Business Consultancy Project: Analyzing Daniel Cobb's Business

This business consultancy project analyzes Daniel Cobb, an estate agent in London, focusing on its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT). The project includes a situational analysis, examining industry trends and identifying issues like website design and the lack of a mobile application. It proposes options for improvement, emphasizing the need for a user-friendly website with real-time chat and a dedicated mobile application. The project details a plan of action, including project aims, scope, risk assessment, and stakeholder analysis. Appendices include a SWOT analysis, Gantt chart, risk assessment framework, and an interview transcript, offering a comprehensive view of the company's current standing and potential improvements within the competitive market. The project aims to enhance Daniel Cobb's online presence and customer service capabilities.

Running head: BUSINESS CONSULTANCY PROJECT
Business Consultancy Project
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

1BUSINESS CONSULTANCY PROJECT
Table of Contents
1. Introduction....................................................................................................................2
2. Situational Analysis of Amazon and Problem Identification..........................................3
2.1 Impact of Business Analysis Tools..........................................................................3
2.2 The Industry Trends.................................................................................................4
2.3 Identified Issues.......................................................................................................5
3. Options...........................................................................................................................6
4. Specific Project and Detailed Plan of Action.................................................................9
4.1 Project Aims and Objectives....................................................................................9
4.2 Project Scope...........................................................................................................9
4.3 Risk Assessment....................................................................................................11
4.4 Stakeholder Analysis.............................................................................................12
4.5 A Detailed Plan of Action.......................................................................................14
5. Conclusion...................................................................................................................15
References.......................................................................................................................17
Appendices......................................................................................................................21
1. The SWOT Analysis of Daniel Cobbs......................................................................21
2. Gantt chart for the Project Deliverables and Outputs..............................................22
3. The Risk Assessment Framework...........................................................................23
4. The Interview Transcript..........................................................................................24

2BUSINESS CONSULTANCY PROJECT
1. Introduction
Daniel Cobb is considered to be one of the most reputable, leading and
independent form of estate agents located in London. The business firm are a family of
estate agents owning a 20 years of experience within the London property industry. The
company helps their clients in offering a wide range of services for their homes. They
have spread their branches all across the United Kingdom and ensure to provide their
clients utmost satisfaction by supporting them with proper advice in relation to their
queries (isolation and Working From Home: Routine 2020). The company also
possesses an experienced customer service team who are responsible for making the
proper matches between landlords and tenants. Within the offered service from the firm,
landlords are able to advertise their properties while setting out a proper deal with the
firm.
The discussion in the further sections of the report thus puts emphasis on the
analysis of the form by considering the different factors to determine the maturity of the
firm in the highly competitive market. The company has been chosen for the evaluation
since there is a wide necessity of people to choose properties while determining a
proper landlord and a suitable house at an affordable price. Thus, Daniel Cobb is
greatly within the field of connecting their customers with the most preferred landlords in
order to provide them with efficient service. The company also includes many new kind
of services such as plumbing, plumbing, internal and external decoration, maintenance
and repair services. Hence the business firm also helps them through getting the proper
resident who would be willing to accept the service from the landlord at a negotiable and
accepted price.

3BUSINESS CONSULTANCY PROJECT
2. Situational Analysis of Amazon and Problem Identification
2.1 Impact of Business Analysis Tools
The SWOT Analysis of Daniel Cobbs
Strengths: The strengths possessed by Daniel Cobbs are discussed as follows:
 Efficient service and various opportunities for clients
 Excellent consultancy services
 Best customer handling services
 Allocation of the best property manager as per customer needs
 Inclusion of other services such as electric fitting, plumbing and others.
Weakness: The weakness as possessed by Daniel Cobbs are as follows:
 The website of the company is not planned in a better way
 Live customer support is not supported within the platform
 Customers would need to visit office to gain consultancy
 There is an unorganized form of way of management of records
 Unavailability of a dedicated mobile application might lower the popularity of the
business
Opportunities: The opportunities for the upcoming business of Daniel Cobbs are:
 The area of customer service could be improved gradually
 A live chat functionality could be improvised within the website
 Property updates could be sent to existing customers who have made use of the
services from the firm

4BUSINESS CONSULTANCY PROJECT
 The business could look for new customer segments based on demographic data
 Expansion of services to other countries could also prove worthwhile for the
company
Threats: The business threats towards the business of Daniel Cobbs are:
• Rise in business competitors who provide more efficient services
• Focusing on a fixed demographic segment
2.2 The Industry Trends
According to the industry trends being focused for the company based on
property development and acquisition of homes in the UK, it can be discussed that the
company has majorly shown nice improvements. Different case studies as released
within press releases as released by the government have helped in understanding the
major industry trends that have been approached by the Daniel Cobbs in the recent
years.
The firm proposes different kind of actions, which are being performed by them in
the concern for the business and the wellness of the customers (David et al. 2017).
According to the trends focused within the industry and in relevance to the market
demands, the firm had incorporated the most important aspects within their business.
These include:
1. Asset Management – With the world class business leaders within the firm,
Daniel Cobbs have used their knowledge and experience for leading themselves into
the commercial market. This has been mainly been done for seeking a better form of
business value through renegotiating with the previous tenants and making new lease
agreements with new tenants (Hopkins, Read and Goss 2017). The group of business
leaders have well understood the needs of the tenant while also looking for greater
value based on relocating them in the existing building.
2. Commercial Management – After making a proper agreement with the
tenant, the firm generally takes over the occupancy of the building and manages it

5BUSINESS CONSULTANCY PROJECT
accordingly. Greater value is sorted for the tenants and also negotiated with the
customers based on analysing of budgets from both ends. Thus, by handling such kind
of services, it is intended to look forwards for bringing major improvement in business
performances and raising the company to the expectations, which are held within
(Ferreira, Matos and Pires 2018). According to recent surveys made over tenants and
clients, it has also been seen that the firm had received a major form of satisfaction rate.
This emphasizes the fact that the business has been able to make strong grounds
within the UK market.
2.3 Identified Issues
From the conducted business analysis with the help of SWOT tool, it can be
discussed that the company has been facing some major lacking areas. These could be
considered as one of the major issues faced by the firm and which could lower the
business value in the competitive market. The identified issues are discussed as:
a. The website of the business firm is not organized in a proper manner.
Although different aspects as served by the company is being utilized by the clients and
landlords in a proper manner, yet a proper organizing of every aspect as planned for the
clients is not considered to be appropriate. The present website engages different
facilities that could be served to the clients and hence gather their attention (Signori and
Vismara 2018). However, some of the contents advertised within the website is not
planned properly. Clients would need to search for different options from the side menu
bar. However, the different supported options should be made available in the front
page, which would be really helpful for the customers to spot and view accordingly. A
well-designed website that would integrate all the key features and which could be
easily be visible to the customers in the first glance could be considered as satisfying
(Xiao, Li and Webster 2016). Hence, the company should focus on the aspect of
increasing the availability of each option to the customers in a suitable manner such that
more customer visit could be encouraged, which would also help them in driving better
results.
b. From the analysis of the company and the recent market trends, it can be
understood that the company tends to satisfy their customers with their exclusive range

6BUSINESS CONSULTANCY PROJECT
of services. However, it can also be discussed that people in the recent times are
mostly habituated to using their mobile phones to search for various items (Hagedoorn
and Zobel 2015). Hence, a dedicated mobile application platform for the business would
prove to generate more value towards the business. Daniel Cobbs does not own a
mobile application, which could in turn lead customers away from their business. Every
customer would expect a dedicated mobile platform for the websites being used by
them. Hence, this could lead to a serious problem being faced by customers in dealing
with the business prospects as provided by Daniel Cobbs (Schönsleben 2016).
Absence of a dedicated mobile application for the clients would lead them to visit the
nearby office and communicating directly with the business officials.
The detailed interview from the Business Manager at the business firm is
attached within the Appendices section.
3. Options
The above section within the report focuses on the SWOT aspect in relation to
Daniel Cobbs for their firm. However, from the understanding of the possible issues that
could affect the firm, it can be discussed that the business firm faces some form of stiff
competition when dealing with their market competitors in terms of website suitability
and mobile application availability.
From the discussion and understanding of the various projects being handled by
the business firm and the kind of decisions being made by Daniel Cobb, it can be
discussed that the company would be able to make tremendous profits in the future.
This could further be proliferated with the use of efficient web analytical techniques and
tools, which would enrich the reach of the company into the minds of the people. The
possible course of actions, which could be considered as primary business options that
needs to be prioritized for incurring great benefits are:
a. Inclusion of a proper website availability – User experience is considered
as a major aspect in terms of driving more traffic towards the website established by a
business. Daniel Cobb is largely focused on managing of assets as proposed and sold
by tenants and matching with potential clients who would be able to purchase the

7BUSINESS CONSULTANCY PROJECT
property at their choice of costs (Abbasi, Sarker and Chiang 2016). Thus, the company
should be able to advertise these choices to customers in a presentable manner. In the
present understanding over the website, it can be understood that although the website
helps users to understand their stories in a better manner, yet these customers have to
locate their services by accessing each page individually. The clients would then have
to perform a reading over the user stories as being presented by other clients as per
their needed service (Parker, Parsons and Isharyanto 2015). This could be a tiring act
for clients and thus they might not like the service provided by the business while some
clients would have to visit the physical office in order to get their queries resolved.
Hence, in order to bring changes within the present business aspect, the website
of the company should be able to provide a better view of the business offerings as
performed by the firm (Cappuyns 2016). These would require a redevelopment of the
present website and then highlight the services, which are being set within the
company. Moreover, there are a wide number of services, which are included within the
company along with the regular services being offered. These include maintenance,
electric wiring setup, internal and external decoration and many others. These suite of
services should also be put within the recommendation for the clients, which would
ultimately help them in deciding whether they would need to avail the service
(Grobbelaar, Tijssen and Dijksterhuis 2017). Along with this aspect, a real-time chat
service should also be incorporated within the website for helping customers to gain
real-time assistance from the business leaders. This would help customers in getting a
prior knowledge over the property in which they might be interested and thus decide to
purchase them accordingly.
b. Availability of a dedicated Mobile Application Platform – In present times,
it has been researched that Daniel Cobbs do not own a well-planned mobile application
that would help them in proliferating their business (Hu and Li 2017). The business of
Daniel Cobb deals with the selling and purchasing of properties that are being
advertised by tenants. Hence, in order to proliferate the business, a mobile application
would be considered as essential. According to researches over the use of mobile
phone applications by users, it can be discussed that 81% of users make use of various

8BUSINESS CONSULTANCY PROJECT
applications to search for the required service. Having an online presence with a mobile
application, would be helpful for creating a first impression towards the customers.
With the implementation of a proper planned mobile application for the business,
it would lead the business for an increased visibility. The application would integrate the
prime functions in which the tenants would be able to post advertisements on their by
simply registering themselves within the platform (Frow et al. 2015). Tenants would also
be able to post pictures of their properties and set a proper rate for their property as per
their requirement. On the other hand, the customers who would be in need of a proper
property would sign in within the application and view the properties as per their
preferred choice. Clients would also be able to set a particular price range within which
they would require a particular property.
The application would also set a price calculator in which the client would be able
to calculate their demands and match them with their preferred requirements. The
application would also integrate better algorithms, which would help clients in getting the
most preferred results based on understanding their preferences and choices. Thus, the
application would also suggest the best kind of property result upon their search, which
would be preferred by them (Smedlund and Faghankhani 2015). Live chat facility should
also be integrated within the application, which would also help the clients to raise their
concerns and thus gain a proper advisor to help them regarding their queries. This
application would increase the exposure of the business to a broad number of users
and thus increase the business profit rate.
c. Social Media Presence – The website and mobile application should be
directly be linked with the social media platforms such as Facebook and similar others.
Social media marketing would also help in marketing their company for the clients and
tenants. Hence, with the digital marketing of the company towards tenants and clients,
hence, it would help in proliferating towards the business growth (Yang and Berger
2017). It would enrich the digital presence of the company and maximum client base
since the business reach would expand globally. Since, in the recent times, most of the
people within the company have a high addiction towards the various social media
platforms, they would be able to get to know about the business firm and thus would

9BUSINESS CONSULTANCY PROJECT
avail the services. A well-planned strategy for the business would help in increased
accessibility for users.

10BUSINESS CONSULTANCY PROJECT
4. Specific Project and Detailed Plan of Action
4.1 Project Aims and Objectives
The project aims to include a well-planned website and a mobile application for
the Daniel Cobbs business and thus increase the business reach to a broad client base.
In order to achieve the proposed aim by the business of Daniel Cobb, the
objectives set by the business could be set as follows:
 To prepare a detailed plan of actions detailing each of the steps required to plan
for the new business inclusion
 To prepare a detailed form of business scope that would list the important
features that would be provided by the business
 Assessment of risks and a proper stakeholder management plan
 Ensure that a proper business website would be developed and a successful
mobile application would be developed accordingly
4.2 Project Scope
Daniel Cobb is considered as the most reputable kind of property agents in the
United Kingdom. The business firm had been founded by Jenny Cobb, who had
identified opportunities within the housing property industry, which was primarily been
built on family values such as trust, support and honesty. The business deals with
accepting the requests of clients who would be looking for properties that would be
advertised for sale (Zhang 2015). Tenants register themselves within the company to
advertise their properties. There are a large number of houses in UK, which are being
sold by landlords. Clients from various parts of the world come to live in the UK for
various purposes.
Whenever a client would place a request within the company based on a search
request for a property, they would be re-directed to the most suitable property that
would be leased out by the landlords. The business leaders within the firm continuously
assess the needs of the client and help them in finding the most suitable property based
on their affordable price range (Schriber and Löwstedt 2015). After finding the correct

11BUSINESS CONSULTANCY PROJECT
property for the customers, the business would be able to fix an appointment between
the landlords and clients.
With the present project, the business would develop a mobile application and a
business website that would help in solving the business requirements. A well planned
business website would be developed for Daniel Cobbs in which each of the offerings
within the business would be accommodated in a well-planned manner such that the
clients would be able to reach to the business (Tan et al. 2015). A live chat facility would
also be included within the business website in which customers would be able to talk
with property experts and gain help in choosing the right deal. Customers would come
towards the business with a broad number of requests based on their affordability.
Hence, the experts within the business would help them in getting access to the proper
housing property as per their preferences.
In this project, a proper mobile application would also be developed that would
be helpful for clients as they would be able to download the mobile application in their
smartphones. The mobile application would help the landlords in registering themselves
individually and post advertisement based on lease of their property (Grimes and
Mitchell 2015). The application would also serve the request of customers as they would
be able to request for proper housing properties and thus the application would match
their requests to the proper landlords. A certain negotiation could also be made
between the landlords, tenants and clients after which a particular property would be
sold to clients (Cohen-Rosenthal and Musnikow 2017). The mobile application that
would be integrated within the business functionalities would help in mapping the
customer requests according to the input choices made by them. The mobile application
would also help the customers in selecting the proper price range in which they would
require properties to be displayed for them (Zavadskas et al. 2017). Thus, based on the
exact search results. It would be considered as highly helpful for the business to satisfy
the customer requests and thus increase the rate of customer satisfaction.

12BUSINESS CONSULTANCY PROJECT
4.3 Risk Assessment
The risk assessment framework based on the concerned project are being
discussed as follows:
Risks Likelihood Impact Risk Mitigation Plan
The project might face a
strong resistance from the
other teams within the
company since it would not
be viable for them to
manage the huge customer
demands that could arrive
with the implementation of a
live chat facility (Wu et al.
2015). Moreover, a
dedicated team would be
required in the future who
would be able to handle the
huge rising demands of
customers.
High High In order to solve the problem of
resistance from the employees, the
business manager would need to
take hold of the situation (Talesh
2018). Since, large number of
customer requests would be placed
while choosing the proper
properties hence, a dedicated form
of advisor and expert team should
be recruited for the business who
would be able to serve the
customer queries accordingly. The
new advisor team should hold the
major responsibility for
understanding the requirements of
both landlords and clients in
suggesting the best properties to
them based on their demands and
price suitability (Fichtner,
Heemskerk and Garcia-Bernardo
2017).
The project based on the
development of the
technical aspects might take
a long time since both
aspects would need to be
linked together with the
business (Alhadab, Clacher
and Keasey 2015). Further,
this might raise the
expectations of the
customers while on the
other hand, some customers
might not like the existing
service in which they would
have the need to visit the
local offices of the business
for signing an agreement
and getting the property.
Medium Low The business currently provides a
call and email facility in which the
customer queries are being
resolved on urgent basis (Ghani et
al. 2018). While the website and
mobile application are being
developed, the business would be
running according to the present
framework. Moreover, the business
manager could hire some new
advisors who would be able to
handle the huge number of
customer requests and thus solve
their queries accordingly (Greco,
Locatelli and Lisi 2017). The
customers should also be provided
a facility in which they would need
to sign a digital document and

13BUSINESS CONSULTANCY PROJECT
upload it for the business in an
email format. This would reduce the
time for getting a property for the
client while also increasing the
strength of the business.
The project based on the
development of both
website and mobile
application might raise a
high cost for the company
(Hwang et al. 2017). This
would ultimately lead to a
negative impact over the
annual business turnover
incurred over the firm.
Low Medium Since, Daniel Cobb is a recognised
property management firm in the
UK, hence the company should
invest some money for the
development of the business
website platform (Kousky et al.
2018). This would in turn lead to
enrichment of business goals while
also increasing the reach of the
business to a broad number of
customers from all across the world
to make use of their services.
4.4 Stakeholder Analysis
In this portion of the document, a detailed analysis would be made over the
business stakeholders of the firm (Ranängen 2015).
The stakeholders who would be involved with the new project based on the
development of a proper website and a mobile application for the business are:
1. Business Development Manager
2. Sales and Marketing Team
3. Finance Team
4. Product Development Team
5. Web Development Team
6. Business Consultants
The above discussed stakeholders are considered as the core stakeholders who
would be directly or indirectly affected by the decisions made for the business and the
outcomes that would be incurred towards the business. After the assigning of the most

14BUSINESS CONSULTANCY PROJECT
important stakeholders for the project, their grouping and prioritizing of the stakeholders
would also be performed according to the needs and successful delivery of the project.
These are discussed as follows:
1. High power, high interest – These are considered as such stakeholders of
Daniel Cobbs, who would be considered the primary or most important stakeholders
(Hoskisson et al. 2018). These stakeholders would be able to suggest new ideas
towards the project and thus they would also be responsible for the direct outputs that
would be incurred after the launch of the project. These stakeholders are: Business
Development Manager and Web Development Team.
2. High power, low interest – These stakeholders would have a great influence
within the company and hence the work done over the project should be made
accordingly for increasing the rate of their satisfaction. However, these stakeholders
would have a certain low interest towards the project and hence there might not be a
regular need for communicating with them during the project (McKnight and
Linnenluecke 2016). These stakeholders are: Sales and Marketing Team and Product
Development Team.
3. Low power, high interest – Stakeholders involved within this categorization
would need to be keep informed about the development of the project. Hence, a proper
level of communication should be made with them on a regular basis for ensuring that
they would not be experiencing any kind of problems (Jo, Song and Tsang 2016).
Further, these stakeholders could have a huge interest towards their project and could
openly provide suggestions based on any kind of changes could be made towards the
project. These stakeholders are: Business Consultants
4. Low power, low interest – Stakeholders in this category would need to be
informed periodically about the project. They should not be allocated to any kind of
responsibility (Adam Cobb 2016). However, they would have low power and could only
be considered for any kind of suggestions. Stakeholders involved in this phase are:
Finance Team.

15BUSINESS CONSULTANCY PROJECT
4.5 A Detailed Plan of Action
In this section, a detailed plan of action would be supported, which would help
the business firm in understanding the proper way in which the project would be
undertaken. Hence, the various steps that needs to be incurred for the business in order
to gain maximum benefits for the future are mentioned as follows:
1. Form an Initial Meeting – In the initial meeting, the various stakeholders
involved within the firm would gather together and discuss on a clear form of strategy
based on letting each other gain a proper understanding of the outcomes (Torrecilla-
Salinas et al. 2015). Thus, this meeting would also be intended for conducting a brief
marketing research over the present and past business trends and the kind of impacts
that could be made with the inclusion of the new website and mobile application project.
Based on gaining a proper understanding over the business benefits incurred over the
firm, it can be discussed that the business project could be expanded further.
2. Setting of clear strategies and outline business goals – After mapping out
the requirements for the project, the business would proceed and hence in this part, the
project manager undertaking the responsibility would set clear strategies. The business
goals would need to be clearly revised and thus the outcomes as preferred for the
business would be proceeded accordingly (McKenzie 2015). A clear set strategy would
ensure that proper stakeholders would be allocated to proper responsibilities and thus
the outcomes for the business would be assured.
3. Provide approval and procurement of required resources – After setting of
clear form of strategies and business goals, the most appropriate requirements would
be procured accordingly (Bider and Jalali 2016). The required resources would be
procured from well-known vendors so that there would no chances of errors made
towards the business.
4. Development of the project – After the procurement of proper resources for
the project, the project would be developed based on the exact requirements as
outlined earlier. Hence, the web development team would ensure that each of the
actions taken by them would help in ensuring that the project is being delivered on

16BUSINESS CONSULTANCY PROJECT
proper track (Rowledge et al. 2017). A proper monitoring should also be done by the
primary stakeholders who would have a high interest for the project. Hence, this would
also ensure that the project would be delivered in such a manner that would incur the
best future returns after its deployment in the international market.
5. Testing and performing a quality check – A thorough check over the
requirements and the outcomes delivered from the project would need to be maintained.
This could be done based on using proper form of testing approaches and ensuring that
each of the outlined quality checks have been incurred and implemented within the new
project (Lai and Leu 2015). A well-maintained project that would have the best quality of
output would help in ensuring that client satisfaction would be reached greatly and they
would make use of the services being offered by the business firm.
5. Conclusion
From the understanding and discussion drawn from the above report, it can be
discussed that Daniel Cobbs, which is one of the most reputable organizations working
over selling properties to clients has been delivering huge success stories. From the
previous research made over the firm, it has been analysed that the company has
created value-based business deliveries and have greatly helped business clients to
achieve their dreams of getting their proper homes according to their preferences and
suitability. The above report focuses on the SWOT aspect of the firm, in which the
different key deliverables helped in understanding the areas in which the business had
strengths and further create ways for their opportunities. In the initial section, a clear
discussion was set based on understanding the issues that were being faced by the
firm. The research over the issues was being made by a proper analysis of the past
trends of the company and an interview with the business manager. Upon
understanding of the issues within the firm, the recent market trends were analysed and
thus a clear understanding was formed regarding the future trends that could be
implemented within the organization. Hence, the following part of the discussion within
the report focused on devising a clear solution and plan to execute the business
functionalities. Thus, the report concludes on the fact that a proper planned website and

17BUSINESS CONSULTANCY PROJECT
a mobile application would prove to be greatly helpful in addressing the outlined issues
and creating better value for the business in the future.

18BUSINESS CONSULTANCY PROJECT
References
Abbasi, A., Sarker, S. and Chiang, R.H., 2016. Big data research in information
systems: Toward an inclusive research agenda. Journal of the Association for
Information Systems, 17(2), p.3.
Adam Cobb, J., 2016. How firms shape income inequality: Stakeholder power,
executive decision making, and the structuring of employment relationships. Academy
of Management Review, 41(2), pp.324-348.
Alhadab, M., Clacher, I. and Keasey, K., 2015. Real and accrual earnings management
and IPO failure risk. Accounting and Business Research, 45(1), pp.55-92.
Bider, I. and Jalali, A., 2016. Agile business process development: why, how and when
—applying Nonaka’s theory of knowledge transformation to business process
development. Information Systems and e-Business Management, 14(4), pp.693-731.
Cappuyns, V., 2016. Inclusion of social indicators in decision support tools for the
selection of sustainable site remediation options. Journal of environmental
management, 184, pp.45-56.
Cohen-Rosenthal, E. and Musnikow, J., 2017. What is eco-industrial development?.
In Eco-Industrial Strategies (pp. 14-29). Routledge.
David, H., Dorn, D., Katz, L.F., Patterson, C. and Van Reenen, J., 2017. The fall of the
labor share and the rise of superstar firms.
Ferreira, M.A., Matos, P. and Pires, P., 2018. Asset management within commercial
banking groups: International evidence. The Journal of Finance, 73(5), pp.2181-2227.
Fichtner, J., Heemskerk, E.M. and Garcia-Bernardo, J., 2017. Hidden power of the Big
Three? Passive index funds, re-concentration of corporate ownership, and new financial
risk. Business and Politics, 19(2), pp.298-326.
Frow, P., Nenonen, S., Payne, A. and Storbacka, K., 2015. Managing co‐creation
design: A strategic approach to innovation. British Journal of Management, 26(3),
pp.463-483.
Ghani, E.K., Jamal, J., Puspitasari, E. and Gunardi, A., 2018. Factors influencing
integrated reporting practices among Malaysian public listed real property companies: a
sustainable development effort. International Journal of Managerial and Financial
Accounting, 10(2), pp.144-162.

19BUSINESS CONSULTANCY PROJECT
Greco, M., Locatelli, G. and Lisi, S., 2017. Open innovation in the power & energy
sector: Bringing together government policies, companies’ interests, and academic
essence. Energy Policy, 104, pp.316-324.
Grimes, A. and Mitchell, I., 2015. Impacts of planning rules, regulations, uncertainty and
delay on residential property development.
Grobbelaar, S., Tijssen, R. and Dijksterhuis, M., 2017. University-driven inclusive
innovations in the Western Cape of South Africa: Towards a research framework of
innovation regimes. African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and
Development, 9(1), pp.7-19.
Hagedoorn, J. and Zobel, A.K., 2015. The role of contracts and intellectual property
rights in open innovation. Technology Analysis & Strategic Management, 27(9),
pp.1050-1067.
Hopkins, E.A., Read, D.C. and Goss, R.C., 2017. Promoting sustainability in the United
States multifamily property management industry. Journal of Housing and the Built
Environment, 32(2), pp.361-376.
Hoskisson, R.E., Gambeta, E., Green, C.D. and Li, T.X., 2018. Is my firm-specific
investment protected? Overcoming the stakeholder investment dilemma in the
resource-based view. Academy of Management Review, 43(2), pp.284-306.
Hu, S. and Li, Q., 2017. Modeling and simulating a smart information-based real estate
online platform. Procedia computer science, 111, pp.339-347.
Hwang, B.G., Shan, M., Phua, H. and Chi, S., 2017. An exploratory analysis of risks in
green residential building construction projects: The case of
Singapore. Sustainability, 9(7), p.1116.
isolation, S. and Working From Home: Routine, S., 2020. Independent London Estate
Agents | Daniel Cobb. [online] Danielcobb.co.uk. Available at:
<https://www.danielcobb.co.uk/> [Accessed 6 April 2020].
Jo, H., Song, M.H. and Tsang, A., 2016. Corporate social responsibility and stakeholder
governance around the world. Global Finance Journal, 29, pp.42-69.
Kousky, C., Kunreuther, H., Lingle, B. and Shabman, L., 2018. The emerging private
residential flood insurance market in the United States. Wharton Risk Management and
Decision Processes Center.
Lai, S.T. and Leu, F.Y., 2015, November. Applying continuous integration for reducing
web applications development risks. In 2015 10th International Conference on

20BUSINESS CONSULTANCY PROJECT
Broadband and Wireless Computing, Communication and Applications (BWCCA) (pp.
386-391). IEEE.
McKenzie, D., 2015. Identifying and spurring high-growth entrepreneurship:
Experimental evidence from a business plan competition. The World Bank.
McKnight, B. and Linnenluecke, M.K., 2016. How firm responses to natural disasters
strengthen community resilience: A stakeholder-based perspective. Organization &
Environment, 29(3), pp.290-307.
Parker, D.W., Parsons, N. and Isharyanto, F., 2015. Inclusion of strategic management
theories to project management. International Journal of Managing Projects in
Business.
Ranängen, H., 2015. Stakeholder management in reality: Moving from conceptual
frameworks to operational strategies and interactions. Sustainable Production and
Consumption, 3, pp.21-33.
Rowledge, L.R., Barton, R., Brady, K., Fava, J., Figge, C., Saur, K. and Young, S.,
2017. Mapping the journey: Case studies in strategy and action toward sustainable
development. Routledge.
Schönsleben, P., 2016. Integral logistics management: operations and supply chain
management within and across companies. CRC Press.
Schriber, S. and Löwstedt, J., 2015. Tangible resources and the development of
organizational capabilities. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 31(1), pp.54-68.
Signori, A. and Vismara, S., 2018. Does success bring success? The post-offering lives
of equity-crowdfunded firms. Journal of Corporate Finance, 50, pp.575-591.
Smedlund, A. and Faghankhani, H., 2015, January. Platform orchestration for efficiency,
development, and innovation. In 2015 48th Hawaii International Conference on System
Sciences (pp. 1380-1388). IEEE.
Talesh, S.A., 2018. Data breach, privacy, and cyber insurance: How insurance
companies act as “compliance managers” for businesses. Law & Social Inquiry, 43(2),
pp.417-440.
Tan, B., Pan, S.L., Lu, X. and Huang, L., 2015. The role of IS capabilities in the
development of multi-sided platforms: the digital ecosystem strategy of Alibaba.
com. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 16(4), p.2.

21BUSINESS CONSULTANCY PROJECT
Torrecilla-Salinas, C.J., Sedeño, J., Escalona, M.J. and Mejías, M., 2015. Estimating,
planning and managing Agile Web development projects under a value-based
perspective. Information and Software Technology, 61, pp.124-144.
Wu, T., Ma, L., Mao, Z. and Ou, X., 2015. Setting up charging electric stations within
residential communities in current China: Gaming of government agencies and property
management companies. Energy Policy, 77, pp.216-226.
Xiao, Y., Li, Z. and Webster, C., 2016. Estimating the mediating effect of privately-
supplied green space on the relationship between urban public green space and
property value: Evidence from Shanghai, China. Land Use Policy, 54, pp.439-447.
Yang, S. and Berger, R., 2017. Relation between start-ups’ online social media
presence and fundraising. Journal of Science and Technology Policy Management.
Zavadskas, E.K., Cavallaro, F., Podvezko, V., Ubarte, I. and Kaklauskas, A., 2017.
MCDM assessment of a healthy and safe built environment according to sustainable
development principles: A practical neighborhood approach in
Vilnius. Sustainability, 9(5), p.702.
Zhang, X., 2015. Green real estate development in China: State of art and prospect
agenda—A review. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 47, pp.1-13.
1.

22BUSINESS CONSULTANCY PROJECT
Appendices
1. The SWOT Analysis of Daniel Cobbs
SWOT Analysis
Strengths:
 Efficient service and various
opportunities for clients
 Excellent consultancy services
 Best customer handling services
 Allocation of the best property
manager as per customer needs
 Inclusion of other services such
as electric fitting, plumbing and
others
Weaknesses:
 The website of the company is
not planned in a better way
 Live customer support is not
supported within the platform
 Customers would need to visit
office to gain consultancy
 There is an unorganized form of
way of management of records
 Unavailability of a dedicated
mobile application might lower
the popularity of the business
Opportunities:
 The area of customer service
could be improved gradually
 A live chat functionality could be
improvised within the website
 Property updates could be sent
to existing customers who have
made use of the services from
the firm
 The business could look for new
customer segments based on
demographic data
 Expansion of services to other
countries could also prove
worthwhile for the company
Threats:
 Rise in business competitors who
provide more efficient services
 Focusing on a fixed demographic
segment

23BUSINESS CONSULTANCY PROJECT
2. Gantt chart for the Project Deliverables and Outputs
ID Outline
Number
Task
Mode
Task Name Duration Start Finish
0 0 Project Development for
Daniel Cobbs
225 days Mon 06-04-20 Fri 12-02-21
1 1 Form an Initial Meeting 25 days Mon 06-04-20 Fri 08-05-20
2 1.1 Organizing a team
meeting
6 days Mon 06-04-20 Mon 13-04-20
3 1.2 Setting up of clear agenda4 days Tue 14-04-20 Fri 17-04-20
4 1.3 Conducting a market
research and interview
session
15 days Mon 20-04-20 Fri 08-05-20
5 1.4 Approval over the
market research
0 days Fri 08-05-20 Fri 08-05-20
6 2 Setting of clear strategies
and outline business goals
16 days Mon 11-05-20 Mon 01-06-20
7 2.1 Defining the business
goals
5 days Mon 11-05-20 Fri 15-05-20
8 2.2 Setting up of clear
strategies
5 days Mon 18-05-20 Fri 22-05-20
9 2.3 Defining a clear project
idea
6 days Mon 25-05-20 Mon 01-06-20
10 2.4 Approval for resource
procurement
0 days Mon 01-06-20 Mon 01-06-20
11 3 Provide approval and
procurement of required
resources
15 days Tue 02-06-20 Mon 22-06-20
12 3.1 Procuring hardware and
software resources
10 days Tue 02-06-20 Mon 15-06-20
13 3.2 Hiring technicians 15 days Tue 02-06-20 Mon 22-06-20
14 3.3 Approval for project start 0 days Mon 22-06-20 Mon 22-06-20
15 4 Development of the project102 days Tue 23-06-20 Wed 11-11-20
16 4.1 Website enhancement
and development
65 days Tue 23-06-20 Mon 21-09-20
17 4.2 Mobile application
Development
85 days Tue 23-06-20 Mon 19-10-20
18 4.3 Social media promotions
for the new inclusions
12 days Tue 23-06-20 Wed 08-07-20
19 4.4 Integrating possible
functionalities within
the website and
application
17 days Tue 20-10-20 Wed 11-11-20
20 5 Testing and performing a
quality check
67 days Thu 12-11-20 Fri 12-02-21
21 5.1 Performing testing over
both aspects
25 days Thu 12-11-20 Wed 16-12-20
22 5.2 Quality check 30 days Thu 17-12-20 Wed 27-01-21
23 5.3 Giving a proper approval
over project completion
1 day Thu 28-01-21 Thu 28-01-21
24 5.4 Deployment of the
project for use
5 days Fri 29-01-21 Thu 04-02-21
25 5.5 Documentation of the
project
6 days Fri 05-02-21 Fri 12-02-21
26 5.6 Project Ends 0 days Fri 12-02-21 Fri 12-02-21
08-05
01-06
22-06
12-02
T S W S T M F T S W S T M F T S
08 Mar '20 03 May '20 28 Jun '20 23 Aug '20 18 Oct '20 13 Dec '20 07 Feb '21
(Figure 1: The Gantt chart for the Project)
(Source: Created by author)

24BUSINESS CONSULTANCY PROJECT
3. The Risk Assessment Framework
Risks Likelihood Impact Risk Mitigation Plan
The project might face a
strong resistance from the
other teams within the
company since it would not
be viable for them to
manage the huge customer
demands that could arrive
with the implementation of a
live chat facility. Moreover, a
dedicated team would be
required in the future who
would be able to handle the
huge rising demands of
customers.
High High In order to solve the problem of
resistance from the employees, the
business manager would need to
take hold of the situation. Since,
large number of customer requests
would be placed while choosing the
proper properties hence, a
dedicated form of advisor and
expert team should be recruited for
the business who would be able to
serve the customer queries
accordingly. The new advisor team
should hold the major responsibility
for understanding the requirements
of both landlords and clients in
suggesting the best properties to
them based on their demands and
price suitability.
The project based on the
development of the
technical aspects might take
a long time since both
aspects would need to be
linked together with the
business. Further, this might
raise the expectations of the
customers while on the
other hand, some customers
might not like the existing
service in which they would
have the need to visit the
local offices of the business
for signing an agreement
and getting the property.
Medium Low The business currently provides a
call and email facility in which the
customer queries are being
resolved on urgent basis. While the
website and mobile application are
being developed, the business
would be running according to the
present framework. Moreover, the
business manager could hire some
new advisors who would be able to
handle the huge number of
customer requests and thus solve
their queries accordingly. The
customers should also be provided
a facility in which they would need
to sign a digital document and
upload it for the business in an
email format. This would reduce the
time for getting a property for the
client while also increasing the
strength of the business.
The project based on the
development of both
Low Medium Since, Daniel Cobb is a recognised
property management firm in the

25BUSINESS CONSULTANCY PROJECT
website and mobile
application might raise a
high cost for the company.
This would ultimately lead to
a negative impact over the
annual business turnover
incurred over the firm.
UK, hence the company should
invest some money for the
development of the business
website platform. This would in turn
lead to enrichment of business
goals while also increasing the
reach of the business to a broad
number of customers from all
across the world to make use of
their services.
4. The Interview Transcript
The following is the interview transcript made with the Business Manager at
Daniel Cobbs in order to understand the requirements properly and also estimating the
issues in a clear manner.
Q1: What are the past records reflecting over the business growth of the firm?
Answer: From the past records of the company and conducting a deep research,
you can see that the business has been able to reach to the minds of our customers.
There have been various success stories of the firm in dealing with the customers and
setting their expectations into clear actions. We have always strived to provide the best
match results for our customers and getting them to the proper landlords and tenants
based on their preferred choice results. Landlords are signed with proper agreements
and thus the business helps them in getting the best value by the clients when they both
sign over a property agreement.
Q2: Are there any challenges being faced by the business and which requires a
quick action of resolve?
Answer: Although, we have been in this business since a long time, we have
been highly been successful in delivering the best results to our clients. However, there
are some complaints that have been raised by our potential clients are that we are not
able to provide them with real-time assistance. Customers have demanded for a real-
time chat functionality within the website and also needed improvements to be included
within our website. Since, we have mainly dealt with offline mode of business and have

26BUSINESS CONSULTANCY PROJECT
functioned through the use of email facility, this aspect of online business was not
greatly considered.
Q3: How do you plan to put a resolve over the discussed issues?
Answer: In order to resolve the issues that have been raised by our customers,
we would need to resolve them with proper efficiency. Customers are our topmost
priority and we take care of their requirements and understandings with greater value.
Hence, in order to provide with a wide range of benefits, we plan to include a well-
planned and organized website in which each of the details would be provided in the
Home page in which customers would land and set their search results properly. The
website would be made very user-friendly so that they would be able to use them
efficiently. Moreover, we plan to include a mobile application, which would also help
customers to access our business from their smartphones. Customers would be able to
calculate and search for the proper property. They would simply a price range, preferred
location after which the mobile application would itself guide them accordingly. This
would reduce the need of clients to visit any of our physical offices frequently. Further,
they would also be able to sign the property agreement digitally after which the required
service would be provided as soon as possible.