Analysis of Austin Fraser: A Small Business Enterprise Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Austin Fraser, a UK-based recruitment consultancy specializing in digital and automation services. The report begins with an introduction to small business enterprises and their contribution to economic development, highlighting the importance of adapting to change. It then presents a detailed profile of Austin Fraser, including its strengths (specific information, professional consultants, effective management) and weaknesses (lack of research, difficulty reaching potential customers), along with opportunities (emerging markets, financial availability) and threats (changes in legislation, certification processes). A comparative analysis with its competitor, Digiterra Group, examines financial performance, sales, marketing strategies, and technology usage. The report also proposes actions to overcome weaknesses, such as investing in research and improving communication channels, and suggests ways to maintain and improve performance by prioritizing customer needs, competitive pricing, and continuous improvement. Finally, it explores potential areas for business expansion, including diversification into new consultancy services like financial, IT, management, and legal advisory, to increase revenue and market share. The analysis underscores the importance of strategic planning and adaptation for sustained business success.

Small Business
Enterprise

INTRODUCTION
Small business enterprise are operating their business at small level but they are big
contributors of economy development. It provides opportunity to local people to show their
capabilities to the world (Nga and Shamuganathan, 2010). Government of every country gives
various support facilities to these corporations in order to encourage commercial operation of
these organisations. It is very important for these business units to implement change concept in
their day to day activities to attract large number of investors. Austin Fraser is a consultancy firm
based in UK, specialist in recruitment consultants. Profile of company along with its strengths
and weakness will be described in this report. Furthermore, comparative analysis of enterprise
with its competitors will be studied in this assignment. Suggestion will be given so that entity
can overcome from its weakness. Impact of changes on the business will be discussed in this
report.
TASK 1
1.1 Profile of business with its strengths and weakness
For producing a profile of a business it is very important to understand and give emphasis
on its short and long term objectives. It is necessary to understand type and nature of business
along with this its main competitors and its target market. Austin Fraser is consultancy firm
which is specialists in recruitment, provide digital, automation and a number of services to large
number of corporate customers. Company is growing fast and it is getting many contracts
frequently.
SWOT analysis
SWOT analysis is the process which help enterprises in knowing its main strengths,
weakness and then plan its actions accordingly. It helps firms in planning or making their
strategic and marketing plan. In SWOT strengths and weakness are internal whether
opportunities or threats are external (Jasra and et. al., 2012). This analysis help company in
properly utilising its strengths to decrease the effect of its weakness or use exploiting
opportunities in a way so that effect of threats on business activities can be minimised. This
helps firm in arranging resources to achieve set objectives and targets.
Strength:
Strength refers to the enterprise's special characteristic which makes it able to achieve its
goal. It helps organisations in performing well in the competitive market. Strengths of a company
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can be anything for example its various financial resources, skilled employees etc. which help in
achieving smoothness in its commercial operations. Main strengths of Austin Fraser includes the
following:
 Firm provides specific informations to its clients.
 Professional consultant
 Effective management
Weakness
Weaknesses are limitation which decreases firm's effectiveness of performing various
tasks. It can be unavailability of resources, unskilled workforce, lack of public confidence and
many more. Main lacking points of Austin Fraser are as follows:
 Lack of research
 Unable to reach to potential customers.
Opportunities
Opportunities are the favourable environmental conditions through which firm can
accomplish its goal (Al-Dajani and Marlow, 2010). To achieve success it is very important for
company that to utilise its resources in effective manner so that it can deliver better services to its
customers than its competitors. It is essential that entity turns opportunities into success.
Following are the main opportunities for Austin Fraser:
 Emerging new markets and technology
 Availability of finance from various sources such as bank loan, investors etc.
Threats
Threats are that situations which create conflicts or hinder for firm's process of achieving
its objectives. Changed that are introduced by government in policies can also perform as a threat
to organisation. Threats of Austin Fraser includes the following:
 Changes in legislation and government policies
 Process of certification
1.2 Analysis of business using comparative measures
Business performance analysis is very important in order understand current level of
entity. It can be done by comparing company's performance with its competitors those who are
operating in the same field.
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 Finance: Finance is one of the necessary element of a business to achieve growth. It
helps business owner in undertaking various operations, without it a firm can not survive
(Lambert and Davidson, 2013). It is important to timely calculate return on investment,
break even analysis and profitability. This evaluation help firm in taking remedial action
to improve its performance and to get competitive advantage. Digiterra Group is the
biggest competitor of Austin Fraser. It has strong financial position in the market and
have good economic sources that is why profitability of Digiterra group is higher than
Austin Fraser. Sales: It shows the real status of business and helps in determining success and failure of
business. Evaluation of sales can be done on weekly, quarterly and on monthly basis and
this can be used to take remedial actions to improve the sales. Increased sales help in
enhancing profitability of firm and its market share. Austin Fraser is small size firm so it
has limited projects thus sales of the cited firm is less as compare to Digiterra group. Marketing: Marketing is a process of giving information to customers about company's
product and influence them to buy the same by using various communication tools. It is
necessary for every organisation to use all communication channels in effective manner
in order to attract large number of customers. Austin Fraser uses advertisement for
promoting its consultancy products, on other hand Digiterra group uses social media
networking channels. Social networking sites support the firm in reaching to mass
customers and attracting them towards the brand. Technology used: Technology used by organisation help him in achieving competitive
advantage. Better technology increase quality of products, decreases the cost and help
enterprise in achieving efficiency in business operations (Gorgievski, Ascalon and
Stephan, 2011). Austin Fraser is small size firm and it uses technologies but not to that
extent. On other hand Digiterra group uses advanced technologies so that it can deal with
corporate customers and can get contracts with them. Maintain and improving existing performance: It is essential for every firm to maintain
its performance. For this firm can use its various strengths and other resources. It is very
necessary to regulate business performance time-to -time to improve existing
performance of company. Digiterra group has strong management team those who
monitor performance of the employees and if any drawback occurs then they improve it
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immediately. Austin Fraser monitors performances of the team members in gap thus
small issues are not being identified immediately.
 Motivate employees: Workers play important role in overall success of every business
and it is very necessary to motivate them so that they can perform best. Improvement in
employee performance will improve overall productivity of firm. Austin Fraser
motivates its staff members by giving rewards and recognition. But Digiterra group takes
support of recognition technique in order to motivate people.
All these are the main areas in which company can achieve excellence to deliver better
products and services to large number of customers (Bellucci, Borisov and Zazzaro, 2010) .
Evaluation of all theses areas help in knowing position of enterprise in comparison of its
competitors.
TASK 2
2.1 Appropriate actions to overcome weakness
It is very important for every firm to have knowledge about its current weakness so that
remedial action can be taken. If organisation fails to identify than whole organisation has to
suffer from this. Identification of theses defectiveness help enterprise in taking actions to
decrease its effects on overall profitability and various activities of firm. Main weakness
identified by Austin Fraser is that lack of research and obstacles in reaching to large number of
customers. For overcommit these barriers enterprise can use various tools or methods. For doing
research it is very necessary that firm should have necessary resources so that research can be
conducted in a proper and effective manner. Conducting research will help enterprise in
identifying needs and wants of its customers or firm will be able to know expectations of its
consumers. This helps organisation in making products to satisfy needs and wants of clients. In
this way company will be able to capture greater market share than its competitors. Training is
another way through which it can enhance skills of staff members. By this way hey will do
proper research about the needs of users.
Other weakness of Austin Fraser is obstacles face by cited firm while communicating
with large number of customers and this weakness of company can be overcome by discovering
various communication channels (Carraher and Paridon, 2015). It is very necessary for entity to
interact with customers and to tell them about its range of products and features. In absence of
communication channels firm fails to give information and influence them to buy their products.
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For a consultancy corporation effective communication is one of the main element of
success. By building and using effective communication channels enterprise can promote
features of its products and services to large number of customers. For that corporation can take
support of social networking sites, email system etc. This will help Austin Fraser in reaching to
mass audience which will results in increasing market share of company. Use of effective
communication channels will help firm in not only to reach large number of customers but will
support in decreasing overall cost of this process.
2.2 Ways in performance can be maintained and improved
Satisfying consumers is necessary for every firm to be successful and for this they have
to make quality products (Blenker and et. al., 2012). At present Austin Fraser is delivering
quality services to its customers and it is essential for company to maintain the current level of
services and enhances the future level of services. Firm can follow or use various tools for this.
First method to maintain or improve services is to keep priority on customers and their needs.
For this survey can be done by entity in order to know customer's perception about quality of
firm services.
Other method of improving performance is to compare price of service with competitors
and firm should try to set price of service at lowest level because it will attract more consumers
towards the Austin Fraser (Jones and Iredale, 2010). Payment system of corporation should be
flexible so that clients can pay price after getting product or services. It is essential for a
company to maintain its current level of services and enhance it in near future. Continuous
improvements by firm can increase its goodwill in mind of its customers and its market share as
well. Uninterrupted betterment needs to be done by entity to satisfy changing needs of customers
and at the same time to attract large number of potential buyers.
Feedback of consumers can proof beneficial in this case, it will help organisations in
knowing about how clients perceive and comparing company's product with product of
competitors. This will provide various suggestions to firm in taking corrective action. This will
help enterprise in making necessary modifications in production process and use updated
technology. Use of updated technology supports enterprises in achieving efficiency in production
process and achieve customers satisfaction (Chittithaworn and et. al., 2011). This leads to
increase revenues of entity. Austin Fraser needs to always try to deliver superior quality than its
competitors and at lower price. This is one of the beneficial strategy which can be used by entity.
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Austin Fraser can adopt following above mentioned recommendations to attract
customers, improve quality of its products and services and at the same time to get competitive
advantage in market.
2.3 New areas of expanding business
Expanding business in new areas means providing services to other different and various
region. Austin Fraser currently provides various consultancy services to large number of
customers (Forsman and Temel, 2011). Company can spend its activities in different sphere,
organisation can start providing consultancy activities to business also. Currently company
provide recruitment and many more other services to its customers. New areas in which
company can expand or enhance its services is financial, information technology, management,
legal and many more. Expanded business activities help entity in increasing its revenue and
quality of services both.
It is very necessary for every enterprise to timely expand its business activities in order to
serve large number of customers. This helps firms in getting trust of masses audience and in
increasing quality of its services. Before expanding into new areas proper survey and research
activities need to be done so hat it can identify needs of clients. If enterprise expands its activities
in different sphere without doing research than this will not be beneficial decisions for Austin
Fraser. Before expanding activities in different areas it is necessary to do analysis of competitors
in that place.
By expanding its operations in different areas Austin Fraser can increase its number of
revenues and profits. This will help enterprise in delivering better services to customers than its
competitors.
TASK 3
3.1 Existing business objectives and plans
Austin Fraser is a consultancy firm provide various services to its customers specialists
in providing recruitment services (Rae, 2010). Current objective of firm is to deliver specific
knowledge and information to its clients to solve their problems. For achieving this company
build and uses various various communication channels to reach out to large number of
population. Company constantly trying deliver good and effective services to its customers in
order to satisfy their needs and wants in a better way.
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Firm timely undertake survey or research activities to learn about changing demands of
customers and this help firm in giving shape to its services. Company currently provide various
services to its customers according to their various needs and wants. At present enterprise is able
to use its strengths which is professional consultant, to deliver and provide special consultancy
services.
At present company is working to provide specialist services to its clients and tries to
deliver services at lower price than its competitors in order to capture greater market share.
3.2 Revision of business plan for applying changes
Development of business plan is very necessary because it help firm in improve the
quality of its services and satisfy needs and wants of customers in a better way. At present needs
and wants of customers are changing at a fast speed and it is very necessary for firm to give
shape to its activities and decrease the cost of overall operations. Business plan help business
owner in planning all activities in advance which help enterprise in achieving consistency and
smoothness in business operations (Harris and Patten, 2014). Development of a flexible
business plan is very necessary to adopt changes. Austin Fraser also faces changes in
requirements of customers and in their needs. For this reason company provide various
specific consultancy services to its customers. Firm use various promotional tools to do
advertisement of its services. In order to capture a greater market share or to lead the market, it is
very essential for firm to to rule the local market first. For this company can build and maintain
relationships with members of local community. This can help enterprise in improving sales of
its service by giving shape to market conditions.
3.3 Plan to implement changes
Change is one of the necessary or important element in any business. It can result in
success or failure of a business. So to get success it is very necessary to implement changes in a
way so that favourable and maximum results can be achieved. With changes take place in
business environment it is very important for every organisation to adapt accordingly. People and
their tastes are changing at a fast speed (Battisti and Perry, 2011). In order to implement the
process of change Austin Fraser can follow the following steps: Readiness assessments: In this step leaders and managers use various tools to evaluate
the organisation's readiness stage. It provide relevant information to enterprise whether to
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implement the process of change or not. Managers of enterprise can use various tools to
change unfavourable conditions into favourable. Communication planning: In this step managers decide or choose various
communication tools to inform employees and public about the changes. To increase
effectiveness of communication process important messages can be repeated many times. Training for managers: Managers and leaders both play an important role in process of
changes so it is very important to provide training to them. This will help managers in
motivate the employees in a better way. Resistance management: When a change is implemented in organisation than it can be
possible that many employees do not accept because because of fear of new or from
anything (Gill and Biger, 2012). So it is very important to eliminate the resistance to
increase the effectiveness of change process. This can be done by providing various
incentives and motivate employees and by telling them about the importance of change. Collection of feedback: Implementation of change requires support from employees also
so it is very necessary to collect feedback. This will help managers in knowing the
obstacles arising and facing by employees and then managers can take corrective actions. Identification of improvements and encouragement of change process: Results of
change should be collected or evaluated and if results are positive than process of change
should be encouraged to get same results in future.
 After review: This is one of the important and last step of process of change. In this
manager can evaluate all success and failures of change programme(Bridge and O'Neill,
2012). It is very important to manage the changes by build a change management system.
All steps of change process should be implemented in a effective way to achieve better results.
Action plan for implementing changes
Activity Objective Time scale Responsible person
Prepare for
changes
The main
objective of this
phase is to assess
how much
changes are
required to be
1 Month Managers,
CEO, Directors, Board of members
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made in order to
achieve the goal
Managing change It is next phase
which main
objective is to
create plan and
integrate this plan
into activities of
project and
implement it
1.5 month Manager
Employees
Reinforcing
change
Objective of this
phase is to create
specific action for
ensuring change
give accurate
results
1 month Employees
Management
TASK 4
4.1 Impact of changes on business and its employees
Process of change affect business and its employees in various ways. It is very important
for organisation to give proper consideration on every factor for development of business. This
helps business enterprise in achieving objectives in easy and better way (Fassin, Van Rossem
and Buelens, 2011). Implementation of change results in changing methods and process of
completing the work which affect business activities and quality of products. It is very important
to collect all necessary and important information about changes company want to implement.
Any change implemented or carried at workplace effect employees and their activities.
Introduction of new policies and process will affect workers and they will take time to
understand about new methods and policies. Activities of any business get affected through
various factors:
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 Legal factors: For completing all tasks in a effective way and for attainment of all
objectives its is very necessary for every enterprise to make strategies and changes
according to government laws and regulations. All theses regulations help enterprise in
areas of consumer protection act, health & safety act, employment law and many more. Economic factors: Theses factors involve change in income level of consumers. If
income level of consumers rise than they they will buy more products which increase
demand company's product (Altman, Sabato and Wilson, 2010). Fluctuations in
economy affect the demand and price of product. If demand of product will rise than its
price will automatically rise and opposite will happen in different situation. Austin
Fraser should make its business and marketing plan by keeping all these factors in mind.
Wage rate, interest rate, rate of inflation and deflation all are related with economic
factors. Political factors: It refers to policies and rules of government in a country. All political
factors affect activities of business operations in various ways (Schaper And et.al.,
2014). These factors affect the activities of a business enterprise specially of those firms
who undertake business operations at international level. Social factors: This is related with the tastes and habits of customers and their lifestyles.
Purchasing of a product is influenced by many factors including age, gender, culture and
lifestyle of a people. Understanding of all this and than make strategies is a critical task
for enterprise. It is essential for every business organisation to study all social and
cultural differences among people to satisfy their needs in a better way.
 Technological factors: This is one of the factor which affect or influence strategies of a
business (Gronum, Verreynne and Kastelle, 2012). This influence enterprise to use new
and updated technology to reduce cost of production process.
All these factors affect business activities and its personnel in various ways. These factors can
affect business in both positive and negative way. Enterprise should try to make efforts that these
changes affect business activities in positive way.
4.2 Management of changes
Management of changes means managing all activities or steps of change process in a
effective way. Managing various business operations help enterprise in achieving better results.
Management of change activities help business enterprise in getting competitive advantage at
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market (Olson and Staley, 2012). Proper training should be provided to employees in order to
make them learn about new methods and processes. Customers are the main focus of every
business enterprise so all efforts or changes should be done by organisation in a way that needs
and wants of customers can be satisfied. Different clients of Austin Fraser wants different kind of
services so by providing this company can capture a greater market share and can gain trust of
large number of customers.
Usually employees of organisation do not like change because of feeling of fear,
ambiguity, loss of power and many more. All these create fear in mind of people and employees
do not give their best. For overcoming this situation managers and leaders can use various tools
to motivative employees and to tell them about the importance and need of change. It is very
important to get employee support to manage the change because these are the one who directly
meet with customers and provide them number of services (Storey, 2016). Training and proper
guidance should be given to employees to help them in learning about new process and methods.
Benefits and appreciation should be given to employees who accept changes and consultancy
should given to workers who show resistance towards change.
For managing change business can do an analysis of activities of its competitors. Other
than this an evaluation of different needs of consumers can be done. By give attention to all
political, social, and environmental factors a business can better manage its change activities.
Managing process of change is not a critical process only support from employees and
favourable business conditions are needed and for this managers can do various efforts in order
to not only give direction to activities of employees but to make market conditions more
favourable (Burns, 2010). All these will help firm in getting competitive advantage by providing
better and low cost services to its customers.
4.3 Improvements in the performance of business
Monitoring of business activities on a continuous basis helps enterprise in improving its
performance for attainment of objectives. Improving process is a long term process and needs
continuous monitoring. Improve and maintain the current performance of business is one of the
main issues of every organisation. By doing this company can gain trust of its customers, which
is very necessary to improve working efficiency. In order to measure performance research and
survey are two main aspects(Malhotra and Temponi, 2010). If customers of Austin Fraser
choose or go to other consultancy firms than it means that customers are not satisfy with services
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offered by company. It shows that there is a need of improvement or enhancement in services of
customers. Continuous monitoring help enterprises in identifying and unethical practices running
in business.
To improve overall performance of business it is very necessary to motivate employees to
take ethically decisions at workplace. Effective communication should be take place to avoid any
confusion and solve issues which hindering the process of completing objectives. Continuous
monitoring help organisation in identifying and exploiting opportunities exist in business
environment. Austin Fraser improve its strategies and quality of services. Sunday times give 14th
rank Austin Fraser on 12th June 2017. At present company provide excellence services to large
number of customers to solve their problems (Blackburn, Hart and Wainwright, 2013).
Organisation is now able to provide a mix of facilities to customers. Professional consultant is
the main strength of enterprise which helps in capturing greater market share.
CONCLUSION
Above report can be summarized as small business contribute well in economy
development of nation. Austin Fraser is a consultancy firm based in UK. This firm can deliver
better services to its customers by using its strengths in a effective way and to deliver services
better than its competitors. To eliminate its weakness firms can follow the recommendations
given in report. Current performance of business can be improved by doing survey of needs of
consumers. Current business plan and objectives of company is detailed in the report and
company can do necessary changes in it to for achievement of goals in a better way.
Implementation of change concept is very essential for firm to deliver is services at low cost and
to achieve efficiency in process of production.
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