First part is to assist the second part that I need assistance with.

1.In setting up a business, it is important to know the type of products the you will sell, the possible location, available suppliers and the target market. Initially, you have identified the clothing business as the type of business and the female baby boomers as the target market. On top of the target market, you should also check on the income level of your target customers. If you are planning to target middle income to high income individuals, it is expected that the products will also be worth the price that they are paying for. Aside from that, you also have to take note of the available suppliers that you have. The company will deal with these suppliers in a long period of time, thus, it is important that they check who they are dealing with. Moreover, your company should also take note of the perfect location with your target market. If you're eyeing for baby boomers, you should select a location with a good population of boomers. In forming a company, it is important to have people to work with sales, accounting, and operational concerns. The management will be on top of these departments in order to properly oversee the business. Aside from that, the jurisdiction should also be considered. The suppliers can also be within the state in order to cut costs. There are states with higher taxes on partnership or on corporations. Thus, it wouldn't be ideal to have you store located in a highly taxed state.

2.It is a good start for your company to know your values and principles in running the business. You mentioned that you wanted your store to preach a culture of ethics, responsible environment and a true member of the community. These principles should be reflected in your product and on how you run the business. To start off, the company should set its vision and mission with accompanying set of principles. That will be your guiding compass in running the business. Internally, you could create an Ethics Policy or Code of Conduct that will encompass both internal and external dealings. The company can also set out their value proposition in their website or statement so that the customers will also be aware of these. One example would be clothes that are animal-cruelty free which means that your clothes did not come from animal skins, or parts which could harm the animals. You can also select high quality materials from good and credible suppliers. And most importantly, as part of the management, you should set the 'tone at the top' when it comes to business ethics. You should not tolerate unethical activities in business such as bribery, corruption, etc.

3.There are several forms of business available. The first one would be general partnership which consist of 2 or more individuals who share cash, property or services for the purpose of dividing profits among themselves. This is a good set-up for smaller business with not so high capital requirement. However, general partnerships have unlimited liability. This means that the partners are liable up to the extent of their personal assets. If this business fails, Jennifer's dream to retire with her husband will not be possible anytime soon. Moreover, partnerships are built on trust and confidence, thus, it is important that the partners personally know each other. Any changes in the ownership of the partnership can easily dissolve the business. Partnerships are easier to form than a corporation in terms of legal requirements.

Another form is the Limited Liability Corporation which is more like a combination of partnership and corporation. The owners are only liable up to the extent of their investments. Moreover, the members of the LLC will be taxed based on the profits that they get from the operations. Same with corporation, the members cannot accept a new one without the consent of the other members. This is also built on trust and confidence of each members or partners. It is also easier to form an LLC than a corporation. It is not required to produce extensive financial records and hold annual meetings. This is best suited for a small informally run business.

And lastly, the corporation is a form of business with shareholders as its owners. This is best suited for larger businesses that require more capitalization. The shareholders are liable only up to their investments. The shareholders can easily transfer their shares even without the consent of the others. Corporations are highly regulated that is why there are a lot of document requirements with the Securities and Exchange commission prior to its formation.

Among these three types, it is best to start your business as a Limited Liability Corporation. This type has the best of both worlds, the ease of formation of a partnership and the limited liability of a corporation. Moreover, the tax implications for LLC is much lower than the corporation since the tax is applicable to the profits distributed to the members.

4.The company will require a medium capital requirement in order to run the business. If the company decided to form an LLC, a portion of the investment should come from the members' initial investment to the company. Jennifer could ask other people who would be interested to join her as a part-owner of the business and share the profits with her. Some of the operating expenses can be financed through a bank loan for start-up companies. There are banks who loan out money to start-up companies but there might be collateral needed. The company could get both debt and equity financing in order to balance.

The amount of inventory can be much lower than $10,000 and increase or decrease the inventory depending on the demand. George should also put in some expenses for the marketing and advertising initiatives in order to attract customers. George should also take into consideration the initial operating expenses such as salaries, utilities and other expenses.

Need assistance with the below:

Scenario:

You are a small business consultant who has been hired by Jennifer to advise her on a business opportunity. Please provide Jennifer a written assessment of the opportunity, plus recommendations that can help her be successful. This is the second of two meetings that you have scheduled. In this meeting, you will focus on marketing and human resources.

Your role:

You are a consultant newly hired by Jennifer to help her understand and provide expertise and research for her clothing store. As the consultant, you are being paid to provide specific and unbiased advice to Jennifer and her business partners. This is part two of a two-part You Decide. In part two, your consulting efforts will focus on marketing and human resources operations. Note that all of these topics have been covered in Weeks 4 through 6 of this course. Be sure to utilize the textbook and other research as necessary.

Key players:

Jennifer - store owner

Hello, thank you so much for coming to our second meeting. I really enjoyed your previous report. Understanding the social and ethical responsibility of running a business in the 21st century is critical to our success. Also your report on the business environment, types of business forms, and sources of funding was helpful. In this meeting we want to focus on marketing and human resources; as such, we have two others present at this meeting who would like to talk with you. David Green, you met him last meeting, is our principal investor, and Steve Mura is our marketing director.

David Green - Co-Founder

Thanks, Jennifer. I too enjoyed your report. I do not have much to talk about today, but what I am concerned with is critical for us both. Jennifer and I have talked about this company and know the clothing business, but we have little experience hiring and managing employees. We are interested in recommendations you have on good management and leadership of employees that will create a loyal and happy staff. As I said, I have little to talk about, so I will turn it over to Steve to discuss the marketing issues.

Steve Mura - Marketing Director

Thanks David. Let's talk about our marketing needs. First a little background: Jennifer has 20 years of experience selling clothing for large retailers, but now feels ready to take some risk, and venture out on her own. Her target market is female baby boomers. The only stores in her area that sell similar clothing are the major department stores at the mallbut those are 30 miles away. However, Jennifer is unsure what new competition she will face in the future. Do you think there are competitors we are not thinking about? What type of competitive differentiation could Jennifer build? Do you think this target market of female baby boomers is big enough to have decent sales? From a supply chain standpoint, Jennifer has great connections with potential U.S. suppliers. She can acquire a variety of name-brand clothes for her store that her target group would likely find attractive. However, she has no official business relationships with these suppliers yet and would need to either apply for trade credit or pay for inventory up front. She also has been introduced to a broker who can help her find clothing suppliers in China that produce clothes just like the name brands, but at half the cost. With all this in mind, remember that we want to be good corporate citizens, so when picking a partner, do we need to evaluate its business model? In your report that you are preparing, please be sure to focus on our marketing efforts and what you recommend in all parts of the marketing mix, product, price, place, and promotion. I look forward to your report and thank you for your time.