Task 4: Evaluating the success of the project - By Rishi R. Kataria
1. Introduction
I conducted the course work projects individually, and the
enterprise lasted for a little over 6 Months. The report will evaluate
the success of the venture to establish the lessons learnt.
The learning environment makes it necessary for students
and teachers to require storage devices to keep a record of their
progress and important note. By the closure of the enterprise, I
learnt the valuable lesson that can guide me in future
endeavours such as being sensitive on customer demands and
focus on quality since much of the sales were made from a
referral from satisfied clients and not the marketing effort.
2. Findings
2.1. Financial Evaluation
Gem Drives was a not a successful enterprise as
despite it providing competition for the stationery shop in
the school, it was unable to repay the loan amount due to
the misplacement of an account sheet.
Keeping a digital record of the financial document is
crucial for the enterprise and instead of using excel, more
professional bookkeeping software like, FreshBooks could
have been used.
The enterprise lacked an exit strategy which resulted
in the prolonged functioning of the enterprise.
Raising addiotional finance from an external source
would have helped the enterprise during the time when it
lacked working capital.
My enterprise successufully kept the core expenses
low, which avoided the lack of working capital.
2.2. Planning and Implementation
I took the initiative to prepare a business plan for the
enterprise before taking any steps to operationalise it.
However, there were shortcomings in the marketing plan
and the developing of a website. The task of creating an
e-commerce website was quite involved as it had to be
customised and this caused a delay in launching the
enterprise. The digital marketing strategy was not well
planned and thus it did not yield results. If I had taken more
time to understand my target customers, I could have
developed more concrete advertisement materials.
I also decided to temporariliy decrease the marketing
as I was unable to procure stock to satisfy the customers. I
believe that It was a sutible move, as later we exausted the
demand for the product in the market, which would have
otherwise happend sooner. This also forced us to
accomodate more products.
Being constraint to the school was a mistake for the
enterprise. I should have started selling products on online
platforms or set up a stall at some technology-based
conference.
3. Conclusion
On average, the enterprise performed well regarding
finances and in setting the timeline. However, there were flaws in
the marketing plan as it did not address the needs of the clients.
The enterprise was not efficient in exploiting the resources
around it, and thus it did not generate the maximum possible
sales. Setting up social networking sites was time-consuming",
however, they yielded in low customer-accusation costs.
The negotiations with the suppliers were successful and I
was able to maintain a good relationship with the suppliers
throughout the functioning of the enterprise.
Our customers were satiated with the quality of the
products and appreciated the fantastic post-sale care which was
provided.
4. Recommendations
In the future, the marketing strategy will be given more
priority to ensure that it generates the expected return on
investment. Also, the company will focus on avoiding much debt
as it was realised that much of the enterprise sales went back to
the repayment of loans leaving the business with little to expand
and to pay for other expenses. Consequently, an efficient balance
between debt and equity is needed.
By the closure of the enterprise, I learnt the valuable lesson
that can guide me in future endeavours such as being sensitive
on customer demands and focus on quality since much of the
sales were made from a referral from satisfied clients and not the
marketing effort.
Instead of taking a loan from the school, I would
recommend raising finance from an external source in return of
equity in the enterprise, as it would compel the investor to further
assist the business. A crowdfunding campaign would have
provided marketing as well as the finances needed for the
operation of the enterprise.
I believe that outsource a task could also help the
enterprise grow. For example, as I was unable to design the
website, I negotiated a deal with some other students who were
willing to do the task in return for a discount. Outsourcing the
task can also be done on platforms such as “Fiverr”, where I could
hire freelancers for tasks who have a skill set that I lack.
Most suppliers I was dealing with were not highly
educated, and I had to converse with them in Hindi. It was
written in the enterprise book to use formal language while
negotiation, therefore, I used formal Hindi while negotiation.
However, I observed that the use of formal language anxious and
uneasy, so I started using Informal language and it increased the
productivity and efficiency of the conversation. My findings
indicated that the use of formal language with people who are
not highly educated may hamper the conversation, therefore",
having the skill to converse with people informally was also very
important.
APPENDIX I: Cashflow
APPENDIX II: Sales
