Unique Greetings: Developing an E-Business Plan Case Study Analysis

This case study analyzes the development of an e-business plan for Unique Greetings, a leading customized greeting card manufacturer and distributor in Ireland. The assignment addresses the president's request to redesign the company's website with a budget of 50,000 Euros, focusing on improving the website's look and feel, enhancing customer experience, and enabling secure online transactions. The study identifies ten key issues, including limited website reach, lack of online transaction facilities, and resistance to change, offering recommendations to overcome these challenges. The case study also includes a table of contents for the e-business plan, encompassing an executive summary, company overview, market analysis, strategy, management, financial plan, and recommendations, providing a comprehensive roadmap for Unique Greetings to expand its international presence and improve its e-business operations.

Running head: GLOBAL BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
Global Business Environment
-A Case Study
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
The given report is based on the case study of the development of an e-business plan
for Unique Greetings who is one of the leading manufacturers and distributors of customized
greetings card in Ireland. The study aims to discuss the current budget allocation for the e-
business program, identify 10 main issues that needs to be addressed in the program and
creating a table content for the e-business plan, outlining the important recommendations as
well.
Discussion
1. How to address the president’s suggestions
The president of the company has allocated a budget of 50,000 Euro to redesign the
website of the company over the next 3 months’ time. The aim of the project would be to
improve the look and feel of the website so as to attract more customers and exhibit the
quality and uniqueness of the company in terms of creativity and design excellence. The
budget is intended to cover the costs of hiring expert team of website developers who would
make a robust and secure platform for the company’s website that would not only enhance
the experience of the customers but would also be easily accessible from various platforms
such as hand held devices, phones and computers as well as allow secure payment for online
shopping activities.
I believe that developing a robust website is an essential aspect for Unique Greetings due
to the following reasons:
 Better Customer experiences- A good design of the website using graphic and
audiovisual elements to highlight the products of the company can help to support

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better experience of the customer and therefore make the site more attractive to them
(Bilgihan et al., 2016).
 Improved accessibility- Good design of the website would also support its access from
a variety of platforms and operating systems, allowing the customers to access to site
from anywhere and thereby improving accessibility to the website and support online
transactions as well (Sohaib et al., 2018).
 Better management of customer information: Systems such as Customer Management
Systems can be seamlessly integrated with the website allowing the customers to
create their own profiles for shopping and therefore offer them more personalized
experience of the site (Kumar&Reinartz, 2018).
 Increase brand awareness among customers- Effective design and planning of the
website can also increase brand awareness among the customers and also support
better word of mouth advertising (Ponomarenko, 2018).
 Develop trust on the brand- Good design of the website can also reflect upon the
focus of the company on quality, creativity and excellence. Such factors can therefore
improve the trust of the customers on the brand (Hasan, 2016).
Considering the potential benefits of an effective design of the website, it is vital that
any business puts a high focus on it and therefore I support allocation of the entire 50,000
euro for the development of the website in a holistic way. This would cover the costs for
hiring a team of professionals for 3 months and testing and adjusting the site according to the
company’s requirements.
2. 10 issues that needs to be addressed
Research on the companydone by evaluation of the company’s website, management
and personnel, marketing strategies, technical competencies, accounting systems and logistics

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& order fulfilment, 10 important issues were identified that needs to be addressed by the
company. These issues include:
1. Limited reach of the company’s website to non-English speaking customers: Currently
the website is in English only, due to which the website mostly appeals to customers
who can read and understand English. However, potential customers who are not
versed in the Language would not be able to interact with the website and thus limit
their access due to a language barrier (Pudelko et al., 2015).
2. Limited International Customer Base: Currently the company has a limited customer
base internationally. Increasing the number of international customers would also help
to increase in the capture of markets abroad and therefore improve the profitability of
the company. The website offers the opportunity to attract international customers
through its design and interface quality (Bilgihan et al., 2016).
3. Online transaction facilities not available: Currently the company’s website does not
have the system to support online transactions (e-business). This greatly affects the
sales of the company as they have to travel to the stores to purchase. Adding online
transactions can allow accessibility to purchase products from anywhere and thus
attract a large customer base (Sohaib et al., 2018).
4. Excessive expenditure on international marketing: Currently the international
marketing practices are too expensive to be sustained on the long term as it uses the
mainstream media (television). Since the website can have an international reach, it
can be used as a platform for marketing. Additionally lesser expensive platforms such
as social media (like Facebook) can be utilized for marketing communications thereby
reducing costs (Stephen, 2016).
5. Limited technical knowledge of the management and personnel: Currently the
management and personnel lacks the technical knowhow of technologies that can

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enhance business performance. It is important therefore to improve their technical
competencies needed to handle and implement technologies in the company (Tang et
al., 2018).
6. Resistance to change: The employees are often too busy with work or have a
reluctance to develop new skills and competencies as a result there is a resistance to
change in the company. In order to successfully implement and use technologies, the
company has to overcome this resistance (Burke¸2017).
7. Limited Marketing knowledge:The marketing team lacks knowledge on the
international markets and marketing approaches, price fluctuations and competitors.
This have greatly impacted the efficiency and the effectiveness as well as the costs of
marketing. It is vital to develop knowledge and competenciesfor effective marketing
(Stephen, 2016).
8. Limited knowledge on e-transactions: In order to successfully implement e-business
technology, competencies of the accountants to understand and handle e-transactions
is important (Sohaib et al., 2018).
9. Short staffing: Due to short staffing, employees often do not get the opportunity to
take on additional job roles and responsibilities. Thus to support competency to work
on new technologies, adequate number of staff is also needed (Stephen, 2016).
10. Packaging and Labelling of shipments:Currently all the packaging for domestic and
international shipments are the same. This increases risks of damage to products on
long distance mails. Effective packaging can prevent this.
3. Table of contents for the e business plan
1. Executive Summary
1.1 Mission

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1.2 Keys to Success
2. Company Summary
2.1 Company Ownership
2.2 Summary of Start-up
3. Products
4. Summary of Market Analysis
4.1 Market Segmentation
4.1.1 Subculture Affiliation
4.1.2 Attitude
5. Summary of Strategy and Implementation
5.1 Competitive advantage6
5.2 USP
5.3 Sales Strategy
5.2.1 Forecast of Sales
6. Summary of Management
6.1 Plan of personnel
7. Financial Plan
7.1 Break Even Analysis
7.2 Projection of profits and losses
7.3 Projected flow of cash
7.4 Balance Sheet (projected)
7.5 Business Ratio
8. Recommendations
Appendix

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References:
Bilgihan, A., Kandampully, J., & Zhang, T. (2016). Towards a unified customer experience
in online shopping environments: Antecedents and outcomes. International Journal of
Quality and Service Sciences, 8(1), 102-119.
Kumar, V., &Reinartz, W. (2018). Customer relationship management: Concept, strategy,
and tools. Springer.
Sohaib, O., Naderpour, M., &Hussain, W. (2018, July). SaaS E-Commerce Platforms Web
Accessibility Evaluation. In 2018 IEEE International Conference on Fuzzy Systems
(FUZZ-IEEE) (pp. 1-7). IEEE.