Introduction
The viable business opportunity discussed in this report is that of a survey and database agency. Setting up the business aims to provide information that other organizations need to improve their business activities. The agency will gather such information from public sources or go through publicly available data and put them together to provide relevance. Such a method of acquiring information and its role to other businesses makes this venture a unique one. Even as most of the information will be obtained publicly, the agency will consider the people’s privacy. This is hoped to be achieved by asking relevant questions to the public, such as on a brand they prefer, the vehicle they use, or the clothing they wear regularly.
Although these questions are essential for several businesses to gauge their performance, many survey agencies do not have this type of information. Most of these agencies lean towards providing statistical data (Qualitative), which is of utmost importance (Blanchet and Flores, 2022). However, this particular survey and database organization aims at providing both qualitative and quantitative data to be more relevant to businesses. The concepts, tools, and technologies needed for the business to be a success are discussed in the report.
Market Analysis
The main target of the business is the corporate organizations. The company has excellent potential for growth due to the rise in industrialization and increased competition. By collecting information from the public, the survey agency will be in a good position to identify the customers’ preferences when it comes to different needs. Selling this kind of information to corporate organizations leads them to develop products or services that cater for the needs of majority of the population, hence boosting their sales.
The corporations that are willing to invest in finding out about their target market are the ones to benefit from the services the agency will offer. Unlike other survey agencies, this one will offer qualitative and quantitative data to their clients. It will help them come up with products that the public needs but doesn’t have and improve on the quality of what they already offer. The downside of offering qualitative data is that an extra step must be taken by the agency while ensuring that the privacy is not compromised (Lemon and Hayes, 2020). After collecting information, all the data will be analyzed then the valuable data will be arranged in a manner that is likely to be understood by the client.
Customers and Customer Development
As mentioned earlier, the agency aims to provide more qualitative information to businesses to improve their sales. Therefore, the agency will need to identify its clients to know which kinds of people to investigate. The target customers of the agencies would be sellers from industries such as textile, automobiles, and shoes, among others (PHARM, 2020). These are among the industries that most need information from surveys and market research. The agency will give solutions to the industries by providing information on the public’s preferences, perceptions, likes, and dislikes. Such information will be analyzed, documented then correctly presented to the industries to help them in improving their products and the value of service they offer to their customers.
Business Model
The business model of this agency is like that of other survey organizations hence making it easy to develop. The first step will be gathering information from various public sources such as the news, previous studies, and social media platforms. After collecting the information, it will have to be compiled and categorized. The next process is analyzing the categorized data by experts from various fields such as social sciences, psychology, and data analysts. Involving all these experts in analysis helps answer questions asked by the client organizations more specifically. Reports from the research will then be sent to the clients who needed the study and would be charged accordingly for the services.
From the onset of establishing the business, it is expected to take approximately 11-13 months before earning a steady revenue. These 11-13 months will involve convincing people on the role of the business and building a customer base, then finally earning revenue. This is with the assumption that everything proceeds according to plan. A significant factor that could disrupt the plan is the rules and regulations of the nation. The agency will need to do serious work in convincing the government and the people that the methods of collecting the required information do not violate the privacy laws. This is a significant challenge that the agency is likely to face, and it may lead to changing the whole idea to a certain degree to make the business acceptable legally.
Team
The survey and database team will require an averagely sized team for its activities to be a success. This team needs to be comprised of around 15-20 members. To begin with, a small group of people will be required to collect information from the public. These individuals need to have good social skills to enable easy interaction with the people when gathering information (Howard and Gutworth, 2020). They will also need to be computer literate as collecting information may also involve a lot of usage of social media platforms.
Another group of analysis experts is required, at least two in psychology, two in social sciences, and two in data analysis. Furthermore, the agency needs a legal team to inform of all the activities accepted and not accepted by law which would be of at least two people. An additional group in the company’s financial sector is needed to ensure that all the finances are in check and a managerial team of around three people to ensure that activities run smoothly.
Finally, the support staff in the agency will also play an essential role in achieving success, such as the cleaners and messengers for delivering important messages to clients. It is necessary to assess all the people that the agency will need and their importance as there might not be enough capital at first to pay for all these team members (Bartlett and Morse, 2020). Therefore, adaptations such as hiring a less number in each sector may be required to keep the agency’s operations running.
Financial Analysis
It is vital to have a team that specifically deals with the company’s financial needs as it is such a crucial area of operation. An economic analysis of the business is ideally supposed to consist of the breakdown of the profitability between the costs incurred and the profits realized (Bernheim and Madsen, 2017). The cost incurred by the agency may include the initial capital, the cost of carrying out research, and the payment of each of the team members involved. For the business to be considered a success, the profits realized after completing a specific research task for a client should be significantly higher than the cost that was incurred to achieve its success (Putri and Rahyuda, 2020). This will help the agency carry out future activities easily and encourage the people carrying out the business.
During the onset of implementing the survey business, there should be financial analysts to model and predict the company’s future results based on assumptions and previous similar businesses. The analysts need the revenues and costs of the business to establish accurate predictions (Flores et al, 2019). The costs may be fixed cost which the agency will incur regardless of advertising, such as rent, salaries, and office equipment or variable costs which is the actual cost of production. The variable costs may include the cost of advertising through a medium, travel expenses, and the cost of external public relations if the agency plans to deal with companies outside the country. Financial analysts should be keen enough to include everything in their data to prevent losses on the agency (Helbing, 2019). This will help establish reasonable charging rates favorable to the clients while making the agency good profits.
Future action Plan
The end goal of the agency is to provide a bridge between production companies and their clients. This will be achieved by gathering information directly from the public and presenting them to the companies to make the necessary changes (Dijck and Poell, 2018). The agency will need to acquire the required equipment to make this a success and hire the right team. This may cause financial strain on the entrepreneurs, prompting them to obtain loans in order to boost the business. All of them should contribute equally to the capital to have equal shares. Proper utilization of the available resources by a credible team will yield good results.
Furthermore, the agency would need to convince many people of the relevance of their services and establish a reliable customer base at the beginning of the business. Establishing all the relevant teams mentioned above should be done within the first six months and further additions are made as the agency grows. Company policies need to be established before any business activities begin, and serious legal consequences should follow failure to follow them by any team members.
Reference List
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