Instructions:

Case Study

Sparkle & Shine is based in Canberra, ACT and offers professional, residential cleaning services, including regular home cleans, as well as spring cleans. The company is a family business established in 2005 by James and Nancy Anderson.

James and Nancy are the Directors of the company. Their daughter, Sarah is employed by the company in the role of Administration Manager; and you have been employed in the role of Operations Manager.

The company sees its point of difference from competitors as being a small family business with a focus on quality and happy and content staff and customers. The management team understands this point of difference may need to change as the business grows. There may a need for more management staff to be employed, for example, while Sarah manages marketing, she is not skilled in this area and is very busy with the administration side of the business. A skilled marketing officer may be needed.

Currently target customers are located all around Canberra. Target customers are people who want a professional, trustworthy and immaculate cleaning service. Pricing reflects that of competitors.

The company employs 15 cleaners, all of whom are part-time contract staff working between 10 - 15 hours a week. The company currently has approximately 70 regular clients, based around Canberra. These clients require regular home cleaning, either weekly or fortnightly for hours ranging from 3 - 6 hours.

A standard hourly rate of $40 per hour is charged. Staff receive an hourly rate of $25 per hour with the cost of the products provided to staff for cleaning. Equipment and ongoing supplies, works out to be approximately $2 per hour on top. The company is also considering whether it may be wiser to move to employing a number of full-time, permanent cleaning staff. This is partly because there is a high turnover of casual staff and little loyalty to the company. Staff costs for employing full-time cleaners are $55,000 per cleaner per year including all superannuation payments.

All cleaning supplies are currently purchased from Total Cleaning Supplies in Sydney. However, as this company does not currently offer environmentally friendly products, a different supplier needs to be identified.

It is estimated that purchase of these products will be an additional $10,000 per month. The products cost double the amount of the non-environmentally friendly products.

Sales revenue for the company for the financial year ending 2020 is $3,600,000 with a gross profit margin of 30%. Labor costs are a significant part of the business representing 70% of total costs. Average debtor days are currently 40 days.

Currently, marketing is via a website but a large proportion of the company's work comes through word-of-mouth from existing customers. Social media is not currently used to market the business. The new business plan will need to reflect different ways of marketing, especially to attract commercial customers.

At a recent meeting of the management team (the Directors, Operations Manager and Administration Manager), it was decided that a 3-year business plan is needed to ensure the company meets its business goals. For the 2021 - 2023 years, this will be to diversify into the commercial cleaning market and to offer environmentally friendly cleaning services. Down the track, the company is also considering offering carpet cleaning services. The Operations Manager has been given the responsibility of developing the business plan.

The Directors and two senior managers met recently to develop and document the company's mission, vision, values and objectives as follows:

Mission

Sparkle & Shine is committed to providing the highest quality residential and commercial cleaning services available by exceeding the expectations of our clients.

Vision

We are constantly working to establish ourselves as the most respected and sought after contract cleaning and facilities support service in Canberra

Values

Respect:taking time to understand and value each person and respecting their choices.

Responsibility:acting with integrity towards our staff, our customers, the community and the environment.

Caring:a duty of care for our staff, customers and the environment.

Excellence:to always look to provide the best quality experience with regards to our cleaning and our customer service.

Integrity:to act with honesty, openness and do what we say we will do.

Innovation:to be industry leaders.

Objectives

Our key objectives which are fundamental to our business in delivering world-class cleaning and customer service, are as follows:

Provide our customers with a professional and friendly service.

To increase the number of clients by 20% in the first year of introducing commercial cleaning services and 10% thereafter.

Meet or exceed the expectations of customers.

Implement best practice in cleaning operations, including environmentally sustainable practices.

Complete the following activities based on the case study above.

1.Review and evaluate information and research in preparation to develop business plan.

Review the case study and the business plan template provided to you before you start. Ensure you understand the business vision, mission, values and objectives so that they are reflected in the business plan.

Conduct research to inform the development of the business plan including:

-Identifying and analysing trends in demand for cleaning services, nationally as well as in the local Canberra market.

-Identifying competitors in the market for Sparkle & Shine. Include information for at least three competitors, providing a summary of their services, as well as an explanation of how their services compete with Sparkle & Shine and any points of difference that will enable Sparkle & Shine to stand out.

-Identifying and analysing target consumer needs for specific types of cleaning services eg environmentally friendly cleaning services. This may be through identifying secondary sources of data or through a review of social media, for example.

-Identifying strengths, weakness, threats and opportunities (SWOT analysis) based on the scenario information and research.

-Identifying and evaluating alternative pricing strategies to the current pricing strategies (as per the scenario information).

-Identify potential marketing strategies for existing residential services, as well as commercial and environmentally friendly cleaning services. This may be through reviewing how competitors market their services, as well as identifying effective marketing strategies.

-Identifying any permits or licences that are required for commercial cleaning and environmentally friendly cleaning services.

-Identifying suppliers of environmentally friendly cleaning products that can provide Sparkle & Shine with products. Identify at least three options, including the supplier contact details and summary of products offered.

-Identifying key activities and required financial, physical and human resources requirements based on analysis conducted (this will be documented in the action plan in the business plan). Note that you must ensure that your action plan clearly shows how a skilled workforce will be in place to ensure that the plan can be implemented.

-Identifying key performance indicators that can be used to assess both the financial and non-financial performance of the business.

2.Develop the business plan.

Using your research findings and the scenario information, develop the business plan using the template that has been provided.

-A review outline and evaluation of the Sparkle & Shine's strategic goals, vision, mission, values and objectives.

-The actions that you include in the business plan should show how the strategic objectives of the company will be achieved, and what resources will be needed.

-As additional staff will be required to manage the expansion into contract cleaning and environmentally friendly cleaning services, the actions included in the business plan should show how this will be achieved in terms of identifying staff needed, recruiting the required staff, as well as inducting staff. Clear timelines must be provided.

-Each of the actions should include clear performance indicators.

Your business plan must be written in clear and concise English, be grammatically correct and free from errors.