Small Business and Enterprise Development Analysis

The provided assignment is an analysis of small business and enterprise development, specifically focusing on Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Ireland. The document explores different aspects of SMEs, such as their definition, characteristics, success factors, and challenges. It also references various studies and research papers that investigate the role of SMEs in regional development and their resilience. The assignment aims to understand the complexities of SMEs and their importance in the Irish economy.

Small Business Enterprise

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Overview of Caffe Finix and their strengths and weaknesses..............................................1
1.2 Analysis of performance of the business by utilising various measures...............................2
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
2.1 Methods which has to be utilised for overcoming the weaknesses.......................................4
2.2 Ways to keep the existing strengths and performance..........................................................5
2.3 Different segments where they can expand their business operations..................................6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................8
3.1 AssesSBEnt of the current business missions.......................................................................8
3.2 Revision of the business plan to implement changes............................................................8
3.3 Plan for executing the changes mentioned above.................................................................9
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................9
4.1 Impact of the suggested modification on the business and its members. .............................9
4.2 Managing the changes in the business................................................................................10
4.3 Evaluation of improvement in the performance of the SBE over a period of time............11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Business enterprise are the small firms whose ownership are with the normal people and
there operations are limited to certain extent. SBE have good image in the market that they
introduce the concepts which has innovation and creativity, the reason behind this is the increase
in the competition at this level. They contribute a large share in the growth and development of
the economic and on the other hand also employees a large number of individuals. The national
government of UK are very well aware about the importance of growing SBE and they
continuously support them through some or other policy (Mundial, 2013). In UK SBE refers to
the organisation who has turnover less than £25m and the employees number restricting to 250
only. Analysing the data of SBE it can be stated that there are approximately 15 million SBE
with turnover £1.8 trillion. UK government is paving the path for the SBE to expand their
business thus increasing their productivity (Giaoutzi, Nijkamp and Storey, 2016). The whole
report will be highlighting the importance SBE through taking the case scenario of Caffe Finix. It
will be brief on the expansion plan of the venture through different strategies and management of
the business activities.
TASK 1
1.1 Overview of Caffe Finix and their strengths and weaknesses.
Caffe Finix is a SBE venture who has coffee shop in the city of Stratford which is located
in the east of London. It was the year in 2009 when the organisation came into existence and
right from starting day to present day it has made its importance in the hearts of the coffee
lovers. The individuals who are searching for the place where they can sit and hang out with the
friends with a coffee then there search might end at the peace environment of Caffe Finix. This
place is not restricted to this only as other than this they have give the customer the choice of
reading a good collection of books. Their shop is expanded in the area of 150 square foot and for
whole operation 8 individuals has been employed. Peter Scott, who is the owner of the shop is
looking forward to expand their business in different areas of the country. Other than coffee their
menu also includes different tea and breakfast items. If they wants to gain knowledge about their
strength and weaknesses it is necessary for them to conduct a SWOT analysis (Goss, 2015). With
this they will find it easier to make any decision concerned with their business thus focusing on
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bringing efficiency and increasing the profit margins. Following are the strengths and
weaknesses of Caffe Finix:-
Strengths:- These can be called as the compensation of the organisation or the
capabilities of handling certain specific areas or operations. With the strengths organisation can
gain competitive edge over their rivals who are also trading in the same segment. Each firm
existing in the business environment has some or other strengths which makes them unique and
creative in the market. For example; Pepsi has been known for their brand value thus giving
them an advantage and on the other hand Microsoft is the company who is famous for their
innovations in their software or any other products (Cavusgil and et. al., 2014). They are known
for their quality services and has build a good reputation in the market among the customers. The
benefit with them is that their shop quite near to the Stratford college which gives them them
benefits of attracting the students of the college. They deliver good quality and fresh coffee and
food items. Each year they are experiencing hike in the turnover which is a positive sign for the
business.
Weakness:- It can be called as the inability of the organisation or the limitations which
prevents them from expanding their business operations (Storey, 2016). Those factors which are
part of this hampers the day to day business operations of the firm. As a business consultant it is
the responsibility to gain knowledge about the areas where Caffe Finix is facing the difficulty.
Following are the weaknesses of stated business venture:-
 Some of their coffee brands are not much popular among the people;
 Due to high rent of shop and the area they are facing difficulty in business;
 They don't have proper staffing management as they are able to retail the staff.
1.2 Analysis of performance of the business by utilising various measures.
The current status of the company can be known through the process of performance
management program. In this an evaluation of the organisation with their competitors which is a
form of comparison between them (Schaper and et. al., 2014). The factors which will be
considered in this is the performance of the employees, sales, production, consumer services and
etc. are some of them. Below mentioned are the areas which can be analysed for this purpose:-
Sales:- This gives the clear picture of the profits and losses the organisation like Caffe
Finix is facing. The sales report can be checked on different time period from monthly to
quarterly. With the help of this they can also see improvement in this consumer service, quality
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and at the same time can also gain assistance in increasing the market share. After the end results
they can modify the plans according thus giving importance to those elements which are acting
as catalyst for them.
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Illustration 1: Small Scale Business Economy

Finance:- No business can prolong further if they lack the financial resources so it can be
said that this plays a crucial role in knowing the performance of the company in the market.
Return of Investment, valuation of the asset, liquidity and analysis of an operating expenses are
part of this (Zortea-Johnston, Darroch and Matear, 2012). Caffe Finix has the objective of better
return of investment so for that they have to continuously emphasize on knowing the financial
sources present to them.
Marketing:- This is the area of the business which helps organisation to make their
product reach to the target audiences. They make sure that there is good communication between
the consumers so that they can convince the people to buy or experience their products and
services respectively (Battisti and Perry, 2011). Focusing on this can bring product awareness
among the people that yes there is existence of a coffee house named as Caffe Finix. For this
they have to carry out the promotional campaigns to bring better outcomes.
TASK 2
2.1 Methods which has to be utilised for overcoming the weaknesses.
Location is one of the factors on which the business of the coffee house generally
depends on and if they select the good location it will bring better results for them. Although
they will be able to attract a lots of consumers but due to the high pricing factors it may cost
them. It has been analysed that most of the people when visits any cafe or food restaurants they
face the issue of parking so to overcome this they can rent more areas allowing the consumer to
park their vehicle in that area (Chun and Mun, 2012). Due to short expiry period of the items
they sometime face the high inventory turnover rate. To get over this they can adopt the strategy
of First in First out process for the sale and stock replenishment. They have to take care that
effective restocking and recording of the stock can take place which ensure that the demands are
met with the supply. It is necessary for them to maintain the quality of their products as their
business is totally depended on food items and the beverages (Malhotra and Temponi, 2010). It
might happen that there may be variation in the coffee and cupcakes because they are made in
different time of the day thus it becomes difficult for Caffe Finix to maintain the quality of the
products. To resolve this it is necessary that employees should be given training so that they can
follow the quality standards. They should look for the innovative ideas for the presentation of
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Coffee. Those staff who are employed there are well aware that how they have to serve the
people or the management should be ready to give any of the staff the training.
The basic aim of Caffe Finix is to attract more number of customers ion their cafe and
satisfy them with their products and services. To reach to large number of people they can adopt
the concept of online promotion which is also a cheap form of marketing (Franco and Haase,
2010). Through this they can also take the feedback about their products thus knowing the actual
changes which needs to be done in their coffee house. They have to ensure that they change their
concept and themes at regular intervals.
2.2 Ways to keep the existing strengths and performance.
Caffe Finix emphasis on the quality of the products and services and they establish the
new coffee shop at the location where they can get better responses. The customer needs a
quality products in a healthy environment setting. To improve or maintain the strengths they
should deliver a coffee which is good in taste. It is observed that coffee is seen as the luxury
drink which is quite affordable so it is their duty to serve the consumer the coffee with proper
presentation. It is analysed that this is the segment which face any kind of impact due to the
economy of the country (Arteaga‐Ortiz and Fernández‐Ortiz, 2010). To bring a transparency and
know what are the views of the people they can bring the concept of a co pliant box and after
analysing those suggestion different changes can be done in their products and services.
Through the comparison from the other coffee houses located at Stratford area it can be
said that Caffe Finix serves the best coffee in the whole area. The location where their coffee
shop is situated is the best places as it is near to college, shopping mall and entertainment parks.
In Caffe Finix they have decorated there cafe with the glass paintings and other art work has
been properly carved. In the whole areas Caffe Finix is the only one who provides a musical
setting during the weekends and the reason behind this is that the simple things would bore
people and when they experience such thing they becomes excited. Those who want private time
in a peace setting can avail the facility of the rooftop cafe. Now they are not restricted to the
coffee as they have also included other beverages and food items which can be served with
coffee. The famous tea of Srilanka and India are available to the customers and these all brings
consumer satisfactions (Gunasekaran, Rai and Griffin, 2011). The coffee lovers who regularly
comes to Caffe Finix gets a 5% discount.
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2.3 Different segments where they can expand their business operations.
To bring more profit almost every SBE tries to increase their business operations and
talking on the case scenario of Caffe Finix there business started in year 2009. They have only
one shop which is in Stratford city and this city is quite small so from this it can be said that the
chances of growth are limited. As part of the expansion plan they can open another coffee house
in the city of London. Expanding the business in this city would give them a lot of good business
opportunities thus helping them to reach at global level (Davies and Crane, 2010). Although they
may gain big opportunities but at the same time they also have to experience workload. They
should frame a strategy and should carry put the operations according to it so that they can make
the business effective.
It is necessary that they carry out a market research and analysis the opponents market.
Using the old strategies for the London city will not work as the market condition of both the
cities are different. The city of London is one of the most popular tourist destination of the world
and a lot tourist visits there. Expanding the business in such location can give competitive edge
to Caffe Finix. The lifestyle of the individuals in London is quite better and they can access to
anything they want. Caffe Finix is focusing on coming out with the quality products as they
know that coffee and food are the two things on which their business is totally dependent on.
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Illustration 2: SME Income, Region

In the city there is existence of a lot of coffee shops so Caffe Finix have to face a tough
competition. If they try to serve the usual products and services than they might get fail in their
mission. They have the aim of giving an unique experience to the customer through fresh coffee
to the consumers on suitable prices. For this they have to use good quality coffee beans and
unique flavour to bring more customer towards them. They believe in the strategy that the
consumer who are visiting the coffee house should be convinced so that he or she again prefer to
come next time (Smit and Watkins, 2012). In all they believe that consumer satisfaction is the
necessary part opf the business success. The individual who is satisfied with services will help
them in doing promotion of the Caffe Finix through their mouth.
The next important thing after food and beverages is the services and staff. In their
previous cafe or the cafe which is in Stratford has 8 staff only. Now the cafe will be opened at
prime city and their size of also doubled. To run operation at larger level they required new staff
who has the potential to work in any situation. For this they have to analyse their skills and
experience needed to give services in cafe and restaurants. For hiring new employees they need
the HR department which they don't have and for this they have to take the services of
consultancy firm. Caffe Finix officials can give them the requirements about the em,ployees
wwhich they wants for their new cafe. They will ask them that they want such kind o employees
who has certain skills and knowledge (Donner and Escobari, 2010). After the recruitment
process takes place they have to train the employees so that they can adapt according to the
working culture of Caffe Finix.
It has been observed that in London City there is opening of new cafe and restut5ajnts but
they hardly prolong for a longer period of time the reason behind this is that they don't have
anything new to offer. To ensure that people know about their cafe and the products which they
are offering they have to do lots of promotion (Columba, Gambacorta and Mistrulli, 2010). For
the advertisement they can give ads in the local newspapers and radio announcement can be
done. They can also organise any kind of charity event and promise to the people that whatever
spending they make in the cafe so out of all the money 0.5% will go to the charity. This way they
can improve their brand image.
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TASK 3
3.1 AssesSBEnt of the current business missions.
Objectives and goals are refereed top as the final outcome of the business operation
which the company wants to achieve. It is not necessary that all the organisation will have the
same objectives as they are set on the basis of the type of business, size, production capacity and
etc. Caffe Finix has developed the targets which they have to attain in the set time period and this
will give them advantage from their opponents (Martín-Tapia, Aragón-Correa and Rueda-
Manzanares, 2010). To be very clear about the targets makes them move towards the right path
with the suitable resources in their hand. It has been analysed through marketing channels that if
anyone wants to know the status and public opinion of the cafe or restaurants they can go to the
review sites and can read the suggestions. They have decided that they have to get good reviews
as wanted to see them as the “Best Coffee Shop in the Area”. With this more number of foreign
tourist will come to their cafe and will help them in attaining the targeting of 60% gross margin.
For this they will also provide the finest quality coffee beans. Due to their location and services
they have been ranked as one of the finest place to have coffee with the friends. They had been
successful in attaining the first target as everyday they are serving on an average 600 customer
per day. This is the evidence of the fact that how they had been successful. They have set up a
quality inspection team as they don't want that there coffee quality will go down. The quality
team has the responsibility to ensure that regular inspection on the quality is done. On the other
side they have also ensured that they provided these coffee items in reasonable rates.
3.2 Revision of the business plan to implement changes.
Attracting the new customers and retaining the older one is the main objective of the
marketing strategy of Caffe Finix. To achieve this they are rearranging the sitting and included
chairs, led lights and soft music will be set up so that people should get away from the stress.
This is one of the advantage with them which makes them unique and the employees like
barristers will look for sale transactions. The rest of the staff is given the duty serve the consumer
and such think bring efficiency (Durkin, McGowan and McKeown, 2013). The sales data can be
analysed and then used for comparison purpose. Advertising through banners, fliers and etc. will
produce better results. With the policies and strategies they ensure that coffee addicts come again
to their cafe thus spending more time.
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3.3 Plan for executing the changes mentioned above.
 Market Analysis:-
It is observed that they are focusing on the local people of city Stratford and in this list tourists
who are coming to the city is also their customers.
 Market Segmentation
Students, staff who is employed in the college and other offices are the people on which whole
marketing activities will be focused on.
 Target Market Strategy
They are focusing on the individuals who wants a peace and stressful environment and have the
sips of coffee. As the coffee house is quite near to the college so most of the people visiting out
there is students and the staff of college. They are allowing the people to sit in their coffee house
with their friends for 3 hours without paying the service charge. This strategy will attract the
students to come to Caffe Finix and with this they can build loyal customer base. It has been
decided that those customers who are regular will be given some kind of concessions. Caffe
Finix can take the reviews of their services from the customers so that they can gain idea about
things which are hampering their business.
TASK 4
4.1 Impact of the suggested modification on the business and its members.
Any change in the current strategy can influence the organisation and at the same time
there are some of the factors present in the external environment which has crucial role to play in
the business activities.
 Political Factors:- It is the political factor which decided the success of any business as
they frame the laws so that better relationship can be maintained with the employers. It is
duty of the Caffe Finix to ensure that they abide all the laws made by the national
government as well as the certain regulation of EU. To achieve more profit it is necessary
that there should be political stability in the country where they are operating their
business.
 Economic Factors:- It is observed that the organisation are gaining new targets as they
are continuously expanding into the different markets. With the increase in the life style
of people their spending power as also improved this demand of the products goes high.
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But no one can say that there will be constant hike in the economy as market conditions
are not stable. With the increase in the demand the price also goes up which is favourable
for Caffe Finix. The business of the company can be affected by the factors like interest
rate,wages rates and the rate of inflation (Amal and Rocha Freitag Filho, 2010). In the
case where Caffe Finix observes that the interest rate and the demand of the products are
high so by this they will expand their business through taking different approaches.
 Social Factor:- Behaviours, tastes and day to day activity of the people are the element
which are concerned with this factor and frames the social structure. It is not necessary
that people coming in the cafe all order the same thing but according to their taste and
prefer they make choice. This thing is highly depended on their lifestyle they live in and
for example the person whose age is approx. 50 years and the individuals whose age is
approx. 23 year will not drink or eat the same thing. It is the gender, food habits, age,
culture and etc. are the things which might impact this. It is now the responsibility of
management of Caffe Finix to look after the preferences and than should decide the menu
of the cafe. They should properly conduct the market research and know the social and
culture aspects knowing the information about the customer, religion, language and
lifestyle in their mind.
 Technological Factors:- Bringing new technological advancement at the Caffe Finix can
give them competitive advantage and with this they can also bring efficiency in their
work. They can store all the sales information on computer and then analyse it in future.
 Legal Factors:- It is the government who frames new laws or amend the existing one so
this can largely impact their services. If Caffe Finix wants that they does not face any
legal issue it is necessary that they abide all the legislation related to their segment. They
should have a food licence and etc. They should regularly look for the changes and shape
their strategies according to it. Caffe Finix management should be well versed with the
customer protection laws, environmental laws, health and safety act at the work place are
the prominent one (Williams and Schaefer, 2013).
4.2 Managing the changes in the business.
People:- Any changes by Caffe Finix can create the fear and ambiguity among their
customers and it might happen that they may not accept any modification. Organisation is well
aware of the fact that these changes are for good purpose but in starting their potential consumer
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will feel hesitation in adoption. If such thing happen there are lots of chances that they will not
able to work will better ideas thus directly impacting the performance of the employees who are
part of Caffe Finix. To get over from such situation the manager should estimate the impact of
the changes and try to incorporate it slowly.
Business:- To know their position it is necessary that they should have a deep knowledge
about their competitors. They have to continuously work on ensuring that the demands of the
customers are fulfilled. The business has to be analysed on all stages and they should take
political changes in mind. Adapting according to the external factors brings efficiency in their
business.
4.3 Evaluation of improvement in the performance of the SBE over a period of time.
This activity can be done by looking at the goals which has been set by Caffe Finix.
Goals Period Review
They wanted to get review of
the best coffee house in the
area by the experts.
By 2018 Various kinds of strategies
emphasizing purely on the
market is incorporated for the
objective.
Service By 2018 Friendly environment is given
to the consumers so that they
can get the feeling of home
setting.
Franchise Concept By 2019 They have targeted the small
coffee house who are closing
down and through running
these with the franchisee
model would expand their
business.
Emphasising on loyal
customers.
By 2019 The regular visitor at the
coffee house are given certain
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concession coupons.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be summarised that in these two decades the figures of
SBE's has increased drastically and the reason behind this is that people looking for the changes,
innovation and creativity which is given by the products and services delivered by small business
organisations. They have came as the economic booster for UK as it is creating employment and
opportunities in large number. Caffe Finix, who is looking for expanding their business have
adopted different strategies and models according to the internal and external business
environment. They are training their staff so that they can become flexible in handling any
situation and also focusing on providing good quality coffee to the consumers.
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