Description
You will be required to undertake a detailed evaluation of an existing SME and then design and growth/development strategy for the business. You will present your findings in a report and make clear and costed recommendations.
Students will need to research a small, or medium sized business. You should try to determine the following during the research:
• The nature of the entrepreneur behind the venture.
• The SME start-up processes.
• The business concept and any sources of competitive advantage
• The current level of demand and the competitive environment
• The growth and development of the business to date
• The challenges of managing and running the business
• The SMEs current growth and development strategy
• Any government support measures that may be available to help the business overcome the challenges faced
Use these as the structure for your assignment; these are your ‘terms of reference’
Design a growth/development strategy for the business and present your findings in 2000 words report and make clear and costed recommendations.
The process to do this must be carefully followed to avoid any issues around the collection of data; there are strict rules around this and we need to gain appropriate permissions.
You should make use of all available sources and current thinking on SMEs should be central to your analysis and illustrated with reference to current articles from relevant journals and from broadsheet newspapers (e.g. FT). Use should be made of the library’s electronic databases such as Summon, Emerald, etc. You should apply theoretical concepts and models relating to the entrepreneurial process and to the various stages of growth and development of the business.
Once you have done your research you will need to write your report in which you will present your findings and your recommendations for the future growth and development for the business. You are advised to adopt the following structure for the report:
• Introduction: this should include some background on the SME and entrepreneur(s). You may wish to include details such as the type of business, size, how long it has been trading, etc.
Students should also give a brief account here of the research process (focusing primarily on the secondary data collection). The aims and objectives of the report, or the terms of reference should be clearly spelled out and should obviously relate to the assessment brief above; with 8 components.
• Findings: here the results of the research need to be presented. This section should follow along the lines of the aims and objectives highlighted in the introduction. The purpose in this section is to set out the elements covered as part of the research set out above. This should include the nature of the entrepreneur, the start-up process, the business concept and competitive advantage, the current level of demand the competitive environment, the growth and development of the business to date, the challenges of managing and running the SME, and your assessment of current growth and development strategy. Students should also highlight appropriate government support schemes that may be available to the business.
Students are also expected to consistently support their work with reference to appropriate sources and course materials (cited in accordance with the Harvard referencing convention).
• Conclusions: this should follow logically on from the findings and provide a concise summary of them. No new information should be presented here.
• Recommendations: here students should present their proposals for the future growth and development of their SMEs and these should be costed, compelling and persusive. Work should be supported with reference to appropriate sources.
• References and Bibliography: you should be discerning about your sources of information and ensure that all references conform to the Harvard convention.
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