Starting a Business

Aim and Objectives of Assignment The general objective of this individual coursework is to provide an opportunity for students to reflect on personal competencies and aptitude towards entrepreneurship and business planning. On completion of this assignment students will be able to: • Develop and present a business plan with special emphasis on operational, financial and marketing aspects of the business (LO1, LO3, LO5) • Understand and demonstrate the use of qualitative and quantitative information for decision making applied to business planning (LO4) • Identify and evaluate business problems and opportunities for the purpose of creating a small business (LO2) Assignment Brief You are to consider a new business idea in the following area: Transportation You are required to identify a possible business idea in your chosen area and to research a potential business opportunity. For this assignment, you are required to develop and prepare a business plan to support your idea and demonstrate that you have given thought to both the feasibility and viability of your proposed business. The plan should give clear consideration to the following as deemed appropriate: • Clear business aim and objectives • Clear description of the product/service • Detailed marketing research and potential growth through identification of potential customers and market trends • Competitor analysis • Clear and innovative marketing strategies incorporated within a Marketing Plan • Business strategies that will be adopted • Financial feasibilities • Sources of finance • Any relevant legal rules (e.g. employment) or regulations • Use of information and communication technology to achieve business objectives • Identify potential risks and ways to mitigate these risks for future expansion Assessment criteria for Individual Coursework (100% of assessment): The following is breakdown of assessment for this module: • How well you present the business case (your Business Plan) for the utilisation of your own business idea (including the use of a correct report structure, language and overall quality of report) 20% • How well you identify your business market and how well you give consideration to this and analyse it - applying analytical tools to qualitative and quantitative information as appropriate. 40% • How well you identify other areas including financial, legal, employment and ICT issues and relate these to your plan. 40% Special instructions: The report (Business Plan) should be no more than 2500 words in total (this is an absolute limit) including all headings and sub-headings in the main body of the report. However, any front cover sheet, index (table of contents), tables and figures, reference and bibliography lists together with appendices are not included in the word count. Please note that a summary and any footnotes are included in the word count. You must state the number of words at the end of the report (this statement is not included in the word count). Harvard style referencing