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 5th 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:
1st point – Simply state the type of business we are - Partnership
2nd 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.
3rd point: - Summaries information provided in 4th point
4th 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):
1st point - research on Cherry Blog?
2nd Point – Diagram constructed showing location of possible studios on map, Spreadsheets comparing costs etc
3rd point - Summaries why we chose this place
Slide 4
Our company as a whole:
1st point :
We focus primarily on the culture sector blah blah blah – Need to get our heads together and decide on our USP.
2nd point:
We are a branding and identity company for events within the culture sector, based in the North of Great Britain – Elaborate more
3rd point: (Chris researched)
Provide summarized findings
4th Point:
Summaries our target audience
5th 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.
6th 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.
7th point: refer to business plan
8th point: refer to business plan
9th 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:
1st point - Refer to business plan
2nd point – Just include equipment list, not prices
3rd point – Liam knows this – I think!
Slide 6:
All points – Spreadsheets. Cost of living sheets ect(Liam)
Slide 7: (research conducted by Chris)
1st point – List of competitors, what they offer, what they do, where they are based, why each are a competitor.
2nd point – Spreadsheet of their prices
3rd point – Summaries why we are better than them
Slide 7:
1st – 4th point – Need to get together and decide.
5th point – Provide map of cities we intend on targeting, provide lifestyle, age range possibly?
6th 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
7th point: Need to decide together
8th point: Refer to either SWOT or PESTEL
Slide 8:
1st point – Liam get on board
Use mock up of Carriageworks
2nd and 3rd point :
Summaries findings on Stephs Blog-
Methods of advertisement: http://sl-lawson1013-ppd.blogspot.com/2012/02/enterprise-methods-of-advertisement.
4th point: How we are going to target our market – summarise
5th point: Domain prices etc – Liams blog - http://l-rushfirth1013-ppd.blogspot.com/
6th point – Stephs blog
Slide 9:
1st point - Summarise research underwent by Steph – Show email screenshots
2nd point – Spreadsheet?
3rd point – Stephs blog:
4th 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...
