In 2013, the young entrepreneurs entered Den dragon looking for
venture capital. They chose Piers Linney to come on board with finance and his
technological expertise. This venture have not experience a bad phase since its inception.
This venture have received 2nd highest capital on the show since 2007. The capital was
offered to them by all the venture capitalist and entrepreneurs preferred Linney due to his
credibility and knowledge in technological areas.
 Activities: Company organises tours. The tours are designed for young generation. Along
with organising tours, enterprise also organises concerts in various parts of the world.
Magaluf and Snowboxx are the two famous festivals initiated by this company and ranks

2nd in terms of ski festival. Keeping in mind the targeted segment, packages are designed
at a budget friendly prices.
 Business Location: Business is carried out in the United Kingdom. Mainstage Travel is
headquartered in London.
Contact details: [e-mail]
 Analysis of strengths and weaknesses: It is essential to analyse the strengths and
weaknesses of company so as to obtain a better understanding of business (Barber,
Metcalfe and Porteous eds., 2016). Another crucial reason is to assess the weaknesses of
company so that they can be addressed to achieve a competitive advantage. Mainstage
Travel also conducts its regular analysis of internal environment so that its position in
market can be strengthened. The assessment of mentioned enterprise is as follows:
Strengths
 Strong market presence
 Renowned amongst young generation
 Budget friendly packages
 Profitability of business Ski festival (Snowboxx)
Weaknesses
 Price wars in the market
 Presence of high competition
 Seasonal market
 Exclusivity to a single age segment
Table depicts the strengths and weaknesses of Mainstage travel in market. Strengths of a
company are its market presence, profitability and its organised tour for younger generation.
These can be utilised to their optimum level so that more revenue and market share can be
captured. Weaknesses are the drawbacks to a company which are to be rectified in no time. The
price wars in market forces a company to achieve economies of scale so that cheaper tours can
be organised (Blenker and et. al., 2012.). Company pays special emphasis to a single
demographic domain and therefore, it can organise tours and travels for the people of other age
groups as well which will enhance market penetration in the UK.
(b) Comparing performance in other areas
Mainstage Travel carries a strong market presence and obtaining a certain level of
profitability (Carraher and Paridon, 2015..). The current position is market is good but the

dynamism of industry is such that a company has to focus on enhancing performance so that
future can be countered with. Company can make effective use of comparative measures which
are utilised to measure performance of the company with rival firms in same market. Various
financial tools which are used in comparison are Balance sheet, profit and loss account and ratio
analysis. These financial records depict the profitability and losses incurred by firm so that
measures and policies can be adopted.
Balance sheet is one of the most common tools used to measure the performance of
company with its competitors. Every registered organisation releases its financial statement at
the end of financial year. This is done to show the level of performance and profitability obtained
by a company within a financial year. The balance sheet of a company consists of assets and
liabilities of a company. The assets and liabilities are mentioned in this written document. The
assets of the business are mentioned on the debit side and liabilities on t

Above financial statements depict that there is a significant decline in the liabilities of
company by 35% along with a significant reduction in assets which fell by 60.93%. The fall in
liabilities is a positive sign whereas trip in assets simultaneously shows decline in the business.
Exponential-e is another small business strategy which caters the cloud storage services
to the people of United Kingdom. As a small business enterprise the company is doing well and
garnering huge amount of profits of the company.
The financial overview of the company is as follows:

Financial overview of the company states for the financial year 2017 states that there
have been increase in assets of the company by 8.98 million euros. The liquidity of the firm have
enhanced as well. The company have increased the area of operations and have employed 52
new employees in this financial year. When comparing the financial status of both the
companies. It is clear that exponential-e is doing well in the market whereas Mainstage travel
have experienced a decline in the assets as well as liquidity of the company.
TASK 2
(a) Measures to overcome weaknesses of business
The identification of weaknesses is crucial as it helps in finding the shortcoming of
performing at an optimum level (Ciampi and Gordini, 2013.). These shortcoming are to dealt

with in an effective manner so that enterprise's performance can be enhanced. Mainstage Travel's
major weaknesses are that is confined to a particular segment of market. The measures to
overcome weaknesses in business are:
Intensifying Strategy: Mainstage Travel can utilise this strategy to overcome its
weaknesses in business (Di Domenico and Miller, 2012). Company can enlarge its operations in
the market of UK through building an effective marketing strategy. The use of aggression in
terms of marketing will make more people aware about company and definitely increase the
foot-over. The company along with designing packages keeps in mind the family and couple
tourist and targeting them with effective strategies to increase the scope and market share of
business.
Diversification Strategy: This strategy focuses on getting rid of weaknesses by
developing a differentiated product that can enter into unexplored segments of markets and can
gain profitability. The diversification strategy is categorised into horizontal and concentric basis.
Horizontal diversification is formulation of product which is accompanying present line of
products. Company can design a package for the couples and ageing people. The concentric
diversification is launching of products which is indirectly related to company. Mainstage Travel
focuses on entertaining guests so they can easily venture into hospitality business.
Modernising Strategy: This strategy focuses on modernising of various fixed and
variable resources of company. This is generally less preferred and less recommended for the
company which is looking to increase its market share. Major reason for the same is that it
involves huge expenditure and carry out high risk which is not preferable in small scale
enterprises.
Integration Strategy: This is one of the most commonly used expansion strategies. It
involves amalgamation and venturing into segments which are closely related. Mainstage Travel
can either venture into hospitality business or can collaborate it business with Thomson so that
companies together can cover higher market segment and improve their revenue as well.
(b) Ways to enhance existing performance
Business performance in an organisation stands crucial. Performance of a business is
defined as the way in which tasks and function in a business are carried out (Draycott and Rae,

2011). The company looks for measures and ways through which performance can be enhanced.
To improve the quality of performance it is essential to find out the drawbacks which are
preventing an organisation to perform at optimum level. The critical analysis of internal factors
help in finding out factors which are to be addressed. The company can improve its performance
through two ways:
 The company can improve its performance by using its strengths to its maximum.
 Rectifying drawbacks can also enhance company performance.
The company at present struggling to provide services at competitive prices. The
organisations who are operating at large scale have achieved economies of scale therefore are
able to design packages at competitive prices. Enterprise can expand its operations through
market development and penetration. The company can look to increase its size of operation so
that economies of scale can be availed.
Availing the finances is a major concern for all the enterprises. The venture capitalist
have invested 100,000 in return of 15% equity but that amount is not enough to sustain the
market for longer period of time. Entrepreneurs can reduce their share of holdings from 58% to
50% through which they can retain their control over the business and can raise adequate
finance. Enterprise can utilise their various schemes launched by the government to support
small business enterprises in the United Kingdom. The government have realised its importance
and have spent 26% of the total expenditure in promoting small business enterprise.
The training of employees plays a essential role in development of the organisational
performance (Gorgievski, Ascalon and Stephan, 2011.). The company can adopt various
programs and strategies to develop human capital of an organisation. The employees have a
direct relation with productivity and profitability of business. Mainstage travel possess a
relatively small number of employees therefore it is not difficult to introduce a training and
development program in the organisation. So that horizon of employees can be widened and it is
one of the economical way to improve company's performance.
(c) New areas of expansion
Mainstage travel is one of youngest and best performing tour operator in the United
Kingdom. This is one of SME that have been able to garner huge profits considering the small
size of the organisation. The company when reaches a stage of maturity in one sector should be

prepared to experience other sectors of business as well. Enterprise have catered the young sector
for the last 3-4 years they now possess the maturity and experience to venture into different
sectors of market. The process of expansion begins with market research as this is a small scale
enterprise this function is mostly outsourced. Research helps in identification of sectors which
are and can be profitable for this company.
Expansion of market should be determined effectively as it carries success and failure of
business upon its shoulders. The tourism company can expand into two aspects:
 Enterprise is confined to design and organise tour packages for the young generation lies
between the age group of 18-25. the first areas of expansion can be venturing into
designing packages for the couples and ageing people in countries such as Spain and
turkey countries known for their heavenly beauty and peaceful lives. The visit of people
in these countries is huge. The entire focus of the company should not given to a
particular demographic segment as there are opportunities to expand in other segments as
well. The renowned name of the company will act as crowd puller.
 The another segment in which company can expand its operations is venturing into
hospitality business. Enterprise is providing entertainment facilities to people and
garnering profitability for the business. The company can open up hotels at key
destinations. For instance Snowboxx is organised in Mont Blanc therefore an enterprise
can venture into accommodation services as well.
 This enterprise can venture into organising and designing various events and festivals
around the globe. It is one of the contemporary sector which carries enormous amount fo
opportunities which a company can avail at first. Organising various tours of pop stars,
destination weddings and concerts are the latest trend in the market which can equip a
company with huge level of profitability and market share.
It is the need of hour for the company to expand its operation which can help in obtaining
competitive advantage and can secure a company from the threats of new entrants in the market.
But satisfying the need of prospects in a qualitative and price conscious manner should remain
the priority if it wishes to sustain in the market for long.

TASK 3
(a) Existing business plans and objectives
Every organisation carries its own set of plans and objectives (Kaushik, P and et al.,
2012). These equip an organisation with sense of direction and also acts as a target to achieve.
The objectives are short term goals for a business formed specifically for an year or so whereas
Vision of the company is the sole purpose of carrying their operations in the market. Mainstage
travels organises tours for the young cost conscious people. The main objectives of the company
are:
 Enhance responsible tourism
 Satisfying customers through giving them the “Best time of their life”.
 to provide quality experience to the travellers.
 Generation of employment opportunities for the people involved.
 Organise sustainable tours.
There are various plans developed by a company to cater all the major segments that are:
Employee's Vision: Employee constitute as the most important part of an organisation.
Employee are the heart of an enterprise therefore a company should always recruit the best
suitable people in the organisation ( Lambert and Davidson, 2013). The environment and culture
should support learning and productivity so to obtain best out of the employees.
Customer's Vision: At present the customer of the company constitute young generation
filled with adrenaline. The company organises various festivals and ski tournament to cater the
same and provide them with a best experience of their lives. The tours organised are kept at low
prices so that more and more youngsters afford the same. The customer satisfaction is always
emphasised in this organisation and policies and decisions are formulated keeping in mind needs
and expectations of consumers.
Shareholders vision: Mainstage travels is owned 15% by venture capitalist and rest by
the young entrepreneurs (Lamphere, 2011.). The expectations of them from the business is
achieving certain level of profitability and fulfil the vision of the company. The company
looking to expand its operations to be the best tour operator in the country.

(b) Reviewing of business plans
The business plans are the means to achieve business objectives (Longeneckerand et. al., 2013.).
The objectives of the company is to increase the market share of the company by retaining and
enhancing customer experience. Business plans are to be developed after careful consideration of
all the factors in the external and internal market. The environment of business is dynamic
therefore changes in the market are introduced on regular basis. Business plans are to be
reviewed and variations of the market are to be addressed accordingly.
The market research team identified that the major segments of expansion are organising
tours for other segments as well. In addition to that an enterprise wishes to cater the housing
needs of people by opening up hotels at famous tourist destination in France. The plan will be
developed are considering trends and demands of prospects. With the help of customer feedback
various destinations will be finalised and reviewed accordingly. In case of Hotel, organisation
will finalise the location and ensure availability of finance for the same. The marketing strategy
ensures the introduction of expansion programmes in an effective manner. The major functions
of the organisation are integrated and updated so that transition is effortless.
The company is looking to increase in the market share by 20% through fulfilling the
needs of different demographic segment. The plan to achieve the same is organising tour which
are couples oriented and can be experienced by elder age segment as well. Spain and turkey are
one of the most popular destination in the world and mobility to those countries stands highest.
The development of human capital ensures that right strategies are developed and assisted by
adequate finances of the organisation. The goals of the organisation should be SMART so that
they can planned and measured effectively.
S- specific: the goals and objectives set by the organisation should be specific so that they
are understood by all concerned parties (López Salazar, Contreras Soto and Espinosa Mosqueda,
2011.). The increase in the market share by 20% is an ideal example.
M-measurable: the goals should be measured and should not in the qualitative terms
which are difficult to measure. The level of satisfaction of consumers is difficult to measure
therefore setting the targets in terms of quantity is measured effectively.
A-attainable: the goals set should be attainable so that employees in an organisation work
hard to achieve the same. The targets set by the management can be obtained with little efforts.

R-relevant: the relevancy of the goals to the company stands vital. The plans of
expansion are relevant the sector of tour operator company therefore can be achieved.
T-timely: the plans established should be time bound. The objectives and plans laid down
in an organisation should be of quarterly or yearly basis. The time bound targets motivates
employee to finish the tasks in specified time.
(c) Action plan
Action plan is an important component of planning programme ( Mason and Brown,
2013). The objectives and plans which are formulated by an organisation will be achieved
through what means?. The action plan justifies the expansion strategy with a blueprint. It
describes the means of carrying out a plan and which personnel will be assigned the cited
responsibility. It is mostly categorised into 3 major components.
Specific tasks: The tasks which are to be carried out to implement the plan will be
mentioned under this column (Mason, 2015.).
Resources: The resources which are to accompanied in the expansion tasks will be
mentioned under this section.
Time: Every activity is time bound therefore time taken to achieve the task will be mentioned
and addressed accordingly.
For example- the chosen action is training and dveleopment of employes.
Tasks Responsibility Resources Time
Draft of a plan HR manager Organise training
sessions and use
effective tools and
techniques.
10 to 15 days
Method to gather
information
Top management Face to face interview
and conferences
5 days
Planning of resources HR manager Online survey and
questionnaire
2 to 3 days
Cost and time Financial manager Budge, accounting 8 to 10 days

estimates statements
Recruitment HR manager Web portals,
newspaper and social
websites
5 days
Techniques of
marketing
Marketing manager Advertising and
promotion
15 days
Scope Top management Helps in enhancing
sales and profitability
of the firm
25 days

TASK 4
(a) Impact of change management on the business and its personnel
Organisation use change management when it wants to expand the size of the
organisation, exploration, enlarging the scope of the functions and for change the theme or
segment of the business structure (Mitchelmore and Rowley, 2013.). Change management not
only influence the operations of the business but also effect the interest of the stakeholders,
investors, directors and finance resource. Changing the format of the organisation effect the
competitive environment too.
Mainstage travel company is one of the travel organisation in UK which provide the tour
and travel services on the basis of award winning system. The market area and targeted group is
teenager and youth generation. It wants to explore its segment for other age groups also. The
above change management is discussed in Mainstage perspective.
There are some basic sectors which will effect by change management
Finance – Finance is the most and prime prime source of organisation to run the business
(Olszak and Ziemba, 2012). Finance is as essential element for the organisation as blood is
essentials of living creatures. Change management has direct impact on the size and structure of
the finance. The management should analysis the finance requirement for the change..
Change in role and responsibilities – Deciding the time responsibilities and roles are
the first step to plan the structure of change management. Role and responsibilities should be
divided equally among the managing department so that the conflict of interest would not be
occurred. For new structure new management team would be require and it is require to circulate
equal work criteria and responsibilities.
Organisation's structure – Structure of the change should be designed as per the
appropriate analysis of the competitive environment. The above mentioned organisation is
planning to expand the scope of services of different age groups in that conditions experts have
to analysis and categorised the options and the base of the organisation's functions.

Technology Changes – Technology is one of the effective factor which effect the entire
business organisation (Raposo and Paço, 2011.). Different techniques and sources help the small
business enterprises to improve the scale and parameters in the market.

Insecurity among employee – It is obvious that changes involve high risk and
insecurities in the existence of the organisation (Sharma, Chrisman and Gersick, 2012).
Organisation need to ensure the employees and the stakeholder with the positive effect of
changes in the organisation. Positive approach helps the organisation to accept the changes in
positive way.
(b) How to manage the changes
Small business enterprises follow the moderate approach of operation business operation.
Any kind of change in size, scope, and structure involves high risk factor (Southern ed., 2011).
Kotter's change model helps to clear the image of change management.1. Creating Urgency – this step defines analysing the requirement of change as per market
situation, forecasting of market crisis.2. Centralised the power – In every type of organisation there is a group of people and team
who retains powers and capacity to fulfil the task efficiently. This step helps to adopt that
change management.3. Create vision – Make a vision statement by defining the nature of the task and analysing
what would be the result fall upon the business .Organisation gets opportunity to aware
the new and dynamic environment of different segment and culture.4. Communicate Vision - This step of change management helps to cooperate the
organisation to manage and control the multiple department of the new structure ( Wang
and Altinay, 2012).5. Encouraging others – it is require to motivate and empower employees to adopt the
change by presenting mission statement of task. It provide flexibility in the nature of the
organisation and increase the confidence level to adopt the challenges in positive manner.6. Short term goals planning – This step provide the base to operate the changes in proper
manner and get short term benefits.
7. Combine the improvement and production plan – In this step structure of production
and process is tried to merge which helps to improve the production and capacity as per
the change plan.

8. New approaches – Communicating the plan and new strategies is as essential to adopt
the change in positive manner. New approaches are required to relate with the
departments.
(c) Monitoring the performance
Analysing the performance is the essentials step of the organisation to excel the
organisation by the available results (Van Der Wijst, 2012). Balanced scorecard is a performance
tracker which is used by large scale organisations and entities. This helps to track the
performance of employees and to find out the conflicts and the effects of the change in the
organisation. Analysis is made on the basis of the designed model and effectiveness of the
performance of the task. The effectiveness of the task is evaluated on the basis of comparison
and evaluation of the difference in figures of desired results. Balance score card basically works
around these factors :
 Objectives – What are the aims and objectives, where would be the benefit for an
organisation in near future and how efforts will helps the organisation.
 Financial performance – To manage the finance requirement and utilisation in effective
manner is the main work for any management system. For example establishing a new
plant contains high expensive cost. Finance management analyse the performance of
employees by managing the finance requirement.
 Efficiency – By monitoring internal processes and functions are covered in this
measurement tool. Production and internal process are the parts of making the product
and the services. Minimum level of scrape and ideal performance improve efficiency.
 Organisational Capacity – After analysing all the factors of measurement management
centralised the strength in one organisational context. As by achieving all the short term
and long term targets organisation's sustainability become strong.
 Customer satisfaction – An organisation work for its customers and it is important to
satisfy customer satisfaction. By analysing the numbers of complaints and reduce the
conflicts by providing effective customer care services.

CONCLUSION
This report shows explain the dimensions of small business enterprises in exploring the
scope, segment, theme and structure of the entity by applying change management. What are the
required analysis factor and areas to change the structure and the scope of the organisation is
described under this context. This report would help to understand the dynamics of change
management and also helps to identify the weakness and strength to improve the require area.
This report explains the step and procedure to change the culture and the theme of the
organisation. This report signifies the criteria and fields where control is required. The above
perspective helps an organisation to accomplish the goals and objectives for the changing
environment.
REFERENCES
Books and Journal
Abebe, M., 2014. Electronic commerce adoption, entrepreneurial orientation and small-and
medium-sized enterprise (SME) performance. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise
Development. 21(1). pp. 100-116.
Acs, Z. J and et al., 2013. The knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship. Small Business
Economics. 41(4). pp. 757-774.
Barber, J., Metcalfe, S. and Porteous, M. eds., 2016. Barriers to growth in small firms.
Routledge.
Blenker, P., and et.al., 2012. Entrepreneurship as everyday practice: towards a personalized
pedagogy of enterprise education. Industry and Higher Education. 26(6). pp.417-430.
Carraher, S.M. and Paridon, T.J., 2015. Entrepreneurship journal rankings across the discipline.
Journal of Small Business Strategy. 19(2). pp.89-98.
Ciampi, F. and Gordini, N., 2013. Small enterprise default prediction modeling through artificial
neural networks: An empirical analysis of Italian small enterprises. Journal of Small
Business Management. 51(1), pp.23-45.
Di Domenico, M. and Miller, G., 2012. Farming and tourism enterprise: Experiential authenticity
in the diversification of independent small-scale family farming. Tourism Management.
33(2). pp.285-294.
Draycott, M. and Rae, D., 2011. Enterprise education in schools and the role of competency
frameworks. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research. 17(2).
pp.127-145.
Gorgievski, M.J., Ascalon, M.E. and Stephan, U., 2011. Small business owners' success criteria,
a values approach to personal differences. Journal of Small Business Management.
49(2). pp.207-232.