BBS013-1: Original Creations Case Study - Challenges and Solutions

This case study report analyzes Original Creations, a UK-based lifestyle products design company, focusing on its business challenges and providing strategic recommendations. The report identifies key issues such as communication problems with foreign manufacturers, ineffective quality management, a small customer service team, reliance on temporary staff, traditional marketing approaches, unprofessional decision-making, and a lack of market research. Recommendations include employing multilingual staff, improving quality control, expanding the customer service team, hiring permanent logistics staff, adopting digital marketing strategies, fostering professional decision-making processes, and conducting thorough market research before launching new products. The report aims to support Original Creations in enhancing its product development, market forecasting, and overall competitive position. It also includes reflections on employability skills.

Foundations of Business
Management (BBS013-1)

Executive summary:
This report is related about the case study on the company Original Creations that sells
things related to the cats as well as dog wear ,an automatic air fresher for bathrooms and birthday
card kits. The report will include the explanation about reasons for choosing this business case.
In addition to this, the report will also describe key challenges faced by the original creations.
Moreover, this report will also present necessary recommendations in order to support company
in making new products by forecasting the market conditions. Furthermore, the report will also
cover my reflection on employability skills.

Introduction:
The business management is concerned with managing as well as organising business
activities in order to effectively achieve goals and objectives. The business management also
plays a critical role in controlling proper coordination between different business functions
which results in the smooth flow of business operations. In addition to this, the main purpose of
business management is to improve the employee productivity by providing appropriate training
sessions. For this report Original creations case study is taken into consideration which is the
lifestyle products design company based in UK. This report will highlight the reasons for doing
this case-study. Apart from this, the report will also include the key issues faced by the company
as well as will also provide recommendations with an objective of improving the rate of
developing new products and build effective ways to forecast external market conditions. This
report will also consider my reflections about employability skills.
MAIN BODY
Explaining about the reasons for doing this report:
For this consultancy report the Original Creations case study is taken into focus. The
Original Creations deals in the range of original lifestyle products such as air fresher for
bathrooms, hair clippers and blood pressure monitors. Apart from this, the firm also trades in
rain-wear range for dogs and casts and also sells garden lights as well as cloth dyers for the
outdoor use. The company practises its selling function by using the direct mail brochure as well
as the internet platform. The Original Creations basically designs the products for other
companies rather manufacturing them. However, this company is facing an issue in terms of
developing a new product which can effectively satisfy the needs and demands of the customers.
The firm is also facing a challenge in communicating with different manufactures that are based
in abroad countries like china (Bowden, 2020).This is due to the difference in cultural values as
well as language barriers. In relation to this, the company is also facing the challenge in relation
to the proper maintenance about the quality of lifestyle products as the customers are
disappointed with the quality of their products.
Apart from this, the other problems faced by Original creations company is the low
customer base due to which the company was not able to attract large amount customers towards
their new product. Moreover, the company also have a low number of customer service providers

due to which the firm does not properly solve the problems faced by the customers. Hence, the
main reason behind doing this project is to identify as well as analyse the critical business
problems that the Original Creations company is facing in terms of low market share. This report
has also highlighted the key business problems which can ruin the long term operations as well
as competitive position of the company. In relation to this, this report has also described the key
action plans that can support the company in regaining its lost market share by launching new
products according to the market trends as well as demands of the customers (Krasovskaya,
Schislyaeva and Shamrai, 2021).
Discussion of the main issues faced by the Original creations company:
The businesses especially small business faces many business problems in day to day
operations. The problems can emerge in any form such as the challenges can occur in finding
new customers for the new products or services. In addition to this, the companies can also
encounter an issue in the form of recruiting highly talented staff members. The small and
medium business enterprises can also experience the problems in terms of satisfying the new
demands of the customer as well as can also find issue in maintaining proper budget allocations.
In context to Original Creations, the company faces a number of business problems which
restricts the firm in launching a better product in the market and also negatively impacts its
market forecasting process and activities. The following are points that shows the key business
issues faced by the Original Creations firm:
 The one of the issues faced by company when dealing with the foreign based
manufacturers is the communication problem. The gap in terms of language as well as
cultural values affects the firm to make a good deal with the foreign manufacturers. As a
result, the firm was not able to clearly tell about the required type of designs that should
be made according to the set quality standards (Buchholz and Rübbelke, 2019). The
difference in languages makes the firm to take help from translators which sometimes
alter the main message into another. This language gap provides the challenge in-front of
the company in manufacturing better products.
 The other main problem identified in the Original Creations firm is its ineffective quality
management. The low measures regarding proper checking of product quality before
delivering products to customers is considered as an critical issue for the firm which
negatively impacts its market position and growth. In relation to this, it can also

deteriorate its product quality by not checking on timely basis. This problem affects its
new product launching as well as market growth strategies in negative manner.
 The other important problem that negatively influence the new product strategies of the
company is its small customer service team. With this low number of customer care
executives the Original Creations company is unable to provide effective solutions to the
problems made by customers. Apart from this, it can also disturbs the customer service
process of the firm as low customer service staff cannot effectively handle all customer
issues related to the product inquires, payments, regarding warranty or any product
complains. If this situation persists, it may leads to loss of customer interests which can
hamper their future growth strategies (Pettinger, 2020).
 Its temporary staff members in the logistics and warehouse management is also seen as
an main problem in Original Creations company that negatively affects its growth and
development. In relation to this, it can also become a threat for the company as the
employees may leave the organisation without prior notice. This can impact the new
product strategies of the company.
 The traditional marketing initiatives by Original Creations company is also seen as the
major issue in its business processes. Due to this, the firm fails to follow the current
trends in the market as well as faces a problem in analysing the purchasing decisions of
the customer. In relation to this, the firm also make less initiatives in investing in using
digital marketing platforms which does not allow the firm in gaining an attention of large
number of customers. This situation negatively effects its new products idea as the
company is not able to gain insight about the needs and demands of the customers present
in the marketplace.
 The other major problem that suppress the generation of new effective ideas is its
unprofessional decision making process (Sanders and Wood, 2019). The Original
Creations company owner Mark Shelly favours discussion of new product ideas in purely
unprofessional manner and without using the focus groups. This stops the company in
reaching to a certain conclusions related to the new and effective product ideas.
 The other major issue is that the owner of Original Creations takes all the responsibilities
by herself and also make her own judgements without consulting from the other staff
members. This may originate ineffective decisions which may take more time in reaching

into suitable conclusions. In addition to this, it can also negatively impact the motivation
level of employees as they may thing that their ideas are not being respected and
considered by the owner. As the result this may leads to the higher employee turnover
which can ruin its smooth operation activities.
 The most important issue which presents at Original Creations company is the lack of
market search before the launch of new product. This is the main problem that stops the
firm in effectively reaching into a large number of customers. Due to lack of market
scanning or research, the firm faces many difficulties in providing a product that
customers needs the most. Furthermore, this also effects the company in not meeting the
demands made by customers in timely manner (Ferrell, Hirt and Ferrell, 2020). Due to no
market research, the firm is not able to find the external threats as well as opportunities
that can be crucial in defining the success of the company. Apart of this, it is difficult for
the company to adopt newer technologies as with no market research the firm is not able
to identify new technologies present in the market. This negatively impacts the
efficiency of the company to perform new tasks in the best manner.
Recommendations for solving the key issues faced by Original Creations company:
The below mentioned points suggest the appropriate solutions as well as strategies that
the company Original Creations should undertake in providing effective solutions to its business
issues and problems:
 It is recommended that the company should employ the multilingual staff members which
can support it in dealing with foreign manufactures in most effective manner. In addition
to this, the organisation should also takes measures in understanding the cultural values
as well as ethics of the foreign countries. This will allow the firm to make better
connections with foreign parties that can directly results in gaining better deals.
Moreover, this strategy will also allow the company to effectively bargain with the
manufacturing parties present in foreign countries like china (Pande and Bharathi, 2020).
 It is recommended that the Original Creations company should make best strategies
regarding management of its product quality. The firm should follow new techniques as
well as technologies in producing new products which will support the company in
designing the quality products in the market. In relation to this, it is also recommended
that the firm should make regularly check the quality of its product designed as well as

should also adopt new parameters that can assist the company in checking the quality of
manufactured products in most effective manner. This can support the company in
gaining better position in the minds of customers.
 It is also recommended that the firm should employ more customer care professionals
which can support the firm to effectively deal with the various problems as well as
queries of the customers (El Sawy and et.al., 2020). This practise can support the
company in timely provide solutions to the challenges faced by the customers in using its
products. In addition to this, it can also allow company to enhance loyalty level of
customers that can assist it in gaining competitive position in the market. Moreover, it
can also aid the firm to effectively retain its old customers as well as attract new
customers.
 It is also recommended that the firm should employ a permanent staff members in its
warehouse and logistics department. This is because temporary staff members are not
able to work in optimal manner as the full time workers will work. In relation to this, this
will also allow the company to make better control over its inventories as well as can also
stream line the warehousing process. This will support the company to provide products
to the customers in most timely manner and with no damages.
 It is also recommended that the firm should undertake use of social media platforms
instead on focusing only on traditional advertisement campaigns such as brochure. The
use of social media platforms will support the firm in gaining deep insight about the new
demands of customers. This will assist the firm in making necessary changes in its
products according to the new needs and demands of the customer. In addition to this, it
will also assist the organisation in attracting large number of customers in most effective
manner as the company can post creative and immersive content about their products (De
Angelis, 2018).
 It is also recommended that the Original Creations should adopt professional decision
making process rather than purely focusing on in-house decisions. In relation to this, the
firm should practise the professional manner in order to think about new products that
can change the lives of the customer.
 It is also recommended that the owner of the Original Creations company should give its
employees a chance to participate in day to day decision making process. The firm can

allow and motivate the workers to share their constructive opinions which can support the
company in gaining better ideas. In relation to this, the firm should also establish open
communication channels which will support the employees in enhancing their skills and
knowledge by engaging in day to day decision making process. Moreover, it can also aid
the company to give feedbacks according to the performance made by workers. Hence,
this strategy will make the workers more motivated and productive in doing business
operations in effective manner (Peters, Ivens and Pardo, 2020).
 In order to improve the generation of new product idea, it is recommended that the firm
should adopt practise of business frameworks as well as theories that can support the
company in assessing the risk associated with the external market conditions. The
Original creation company can use PESTLE framework for assessing external market
forces that can impact the growth of its new product idea. This business tool will allow
the organisation in gaining deep knowledge about external market conditions such as
political situations, economic situations, social situations, technological situation and
many more. This will support the firm in knowing the impacts of these forces in the most
timely manner. Apart from this, it can also enable the company in making products that
perfectly abides with he external market trends and changes. It can also allow the
company in attracting the large number of customers by making products of the highest
quality and lowest prices (Sandfort, 2018).
Hence, by adopting the above recommendations the company can become better in
developing better products after properly analysing the external market trends. By following
these recommendations, the firm can also increase its competitive position in the marketplace.
Task -2:
In order to assess my learning experience in class activities, the Gibbs reflection model is taken
into consideration:
Gibbs Reflective Cycle:
This is considered as useful framework in order to evaluate as well as explain experience
of attaining the personal development skills from participating in the class activities. In relation
to this, it delivers an crucial information regarding particular activities. The application of this
model can allow me to learn effectively from the the things that went well for me as well as plan

for the things that did not goes well as expected. This reflective cycle covers the following six
stages that will reflect by learning experience:
Description:
I have experienced a positive feelings from the class project as this enabled me to
enhance my skills that can play a key role in defining my future success and development. In
relation to this, I have also gained an information about the certain business concepts such as
Human Resource Management as well as motivational theories which will support me to in my
future business studies. The acquired skills will allow me to gain competitive position in the
class as well as in professional career. Moreover, the skills will also enable me to gain
favourable image in the minds of students and my professors.
Feelings:
I had experienced the positive feelings during this class project as this has enhanced by
communication skills as well as problem solving skills in proper manner. It has also enabled me
to complete my class projects in the most effective manner. The skills that I have learned will
further support me in improving overall performance in other class activities. In relation to this,
it also inspired me to work more harder and in positive manner in order to attain my objectives of
academic and professional development.
Evaluation:
During this project activity, I came across with both the experience that is both positive
and negative. I have gained positive experience as I was able to enhance my communication
skill, computer skills as well as problem solving skills. On the other side, I have also experienced
important challenges in my skill development journey. This is because I was unable to manage
my time in order to complete my project within deadline. In addition to this, it also negatively
impacted my class performance as I was not able to manage my time in effective manner.
Analysis:
From doing class report, I have evaluated that I must take necessary efforts in order to
eradicate my weakness level which will allow me attain overall personality development. I have
analysed that the development of time management skills will be critical for me in order to
compete academic reports in the most time effective manner. In relation to this, I have also
analysed that I have developed my numerical skills as I have also used the statistical data in
order to complete my class report. I analysed that motivation is the powerful force that can allow

me to perform academic related activities in most efficient manner. Moreover, I have also
analysed that I possess good team working as well as research skills which supported me in
completing my project tasks in proper manner.
Conclusion:
From my reflection journal, I concluded that personal development skills are critical for
me in order to improve my performance level in class activities as well as will also support me to
give better performance in my future professional career. This will assist me to give optimal
performance in both academic and personal aspects of life. In relation to this, the skills that I
have developed in this class project will also support me to form better career in business
organisations. Moreover, it has been evaluated that I need to improve my time management skills
as this can be important for me in terms of submitting work within deadlines and also support me
to gain favourable image in the minds of professors.
Action plan:
In this, I will develop an effective action plan which will be related with the experience
that I have gained by participating in class reports. The proper action plan will help me to work
on my weakness that is time management skills in the most effective manner. In relation to this,
the action plan will also inspire me to take advanced actions in order to deal with any unexpected
situations that can arise in future. For this, I will make the SMART goals in order to improve my
Time management skills. The explanation is given below:
SMART objectives:
Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic Time
This is goal is
specific as I will
improve my time
management
skills by
undertaking use
of effective time
management
strategies.
This objective can
be measurable as
I will start to
execute my
activities within
the time factor.
This goal is
attainable which
can be realised by
practising certain
tasks related to
academic or other
things within the
set deadlines. In
addition to this, in
order to achieve
This goal is quite
realistic I am
already working
in order to
improve my time
management
skills from the
past 2 months.
In order to
successfully attain
my objectives
related to
improving time
management
skills I will
accomplish my
goal within the
time duration of 4

my goals I will
also participate in
the time
management
exams and
exercises which
will support me to
improve my time
management
skills.
months.
Conclusion:
From the above report, it has been concluded that the business management is crucial
process supports the company in managing its daily operations in the most effective manner. It
was also evaluated that business management assists the company in increasing the productivity
level of employees by properly aligning their objectives with that of the company objectives. The
business management also helps the firms in building competitive position in market by
manufacturing products according to the needs of customers. This report has explained about the
business reason for conducting this report related to the business case. In relation to this, the
report has also covered about the key issues that negatively affects the company's new product
development strategy as well as its demand forecast strategy. Moreover, the report has also
discussed about the recommendations in order to provide solutions to the issues faced by the
organisation.

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