University Small Business Analysis: Montana Bakery Performance Report

This report offers a detailed analysis of Montana Bakery, a small UK-based bakery, examining its strengths, weaknesses, and overall business performance. The report includes a SWOT analysis, comparing Montana Bakery to competitors like Coop-lands, and assessing its financial, production, and marketing strategies. It identifies areas for improvement, recommending actions to overcome weaknesses such as limited market reach and single-person dependency. The report further explores change management strategies, the impact of proposed changes on the business and its personnel, and the development of an action plan to enhance performance. Recommendations are provided for business expansion, objective revisions, and monitoring improvements, providing a comprehensive overview of the bakery's operations and future prospects. The report also emphasizes the importance of employee training, product innovation, and customer satisfaction to achieve sustainable growth and competitive advantage in the market.

SMALL BUSINESS
UNIVERSITY
SMALL BUSINESS
BY
DATE
NAME
LECTURER’S NAME
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Abstract:
The primary light falls on the business performances of small business enterprises like
Montana Bakery. The analysis of strength, weakness of the business process along with
necessary improvements is put forward at the initial stage. Later, change management, and its
implications are discussed along with monitoring process and plan development. Changing
scenario of small enterprises with the comparison is brought forth in the report.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................4
Task 1.........................................................................................................................................4
1.1Identification of the strength and weaknesses..................................................................4
1.2. Comparative analysis of the business.............................................................................5
Task 2.........................................................................................................................................6
2.1. Recommendations of appropriate actions for overcoming the weakness of the
identified business.................................................................................................................6
2.2. Analysing the existing performance and strengthening it..............................................7
2.3. Recommendations for new areas to expand the selected business ................................8
Task 3.........................................................................................................................................9
3.1. Assessment of existing business objectives and plans...................................................9
3.2. Revision of business plan to incorporate appropriate changes.....................................11
3.3. Preparation of an action plan........................................................................................12
Task 4.......................................................................................................................................13
4.1. Impact of the proposed changes on the business and its personnel..............................13
4.2. Preparation of business plan to manage the changes....................................................14
4.3. Monitoring improvements in the business....................................................................15
Conclusion:...............................................................................................................................16
REFERENCE...........................................................................................................................17
Bibliography:............................................................................................................................17
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Introduction:
Small businesses have fewer employees, few revenues and one person to control their
whole business. The start-up is a cost is lesser in small industry. In 1997, Montana Bakery
came in UK market and the industrial estate of the enterprise was in Colnbrook. In the
industrial estate more or less 270 employees work and they produce nearly 1.3 million unit
products. Piero Sccco is the director of the company. The vehicle operator business is
medium sized. There are two centres that operate transport of the firm.
Task 1
1.1Identification of the strength and weaknesses
For a small industry, business operators do not have to invest huge money, and with a
little investment, a small business can be started as said by (Carland, 2015) When the start-up
money is little, the chances of facing loss are also slim. Montana Bakery is medium sized,
and so the operator did not have to invest a huge amount of money for start-ups. There are
only five machines in company's subsidiary.
Getting active workforce for starting a business is like stirring up a hornet’s nest for a
company star-up. As Montana Bakery is small industry based enterprise, it was started with
the little workforce. More or less £17500 is given to employees annually in this company. Job
flexibility is one of the company’s strength as the number of employees in the enterprise is
little. It faced turnover up to 8% recently. The business performance of such enterprise can
give satisfaction to the directors of the company during the trading period (Schutte, 2016) .
As a result, the turnover is seen. Montana Bakery has a small number of employees, and so it
gives proper focus on the skill base and knowledge of employees.
The mission of Montana Bakery is to reach the dynamic needs of customers by
producing Artisan bread, garlic bread, pizza based bread. The company is aimed to supply
bread in food service shoppers, clients, retail of UK including Waitrose and Marks and
Spencer. As the company is medium sized, the approach of the enterprise is more
personalised than large sectors. The company is thinking of increasing its innovation. More
innovation in 65,000sq ft can be called as their strength. By upgrading equipment and plan,
the company can increase the variety of products.
As the number of employees is less than 50 in the enterprise, there is an openness to
employees' feedback about their work satisfaction, flexibility and all. The company can
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develop products in accordance with the feedback reports taken from retail shops and clients
of UK. As the company does not deal with a large number of retail and clients, it is easier to
take feedback from all of them. For the same reason, as the company deals with only UK
clients, their tastes are known to the company, which helps in product development. But this
strengths often comes in the form of weakness for this company;
As the company deals only with UK retail and clients, the number of customers is
small. Very few customers is a weakness that can lead the company towards low-profit bar
(Dunne et al. 2016, p.5480). Scacco has been the director of the company for many days, and
Fit flex Baba is the current corporate director of the company. The company is solely
dependent on this single person, and this is one of the weaknesses of such small business. As
such small companies are being started with very few employees; talent shortage comes as a
bottle-neck of organisational success.
1.2. Comparative analysis of the business
In order to analyse a business, some comparative measures are present that states
about the performance of the business. These comparative measures are based on financial,
production, marketing, sales, human resources and technological factors of an entity. In
context to a small business company, Montana Bakery is selected to analyse the comparative
measures of the business. Various parameters for measuring comparisons in respect to
Montana Bakery are as follows-
1) Financial: Montana Bakery has experienced a fall from £1.3- £1.2 in 12 months duration.
A bend in the profit margin is evident in 2014-2015 from 0.4% - 48.9%. The company is thus
aimed to develop product development strategy and to launch a variety of products to meet
customers' needs. The fall has increased the consciousness of the business operator to
develop some strategies and to upgrade plants as well as equipment. The director also focuses
on the skill development of employees. Many small business enterprises face loss at certain
phases, but they try to overcome the loss and to raise its profit bar is greater than other
companies. Whereas, Coop-lands is the bakery enterprise that faced £18.6 m turnover in the
year of 2011 starting from 1933, whereas Montana Bakery experienced £19.6m to £21m
within 12 months.
2). Production- Coop-lands failed to offer the flexibility Montana Bakery offers. For Twenty
years, Montana Bakery is running successfully without any obstructions and still envy
companies fear its success level, but 39 stores were closed of Coop-lands in the year 2015.
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3). Human Resource management- Coop-lands got National Training Award as it provided
best training and knowledge to its staffs whereas Montana focused on staff training after
experiencing a bend curve in profit graph.
4). Technology- Coop-lands moved its IT support to the Practical Networks, and thus the
company never looked back. But the use of Sottoriva technology makes the company's
success to the benchmark, and it makes the use of technology of this company incomparable.
Coop-lands does not use this. The taste that comes with Sottoriva use makes the products of
Montana unique.
5). Sales- Sales are increasing on a regular basis in Coop-lands, but Montana Bakery suffers
the loss of profit in recent days. Gross profit has been decreasing from .4- 48% in Montana
Bakery, but in Coop-lands, gross profit is increasing.
Task 2
2.1. Recommendations of appropriate actions for overcoming the weakness of the identified
business
Montana Bakery lacks in some factors and to overcome these strategies some policies
are prepared. The major lacking field is its existence to just UK. This weakness is confined to
limited customer. Thus, effectively selling is not attained, to overcome this weakness
organisation need to promote its business and should expand it in other places to increase the
customer figures. To promote its business. Montana Bakery can use various tools such as
social media marketing, TV advertisement, radios, etc. Advertisement of the bakery products
would not only cause the bakery to achieve its target or goal. It has to pay a little more
attention towards the hygiene and the quality of the product that is served to its customer.
Also, the organisation has small number of employees which results in increased work load
to the employees, consequently employees leave the job and customers also face troubles
when there are less workers, they do not get quick responses. This weakness could reduce
the amount of popularity which the bakery has gain over the years. Thus, the proper action is
required to be taken up by the respected bakery namely Montana bakery to earn a more
competitive advantage in the marketplace. And to achieve this they should recruit some more
employees to the firm. (Schaltegger and Burritt, 2014). It is with proper staffing; the
respected bakery could restore its superiority, which it held before.
On the other hand, the growth opportunity and the success factor could be determined
by the proper pricing of the product. The bakery needs to keep the customers satisfied with
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the pricing and the quality of the product. The needs and the demands of the customers must
be fulfilled by the bakery to achieve the loyalty of the customers to increase their profit bar.
To pick the interest of the customers the concerned authority of the bakery needs to adopt a
better way to serve their product. Thus, use of proper transportation becomes a very
important factor when the delivery of the product is taken into consideration. Along with that,
the adaptation of cleanliness and proper operations are to be undertaken by the concerned
bakery to obtain their hygiene status in the market. Together with this, friendly behaviour
with the customers would further make an exposure of the company to its customers such that
the customers would purchase more products from the bakery (Arnett and Wittmann, 2014).
In order to overcome the weaknesses, entities can adopt SMART objectives. SMART
stands for specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time bound, respectively. Thus, in
deeds of attaining organisational growth it is essential for business enterprises to implement
these objectives in their functioning process. Also, to get over the issues arising, it is firstly
required to identify the factors that are resulting in problem creation, then with the help of
implementing effective strategy one can deal with these problems.
2.2. Analysing the existing performance and strengthening it.
Performance is the process of doing a task or a function and the performance of the
organisation at present stage is known as existing performance. It is crucially important to
analyse the existing performance of the establishments so one can alter the operations and
functions when there are any modifications required in performance. The existing
performance of the bakery could be strengthening through the possible methods adopted by
the respected bakery. It is witnessed that training programs serve a vital medium to
strengthen the performance activity of the employees in the concerned work place. Therefore,
it is with proper training programs organised by the organisation the employees would be
able to develop better skills in their performance activity. Together with this, the
development of the quality performance could be ensured by the organisation in their baking
process. Moreover, through the proper training classes, the employees would be able to give
their best performance in their work so that the company could gain the maximum
competitive advantage. On the other hand, they would further know the exact methodology to
overcome any disruption in the product and bring about an alternative to finishing the order
of the product on time (Schaltegger and Burritt, 2014).
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Moreover, the use of new ingredients in the product making would further develop the
number of products that are made by the organisation. The incorporation of new ingredients
that are mostly preferred by the customers such as caramels and use of blueberries and red
berries would help to give a god taste in the products that are manufactured by the respected
bakery. The increase in the number of products would further cause the bakery to maximise
their business in a larger scale. The customers would be delighted to obtain new taste in the
product, and the income of the bakery would maximise in the following years (Jeston and
Nelis, 2014).
Further, the strengthening of the existing performance of the company could be done
in a better way with the utilisation of technology. The use of modern tools and machines
would help to make the work of the employees easy. The modernisation of the banking
machine along with the use of good quality tools would help to give a good shape to the
cakes and the bread that are baked by the respected bakery. Furthermore, the increase in the
pay scale of the employees would further cause the interest of the employees to be uplifted.
Hence, the motivation effort of the bakery would cause the bakery to obtain quality work
from the employees of the company. It is because, if the employees are served with the
proper salary that includes high salary, then the employees would be satisfied and therefore,
the work would be done on time without any delay in the work sector (Vukšić and et.al,
2013). Even if the required performance is achieved it is necessary to maintain this
performance to achieve the desired objectives and goals of the company. There are few
factors which can help in maintaining performance and they involves arrangement of a
quality program, continuous improvements of systems, teamwork, employee involvement in
decision-making process, education and training provided to employees, use of technologies,
etc. The performance cycle consists of five main steps- Plan, Do, Check, Act and Analyse,
These steps helps in maintaining performance of the work environment of the establishment.
2.3. Recommendations for new areas to expand the selected business
Montana Bakery is a small business entity working in UK only. The major drawback
with this entity is its small approach to the customers impacting its business value, thus the
organisation needs to expand its size to account profitability to the establishment. The areas
which can contribute in expansion of business are-
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 Strategy- Work according to the designed strategies always helps in gaining effective
results. Strategies should also involve that at what time completion of some particular
task should be done.
 Products and services- Products and services highly impacts the expansion of the
business. For implementing new product development method it is essential to
evaluate the customer needs and demands present in the market. Successful business
is mainly customer-focused, ass customers are the key driving force for an entity.
 Technology- In the present era it is really important to remain updates with the recent
technologies coming to the market. For expansion of business, organisations should
constitutes effective technologies within them which can attract the customers.
The new area that the organisation would choose should comprise of proper
accessibility facility so that the transport through which the product would be delivered to the
customers could reach the customers on time. Moreover, the use of good transportation is
required to be done by the bakery so that no distortion of the product could take place while
delivering the product to its customers. On the other hand, the market where the new outlet
would be open should be situated at such a place where there is a maximum number of
availability of the customers so that the income level of the organisation could be maximised
in a proper manner. Thus, the market where the outlet would be situated should consist of
proper development so that people do not have to focus only on the local shops but could
purchase the product from the respected bakery also. The organisation also needs to focus on
the demographic factor of the area such that the population of the children are more in the
area so that the sale of the products could reach a maximum bar to upgrade the performance
of the Montana bakery. Therefore, with the incorporation of these mediums, the bakery
would be able to expand its business in a successful manner to upgrade the competitive
advantage.
Task 3
3.1. Assessment of existing business objectives and plans
Business objectives are the determines and measurable targets to achieve the aims of
the business which accounts in increment of its value. The business objectives are setted
depending upon the different type of stakeholders present in entity and their perception of
profit. The main aim of business objective designing is to accomplishing the targets on time
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for effective and measurable results in terms of value for an organisation. Some major
business objectives of Montana Bakery involves-
 Sales- The selling of product of the bakery is time-bound. They set a target to achieve
the maximum selling of their product and to achieve this they follow effective time
management (Hayes, 2014)
 Performance- The company is standing in UK's competition market for twenty years,
and the rivals still fear the company. This indicates the performance level of Montana
bakery. Meeting the goal of Asset Management is one of KPI for the bakery industry
enhancing the entity to achievable objective.
 Time-management- Production time has been decreased by the use of Sottoriva
technology. Products and flour variety has been increased.
In order to attain these objectives, business planning plays a major role. Business
plan is a set of correct skills which constituents minute detail of all the organisational factors
required in gaining the aim of the business. Key-Performance Indicators evaluates the
organisational performance level using supply chain and scopes . Packaging cost has been
reduced 18% in this company. The loss of profit that the company suffered in 2015 indicates
that the company lacks training for staffs and the company needs product development. The
company has met the targets of product cost successfully. The company has successfully
filled the orders of UK clients and retails. M&S and other retails are indeed happy with the
order delivery of Montana Bakery. Employee turnover has been increased up to 8% in
Montana Bakery. Flatbread, Pizza bared, garlic bread, ciabattas are there in the variety of
Montana bakery’s products.
The company is aimed to increase product ranges within 2017. The company has
faced a loss as per the report of 28th March 2015. T6he profit bar went down from £1.3m-
1.2m just within 12 months time. The4 turnover has been increased to 8%. The decline of
GPM has been seen to 48% in the year of 2014-15 and from 49.3% in the year of 2013-14.
The profitability of the company is also reduced to £1.26m, by 6.1%. Montana bakery
intends to take some bakers and part-time service providers for giving more quick delivery to
the customers. The company provides fresh bakery products and the variety of products.
More or less six batches bakery products are made throughout the day for ensuring that they
can supply goods at any times and all products are available daily. The target audience is the
local people of UK to ensure healthy revenue that will make the business stable. The
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company focuses on competitive prices and the best quality products to get a position in the
UK"s competition market, and for twenty years or more, the company is successful in doing
that.
3.2. Revision of business plan to incorporate appropriate changes
In order to attain the business objectives a complete planning is required to done to
fulfil the business objectives of the firm and these planning is termed as business plan. Every
business planning needs to follow a particular format to plan the business and this format
comprises of-
Executive summary- It is the snapshot of business plan that covers the goals and profile of the
entity.
Company Description- It contains the information about work role, variance from other
companies, etc.
Market Analysis- Analysis of market before launching a product.
Organisation and Management- Evaluation of best management techniques to a selected
business group.
Service or Product line- The service details, profitability and product life cycle is decided in
this step.
Marketing and sales- Information related to the selling of the products.
Financial projections- It aims on the financial requirements of the company.
In case of Montana Bakery, the plan of the company is to produce the dough that is
longer fermented, and their special focus will be on pizza bread and normal bread. The
current aim of the company is to diversify the customer portfolio. Montana Bakery is aimed
to bring innovative touch in the development of products and thus to increase the variety of
products.
The recent objective of the company is up gradation of the plants and development of
equipment. The company is also aimed to arrange training programmes for their staffs for the
employee turnover. If the company does not focus on the staff training to a greater extent,
then the company will lose their employee strength and the lack of talents will be the bottle
neck in the path of company’s success. The company's aim to use far developed technology
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will help the organisation to save more time in producing bread and thus within the little
amount of time, the company will be able to produce more.
The business plans plays a major role in obtaining the objectives of the organisation.
This enables the proper working of operational and functional unit of an establishment by
providing them with the most effective strategies to enhance the value of the entities that
accounts in profitability of them.
3.3. Preparation of an action plan
An action plan is a writing that lists the steps which should be taken in order to attain
the desired goal. The main objective of an action plan is to detail about the resources needed
to reach the aim. It enables the concentration of organisation on the ideas which can help in
gaining the objectives. Steps included in action planning-
 Identifying objectives
 Setting of objectives which are achievable and measurable.
 Sorts the tasks depending upon the priority.
 Identifies the steps needed in goal achievement.
 Completes work on certain deadline of time.
Objecti
ves
Tasks Success Criteria Time Frame
Improve
d
strategie
s
Plans to
implement
changes.
If the strategies
met with the
required
necessities of
work
environment and
employee
relations.
2 Months
Effectiv
eness of
strategie
s
Monitor and
evaluate changes
If the modified
strategies
became effective
enough to deal
with the
1 Month
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