Market Strategy
Little Angels Nursery Daycare Center’s program is currently being publicized to the community at two levels, i.e. the state level and the local level. Prince Mohammed University in Khobar has a link in its website that has information with regard to Little Angels Nursery Daycare program (Pride, Hughes, & Kapoor, 2012). This information can be accessed by interested parents who want to bring their children on board.
The information on the link includes the list of services or programs that are offered by the daycare; in addition, a list of frequently asked questions is also included in the information. Apart from the link on Prince Mohammed University’s website, Little Angels Nursery Daycare Center also uses brochures or flyers as a way of advertising itself to the interested parents.
Marketing of the nursery daycare aims at creating more awareness to the parents through advertisement and campaigns. In addition, the marketing strategies seek to increase the number of admitted children into the program.
Nonetheless, marketing is very beneficial as it seeks to inform the target audience about the salient features of the nursery daycare programs and the competitive advantages; this will help in erasing all the doubts that the parents may be having with regard to the programs and services offered.
The entire staff members of Little Angels Nursery Daycare Center have been efficiently trained and they know their roles with regard to the marketing strategies of the organization (Madura, 2007).
Children from poor families are often signed up through family support staff. The family support staff members have a role to play in terms of advertising the nursery daycare’s programs and service to the poor parents and advising them on their qualifications and the procedure for applying for the child care programs.
Management
Little Angels Nursery Daycare Center will adopt a ‘Management by Objectives’ approach, whereby it will develop committed employees who are aware of their roles and services and also the mission and vision of the institution. Therefore, the employees will be motivated to work hard with the aim of achieving the mission and objective of the institution.
This management approach sets out SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time bound) objectives to the employees and it will also improve on communication and coordination; thus, feedbacks will be received constantly.
The management style will also provide for constant participation of all the employees as they will be required to take part in setting the targets or goals to be achieved by the institution; thus, a person will not feel left out or overlooked.
The members of staff will be so attached to the values of the institution which will make them have a strong organizational culture. This is because the values are so precise and they will have no difficulty in embracing them. The management will be strong and efficient and will provide for quality leadership. No employee will be more equal than the other, thus they will all be treated equally and fairly with much respect.
The directors will all be available and reachable. The employees will be committed to their work and they will strive to maintain the values and the morals of the institution at all times. This management style will be more beneficial to the parents who intend to have more than one child on the program.
This is due to the fact that, when the parents have a busy schedule, they will always resort to nursery daycare centers that offer services for extended hour. With this kind of management style in place, the parents will not fear to leave their children for long hours in the nursery daycare.
Little Angels Nursery Daycare Center intends to recruit qualified and able teachers to spearhead the programs in the facility. With this regard, the amount of remunerations that the teachers will be offered will match the ones offered to the public school teachers.
In addition, the teachers will be remunerated as per their levels of teaching experience and as per their contributions and effectiveness to the nursery daycare; therefore, their salaries are not expected to be the same all through. An attractive salary package is aimed at attracting the best teaching talent in the field and this too has a positive effect on the nursery daycare’s success.
Financial
Sources and Uses
Presently, there are two main flows of funds into Little Angels Nursery Daycare Center. The first flow of funds is through the State Aid program. The other flow of funds is through Financial Grants. The State Aid program funds a major part of the institution, about 60 percent. The other remaining bit is funded through Financial Grants.
The State Aid funds are used to meet the cost of paying the teachers their salaries and other benefits and the cost of building or renovating the classrooms. The Financial Grant funds are used to meet the cost of transporting materials into the nursery daycare, the cost of maintaining the premises and the costs of paying overtime work to the teachers.
There are various conditions for a nursery daycare center to qualify to access the Financial Grant programs. One of the conditions is for the nursery daycare center to demonstrate that their projects are viable and committed toward the well being of the institution. There are a team of auditors and supervisors in place to make sure that the funds are efficiently used and are not misappropriated in any way.
The other remaining source of finance for Little Angels Nursery Daycare Center is through fees paid by the parents for the upkeep of their children within the institution. These funds are actually used for purchasing books and other learning materials for the children.
In addition, the funds are also used to buy sporting equipments to be used for the physical development of the children. Academic and social trips are also financed by the funds collected from the fees paid by the parents. A summary of the financial sources is in the table below.
Little Angels Nursery Daycare Center, Full-day Nursery and Daycare Center
Budgeting Process
A budget process entails how an organization constructs and endorses a budget. Budgeting is a long process as it entails distributing expenditure equivalently among the various departments or sectors of the organization. In budgeting, capital is apportioned in a manner that enables the organization to achieve its financial objectives.
In Little Angels Nursery Daycare Center, budgeting is set up to cover all the financial shortcomings and also prepare the organization to meet the future investment plans in a focused manner. The practicability of budgeting is in line with the long term strategic plans of the organization.
When budgeting is done in an appropriate manner, all the financial goals of the company will be captured. The budget guides the organization to accomplish investment plans since only relevant items are included in the budget.
Just like many organizations, the budgeting process in Little Angels Nursery Daycare Center is initiated from the Finance Department. The Finance Department designs spreadsheets that aim at guiding the departmental head to put in order a good quality budget.
After the Finance Department has designed the spreadsheets, the Daycare Administrator sits in a meeting with the various departmental heads, who submit their budget estimates for the next financial year. After that, the Finance Department works out the cost estimates of the various proposals submitted by the departmental heads as they prepare the budget.
After the budget is completed, it is forwarded to the hospital administrator and other top managers for evaluation and endorsement. The last stage of the budget process is the approval of the budget. The Daycare Administrator agrees to the request by the Finance Department concerning the list of expenditures proposed.
Budgeting plays a very vital role in the organization as it sets out economic objectives to steer the organization forward. The budget has to be endorsed by the administration before being implemented. Different departments have different needs; therefore, the budget is not the same for each department.
A proper budgeting ensures that the organization’s goals and policies are preserved and maintained. This is beneficial to the organization since the nursery daycare is viewed by the society as to be playing a major role in safeguarding the welfare of the little children in the society.
Management of the funds
Little Angels Nursery Daycare will come up with a funds management process that will scrutinize the budgets and proposals and ensure that there is proper allocation of the funds to the various sectors of the institution. It will be required that before any funds are disbursed, a full application form is filled and it will have to be approved by the relevant committee in charge.
Only urgent and relevant budget proposals will be approved by the committee. The committee will ensure that the funds are properly allocated and managed so as to avoid any misappropriations. A proper audit team will be in place to counter check the management of the funds.
The auditors will have to make a report at the end of every financial year of the institution so as the measure the progress of the nursery daycare by comparing it to the previous year’s results. When the funds are properly managed, the daycare will be in a good position to attract more Financial Grants and State Aid programs.
Monitoring and Accountability
Little Angels Nursery Daycare Center is expected to be strict when it comes to handling of its financial resources. The funds flow directly into the institution and all financial decisions are made by the management of the institution.
It is, therefore, imperative upon the management to come up with a proper monitoring and evaluation program to oversee the management of the funds and to ensure that the audit team performs an efficient and satisfactory work.
A proper monitoring and evaluation program will keep the institution on its toes and will further boost the confidence and the faith that the parents have with regard to the daycare. When this happens, many more children will be admitted to Little Angels Nursery Daycare Center and in the process the flow of funds into the institution will rapidly rise.
The monitoring and evaluation process will ensure that the financial management of the institution is in compliance with the stipulated regulation framework. With this regard, the monitoring and evaluation team will conduct longitudinal surveys in order to assess the social responses of the children in the Little Angels Nursery Daycare Center.
The outcome of the survey will put the institution in a good position to make recommendations as per the needs of the children. In addition, the outcome of the survey will reveal the shortcomings of the institution and further help with the planning process so that the institution can move forward and maintain a positive track record.
Conclusion
Little Angels Nursery Daycare Center aims at becoming the leading nursery daycare center in the region. As well stipulated in the mission statement which fosters a full-time safe and fun environment for the children of the university staff and children of the students; the staff members are very qualified to provide a favorable environment for the development of the children.
The goals of the institution are in line with the mission and they aim at promoting the children’s social and physical development through a combination of indoor and outdoor activities. The daycare will come up with an efficient marketing strategy and an elaborate management system in order to oversee the development of the organization.
The budgeting process is done internally and efficiently. Budgeting plays a crucial role toward the financial planning of the institution, thus, a well planned monitoring and evaluation team will ensure that all protocols are given maximum consideration.
References
Madura, J. (2007). Introduction to business. Mason, OH: Thompson/South-Western.
Pride, W. M., Hughes, R. J., & Kapoor, J. R. (2012). Business. Mason, OH: South-Western/Cengage Learning.