An Analysis of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

The provided document is a comprehensive study on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). It delves into various aspects of SME management, including financing options, talent management, and project planning practices. The study also examines the impact of innovation vouchers on SME collaborations with knowledge-intensive services. Furthermore, it analyzes the benefits associated with health and safety management systems certification in Portuguese SMEs post-quality management system certification. Additionally, the document touches upon web 2.0 enterprise building and corporate social responsibility practice in Swedish SMEs. Overall, the study aims to understand the challenges and opportunities faced by SMEs, as well as their potential for growth and innovation.

SMALL BUSINESS
ENTERPRISES

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
1.1: Profile of company along with strength and weaknesses................................................1
1.2: Analysis of Cafe portrait business using comparative measure of performance............2
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
2.1: Actions to overcome the identified weaknesses..............................................................3
2.2: Analysing ways from which existing performance can be strengthen and maintained. .4
2.3: New area for business expansion....................................................................................4
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................5
3.1: Assessment of existing business objectives and plans....................................................5
3.2: Revised business plan to including proper changes .......................................................6
3.3: Action plan to implement the changes............................................................................7
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................8
4.1: The impact of proposed changes on the business............................................................8
4.2: Planning for managing the changes in business..............................................................8
4.3: Monitor improvements in the performance of the business in a given time scale........10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Small business enterprises can be defined as a business entity where small group of
employees work together for the purpose of providing satisfaction to customer by providing
them products and services. Small businesses are playing very vital role in the growth and
development of the country. The one of the most important contribution of small business is
generating employment opportunities and provide balance to the economy. The classification of
such type of organisation is done on the basis of number of employees, value of assets, Net sales
and profit. The present report is about the Cafe portrait, which is considered as a small and
medium enterprise and located in Edinburgh. It serves tea, coffee, cake with the view of Scottish
national portrait gallery. Furthermore, this report covers the overall profile of the company.
Along with this, proper actions are also discussed about overcoming the weak area of business.
Overall the report is focused on the various aspect associated with small and medium enterprise.
TASK 1
1.1: Profile of company along with strength and weaknesses
The Cafe portrait is famous for its traditional afternoon tea in an adorable setting. It is
situated is Queen street, Edinburgh. Cafe portrait is operated by the organisation named Cafes by
Heritage portfolio. The number of employees in the restaurant are around 22. Apart from the
meal, visitor can have a look on the earliest depiction of European art which is hanging on the
Cafe walls.
Mission
 To provide hygienic food and quality
service to the customers
 To render services in most professional
and friendly manner
 To manage comfortable and healthy
environment for customers (Williams
and Tsiteladze, 2016)
Vision
 To prepare branded, nutritious stir fry
 To showcasing the European art to
visitors with a cup of coffee
Strengths and weaknesses of Cafe portrait
Strength
 A well-known visitor’s place due to
Weakness
 The restaurant is located at only one
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quality service for meals, cakes, tea
 The afternoon tea is very famous
 Gaining popularity because of
depiction of European art on the wall of
restaurant (Mwenda and Wachira,
2015)
 Work under the umbrella of Cafes by
heritage portfolio
 Organize large number of events such
as parties, camp fire and exhibitions
 The complimentary dishes which they
provide are increasing the demand of
the customer for particular dish
 Special offers for families, children and
couples and prices for the meals are
affordable
 A huge area of restaurant increases the
level of comfortability for customers
place and authority are giving no effort
in expansion
 Number of employees is less, work
force become impatient at the time of
overload of work
 The small work force makes customer
angry sometimes as they are not
attended on time and company fails to
fulfill their mission
 Low number of employee are unable to
provide hygienic food in the peak
season
 The restaurant operates in single
building, some time when the number
of customers increases the environment
is no longer remain peaceful
 The popularity of restaurant increases
the waiting line of customer
1.2: Analysis of Cafe portrait business using comparative measure of performance
The analysis of business can be considered as using techniques from which effectiveness
of business activities, services and operations can be determined. It is essential for small and
medium enterprises to timely analyse their business operations so that they can track the lop
holes and can take corrective measure to resolve them (Khalique and et.al, 2015). The analysis of
Cafe portrait using comparative measure of performance is discussed below.
Operational analysis
The Cafe portrait is catering to food and restaurant sector. The business is highly
depended on the operational activities they performed to provide satisfaction to the customer. For
measuring the performance level of business, comparison will be done with one of the
competitor of Cafe portrait. Lantana cafe is one of the biggest competitor of Cafe portrait
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(Wynarczyk and et.al, 2016). Furthermore, the below table describe the employee performance
level in both the restaurant in the end of year 2016:
Year ending 2016 Lantana cafe Cafe portrait
Job offers 12.00% 15.00%
Absenteeism 18 days 15 days
Staff turnover rate 7.00% 5.00%
Job satisfaction 60.00% 85.00%
From above table, it can be understood that the employee performance level in Cafe
portrait is comparatively better then Lantana cafe. The table states that the amount of job offers
in Cafe portrait is 15%, which is 3% higher than Lantana Cafe. The rate of absentee is lower in
the Cafe portrait which states that the employee of restaurant is more disciplined and regular.
The staff turnover rate in Cafe portrait is 5.00% and 2.00% lower than compared to Lantana cafe,
which implies that employees of Cafe portrait are highly motivated. Furthermore, the job
satisfaction level is also high in Cafe portrait which is a good sign for small and medium
enterprises.
TASK 2
2.1: Actions to overcome the identified weaknesses
Organisations of all type either small or big have various weaknesses. It is the role and
responsibility of management to identify them and come up with proper solution so that
weaknesses can be eliminated (Colombo, Piva and Rossi-Lamastra, 2014). The following are the
actions which Cafe portrait can take for the purpose of resolving the weaknesses which their
business is facing:
 Appropriate seating arrangement for those customers who prefers peaceful environment.
 As per the high popularity among customers, management of Cafe portrait should aim to
take action for expanding the business so that profit could be increased.
 Highly skilled and knowledgeable employees to be hired so that at the time of workload
they can perform as expected
 The number of employees in Cafe are less therefore management focuses upon hiring
skilled employees in order to reduce the customer waiting time.
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 Problems such as aggressive, impatient behavior of employees could be controlled by
providing them sufficient training.
 One of the main weakness of Cafe portrait is that they are focusing more on the
complementary dishes rather than main dishes which is harmful for them in long term.
Therefore, in order to mitigate such weakness, firm aims to transfer their focus toward the
main dish so that customer satisfaction level can be achieved. (Ciravegna, Majano and
Zhan, 2014)
2.2: Analysing ways from which existing performance can be strengthen and maintained
It is very necessary for small and medium enterprises to maintain and strengthen their
current business performance so that they can remain competitive and survive for the long term.
Here, following are the ways from which Cafe portrait can maintain and strengthen their existing
business performance:
 Employees require to be well equipped with the appropriate tools so that they can
provide high quality of service to their customer. Failure in this resulted, the expectation
of customer will not achieve and goodwill of the Cafe will be vanished
 The service manual can be a proper tool if customer also involved in it, as it is useful for
the employees to understand their job in most appropriate way (Min, 2015)
 Conducting survey and research for understanding the customer preference will be useful
for determining the needs and wants of customer. It will also enlighten Cafe portrait
about the area of improvement
 Reward system to be introduced for the employees, as it helps in motivating them to
perform at their level best
 Timely investigation of employee performance will help in identifying the areas where
they are facing problem and then training and development process can resolve it
2.3: New area for business expansion
It is vital for small and medium enterprises to search for the new areas where they can
expand their business activities. There are ample number of restaurant in UK, which leads to
intense competition in this particular area of business (Bruhn, Karlan and Schoar, 2013). To
overcoming the hurdles Cafe portrait can use following ways for further expansion of their
restaurant business:
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Expansion at global level- Go global is an expensive approach for small and medium
enterprise but if all decision is based on prudent approach then it can be beneficial. Here, Cafe
portrait can start restaurant chain and perform their business at the global level. They have to be
careful about the behavior and expectations of different set of consumers at global level.
Diversification- Cafe portrait can use different variety of dishes so that customer can get
wide range of meals in the menu. There is another option for Cafe in which they can diversify
their business activities, as they can provide packaged food that will help them to create a new
customer base. Other than this, they can also increase the amount of their complementary
services and can try variety of new flavors (Saguy and Sirotinskaya, 2014).
Social media platform- The social media platform is most effective tool for the
promoting the product and service in front of large amount of audience. Facebook, Instagram,
Tweeter etc are platform where Cafe portrait can promote their products and increase the
curiosity level of customer. Other than this online delivery can be a way from where business
can have expanded (McKeown, 2017).
TASK 3
3.1: Assessment of existing business objectives and plans
Objectives and plans determined the willingness of company to achieve long and short-
term goals. It is important for business entity to set the objectives, as it will give proper direction
to the company. The assessment of existing business objectives and plans of Cafe portrait are
mentioned below:
Understanding customer perspective- This is the major objective set by Cafe portrait as
it will help them to generate revenue. The increasing amount of foot falls in restaurant alone
defined that business achieved its main objective (Santos and et.al, 2013).
Employee retention- The Cafe portrait using several techniques to retain their workforce.
Reward system is one initiative took by them which resulted as employees are performing with
motivation and level of performance also increased.
Accelerate sales- For increasing the sales Cafe portrait come up with various plans such
as- complementary dishes, good quality food at affordable prize, mesmerizing ambiance and so
on. All the acquired strategies accelerate the amount of sales for them (Sala, Landoni and
Verganti, 2016).
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Improve service quality- The customer of Cafe portrait are facing the problem related to
low service of ordered food. The restaurant try to improve the level of service by provide
training to employees and include highly skilled individuals in work force. This strategies helps
them to reduce the waiting time for customers.
Innovation and creativity- Due to fierce competitive environment in restaurant industry
Cafe portrait enforced to adopt innovative and creative ideas. They include various unique dishes
in their menu which is not available at any other cafe (Lee, Herold and Yu, 2016).
3.2: Revised business plan to including proper changes
A business plan can be considered as the blueprint of goals and objectives set by the
business entity. Here, Cafe portrait need to make several changes in their existing business plan
for attaining the higher level of goodwill. SMART objectives will be useful for Cafe:
Specific- The Cafe portrait needs to focus towards expanding their business in new areas
so that new opportunities accelerate the level of growth. Restaurant can increase their bargaining
power with supplier of raw material for making business more cost effective. They can achieve
this target by reducing the cost of purchase by 5%.
Measurable- The appropriate measurement of employee performance is become essential
because of increasing workload. Training and development programme can increase the level of
efficiency by 10% in order to provide high class service to customer (Kim, Lee and Lee, 2013).
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Illustration 1: SMART objective
(Source:SMART objectives, 2017)

Achievable- New ideas required to be include for the further expansion of business. The
additional ideas should be achievable and company have to be able to manage and control it. The
Cafe portrait can start home delivery services and for the purpose of maintaining it they can
make use of Enterprise resource planning packages. For this they can set deadline of 2-3 years.
Realistic- The realistic approach which Cafe portrait can use is, they can develop new
dishes with different flavour and tastes and put it in the menu list. Here, it is important to make
changes in the dishes as per the customer suggestion, for this purpose they can make use of
comment cards so that customer can provide suggestion. It will increase the level of customer
satisfaction by 15%.
Time bound- Deadline is important part of objectives and goals setting process. All the
above-mentioned changes in business plan will be implemented till 2020 (Gbandi and Amissah,
2014).
3.3: Action plan to implement the changes
The changes which need to be implement by Cafe portrait are big so, they need to
develop a action plan in order to utilize more out of it. The action plan for changes in Cafe
portrait is as below:
Identification of issues- At the first step, Cafe portrait need to determine the existing
issues in business which can be a barrier in implementing the changes. They required to
eliminate all the problematic factors and then adopt the strategy accordingly.
Values and mission- For the purpose of increasing the productivity level of Cafe all
changes need to be align with the mission, values and principles set by the organisation.
Moreover, Cafe portrait need to meet with their future requirement and expectations (Krishnan,
and Scullion, 2017).
Situation analysis- For implementing the changes appropriately, it is necessary for Cafe
portrait to understand their current situation. They have to aware with the budget required,
competitors’ strategies, government policies, market share etc. SWOT and PESTEL analysis can
be useful tool for enterprise in order to understand the current situation of business.
Strategy development- In order to improvise the current situation of business Cafe
portrait need to adopt various strategies. The strategy formation process can be followed as
analyses, decide, design and act. Strategy development process consider the overall environment
of enterprise.
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Review and planning- After the completion of outlining of plan it is important to review
the change implementation process timely. It is useful to eliminate the problems at grass root
level.
TASK 4
4.1: The impact of proposed changes on the business
The proposed changes bring following changes in the business process of Cafe portrait:
Strengthen customer base- The strategies which implemented for attracting the customer
are useful for the enterprise in order to understand the needs and wants. For further improvement
in this they can ask employee for feedback on consumer preference.
Increase in market share- By adding home delivery option, new dishes and provide
attractive offers Cafe portrait is able to increase the level of sales as well as gain the competitive
advantage over their competitors.
Growth- The growth and revenue increase because of well implementation of proposed
changes such as- diversification, improvise service quality, provide home delivery option. The
profit margin of company also increases which result in business expansion of Cafe portrait
(Rosli and Sidek, 2013).
Employee satisfaction- The employees of Cafe portrait feel satisfied and motivated
because of training and development program. The reward system also provide motivation to the
employees to work with full dedication. Recruitment of new people reduce the workload from
employees.
Encourage innovation- By implementing the proposed changes Cafe portrait foster an
environment that encourages innovation. Skillful employee start thinking creatively which is
helpful for business to grow. Home delivery process is handled by the technology such as
enterprise resource planning which is helpful in reducing the error.
4.2: Planning for managing the changes in business
Change can be managed and adopted by organisation after using several ways. In order to
proper management of changes in Cafe portrait they can apply Kotter's change model. Following
is the description of eight steps in the respective model:
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Increase urgency- The enterprise need to understand the importance of change which is
taking place. The Cafe portrait need to create urgency among their employees to implement the
change. The proper communication with other members of organisation is necessary.
Build guiding team- All the member of Cafe portrait has to convinced that change is
necessary. Here, it is the responsibility of leaders yo making the change acceptable by each and
every one within the organisation. Other than leaders, supervisors and managers can be assigned
for this particular task (Tasevska, Damij and Damij, 2014).
Develop the vision- The vision is considered as imagination of future situation after the
implementation of change. Employee and customer have to be aware about the consequences
which change will bring.
Communicate for buy-in- The vision has to be communicated frequently and powerfully.
The employees should have the proper information regarding the change.
Empower action- For the purpose of empowering the actions regarding change,
enterprise need to mitigate the obstacles which can be encountered while adopting the change.
Create short term wins-For accomplishing long term goals Cafe portrait need to win their
small term goals so that it will increase the employee morale.
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Illustration 2: Kotter's Change Model
(Source: Kotter's change model, 2017)

Don't let up- Most of the change projects fail because victory is assumed too early. Cafe
portrait need to adopt continuous improvement approach such as Kaizan. (Wynarczyk and et.al,
2016).
Make change stick- The Cafe portrait have to convey about the progress whenever they
get chance.
4.3: Monitor improvements in the performance of the business in a given time scale
In order to ensure that the whole team is working as per the plan for making changes
more effective, Cafe portrait need to monitor the performance of process by using resources.
Gantt chart can be an appropriate tool for monitoring the overall change process. It will be useful
in figure out the issues and problems while implementation of change process (McKeown,
2017). The following is the Gantt chart for 12 months:
Improvement parameters 1-2
Months
2-4
Months
4-6
Months
6-8
Months
8-10
Months
10-12
Months
Understanding customer
perspective
Employee retention
Accelerate sales
Improve service quality
Innovation and creativity
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be concluded that small and medium enterprises required to
evaluate their strength and weaknesses. For the purpose of survival in the business for long time
enterprises implementing change in the current business model. The organisation can evaluate
the new area where they can expand their business. Companies can make their business plan
more prudent by aligned it with SMART objectives. Along with it, for the purpose of managing
the changes appropriately Kotter model seem a good option. Gantt chart is an effective tool for
monitoring change and measuring the impact of it on the organisational activities.
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<http://www.learnmarketing.net/smart.htm>. [Accessed On: 23rd June 2017].
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[Accessed On: 23rd June 2017].
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