Rowlinson Knitwear: Digital Technology and Business Expansion Project

This project report focuses on the impact of digital technology on the expansion of Rowlinson Knitwear, a small UK-based clothing company. The report begins with an introduction highlighting the benefits of digitalization for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Task 1 outlines the project's aim and objectives, including the use of digital technology to achieve growth and expansion, along with a project management plan covering cost, scope, time, quality, communication, and risk. A work breakdown structure and Gantt chart are also included. Task 2 delves into small-scale research using qualitative and quantitative methods, explaining primary and secondary research techniques. Task 3 analyzes the research findings using appropriate tools and techniques and provides recommendations for valid conclusions. Finally, Task 4 assesses the value of undertaking research to meet objectives. The project emphasizes the importance of digital technology in enhancing efficiency, reaching a wider market, and improving communication within the organization, ultimately aiming to help Rowlinson Knitwear gain a competitive advantage.

Managing Successful Business
Project

Contents
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................3
TASK 1......................................................................................................................................3
P1: Aim and objectives of project..........................................................................................3
P2: Project management plan which covers the aspect of cost, scope, time, quality,
communication and risk.........................................................................................................4
P3: Work breakdown structure and Gantt chart provide stages for completion....................6
TASK 2......................................................................................................................................6
P4: Small scale research by use of qualitative and quantitative methods..............................6
TASK 3......................................................................................................................................9
P5: Analysis of research by use of appropriate tools and techniques....................................9
P6: Recommendation in context of research to draw valid conclusions..............................12
TASK 4....................................................................................................................................13
P7: Value of undertaking research to meet objectives.........................................................13
CONCLUSION........................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES.........................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Digital technology gives an adequate support to small or medium sized organisation
to achieve competitive advantage and attain strong position in competitive market world.
Digitalisation not only brings advantages to company but help employees in increasing their
efficiency level (Nicholas and Steyn, 2017) . There are limited number of resources thus
required to utilise them in an optimum manner and it can be possible though using advanced
and digital technology. The present assignment is based on Rowlinson Knitwear, a UK small-
sized company which deals in providing clothing products for particular segment which is
students and corporate professionals. Due to this, the company has attained limited market
share of United Kingdom. The project includes the management project plan, different
methods of conducting research and recommendation to draw a valid conclusion from the
information collected through research.
TASK 1
P1: Aim and objectives of project
The main objective of project is to use digital technology in achieving growth and
expansion of Rowlinson Knitwear through providing quality products and services so as to
maximise the satisfaction level of targeted customers. Digital technology enhances the
capabilities of small business enterprise to reach their products and services into market
world through using new and innovative tools and techniques. It will contribute more in the
expansion of business which help company in increasing their profit margin as well. Digital
technologies consist of various modern and advanced techniques and tools which brings
efficiency in the quality of work done by employees. Using MIS help company in storing all
relevant information about employees, targeted customers, stakeholders, competitors’
strategies etc. which will further help them in making an effective decisions and suitable
plans to bring beneficial result to company (Gareis, 2010). Digital technology also make
communication easy in an organisation due to which the managers and employees can easily
communicate with each other and get adequate support from them in achieving desired goals
and objectives within limited period of time. Therefore, it must say that digitalisation always
bring positive outcome to company if successfully implemented by the management of an
organisation.
TOPIC: Impact of digital technology in expansion of small companies
Background of project

It is essential requirement for every business organisation whether small, medium or
large to adopt digital technology in their working procedure which help them in increasing
their potential and capabilities to operate business more effectively. Small-sized company
such as Rowlinson Knitwear mainly focuses on implementing such advanced technology
with an objective of expanding their area of operations so as to capture large market share.
Nowadays digital technology has given more priority by companies as compared to the
earlier time period. During research, there are many influencing factor which affects their
expected outcomes due to which digital technology has been adopt in order to identify such
factors and risk associated with research activities and accordingly tried to eliminate such
factors in more effective and efficient manner (Wikström and et. al., 2010) . Formulation of
plans and strategies regarding expansion of business for example using online technology
will help increasing their sales figure and generate huge revenues as it provides an option to
the customers to buy products without reaching physically to the store of company.
Rowlinson Knitwear is small-sized company of UK which deals in manufacturing and selling
school and corporate wear garments to the people of United Kingdom. As it operates business
within UK thus captures limited market share. Therefore, the management always looking out
to expand their business to outside of the United Kingdom which can be possible through
using Digital technology. Therefore, the management should require preparing a budget for
adoption of digital technology so as to implement them more successfully.
Aims:
Use of digital technology in expansion of small business organisation
Objectives
Growth and expansion of business in market
 Evaluation of effectiveness of digitalisation
 Requirement of business transformation
Research questions:
 Impact of digitalisation in growth and expansion of small business?
 How to use different tools and techniques of digitalisation?
P2: Project management plan which covers the aspect of cost, scope, time, quality,
communication and risk
It is very important especially for small and medium sized organisation to make an
effective future decisions and plans in order to achieve competitive advantage and attain
strong position in market for longer period of time (Crane and Matten, 2016) . For this, the

management should require to direct and guide the workforce to understand their roles and
responsibilities allotted to them and motivate them to find out new and innovative ways to
complete allotted task with utilising resources in an optimum manner. There are several
aspects or elements which directs management to consider before executing business
activities. Such aspects include cost, time, quality, risk and communication which plays an
important role in getting success. The main aim of Rowlinson Knitwear is to expand business
operations through using digital technology. Therefore, following elements need to be
consider first to achieve desired aim:
Scope of project: The scope of project management plan is to identify the main
objective of business organisation with the purpose of making an effective policies and plans
according to the needs and requirements (Meskendahl, 2010). It indicates that the main
motive of implementation of digital technology is to bring efficiency in work due to which
the company can achieve growth and success in market for longer period of time. For this, the
management of Rowlinson Knitwear directs their employees to bring out new and innovative
ideas which can bring profitable outcomes to company.
Management of risk: Every project executed in future contains risk due to which the
management is liable to forecast and identify the risk through using digital technology and on
the basis of which further actions to be implemented (Winch, 2010) . Such risk may be
related with increasing operational cost, lack of employees support, inadequate amount of
resources etc. Such risk should require to control and handle by management in more
effective and efficient way so that such risk cannot harm and interrupt future project
activities.
Quality control: Rowlinson Knitwear deals in manufacturing clothing products in
standard quality due to which the company can attract large number of customers Thus, to
maintain their quality it must required for management to adopt an advanced and digital
technology which help in reducing cost of production through minimising the wastage of
resources. This will help company in increase profit margin which is good sign for company
to achieve growth and expansion.
Cost: The cost incurred in implementation of digital technology is high due to which
it requires company to have adequate amount of funds if want to expand its business to large
scale. The promotional tools and techniques also required huge amount of funds which help
company in advertising their clothing products to different nations in order to attract
particular segments. Thus, the overall cost of project is become very costly.

Time: It includes the time invested in executing project activities more effectively and
efficiently (Breese, 2012). The management is held liable to prepare as schedule and allocate
time for completion of each project activity which brings motivation among employees to
work hard and do more efforts in achieving desired target within pre-determined period of
time. It will ensure in getting profitable outcomes.
Communication: Without coordination and communication, implementation of
digital technology become not successful as it requires adequate support from co-workers and
managers to learn how to use digital technology in more effective way so as to achieve better
possible result. Defining roles and responsibilities to each employee and teach them about
utilising of digital technology which will help in maintaining good relation with employees
due to which the maximum support are received by them (Thamhain, 2013) .
All such aspects are essentially required to consider by the management of Rowlinson
Knitwear in making an effective management plan. This help company in getting long-term
advantages due to which the company can easily achieve competitive advantage among their
rivals.
P3: Work breakdown structure and Gantt chart provide stages for completion
There is huge role of research in collection of data, ideas, views of consumers
TASK 2
P4: Small scale research by use of qualitative and quantitative methods
There are various methods with the help of which research can able to carry out an
effective research so as to achieve desired outcomes in near future. Conducting research is
not enough as management also required to communicate experts and professionals to proper
analysis the data and information collected from research which further help them in making
suitable plans and policies for the expansion of business. Such methods of conducting an
effective research are primary and secondary which are much different from each other. For
example, primary research only considers first hand information whereas secondary research
considers second hand information which were already used by other companies (Fageha and
Aibinu, 2013).
These methods have their own merits and demerits due to which researcher may use
such methods on the basis of their needs and requirements. The management of Rowlinson

Knitwear uses both methods in order to find out the current trends in market. Such methods
of research arte briefly explained under the below:
Qualitative research: Under this research, the researcher collect information in form
of symbol, name and number code and so on. Such data can be collected through various
methods such as interviews, questionnaire, survey etc. Due to this, the chances of reliability
and accuracy of data are very high which help management in making an effective decisions
and plans for the growth of an organisation (Lin and Chen, 2012) .
Quantitative Research: Under this research, the information or data collected through
research can be represented in statistical due to which the management need to hire experts
and professional who have appropriate knowledge about interpreting statistical form data.
Therefore, it also brings relevant information but sometimes failed to interpret into
meaningful manner.
Primary research: Under this research, the chances of getting accurate and reliable
information are more due to considering only first hand information by researcher which was
not previously used by anyone. Mostly companies are preferred to conduct such type of
research as it provides guarantee to achieve better possible result in near future. Under this
research, the researcher can easily examine the emotions and behaviour of customers while
questioning them personally (Pellegrinelli, 2011) .
Secondary research: Under this research, the chances of getting accurate and reliable
information are low due to considering second hand information by the researcher thus
preferred such method by company only as per their needs and requirements. Such data can
be collected through books, journals, magazines etc. which consumes less time and money of
company.
Sampling: According to this tool, the researcher selected limited information among
large pool and make decision on the basis of selected information thus also may less accurate.
Such method is generally adopted by small companies as they need to achieve growth which
can be possible when they have accurate and reliable information to make decision for their
betterments.
In the given methods, Rowlinson Knitwear selected primary research in which
primary data has been selected in order to make effective and reliable decisions for the future
growth. For this, the management hire researcher who conduct research for them. For the
purpose of conducting research, the researcher has prepared a questionnaire containing all
relevant questions about the decision regarding adoption of digital technology. Such
questionnaire is given as below:

Questionnaire
Name:--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Age:------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sex:-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q.1. Digitalization brings profitable outcome to an association or not? Yes No
Q.2. Does adoption of digitalisation brings longer term benefits to 3Com? Yes No
Q.3. Does making changes in existing technology contribute more in achieving growth and
success of an enterprise? Agree Disagree
Q.4. Is digitalisation make positive impact on company performance? Yes No
Q.5 Is there any needed of alteration in products of 3Com? Yes No
Q.6. Is necessarily required for an association to invest amount on new technology in order
to attain strong image in competitive market? Agree Disagree
Q.7. Is there any impact of digitalization on company goodwill? Yes No
Q.8. Which technique of marketing is more profitable in current scenario of 3com? Traditional Modern
Q9. What are the factors which affects implementation of advanced technology at
marketplace?

 Employees Managers Recent trends Legal laws
 Competitors
TASK 3
P5: Analysis of research by use of appropriate tools and techniques
Conducting research brings profitable outcomes to company only when the data or
information collected from such research are properly analysis by experts and professionals.
This will help management in reaching to an effective decisions that will bring long term
advantages to company (Dahan and et. al., 2010) . Rowlinson knitwear gathered information
through using different techniques and methods such as questionnaire on the basis of which
management are able to draw a meaningful conclusion which can bring motivation among
employees to increase their efficiency level.
Theme 1: Advantages of digital technology
Q1. Any advantages of digital technology for
growth of small business?
Frequency
Yes 25
No 5
Interpretation: From above graph it is visible that, 25 respondents are said there is
advantage of digital technology and 5 respondents said there is no advantage of digital
technology.
Theme 2: Contribution of digital technology in creation of innovation
Q2. Is digital technology helps in creation of
innovation?
Frequency
Yes 20
No 10

Interpretation: From above graph, 20 respondents said digital technology helps in creation
of innovation and 5 said it does not have any affect.
Theme 3: Positive impact of digital technology on performance
Q3. Does digital technology have positive
impact on performance of company?
Frequency
Yes 18
No 12
Interpretation: Form the above graph, it is conclude that 18 respondents said that digital
technology has positive impact on performance and 12 said it reduces their performance.
Theme 4: Contribution of digital technology on maintenance of good relation with
employees and consumers
Q4. Does digital technology helps Handy
company to make good relation with
employees and consumers?
Frequency
Yes 12
No 18
Interpretation: From above graph, it is visible that 12 respondents said only it helps in
maintenance of good relation otherwise 18 are not in favour of this point.
Theme 5: Contribution of digital technology in improvement of communication and
coordination
Q5. Does digital technology improves
communication and coordination among the
operations of company?
Frequency
Yes 22

No 8
Interpretation: from the above graph, it is visible that 22 respondents said it helps in
increase communication and coordination and 8 respondents said this reduces their capability
of communication.
Theme 6: Impact of digital technology in improving the capability of delivering the services
Q6. Does digital technology improves
capability of company in delivering their
services?
Frequency
Yes 26
No 4
Interpretation: From the above graph, it is visible that 26 respondents said it improves their
services and 4 respondents said this have no impact on improvement of services.
Theme 7: Contribution of digital technology in reduction of operation cost of company
Q7. Is digital technology reduces the
operational cost of company?
Frequency
Yes 13
No 17
Interpretation: From the above graph, It is visible that 13 respondents said digital
technology helps in reduction of operational cost and 17 respondents said it increases their
cost.

Theme 8: Adequate amount of funds by Handy company for implementation of digital
technology
Q8. Do Handy company have adequate amount
of funds to implement digital technology?
Frequency
Yes 15
No 15
Interpretation: From above graph, 15 respondents said they have adequate funds and
another 15 said they don't have required amount of funds.
Theme 9: Future impact of digital technology
Q9. What will be future impact of digital
technology on business activities of Handy?
Frequency
Positive 28
Negative 2
Interpretation: From above graph, 28 respondents said this will have long term impact on
company and 2 said this have only short term impact.
P6: Recommendation in context of research to draw valid conclusions
Rowlinson knitwear is small-sized company of UK which deals in manufacturing
school and corporate wear garments thus captures limited market share of UK. As small scale
operation, their main aim is to expand its business operations to a large scale through
engaging in manufacturing clothing products to all groups of people. This can be possible
through investing money on adoption of digital technology which helps in increasing
efficiency level of their employees. Therefore, the management of Rowlinson knitwear
focusing on \conducting research first in order to determine an effective tools and techniques
which support them in achieving growth and success in competitive market. There are
multiple areas where the management of Rowlinson knitwear can able to enhance their
efficiency level. Such areas includes: