Impact Assessment of Next Plc on Algeria: A Business Project Report

Desklib provides past papers and solved assignments for students. This project analyzes Next Plc's potential impact on Algeria.

ICON College of Technology and Management
Faculty of Business and Management Studies
BTEC HND in Business
Managing a Successful Business Project
Tutor: Dr Reza Aboutalebi
Submitted by:
Full Name: …………
ID No: …………
Session: September 2018
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MANAGING A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS PROJECT
Title: Examining the impacts of Next Plc on Algeria’s Economy, Environment and Society
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Table of contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................4
LO 1...........................................................................................................................................4
LO2..........................................................................................................................................11
LO3..........................................................................................................................................15
LO 4.........................................................................................................................................21
Conclusion................................................................................................................................23
References................................................................................................................................24
Appendix..................................................................................................................................26
Appendix 1: Question asked to remaining individuals............................................................26
Appendix 2: Questionnaire......................................................................................................26
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Introduction
Project management is a combination of effective planning of activities and implementation
of resources. The report is going to discuss how to manage and execute a project
successfully. It will prepare a plan integrating the major aspects such as scope,
communication matrix, resources, risk register and cost table. Some objectives will be
constructed that shall provide the foundation for data analysis. The stages of completion will
be reflected in a Gantt chart. Small-Scale research with few respondents will support the
outcome. The result obtained from qualitative and quantitative research method will be
analysed through appropriate research techniques. The study will communicate the result
with proper recommendations. The learning performance will be reflected by observing the
research activities.
The study on managing a project has chosen Next Plc, UK. The retailer offers products such
as footwear, clothing, home products and other accessories. Its franchise partners operate a
business in more than 30 countries (Nextplc.co.uk, 2019)The major locations operated by
Next Plc are United Kingdom, Asia, Middle East, Europe and others.
The chosen host country is Algeria, which is a North African nation. The country witnessed a
GDP growth of 3.5% in 2018 (Heritage.org, 2019). It got 55th rank by nominal GDP. The
main industries operating in Algeria are food processing, petro chemical, electronic, retailing
and others. Next Plc will invest and operate within Algeria. The report will examine the
‘social’, ‘environmental’ and ‘economic’ influences of Next Plc’s business on Algeria.
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LO 1
Introduction
The outcome of the task will be a plan on how to manage the proposed project. The plan
includes the resources, risk, communication method and scope associated with the project.
Three objectives will be constructed as per the given scenario.
Devise project aims and objectives for a chosen scenario.
Project
A project refers to a comprehensive activity that is carried out by specific parties on a specific
time and for a specific reason (Kerzner and Kerzner, 2017).
Project management
Project management is the planning and organisation of resources to move tasks, duties and
events towards completion (Larson and Gray, 2017).
Title
The project title is “Examining the impacts of Next Plc on Algeria’s Economy, Environment
and Society”.
Objectives
The project aims to identify and examine the ‘economic’, ‘social’ and ‘environmental’
impacts of Next Plc on Algeria. The objectives constructed on the aim are as follows.
 To identify and examine the economic effects of Next Plc on Algeria in 2020
 To identify and examine the social effects of Next Plc on Algeria in 2020
 To identify and examine the environmental effects of Next Plc on Algeria in 2020
Produce a project management plan that covers aspects of cost, scope, time, quality,
communication, risk and resources.
Scope
The deliverables will demonstrate how Algeria will be influenced by Next Plc’s business.
The influence can be related to economic, environmental as well as social factors.
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Information of these influences will be gathered on doing qualitative and quantitative data
evaluation techniques. The impacts of Next Plc on Algeria do not follow secondary data
analysis.
Justification
Globalisation has opened the door for initiating cross-border transactions by operating in
nations other than local areas. It is crucial for firms to identify the opportunities that they will
encounter in foreign markets. The firms have another duty to overlook how the host country
will be benefitted and face challenges with their operation. They can examine the influences
through consideration of economic and social effects. Algeria can predict the outcomes of the
investment made by Next Plc. The Government and other retail firms of Algeria can prepare
for dealing with challenges. Both Next Plc and Algeria will be benefitted from the result.
Therefore, this project will assist Next Plc in assessing the influences that it may have on
Algeria.
Constraints
The constraint or limitation of the project can be found in areas such as cost, scope, time and
quality. It requires 45 days for the completion of all tasks. Team members may not finish it
due to improper management or conflict. The project team may require a large amount
exceeding the budget. It has £1272 to meet the scope and determine the outcomes. The
quality of the project should be excellent with accurate data and structured report.
Organisational structure
Firms use functional, pure project, or matrix structure to accomplish a specified project. Next
Plc shall use Pure Project to define its influence on Algeria. The team can get guidance and
supervision from the project manager. As the manager oversees each activity, the deviation in
quality management can be identified easily (Harrison and Lock, 2017). Team members get
the scope to discuss a problem and solve through unique approaches.
Resources
Next Plc may require human, information technology, equipment, financial, materials and
other resources. A skilled workforce will manage the project tasks and utilise their skills to
achieve project goals. The team needs funds to purchase necessary materials, equipment and
software license. The material and equipment to be used in the project are laptops, USB
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cable, hard drive, stationery items and others. Next Plc shall arrange the resources from
inside resources rather than depending on an external source. It does not require purchasing
resources from other sources.
Cost
Cost controlling is the planning, managing and controlling the budget set for a project.
Examples of cost controlling processes are cash flow statement, cash breakdown structure
and budgeting. Budgeting is the development of a plan on spending. The plan ensures that
the project owner has enough money to spend on projects (Bogsnes, 2016). Cash flow
statement is an examination document that traces the transmission of funds into and out of
the project. This can measure how much the project has utilised fund and the earnings made
by it. The cost breakdown is the allocation of a budget on each component linked to the
entire project (Newcomer et al., 2015). It would be easy to summarise the cost and trace on
the investment made on each process through this technique. The following cost table
demonstrates the individual and total cost.
Cost element Cost/ Hour
(£)
Time (Hour) Individual Cost
Equipment and
materials 21 18 378
Human resource 17 25 425
Software license 8 5 40
Data collection 12 18 216
Data analysis 10 15 150
Report formulation 7 9 63
Total cost: £ 1272
Table 1: Project Cost
(Source: Created by the learner)
Communication matrix
Information Timing of
communication
Methods of
communication
Sender Receiver
Project
management
As required Shared drive, Project manager
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plan document
(draft)
Email Project team
Document
(Approval)
As required Shared drive,
Email
Project team Project manager
Work request Daily Telephone,
Email
Project team Project manager
Project status
report
Weekly Shared drive,
Email
Project team Project manager
Team status
report
Weekly Direct Meeting Project manager Project owner
Outcomes Weekly Direct Meeting Project manager Project owner
Request for
review
Weekly Direct Meeting Project manager Project
supervisor
Table 2: Communication
(Source: Created by the learner)
Risk
Risks Description Likelihood Influence Mitigation
strategy
Communication
gap
The project
team does not
interact with
the team
leader and
manager.
Moderate High Introduction of
a proper
communication
systemand the
adoption of
formal and
informal
communication
mode can be
helpful in filling
the
communication
gap.
Inaccurate data Quantitative Moderate High Some criteria
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and
qualitative
data lack in
accuracy and
authenticity.
should be
chosen while
selecting the
respondents.
Performance
gap
The outcomes
do not meet
the scope.
Moderate Moderate The research
techniques
should be
chosen aligned
with the nature
of the project.
Cost risk The project
fails due to
lack of funds
or improper
budget.
Low High Cost breakdown
structure should
be followed to
avoid risk.
Time risk The
incomplete
project at the
deadline
Low High Work
breakdown
structure should
be followed.
Table 3: Risk
(Source: Created by the learner)
Control techniques
The project needs to consider an effective quality control technique to maintain project
quality. The techniques applied for quality control are quality control chart and flow chart.
Quality Control Chart
It is the graphic representation of activities that show whether the activities are aligned with
the specification or not (Burr, 2018). The chart analyses each activity with specific attributes.
The project team may use Np, S or X-bar charts depending on the type of data to be analysed.
Flow Chart
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It represents a workflow, algorithm or process. It determines the linkage between each task.
The correlation between all tasks determines the quality of the project.
The preferred quality control technique for the project is the Quality Control chart. It can
reduce the error in real time basis. It provides greater visibility into data that reduces over-
tampering (Crawford, 2014)
Produce a work breakdown structure and a Gantt chart to provide timeframes and
stages for completion.
Work breakdown structure
Activities Start Date
Duratio
n End Date
Topic and Title Selection
16 April
2019 3 19 April 2019
Aim and Objectives
19 April
2019 2 21 April 2019
Creating a Project management plan
21 April
2019 10 1 May 2019
Qualitative and Quantitative Data collection 1 May 2019 15 16 May 2019
Data Analysis 16 May 2019 7 23 May 2019
Presenting the outcomes 23 May 2019 4 27 May 2019
Documentation 27 May 2019 3 30 May 2019
Project submission 30 May 2019 1 31 May 2019
Table 4: Project Activities
(Source: Created by the learner)
Gantt chart
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Topic and Title Selection
Aim and Objectives
Creating a Project management plan
Qualitative and Quantitative Data collection
Data Analysis
Presenting the outcomes
Documentation
Project submission
16.4.19 26.4.19 6.5.19 16.5.19 26.5.19 5.6.19
Figure 1: Gantt chart
(Source: Created by the learner)
Conclusion
The task has set realistic objective, aim and scope for the project. It has considered a pure
project structure to allocate tasks among team members. A quality control chart has been
selected to manage the project quality. The resources to be utilised for the project include
materials, equipment, finance and human resources.
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LO2
P4-identification and collection of data
This section would include the identification of qualitative and quantitative research methods
that would be used for the collection of data. Post the identification of the multiple methods, a
particular approach would be taken into consideration for each of the research methods.
Additionally, a combination of primary and secondary data collection approach would be
taken into consideration in this study.
Incorporation of qualitative research method
For the collection of qualitative data, two methods of interviewing and ethnographic
approach could be taken into consideration. Interviewing is essentially a primary approach of
data collection in which the responses from individuals are taken into consideration (Mudry
et al. 2016). However, due to the qualitative nature of the mechanism, numbers or figures are
essentially not a characteristic feature of the method. Similarly, ethnographic approach
corresponds to the identification and the study of the culture associated with a target market
or host nation for market entry (Rapp, 2017). Like, interviewing, this approach does not
include any data or figures in most cases. However, the ethnographic approach does not take
into account individual responses but cater to a more group or area based approach for
conducting a primary research or a combination of primary and secondary research.
For the execution of the study, the interviewing approach has been taken into consideration.
Two managers of the organization have been interviewed for this segment.
Individual Question Answer
Manager 1 Do you think that Algeria
would be a good host market
given the poor name of the
nation among the
international tourists?
I think that, selling of the
products associated with
Next plc would be more
concerned with the initial
domestic market rather than
the unpredictable tourist
market. Hence, I think that
Algeria would provide a
good market for the
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