Case Study: Small Business Management and Growth of Savage London

This assignment provides an understanding of the skills needed in small and entrepreneurial businesses, focusing on the characteristics and features defined by the Small Business Administration of the UK. It assesses the role and advantage of small businesses like Savage London on the UK's economy, highlighting their importance in economic growth. The report covers business strategies employed by small businesses, demonstrating their effectiveness in the market. A SWOT analysis identifies Savage London's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The study also examines marketing, operations management, and financial aspects, including marketing mix strategies (4Ps) and the 4 I's of strategic entrepreneurial marketing, concluding with recommendations for Savage London's continued success and expansion.

Small Business Management

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................2
TASK 01............................................................................................................................................3
QUALIFICATION OF A SMALL BUSINESS......................................................................................3
TASK 02............................................................................................................................................4
GENERAL BACKGROUND OF SAVAGE LONDON...........................................................................4
TASK 3..............................................................................................................................................6
MARKETING.................................................................................................................................6
OPERATION MANAGEMENT......................................................................................................10
FINANCE.....................................................................................................................................15
TASK 04..........................................................................................................................................20
RECOMMENDATION..................................................................................................................20
CONCLUSION.................................................................................................................................22
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INTRODUCTION
The main aim of this assignment is to develop an understanding towards the skills that are
needed in the field of small and entrepreneurial business. This assignment covers all the
characteristics and features that a small business has and that are listed by the Small business
Administration of the UK. With the help of this assignment, the role and advantage of the small
business organization on the UK's economy are also focused on describing their importance on
the economic growth.
All the business strategies that are used by the small businesses will describe that even though
the size of the businesses is small; the business strategies are reliable and effective enough for
surviving in the market (Storey, 2016). A large number of people in the UK are engaged in the
small businesses that are their innovative idea. According to several types of research that are
carried out to understand the importance of small businesses in the UK and their effect on its
economy, it can be concluded that there are approximately 5 million small enterprises in the UK
and approximately 14 million populations are getting employment from them. On the other
hand, these businesses are also providing high range of products and services to the customers
(Whittle, 2017).
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TASK 01
QUALIFICATION OF A SMALL BUSINESS
Savage London is taken into consideration in this assignment as to study how the management
in small business takes place in the UK. Small businesses can be defined as a company that is
owned by an individual and it is operated by a few members collectively (Goss, 2015). Any
business that is employing less than 500 employees comes under the small business. The
Savage London is also having less than 500 employees and the company is fulfilling all the
requirements of small business.
It is a clothing store in London which sells t-shirts and hoodie for males, females and kids and
the owner is responsible for making all the business decisions. The characteristics of a business
that qualifies that it is a small business are as follows and they are given by The Small Business
Administration (Bridge and O'Neill 2012):
 The clothing company has low revenue around $21.5 million per year and portability.
 Few employees, Savage London has less number of employees i.e. less than 500
employees.
 The company has small market area and serves single communities in London.
 The access of Savage London is in fewer locations in the London but it does not affect
the market position of the company at any cost (Haynes, 2015).
 Small businesses such as Savage London have much freedom to innovate its products
and services as the company is offering a large variety of clothes to all the customers.
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TASK 02
GENERAL BACKGROUND OF SAVAGE LONDON
The name of the small business is Savage London and it is a clothing store located in London,
which is offering a high range of clothing products to the customers of the UK.
The store is located at Cricklewood Broadway which is in London, UK, which is one of the prime
locations in the London where a large variety of stores are there (Storey, et al .20160.
The company is offering clothing products to the customers that are of high quality and unique
designs unique that are exclusive and clothing product’s quality is unrivalled when compared to
the other competitors that are located in London (Savage, 2017).
ABOUT THE OWNER
Kaveh Savage, who is the founder of the company as well as a designer, was inspired by the
designs of Kim Hadleigh and Rock & Roll Wardrobe. He already has all the entrepreneurial
characteristics that help him to start this innovative conceptual business in London (SAVAGE,
2016).
INDUSTRY
The Savage London comes under the clothing or garment industry that summarizes the kinds of
profession and industry along the production of clothing and garments. In short, it can be
determined that the company comes under the fashion industry that of the UK. The financial
status of the company is average when compared to the other fashion businesses of the
London, because of its unique products and high rate of customer satisfaction (SAVAGE, 2016).
SWOT ANALYSIS
It is a tool to determine the strength, weakness, opportunities and threats of the business. The
fashion and clothing sector is highly dependent on innovative designs and sales and distribution
(Helms and Nixon 2010). SWOT analysis of Savage London is described below:
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STRENGTH: a company having a strong experienced and visionary leader is the main strength of
the company; the designs made by the team are focused for both ready to wear collection and
couture line collection. The off the rack collection of the company is designed and prized for the
buyers with average income; this gives the company to get to the larger range of the audience
of potential customers. Also, strength is the custom made genuine designs; the company takes
special orders from the client those require special designs for special occasions (Barlow, 2014).
WEAKNESS: The leader of the company believes in work less and lives more concept, this
eventually acts as a hurdle for the long run. Also, the promotion of the company is limited; it
requires strategic planning to expand the franchise offshores. The total employees in the
company are also limited, which needs to be increased if the company needs to expand to
different regions (Wakeling, et al. 2015).
OPPORTUNITIES: being a local but famous brand, the company has a huge opportunity to
expand its franchise offshores. Research can be done for finding and utilizing new fabrics for
better quality and design prints, also new printing technologies can be used for better print
quality or to produce high-quality designs. In addition to this, hiring new experienced
employees for marketing and designing will lead to the company's success and expansion
(Kalpande, et al., 2010).
THREATS: the company may face several threats while expansion which is the growth of
international brands in the local market, or the political uncertainty. Difficulty in raw material
supply or economic downturns may also affect the business.
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TASK 3
Savage London outlet is one the most unique and successful small business on the streets of
London. Thirty years of experience in the fashion industry and vision of the leader leads the
company to open several outlets. The management of the company helped in converting the
objective of the company into reality (Wakeling, 2015). They support original ideas and designs
and are open-minded and positively reactive for new changes in the trends. The company has
the adhocracy organisation structure, workers are encouraged to take risks, and think out of
the box. The leader himself is creative and experienced. The company focuses on their three
modules that support the organisation, and lead them towards success, the modules are
described below:
MARKETING
It involves identifying the market needs and providing the goods to the customers at the right
cost; it may include developing the products based on the market needs, promoting it to the
right audience and selling the goods in the market at the right price; low price can result in
financial loss to the company, and high cast will result in customer not purchasing the goods
(Armstrong, et al., 2015). In a small business proper marketing is must gain the profit from the
products, since many small businesses lack in the formal planning of strategies, are
uncoordinated and mismatched product and price orientation (Cronin-Gilmore, 2012). Savage
London is one such company which learnt from their previous mistakes like unprofessionalism
in work, targeting a wider range of audience etc.
Savage London being a custom shirt printing outlet requires a well-planned marketing -strategy
to target the potential customers; the message to the customer must be clear and the offer
must be unique and different from other brands. The company provides genuine designs and
the designs are inspired by urban London areas. Their major customer's list has customers who
need unique wardrobe even having several celebs.
The company follows guerrilla marketing plan and accomplish the objectives in the following
ways, the company has a fixed targeted market i.e. the custom-made printing t-shirts and
accessories, the design may be genuine by the designers or as required by the customer; they
fulfil the customer's need by providing custom printed wearable and accessories. The
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competitive advantage of the company is that their designs are closer to the masses, and are
inspired from local urban areas, thus it makes the customer feel connected to the company,
and compared to international brands available in the market, their products are pocket-
friendly (Hutter and Hoffmann, 2011).
MARKETING MIX
The company’s marketing mix plan is based on the needs of the customer base.
Figure 1: Marketing Mix
Source: http://marketingmix.co.uk/content/uploads/marketing-mix-defined.jpg
The marketing mix is basically providing the right product to the right audience at the right time
and at the right price, and the company utilized the 4Ps model in the most effective way which
is stated below (Huang and Sarigöllü, 2014).
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PRODUCT: the company provides custom made printed t-shirts that are either based on the
designer's imagination or the client's requirement in both the cases the customer gets a unique
and quality product. Additionally, they continuously improve their designs and are trendsetters.
PRICE: being a local brand, they get the benefits of the policies made by the government for
small industries, compared to the international brands, in addition to this; the products
available are in wide range of prices, depending on the designs and sizes.
PLACE: the company outlets are situated in the main market, along with some major
international competitors, within the range of potential customers.
PROMOTION: the company is highly active on the social media, and regularly updates their
designs or products; in addition to this some of the famous celebs are the clients of the Savage
London, making it easier to promote their brand. The satisfied customer range also helps in
promoting the brand (Khan, 2014).
The targeted market of the company is the segment who wishes to wear designer and
comfortable outfits, a wide range of accessories also target the locals as well as tourists to the
outlet.
4 I’s OF STRATEGIC ENTREPRENEURIAL MARKETING:
Figure 2: 4 I’s of Strategic Entrepreneurial Marketing
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InnovationIncrementaldevelopmentofproduct&servicesIdentificationoftargetmarketInteractivemarketingmethodsInformalinformation-gatheringusingnetworks

INNOVATION: the company is known for its innovative and unique designs; the designers in the
company are experienced and passionate about their work.
INFORMATION GATHERING: the designs of the company is inspired and based on the urban
London and late 80s. Apart from this the CEO of the company has worked on several projects as
a freelancer on TV and film Production Companies and made contacts and image of herself and
the company, which is found useful time to time.
IDENTIFICATION of TARGET MARKET: the company focuses on the segment of people who wish
to have genuinely designed clothing in their wardrobe. They print hen party or stag night T-
shirts, classic T-shirts and personalized T-shirts.
INTERACTIVE MARKETING METHODS: the products cover a large range of customer; their
personalized products are for a variety of events like special birthdays t-shirts, team jerseys etc.
they believe in satisfying the customer's need and oral promotional techniques since a satisfied
customer is the best asset to promote a small business (Mullins, et al., 2012).
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OPERATION MANAGEMENT
It refers to the company's administration that deals with every single operation performed in
the company; and is responsible to provide and utilize the resources in the best possible
manner, to get the most efficient result out of it. In the Savage London, this work is performed
by the leader and manager to plan and monitor the production workflow, supply chains and
quality control. In addition to this, the outlet location and the resources required are also
managed by them (Heizer, 2016.). Since the company design and print custom t-shirts, the raw
material must always be available from the t-shirts to the printing assets to the latest designing
software, also the production should be dependent on the market need, all this is planned by
the management team of the company; since the company is small there is better coordination
between the workers, and the work is divided and known to every employee. This ease ups the
process of managing the resources and communicating the requirement of the goods (Hatten,
2015).
The aim of the company is to provide goods and services of quality to the customers at
affordable prices in order to satisfy them; at the same time utilizing the resources in the most
productive manner to ensure the profit and availability, to manage this, operation management
is essential for the company.
The major components of the operation management include establishing physical facilities,
the location of the outlet, supply chain management, inventory management, quality check,
staffing and leadership. Location decision is one of the major tasks for any small outlet; it
decides the course of the company in the upcoming years, since a poor location is considered
among the chief cause of all business failure; whereas, a well-planned location may provide a
larger segment of potential customers, easy transportation services and supply of skilled
workers (Aysan, et al. 2016). Savage London is located at Cricklewood Broadway along with
some international brand outlets, thus the location of the store is strategically planned.
The operation management team of the company is also responsible for analyzing several
aspects regarding the customers and market like customer profiling, competitive analysis,
market data analysis, market potential analysis and site impact analysis on overall store
network (Slack, et al. 2010).
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Figure 3: Savage London Outlet Location
Source:
https://www.google.co.in/maps/search/Savage+London+Outlet+Stores+location+
gmap/@51.555457,-0.2145305,19z
The customers targeted by the company varies from average income based employees to the
celebs, their large variety of products lets the customer choose according to their budget. In
addition to this, the personalized collection offer great discounts to the customer varying on the
type of designs they need. All this features of the company require planning to convert the raw
material into the useful product in limited cost and resource and obtain significant profit from
the business. All this planning is done by the operation management team (Brancati, 2015).
The customer traffic in the outlet varies according to the time and day, it also depends on the
offers available at the store, large crowd requires adequate parking space and special attention
while purchasing and hiring significant employees and volunteers during the time of need is
handled by the operation management team. By providing satisfactory services and product the
reputation of the brand increases and maintain that reputation depends on the decisions taken
by the operation manager
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