Opportunity Analysis And Exploitation: Becoming A Distributor Of Coca Cola Products In Blakfalls Town
Methodology of the Study
According to Thierer et al. (2015, p. 830), problems are sources of new chances of creating new businesses and also improving the business itself for the benefit of the business’s continuity and the preference of the customers. Renko et al. (2015, p. 54) also argue that without a business problem, then there is no business and profits cannot be seen. A business problem if not tacked in a reasonable manner, can make an organisation not reach its target, objectives and goals. Thierer et al. (2015, p. 830), also say that business problems if not solved can threaten the long term existence of a company. Business problems can come from the following issues, they include financial issues, the reputation of the company, generation of a new business model, the ethics and values of the organisation and demand for the change of product by the customers. Other issues that can cause a business problem according to Obschonka et al. (2015) include positioning of the business, the rate at which the raw materials are supplied, competition in price, costs in business, rate of sales, and product promotion and branding. Davidsson (2015, p. 674) says that these problems must exist within a business for a positive change to be seen and for the business to grow. The entrepreneurial opportunity/business problem that the paper has discussed is Dealership or Distributorship opportunity. There is a gap between the Coca Cola brand with my location. Coca Cola is a big company that sells soft drinks but they have not reached my home town, therefore, I want to distribute the Coca Cola products to shops in my home town. The business report herein has explained how to solve a business problem by developing a new entrepreneurial opportunity. In order to analyse the opportunity and exploit it, the paper has explained the research methods used in coming up with the finding of the business report.
Good research methods can help a researcher to achieve his or her objectives as to why he was conducting the study (Liu & Almor, 2016, p. 4). Also in solving business problems or developing a new entrepreneurial opportunity a well-structured research is required so that the business innovator or the problem solver should understand the customers, competitor, the market itself and where to get the raw materials. The developed entrepreneurial opportunity/business problem above also required a well-structured research so that it could be perfectly tackled. Therefore, the part herein has explained the research methods used in coming up with the finding of this business report. According to Glukhov, Ilin & Levina (2015, 543), the research design was used to find the solution to the business is both qualitative and quantitative research methods. Qualitative research method is a research method where the feelings, words, emotions and the mode of the target customers on the business problem is studied. In the study herein emotions and feelings of the target population were used to analyse if they like the business ideas. George et al. (2016, p. 309) also defined qualitative research method as a way of finding data for a topic without using numerical methods. The quantitative research on the other hand is using numerical methods to find data for the research problem in this case the business problem. The study herein used some numerical so that data could be more accurate (Conforto et al. 2016, p. 660). This study was also conclusive in nature in that the report is structured in a way that it has introduction, research methods, findings, and conclusion.
Findings
The methods that were used to collect data were interviews, observations, focus groups, documents and records and the researcher also conducted survey to learn the target market and how they react to the solution to the business problem (Cagliano, Grimaldi & Rafele, 2015, p. 232). Interviews means that the data was collected by asking people questions face to face. The questions were about the business problem and how they want it to be solved. Interviews also involved asking the target customers on their option about the solution. Surveys were also conducted to find out if the residents in my home town are ready to sell and use the Coca Cola products. The primary data was essential because it helped in getting the actual data and feeling of the target customers towards the new opportunity that the researcher created. The secondary data was used to find the secondary sources that have explained in details the approaches in project management that can be used by business entrepreneurs in solving business problems (Conforto et al. 2016, p. 660).
There is an opportunity of becoming a distributor or the dealer of Coca Cola products in my home town called Blakfalls Town. In Blakfalls, there are few to no supplies of Coca Cola beverages, the residents there are just suing other forms of soft drinks but not those of Coca Cola. As an entrepreneur, I saw a business problem where there are no supplies of Coca Cola products in Blakfalls, therefore, to solve the problem I have to step in and become the coca cola dealer or distributor from Blakfalls town (Conforto et al. 2016, p. 660). Coca cola is a very big company and over a billion people are using the products from that company according to the research done by (Agrawal, Catalini & Goldfarb, 2016, p 112). Therefore, if I take the opportunity of breaking the monopoly of Pepsi in Blakfalls I might make a lot of profits and at the same time solving the problem of lack of Coca Cola supplies in Blakfalls market.
Addressing a business opportunity or a business problem is very essential because it allows the entrepreneur to understand the field he or she wants to venture in (O’Reilly III & Tushman, 2016). The first ideal on how the dealership opportunity was addressed by conducting SWOT and PEST analysis. SWOT analysis is an important idea because it helps in realising the strengths and weaknesses of the Entrepreneurial Opportunity and the analysis also help in knowing the threats to the business solution and its opportunities in the market. Ahl & Nelson (2015, p. 274) argue that before and entrepreneur ventures into any business opportunity to grab it, he or she must conduct SWOT analysis on the business and determine the level of profit he or she can come up with.
Opportunity Analyses
O’Reilly III & Tushman (2016) reported that the SWOT analysis can help an entrepreneur to know his or her niche in the market he is venturing into. The SWOT analysis helps in knowing the advantages the organisation has against the other competitors. To become a successful dealer of Coca Cola products, an entrepreneur must understand the advantages he or she holds against the competitors. The analysis also can help in knowing what a business entrepreneur can do so that he or she can improve and be better and other competitors. The analysis also helps in identifying what the business entrepreneur should avoid so that he or she can attract more customers (Conforto et al. 2016, p. 660). In this case the opponents are those people who sell other forms of soft drinks. Through survey, a SWOT analysis can be conducted to understand the threats of the business and opportunities that are a head of it so that the business entrepreneur can take advantage of the situation (Agrawal, Catalini & Goldfarb, 2016, p 112).
The PEST analysis is the second idea that has been used in addressing the business problem in Blakfalls town. According to Overholm (2015, P. 14), PEST analysis can help an entrepreneur to understand the social, cultural, political and economic strategies of the market and the target customers. The analysis basically looks at how the four factors can affect the distribution of Coca Cola soft drinks in Blakfalls town. The PEST analysis can help the entrepreneur understand why other business people in Blakfalls have never solved this business problem by distributing the Coca Cola products in Blakfalls. Maybe the citizens of in Blakfalls do not like the Coca Cola products or maybe it is because of their political ideas. Therefore, the PEST analysis can help in tackling the business problem in those for factors. Fortunato & Alter (2015, p. 444) said in his research that PEST analysis is used to understand the minds of the target customers and how the product can affect them.
The third idea on how to address the problem is through applying the project management approaches because the business problem/opportunity is a project that needs to be finished and therefore the approaches in management of a project are vital (Conforto & Amaral, 2016, p. 7). The analyses that can be used here are SCUM, WATERFALL methodology, and AGILE (Thompson, Herrmann & Hekkert, 2015, p. 608). Svejvig & Andersen (2015, p. 279) say the project management methods helps a business entrepreneur to start a project in a small phase until the business reaches its limit. The ideal also helps in engineering the idea, designing how it will work, implementing the idea, testing the ideal to see it is valid and can work and lastly, designing methods on how to maintain the ideal so that it cannot shut down Kaiser, Arbi & Ahlemann, 2015, p. 126). To solve the business problem, the business entrepreneur should also study the size of market so that he or she can calculate the percentage of customers who are demanding the products. In Blakfalls the study has already been done and the demand for the products is high and the supply is low. Problems cannot be solved without capital, which is according to Martinelli & Milosevic (2016) in their research. To become a coca cola dealer in Blakfalls, there must be capital and can help kick start the business. Cameron & Green 2015) suggested that finding the capital to solve the problem is one of the fundamental ideas that one can have in addressing the business problem.
Ideas in addressing a Business Problem/ Entrepreneurial Opportunity
The type of business that has been addressed in this business report is a Soft Drink Industry. The industry deals with the manufacturing of fruits like mangoes, strawberries and other raw material like food colour to produce soft drink, dinks that are not alcoholic Kaiser, Arbi & Ahlemann, 2015, p. 126). The beverages made by Soft Drink Industry is flavoured, sweetened, water-based and carbonated. There was a problem with Soft Drink Industry in Blakfalls where residents there have not been supplied with soft drinks form Coca Cola Industry. Therefore, the business or the entrepreneurial opportunity that has been created is to become the distributors and the dealers of Coca Cola soft drinks in Blakfalls. The opportunity is attractive because currently there are no dealers in Coca Cola and nobody is distributing the beverages to the residents of Blakfalls. The market analysis has also be done and it has been discovered that most of the residents of Blakfalls love to change the brand of soft drinks hence distributing them with the Coca Cola drinks will be the best idea. The last reason why the business is attractive is that the prices of Coca Cola beverages are a bit cheaper than other drinks in Blakfalls.
Conforto & Amaral (2016, p. 7) define target customers as the population in an area who are the potential buyers of any product. Therefore, according to that definition, the target customers for the coca cola drinks are those residents of Blakfalls who love drinking soft drinks. They include those who want to change the brand they are drinking now and adopt a new brand, children and even those who do not now their stand. A revenue stream as defined by Haz?r (2015, p. 815) in his research is the source of capital for a business or a company and it can be in the following type, service revenue, recurring revenue, transaction based revenue, and project revenue. The revenue made after sale will be envisaged by looking at money the business has generated after one year of operation in Blakfalls Kaiser, Arbi & Ahlemann, 2015, p. 126).
After getting the market share of my competitor I will increase the numbers of employees to help me in supplying the Coca cola soft drinks to the clients whom the competitors have left for me. I will also increase the number of drinks I order from Coca Cola Company because I know that demand will be so high. So that overcome my competitors, I will brand by distributor agency so that it can be known by every person in Blakfalls. I will apply all the marketing techniques to brand by business and publicize it to the residents of Blakfalls.
Kaiser, Arbi & Ahlemann (2015, p. 126) suggested that every business person must validate his or business ideas to see if they have worked or not. Therefore, I will validate my business ideas to ensure that they have work through the following. First creating a feedback mechanism which can allow the consumers of my good to give their feedback on if my business ideas have solved the problem or not. Collecting feedback and reviews from clients and consumers help a business entrepreneur to know whether his or her ideas are been received or people have rejected them (Conforto & Amaral, 2016, p. 7). Feedbacks also help the business owner discover weakness and rectify. Second, I will validate the ideas by conducting target customers analysis, this will involve have conversation with my customers one on one to see their feelings and reactions. Another way to see if your ideas have worked is audit al your financial statements and see whether you have profits or loses.
According to Kaiser, Arbi & Ahlemann (2015, p. 126), project management is a very important knowledge when a business person wants to exploit an opportunity. Project management helps a lot in designing on how the business idea will be created and implemented. To understand further the role of project management in exploiting business opportunities, looking at WATERFALL project management method is essential. The process has five stages according to Golini, Kalchschmidt & Landoni (2015, p. 650). The stages include engineering of the idea- it is where an entrepreneur come up with a business idea. In this case the business idea is to distribute to be a dealer on Coca Cola products in Blakfalls. Secondly, designing a way of implementing the project follows, here the entrepreneur looks for money and conducts many researches on the project to understand the project better. Third is implementation of the program and fourth is testing the validation of the idea through feedback and other forms. Lastly, the entrepreneur designing methods of maintain the idea on the market, methods like branding the business (Rosemann & vom Brocke, 2015, p. 105). The WATERFALL process has explained how the project management has helped in exploiting the idea.
There are many project management approaches that can be used in mitigating challenges faced when delivering new ideas. However, in this context the WATERFALL and PRINCE2 approaches. WATERFALL approach is considered because its last state can help in dealing will challenges (Mok, Shen & Yang, 2015, p. 446). The last stage of WATERFALL is maintenance where the business person must develop ways in marinating the idea, ways like developing feedback channels and conducting target market research .if you have a channel where you can read the reviews and feedbacks of the customers then you can know the challenges and fix them as per the customer’s reviews. Target market research is also important in knowing what the market and the customers want. PRINCE2 is defined the roles of every person in the project, therefore, if there is any challenge facing the business idea PRINCE2 has outlined who to deal with the challenge (Kaiser, Arbi & Ahlemann, 2015, p. 126).
Conclusion:
The business report herein has looked at how a business problem or entrepreneurial ideal can be solved and implemented. Glukhov, Ilin & Levina (2015, 543) has said that business problem cannot miss in any business setup because a problem is the origin of development. The researcher in the report developed an idea of distributing Coca Cola drinks to the residents of Blakfalls. The researcher saw a problem where the town residents were just dinking other types of beverages but to those form Coca Cola Company, hence he decided to solve that problem by becoming a distributer. Mok, Shen & Yang (2015, p. 446) in the report has said that knowing the target customers and where to find the revenue for the business is very vital. Furthermore, Rosemann & vom Brocke (2015, p. 105) added that the project management approaches are important in exploiting the idea. The researcher chose WATER FALL and PRINCE2 project management approaches as the best in tackling challenges that may come when exploiting the idea. Lastly, the report has captured the role of project management in exploiting the idea.
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