Create a business plan about Watercress (the product itself being sold on the market) based on these questions;

Part 2: Managing Your Business

Mission Statement

Provide a brief mission statement for your business.

Hint: Refer to the discussion of mission statements. Be sure to include the name of your business, how you will stand out from your competition, and why a customer will buy from you.

Business Goals

Consider the goals for your business using a SMART (specific, measureable, achievable, relevant, and timely) guideline. What are three of your business goals for the first year? What are two intermediate- to long-term goals?

Hint: Refer to the discussion of goal setting. Be as specific and realistic as possible with the goals you set. For example, if you plan to sell a service, how many customers do you want by the end of the first year? How much do you want each customer to spend? If you plan to sell a good, how many units do you hope to sell?

SWOT Analysis

Perform a basic SWOT analysis for your business, listing its main strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

Hint: We explained above what factors you should consider in your basic SWOT analysis.

Strengths

Weaknesses

Opportunities

Threats

Management

Who will manage the business?

Hint. Think about how many levels of management and what kinds of managers your business needs.

Organization Chart

Show how the “team” fits together by creating a simple organizational chart for your business. Make sure that your organizational chart indicates who will work for each manager as well as each person’s job title.

Hint: Most businesses start off quite small. However, as you create your organizational chart, consider what your business will look like in the future. What different tasks are involved in the business? Who will each person report to in the organizational structure? Refer to the discussion of organizational structure.

Corporate Culture

What do you see as the “corporate culture” of your business? What types of employee behaviours, such as organizational citizenship, will you expect?

Hint: Will your business demand a casual environment or a more professional environment? Refer to the discussion on corporate culture, and the discussion on organizational citizenship and other employee behaviours.

Leadership Philosophy

What is your philosophy on leadership? How will you manage your employees day-to-day?

Job Descriptions

Looking back at your organizational chart, create a job description for one employee.

Hint: As you learned in Chapter 8 of the textbook, a job description lists the duties and responsibilities of a job; its working conditions; and the tools, materials, equipment, and information used to perform it.

Job Specifications

Create a job specification for this job, listing the skills and other credentials and qualifications needed to perform the job effectively.

Hint: As you write your job specification, consider what you would write if you were making an advertisement for the position. What would the new employee need to bring to the job to qualify for the position?

Job Title:

Needed Skills/Credentials/Qualifications for Job:

Training Employees

What sort of training, if any, will this employee need once they are hired? How will you provide this training?

Compensation

A major factor in retaining skilled workers is a company’s compensation system—the total package of rewards that it offers employees in return for their labor. Part of this compensation system includes wages/salaries. What wages or salaries will you offer for this job? Why did you decide on that pay rate?

Incentives

As you learned. incentive programs are special programs designed to motivate high performance. What incentives will you use to motivate your workforce?

Hint: Be creative and look beyond a simple answer such as giving pay increases. Ask yourself, who are my employees, and what is important to them?