BTEC Unit 42: Planning for Growth and Business Development Report

This report, focusing on Oak Cash & Carry, a UK-based food distributor, delves into the critical aspects of business growth planning. It begins by analyzing key factors for evaluating development opportunities, utilizing PESTLE analysis and Porter's generic strategies to assess the external and competitive landscape. The report then applies Ansoff's growth vector matrix to explore market penetration, product development, and diversification strategies. It examines various funding alternatives available to businesses, weighing their advantages and disadvantages. Furthermore, the report guides the creation of a comprehensive growth business plan, including financial data and strategic goals. Finally, it evaluates exit and succession alternatives for small firms, outlining the implications of each decision. The report aims to provide a practical framework for SMEs to navigate the complexities of growth and achieve sustainable success.

Planning for Growth

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
P1. Analyze and justify key factors in order to evaluate development opportunities in your
organization.................................................................................................................................3
P2. Using Ansoff's growth vector matrix, assess the growth possibilities..................................6
P3. Examine the many funding alternatives available to businesses and weigh the benefits and
drawbacks of each........................................................................................................................7
P4. Create a growth business plan that contains financial data and strategic goals for
expanding a company..................................................................................................................8
P5. Evaluate exit or succession alternatives for a small firm, outlining the advantages and
disadvantages of each................................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Growth planning is the process of developing numerous policies and plans of action inside a
company's practices in order to achieve successful market sector growth. Furthermore, it is a
critical component for an organization's assessment and performance in the direction of
discovering growth opportunities (Rigolon and Németh, 2018). As a result, firms must manage
their operations in order to maintain corporate growth in an ever-changing market. The emphasis
of this study is on Oak Cash & Carry, a food distributor in the United Kingdom. The purpose of
this report is to look at the essential elements that SMEs should consider when assessing their
development possibilities. It also seeks to assess the many means through which organizations
receive funds, as well as when different types of funding should be employed. It also tries to help
you create a business strategy and describe how you want to grow your company. Finally, it tries
to evaluate the different options available to a small business owner for exiting the company, as
well as the ramifications of each decision.
MAIN BODY
P1. Analyze and justify key factors in order to evaluate development opportunities in your
organization.
Growth prospects refer to an organization's ability to create large profits in the future by
expanding its personnel and outputs (Wu and et. al., 2017). For SME's like Oak Cash & Carry,
it's important that the company conducts a thorough study of many key factors that will assist
them in analyzing the market's potential opportunities. In addition, while assessing an
organization's development possibilities, there are a number of key elements to consider. Two
analytical frameworks that are being employed include PESTEL analysis and Porter's generic
strategies. The following themes are discussed in regard to Oak Cash & Carry:
PESTLE Analysis
Pestle Analysis is a research approach that is inefficiently utilized to scan the external
environment, which must be done in order to adequately assess the growth prospects available to
organizations way beyond its internal circle (Tennent, 2020). The framework's description is as
follows:
 Political factors: These elements take into consideration the United Kingdom's broader
political climate. Oak Cash & Carry operates in their own country, but the country's

unpredictability in terms of politics, as well as various trade restrictions within Europe as
a result of Brexit, are not conducive to their success. Unlike unexpected political
pressures, however, Brexit has no impact on Foreign Direct Investment, which is
beneficial to any company in running its operations more efficiently.
 Economic factors: The economic performance of the country is one of these variables.
All firms operating in the nation have suffered as a result of Brexit's attempt to devalue
the pound. However, as a result of the collapse of certain worldwide businesses,
unemployment has increased. As a consequence, hiring competent workers who will
contribute to Oak Cash & Carry's long-term success may be helpful.
 Social factors: These aspects include, among other things, a wide range of sociocultural
attitudes, inclinations, and beliefs (Falleth and Nordahl, 2017). As a result, one of the
most significant opportunities for Oak Cash & Carry to enter the country is the significant
increase in organic vegetables and other healthy grocery items, which may shift people's
preferences towards the respective entity if they provide goods that are in line with
current trends.
 Technological factors: A multitude of factors impact these characteristics, including
technical developments, greater usage of online services, and so on. Oak Cash & Carry
owns and operates a number of stores throughout the United Kingdom. It uses effective
technology for its customers, for example, so that they can quickly purchase products
using digital cards and experience greater levels of customer satisfaction.
 Legal factors: Different factors, such as government requirements and laws, are
continuously taken into account (Lian, Shaâ and Dasan, 2017). The firm must comply to
all rules and standards in order to effectively expand its position in the United Kingdom
market. As a result, companies like Oak Cash & Carry must adhere to a plethora of
requirements, including the Equal Employment Opportunity Act and others, in a timely
and efficient manner.
 Environmental factors: This has a direct impact on how a firm wholesales and
distributes its products and is related to the environment. Both the government and the
people of the United Kingdom have highlighted various aspects of environmental safety.
This is an opportunity to collaborate with ecologically friendly organizations that do not
hurt the environment.

From the above analysis, it is evaluated that there are several opportunities for this organisation
to manage the functioning properly. There is need to manage the possibility of developing ways
and enhancing betterment of services. In context of Oak and cash carry organisation, it is
concluded that there is need to manage the effectiveness of PESTLE in order to complete the
growth opportunities for firm.
Growth opportunity for Oak cash and carry
Oak cash and carry company uses different ways for managing the innovations within
company and developing social platforms for enhancing the brand awareness.
Porter’s generic model
This is the framework that a company uses to discover a potential niche in which it may
acquire a competitive advantage in any industry (Rode, 2018). Furthermore, in order to get a
competitive advantage, this defines how a business provides its commodities in the marketplace.
As a consequence, Oak Cash & Carry is utilized to put the following into practice:
 Cost leadership: It is seen to be the most successful line of action for a single company.
Within it, the company would compete on price depending on its costs, allowing it to
become a lower-cost producer, retailer, wholesaler, and other industry players. It is
preferable for a firm in this circumstance to deal with the country's present marketing
position. However, because a company's competitive edge may erode when it goes into a
lower price range, it may result in fewer benefits for the company.
 Differentiation: The firm would be developing or selling new goods that would produce
new market demands due to the creative and challenging nature of this strategy.
Customers appreciate a wide range of factors, which the firm may investigate and assess.
This is a big benefit for entities since it may help them to manufacture organic veggies or
other healthy items at a reasonable cost because of its numerous principles (Zanjani and
et.al, 2020). On the other hand, it would need a regular marketing analysis to establish the
gap in the market for wholesaling a wider range of foods.
 Focus: This is a strategy in which a company focuses on a narrow scope within a certain
industry and selects a single targeted market region to implement its strategy (Mawela,
Twinomurinzi and Ochara, 2017). It's broken down into two categories, which are
described below:

o Focus on product differentiation: It is focused on the entity's target market.
o Focus on cost: By focusing on cost, the company gets advantages within the
chosen category.
Oak Cash & Carry should use the aforementioned strategies to pursue cost leadership,
which will help them attract new customers in a shorter period of time. This may be done by
reducing the price of its products and efficiently attracting new consumers through marketing
and advertising.
Resources and Capabilities and Core Competencies
Oak cash and carry organisation is involved in providing grocery and other related product
merchant. It works under wholesaler industry. This is concluded that oak cash and carry limited
is having competency within market. It provides quality services and products to customers. It
helps to increase brand value and reputation. Competitive advantage- It is defined as the way
for growth and management. There is need for supporting the management in order to deal with
new innovations and management. In context of oak cash and carry organisation, it is seen that
there is need to enhance competitive advantage. Resources of this firm are helpful for
maintaining brand position. This company is having assets as resource which are used for
controlling and managing different type of activities associated with competency.
P2. Using Ansoff's growth vector matrix, assess the growth possibilities.
This is referred to as product and market mix, and it may refer to four distinct ways to increase
an entity's growth in a strategic way. It also assists entities in expressing their potential risk for a
specific product expansion strategy (Williams, 2017). But from the other side, Oak Cash & Carry
implements suitable approaches for offering relevant services to its clients in a more efficient
manner. This is a critical tool for establishing a competitive edge for a company (Ritter and Lettl,
2018). This, on the other hand, is a means of categorizing current things into entities and
emphasizing efficient ways for firms to quickly enter new markets utilizing their creative
products. This includes four distinct types of growth techniques, as listed below:
 Market penetration: This is described as selling a variety of products to a company's
potential and present consumers. This is critical in all types of businesses since it is the
most effective way to develop consumer loyalty to a particular brand's products. Oak
Cash & Carry, for example, is using the right strategy to business growth in order to

continually boost revenue. The market penetration strategy will help this company to
enhance its brand value and reputation.
 Advantage – This is helpful for enhancing the growth and development opportunities of
business.
 Disadvantage – If there is no success in this type of market strategy then company has to
face losses.
 Market expansion: It is one of the most effective methods for attracting the attention of
large clients in order to develop current products inside a company (Hollensen and
Opresnik, 2019). Oak Cash & Carry, according to its website, is always creating effective
services in order to offer tremendous happiness to its clients and help them reach more
revenue in a shorter period of time. For example, in order to reach futuristic goals, a
company would need to confirm appropriate regions in which to create new products.
 Advantage – When there is entering of new product or service within market then there
are lot of chances of increasing profit of the company.
 Disadvantage – This process needs big investment.
 Development of a product: This is a strategy for assisting a firm in generating new
products that will be sold in its present market. Oak Cash & Carry, for example, provides
its products to customers in order to meet their needs. In order to accomplish its unique
goal, it continuously produces successful grocery goods based on new product
formulations.
 Advantage – Brand reputation and image can be enhanced by managing product
development strategy.
 Disadvantage – There are more chances of product failure in this type of strategy.
 Diversification: This is a high-risk approach, and an organization that employs it must
constantly introduce new products into the marketplace in order to achieve positive
results (Pelton and Singh, 2019). It is a great strategy in the case of Oak Cash & Carry
since it assists them in looking forward and encouraging them to attain high sales. This
comprises both geographical areas and marketplaces where a company's market might be
expanded for new growth.

 Advantage – This strategy helps to tap into pool of potential customers.
 Disadvantage – In this strategy, there is need for company to invest huge amount of
investment.
So all of the methods mentioned are important for Oak Cash & Carry, market and product
development seems to be the most effective since it helps them to examine their product line and
market, designed to take full advantage of the opportunity.
P3. Examine the many funding alternatives available to businesses and weigh the benefits and
drawbacks of each.
Finance is viewed as a critical component of all organizations since it enables them to
successfully manage their operations and create numerous plans to give varied advantages to
their consumers. In order to reach bigger aims, Oak Cash & Carry requires a variety of amounts.
Oak Cash & Carry can seek funding from the following sources to explore development
opportunities:
 Internal sources: This refers to the numerous methods that firms might earn cash,
including retained profits, asset sales, and so on. Listed below are a handful of them:
o Earnings retained: This is referred to as financing sources, and it relates to the
money saved by a firm as a result of its sales and profits (Ramirez, Bhatti and
Tapinos, 2020). The advantages of this include the fact that no interest is paid if
profits are utilised to carry out the business's plan of action. The linked funding
source, on the other hand, may result in a reduction in dividends given to
shareholders, which may be a burden for them.
o Capital invested in the business: This is widely acknowledged as one of the most
essential personal financial resources available to business owners for achieving
their goals. The major advantage is that it saves time when creating and
implementing a strategy. If extra operating capital is required, however, owners
may face financial hardship.
 External sources: This is a term that refers to a variety of external sources from which
cash might be raised. Venture capital, bank loans, and other forms of funding are
examples of this. Listed below are just a handful of them:
o Obtaining a bank loan: This is the act of taking out a loan from a bank for a
certain period of time and then repaying the money to the bank at the end of the

period with a standard set interest rate (Granberg and Nyberg, 2017). Small and
medium-sized enterprises mostly use it as a source of funding. Oak Cash & Carry
can satisfy its financial demands by borrowing money from a bank, either short-
term or long-term. However, in order to borrow money from a bank, the company
must put up assets as collateral.
Advantages:
 There is reduced risk of bankruptcy.
 This can be started with carrying equity partner for new equities when there is way for
looking forward regarding investors deals.
Disadvantages:
 It requires extra time and effort to get a loan from reputed banks.
 It needs to have more interest payments which cannot be sorted in case of bank ruptcy.
o Venture capital: This is financial assistance offered by investors for the goal of
starting a new firm with long-term development potential. Successful investors,
investment banks, and other financial institutions make this sort of investment.
However, the group must have feasible commercial concepts in order to attract
them. This funding source might be used by Oak Cash & Carry to entice new
investors by assuring them of the company's viability and return on investment.
Advantages:
 In context to Oak cash and carry , venture capital creates an opportunity in order to
expand their business
 It is very supportive to build connections and network
Disadvantages:
 Venture capital needs a long time in order to make a decision regarding cost that is
needed in the business.
 It is very complicated in ownership and control

The aforementioned bank loan is an excellent source of finance for Oak Cash & Carry
since it helps them to wholesale and sell their new products in the UK market. Furthermore,
compared to other approaches, it is risk-free, and there is a continual supply of interest.
P4. Create a growth business plan that contains financial data and strategic goals for expanding a
company.
Business papers are formal documents that define goals, intent, and objectives, among
other things, in order to achieve them (Anthony, 2017). This also serves as a practice plan that
aids in the path of achieving the goals. Furthermore, this would provide a critical outlay for
achieving a business's growth goal. The following is the Oak Cash & Carry business plan:
Execute summary: Oak Cash & Carry is a well-known and well-respected small and
medium-sized business in the United Kingdom. Customers can get groceries as a result of this.
They recently decided to offer organic foods and healthful things to the market, which would be
targeted at audiences of all ages. The items of the respective company will be available through
its online and offline stores.
Vision and mission statements: The relevant company's goal and mission are linked to
providing consumers with access to a wide selection of organic goods and nutritious things of
superior quality at a reasonable price.
SMART Objective: The related entity's goal is to “Introduce a selection of organic foods
and other healthy goods into the marketplace and increase profitability by 15% in a year.”
Entrepreneurial strategies: When creating a new product, it is critical to establish and
apply a variety of entrepreneurial tactics that will provide the business a competitive advantage
in the marketplace (Huang and Shen, 2019). As a result, some of these tactics are outlined below
in relation to Oak Cash & Carry and its supply of organic foods and other healthy items:
 STP Approaches: This is an example of an entrepreneurial strategy that involves
determining the target market region. Segmentation would be applied in the context of
Oak Cash & Carry, with the marketplace being divided into geographical, behavioural,
and demographical groups. Furthermore, they are promoting healthful and nutritious
veggies and fruits to people of all ages in the United Kingdom.
 Marketing mix: The product plan would be beneficial to Oak Cash & Carry in expanding
its product range with organic foods and other healthy goods. In terms of pricing, they
employ penetration pricing, which aids in the delivery of new products at a reasonable

cost. Furthermore, in terms of locations, the particular business would be delivering its
items all over the country, such as the United Kingdom, through its e-commerce and
offline shops. They would also use SEO and social media to advertise the entire package.
Financial projection: The financial study of the company, which includes overall expenses
associated with new product development. As a result, the following is the post and pre budget:

Monitoring and evaluation: They use key performance indicators to monitor and assess, and
profit seems to be an essential facet that indicates or emphasizes the success of an organisation.
Furthermore, they may use benchmarking to assist them set sales and productivity as a baseline
for a certain goal.
P5. Evaluate exit or succession alternatives for a small firm, outlining the advantages and
disadvantages of each.
This is critical because alternatives for exits or succession must be examined in order for
the entity to be an effective method of determining what it will do once it has reached maturity
(Zomorrodian, 2017). As a result, it has been determined that exit plans are the most effective
phrase for small businesses such as Oak Cash & Carry in achieving their objectives and
particular mission for generating competitive business benefits in a well-defined manner.
Additionally, a company might simply spend its cash to achieve acceptable income and sales.
There are many different sorts of tactics that may be used to achieve success. The following are
only a few of them:

Merger and acquisition: This is defined as the business exit strategy which is used by
companies when they want to stop the business.
Pros:
 There is need for business to have a great outlook for growth opportunities in merger
 It is very convenient to negotiate the price
Cons:
 It is a lengthy process
 There is huge chance of risk
Continuing the legacy in the family: This means making succeeding people the owner of
company.
Pros:
 A complete separation from the business is not there may be a chance to stay some sort of
ongoing advisory role.
 There is a chance to prepare person they want to continue the business when they accept.
Cons:
 This process may bring of lot of financial, emotional and general stress to the family.
 Employees, investors, or employees may not support individual in family they select.
CONCLUSION
According to the report discussed above, planning for development is a crucial component
for a company that is related to assessment and performance when it comes to finding growth
opportunities. Growth possibilities are also evaluated using PESTEL analysis and Porter's
generic model. Ansoff's growth model is also used since it generates effective techniques for
supplying clients with appropriate services in a more efficient manner. Bank loans, venture
capital, and other types of finance are available. In addition, a business plan is created, which
aids the organization in successfully and efficiently implementing its growth strategy. Apart
from that, existing strategies aid businesses in achieving their goals and missions in order to
obtain competitive business advantages in a well-defined manner.

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