Small Businesses Firm Business Venture

Question: Describe about the Report for Small Businesses Firm of Business Venture. Answer: Case Study Leopard Controls is a small firm which decided to venture into the field of building management systems. The players in this field were big enough for Leopard Controls to compete with. The company was new to this and as a marketing professional promoting the companys strategies and products is what would help them to gain contracts. Being new to this industrial segment it lacked adequate expertise but very well knew what they wanted. Thus with a clearer vision in mind it chose to compete with the biggies by offering a product range which most of the enterprises were looking for, specially the smaller ones. The BMS being offered by the competitors were of a closed nature so Leopard chose to offer an open system which would remove all restrictions of entry and exit. This was the necessity of the hour for firms of a smaller scale. As a marketing gimmick, a professional would advertise this concept of quality product and services at a cheaper rate. Doing so would enable the company to gain attention f more customers. Because of existence of proprietary form of a system many customers who wished to install a BMS system found it to be very difficult (Frei, 2008). As a marketing professional one would ensure to highlight these points and try to sell its products following the top down approach which would enable the firm to make greater profits although the results would take time to reflect. The benefit of relying on Leopard Control such as newer entity would be more dedicated in its work, quality assurance, cheap price, good after sales services and ensuring development of the system and timely upgradation so that the system does not become technologically obsolete (Sibley, 2016). The highlighting of these points along with a comparative analysis of the companys achievements with that of other competitors will also play an important role in making the firm identifiable amongst the bigger organizations. Leopard Controls win over the tender floated by Perth Internal Airport for its redevelopment is a good opener to the gates of bigger entities and other government projects. Thus as a marketing professional simple yet competitive methods will help to advertise Leopard Control as a successful firm. Leopard Controls ways and means to gain the market share is immature in nature as it may seem beneficial for the clients but not for the healthy growth of the business. Even though the growth rate is slow yet the modus operandi of price and service quality can be duped to the changing moods of the clients. This business approach has its own advantages and disadvantages attached to it. The advantages are enumerated as under: This business approach offers flexibility to the customers who want to install a building management system but due to proprietary product supply were unable to do the same. Also the cost was a major factor. The business approached to provide the flexibility thus giving a tough competition to its competitors. It allows the customers to exit at any point of time without any condition (Stucke, 2013). The cost factor which is of utmost importance. This business approach ensures quality is maintained along with price. The target group is not the top companies but the smaller ones thus easy to enter the market. The volume is huge in this kind of a business approach which adds to the goodwill of the firm amongst the existing customers and thus attracts new ones to try the services offered. Further increase in volume would ensure a further dip in the cost of production or supply or installation of the system. Thus benefitting the company basis lower costs and increased volumes (Sara 2009). The disadvantages are enumerated below: The biggest disadvantage of this kind of penetration policy adapted by Leopard Control is that the customers may change their mood anytime and prefer exit thus hampering the profits of the company. This approach is risky as the flexibility offered may be profitable at its initial stage but the same may prove to be a risky affair with changing moods of the clients. This business approach just concentrates upon the bottom up approach and not on the top down approach where the maximum profitability lies. Thus the profitability graph in this kind of an approach is very slow. Brand building is the biggest requirement in todays scenario thus lower pricing policy may not work for long as people often have this mind set that lower cost products are cheaply made thus shifting their preferences towards those competitors who are pricier. This is where it becomes difficult to build a brand and larger organizations prefer brands (Recklies, 2015). Another very important disadvantage that this kind of a business approach faces is that it becomes very difficult for such firms to increase their prices in future as an increase may lead to exit of their customers. And if they donot increase then in the long run it is expected to run into losses. Penetrating into the larger business houses is very difficult. They may participate in tenders but if proper branding is not done then it becomes very difficult for them to win the same. Although Leopard Control could win the tender of the Perth International Airport but it is a one of situation and its stability is questionable. Lastly its approach to supply services and the system is outsourced and not indigenous in nature. Thus it does not have full control over the pricing of the outsourcing agencies. This leads towards opening up of room for the competitors who wish to enter the market (Maguire 2016). References: Frei, F.X., (2008). The Four Things a Service Business Must Get Right. Available At : https://hbr.org/2008/04/the-four-things-a-service-business-must-get-right [Accessed 16th August 2016] Maguire, A. (2016), How to Price Your Products and Services for Maximum Market Penetration, Available at: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/r/pricing-strategy/how-to-price-your-products-and-services-for-maximum-market-penetration/# [Accessed 16h August 2016] Recklies, D., (2015), Understanding and Managing Customer Perception, Available at : https://www.themanager.org/2015/01/customer-perception/ [Accessed 16th August 2016] Sibley, A. (2016), What is Co-Marketing ? A Guide to Co-Branding Marketing Campaigns. Available at : https://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/34188/What-in-the-Heck-Is-Co-Marketing.aspx, [Accessed 16th August 2016] Sara, (2009), The Customer Service Gap Model, Available at: https://www.brainmates.com.au/brainrants/the-customer-service-gap-model [Accessed 16th August 2016] Stucke, M.E., (2013) Is Competition Always Good? , Journal of Antitrust Enforcement , Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 162-197