Management of Small Businesses: A Case Study of a UK Online Food Ordering Company

Small Business Management

Executive summary
Management of small businesses is a critical task because it has limited human and
financial resources which develops the challenges in growth. However, the SMEs manages the
businesses by adequate allocation of resources and inclusion of active leaders to guide the teams.
In this context, current study shed light on management of small businesses by considering a UK
based online food ordering company. Here, by effective literature, it has been found that to
analyze the management of SMEs different aspects has been evaluated by leadership, marketing
and growth strategies. In this manner, it has been found that SMEs deal with issues of leadership
capabilities and market diversification because it requires the skilled persons to reduce the
wastage so that optimum utilization of limited resources take place. Hence, use of advanced
technologies, market developments and diversification strategies has been recommended to
improve the performance of SMEs across the UK.

Table of Contents
1.0 INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................................1
2.0 OVERVIEW OF HUNGRY HOUSE.......................................................................................1
2.1 SWOT analysis of Hungry house..........................................................................................2
2.2 Rationale to select Hungry House and categorized as a small business in the UK...............2
3.0 LITERATURE WITH DETAILED PORTFOLIO ON THE BUSINESS................................3
3.1 Leadership and teams............................................................................................................3
3.2 Growth strategies...................................................................................................................4
3.3 Marketing in a small business................................................................................................7
4.0 CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................................8
5.0 RECOMMENDATIONS...........................................................................................................9
6.0 REFERENCES........................................................................................................................10
List of Figures
Figure 1: Challenges in the development of SMEs.........................................................................7
Figure 2: Combination of promotional tools...................................................................................8
Figure 3: 7 Ps of marketing.............................................................................................................9
Figure 4: Product life cycle............................................................................................................10
Figure 5: Internet marketing..........................................................................................................11

1.0 INTRODUCTION
The management of small business is affected by the availability of limited resources and
capital because Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) are independently owned and
operated (Stokes, Wilson and Wilson, 2010; Schaper, Volery, Weber and Lewis, 2010).
Additionally, SMEs face the challenges to attain the competitive edge because of lack of skilled
personnel, marketing related issues and growth strategies. In this context, for the current report, a
UK based online food delivery company Hungry house has been selected to analyze the market
of SMEs. Here, a rationale on the selection of Hungry house has been provided and major three
elements such as leadership and teams, marketing for small businesses and growth strategies for
SMEs have been critically evaluated.
2.0 OVERVIEW OF HUNGRY HOUSE
Hungry house is an online food ordering service company which is established in the UK
and was found in 2007 by Dragon Dens. Shane Lake and Tony Charles are the co-founders of
Hungry House. Initially, the deal was done with Dragon Dens but later it was bought by Berlin
Based food ordering Delivery Hero in the year of 2013 (Dunsby, 2007). Currently, the company
is acquired by Just Eat from the Delivery Hero and became the owner of Hungry House (Express
Newspaper, 2019). Hungry house is a small start-up which deals in the food services by different
restaurant partners. The business operates in the food industry and focuses on the delivery of
Chinese food to attract the number of customers. It offers different types of food products such
as pasta, pizza, grilled sandwich, garlic bread etc. and the company put the service charge to
deliver the products (IndiaMart InterMesh Ltd, 2018).
The financial position of Hungry House is fair enough because initially the investments
were made by Dragon Dens. The firm raised funds from alternative business angels as £1,50,000
to increase the number of partners from 150 to 2500 by September 2010 and performing the
business in major cities across the UK (Express Newspaper, 2019). Besides this, there are several
competitors in the UK for Hungry house including Just Eat, Deliveroo, Meal Pal, Japan Center
Group, Foodora etc. (Craft.co, 2019). However, the firm is getting competitive advantages in the
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