Flavourly: Business Challenges

This case study examines the business challenges faced by Flavourly, an online retailer of artisanal foods. Students will analyze Flavourly's market position, operational strategies, and customer engagement tactics. The assignment requires research into relevant literature on small business management, innovation, and e-commerce to evaluate Flavourly's success factors and potential for future growth.

Small Business Enterprise

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
1.1 Business profile and its strengths and weaknesses................................................................3
1.2 Analysis .................................................................................................................................4
2.1 Recommendations for overcoming weaknesses....................................................................6
2.2 Ways for maintaining existing performance..........................................................................6
2.3 Recommendations for business expansion............................................................................7
3.1 Assessment of existing business objectives and plans...........................................................8
3.2 Revised business plan............................................................................................................9
3.3 Action plan for implementing changes................................................................................10
4.1 Impact of proposed changes.................................................................................................12
4.2 Managing changes in the business.......................................................................................13
4.3 Monitoring improvements ..................................................................................................13
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................15
2

INTRODUCTION
A business venture that is close to entrepreneurship but doesn't completely correlate with
the same is small business enterprise because its governance is limited and specific for a
particular region. Flavourly is one such enterprise that has been dealing with customers through
their concept of craft beer subscription. The owner Ryan O'Rorke is an exemplary example that
depicts the effective utilisation of opportunities and transforming ideas into actually functioning
business. This report depicts the basic information regarding small business enterprise i.e.
Flavourly. A deep routed business analysis will be performed for getting a perspective regarding
current functioning of the organisation. This report will help in understanding the effectiveness
of changes and appropriate change management for vitalising the business performance and
bringing in more productivity or efficiency.
TASK 1
1.1 Business profile and its strengths and weaknesses
Flavourly basically known as the provider of online food discovery subscription platform.
The product line of Flavourly provides a web based food, snack and craft beer discovery
subscription platform which working towards delivering foods and beverages to the customers
address with a subscription fee. The official website for the company is www.flavourly.com. The
primary office of Flavourly is at 17 Northumberland street, Edinburg, Scotland. Assean sheikh is
the CEO and Ryan O'Rorke is the founder and Chief taster of flavourly. It is a privately held
company and managing their finances and funding generating activities are done through angel
investors. The product of flavourly only available on its official website and not available at any
supermarket (Information about us, 2017). Apart from the other products flavourly is well
known for its craft beer, Flavourly is providing their customer a user interface where they can
personalized the shopping for their beer according to their taste.
Strengths of Flavourly
 Personalization in the craft beer.
 Primary focus on quality not quantity.
 Vendors with local high quality ingredients.
 Adaption of new strategy is easy as number of employee are not much.
3

 Low overhead which allows flexibility in purchasing/Warehouse.
 More convenient for the customer as the user interface of website is quite friendly.
 Supporting for the small suppliers. Experimental with the products and delivery process.
Weakness of Flavourly
 Products are not available in the super market.
 Threat of substitutes is growing rapidly.
 Small company and slow production process, if sales spike it will be hard to fulfil the
demand.
 Limited budget for marketing activities which affect the awareness for the product.
 Limited staff to make order fulfilment difficult (Flavourly FAQs. 2017).
 Funding source is only limited to angel investors, which can be affect business expansion
in long term.
1.2 Analysis
Political
 “Binge drinking” is concerned by the local and national government.
 Budget surely increases due to duty on alcohol.
 The licence act 2003 created compulsion that it is banned to sell alcohol below the
permitted price.
 The banning price fluctuates which have impact on flavourly products.
 National government guidelines regarding health should be taken care of.
 Changes and reforms in licensing laws affect flavourly pricing strategies (Storey, 2016). Government mandatory condition about banned on the selling alcohol under the age of 18
have negative impact on flavourly food business.
Economical
 Flavourly dependency on smaller supplier impacted the business as they have smaller
number of order so it is difficult to negotiate for the raw material.
 Increase in transport cost in line with fuel pricing.
 The amount of duty paid for beer depends on the alcohol by volume strength, It impacts
flavourly pricing on the boxes because duty charge on the alcohol volume strength.
4

 Cut prices offers for alcohol in supermarket promotions (Information about us. 2017).
Social
 Pubs and bars are the centre of social life, people used to enjoy their with friends and
family.
 Media concern with negative aspects like binge drinking.
 Consumer desire to support small business ins a good sign for flavourly business.
 Corporate social responsibility activity related issues have positive impact on small
businesses. Demographically increased population of students who have ample presence on social
media.
Technological
 Development in delivery of cold & chilled beers.
 Development in large range of flavoured alcoholic drinks.
 Increased advertisement for alcohol through the use of multimedia. Consumer preference of buying online is a positive sign for flavourly business.
Legal
 When selling online company should follow various regulation regarding customer
protection act.
 Legislation on measures of drink served.
 Website or portal should be user friendly so that consumer easily access it and make their
buying behaviour, flavourly update their website time to time (Flavourly FAQs. 2017). Stronger enforcement of underage drinking regulations on local and national level.
Enviournmental
 Recycling can be possible so that no harm cause to environment.
 Use of transportation should be environment friendly.
 Flavourly boxes can be recycle (Information about us. 2017).
2.1 Recommendations for overcoming weaknesses
Flavourly has fully online based business so it is important for them to consistently
spread the awareness about the company and their products, Flavourly should improve their
emplooyee interaction by setting their presence on the online platforms (Facebook, Instagram,
5

Twitter) and E-mail marketing so that they can increase the awareness about the products. The
threat of substitutes companies is also very high for flavourly. In this case company should
consider marketing and product weakness to set their initial strategies and work towards
overcoming these weaknesses to get competitive advantage from their competitors (Stewart and
Gapp, 2014).
Flavourly should improve their control process to overcome from imbalanced demand
and supply arising because of slow production process, In these reference flavourly should
increase the number of their employees and experts. Flavourly should improve their control
process which includes goal setting, performance measurements and corrective action. Flavourly
is a small business enterprise so they are facing problem with the limited budget for the
marketing and advertisement so before investing they should quantify that whether spending in
the particular activity is worth it or not and what is the growth opportunities by investing (Storey,
2016). In the food and drink world the crucial part of marketing is packaging because these is
where you can touch customer and opportunity of conveying the message is also increased.
Flavourly can also expand their business through connecting with their similar business, it will
automatically decrease the competition and also financial condition of flavourly will become
prudent than before (Stark, 2015).
Flavourly can achieve their strategic implementation through leadership, company
culture, company structure system and strategy. Flavourly should apply the concept of product
differentiation as it will provide them competitive advantage and help in making the individual
stand in the mind of the customer (Ratten, 2014). Brand image and loyalty, best value for
customer money, special offers, customer relation and proper research are some elements where
flavourly should concentrate more to expand their business.
2.2 Ways for maintaining existing performance
Before flavourly pursue any further growth strategies they should first make sure that
their current business is running effectively. Online presence for flavourly can be more efficient
if they look upon increase their online performance. There are various online channels available
where flavourly can strengthen their marketing and advertising activities, Facebook, G-mail,
Twitter, Instagram, Blogs etc. Flavourly can use these channels for building a proper
communication channel with their customers. Flavourly should organize online campaign time to
6

time for their customer where they will communicate about their product and services and also
get direct feedback from their customer, it will increase in the opportunity to expansion of
business and error reduction in the current business (Kerzner, 2013).
Flavourly can get positive result if they will increase their power of suppliers, as
suppliers are the one who provide raw material to business for expansion in the number of
supplier will surely impact positively (Jeston and Nelis, 2014). In the current business scenario
brick and mortar store are still in existence and has potential in the customer driven market, so
Flavourly should stretch its strategies control implementation process for competitive advantage
over this.
Flavourly needs to improve their social network existence or need to create boom for
themselves, In these context Viral marketing can be advantageous for Flavourly as it produce
rapid brand awareness among the customers. It can be delivered by word of mouth or enhanced
by the network effect of the internet or mobile networks, basically its a method of marketing
whereby customers are encouraged to share information about the company's goods and services
via internet (Jasra and et. al., 2012).
Merging with or acquiring similar business enterprises will increase the growth opportunities for
Flavourly and it will also exaggerate the resources of the company. Flavourly should keep
working with customer centric approach, because customers are only key factor for companies
business expansion.
2.3 Recommendations for business expansion
As customer mostly attracted towards the product by their senses like through touch and
smell. At the other hand in online business customer can only see their product with
specifications written over there, Flavourly can maximize their opportunities by entering into
brick and mortar market. Brick and mortar concept will open a new market for the enterprise like
Flavourly for the business expansion. E-commerce giant Amazon, Ebay also expand their
business with opening retail stores and also achieve success in this area (Hilmersson, 2014). The
advantages which Flavourly will get through opening their own stores are they can directly
communicate with their customer, interact with them and easily explain about the products
which they are offering.
7

In many markets the development of product line is competitive reality (Gronum,
Verreynne and Kastelle, 2012). As Flavourly is a enterprise with the base product line of web
based food, snack and craft beer, Flavourly can expand their business by expanding their product
line. In the beverage product Flavourly is offering craft beer and gin, for the expansion they can
offer energy drinks, soft drinks also. As flavourly is offering food and snacks also so they can
add non-veg food like chicken, pork, beef in this particular segment. As far as product line will
go Flavourly's customer will get more stronger because their is diversification in customer
behaviour. Buyer don't want to go different places for shopping , they prefer to buy everything
from one and trusted place (Gollenia, 2016).
Merging and tie-ups expand opportunities for two business together, Flavourly is online
craft beer provider enterprise, for them new area could be that they can tie up with the other
organization which already have a large customer base (Goetsch and Davis, 2014). Flavourly can
tie up with large food stores, food and beverages home delivery organizations, airlines,
restaurants and kitchens etc. Tie ups will be helpful for flavourly to advertise their product with
the other segment of customers and it will also expand the existence of company in the market.
3.1 Assessment of existing business objectives and plans
Flavourly is an emerging enterprise with the no-industrial sector tag. This company has
gathered strong position within a short period of establishment. Well planned and relevant
business objectives are the main reason behind this achievement. When an organisation as
SMART objectives i.e. specific, measurable, accurate, realistic and time bound then
automatically every business function is oriented with same principles (Frankland and et. al.,
2013). This brings in a lot of effectiveness in the current functioning and performance. Flavourly
runs with following business objectives and plans with respect to current performance aspects.
 To provide customers with great quality craft beer.
 To stick by the ethics and principles of developing a strong stakeholder relationship.
The founder of this organisation has clear goals and vision regarding this entrepreneurial
venture. Business plans are formulated in such a way that organisation expanded its business
from subscription based craft beers to gourmet food and snacks. The USP which Flavourly holds
is strong relations with suppliers. There are large number of micro and small scale producers and
brewers that have exotic and exclusive quality of raw materials that are helpful in great quality
8

production (Curran and Storey, 2016). In order to stick to the purpose of functioning, Flavourly
has devised strict agreements with suppliers that their products and resources will not be sold
locally through any other vendor.
The major aim of this organisation is to retain the authenticity of products till the end of
time and reach a sustainable position in terms of competition and customer satisfaction. This aim
further helps in devising business strategies and plans that are aligned in the same direction. The
vision and perseverance of a leader is reflected in the deeds of his/her followers (Colombo and
et. al., 2012). The owner of Flavourly- Ryan O' Rorke made correct use of every opportunity
and possibility for the development of his micro scale venture which is now transformed into a
small enterprise. Business plans are effective only when there are four basic attributes developed
at the initial stage (By, Burnes and Oswick, 2012). These include vision, aim, mission and
objectives. All these components are present in the current business plan of Flavourly. There is
still a loop hole i.e. lack of innovation and promotion of the products and services over other
mediums which has been the reason that company could not multiply its customer share. Hence,
a revision of business plan has to be prepared.
3.2 Revised business plan
When businesses are at the initial stages, it becomes easier to implement strategies or
bring out changes. Flavourly is right now at its initial stage where business is growing rapidly
but on a small scale. Hence, certain revisions and changes can be planned and implemented in
current functioning strategy so that maximum utilisation of opportunities takes place (Bridge and
O'Neill, 2012). Following revisions or changes have been recommended based on the assessment
which has been performed above:
 As the government is providing more facilitation for emerging entrepreneurs, the number
of breweries and micro scale producers is increasing. Despite of having efficient supplier
base, there is an opportunity for Flavourly to attract more brewers and utilise their
products for widening the goods and commodity range.
 The increasing demand of suppliers is often threatening for dynamics of the organisation.
Excessive bargaining power may result in increasing cost of production which further
results in hike in prices. Therefore, the legislations and policies with regards to suppliers
must be strengthened and strict provisions should be allocated (Booth, 2015).
9

 The growing demand of internet services world wide has given opportunities to hackers
regarding breach of personal information and important data from company websites.
Furthermore, the use of online payment options has also increased over the past few years
because of the convenience and comfort that is experienced by customers. Hence,
Flavourly has to revise its security settings and firewall encryption so that any sort of
illegal activity is not possible.
 Inventory control is one of the major aims of every business organisation irrespective of
their functionality level. During demand fluctuations, there is a significant impact
addressed over inventories and the production attributes of the company. If demand is
less and supply is more then there is loss or in conditions with less demand and more
supply there is difficult situation (Blackburn, Hart and Wainwright, 2013). In order to
achieve stability, Flavourly can use stock refurbishing as a revised strategy for
maintaining a balance in inventory and reducing the expenses which are often implied in
maintaining stocks.
 Being a small scale enterprise, large number of financial resources are acquired by the
company if products and services are effectively managed. It is important to manage all
the financial resources so that proper investments can be made timely. This helps in
supporting business expansion plans when financial support is required (Barber, Metcalfe
and Porteous, 2016).
3.3 Action plan for implementing changes
According to the changes and improvements which have been disclosed in the earlier
section, following action plan can be devised and implemented.
Objective
 To instigate innovative strategies which can be applied in the organisation for bringing
more effectiveness.
 To control the production and inventory for gaining stability.
 To enhance the technological inputs in business for safeguarding customers from online
thefts and illegal activities. To gather more support from suppliers for enhancing product range.
Goal
10

Flavourly has to adopt this goal for accomplishing the aforementioned objectives so that
effective time management is implied. The company has to fulfil all these objectives within 2
years from the time of application.
Assigning respective team
Entire action plan is dependent on the type of individuals that have been provided the
responsibility of effective implementation. The senior authority or organisational head has to
take this as the prime responsibility of selecting those individuals who are capable of driving
commitment and fulfilling the vision (Adeniji, Osibanjo and Abiodun, 2013). There should not
be any biasness while choosing the team members because it is a crucial process and there has to
be correct application of skills and knowledge. Hence, employees who have respective skills and
competency to support organisation's action plan must be chosen and if necessary hired.
Actions
For adding the proposed changes in the current business plan, following actions have to
be taken:
 Implementing inventory control strategies and techniques.
 Consulting the financial experts and analysts for understanding the funding procedures
and investment deals. Understanding supplier demands and developing strategies which can be used for
handling these needs and requirements (Barber, Metcalfe and Porteous, 2016).
Assigning responsibilities
Since, the tasks and actions have been defined clearly, it is important to allocate duties
and responsibilities amongst the team members. The company can witness effective management
when this kind of functioning is encouraged. It helps in meeting customer demands with more
precision and accuracy. The products and services that are provided by Flavourly are perfectly
managed and delivered to their destination. Furthermore, changes which have been planned and
recommended in the business plan and strategies can be applied without any inconvenience.
Scheduling
Time bound scheduling has to be performed for gaining an insight regarding the proper
execution of activities (Booth, 2015). Current implementation can be enhanced using this
attribute as it helps in achieving goals and objectives with proper planning.
11

Reviewing the action plan
The action plan that has been developed by the company for application of changes
should be reviewed. This evaluation stage helps in understanding the loop holes or drawbacks
which are ignored during planning and development process. Moreover, a significant scope of
improvements in the action plan is realised when there is evaluation and monitoring. The
chances of failure are reduced through this attribute (Colombo and et. al., 2012).
Effective communication
The key individuals that are related with this action plan must be connected through
effective communication links. It helps in tracking progress and recording the actions which have
been carried out or which need to be carried out. When key personnels are well informed about
the status of action plan, the productivity is increased and other team members understand their
purpose of functioning much appropriately (Curran and Storey, 2016).
4.1 Impact of proposed changes
The changes that have been proposed for the betterment of the company have to be
evaluated before implementation. There are large number of stakeholders associated with every
decision of the organisation. Flavourly has to develop its business along with maintaining the
existing customer share. This is possible only when the proposed changes are beneficial for
every group of stakeholders (Frankland and et. al., 2013). Be it customers, shareholder or the
employees; no stakeholder should be impacted negatively. The aforementioned changes which
aim to provide more growth and stability to the company has to be directed in such a way that set
aim and objective is met.
Financial resource management is good recommendation which will help in stabilising
the monetary flow and income generation for employees and simultaneously reducing the cost of
production (Gronum, Verreynne and Kastelle, 2012). On the other hand, inventory management
will also help in the organisation to cope with accidental losses. It is important for every small
business enterprise to check their inventory flow so that stakeholders do not suffer any kind of
inconvenience. The overall administration of the business is not hampered when changes or
improvements are applied into practise. These will simultaneously help the organisation to cope
with competition effectively and reach higher levels of customer satisfaction (Hilmersson, 2014).
12

4.2 Managing changes in the business
When changes appears in Flavourly.com, then their working method is also changes,
there are various things. For this management of entity develop plan for the change so that
change will be impact the business in a effective manner. Fallowing are some points which need
to take into account while managing changes in business.
 Management of the company has to focus on all that point that impact on the change in
which they do this thing before the change (Jasra and et. al., 2012).
 After developing strategy, management need to considered all important factors of
changing management such as working method, cost, financial department etc.
 In order to implementation of changes Flavourly.com need to listed each and every point
which may affect organization and its working methods.
 Management also need to conduct meeting with their employees so they can explain the
proposed changes which will apply in business management.
 Management of company also involved their employees in decision-making process so
they able to understand changes as well as reason of changes (Ratten, 2014).
 When employee become able to understand and ready to change now at that movement
changes take place towards the same.
 At, last management of company need to make strategy on implementation of changes in
firm successful they need to provide training and development program to their
employees so changes can implemented in effective manner. Through this training the
management of company try to improve skills and knowledge of employees.
4.3 Monitoring improvements
One of the major changes which take place in the last two years take place in that it
customers are rapidly increased. The company has it owns websites which helps to them for
attracts more customers in it business. Along with this Flavourly.com introduced opportunities
to their customers through subscription and payments methods. With improvements in its
documentation structure suppliers and merchant got interested to work with the company. Along
with the company is also offering different types of products in its business so they can attract
more customers (Stark, 2015). In this section the firm is also offering many other products such
as add more options and flavour in its beer. So they gain more market share. The organization
13

also make some significant changes in its delivery so they can reach to their customers easily.
Apart from this, they are using advance technology to making their products delivery more
effectively (Stewart and Gapp, 2014). Flavourly.com changes in its documentation structures so
their suppliers can also make effective delivery of their products.
In order to gain market share they make changes in its payment method and subscription
method. This method helps to them for gaining more market share. It also adds some other
factors in its business such as gourmet food products like snacks, jam, breads, etc. in addition
with this the company is also made contracts with many other small organization that cannot
market themselves (Storey, 2016). With the help of this strategy they can targets to customers in
effective manner.
CONCLUSION
This report helps in understanding the basic functioning of small business enterprise.
Flavourly being a newly established firm has developed stronger roots in the market with online
trading and high quality products. An in-depth analytical view has been gained for understanding
the business operations and measures related with performance of the company. This report
describes the impact strengths and weaknesses can have on performance when not tackled
efficiently. The current business plans and objectives of organisation have been assessed in this
report and a revised business plan has been produced for developing much more productive
organisation. Flavourly can utilise the action plan which has been described in this assessment
for implementing the revisions or changes in business plan and working strategies. Every single
change in the functioning has certain impact over the enterprise as well as stakeholders. Before
applying or introducing any new attribute, the impact has to be addressed and then strategic
planning is to be performed so that performance is not tampered.
14

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Adeniji, A. A., Osibanjo, A. O. and Abiodun, A. J., 2013. Organisational Change and Human
Resource Management Interventions: an Investigation of the Nigerian Banking
Industry. Serbian Journal of Management, 8(2), pp.2-16.
Barber, J., Metcalfe, S. and Porteous, M. eds., 2016. Barriers to growth in small firms.
Routledge.
Blackburn, R. A., Hart, M. and Wainwright, T., 2013. Small business performance: business,
strategy and owner-manager characteristics. Journal of small business and enterprise
development, 20(1), pp.8-27.
Booth, S. A., 2015. Crisis management strategy: Competition and change in modern enterprises.
Routledge.
Bridge, S. and O'Neill, K., 2012. Understanding enterprise: entrepreneurship and small
business. Palgrave Macmillan.
By, R. T., Burnes, B. and Oswick, C., 2012. Change management: Leadership, values and
ethics. Journal of Change Management, 12(1), pp.1-5.
Colombo, M. G. and et. al., 2012. Introduction: Small business and networked innovation:
Organizational and managerial challenges. Journal of Small Business Management, 50(2),
pp.181-190.
Curran, J. and Storey, D. J. eds., 2016. Small firms in urban and rural locations. Routledge.
Frankland, R. and et. al., 2013. Integrated change management unit. U.S. Patent 8,484,111.
Goetsch, D. L. and Davis, S. B., 2014. Quality management for organizational excellence. Upper
Saddle River, NJ: pearson.
Gollenia, L. A., 2016. Business Transformation Management Methodology. Routledge.
Gronum, S., Verreynne, M. L. and Kastelle, T., 2012. The role of networks in small and
medium‐sized enterprise innovation and firm performance. Journal of Small Business
Management, 50(2), pp.257-282.
Hilmersson, M., 2014. Small and medium-sized enterprise internationalisation strategy and
performance in times of market turbulence. International Small Business Journal, 32(4),
pp.386-400.
Jasra, J. M. and et. al., 2012. Determinants of business success of small and medium enterprises.
Jeston, J. and Nelis, J., 2014. Business process management. Routledge.
Kerzner, H., 2013. Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and
controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
Ratten, V., 2014. Future research directions for collective entrepreneurship in developing
countries: a small and medium-sized enterprise perspective. International Journal of
Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 22(2), pp.266-274.
Stark, J., 2015. Product lifecycle management. In Product Lifecycle Management (pp. 1-29).
Springer International Publishing.
Stewart, H. and Gapp, R., 2014. Achieving Effective Sustainable Management: A Small‐
Medium Enterprise Case Study. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental
Management, 21(1), pp.52-64.
Storey, D. J., 2016. Understanding the small business sector. Routledge.
Online
15

Information about us. 2017. [Online]. Available Through:<https://www.flavourly.com/terms/>.
[Accessed on 14th April, 2017].
Flavourly FAQs. 2017. [Online]. Available Through:<https://flavourly.uservoice.com/>.
[Accessed on 14th April, 2017].
16