Small Business Case Study Analysis

This assignment requires you to critically analyze a case study of a small business named 'Rose View Alexandra Palace Hotel'. The analysis should delve into the business's external relationships, strategic choices, operational efficiency, and financial performance. Utilizing academic literature and relevant frameworks, identify key challenges faced by the business and propose actionable solutions for improvement. The assignment emphasizes applying theoretical knowledge to real-world scenarios within the context of small business management.

SMALL BUSINESS
ENTERPRISE

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Profile of Rose View Alexandra Palace Hotel.................................................................1
1.2 Analysis of the Business concern.....................................................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
2.1 Actions to overcome identified Weaknesses....................................................................4
2.2 Maintaining and strengthening performance....................................................................5
2.3 New areas for expanding business...................................................................................5
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................6
3.1 Existing objectives and plans of business........................................................................6
3.2 Revise business plan to incorporate necessary changes...................................................6
3.3 Action plan for changes....................................................................................................7
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................7
4.1 Impact of proposed change on business and personnel....................................................7
4.2 How changes are managed...............................................................................................8
4.3 Monitoring improvements in performance within timescale...........................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10
INDEX OF TABLES
Table 1: Profit of two different ventures..........................................................................................3
Table 2: Sales figure of past 4 years................................................................................................4

INTRODUCTION
For any type of business venture, it is always crucial to develop a good enterprise strategy
so that they can stay longer in the competitive market and also achieve their goals and objectives.
Small business enterprise is a type of organization which employees less workforce along with
low capital (Cole, Goldberg and White, 2004). Further, these types of ventures are generally
ruled by the proprietors, partnership firms or private individuals. Moreover, these small business
enterprise follow all the norms and legislation which are set by UK government like employing
less than 50 workers and having annual turnover of less than £7 million.
For the above explained scenario, the organization undertaken for the present study is
Rose View Alexandra Palace Hotel (Rose Hotel) which is a type of family bed and breakfast
hotel. Mentioned hotel provides accommodation services to the tourists who comes from
different arena. Moreover, the cited firm provides best of the comfort zone to both business
travellers as well as leisure guests. Further, Rose hotel provides different variety of sleeping
option i.e. from a single room to 5 bedded room which gives clients best of their satisfaction.
TASK 1
1.1 Profile of Rose View Alexandra Palace Hotel
Rose View Alexandra Palace Hotel offers quality of services to the guests both in terms
of quality and comfort. The cost for stay in the hotel is also affordable for all types of customers
(Street and Cameron, 2007). Mentioned hospitality's location also attracts customers towards it
and focuses on making their each day a refreshing and memorable one. Rose hotel is situated
with a 25 minutes journey from City and Central London. Rooms are also modernly designed
which gives clients a relaxing and quality of experience. Different classification of rooms has
stated down under: Single Standard: Single standard comes with a single bed with different en-suite
facilities like wash rooms and shower. These rooms have iron boards, tea and coffee
facilities as well. Wi-Fi is also available with unlimited access. Nightly Rate for the
mentioned room is £59 - £99. These rooms are having en-suite facilities with both
options of shower and bath. Single Superior: This comes with a twin bed along with facilities like attached wash
room and shower. Iron board is present in room with tea and coffee facility. Fast-speed
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WiFi wireless internet. Hair dryer, TVs with digital channels and DVD players available
(on demand). Rate for single night is around £65 - £105. Standard Double: A queen sized bed with attached washrooms and toilets. Tea and
coffee facility along with unlimited Wi-Fi (Rose View Alexandra Palace Hotel. 2015).
TVs with digital channels and DVD players available (on demand). Nightly Rate for the
mentioned room is £79 - £125. Triple Room: This room comes with a double bed and a Twin one along with private
bath and wash room facility. TV's are available with digital channels. Unlimited Wi-Fi
facility to clients. Nightly Rate: £89 - £139.
 Family Room: Family room comprises of one double and a twin bed with attached
shower and toilet facility. This room has a maximum capacity for 4 people and all other
features are same as stated for other rooms. Charges for room is around £99 - £155 for a
night (Our rooms. 2015).
Strengths of the hotel
Rose hotel gives a platform to guests where they can book rooms online with the help of
debit and credit card payment for scheduled duration. Moreover, mentioned bed and breakfast
hotel also has smoking free premises which satisfies the demands of many potential clients.
Further strengths of the cited hospitality firm are:
 It is located in the heart of the city which attracts a large number of visitors
 Enchanting ambiance
 Well-furnished accommodation facilities that gives customers a lot of comfort
Weakness of the hotel
 Lacks in digital room management system
 Rose hotel does not have Management Information System (MIS) software.
Implementation of the mentioned software will reduce conflicts and disputes
 Being a small business venture, organization not having lift facility in building that
generally makes old guests quite uncomfortable to climb up the stairs (Jenkins, 2006).
 Skilled staff is not there in the organization and at times, Rose hotel fall short of giving
sound services to their clients.
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1.2 Analysis of the Business concern
In order to analyse the performance of Rose hotel, different types of measures have been
identified which includes customer's perception, profitability of the firm and also different non-
financial measures. Moreover, to see the stability and performance of the venture, comparison
has been made with the different hotel who is working in the same industry (Zahra and et. al.,
2009). For this, Church Street hotel has been taken into consideration which is situated in the
South London of UK. Further, this hotel also provides the same facilities and services which is
provided by the Rose Hotel. The only difference between them is there management and
working strategies which generally make them different in conducting their business operations.
Year Rose Hotel Church Street Hotel
Profit Before
Tax ('000)
Profit After Tax
('000)
Profit Before
Tax ('000)
Profit After Tax
('000)
2012 45.3 38.7 42.2 36.2
2013 47.8 43.2 48.1 44.6
2014 51.2 46.2 54.7 48.2
2015 55.8 50.9 56.2 52.3
Table 1: Profit of two different ventures
From the above table, it is clearly inferred that Rose hotel was in commanding position in
the year 2012. But slowly and steadily the profit margin for the firm started declining and there is
constant increase of revenue every year for Church street hotel. It is necessary for the Rose to
develop some strategic plans to attract more customers in coming time period otherwise many
competitors will get in commanding position. However, it has been seen that in year 2014-15
profit has been increase up to a great extent which shows that firm has developed some effective
strategies which is boosting efficiency and morale of the individuals.
Year Rose Hotel ('000) Church Street Hotel ('000)
2012 470.33 520.11
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2013 485.11 535.6
2014 520.3 540.4
2015 577.3 582.3
Table 2: Sales figure of past 4 years
From this table it is inferred that Church Hotel having higher sales as compared to the
Rose. However, profit margin for Rose hotel is much higher than compared with Church Street
as the cited firm having around 10-12% and competing firm having margin of only 5-6%. This
certainly evaluates that Rose hotel having a competitive advantage in the bed and breakfast
industry.
TASK 2
2.1 Actions to overcome identified Weaknesses
Weaknesses of the firm has been discussed above and in order to overcome that, Rose
hotel have to prepare some strategies. From the official website of Rose View Alexandra Palace
Hotel it has been articulated that organization have some potential strength but their weakness
not allowing the strengths to increase their goodwill and revenue. Different operational issues
exists in the business venture as cited firm do not have MIS software. With the implementation
of MIS software, manager will be able to track the performance of individuals within hotel
premises (Ricketts, 2002). For proper implementation of this software, PC need to be set at
different departments, i.e. in the kitchen, front office, house keeping area, etc. This software will
help in collecting various information like daily expenses, profit and revenue, management of
room and other areas. Moreover, with the successful implementation of software Rose hotel will
be able to have proper and sound communication within different departments. This will also
lead into giving effective services to the clients.
No lift in the hospitality firm is also a weakness of the company and this drawback is
shifting travellers to shift to other hotels. In order to overcome this, manager of Rose hotel can
install the lift by identifying the perfect area so that business activity don't get affected. Further,
with successful installation, productivity and revenue of the hospitality will increase and
subsequently will result into increase in profit margin. Moreover, installation of lift will move
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firm's weakness into strength and they will be able to have a competitive advantage over other
competitors.
2.2 Maintaining and strengthening performance
Strengths of the venture has also discussed in the above task and these strengths of the
Rose hotel give them a competitive edge to attract more of the customers who are coming to
London from whole around the globe. Further their strength is the location of the hotel, attractive
ambience, classy accommodation facility, online ticket booking, etc. moreover, with the
implementation of different elements, cited hospitality can more strengthen performance and
some measures has been discussed down under:
 As travellers come from whole around the globe, cited firm can hire temporary guides so
that they can take the tourists to have site scene of London (Yew Wong and Aspinwall,
2004). This will eventually save time for guests and as they do not have to roam around
the city unnecessarily.
 Rose hotel is offering Wi-Fi to their clients which is there key strength but along with it
they can provide them cellphones or local sim cards which will help them to get
connected in their home country and will eventually save their ISD calls as well.
 Further, cited firm can contact the nearby restaurants as well so that the demand of guests
will be fulfilled and their desired food will be provided in their rooms only.
These methods will eventually boost up the hospitality performance and will result in
increase in revenue and profits in coming time period.
2.3 New areas for expanding business
There are numerous new areas where Rose hotel can keep their foot in so that new
opportunities can be achieved with the hint of a competitive advantage (Beaver, 2002). Few
expanding options which are there with cited hospitality and these are explained down under: Bar- With the establishment of bar, many tourists along with local citizens will be
attracted towards it and they can get refreshed with different types of drinks at the end of
the day. However, every aspect have some pros and cons like it might be suitable for
alcohol lovers but not suitable for the in-house guests and non-alcoholic people.
 Cafe house- Rose hotel can develop a cafeteria so that either within or nearby space
available with the hotel. With the implementation of cafe house, tourists as well as local
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residents can come to have sips of coffee and can have their conversation (Street and
Cameron, 2007). This will increase the earning of the hospitality and will be able to
attract tourists for stay in the hotel as well.
TASK 3
3.1 Existing objectives and plans of business
Rose hotel is working in hospitality industry and is under the category of bed and
breakfast sector. Mentioned firm having different objectives and these are stated down under:
 Cited firm provides rooms facility in different categories as per the need and
convenience of the clients. These rooms are come with shared facility along with some
shared facilities like attached wash room, toilets, iron boards, etc. Free Wi-Fi and
internet access is the common facility which is provided in each and every room.
Moreover, A/C and heaters (in winters) are also provided as per the customers request
with some extra charge (Yew Wong and Aspinwall, 2004).
 Rose hotel has made contact with some online travelling company along with online
booking of rooms so that they can increase more of the earning through it. Money for the
same is also accepted with the help of debit/card and it gives comfort to the guests as
well as they do not have to any sort of formality as they reach to the hotel.
 At the time of departure of clients, organization can take effective feedback from them
so that they can make necessary changes in the business establishment.
3.2 Revise business plan to incorporate necessary changes
As discussed in the above tasks that firm can take step in the establishment of bar or
cafeteria. Cited firm can opt the cafeteria option so that they can attract more customers towards
it. In order to make establishement, money will play a significant role and for that, cited firm can
either use their profits or can apply for loan from the local financial institutions. Corporate
friends can also be an option for the same (Perren and Ram, 2004). Further, mentioned firm will
also be in need of skilled staff as few people for preparation of snacks and coffees and few at
front desk and waiters. This process will only take place after the successful implementation of
the cafeteria premises.
Moreover, they also have to opt suitable marketing strategies in order to promote their
cafeteria and also hotel premises. Promotion of both will result into increase in turnover and
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profits for the business venture. Apart from it they also have to take some necessary decisions as
they can set a benchmark that they have to increase the sale of the hospitality as well as cafeteria
upto 15% by the end of 2016. This will motivate employees and they will start working with best
of their efficiency and capability to achieve the set target.
3.3 Action plan for changes Development of infrastructure- For construction, cited firm can either use the vacant
place near the reception or can use the place which is vacant near the hotel premises.
Further, cited firm can hire efficient contractor and architect who will design the structure
of the building and make establishment in existence (Eckerson, 2010). Time period for
the same will be approximate 4 months from the date of commencement of work. Employees- Employees can be recruited by conducting interview within the hospitality
firm or either they can contact to the consultancy firm who will give best of the
employees for the cafeteria functioning. Alternative option is also adopted by the firm by
keeping the coffee machine in the reception arena of the hospitality.
 Business activity- With the implementation of MIS software customer can confirm their
rooms and cafe tables through online as well (Kelly, 2013). This will be done by
approaching to the official website of the hotel.
TASK 4
4.1 Impact of proposed change on business and personnel
With the implementation of these changes, mentioned firm will be gaining advantage and
it will also lead into increase in profitability as well as goodwill. Further, with effective
development of hotel premises and along with the establishment of the cafeteria will attract
guests and native people of the London towards it. This will generally help Rose hotel to achieve
their goals and objectives in efficient and effective manner (Wong and Lu, 2005). Further, as we
all know that technology is getting upgraded day by day and cited firm have to implement best
options like CCTV camera in both hotel and cafeteria, different type of software to track the
performance of employees will give firm a positive upfront and will also give them a competitive
edge in the industry.
Moreover, manager of Rose hotel is focusing on conducting a training and development
program for the staff so that necessary skills can be developed in them which will boost their
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morale to work with best of their capability and also to reach higher targets in coming time
period.
4.2 How changes are managed
Change is the essence of the life and organization have to make changes constantly so
that they can survive in the competitive environment (French, 2009). Some changes need to be
managed effectively and these includes: Finance management: Fund of the firm need to be efficiently managed so that manager
can get the right calculation at the end of the year. Further, expenses also need to be track
and organization have to look after that where they are spending more.
 Human resource management: Human resource are the asset of any firm and
organization have to utilize them in efficient and effective manner. Cited hospitality have
to employ individuals at most suitable and desired position so that they do not feel hectic
in preforming their task and duties. Further, management can also implement different
leadership style for motivating them so that their morale is boosted up and they make
their maximum contribution in the success of venture. Further, taking employee's
suggestion in the decision making will also make a positive impact in their motivational
level.
Further, during the construction of cafeteria, managers of Rose hotel should get
constantly in touch with the contractor and should complete the work as per his requirement and
demand so that efficient structure is designed in order to attract the clients (Yildiz and Karakas,
2012).
4.3 Monitoring improvements in performance within timescale
Different types of practices need to be managed by the manager so that hospitality
venture gets effective result. Further, cited manager have to review the progress of the business
enterprise and have to frame necessary strategies so that targets can be achieved within the
framed time scale. Along with it, each and every objective will be time based and it will be
effectively monitored by manager so that arrears of the firm can be efficiently managed.
Moreover, on the basis of Key Performance Indicators (KPI) financial performance of the
hospitality will be seen and manager will be able to know that certain objectives have been
achieved or not (Chau and Hui, 2001). Further, by using any appraisal software, manager will be
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able to judge the effectiveness of the employees and will appreciate them effectively if a person
has worked with more of his efficiency and caliber. Incentives programs will also motivate
employee in order to complete their task on desired time duration. Further, their performance
generally depends on the feedback given by the clients.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it is articulated that small business enterprise can implement
different strategies in order to get a competitive edge over their rival competitors. Further, this
report also showcase that Rose hotel can make necessary changes so that their revenue and
profits get increased comparatively. Moreover, performance review method and implication of
software have been discussed in effective manner so that firm can achieve their goals and
objectives in efficient and effective manner. At the end of the report, different changes has been
evaluated which firm can take into consideration so that they can improve their market share as
well as profits.
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REFERENCES
Journals and Books
Beaver, G., 2002. Small business, entrepreneurship and enterprise development. Pearson
Education.
Chau, P. Y. and Hui, K. L., 2001. Determinants of small business EDI adoption: an empirical
investigation. Journal of Organizational Computing and Electronic Commerce. 11(4).
pp.229-252.
Cole, R. A., Goldberg, L. G. and White, L. J., 2004. Cookie cutter vs. character: The micro
structure of small business lending by large and small banks. Journal of financial and
quantitative analysis. 39(02). pp. 227-251.
Eckerson, W. W., 2010. Performance dashboards: measuring, monitoring, and managing your
business. John Wiley & Sons.
French, S., 2009. Critiquing the language of Strategic management. Journal of Management
Development. 28(1). pp. 6-17.
Jenkins, H., 2006. Small business champions for corporate social responsibility. Journal of
Business Ethics. 67(3). pp. 241-256.
Kelly, M., 2013. Book review: Enterprise, Deprivation and Social Exclusion: The Role of Small
Business in Addressing Social and Economic Inequalities. International Small Business
Journal. 31(1). pp. 103-105.
Landstrom, H., 2007. Pioneers in entrepreneurship and small business research (Vol. 8).
Springer.
Perren, L. and Ram, M., 2004. Case-study method in small business and entrepreneurial research
mapping boundaries and perspectives. International Small Business Journal. 22(1).
pp.83-101.
Ricketts, M., 2002. The economics of business enterprise: an introduction to economic
organisation and the theory of the firm. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Street, C. T. and Cameron, A. F., 2007. External relationships and the small business: A review
of small business alliance and network research. Journal of Small Business
Management. 45(2). pp. 239-266.
Street, C. T. and Cameron, A. F., 2007. External relationships and the small business: A review
of small business alliance and network research. Journal of Small Business
Management. 45(2). pp. 239-266.
Wong, T. T. and Lu, Y. T., 2005. Key factors for small and medium enterprises in Taiwan to
successfully implement information systems. International Journal of Management and
Enterprise Development. 2(1). pp.106-121.
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Yew Wong, K. and Aspinwall, E., 2004. Characterizing knowledge management in the small
business environment. Journal of Knowledge management. 8(3). pp. 44-61.
Yew Wong, K. and Aspinwall, E., 2004. Characterizing knowledge management in the small
business environment. Journal of Knowledge management. 8(3). pp. 44-61.
Yildiz, S. and Karakas, A., 2012. Defining methods and criteria for measuring business
performance: a comparative research between the literature in Turkey and foreign.
Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences. 58. pp.1091-1102.
Zahra, S. A. and et. al., 2009. A typology of social entrepreneurs: Motives, search processes and
ethical challenges. Journal of business venturing. 24(5). pp.519-532.
Online
Our rooms. 2015. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.thebookingbutton.co.uk/jdh/properties/RoseViewAlexandraPalaceHotel>.
[Accessed on 12th February 2016].
Rose View Alexandra Palace Hotel. 2015. [Online]. Available through:
<http://www.bedandbreakfast.com/england-london-
roseviewalexandrapalacehotel.html#img-3>. [Accessed on 12th February 2016].
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