Business Coursework - Exemplary Work - Part Five

- FINAL RECOMMENDATIONS

Overall, to iterate my earlier recommendation I think their marketing function needs to be improved immediately as without this they are not reaching their full potential and if Rock ‘N’ Sole Plaice follow my recommendations above they will be able to reach the owner’s aim to increase their revenue by 5% (see appendix F7). I believe the one area in marketing that needs to be addressed is their promotion because other factors such as product, price and place all resulted in mixed opinions which must mean a percentage of the population is happy with them (see appendix A). Therefore, perhaps if they expose themselves to a wider customer base through a variety of promotions they will be able to bring in new customers, in which a proportion of them will be satisfied and thus become loyal customers. As a result, it will increase their performance as a business because they would generate higher revenues to reinvest in expanding the business.  

Business Coursework - Exemplary Work - Part Four

- STRATEGIES FOR IMPROVEMENT?

To improve this area, the sub sections of marketing need to be dealt with separately. Below I have identified some strategies for improvement in each area: 

-Product

To improve their product, which is the food at Rock ‘N’ Sole Plaice I would advise them to perhaps fire their current chef and hire an experienced chef who has previous work experience at a reputed fish and chips place in Britain. An advantage of this would be that the new chef will be able to make food that tastes like it does back home with good flavor thus resolving the complains stated that they lacked from my research which stated the food lacked taste (see appendix G, E). Although, a disadvantage would be that if they fire the current chef, morale may lower in the business as the employees would be afraid that they might lose their jobs. Alternatively, if Rock ‘N’ Sole Plaice do not wish to take such drastic measures they could sign their chefs up for some cooking classes so that food can be improved upon, this would have significant advantages; firstly, in comparison to my first suggestion this is less extreme, secondly, it would also increase morale as the chef would be happy to gain more experience. Although, this could have disadvantages; they chef could feel insulted and thus his morale could actually lower and another disadvantage of this is that it will definitely add to the businesses expenses.  Also, I think they need to start sourcing their food from another company as many complain the food is not fresh. The advantage of this will be that they will have resolved the complains of the food not seeming fresh, however a disadvantage would be that a disturbance in trade and change of suppliers may actually lead them having to increase prices to cover costs, which some may not be willing to pay and thus Rock ‘N’ Sole Plaice may lose some customers in the short term, but in the long term it would be beneficial. Moreover, they also need to improve on their range of food, they simply need to do this by adding more variety to their menu, perhaps they could look at some of the competitor’s menus and borrow their ideas, and also they could take a suggestion from their customer and expand their drink variety (see appendix A13). The advantage of this would be that they will become the dominant competitor and will be able to steal customers from their direct competitor, however as a result of Rock ‘N’ Sole Plaice doing this they would have increased competition, which may result in their competitor fighting back and thus improving their marketing functions too which would affect negatively on Rock ‘N’ Sole Plaice. Lastly, they also need to improve their food packaging, by paying attention to detail, perhaps they could use environmentally friendly packaging as one customer suggested (see appendix 15). An advantage of this would be that they would be becoming an ethical company and could establish themselves as environmentally friendly to gather more customers, although a disadvantage of this would be the high cost to use environmentally friendly packaging. 

-Price

Although, pricing was generally rated positively, it still has space for improvement. For instance, although they have taken into account their target market of students by providing a student menu, it still seems like 40% people do not feel it is affordable (see appendix A8). However, I do understand if they lower their prices more they would probably not be able to afford to be in business anymore, therefore I would suggest that they start giving small promotions to students such as giving 10% off if the customer presents a valid student ID or giving out cards where if you collect a certain amount of points you will be able to a discount or free meal. An advantage of this would be that it would motivate customers to eat more often at Rock ‘N’ Sole Plaice thus build customer relationships and as a result help reach the owner’s aim to increase revenue by 5% this year (see appendix F7). Although, a disadvantage of this would be that they would be losing on its full potential revenue as they are giving discounts and free meals, however I think this extra expenses would be balanced by the numerous customers this strategy would attract.

-Promotion

In regards to the marketing function, this area is the one that could be improve significantly and have the most impact on marketing. Firstly, they need to start advertising in magazines such as Timeout or newspapers such as 7DAYS or even a popular radio among students such as Virgin Radio. An advantage of this would be that they would be able to establishing themselves and attract more customers, although a disadvantage would be the high cost of advertising, which will add to their expenses in the short term. Alternatively, if they do want to take a cheaper option they could place advertisement in school newspapers of its surrounding schools (see appendix H1); an advantage of this would be that it will reach its ideal target market of students and perhaps their families too and it would be cheaper than my first recommendation, what’s more is that each of these schools have approximately 1000 students and therefore if it places advertisements on each of the seven surrounding schools newspaper Rock ‘N’ Sole Plaice would be exposing itself up to potentially 7000 students. However, a disadvantage would still be the costs and also that its reach would be limited within the school families only. In addition to this, they could improve on promotion by sponsoring events in schools such as International Day or Sporting events, where they could sponsor the food for Britain stalls, an advantage again would be the exposure to more customers however a disadvantage would be that again their reach would be limited within the school families only and also some parents may object to this for ethical reasons. Lastly, I think in order to reach their target market efficiently Rock ‘N’ Sole Plaice need to increase their social network strategy by firstly opening a Twitter account and also by promoting this new Twitter account and their current Facebook account on a large scale in the café by perhaps dedicating a chalkboard just to advertise their social networks. An advantage of this would be that by interaction through social networking could cause an increase in their customer base by encouraging people to share their pages and interacting with customers to create better customer relationships. The only disadvantage would be that they would need to get someone experienced to manage these accounts, as it can be very time consuming and perhaps complicated. 

-Location/Place

Even though the location appeared to be a slight problem, as 10% voted it not suitable (see appendix A9) I think any changes would be too expensive and risky for a business to do in only their second year of business. Therefore, I think Rock ‘N’ Sole Plaice need to start taking full advantage of their location by using the promotion strategies I have mentioned above. However, instead of changing its location I think they should expand their café, an advantage would be that by increasing the number of tables inside and reducing the number outside, they will be taking advantage of the space they have available and discarding complains of it being cramped.  Alternatively, a disadvantage would be the cost to rebuild infrastructure to expand. Regarding the actual interior, they should put up a more noticeable sign of Rock ‘N’ Sole Plaice by increasing its size and using brighter colors than just plain white as its background and adding a splash of color inside the café. The advantage of doing this will be that the ambiance would be improved, as Rock ‘N’ Sole Plaice would appear more appealing and noticeable. However, a disadvantage of this would be the cost to redecorate which will add to their expenses in the short term.  

India's Economy - Part 2

FUTURE

India has one of the fastest growing economies in the world, with growth rate of 8.3% in 2010.

•India is fast on its way to becoming a large and globally important consumer economy.

• The Indian middle class, estimated to be 50 million people, is catching up with the Western culture.

• If current trends continue, Indian per capita purchasing power parity will significantly increase from 4.7 to 6.1 percent of the world share by 2015.

•In 2006, 22 percent of Indians lived under the poverty line. India aims to eradicate poverty by 2020

•To sum it up, India is approaching a strong economy – although some parts of India remain poor.

India's Economy - Part 1

•Tenth largest nominal GDP in the world. 

•Fourth largest in terms of purchasing power parity.

•At a rapid growth of 8.5 in 2010-11.

•The GDP is split into services (55.2%), industry (26.3%), and agriculture (18.5%).

PROBLEMS

•Even after so much growth, approximately 27% of Indians still earn under $1000 per year

•This causes a massive differences between the incomes of people in India.

•

• There is also a high rate of unemployment, reaching nearly 10.8% in 2010

•These problems can be blamed on corruption.

•Corruption has caused many business to not choose India as a location to set up.

•

•The inflation is at 9.22%, but this isn’t worrying people as much as it is in china.

What are the limitations of GDP per Capita as a comparable measure of living standards?

There are various limitations of using GDP per Capita as a comparable measure of living standards. As mentioned earlier, the GDP per capita measure is the nominal GDP divided by the population. Thus, for a give amount of output, a country with a smaller population will have a higher standard of living than a country with a larger population. This is a problem often faced in countries with very low GDP per Capita measures of the standard of living. When GDP grows slowly and the population increases rapidly, the GDP per capita and thus the standard of living tends to decline over time. Thus, this is major limitation of using GDP per Capita as a measure of living standards as it will not accurately show the increase, unless the population growth rate is controlled at the same time too.

Moreover, GDP per Capita does not taken into account the hidden economy. The hidden economy is estimated to be worth $9 trillion throughout the world, it is estimated to be an average of 15% national output for rich economies and 33% of national output for emerging economies. Nigeria and Thailand are estimated to have largest hidden economy, accounting for more than 70% of official GDP. The hidden economy consists of the black market, the grey market economy and the shadow economy. The black market refers to illegal trade of products such as drugs. Although, the grey market economy is legal activity, for example if your friend gives you a product and you sell it on for a profit. Similarly, the shadow economy is legal activity however; it is not declared, such as baby-sitting for your neighbours. As a result of the hidden economy creates a limitation for GDP per Capita as a comparable measure of living standards, as the GDP per Capita is not able to take into account he hidden economy activity.

Additionally, increased living standards also includes increased leisure, although this does not result in increased GDP per Capita, in fact it lower it, therefore it is a limitation of GDP per Capita as a comparable measure of living standards. Similarly, GDP per Capita does not measure improvements in product quality unless they are included in the price, hence making improvements in product quality another limitation.

Furthermore, GDP per Capita makes no values adjustments for changes in composition of output. If an economy devotes too many resources to satisfying the short run needs and wants of consumers or more demerit goods such as guns, than merit goods such as education, standards of living would decrease. This is because there may be insufficient resources for investment needed for long-term economic development and therefore standards of living would be decreasing in the long run even though the GDP per Capita will show it as increasing, thus this would be a limitation as it would not show a comparable measure of living standards.

Moreover, another limitation of using GDP per Capita as a comparable measure of living standards is that is cannot take into account noneconomic sources of well-being that increase standards of living. These include but are not limited to; courtesy, crime reduction, etc. It also neglects the environment, for example it does not deducted from the GDP per Capita (oil spills, increased incidence of cancer, destruction of habitat for wild life, the loss of a clear obstructed view). Neither does GDP per Capita include payments made for cleaning up oil spills and the cost of health care for cancer victims. Also, it does not take into account that resource depletion could result in lower future output and hence decrease standard of living, therefore GDP per Capita is a limitation as a comparable measure of living standards.

In conclusion, I believe there are many limitations of using GDP per Capita as a comparable measure of living standards, the main limitation being that it is not an accurate reflection of living standards as it does not take into account many aspects of material welfare.