MBA602 Small Business Administration. Ass 3
Create an operational plan for either your current business or business idea or a Small-to-Medium business that you are familiar with (e.g., one that you work for or you know the owner(s) personally). If you are using an external company, they must be based in Australia. If you cannot find a company to use as a case study, contact your workshop facilitator so that they can assign you one. The company that you choose MUST be approved by Week 5; otherwise, you will receive a ‘0’ for this Assessment.
Do NOT choose an established national or multi-national company.
Students are given an opportunity to create an operational plan for either their own business / business idea or a Small-to-Medium business that they are familiar with (e.g., one that they have either worked for or one where they know the owners personally).
Using the chosen business, either your own or one where you have access to the owner(s), you must address the following in your business / operational plan:
Introduction
• Overview of the company and the industry it services. Include the URL and specific contact details of the company.
• SWOT and PESTLE analysis including trends affecting the industry.
• The legal, regulatory and insurance considerations you need to be aware of for the business (here in Australia including the State / Territory).
• Comprehensive Business Model Canvas.
Marketing
• Discuss the current target market and/or market segmentation(s) the business caters to (including demographics and psychographics).
• Identify direct and indirect competitors (relevant to the nature and location of the business).
• Address the 7 Ps of marketing as part of your marketing plan for the business.
• Identify at least three key strategies and tactics to use in marketing the business.
• Briefly identify an Australian city or suburb to expand the business to. Justify this by using basic market research (based on your target market) to justify your expansion strategy.
Operations
• Discuss your staffing requirements in detail; this can include those that are outsourced. Who do you need as part of your team? Identify the specific training the staff (if relevant) needed to be ‘future- ready’ (e.g., technology, soft skills, etc.)
• Discuss the technology you can implement to automate the business to improve business
performance and sustainability.
• Discuss the various tools to monitor and evaluate business performance.
Finances
• Simple cash flow projections for the next three years.
You are required to have a minimum of 5 references which can include journal articles, market research documents, government publications, industry reports, etc.
As per the MBA Assignment Expert overview of the organization and the industry it serves
Cocofrio is one of the best-known companies responsible for producing creamy and incredible ice creams and several healthy desserts.
Company URL: https://cocofrio.com.au/
Figure 1: Contact details from the website of the company
Source: (Coco frio, 2023)
Company Contact:
Figure 1: Logo of Cocofrio
Source: (Cocofrio 2023)
This company is serving Australia's food industry, which is coming up with an exciting new range and differentiated products with plenty of flavours, salted caramel and so on. The cones of Cococfrio are usually vegan, free from gluten and there are no artificial additives and flavours. However, most ice creams are made of coconut milk, making the product delicious and help in attracting customers. Cocofrio is committed to developing quality products and offering products at low costs so the company can get enhanced benefits in the competitive market.
Table 1: SWOT Analysis
Source: (Self-developed)
Strengths: The Cocofrio has an enhanced Research and Development (R&D) wing that helps the company with a better assessment of the market. This market analysis will help the company gather better knowledge regarding the choices and preferences of customers (Papanastassiou, Pearce and Zanfei, 2020). This will help the company come up with new products to cater to their needs, enhancing sales and profitability.
Weaknesses: It is evident that ice creams are not healthy for people suffering from colds, coughs, and tonsil-related issues. Hence, the Cocofrio will not be able to sell products to these target customers.
Opportunities: It is noted that the company is trying to bring new products to cater to customers' needs. Moreover, this will also help the Cocofrio with enhanced sales and better profit margins. Hence, the market revenue of the company will be enhanced and allows expanding its market.
Threats: Ben and Jerry's and Dairy Queen are some ice cream companies posing huge threats to Cocofrio.
Table 2: PESTLE Analysis
Source: (Self-developed)
Political: The political stability index of the nation is 0.85. This depicts that the country has moderate political stability. This will help the Cocofrio to get licenses for foreign trade and earn enhanced foreign direct investments (FDIs).
Figure 2: Political stability in Australia
Source: (Global economy 2023)
Economic: The inflation rate in Australia is 7.8%, indicating that the prices of the products will hike due to inflation. Hence, people will spend more on buying essential products than on ice creams leading to the reduced brand value of the Cocofrio.
Figure 3: Inflation in Australia
Source: (Trading economics 2023)
Social: The choices and preferences of people for ice-creams are increasing day by day due to the weather conditions of the country. Hence, the products of this company are purchased by customers, leading to market expansion (Gkartzonikas and Gkritza, 2019).
Technological: Artificial Intelligence is mainly used by this company to bring automation. This enhances customer service so that the turnover of the Cocofrio improves.
Figure 4: Usage of Artificial Intelligence in Australia
Source: (Venkatesh, 2023)
Legal: The Work Health and Safety Act of 2011 ensures that business organisations offer a safe working environment to remove health hazards. This helps in enhanced productivity among employees and effective operations in Cocofrio.
Environment: Corporate Social Responsibility will help the Cocofrio reduce its carbon footprints and pollution levels to protect the environment.
Most of Australia's an advertising and marketing policies are generally regulated by Consumer Law in Australia. This helps in prohibiting contents that mislead and are deceptive. The Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA) is usually a code of ethics that the business organisations of Australia must comply with so that all the standards of advertisements and communications of marketing must be legal and truthful. Similarly, Broadcasting Services in Australia is a regulatory body that helps the Cocofrio to release programs and campaigns so that awareness of the brand can be enhanced. The Insurance Act 193 of Australia, helps in better prudential regulations and investment of money in various areas for the Cocofrio welfare.
Business Canvas Model
Table 3: Business Canvas Model
Source: (Self-developed)
Key Partners: Customers and employees are the main partners of this Cocofrio, as employees are trying to provide better customer service. Eventually, customers buy the products with which the firm's turnover is enhanced.
Ket activities: Cocofrio is responsible for manufacturing ice creams that can attract a humongous number of customers so that the company's annual revenue can be ameliorated (Braeuer et al., 2019).
Customer Relationship: The Company offers various discount coupons that lead to customer loyalty and better affinity of customers with the brand (Hung and Hager, 2019).
Revenue streams: The Company's annual revenue comes from its annual sales from the physical stores and online marketing (Hung and Hager, 2019).
Key resources: Various tools that the company is using to produce ice creams are the key resources. The cones, packaging materials, machinery, workers and other raw materials are certain resources of this company.
Cost structure: The company is using a penetrative pricing policy means the company is offering all its best quality products to customers at low prices.
Targeting and segmentation
Demographics: Cocofrio, in its target market, is targeting customers aged 7 to 60. This refers to the fact that ice creams are quite favorite among children and even other age groups. Targeting this age group, the company will have chances to enhance its brand awareness, attract customers and gain maximum monetary advantages in the competitive marketplace. Significantly, the company will also be targeting all sections of society as the prices of these ice creams are low and can be afforded by all sections of society (Cardenas et al., 2019). Moreover, the company will target 55% of the lower middle-class people to enhance its sales and profit.
Psychographics: Cocofrio has chosen several market segments as it helps in product distribution channels. The psychographic segmentation of this company helps in the company's growth and helps in seeking out traits that can make the company develop more.
Direct and Indirect Competitors
Certain direct competitors of this company in the market include Frosty Boy Australia, Petersville Ltd, The South East Queensland Ice Cream Pvt Ltd and many more. These organisations have regularly invested in market analysis to gather knowledge regarding customers' choices (Wilkins, 2020). Hence, developing differentiated products helps these companies with better profitability and market position in the global market. Significantly, this poses huge threat to Cocofrio, leading to the company's annual turnover reduction.
Moreover, Nestle and Blue Bell Creameries are some of the indirect competitors of the company. These companies offer a wide variety of products so that customers' demands can be easily fulfilled (Castagneri et al., 2022). However, Cocofrio is only providing ice creams. Hence, the company is getting threats from Nestle and Blue Bell Creameries and faces huge losses in its turnover in the competitive market. The company's nature is to provide ice creams and its indirect competitors by providing differentiated products to gain maximum advantages in the target market.
Product: The products that Cocofrio offers to its customers are vegan ice creams, biscuits and cookies, along with crackers, wafers and nuts. The delicacy of these products helps the business organisation to gain enhanced success and sustainability in the competitive market.
Price: The Company maintains a penetrative pricing policy and is responsible for offering its best quality products to its customers. This also helps the company to attract more customers and gain a competitive advantage in the long run (Hanaysha, Al-Shaikh and Alzoubi, 2021).
Place: The headquarters of Cocofrio is situated in Australia. Moreover, the company has various warehouses and cold storage where it is responsible for storing its potential products. It has certain cold storage located in Perth, Canberra and so on. It also has cold storage in Venezuela (Coco frio, 2023).
Promotion: Cocofrio is using social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and others to make people aware of its potential products. Significantly, it is noted that the brand awareness ameliorated of the company is due to social media advertising.
People: There are almost 5000 people who are working for this Cocofrio to achieve the goals of the company and to provide better services to customers. These people are productive, which in turn helps the company to gain better outcomes (Nikbin et al., 2022).
Process: The Company is doing market analysis and hence brings differentiated products. The company also uses advanced technologies to design products and manufacture them.
Physical Evidence: Cocofrio provides certain merchandise that helps increase brand equity and image. Tissue papers provided by the company with its logo are one product that helps the company gain more customers and enhance profit.
Cost Domination: One of the biggest policies of marketing by Cocofrio is cost domination which is a function in which every vertex is dominated. This helps the company to be highly competitive in the business world.
Uncovering niche markets: The company must look for new niche markets that help the Cocofrio to create customised versions of the promotional activities to gain better outcomes (Al-Surmi, Cao and Duan, 2020). The impact of aligning business, IT, and marketing strategies on firm performance. Industria. Offering better solutions also helps in fulfilling the unique needs of customers.
Advanced Technologies: Cocofrio must implement advanced technologies with the help of which the company can offer better customer services and gain enhanced benefits in the competitive world. This also helps enhance sales and market profit (Katsikeas, Leonidou and Zeriti, 2020).
The company will be expanding in Canberra of Australia. The company will be trying to implement advanced technologies with the help of which it will expand its business. This will also help the company bring new products and give potential customers for major benefits in the competitive edge.
Staffing requirements
Staffing requirement is quite significant as it helps the business organisation to gain major benefits in the long run. Staffing is needed by the business organisation so that the company with top talents can offer better opportunities to customers (Evseeva, Evseeva and Kalinina, 2020). This will help enhance sales and facilitate the company's profit margin. Moreover, it is also noted that outsourcing staff members help access a huge pool of talent. This engagement and recruitment process helps in saving costs that also aids in the identification of candidates who are responsible for propelling the growth of the organisation to the next orbit. Top-notch talents worldwide are required to be part of the team so that better services can be given to consumers will help the company gain maximum success in the competitive run.
The candidates must be given training in certain soft skills like communication skills, leadership traits and many more. Even they must be given training in technology and its usage to help the company attain its targets (Qin et al., 2020).
Technology To Be Implemented for Automation in The Organisation
The Internet of Things is usually referred to as an approach of interconnected devices and sensors that helps collect and share several facts. One of the biggest advantages of the Internet of Things is that it brings automation. Automation, in turn, helps bring employee productivity (Jabbar et al., 2019). This is one such strategy with the help of which better customer services can be given and hence the company can facilitate its market share. This policy also helps enhance the efficiency of the company's operations and accuracy, which leads to a reduction in the prices and up-time.
Various Tools To Assess The Business
PESTLE analysis is one tool companies use to assess the business as it helps evaluate the macro-environmental attributes that pose threats to the company—the various factors like political, economic, social and so on the impact the company positively or negatively. SWOT analysis is another tool that assesses the strengths and weaknesses of the company's internal factors and opportunities and threats as the outer factors (Kwilinski et al., 2019). Significantly, VRIO is also a marketing tool used to assess the market with the rarity and imitation of the products. Mostly, CATWOE and TOWS matrices are also used by the company so that the company can be able to conduct an analysis of the market and bring better products for customer satisfaction.
This study has analysed the market in which Cocofrio works so that the company can get a better opportunity in the target market. The market is analyzed by using marketing tools like PESTLE and SWOT. The marketing and operations of the company have also been illustrated here.
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