Sustainability: A Business Idea for Biodegradable Dishware Made from Wheat Bran

This report presents a business idea for biodegradable dishware made from wheat bran, its justification, objectives, launch event, and operational decisions. It explains how the business meets customer needs in a new and unmet way and contributes to environmental sustainability. The report also discusses the impact of political, technological, economic, legal, social, and environmental factors on the business.

Running head: SUSTAINABILITY
Sustainability
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1SUSTAINABILITY
Table of Contents
Task 1................................................................................................................................2
Part A.................................................................................................................................2
The business idea:.............................................................................................................2
Justification of the business and the sector:......................................................................2
Location of business:.........................................................................................................2
Operation of business:.......................................................................................................2
Reasons supporting the good idea:...................................................................................3
How the business meets customer needs in a new and unmet way:...............................4
Table showing key competitors:........................................................................................4
Part B.................................................................................................................................4
Four important objectives of the business:........................................................................4
Profit generation:...............................................................................................................4
Customer satisfaction:....................................................................................................4
Environmental sustainability:.........................................................................................5
Forms of ownership and reason for choosing the ownership:...........................................5
Task 2................................................................................................................................5
Task 3:...............................................................................................................................7
Part A Defining your Launch Event:..................................................................................7
Part B Producing a budget:...............................................................................................8
Task 4..............................................................................................................................10
1. One operational business decision:............................................................................10
2. One tactical business decision:...................................................................................10
3. One strategic business decision:.................................................................................11
References:......................................................................................................................12

2SUSTAINABILITY
Task 1.
Part A.
The business idea:
The business idea which the report would present would be that of a
biodegradable dishware made from wheat bran. The name of the firm would be Wheat
bran Tableware UK or WTUK in abbreviated form. The firm would adopt a partnership
form and would be headquartered in London.
Justification of the business and the sector:
The business namely, Wheatbran Tableware UK would successfully establish
itself in the United Kingdom. The success of the business can be established on the fact
that UK is experiencing a great environmental challenge due to the large amount of
non-biodegradable food containers like dishes and plates which are disposed after
consumption (Gabbatiss, 2018). Thus, it can be put forward that consumption of
environment friendly dishware like plates made from wheat bran would contribute
towards reduction of this environmental issue to a great extent. The food sector
companies would also be able to reduce their waste disposal expenses and
operate in more socially responsible manner. Thus, it can be justified on these two
grounds that WHUK would establish its business in the UK and contribute towards
reduction of dishware waste reduction challenge faced by the food businesses and
households in the country.
Location of business:
The business would have its headquarters in London. London would be its initial
target market. The partnership business would slow expand into other cities in the UK in
the medium term and overseas in the long term.
Operation of business:
The business namely, WTUK would operate in the UK on both high street and
online platforms. This would enable the business to generate immense amount of

3SUSTAINABILITY
orders from customers, both individual customers as well as business customers. Thus,
it can be justified that WTUK would operate on both online platform and high street in
order serve maximum number of consumers, thus generating maximum revenue (Pal
2016).
Reasons supporting the good idea:
The reason behind supporting the idea of biodegradable dishware made from
wheat bran can be established on the grounds that the United Kingdom in order to meet
its food requirements, supplies around 50 percent of the food and imports another 50
percent as shown below. The consumers consume food in dishes and plates usually
made from non- biodegradable substances like plastic. The dishware disposed post
consumption accumulates and harms the environment (McGrath 2018). Thus, it can be
pointed out that using dishware made from wheat bran would contribute towards
reduction of dishware wastes in the UK. The second reason for supporting the idea is
that wheat bran is actually waste given out during milling wheat. Thus, promotion of
using wheat bran dishware would enable the wheat millers sell the wheat bran to the
dishware making firms. This would thus enable the latter generate income by selling
wheat bran generated during wheat milling.

4SUSTAINABILITY
Figure 1. Origins of food consumed in the UK 2017
(Source: GOV.UK 2019)
How the business meets customer needs in a new and unmet way:
WTUK would meet the needs of the customers in several ways which the present
dishware manufacturing firms failed to meet. First, wheat bran utensils unlike plastic
does not react with the food or melt on coming in contact with hot food. Thus, wheat
bran dishware would be safer to consume compared to plastic (health needs). The
second advantage of wheat bran dishware on plastic dishware is that consumers can
dispose them easily after consumption (environmental need). These two needs would
were unmet by the present manufactures of dishware.
Table showing key competitors:
The following are the key competitors of WTUK:
The established dishware making companies like Johnson Brothers.

5SUSTAINABILITY
The local dishware making firms.
Part B.
Four important objectives of the business:
WTUK would aim to achieve four important business objectives which are as
follows:
Profit generation:
WTUK should generate high profits. This would enable the business to meet its
expenses and give high ROI to the investors namely, the partners.
Customer satisfaction:
The aim of WTUK should be ensuring customer satisfaction. This would enable
the business to acquire a strong customer base to generate high profits (Ramanathan,
Subramanian and Parrott 2017).
Environmental sustainability:
WTUK should aim to achieve environmental sustainability. This would ensure
that the firm reduces its carbon footprint (Msengi et al. 2019).
Forms of ownership and reason for choosing the ownership:
The appropriate ownership type which WTUK would adopt would be partnership
due to certain advantages the latter has over sole proprietorship. For example, in
comparison to sole proprietorship, partnership enables pooling for higher amount of
financial resources and boosts the financial base in the initial phase, both of which
are requisites for start-ups like WTUK. Thus, it can be established on the basis of the
examples that partnership would be the preferred business format for WKUT (Marandi
et al. 2015)
Task 2.
Political.
1. Political stability:
The political stability of the United
Technological:
1. Internet penetration:
Internet penetration would enable the

6SUSTAINABILITY
Kingdom enables the government forms
strong laws on which the industries
including the tableware industry rest.
2. Bilateral relationships;
The bilateral relationship which the
United Kingdom has with other nations
enable companies to expand into
foreign countries. For example, WTUK
would expand into overseas market in
the long run in order to gain expansion.
companies like WTUK promote their
products on the digital platforms. This
would boost the market coverage and
consequent revenue generation.
2. Data theft:
Data theft would result in unauthorised
groups getting access to the business
data of WTUK. The hackers my misuse
the resources of the company to meet
their own illegal interests. This would
result heavy business losses to WTUK.
Economic:
1. Gross domestic products:
Gross domestic product refer to the
amount of finished goods and services
(including food) produced within a
country. Increase in production of food
products would boost the sale of wheat
bran tableware.
2. Financial network:
Strong financial network enables the
firms to make and receive payments
more securely as well as fart. These
advantages would also be enjoyed by
WTUK.
Legal
1. Partnership laws:
Business organisations come under the
influence of several laws like partners
laws, laws regarding distribution of
profits and dissolution of the firm. Thus,
laws would have deep impacts on the
operational aspects of firms including
partnership firms like WTUK.
2. Intellectual property right:
The firm would protect its technology
and operational methods by acquisition
of intellectual property rights or IPR. The
IPRs are protected by laws and provide
companies owning them exclusive rights
to use them. For example, WTUK would

7SUSTAINABILITY
be required to protect its wheat bran
dishware manufacturing process from
infringement.
Social:
1. Customer support:
Customer support would be one of the
most important social factors which is
capable of boosting the business of
WTUK. This is because more customer
support would mean that more people
would consume wheat bran plates and
utensils. This would enable the
company serve large number of people
to market its dishware and generate
more revenue.
2. Spread of awareness on
sustainability:
The levels of awareness which the
people have about sustainability would
boost the business of the company
WTUK. This is because more
awareness about sustainability means
that more people would consume wheat
bran tableware manufactured by
Wheatbran Tableware UK. Thus, it is
evident that spread of awareness on
sustainability in the society would boost
the very business of WTUK.
Environmental:
1. Reduction of non-biodegradable
wastes:
The environmental factors like the
needs to reduce harmful tableware like
plastic tableware to benefit the
environment would have direct impact
on the business of WTUK.
2. Reusing wheat bran:
The reusing of wheat bran also have
direct impact on company. The wheat
bran is the waste of the wheat milling
process. Making of wheat bran table
ware would enable the wheat milling
firms to sell the same to the table ware
firms. This would pave ways for the
reusing of the wheat bran.

8SUSTAINABILITY
Task 3:
Part A Defining your Launch Event:
The launch event of WTUK would be held in London with a celebrity opening at a
food festival in which food items would be served to the guests in the WTUK wheat bran
table ware. The target date of the event would be December 25, 2019, Christmas Eve.
The event would take place in the afternoon.
A celebrity would be invited to inaugurate the table ware products since this
would enable the products to gain consumers’ attention right from the initial stage.
Celebrity endorsement would enable the brands marketed by WTUK to be positioned as
premium brands. This would enable the brands to attract more numbers of consumers
and generate higher profits.
Part B Producing a budget:
Notes for the budget:
1. The prices of the products have been adopted from Amazon.com (Amazon.co.uk.
2019).
2. It has been assumed that a loan of £5000 would be borrowed from HSBC @7.4
percent for 60 months. Thus, the amount of payable per year would be
£5000*7.4*12/60=£74 (Business.hsbc.uk. 2019).
3. It has been mentioned that the event would involve fooding costs of £5000 (100
people @ £50).
4. It would be assumed that the telephone and internet connection installed would be
Unlimited Max plan by Vodafone UK. Charges-£25 per month or £300 a year.

9SUSTAINABILITY
5. It would be assumed that the Airoutdoor variant would be used for outdoor
advertisement of the event. 2 week booking charge=£495. It would be assumed that the
advertisement would be used for 1 month initially. Thus, the advertisement cost would
be £495*2 (1 months=4 weeks)= £990.
Figure 2. Advertisement costs for 2 weeks
(Source: Inman 2019)
6. It would be assumed that the annual cost of the account would be £50000 approx.
7. The charges of electricity has been assumed to £1062 (Smarterbusiness.co.uk.
2019)
8. The cost of Youtube advertisement would be £ 6 per day which comes to £ 2190
annually (Youtube.com. 2019).
It is evident from the budget that WTUK would earn a profit of £ 372 if succeeds
in achieving a budget surplus of £ 5372 a day. It would also be assumed that that firm at
the promotional event would spend only £ 5000.
Budget of WTUK
Particulars GBP
Sources of funds 2119344
Revenue from sales of wheat bran tableware 2059344
Loan from bank (Note 2) 10000
Owner’s investments 50000
Usage of revenue(Expenses) 158690
Accounting expenses (Note 6) 50000

10SUSTAINABILITY
Legal expenses 1000
Advertising costs (Note 5) 990
Youtube advertisement (Note 8) 2190
Other marketing costs 1000
Interests on bank (Note 2) 148
Electricity (Note 7) 1062
Salary 100000
Telephone (Note 4) 300
Repairs and maintenance of facilities 1000
Miscellaneous 1000
Budget surplus 1960654
Budget surplus per day (event would be for 1 day) 5372
Cost of hosting 100 people @£50 per head 5000
Per day surplus (profit) 372
Budget of Launching event
Particulars GBP
Sources of funds 5806.42
Revenue from sales of wheat bran tableware 5642.04
Loan from bank (Note 2) 27.40
Onwer's investments 136.99
Usage of revenue(Expenses) 5434.77
Accounting expenses (Note 6) 136.99
Legal expenses (Getting approvals for the event etc) 2.74
Advertising costs (Note 5) (1 day cost of advertisement on the day of the
event) 2.71
Youtube advertisement (Note 8) 6.00
Other marketing costs 2.74
Interests on bank (Note 2) 0.41
Cost of hosting 100 people @£50 per head 5000
Electricty (Note 7) 2.91
Salary 273.97
Telephone (Note 4) 0.82
Repairs and maintenance of facilities 2.74
Miscellaneous 2.74
Budget surplus
371.65479
5
Note: It has been assumed that 1 day amount of all revenue and expenses of the

11SUSTAINABILITY
annual budget would be dedicated to the event (1 day)
Task 4.
1. One operational business decision:
The operational business decision which WTUK should use would be training of
employees. The management of WTUK should arrange for training the employees at
least once a year. This importance for this operational business decision can be
justified on grounds that first of all, in order to establish itself strongly in the market in
the United Kingdom, the company needs to generate high profits. It can also be
mentioned that WTUK as a new firm, may face challenges due to competition from
established manufacturers. Secondly, it can also be pointed out that in order to meet
their targets, sales employees are required to meet immense number of prospective
customers like food shops which would order wheat bran tableware. Thus, here again
the employees would require training. It can also be pointed out that WTUK being a new
firm, would be facing shortage of human resources. Training would motivate the
employees to perform better and take up more job responsibilities. Training would boost
the skills and competencies of the employees. All these benefits which WTUK would
gain by training employees would boost its business. Thus, it can be established the
providing training to employees is an important operational business decision of WTUK.
2. One tactical business decision:
One tactical decision which the management of WTUK would utilise is omni-
channel promotion of the wheat bran tableware. The promotion would consist of both
digital and non-digital platforms. The firm should promote itself in the magazines and
newspapers. The firm should also promote itself on the audio visual media like the
television. The company should advertise its products very aggressively on the
television in order to spread maximum awareness about the utilities of using wheat bran
tableware. The digital platform promotion of the company would consist of its own
official website and third party websites. The company should also collaborate with food
joints to promote the wheat bran tableware. This omni-channel promotional strategy

12SUSTAINABILITY
would enable the company to get promote its products before an immense consumer
base. This would enable the company generate high revenue. This generation of high
revenue would enable business give high returns to its partners, In fact, it can also be
pointed out that generating of high revenue would strengthen the financial base of the
company sufficiently to transform it into a public limited company in the future.
3. One strategic business decision:
One strategic business decision which WTUK would implement would be
adoption of a flat organizational structure. It can be pointed out from the previous
sections that though WTUK is predicted to profit in the market of the UK, the initial
challenges which the firm would face cannot be undermined. First of all, the concept of
wheat bran tableware is new and environmentally sustainable it would not attract
customers, especially the upper class customers who are comfortable dining in glass
tableware in general. Secondly, the product may face lack of acceptance among
customers due to quality issues. Having a flat structure would make the decision making
process more dynamic and enable the management of the firm take more appropriate
decisions. Thus, it can be established that a flat organizational structure would boost the
decision making in WTUK.

13SUSTAINABILITY
References:
Accountancyage.com. 2019. Accountancyage.com. [online] Available at:
https://www.accountancyage.com/2019/02/08/what-is-cost-of-hiring-an-accountant-in-
london/ [Accessed 26 Aug. 2019].
Amazon.co.uk. 2019. Amazon.co.uk. [online] Available at:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/BIOTREM-25pack-Natural-Compostable-Strong-Perfect/dp/
B01DMZXJ3O [Accessed 26 Aug. 2019].
Business.hsbc.uk. 2019. Business.hsbc.uk. [online] Available at:
https://www.business.hsbc.uk/en-gb/finance-and-borrowing/credit-and-lending/small-
business-loan [Accessed 26 Aug. 2019].
Gabbatiss, J. (2018). The UK throws away 2.5 billion disposable coffee cups every year.
[online] TheIndependent.co.uk. Available at:
https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/disposable-coffee-cups-how-big-problem-
environment-landfill-recycling-incinerate-export-rubbish-a8142381.html [Accessed 24
Aug. 2019].
GOV.UK. (2019). GOV.UK. [online] Available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/food-statistics-pocketbook-2017/food-
statistics-in-your-pocket-2017-global-and-uk-supply [Accessed 24 Aug. 2019].
Inman, P. 2019. Airoutdoor.co.uk. [online] Airoutdoor.co.uk. Available at:
https://airoutdoor.co.uk/blog/billboard-costs/ [Accessed 26 Aug. 2019].
Marandi, M.R., Bazmi, A., Ameri, N. and Vatankhah, B., 2015. Investigating the Sole
Proprietorship Firms in Iran and Egypt Law. Oman Chapter of Arabian Journal of
Business and Management Review, 34(2603), pp.1-7.
McGrath, M. (2018). BBC.com. [online] BBC.com. Available at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-45043989 [Accessed 24 Aug. 2019].

14SUSTAINABILITY
Msengi, I., Doe, R., Wilson, T., Fowler, D., Wigginton, C., Olorunyomi, S., Banks, I. and
Morel, R., 2019. Assessment of knowledge and awareness of “sustainability” initiatives
among college students. Renewable Energy and Environmental Sustainability, 4, p.6.
Pal, R., 2016. Sustainable value generation through post-retail initiatives: an exploratory
study of slow and fast fashion businesses. In Green fashion (pp. 127-158). Springer,
Singapore.
Ramanathan, U., Subramanian, N. and Parrott, G., 2017. Role of social media in retail
network operations and marketing to enhance customer satisfaction. International
Journal of Operations & Production Management, 37(1), pp.105-123.
Smarterbusiness.co.uk. 2019. Smarterbusiness.co.uk. [online] Available at:
https://smarterbusiness.co.uk/what-is-the-average-business-energy-consumption-in-the-
uk/ [Accessed 26 Aug. 2019].
Youtube.com. 2019. Youtube.com. [online] Available at:
https://www.youtube.com/intl/en-GB/ads/pricing/ [Accessed 26 Aug. 2019].