Enterprise - Finalising decisions

After completing the presentation structure it was clear there were a few gaps in our decisions about our business, we needed to answer them in order to present the information correctly. These gaps were relating to our USP and business objectives, we hadn't quite answered what our USP and Business Objectives were.


USP - We are a design agency that focuses on branding and identity for the culture sector, of the North. We offer efficient, yet considered designs that shape and transform your company and create buzz. 


Business Objectives:
1st 
- Focus mostly on promotion, 10% estimated income on Advertising. We are expected to make a loss for the first two years. A gradual increase in profit.


2nd 
- Expand outside of theatre to other sectors within culture sector
- Collaboration


3rd
- To build reputable relationships with clients, in order to gain returning clients
- Bigger profit
- Expand Nationally

Enterprise Meeting - Planning presentation

I took it about myself to begin planning the presentation structure as tomorrow the group will be meeting up without my presence, as I'll be in Newcastle attending a family event. I decided to keep everyone on track to produce an extremely detailed plan for the presentation. To then print, run through it with the boys, writing notes to point them in the right direction when attempting to put together the presentation tomorrow. We decided amongst ourselves that Chris and Cherry would be putting the presentation together as myself and Liam have done most of the research and 'legwork'. 


The simplified presentation structure plan:

Presentation

Slide One, Introduction:

All spoken- Overbrief of our company

• Who we are
• Who our business consists of
• What our business does / Business Activity (refer to business plan)
• Mission Statement
• What we are called (image showing branding or refer to given handouts, business cards ect
• Where we our based (image of Leeds and studio)

Type of company:

• Partnership
• What were the available options available
• Why we chose to be a Partnership
• The legal aspects – Negatives and positives

Chosen Location:

• The research undertaken
• The possibilities (inc map, costs etc)
• Why we chose where were based

Our company:

• USP
• What exactly we do
• Our potential clients
• Target Audience
• Business Plan
• Business Structure diagram
• Legal status of our business (refer to business plan)
• Business Objectives (refer to business plan)
• PEST (provide research underwent by steph in regard to contacting business student for advice – inc screenshots)

Resources:

- The products or services – The range of goods we sell, what percent of turnover each will be.

- What resources we need (equipment)

- Stock needed to start business

Finance:

• Cost of living
• Overall for all of us
• Price of running our business
• What we would charge per hour / day

Competition:

• Name 3 competitors
• Give evidence of their prices
• Why we are better than them (after analyzing each)

Target Market:

• Evidence we have that someone will buy our service
• Is our idea new
• Demand for our service?
• Use segmentation to describe your typical customer – inc market sector (culture industry)
• Where are they (use diagram)
• SWOT - Why would they want our services. (provide research underwent by Steph in regard to contacting business student for advice – inc screenshots)
• How much time will average customer spend with us, how often etc
• Will our sales fluctuate due to external forces (seasonal)

Promotion:

• Mention event
• Methods of advertisement
• Marketing methods
• Target marketing
• Mention domain ?
• Costs of advertising

Legal

• Mention research underwent by steph (provide screen shots of emails sent to solicitor and accountant)
• Solicitor fees – Stephs Blog
• Insurance _ research under went
• Copyright?

Total set up costs:

Legal:

• Include Spreadsheets
• Legal costs
• Insurance

Resources:

• Equipment
• Capital Expenditure in first year
• Materials and goods for sale in first 6 months
• Bills and overheads

Marketing: 

• Cost of promoting our company

How will we finance business start up:

• Mention government funding

The detailed presentation structure plan:

Information needed to be included in presentation:

Slide One, Introduction:

Refer to business plan for first 4 points.

Branding for 5^th point – Cherry has design work

Produce an image or map pinpointing location, provide photographs of studio. 

All spoken- Overbrief of our company

Slide 2

Type of company:

1^st point – Simply state the type of business we are - Partnership

2^nd point - There are many types of business entity defined in the legal systems of various countries. These include corporations, cooperatives, partnerships, sole traders, limited liability company and other specialized types of organization.

3^rd point: - Summaries information provided in 4^th point

4^th point:

Advantages of Partnership

• Capital – Due to the nature of the business, the partners will fund the business with start up capital. This means that the more partners there are, the more money they can put into the business, which will allow better flexibility and more potential for growth. It also means more potential profit, which will be equally shared between the partners.
• Flexibility – A partnership is generally easier to form, manage and run. They are less strictly regulated than companies, in terms of the laws governing the formation and because the partners have the only say in the way the business is run (without interference by shareholders) they are far more flexible in terms of management, as long as all the partners can agree.
• Shared Responsibility – Partners can share the responsibility of the running of the business. This will allow them to make the most of their abilities. Rather than splitting the management and taking an equal share of each business task, they might well split the work according to their skills. So if one partner is good with figures, they might deal with the book keeping and accounts, while the other partner might have a flare for sales and therefore be the main sales person for the business.
• Decision Making – Partners share the decision making and can help each other out when they need to. More partners means more brains that can be picked for business ideas and for the solving of problems that the business encounters.

Disadvantages of Partnership

• Disagreements – One of the most obvious disadvantages of partnership is the danger of disagreements between the partners. Obviously people are likely to have different ideas on how the business should be run, who should be doing what and what the best interests of the business are. This can lead to disagreements and disputes which might not only harm the business, but also the relationship of those involved. This is why it is always advisable to draft a deed of partnership during the formation period to ensure that everyone is aware of what procedures will be in place in case of disagreement and what will happen if the partnership is dissolved.
• Agreement – Because the partnership is jointly run, it is necessary that all the partners agree with things that are being done. This means that in some circumstances there are less freedoms with regards to the management of the business. Especially compared to sole traders. However, there is still more flexibility than with limited companies where the directors must bow to the will of the members (shareholders).
• Liability – Ordinary Partnerships are subject to unlimited liability, which means that each of the partners shares the liability and financial risks of the business. Which can be off putting for some people. This can be countered by the formation of a limited liability partnership, which benefits from the advantages of limited liability granted to limited companies, while still taking advantage of the flexibility of the partnership model.
• Taxation – One of the major disadvantages of partnership, taxation laws mean that partners must pay tax in the same way as sole traders, each submitting a Self Assessment tax return each year. They are also required to register as self employed with HM Revenue & Customs. The current laws mean that if the partnership (and the partners) bring in more than a certain level, then they are subject to greater levels of personal taxation than they would be in a limited company. This means that in most cases setting up a limited company would be more beneficial as the taxation laws are more favourable (see our article on the Advantages and Disadvantages of a Limited Company).

Profit Sharing – Partners share the profits equally. This can lead to inconsistency where one or more partners aren’t putting a fair share of effort into the running or management of the business, but still reaping the rewards.

Slide 3

Chosen Location ( all researched by Cherry):

1^st point  - research on Cherry Blog?

2^nd Point – Diagram constructed showing location of possible studios on map, Spreadsheets comparing costs etc

3^rd point - Summaries why we chose this place

Slide 4

Our company as a whole:

1^st point : 

We focus primarily  on the culture sector blah blah blah – Need to get our heads together and decide on our USP.

2^nd point: 

We are a branding and identity company for events within the culture sector, based in the North of Great Britain – Elaborate more

3^rd point: (Chris researched)

Provide summarized findings

4^th Point:

Summaries our target audience

5^th point:

Simply evidence that we have created a business plan that it will provide us with immediate structure for our business and a clear direction. Don’t elaborate on points as entire presentation does this.

6^th point:

Within the business plan it stated that we needed a business structure, we personally found it appropriate to create an info graphic to represent it visually. This clearly define how our business operates, what each of us do as an individual and what our roles consist of.  This is certainly something which I feel would be a brilliant visual within the presentation - it gives our company a clear understanding.

7^th point: refer to business plan

8^th point: refer to business plan

9^th point: 

Political - 

We are an Ethical business based in the culture sector, which is owned by the Government. As we are based primarily in Leeds and the surrounding areas, we boost the local economy. 

Being in a tough economic climate, it is a hard time for small businesses to run and become successful. Its also tough for those paying for our work, what their able to pay will be affected by how much they earn as a company themselves, as whether the work, produced by ourselves, will in return be profitable. The labour law needs to be taken into consideration too, it will determine the legal right and restrictions of working people; there will need to be fair working contracts set in place. As Graphic Designers, employers can be all over the world, but with working with people overseas, you will need to take into account trade restrictions between certain countries.

Being environmentally friendly in regard to stock and printing, is recognised by government. There are several schemes and audits in place, the government standard, ISO14000 environmental certification, shows that you trade ethically as a company and is a really good standard to have under your company name and brand image. Its better to have the government on your side...

Economic - 

Government funded - secure business, wont apply - interest rates. 

We as a business need to be aware of the economic growth within the UK. This will help us understand and identify goods and services that need to be promoted in order to boost a healthy economy, for example new and innovative products which need branding for. There needs to be a fine line between compromise and ensuring ourselves a wage to live from. 

Work produced by our business

Understanding inflation rates will mean I understand my clients needs, alongside my own needs in regard to living costs and how it could possibly effect my wages.

Seasonality - peaks troughs in demand - how we would cope with this. e.g xmas

Social - 

Trends will effect any design work we produce, and how we operate and management strategies. Our company consists of just 4 employers of the same age range, as were a starting business we don't intend on employing any more workers to save on costs, so as of yet, there will be little social change in accordance to employment, and management strategies regarding social trends.

Design factors which need to be considered are religion, ethnicity, education, economic status and nationality. Especially when working with over seas jobs, language will be a main factor to consider. Being sure you don't offend people (unless that is the objective) is obviously another large factor, which relates to knowing about all the above design factors to consider.

Technological - 

Technology as a massive effect of time, on how long we take to produce, make, print and distribute our products. The more up to date with technology, the more efficient our production rate.

The way we work and approach briefs also relies on technology, we need to stay up to date and have constant upgrades on software and hardware, which will effect finance. This will effect costs as upgrades can be expensive, especially with being a Graphic Design company which work primarily on Apple Software. For our company to keep up to date with social trends, we need such software upgrades, as it effects the quality of our products and outcomes. 

Environmental - 

Workload may increase during the winter period as it is a peak period in the entertainment sector in accordance to theatre. 

We are an ethical company, it will effect the products we offer. Cost of paper good and stock will be of more expense due to its ethical nature, but this may not effect us directly as work sold and pricing could reflect this.

There is a new market based on making people aware of climate change; this offers us, as creatives, a new line of work and potential. Many existing companies want to promote their selves in this way, we could be the designers to make this happen. 

Legal - 

Copyright, this can massively effect how the company operates as it can effect cost, this also effects our work in the sense we can't do what's been done before (with a copyright symbol). Solicitor fees etc. Accountancy (taxes), also as a partnership you don't register with company house. 

Slide 5:

1^st point - Refer to business plan

2^nd point – Just include equipment list, not prices

3^rd point – Liam knows this – I think!

Slide 6:

All points – Spreadsheets. Cost of living sheets ect(Liam)

Slide 7: (research conducted by Chris)

1^st point – List of competitors, what they offer, what they do, where they are based, why each are a competitor.

2^nd point – Spreadsheet of their prices

3^rd point – Summaries why we are better than them

Slide 7:

1^st – 4^th point – Need to get together and decide.

5^th point – Provide map of cities we intend on targeting, provide lifestyle, age range possibly?

6^th point: SWOT:

Strengths:

New Graduated - Fresh and Modern approach to design

USP

Outside the box

Independent

Range of skills

Local

Personal and intimate services

Weakness:

No reputation

New company

Won't be trusted - yet

Small company - Unable to deal with large jobs due to short amount of creatives

Lack of capital - no money in bank etc

Opportunities:

Get into market

increase market share

Expansion

Collaborating

Funding from government

Threat:

Competition

Economic climate

Demands not as high as we couldn't be

recession - People not having money

7^th point: Need to decide together

8^th point:  Refer to either SWOT or PESTEL

Slide 8:

1^st point – Liam get on board

Use mock up of Carriageworks

2^nd and 3^rd point :

Summaries findings on Stephs Blog-

Methods of advertisement: http://sl-lawson1013-ppd.blogspot.com/2012/02/enterprise-methods-of-advertisement.

4^th point: How we are going to target our market – summarise

5^th point: Domain prices etc – Liams blog - http://l-rushfirth1013-ppd.blogspot.com/

6^th point – Stephs blog

Slide 9:

1^st point - Summarise research underwent by Steph – Show email screenshots

2^nd point – Spreadsheet?

3^rd point – Stephs blog:

4^th point: - Mention copyright

Slide 10:

Legal: Provide all spreadsheets (Liam), summarise findings about insurance and legal costs in general.

Resources: Spread sheet showing capital expenditure

Materials and goods for slae in first 6 months (refer to business plan)

Bills and Overheads spreadsheets?

Marketing:

Spreadsheet of costing of promoting company

Finance start up:

Research about government funding

Elaborate on -

Being environmentally friendly in regard to stock and printing, is recognised by government. There are several schemes and audits in place, the government standard, ISO14000 environmental certification, shows that you trade ethically as a company and is a really good standard to have under your company name and brand image. Its better to have the government on your side...

Enterprise - Creative elements

Starting to think about the presentation.


To communicate our business across to those attending the presentation, I feel physical visual aids are necessary alongside those within the digital slides. It will give people a 'feel' and a sense of tone to our business. 


After researching methods of advertisements I decided on a few I felt most appropriate, in regard to appropriateness and effectiveness. The products I feel we will give out in our presentation will consist of:


Pop up mail shot - Conveying the idea of a theatre setting and culture sector. I want it to be visually engaging and if possible, interactive. This will include our logo, tagline and colour palette.


Mock up website - Paper based copy. A realistic visual image of what our website 'would' look like, including our logo, tagline and colour palette.


Business cards - Communicating our business brand through type, colour and image.