Table of Contents INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3 L O 1................................................................................................................................................3 P 1 Techniques for evaluating growth opportunities..................................................................3 P2 Applying Ansoff's growth matrix for the evaluation of opportunities for growth.................5 LO2..................................................................................................................................................7 P3 ESSSENTIAL SOURCES OF FUNDING AVAILABLETO BUSINESS AND THEIR BENEFITS AND DRAWBACKS..............................................................................................7 LO3................................................................................................................................................10 P4 Business Plan for growth including financial information and strategic objectives for scaling the business..................................................................................................................10 LO4................................................................................................................................................12 P5 Assessing the exit and succession options for a small business explaining the benefits and Drawbacks of each option.........................................................................................................12 CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................14 REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................15 2
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INTRODUCTION Planning for growth means analysing how an organization can be different from another. The basis of differentiation that will set the organization apart from competitors. Then identify your target customers and ways to maintain them. Identify factors that will affect the growth and development of business. Look for the strategies that your competitors are following. There would be some part where your organization will be struggling and your competitors would be excelling. Company must be focusing on their strengths rather than working on their weaknesses. Organization should invest in such talent that are motivated and inspired, as the best employees will always tick if you pay them well and they get proper recognition. Giacom was founded in 1999. It is U.K largest reseller of cloud service provider, deliver world class services and is partnered withthe world's best technology like Microsoft, Bitdefender, Acronis etc. The study includes the key factors that help evaluate growth opportunities and are linked with Giacom. For evaluating the growth opportunities Ansoff Matrix is applied (Bagheri and et.al., 2018). Adding to it the study focuses on the sources for fund raising for Giacom and their pros and cons. Then a business plan is developed for growth of the company that includes financial analysis and objectives. Ways for dissolution of a firm with benefits and drawbacks. L O 1 P 1 Techniques for evaluating growth opportunities The foremost priority of every organization is earning maximum profits. An organization can attain growth through proper planning and controlling growth. Porter's competitive strategies- Cost leadership- The strategy kingpin price-sensitive customers and by focusing on capturing their market. The company will reduce the cost of their products in the selected market. To get a desired return on investment and able to offer a low price for their products, the firm should be able to have low operations cost for their product as compared to their challengers. To get an upper hand over your competitor, a medium scale firm should apply this theory and try minimize its production costand it can be achieved by investing in the latest technological up-gradation,purchasing in large quantity, economies of scale and by identifying every way for having cost advantage. 3
Giacom has implemented this strategy to grab a larger market, to attain growth and maximize profits and thus growing and developing into a large scale business. This strategy is most effective one for a medium size enterprise to take a support and grow in this competing firm.This will help the company to achieve the competitive advantage as it is offering the lowest price of the product and the services which others are not providing. (Denton, G., Forsyth and MacLennan, 2017). Differentiation Strategy – This technique try to focus on seizing the target market by proposing such product that is different and unique in every way. It is beneficial for the organization when the chosen market by them is not price sensitive, people have specific desires, and high competition prevails in the market and the firm offers something special and different that no one else is offering, as the company has competitive resources and ability to accomplish those demands. The product provided will get the company to enjoy a competitive advantage over rivalry firms. Giacom, to enjoy the bigger portion of market applied this strategy in their organization.This help the company in achieving the competitive advantage as it will it will be offering the products that are different from others helping to attract more customers. Focus Strategy – This technique is not applicable to large scale organizations due to small market situations.Focus strategy has two parts that is cost focus in which the company focuses on capturing the market and have an cost advantage and differentiation focus where the firm provide something different and unique product.The company can gain competitive advantage by offering the new and different product to the market.(Eaton and Alty, 2017.). P.E.S.T.L.E. Analysis - Political factors- Political factors include government intervention like labour law, environmental law, tariffs and political stability. Political factors consists ofgoods and serviceswhicharegivenbygovernment(meritgoods)andsomegoodsarethat government does not want to give to the customers. The political factors, adversely affect the government policiesand their influence on small and medium scale enterprises. These government rules and policies can either affect directly or indirectly. Taxation policy and import export duties are crucial factors that influence SME business adversely. If the medium scale enterprise wants to grow and develop their business outside their 4
local regions, they want the import-export duty suitable for them. Giacom being an medium scale company analyses the political factors so that they can plan for growth (Esmaeeli and et.al., 2015.). Economic factors- It consists inflation rate, economic growth and exchange rates. These economic factors impact the working of business and the company's decision making power. Analysing these factors and overcoming them can help the company in achieving an competitive advantage. Giacom wants an upper hand over their rivalry firms by having low unemployment rate, inflation rate and tariff rates The growth of Giacom depends on economic cycle, if the economy is facing boom period the firm will grow and if there the economy is facing depression period it will hold the ways for the growth of company. Social factors- These factors consist of population growth rate, health & safety and social responsibilities. These factors can have influence over Giacom operations and demand of their products. The style of people living their life, sizes of family, spending power of customers will affect Giacom (Kemp, 2018). Legal factors- Every organization has to adhere to, with legal policies to prevent the company fromany kind of issue. If the firm fails to follow legal rules and regulations , thenthefirmhavetosufferlegalchargesorpenalties.Throughthesecharges company(Giacom) image will suffer. Legal laws consists of employment law, consumer protection actand health and safety laws should be followed strictly by all organisation whether it is an small, medium and large enterprise to successfully stay in the market. Technologicalfactors-AsGiacomisanmediumscaleenterprise,technological advancement influence company's operations. Advancement in technology have it's impact on cost & quality of the product, efficiency and innovation of product. By investing in latest technology, a firm can minimize operations cost and that provides them with a competitive advantage. Giacom will be benefited by the new advanced technology they used in their working (Lambert and Oatley, 2017). Environmental factors- This factor includes environmental aspect like climate, and weatherchange.Thisfactorsimpacthoworganizationsproducetheproducts. Geographical location, weather are the factors that influence the firm. Giacom has to analyse the environmental factors that can affect their business so that they can make plans accordingly. 5
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P2 Applying Ansoff's growth matrix for the evaluation of opportunities for growth This model was given by Igor Ansoff back in 1957. It is a tool that helps by providing a framework to managers, executives to develop techniques for future growth and development. Ansoff's matrix has four different growth strategies: Marketpenetration:Thisstrategyisusedtoexpandtheexistingresourcesand capabilities. This strategy is the least risky one. Through this technique the company try to maximize their market share by using existing products. This happens when the rivalry firm reached their highest capacity. The growth can be attain by maximising the sales of the products and services to the already existing consumers within the existing market. The firm can boost its sales by promoting the product at a higher level so that can reach the customers widely and easily (Levesque, Bell and Calhoun,2017). This strategy can be adopted by the organization by minimizing the cost of the product, rigorous promotion and providing satisfactory services to customers and even after sale services (Pestle analysis,2015). Giacom is trying capturing the market by applying penetration strategy and providing their services in local markets and in various other countries like USA, Singapore etc. Market development:This strategy is adopted by firms when they try to enter a new market such as different country or area by using the limited resources they have with nominal change in product. It can achieved through Differentiating the customers that is when the organisation has people scattered widely in different areas, the product need to be available at all the places so that it become easy for the firm to supply goods. Giacom has its parts in different places globally so it helps in having proper control at all the places where the organisation has its office. And by penetrating the foreign market as the competition is high now a days. If the company wants to capture and develop then it should work on different places so that customers can enjoy good services provided by the firm (Levy, 2016). Product Development:This strategy includes generating a new product and targeting its existing market. It is developed to retain the existing customers and have their interest in the company.It can be achieved by Investing in R&D of the company to bring the additional product, company arrange the funds new products are developed to attract towards the new product of the company. Innovation to be brought for increasing sales. 6
Acquiring rights to produce different products: there are many types of products which are made by combining more than two products to create a single item. Generally different types of products are avail from various locations (Pestle analysis,2015). If the company wants to manufacture all its products at one place than it has to take rights from the company. Buying product and giving your own name. The company many time has a excellent reputation in the market and company wants to use it for profits, then it purchases goods from other firms at lower price and sells it on the brand name. This maximize the profits of the company as additional sales are made. Jointly doing business and making use of each others strength: Many time organizations come in joint venture to use the strong points of other company like if one business strong point is good client network and other person's strong point is efficient machinery then they can come together and manufacture products which will benefit them both (MacLachlan and et.al., 2017). Diversification:In Diversification, the company tries to grow its market share by introducing new product in the new market. Diversification is one ofmost risky growth strategybecausethecompanyfocusesondevelopingbothnewproductandnew market .It is only applicable when the company can bear high risk but will enjoy higher profits. Opting Diversification can result in a good choice if the company is getting high profit for high risk. Diversification gives a good space to the company in the competitive market where there are various other attractive industries which are competing, this gives your company to be more competitive to grow in the market(Piro, 2016.). LO2 P3 ESSSENTIAL SOURCES OF FUNDING AVAILABLETO BUSINESS AND THEIR BENEFITS AND DRAWBACKS Bank Loan There are various Banks and Financial institutions that provide finance to the small businesses. Giacom can avail loans from banks and financial institution where it is going to have an access over specific amount of fund granted by the bank. The company has to comply with various obligations regarding the terms of repayment and the interests rates. There are various schemes under which company can avail loan like working capital loan, factoring loans,short 7
term , long term, fixed rates loans, floating rate loans. For a bank loan Giacom will have to show the business growth plans and how the company is going to achieve them. Advantages Giacom will not be required to pay the share of profits or share in the company as it will be fixed amount of interest on the loan amount. Interest rates are fixed at the starting of the loan which will help the company in recognising the exact liability amount and can plan its repayment accordingly. If the loan is a fixed term loan the company will not be required to pay loan on demand which will not cause interruption in between the working of the business. The company can be granted repayment holiday for its initial periods where it has pay only interest to help the business to stabilise (Rodríguez-Rodríguez and et.al., 2016). Disadvantages Bank loans are not flexible, they are not adjustable as per the requirement of the business. Loans come with various obligations which the company has to follow such as submissions of business reports work structure. Company has to mortgage it assets for having lower interest loans. Business Angels Angel investors are the rich individuals or the group of wealthy individuals which help the company in growing by making investment in the company. Giacom can attract angel investors due to its continuous growth and high performance as Angel investors are in search of such small business which are profitable and growing and require funds for their continuous growth.There are different kind of angel investors available in the market, some want involvement in the working operations of the company while some just want fixed returns for their investments. Advantages Business angels are not dependent on any external authorities because of which they take the investment decisions very quickly thereby saving time and money of the Giacom. 8
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Angel investors do not demand for collateral security for the investment made by them which do not create any liability over the assets of the company (Rudolf,Kienastand Hersperger, 2018). Business angels are generally the retired business executives, hence they provide the company can provide the company with their expertise knowledge and experience for its growth. The company do not have to pay fixed interests or principal amount like in loans which sometimes become difficult foe the company. Disadvantage Finding the right Angel Investor for the company is a time consuming process. Business Angels are not advisable below GBP 10000 or over GBP 500000 Angel Investors have the business shares of the company, because of which they control the business of the company and its operations. Venture Capital Venture Capital is a commonly usedequity financing fund helping the small businesses and entrepreneurs to grow.They are investment vehicles investing in firms with high growth potentials and having high risk-return profiles. Venture capital are different from hedge and mutual funds. Venture capitalists take active participation in the business operations of the company they are investing in. Venture capital provide guidance to the company to plan or modify their growth strategies to be more effective. Advantages VC's have good knowledge and experience as they are working with companies having diverse backgrounds which can be very helpful for the Giacom. VC's have large network connections which can help the Giacom in getting access to much reliable resources and with more business opportunities. VC's actively support the company to achieve its goals and objectives by guiding them at various levels to reduce its costs to be more effective (Sarin, 2019). Disadvantages It generally asks companies to restate their articles Of association and by-laws which allow VC's to issue preferred stocks. 9
VC's significantly control the business of the company. Companies lose their sole control and ownership of the company. Owners Fund Owner's funds means the fund which the owners bring for their business on their own risks. Personal investments could be from taking loans on the personal assets of the proprietor or borrowing money from friends and relatives. Personal sources of finance project an image of long term commitment and dedication to the business. Advantages Self financing business gives greater control to the owners. Business owners will work with more concentration and will try to cut out excessive spendings. Disadvantages Owners may lose their personal holdings in the event of business failures. Owners have to develop their own contacts and networks. LO3 P4 Business Plan for growth including financial information and strategic objectives for scaling the business. Executive Summary Growth plan for the business inclusive of financial information projecting the overview of developing strategies for the business. It is the process showing stepwise analysis of the means andtechniquesthatwillhelpindecidingthestrategiesforthebusiness.Thewaysof implementation and execution of the planned strategies (Tian,2016).Giacomis a emerging and reliable cloud service providercoming with new innovations and technologies for its growth. It is 8thfastest growing company as per Northern Tech Awards.For coming with the above growth plan company has drafted a business plan. Keeping in mind the mission and vision of the company of delivering excellence in the field of cloud servicing. The company has performed SWOT analysis for analysing the opportunities that are available and what are the treats that are to be kept in mind for laying down the above business plan Company Information Priory Tec Park, Bridge Haven One, Saxon Way, Hessle HU13 9PG, United Kingdom Established : 1999 Headquarters : Hessle England 10
Industry Sector : Business Support Services Vision TodeliversustainableGrowththroughintelligenceincloudbasedPlatformsand becoming the world's leading Cloud Service Provider. Mission Missionisofintegratingthepowerfultoolswiththetechnicalandintellectual professional service teams for improvising the business processes of the client. Fostering a culture of teamwork, integrity and partnership for developing a world class business processing service company. Providing the clients with the competent, objective and quality solution to the clients for accomplishing their IT related business objectives. Helping the clients to get the maximum from the available technologies to fulfil their business needs. SWOT Analysis STRENGTHS High Reliability of the business people leading it to become 8thlargest business service provider of the world high Awareness in the market of the IT industries and service providers about the company. Having the advanced softwares and technologies to meet the business needs of every customer. Maximum number of satisfied customers which is creating a brand efficiency status in the market. WEAKNESSES Giacom is lacking in financial planning because of which it is not able to make efficient use of its cash and resources. The company is not having proper feedback process which is resulting negative client response and dissatisfaction (Wu, 2015.). OPPORTUNITIES 11
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Mentoring programs held by the top institutes will help the Giacom to send its top employeesforimproving the performance oftheorganisationand promotingthe company. Giacom is having the opportunities to spread its business worldwide through new networking channels and to increase its brand awareness. Company is having opportunities to increase its business with new government plans and schemes brought specifically for the IT sector of the company. Investors are moving their flow towards the IT sector which could prove to be the opportunity for the company for its expansion plan. THREATS Giacom is facing strong competition from various IT companies which can divide the business of the company thus declining its sales. IT professional demands are raising worldwide which are capable of paying more than the Giacom which can lead the top professionals to shift from the company. Increasing the prices of the services can lead to loss of clients as companies are there which are providing services at cheaper rates even by sacrificing the quality (Wu, 2018). Financial Planning MonthJanFebMarchAprilMayJune sales150001600017000180001500020000 total cash inflow150001600017000180001500020000 cash outflow rent200020002000200020002000 salaries500050005500550055005500 administration cost150015001000100012002000 total cost850085008500850087009500 Net profit6500750085009500630010500 Monitoring And Controlling 12
Mangers can check the above given annual report of the Giacom company. They can check the performance by carrying out the evaluation and analysis of the report and give measures for carrying out corrective actions and finding out deviations. LO4 P5 Assessing the exit and succession options for a small business explaining the benefits and Drawbacks of each option. Ways in which entrepreneur can exit from the company. Mergers and Acquisition Incapability of the company to earn adequate profits results or maintain a profitable status than the company can opt for merger or acquisition with the other big companies. Acquisition means the company will be bought by other big or better performing company losing its own existence. Merger means to merge with other company having the similar goals coming with a new emerged entity. The flexibility of the Giacom is very much dependent on the company with which it is merging or being acquired. Benefit of this method is that the Giacom will be allowed to decide and fix the price of its own company unlike the IPO where the valuation is done by industry. Company do not get the acquiring and merging firms when required. Legacy Every owner of the business wants its company to be a going concern but ther are circumstances because of which the companies are required to shut the business. There is an option to the owners to transfer their business to their relatives who will run the business on their behalf at the time of exit. It is important to find out whether the person or relative to which the business is proposed to be transferred are capable of running the business or not. Benefits of the legacy are that the company will be retaining the loyal customers, the technical know how of the company which is helping the company to grow. The company will remain in existence with its original name. Major drawbacks of the legacy are the family members may not be capable of running the business efficiently which can lead to its shut down.The new owners may not like to continue their forefathers business (Sarin, 2019). 13
Acquihire It is a different kind of acquisition in which the motive behind the acquisition of the company is to acquire professionalintelligence as well skilled employees. The acquiring company is not interested in the output product or services of the company. Acquihire is becoming common incompetitive technology sector for acquiring software engineers. Benefit of this option is that on dissolution the employees will not have to sacrifice their jobs as they will be hired by acquiring company. Drawback is that the company might be dissolved after acquiring its professional employees or the company may face resistance by the employees as they might not like to work in a different environment or organisation. Liquidation Businesses generally goes for liquidation when they are failing to continue as business or going for reconstruction of the company. The company can go into liquidtion for various reasons like a company going for liquidation which is formed for performing a specific project. Before liquidating the company hasto repay its creditors by selling its assets and distribution of remaining among the shareholders of the company. Benefit of liquidation is that the owners do not have further liability after selling their assets for the repayment.Drawback is the company has to comply with various legal procedures. Bankruptcy The company faces the bankruptcy when it fails to repay its debts. In bankruptcy the control of the business and its resources is taken over by the court for selling them through auction for paying off its liabilities. All the assets are valued by the expert valuer which helps in getting better prices for its assets. Drawback is that the company will lose it reputation. CONCLUSION Planing of growth is known as the strategy which make for the business to improve the growth. Form the above report it has been summarized that the key consideration for the growth opportunities which include the cost factor, difference factor etc. and then also justify that the opportunities in the Context of the organisation and includes the PESTLE analysis of the 14
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company. It has been also summarized that the opportunities of the growth applying on the Ansoff's growth vector matrix which includes the Market Penetration. Product development, Market development, Diversification and describe the all factor in respect of the organisation growth. This report also include the Potential sources of funding available for the business which includes bank funds, angle inverters, venture capital, self financing and benefits of the all points and drawback with advantage and disadvantage of all investor options. It also summarized the business plan of growth of the business which include the financial information and strategic objectiveofthebusinessandincludestheSwotAnalysisofthecompany.Reportalso summarized that the succession option for a small business which includes the Legacy, Mergers and Acquisition with benefits and drawback of each options. REFERENCES Books and Journals Bagheri, M. and et.al., 2018. Green growth planning: A multi-factor energy input-output analysis of the Canadian economy. Energy Economics. 74. pp.708-720. Denton, G., Forsyth, M. and MacLennan, M., 2017. Economic planning and policies in Britain, France and Germany. Routledge. Eaton, D.J. and Alty, K., 2017. Dependence of volume calculation and margin growth accuracy on treatment planning systems for stereotactic radiosurgery. The British journal of radiology.90.p.20170633. Esmaeeli, M. and et.al., 2015. Multistage distribution substations planning considering reliability and growth of energy demand. Energy. 84. pp.357-364. Kemp, R.L., 2018. Strategic Planning in Local Government. Routledge. Lambert, C. and Oatley, N., 2017. Governance, institutional capacity and planning for growth. In Urban Governance, Institutional Capacity and Social Milieux (pp. 125-141). Routledge. 15
Levesque, V.R., Bell, K.P. and Calhoun, A.J., 2017. Planning for sustainability in small municipalities:Theinfluenceofinterestgroups,growthpatterns,andinstitutional characteristics. Journal of Planning Education and Research.37(3).pp.322-333. Levy, J.M., 2016. Contemporary urban planning. Taylor & Francis. MacLachlan, A. and et.al., 2017. Urban growth dynamics in Perth, Western Australia: Using applied remote sensing for sustainable future planning. Land.6(1). p.9. Piro, R., 2016. Parallel patterns of shrinking cities and urban growth: Spatial planning for sustainable development of city regions and rural areas. Routledge. Rodríguez-Rodríguez, D. and et.al., 2016. Achieving Blue Growth through maritime spatial planning: Offshore wind energy optimization and biodiversity conservation in Spain. Marine Policy. 73.pp.8-14. Rudolf, S.C., Kienast, F. and Hersperger, A.M., 2018. Planning for compact urban forms: local growth-management approaches and their evolution over time. Journal of environmental planning and management. 61(3).pp.474-492. Sarin, M., 2019. Urban planning in the Third World: the Chandigarh experience. Routledge. Tian, L., 2016. Behind the growth: planning education in China during rapid urbanization. Journal of Planning Education and Research. 36(4). pp.465-475. Wu, F., 2015. Planning for growth: Urban and regional planning in China. Routledge. Wu, F., 2018. Planning centrality, market instruments: Governing Chinese urban transformation under state entrepreneurialism. Urban studies. 55(7). pp.1383-1399. Online Pestleanalysis.2015.[ONLINE]Availablethrough: <https://www.business-to-you.com/scanning-the-environment-pestel-analysis/> Ansoffmatrix.2016.[ONLINE]Availablethrough: <http://www.quickmba.com/strategy/matrix/ansoff/> 16