Evaluate a partnership as a type of business organization with reference to Frank and Peter’s ‘YOGHURTOLOGY Frozen Yoghurt Shop.

Assessment 2: Individual Report based on a case study

Weighting: 60%

Date/time/method of submission: Week 15

Word count or equivalent: 1,500 words (+/- 10%)

Case Study:   YOGHURTOLOGY FROZEN YOGHURT SHOP

Frank Jones and his business partner, Peter Jackson, set up ‘YOGHURTOLOGY’ Frozen Yoghurt Shop’ eighteen months ago. It is an ice-cream parlour style shop, which specializes in selling frozen yoghurt, located in the busy Shopping Centre in Birmingham.

Frank and Peter both have experience in the hospitality sector – Frank has worked as a chef in a large contract catering restaurant chain and Peter as Hospitality Manager of a local hotel. They both decided to set up the shop following redundancy from their respective employments. Their redundancy money has provided the start-up capital for the business venture.

Frank and Peter have each contributed £30,000, which secured the 3-year lease on a shop and some working capital to ensure they can pay suppliers and have enough stock. The existing outlet has recently broken even and sales revenue is growing strongly. They would now like further finance of £20,000 in the form of business loan from a bank. This would be to promote the business more in the local community and also to develop new product lines.

In their current outlet, they have two full-time members of staff to cover the long hours that the shop is open (Monday – Sunday, 10am – 8pm). They also have two part-time members of staff to help cover the busy weekends. During the week, the shop is less busy and it is these days that the promotional effort would be targeted at. The weekends tend to be very busy due to the volume of shoppers using the Centre.

The location of the shop is in the busy Bullring Centre, a very large and popular shopping centre in Birmingham city Centre. There are many shops in the immediate vicinity, as well as a number of other food ventures, although none serving frozen yoghurt.

The mix of customers that Yoghurtology appeals to tends to vary on whether it is weekday or weekend. During the day, the shop can attract workers in the area and is popular with shoppers with young children. At the weekend, teenagers and young adults tend to frequent the shop as a place to meet friends. Frank and Peter think they offer a very friendly service, a good quality, healthy product and at a low price. So far, their business has grown based on their signage and word of mouth recommendations. They have not advertised or used promotional literature. At the moment, they buy all their frozen yoghurt from a local cash & carry, but they wonder whether buying it from a local organic farm would give a better quality product that they could change more for. They are conscious of trends towards healthier eating so believe there is growing demand for their product, but they also realize it is a product for which there is much less demand in Winter months. As a result, they are keen to diversity their product range, to provide choice to customers all year round.

Frank and Peter are in a dilemma regarding their supply of yoghurt.  On the one hand, they are attracted by low prices and the convenience of buying in bulk from the cash & carry. This helps them to keep the prices of their desserts low. On the other hand, they would like to use fresher, organic ingredients and experiment with more premium products, but are anxious about how this would affect their prices and margins and whether potential customers would pay for this. They think the chances of their business being a long term viable success may increase if they looked to cater for differing needs of customers, were able to target different market segments, understand the macro environment factors and take advantage of the opportunities they bring.

END

Questions

You have been asked by Frank Jones and his business partner, Peter Jackson to achieve them on the following issues:

1. Evaluate a partnership as a type of business organization with reference to Frank and Peter’s ‘YOGHURTOLOGY Frozen Yoghurt Shop.
2. Use the Porters 5 Forces framework to analyses ‘Yoghurtology’ frozen yoghurt business and advise on how Frank and Peter can achieve competitive advantage by managing the relationships with these forces.
3. Clearly discuss any three of the macro environmental factors with particular reference to how they can help improve the frozen Yoghurt business.

Assessment Criteria:

Assessment criteria	Maximum Marks	Marks awarded
Introduction	5%
Demonstrate good knowledge of the different types of business organizations and apply this knowledge in the context of the case study reference to partnership structures.	25%
Demonstrate an understanding of the macro environmental factors and how they impact on businesses.	25%
Demonstrate an ability to analyses the case and use Porters 5 forces to determine competition within an industry.	25%
Conclusions	10%
Write coherently, grammar etc.	5%
Harvard reference and citations	5%
TOTAL	100%

 

 

Learning materials

Detailed of the weekly teaching activities will be posted on Blackboard in advance, detailing the topics covered each week.

The reading list for this module is available on Blackboard  in the module area or by searching https://uwl.rI.talis.com/index.html. This shows real-time availability of books in the library and provides direct links to online resources, recommended by your lecturer.

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Essential Reading

Boddy, D. (2014) Management: An Information, 6^th Ed. Harlow: Pearson

Recommended Reading

Combe, C. (2014) Introduction to Management. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Ebert, R. and Griffin, R. (2013) Business Essentials, Global Edition. 9^th ed. London: Pearson

Kotler, P. and Armstrong, G.(2012) Principles of Marketing, Global Edition. 14^th ed. London: Pearson Needle, D. (2012) Business in Context: an introduction to business and its environment, 5^th ed. Andover: South-Western Cengage Learning

Rugman, A. M and Collinson, S. (2012). International Business, 6^th ed. Harlow: Pearson Ryan, D. (2014) Understanding Digital Marketing: marketing strategies for engaging the digital generation. 3^rd ed. London: Kogan Page