Cupcake Shop

International University Vietnam Bachelor of Commerce Program ASSIGNMENT COVER PAGE Your assessment will not be accepted unless all fields below are completed Subject Code:| BUSM4092| Subject Name: | Applied Entrepreneurship| Location where you study:| RMIT Vietnam – SGS| Title of Assignment:| Feasibility Analysis| Student name:| Kim Koan DongPham Anh HoaNguyen Phu HaiPham Phuong Nghi| Student Number:| s3324450s3298342s3255278S3269894| Learning Facilitator in charge:| Ms. Agatha Heng| Assignment due date:| 07/09/2012|Date of Submission: | 07/09/2012| Late Submission Approval| | Number of pages including this one: (Please number your pages like this: page 1 of 7, page 2 of 7, etc)| 27| Word Count:(Main Content)| 5,558| EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Having noticed the business opportunity in food, especially in dessert in the Vietnam market, Ucake’s business idea is developed. The purpose of presenting this idea is to help customers embodying their precious message into cake, the req uisite item in every celebration.This can be regarded our business idea as the current market has not provide it. Investigation revealed that choosing young people 15 to 30 living in Ho Chi Minh City as potential targets in terms of increase in population, GDP and positive behavioral change towards cake. Moreover, market research found that there are competitors with strong brand name and reputation. However Ucake can survive among the opponents with service differentiation focus strategy in which Ucake’s core differentiated service is ‘customer’s self decorated cake’.Ucake provides plain base cake, hygiene environment with fresh and diverse topping, and then customers simply come to shop and decorate their cakes easily and fast with meaningful memory supported by professional advice by Ucake’s chefs. Otherwise, customers can choose cake design from hundreds of models that suit their event. Among the analysis, first five years’ financial stat ements, showing estimated establishment cost, revenue and expense, are included to verify that Ucake is able to break-even within 3 years. TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY2 I. The Business Idea4 1. Opportunity description:4 . Product / service description:4 3. Description of the entrepreneur team:5 II. The Industry and Market6 1. Current Industry Analysis6 2. Market potential Analysis7 3. Competitors Analysis (referred to Appendix 3)8 4. Target market/customers9 5. Market penetration (referred to Appendix 5)10 6. Stakeholder Analysis11 III. Business Model Analysis (referred to Appendix 6)13 1. Revenue sources13 2. Cost drivers13 3. Resource requirements / mapping13 4. Investment size14 5. Critical success factors15 6. Risk analysis and management16 IV. Future Action Plan17 1. Sources of start – up capital17 . Further information needed17 3. Support needed18 REFERENCES19 APPENDICES21 I. The Business Idea 1. Opportunity description: Currently, Vietnamese people are accustome d to Western culture, so they consider cakes not only as desserts or presents for birthday, but also indispensable items in special events such as Christmas or anniversary party. This trend leads to the rapid growth in demands of cakes, especially in holiday period like Christmas (Bao Moi Newspaper, 2009). Not stopping there, people also want to make their cake becomes more momentous to suit the purpose of parties or events.However, there are still no bakeries allowing customers to decorate cakes by themselves. As entrepreneurs, this is a good occasion for Ucake to develop a business idea to create more values and options for customers through its differentiated services. 2. Product / service description: Ucake bakery that has differentiated services will be opened to make customer feel convenient and comfortable, bring more benefit, and satisfy their needs. Two main services will be developed. Firstly, dissimilar cake designs will be updated for customer to choose, and then Ucakeâ €™s bakers will make cakes exactly based on design’s offer.Moreover, customers also can prefer their own design for Ucake to implement. Although the design of cakes is sometimes not favored some customers, they still have to buy it as they have fewer choices. This problem can be solved when customers come to Ucake’s store where they have various choices and they can even ask Ucake to make the cake based on their own suggestion. Here at Ucake bakery, it sells not only cakes designed by its’ store, but also cakes customers want to have. Another service is self – decoration, which there are spaces provided for customers, and all necessary equipments are to support them decorating cakes on their own.When using this service type, customers will pay for a plain base cake, toppings, and cream to design the cake; and what is more, they are allowed to try the taste of the cream, toppings before purchasing. To help client’s better understanding of the se rvices, Ucake’s bakers are there and willing to give advice for cake decorates. The cakes can become so consequential for the receiver if people decorate it by themselves. For example, parents will be very surprised and happy if their children decorate a cake as a gift for their wedding anniversary.However, most of Vietnamese people do not have enough necessary equipments or places to decorate a cake. This issue has been recognized, and Ucake wants to generate services that give its buyers chances not only to garnish this kind of desserts but to enjoy the fun and relaxation as well when they come to Ucake. 3. Description of the entrepreneur team: A group four undergraduate students who are taking bachelor degrees in RMIT University are recently having their family businesses run profitably in the Vietnam industry.Having followed different majors with background s of serving business, marketing, design, and especially in the hospitality streams, the team has ambition of launch ing a bakery locally which is called Ucake. On that account, the team seeks for potential opportunities with creative production to help solving customers’ problem, giving them more benefits, and also generating profits remarkably for their business. In addition, each member has developed a wide spread of professional relationship that would sustain their project in positive aspect and scale through their family’s network and friends.By employing some of members’ real working experiences from their family business and other service firms, the team is expecting use their conditions and supports to start up Ucake bakery successfully. II. The Industry and Market 1. Current Industry Analysis To improve Ucake’s strategies and support the awareness towards different features affecting its business, Porter’s five forces model is applied for analyzing risks that helps Ucake to control in higher progress in the Vietnam industry. According to Rice (2010), th is model contains five typical aspects. 1. 1.Bargaining power of suppliers – Low Within the bakery industry, raw materials are vital factors that contribute to the success of a business leading to high value of products and prestige. Usually, prices of materials like flour, sugar, milk†¦ are depended on the level of quality customers want to aim at. In Vietnam, sources of suppliers for those ingredients are relatively diverse that can be derived from local grocery stores or larger suppliers. Hence, Ucake will have more options choosing dealer that are appropriate for its budget and demand. 1. 2. Bargaining power of buyers – HighNowadays, the Vietnamese people are influenced by Western cultures and tend to go to cake shops as their hobbies, especially on holidays and other events. With many bakeries throughout the country, customers are advantageous to experience excellence and different prices of various bakery shops. Besides, many youths are also interested in ma king cakes by themselves; as a result, clients have more knowledge of selecting the right cakes which are suitable for their commandment. 1. 3. Threat of new entrants – High Since the regulations and procedures of starting up a bakery in Vietnam are not so complex (Vatgia. om, 2011), which even people with small capitals can also invest on this kind of business, barriers to enter the industry here are not high. Therefore, as a new comer, Ucake faces the threat of self – decoration service imitation from other components, including existing and approaching cake shops. 1. 4. Threat of substitutes – High The level of threat of substitutes that Ucake faces is pretty high as there are many different types of food and dessert services developing in Vietnam (VietnamBriefing, 2008), such as ice – cream, yogurt, fast food, Vietnamese sweet soup, etc.Thus, clients have various options of switching to other food once their demand of consuming cakes decreases. 1. 5. Rivalry among existing firms – High At the moment, only in Ho Chi Minh City, there are over 100 bakery stores located widely, and the competition of bakeries are getting more and more intense as many large and small local bakery stores exist in the market (Phan Le, 2012). Furthermore, the local bakeries also have to compete under pressures of investments from some famous foreign bakeries, which might affect customers’ perceptions and operations of local bakeries as well as Ucake. . Market potential Analysis Regarding this area, PEST model is used to examine the environmental part for executive strategies. 2. 6. Political Due to To Loan (2008), food hygiene and safety are some of the biggest issues in Vietnam, and this issue is much cared by the government. Research Center of Business Administration claims that HACCP is the highest international license required by the Vietnamese for a firm which wants to operate in food industry. So, Ucake must have HACCP  (Hazard An alysis and Critical Control Points) to meet the Food Safety Law. 2. 7. EconomicUcake will have to take moderate rental costs, so the store’s location does not have to be positioned in the center of Ho Chi Minh City. Due to Diaoconline. com (2012), the cost for a two – floored shop in district 5 is approximately 1,000USD. Cost of facility and equipment for a new venture are paid highly in the first year in terms of the good quality facilities and equipment in order to make customer feel comfortable. However, since they are fixed costs, the venture does not need to pay anymore in next few years, and maintenance costs will be paid less instead.According to VietnamBranding (2008), Vietnamese people refer Western fast food than Vietnamese. 2. 8. Social Dan Tri Newspaper (2012) states that Vietnamese people care and obverse more Western tradition and events (Christmas, mother’s day, Halloween†¦) and considers that cakes are commonly used in many parties and speci al events. This leads to high demand of cake, and especially during Christmas. Besides, in this century, people do not only want a delicious cake but increasingly care more about nutrition and health issue (Viet Bao Newspaper, 2005).So, if Ucake has HACCP for ensuring the safety of the cakes and researching some of new healthy ingredients, more and more customers will be more attracted. 2. 9. Technology As a small business, high technology is not really fundamental for Ucake. However, Ucake need to have fresh, safe and high quality ingredients. Hence, safe and clean process of making and decorating cakes are highly presented, also the bakery can cooperate with its supplier to do research and development to adjust the amount of sugar and please customers, especially that are fastidious. . Competitors Analysis (referred to Appendix 3) 3. 10. Direct competitors Regarding the direct competitive environment, generally, most of Ucake’s components are other bakeries in Vietnam, whic h are large local bakeries, small ‘cakes and cafe’ shops, and foreign bakeries. Some of Ucake’s particular competitors consist of Vietnamese ones like Brodard, Givral and Jous Les Jours bakery from overseas. Firstly, Brodard and Givral bakeries are two of most long time businesses in the Vietnam bakery industry that selling cakes and other breads.Overall, both of them supply cake orders from clients like Ucake; conversely, as their service regards to only takeaway cakes, they do not have self – decorated cake services for buyers. For Tous Les Jours which is a popular chained bakery from Korea that mainly offers clients fresh breads, cakes and other desserts, the chain presently has more than 8 stores allocated in Ho Chi Minh City. Similar to Ucake, Tous Les Jours accommodates consumers with cafe spaces, and also makes cakes through customers’ idea suggestion.Nonetheless, the Korean chain does not have self – decoration cakes and hardly to cha nge to this kind of service while their concept is consistent, and because of their large number of branches. 3. 11. Indirect competitors In this field, as Vietnam’s integration has been widely opened, different investors of foodservice gradually find opportunities in the Vietnam market. As a consequence, Ucake’s indirect competitors are both domestic and foreign foodservice businesses surrounded by the nation.Among those components, Baskin Robbins (ice –cream chains), Yogen Fruz (Yogurt chains) and Lotteria (fast – food chains) are selected to weight against Ucake’s potential. In general, all of those 3 businesses are serving consumption services apart from Ucake, and their statuses are reasonably strong compared to Ucake as a new comer. In addition, none of them contains mutually two kinds of services that Ucake has. For this reason, even though Ucake is totally new and less popular, its operation is not affected much by indirect challengers in t erms of this new differentiated variety of service. . Target market/customers (referred to Appendix 4) 4. 12. Geographic According to World Bank (2012), the GDP per capita has been increased significantly since the year of 2000. Among the provinces, Ho Chi Minh City’s population claimed the highest with almost 6,000 people in 2010. Moreover, people’s average income in the northern area is also high, which especially in Ho Chi Minh City’s was estimated the greatest with approximately 3,000 USD per year (Hoa Le, 2012) determining higher consumption compared to other regions.Hence, Ho Chi Minh is an ideal location for Ucake to plan for starting up the investment and seek to achieve good profits. 4. 13. Demographic Ucake’s targeted customers are aimed at the ages from 15 to 29 who are mainly teenagers and youths going to work as there are numerous young ages of under 30 that reach more than 50% of the Vietnam population (Nielsen, 2010). 4. 14. Behavioral Thos e groups of audience above are targeted not only because of their excess in the country population. Typically, a majority of them tends to adapt new updates of trend due to the international integration prospect and influence from other countries’ cultures.Thus, that is one of the reasons why many young Vietnamese people have interests in Western fast food and desserts by the appearance of investments regarding these kinds of food in the Vietnam market. Viet Bao Newspaper (2005) states the progressive encouragement of the Vietnamese of considering hygienic products as their vital priority for consumption in recent decades. For those points, Ucake finds it quite potential with great opportunities to set goals for achieving success through this targeted market. 4. Market penetration (referred to Appendix 5)Since the cake market is already at the maturity stage of the product life cycle, in order to enter the industry; Differentiation Focus Strategy is applied to Ucake. QuickMBA (n. d) says that Differentiation Focus Strategy can help the firm to narrow down to a specific group of customers, and give consumers the best and different services compared to its competitors resulting in retaining customer loyalty. However, there are some limitations with this tactic that Ucake’s service can be imitated or its targeted segment changes consumer needs.Guerilla marketing: Ucake has to do marketing activities strongly in the first year as it is a new and small firm in the market, and guerilla marketing is an ideal tool for new business which has limited marketing budget like Ucake. Some experts (Levinson, Levinson, & Levinson 2007) indicate that guerilla marketing is an easy and inexpensive marketing method for small business. Guerilla marketing strategy focuses on low cost, unconventional marketing tactics, and puts more time and effort to achieve maximum result. One week before the opening of the shop, some of refrigerated cabinets made by glass can be placed on public places such as parks or supermarkets. Then Ucake’s big designed cakes are displayed inside to catch people’s attention and trigger their curiosity. The slogan â€Å"Your Cake† will be put on cabinets to introduce Ucake’s business idea to clients. * Additionally, few days before the launching day, the banner of announcing the decoration contest will be also situated near refrigerated cabinets to invite people to participate. The contest will be held during the opening day.Customers can join and buy their cakes with half prices Advertising: advertisements of Ucake’s establishment day will be posted on magazines for youths and teenagers such as Tiep Thi va Gia Dinh and Hoa Hoc Tro. A Facebook page of Ucake will be created as well in order to expand the brand community. Facebook is an ideal place for us to reach large number of potential customers. Ucake’s products and other activities will be informed which are easy for consume rs to view wherever they are. This social media tool can draw customers’ interests and Ucake can receive advantages from this marketing effect. 5. Stakeholder AnalysisBeside the owners, people that influence the performance and success of Ucake’s business can consist of the customers, supplier and employees. Those important stakeholders are categorized and emphasized in 4 particular aspects in the table below. Stakeholder| Role| Level of effect| Expectation| Supposed risks| Investors| Devoting for the establishment of the business| Moderate| Making decisions in right investing and capitalizing for beneficial profits of the company| Lack of financial sources or bankruptcy would threaten the operation of the business| Customers| Consuming goods and service of the bakery| High| More usage of roducts and services from customers helping the business to gain status and revenue to compete with others| Bad comments from customers affecting the reputation of the business whethe r quality of goods or services do not satisfy them| Supplier| Supplying raw materials to the client bakery (i. e. flour, sugar, butter, milk, etc. | Moderate| Providing required quality and quantity of materials not only to enhance relationship with customers but also help generating profitable products for customers | Bad quality of raw materials supplied or late delivery time will cause unqualified products or delay in the plan of the business| Employees| Supporting and controlling the operation of the bakery| High| Adding efficient value to the business by applying their trained skills to the service and attending to customers in order to improve the bakery’s performance| Low capability, misbehavior to customers leading to decrease in turnover of the business|III. Business Model Analysis (referred to Appendix 6) 1. Revenue sources The revenue is mainly generated from two items which are customer’s ordered cake and self decorated cakes. Customer’s ordered cake is produced based on the design that customers choose from Ucake’s menu. Therefore, the price of each cake is the revenue varying due to the size and design from 300,000VND to 400,000VND. Customer’s self decorated cake is made through this process, in which Ucake provides a plain base cake and customers decorate the cake by adding toppings and creams according to their preference.The fixed revenue will be sale price of the base cake (150,000VND), and additional revenue is earned by the amount of toppings they supplement which costs 15,000VND per package of one kind of topping. Minimum of 100,000VND of toppings is expected to be just enough for decorating a whole cake nicely. Furthermore, revenue from self – decorated cakes is anticipated to be greater than from ordered cakes. Research result shows that there are no competitors providing this service at the present time. Other revenue is earned by the sale of soft drinks sold for customers in the shop, and one c an of the drink costs 15,000VND.As the price is relatively cheaper, it will not be considered as crucial revenue to ensure maintenance of business. 2. Cost drivers Number of consumers or sales of cakes will increase the raw material expense. Ucake only sells cakes, and the expense to satisfy customers’ demand will have the greatest impact on cost structures. Ingredients to bake plain base cake, such as eggs, sugar, butter, milk, salt, flour and cream, must be kept fresh so JIT (Just In Time) strategy will be utilized to decrease inventory costs.Being located nearby Ucake, the supplier (referred to ‘Resources requirements’ part) will conduct prompt delivery at lower costs in daily basis. 3. Resource requirements / mapping In order to offer satisfactory services to customers, raw materials and human resources are decisive in our business. The raw materials mentioned in ‘Cost drivers’ part above will be purchased from Tan Nhat Huong, the only local firm supplying cream, operating in Tan Binh district, Ho Chi Minh City. The quality is as high as other foreign companies’ products.As Ucake and the supplier’s locations are geographically close to each other, Ucake can decrease significant logistic costs. Ucake needs four people to run this business. One professional chef will bake the plain base cake and ordered cake. Two more amateur chefs will work as supportive assistants to help the main chef and to advise customers decorating cake. One person will be hired as receptionist. For this job, as there is no complex calculation involved, a person with no background of accounting can also be recruited.People will be hired from the online labor market (timviecnhanh. com), and Ucake will upload specific requirements of employees and interview the favorite candidates. 4. Investment size The first financial investment must be at least 100,000USD in order to start and operate Ucake for first year. Below is the cost analysis for the first five years after opening Ucake. * Fixed cost Ucake will be opened on Nguyen Trai Street, District 5 by renting a two – floored shop . The rental fee will be 1,000USD per month which will be totally cost 12,000USD for the first year of contract.Also, other costs to operate the business like electricity, water are calculated to be 167USD per month (2,000USD / first year). * Variable cost As the cakes are baked after receiving orders from customers, ingredients are considered as variable costs. All costs related to baking process such as electricity, labor, ingredients are regarded as 100,000VND per cake. Assuming that Ucake produces 3,720 cakes per year, including two types of products based on the revenue analysis, the variable cost will be 20,000USD per year. * Semi variable cost Semi variable costs comprise two expenses: wage and marketing.The wage is for the four employees. The wage amounts for main chef, supportive chefs and receptionist are 200USD, 150USD and 10 0USD, respectively. In the initial year, monthly wage will be 600USD which adds up to 7,200USD of wage expense for the first year. Ucake will conduct marketing vigorously in the first year to present the differentiated services and gain customers’ awareness. The annual cost is estimated to be 5,000USD. * Non recurring cost Equipments like baking ovens, furniture, and shop renovation costs will be spent before launching Ucake shop. All the equipment costs are calculated approximately 50,000USD.Sum of the first year’s costs are 96,000USD. However, in case of not covering expenses by the revenue, 4,000USD is needed as a back-up fund when Ucake meets unexpected costs. Hence, the first investment cost should be 100,000USD to cover the whole first year and half of second year’s expense. The first investment fund of 100,000USD will be recovered at the end of third quarter in year 2. Even though the price of cake is cheaper than other consumer products like electronic d evices or automobiles, huge profit margin of cake will allow the business to step up from survival to growth level. 5. Critical success factorsDuring the investment process, there are two main critical success factors of sustaining Ucake’s operations. First of all, one of the most vital elements for a bakery to accomplish is the role of the head baker. A head baker needs to have long time experience in baking and decorating cakes. Yet, this is still not enough. Cakes are quite attractive to many people, but customers have begun fussier about this kind of desserts over time due to changes of their perceptions about nutrition and safety of goods (Viet Bao Newspaper, 2005); thus, the head baker has to update consumer's behaviors and apply ethods that are adequate with their demands. For instance, he can use fresh cream instead of butter cream to reduce the fat of the cake’s topping cream for making buyers more secure as regards their health. In addition, he is in charge o f planning and estimating the number of sellable cakes per day to verify profits for the bakery also encourages products sold within 24 hours upon baking and avoids surplus of stock. Another critical success factor of Ucake is the quality of customer services.As a bakery providing self – decorated cakes, in order to serve the customer’s needs, it is significant to hire a group of staffs that meet the working standard for this new type of service. Basically, the staffs need to have limited knowledge about cake’s basis and skills of decorating cakes for instruction whether their buyers cannot garnish themselves or need assistants. Besides, they are to support customers in providing them options of cake toppings shapes for their self – decorated cakes, directing them to park vehicles, and make the shop atmosphere hygienic and convenient for them.With those points, Ucake can expect to match the criterions of services and keep its customers satisfied. 6. Risk analysis and management Among the risks, some distinguishing points strongly affect Ucake’s enlargement that need to be aware and administrated in terms of its business conception. The first threat that Ucake might face is that the idea of customer self – decoration services can be imitated by others which is estimated with high chance.As being appeared at the maturity stage, products of Ucake are common in the industry, except that its services are developed to a different standard and have never been applied by other competitors. Nevertheless, although self – decoration is new and unique compared to others, this concept does not require so many sophisticated progressions to implement the services; in consequence, other bakeries, including existing and potential ones, can easily reproduce Ucake or create similar serving styles even if Ucake tries to protect its company via Intellectual Property Rights registration.Copying service is an unavoidable problem to Uc ake; still, Ucake would be the pioneer in applying self – decorated cakes for clients in the market, so it is an extremely cautious period for Ucake to deliberate its growth as well as gaining customer loyalty by performing satisfactory products and services once it is first publicized. Additionally, the moderate possibility of employees’ misbehaviors to customers throughout their serving mission might occur. During the business, employees have high responsibilities in making clients feel worthy with what they pay for the services and want to return to Ucake again.On the other hand, employees are sometimes negative effects of discouraging customers of using services due to their slow serving or bad attitudes, and this would be very dangerous for the bakery because customers have diverse options of bakeries to prefer. As a consequence, Ucake needs to spend a period of time training the employees carefully with some particular rules of the bakery before the store’ s launch to look forward to attaining effective services satisfying its consumers.What is more, employees should be praised with rewards or other incentives whether they do their job well in order to increase their productivity in addition to Ucake’s efficient services. IV. Future Action Plan 1. Sources of start – up capital Ucake is a relatively small size in aspects of budget, establishment cost and labor wage. The business model analysis shows that Ucake requires at least 100,000USD as set up cost. There are three possible financial sources to raise the fund. * Angel investment: Ucake will open a business plan presentation to potential angel investors to persuade them that it is a feasible business.Angel investors will receive corresponding amount of return related to their investment size. * Loan from bank: Banks allow the Vietnamese to receive loan if credibility is guaranteed. Ucake will summit five years of financial budget and business plan to convince that Uca ke is a trustable business. 50,000USD is the amount Ucake plans to receive from the bank as a loan. * Financial supports from acquaintance: four owners of the business are running their own family business and being successful. Ucake can be financially supported by their families. . Further information needed Ucake lacks legal knowledge about food market. As a result, the future operation of the bakery must be checked and advised by a law firm called TopicLaw. TopicLaw will support by providing standard of food and necessary licenses for Ucake to run the bakery such as sanitation of bakery, safety of equipments. Also, as Ucake’s business idea is very easy to be copied, it should contact with consulting firm to protect the Intellectual Property Rights. The consultation will be about patent registration.The Target market analysis shows that the targeted market is quite potential. However, Ucake must implement further surveys before opening to identify what kind of toppings and decoration style that the target market prefers. It is vital to run regular survey on customers’ feedback and preference after setting up Ucake in order to maintain competitive advantages in such dynamic food market. 3. Support needed Due to the fact that parents of the four Ucake’s owners are successfully running family business overcoming economic crisis, they can be consultants of Ucake.External environments cannot be consistent as Ucake assume. Therefore, their parents may recommend direction of future operation and performance of Ucake. Excluding law firm and consulting firm which was mentioned in ‘further information needed’ section above, Ucake is looking forward to surviving and growing in the target market without further outside supports. 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Nielsen 2010, ‘Khao sat tai chinh ca nhan 2010’, The Nielsen Company, viewed 10th August 2012, ;lt;http://www. google. com. vn/url? sa=t;amp;rct=j;amp;q=h%C6%A1n+50%25+ng%C6%B0%E1%BB%9Di+vi%E1%BB%87t+d%C6%B0%E1%BB%9Bi+30+tu%E1%BB%95i;amp;source=web;amp;cd=1;amp;ved=0CEUQFjAA;amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww. ielsen. com%2Fcontent%2Fdam%2Fcorporate%2Ft3%2Fvietnam%2Freports%2FNielsen_PFM%2520Presentation_VNese. pdf;amp;ei=YuYzUKGcIYWPiAfFx4CIAQ;amp;usg=AFQjCNHwF2lBNKGO2JYJGbVpA1pxBxo0tg;amp;cad=rja;gt; Phan Le 2012, ‘Bakery: Cuoc chien da len men’, DoanhNhanSaiGon, 11th May, viewed 5th August, ;lt;http://doanhnhansaigon. vn/online/kinh-doanh/chuyen-lam-an/2012/05/1064208/bakery-cuoc-chien-da-len-men/;gt; Quick MBA n. d, ‘Porter’s Generic Strategies’, Quick MBA, viewed 29 August 2012, ;lt;http://www. quickmba. com/strategy/generic. html;gt; Rice, JF 2010, ‘Adaption of Porter’s Five Forces Model to Risk Management’, A Publication of the Defense Acquisition University, July, viewed 10th August 2012, Proquest database. 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VietnamBranding 2008, ‘Fast food Viet – bao gio? ’, VietnamBranding, 25 June, viewed 20 April 2012, ;lt;http://www. vietnambranding. com/thong-tin/phong-su-thuong-hieu/4610/Fast-food-Viet—bao-gio> World Bank 2012, ‘Vietnam GPD per capita’, TradingEconomics, viewed 12th August 2012, http://www. radingeconomics. com/vietnam/gdp-per-capita APPENDICES Appendix 1: Service Prototypes 1. Cakes baked and cream frosted by Ucake’s chefs. 2. Ucake provides options of toppings for customers. 3. Customers choose favorite toppings and pay at the counter. 4. Cakes and toppings are brought at customers’ tables. 5. Customers decorate cakes on their own or with the assistance of Ucake’s staffs. Appendix 2: Uca ke staffs’ job description Staff| Function| Head chef| The person who has long time knowledge and experience of working in the bakery industry.Typically, he holds good recipes of cakes and manages every baking step to ensure the cakes look stunning and tasty. | Supportive chefs| These chefs can be amateur and to assist the head chef in doing the baking process and help instructing customers towards self – decoration services. They also direct customers in decorating cakes whether customers suggest. | Receptionist| Has a responsibility of managing the quantity of toppings, charging bills of customers and reporting the revenue daily to owners. | Appendix 3: Direct and Indirect competitors analysis 3. 1. Direct competitors

Communication in an Organisation Essay

It is not possible to have human relations without communication. However, good and effective communication is required not only for good human relations but also for good and successful business. Communication is the activity of conveying meaningful information. Communication requires a sender, a message, and an intended recipient, although the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender’s intent to communicate at the time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast distances in time and space. It requires that the communicating parties share an area of communicative commonality and the communication process is complete once the receiver has understood the message of the sender so communication must include both the transfer and the understanding of meaning. I think that effective communication is needed within a business for both the manager’s and the organization’s success because it is required for the day to day running of the business . Effective communication is required at various levels and for various aspects in an organization so that there can be manager and employee relations. Effective communication of information and decision is an essential component for management-employee relations. The manager cannot get the work done from employees unless they are communicated effectively of what he/she wants to be done so therefore effective communication does not take place within an organization then employees will not know how to go about achieving company goals. Managers should also be sure of some basic facts such as how to communicate and what results can be expected from that communication. Most of management problems arise because of lack of effective communication. Chances of misunderstanding and misrepresentation can be minimized with proper communication system. When there is ineffective communication it leaves room for mistakes and sometime projects and reports have to be revised or done over thus causing resources to be squandered and may cause employees and managers to be frustrated. Finally, communication between management and employees can help the management better address concerns the employees may have, reassuring the staff and helping management to remedy potential problems facing the organization. Motivation can also arise from effective communication and this can make employees more productive which in turn will ensure the success of the business. When employees are able to easily communicate to their employers their opinions and problems they tend to be productive on the job and intent on working to best of their abilities. On the other hand manager can tell employees that they are doing a great job or ask for their opinions in the decision making process. Effective communication in the workplace plays a prominent role in developing long lasting employee motivation and one of many positive benefits gained from well-established organizational communication is improved relationships. Improving relationships between management and staff is quite important and is often overlooked. Things will go smoothly when everyone is on the same page, understanding of goals and the direction a company is going. The best process of communicating here is well thought out emails that follow the chain of command and face to face interactions. A company also uses communication as a way to maintain control over employees and their work environment. Written human resources policies and procedures dictate how employees are permitted to act in the workplace. Job descriptions outline the parameters of an employee’s job functions. Performance reviews control whether an employee receives a raise or attains a promotion. Communication allows employees to interact with customers and each other. A customer service department communicates with customers to help them resolve issues. A business letter can be used to introduce a company to a potential customer. Communication is essential for employees who work together on a project or during the training process. Employees may interact socially both at work and outside the workplace. Every organization offers a service or good so there needs to be an effective line of communication between the organization and its customers. Those organizations need to be able communicate about what they are offering with the consumer base they are targeting. Effective communication with consumers provides two benefits. First, it lets consumers know about what is being offered and why the organization’s offers should be preferred over the competitions. It also allows the organization to gain feedback from consumers so they can alter either their communication tactics or their offers to make sure they are appealing to the largest amount of consumers possible. Communication is necessary to effectively function, both inside an organization and when dealing with the outside world. The above inferences attest to the importance of effective communication within an organization if it is intent on both the manager and business success. Effective communication is not only important within the organization but also information should relay to stakeholders in order to guarantee the organizations attainment of its goals.

Letter from a Birmingham Jail Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 4

Letter from a Birmingham Jail - Essay Example He also supports his argument morally and politically. Morally, he believes that just laws are God’s laws while unjust laws ruin God’s law. Politically, he believes that just laws are not applied to everyone while unjust laws are applied which is unfair. In both arguments, King defined segregation as an unjust law. â€Å"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.† This is how King expresses his anger and disappointment. He wanted the Black Americans to stand up for their rights, to speak for their rights, equality, and harsh treatment. He criticizes the perception White people have about his thoughts and actions, how his peaceful non-violent movement becomes a violent movement according to them. King seems to throw light on the fact that most of the times the silence of good people leads to one’s repenting in future because if one might not speak for his/her own rights then no one is going to notice their grief and their emotions, He says ‘We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people†. This quote also seems to highlight the present conditions of King’s times when he got arrested for his parade without a permit during his non- violent protests against ‘unjust’ laws. He seems to be in favor of standing up for oneself and speaking for one’s rights. The quote also highlights the fact that if a person is silent and bears every ‘unjust’ act then it is the fault of the silence of those people that they allow such people to do injustice to them.

Ciscos Product Grant Program Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Ciscos Product Grant Program - Case Study Example The value of the grant is equivalent to the commercial value of the product(s) or service(s) extended to the beneficiary organization. Cisco practices good corporate citizenship by helping communities through improved networking solutions by teaching these communities, who obviously would not be able to afford the equipment (otherwise, if they could afford it or if it makes business sense, it would not be difficult even for nonprofit organizations to raise the funds to buy the equipment off the shelf), to adopt Internet technology solutions using Cisco products. Cisco also believes that technology enables nonprofits to improve their productivity and extend their reach and service delivery (Cisco 2007g). The PGP is straightforward: a nonprofit with a problem that could be solved by using technology products or services sold by Cisco simply approaches the company and asks if they could get the product and/or service for free (or at a subsidized price) by availing of the PGP. However simple the concept may seem, availing of the product grant entails some degree of hard work that has been surely designed to encourage only those who are really deserving of assistance while discouraging those looking for a dole-out, which is against Cisco's corporate ethic. Note that Cisco products should be part of the solution to the nonprofit organization's problem. Some examples are nonprofits that are building up their networking capability in order to improve

Design paragraphs Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Design paragraphs - Term Paper Example The use of related color harmony and specifically analogous scheme makes the setting outstanding people the viewer does not have to look for many colors to appreciate. Rather, there is only one dominating color for the viewer to appreciate. 2. There is the application of balance in the arrangement of the two portraits on the way. Basically, balance ensures that when given an imaginary line and a large object is placed near the line, there should be a small object placed at the edge and away from the line but where there are two objects of the same size as seen in the portraits, they should be put at the same distance away from the imaginary centre line. Again, there is repetition and this is seen in the designs in the sofa. This is because the designs in the sofa are the same and recurring. Finally there is the principle of harmony. This is seen in the colors of the glasses on the table. All the glasses are of the same color and of the same quality – glass. For this reason, th ey give a perfect harmony. 3. Gestalt’s principle of figure grouping is seen from the law of proximity, which makes use or emphasizes on grouping of objects. From the picture given, we see the application of Gestalt’s principle of figure grouping at work in the sense that the five chairs have been grouped together in a row. Apart from the row, there is no other place in the interior that chairs are seen. The hanging lights are also grouped and put together in a row. There is also the grouping of candles on the table and these are the three major grouping seen in the interior. 4. There is the application of the element of direction in the arrangement of steps, wall climb and stair holder. The directions of these items are oblique rather than horizontal or vertical. According to Lovett (1999), â€Å"oblique suggests movement and action.† Clearly, we see the three objects referred to suggesting movement. The staircase is for instance suggesting movement from down t o top. There is also the element of value. This is seen in the lightness and darkness of colors used. Generally, colors have been used in such a way that they do not give an overly bright implication but are generally light, suggesting calmness. Finally, there is the principle of dominance in the use of colors and texture. It is seen that there is the use of very few colors and these colors are dominating the entire design. The texture of the design is also smooth and this dominates all parts of the design. 5. The colour harmony used in this interior is triadic. According to Williams (2011), in triadic, â€Å"one makes an equidistant triangle on the color wheel and uses the three colors that land on each corner of the triangle.† From the interior, we see the combination of the colors violet and green. Whereas violet has been used on the chairs, green has been used as the flower design on the tables. With reference to the color wheel, violet and green form a triangle and this makes the colour harmony triadic. With reference to the color temperature, it can be said that the color temperatures are in harmony. This is because both violet and green are cool colors. 6. The most dominant principle of design seen in the stained glass ceiling is graduation. There is a graduation of both color and light. It can seen that the color and light produced is in an aerial perspective, moving from warm to cool. The warm color is the bright light at the apex of the glass arrangement whereas the cool

All the Pretty Horses, by Cormac McCarthy Essay

All the Pretty Horses, by Cormac McCarthy - Essay Example Here Grady is more experienced with the cruelties and whims of life. His innocence and ignorance push him to do things at the risks of his life. Gail Moore Morrison portrays him as a man who â€Å"will risk much, for he is a man of action, of passion, of character and of honor† (184). Being pushed by his innocence he runs away to Mexico in quest of unnamed fulfillment. This unnamed fulfillment is more than the promise of adventure. In Grady’s case, it is the annihilation of the pain of ignorance. For the sixteen years old boy, his innocence changes into experience and consequently his adventure turns into struggle for life. In a world, full of struggles, Blevins’ death prove that a boy of broiling blood like Blevins must die unless he receives supervisions a realist like Rawlings. As the romanticism of the adventure begins to dispel, Cole starts to realize that a life-supporting job, as Cole takes the job of a wrangler in Mexico, is a must to survive amid the whi ms of life. In this regard, Seth M Packham comments on the change of the protagonist, â€Å"His heroism, and stubbornness to the cowboy code of chivalry are severely circumscribed by the evils of hostile Mexico† (14). In the novel stern realities and unexpected truth appear with their naked faces. The novel is fraught with the theme that the precondition of experience necessarily demands the interactions between human beings and the evil presences of this universe. In his journey to the region of the unknown Grady Cole confronts the evil that appears to be the inevitable component of the world in which human beings live, as Walter Sullivan comments, â€Å"In McCarthys novels evil is too endemic to require motivation† (651). The paradox of innocence and experience in the novel is that Grady Cole has to interact and at the same time be acquainted with the evil in the world and the evil within himself in order to

Week 9 Discussion 2 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Week 9 Discussion 2 - Assignment Example It is also significant in demonstrating the cash generating ability of the company which balance sheet the balance sheet fails to show. It reveals the cash needed to maintain plant efficiency and level of operations. It provides information regarding the liquidity of the firm stock issuance, dividend payment, plant asset disposal, machinery purchase, and net change in inventory, accounts receivable and payable. The balance sheet conceals most of this information (Comiskey & Mulford, 2005). Cash flow statements reports cash movements in operating, investing and financing activities thus helping investors and creditors to generate future cash flows through estimations on amounts, unpredictability of future cash flows and timing. It also provides a basis of setting debts, paying employees and honoring dividends. The net income determines whether the company is making a profit or a loss making it easier for creditors, employees and stockholders to judge the profitability of the company (Marius & Oberholster, 2007). Any financial statement reader easily understands the change of assets and liabilities within the trading period. Cash flows help the stockholders to obtain information regarding the dividend due. For instance, in 2010 Google piled more than $26 billion amounting to about 20% of the value of the company. It was prompted to release much of cash to shareholders (Marius & Oberholster,

Structuralism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Structuralism - Essay Example The famous structuralists, like, Roman Jakobson, Roland Barthes, Claude Levi Strauss and Ferdinand De Saussure have made their contributions in justifying the fact that "a language speaks us". All of these structuralists have tried to develop the semiology or semiotics. These structuralists always took a language as a sign that reflects the thoughts of human being. The philosophies of structuralism were emerged prominently in the 20th century. The concepts that are provided by the structuralism hold more scope for making criticism. The most of the theories given by the structuralism include a margin of objectivity is the reason of the criticism. This objection is termed as the scientific objection. The structuralists tried to prove that we do not speak a language instead language speaks us. The fact is based on the thoughts that everything is produced as a result of some force or power, but the efforts of humans are not enough to produce anything. This statement has been made as a re sult of giving more attention towards the structures, patterns and the systems. (West, 170, 1996) The theories of structuralists are quite contradictory if they are compared with the theories developed by the humanists. Now, we are going to argue on the models developed for a language by the humanists as well as by the structuralists. The model that was presupposed and developed by the humanists states that the human minds are capable of understanding the real world. The human minds are rational and can get to everything that is seen. In the same manner, the rational human mind is able to portray and define the real world precisely up to some extent. This definition is given by making a use of some languages. The approach developed by the humanists relies on the fact that some of the languages are necessarily used for illustrating the real world. According to humanists, a language is the generation of the human minds. A language is totally generated by the will of human beings and no external force is involved in it. This theory suggests that an individual has the ability to decide what he wants to say. It clearly notifies the fact that we speak a language. It also defines the fact that the human minds are able to think and what to say. The human minds are also capable of understanding the meaning of the matter that has been uttered. No other external force is used by the human minds to speak. At this point, the theory of humanists regarding a language clearly denies the theory of structuralists. Every individual makes the use of a language for explaining the self essence or feelings. The individual here gets more value as in this case an individual represents the subject as well. The way of representing ideas and thoughts is also depending totally on an individual himself. Hence, the model considers the individual as the main element. All the meanings and concepts of a language are the generation of an individual's mind, and he is not being forced by any power to speak. So this theory suggests that we speak a language. (Martinez, 1, 1999) On the other hand, if the argument is made on the structuralists' model of a language that suggests

Any topc about flying by Olga Mukhina Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Any topc about flying by Olga Mukhina - Essay Example This scene is to be analyzed in relation to the treatment or depiction of time. The scene actually was first described in Part Two of the play entitled Awe (Mukina, 2004, p. 55) where Blizzard, described as the VJ and streetfighting man, alleged that he has to go someplace for an interview. While he was looking for his car, which was a white Lexus, he was approached by Volodya, a character that Blizzard recognized to have seen somewhere. The reader could surmise that their initial encounter was actually at the cafà © where the group initially met Bushy-Tail, the 17-year old waitress. It was in this cafà © where Volodya apparently gave a suspicious glance at Blizzard for making advances to Bushy-Tail, whom Volodya was intently observing. As this, one recognized that there must have been some previous drug activities that Volodya was already apparently observing where Blizzard could have been identified as involved. Therefore, the setting and time element were clearly depicted to be related and where events were apparently intertwined. Due to the suspicion for Blizzard’s apparent involvement in drug activities, he was further searched in his apartment by Volodya and in the presence of Blizzard’s friends: Orangina and Snowstorm. It was in this setting where Volodya found several more evidences of drugs and when the opportune time was noted, when the door to the hallway that traversed to Orangina’s apartment was seen, Blizzard evidently rushed outside of the window and it was at this moment that it was described that he was actually flying. The description of that particular moment seemed to be unrealistic since the moment seemed like eternity. The manner by which the event seemed to be prolonged was the author’s style of describing separate events and situations which go back and forth like a broken continuum. It was during Blizzard’s supposed flight when it was likewise vividly narrated that a dog, named Yo-Yo, supposedly observed