Marketing Plan Essays (1734 words) - E-commerce, Invoice

Scenario: ?HARD-AS-NAILS? ?Hard-as-Nail? is currently a sole-trader business, supplying nails and screws to DIY outlets in North Wales. Until now they have provided their products in bulk, usually by the kilo, but many of its customers have asked the company to provide its wares in smaller pre-packed quantities. The company has reluctantly complied with this request, but has made few other changes to its existing structure or working practices. The General Manager (GM) started the company five years ago, dealing directly from a van. He built up the customer / outlet base and identified a good sole supplier. The responsibility for purchasing bulk items and the pricing of goods to outlets rests with him. The GM likes things to go on as they always have done but realises there must be change if he wants to see the company become the main supplier of nails and screws to North Wales and possibly branch out towards Newtown in Mid-Wales. He would like to see his gross annual profits rise by at least 10% over the next year. The Company Secretary (CS) handles all company administration. She communicates with customers, the bank and government offices, keeps the company accounts and deals with personnel matters. She is also the line manager for an administrative assistant who handles the receipt and despatch of post and maintains the office filing system. CS is the only employee who has access to a PC, which she uses for basic word-processing and accounting spreadsheets. She would like greater use of modern technology products throughout the company, particularly (in her case) for invoice control over both suppliers and customers. She is not happy about the GM being the only person to deal with their sole supplier and feels the company needs to investigate the availability of other sources. The Warehouse Manager (WM) is responsible for everything that goes on in the warehouse. She manages the receipt and storage of bulk items, the pre-packing operation and the processing and the filling customer orders. She is also the company Health and Safety officer. She would like greater responsibility in the area of stock control and feels the GM is now unfamiliar with the needs of customers and the levels (and cost) of warehoused stock. She feels the company should find different ways of marketing their products so turnover is increased and levels of dormant stock reduced. The WM is the manager of the five other company employees: ? Delivery Driver - who delivers filled orders to existing customers, receives new orders from them and brings them back to the warehouse (at the end of the delivery round) for the WM to record and prioritise ? Packers (3) - who do the day-to-day work in the warehouse. Repacking bulk items into pre-packed specified quantities, preparing customer orders for delivery and keeping the warehouse tidy. Theirs is manual work and they would like to see new ideas and equipment brought in to help with the assembling and movement of bulk supplies and filled customer orders ? Cleaner - who spends 3 hours each weekday evening cleaning the office and warehouse. She is quite happy with the way things are and does not ask for or expect anything more than the basic tools to do her job. The company is based in Llandudno, central for most of their customers. Currently it has one supplier (based in the Midlands) and about 75 outlets located along the North Wales coast. Outlets are visited at least once a month usually when Delivery Driver delivers their order. Warehouse and office staffs generally work a five-day week (Monday to Friday, 8 to 5.30) with occasional overtime if needed. bomark.doc Page 3 of 9 QUESTION ONE (The Nature of Business Systems) (23 marks) This question is looking at the first part of the syllabus by exploring the candidate?s knowledge of organisational planning and the flow of information into, out of and within the company 1.1 The mission statement should be fairly bold 2 marks are to be awarded for and reflect the overall direction the anything similar to the organisation is to take ? where it wants to be. suggested mission statement. This is given in the second paragraph of the The 10% profit rise is not part of scenario and candidates should have the mission statement and ? something like: mark should be deducted if it has been included. ?To become the main supplier of nails and screws in North and Mid Wales? Maximum mark is 2 1.2 Again this is looking at company objectives Up to 2? marks for each rather than team or personal objectives. objective. Objectives should be SMART (Specific, (Give ? mark for each