Sample MBA601 Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship Report

MBA601 Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship Report Sample

Your task

Individually, you are required to prepare a 2500-word new venture business plan that incorporates various aspects of a start-up to be presented to a venture capitalist.

Assessment Description

The purpose of this individual assessment is to provide students with an opportunity to create a plan for the proposed venture that incorporates financial, operational, marketing and ethical considerations and evaluate the risks and benefits of entrepreneurialism with a focus on how these can be mitigated.

Assessment Instructions

Presume that the start-up venture that you have been allocated in the first assessment is now seeking capital from prospective venture capitalists as they have plans to expand their business to other countries. In the context of this assessment, you are to focus on New Zealand as the first choice for the planned expansion.

Based on this, you are to prepare a new venture business plan that addresses the following:

• The overview of the market potential for the planned expansion in New Zealand;

• A comprehensive outline of the suitable business model.

• A critical analysis of the financial considerations, including investment requirements, potential risks and returns, and crowdfunding opportunities.

• A critical analysis of potential issues associated with human resources and operations.

• A critical analysis of the ethical considerations, including legal and regulatory risks and challenges.

The structure of your new venture business plan must adhere to the week 7 content coverage. In preparing this business plan, you must also incorporate theories and concepts discussed in the topics from weeks 5 to 12.

The findings presented in this report must be based on scholarly, peer-reviewed and commercial sources of information that were published no longer than 5 years ago. You are required to use at least 10 sources of information and reference these in accordance with the Kaplan Harvard Referencing Style. These must be presented in the business plan as in-text citations and a reference list at the end of your document. Wikipedia and other ‘popular’ sites are not to be used.

Solution

Introduction:

The case study that has been used to complete the assignment is based on a company that makes devices that helps the users and doctors to remain connected and share data about how their lungs are working. For Assignment Help the Company which has developed the product is NuvoAir. The company has developed a spiral device that can be handed to the user and a sensor is fitted in the body and is connected with the smart device.

The company is looking for an expansion option, and it has been seen that New Zealand can be a viable option as the country has various respiratory patients and the country lacks awareness in this department.

Overview of market:

NuvoAir is a company that was founded in 2014 by Mr Lorenzo Consoli. The start-up was started with the intention of providing better care to the patients as the device helps to build the gap between the doctors and the patients ensuring that the amount of care is increased for the patients. The product was made by Sweden based company and is a spirometer which can be used from the ease of home. The best part of the device is that it is directly connected with the smartphone of the patient. Hence, the device was designed with the intention to improve the management of serious lung conditions of patients, and their families.

The main headquarters of the company is located in the United States however, the company deliver its product in more than 30 countries. Right now, the company is looking for expansion options and is working to analyze whether New Zealand will be a potential market for the expansion of the company (Kostikas, et al, 2021, p.4)

New Zealand is a country that is rich in its culture and focuses on the health of its individuals. However, as globalization is increasing, the threat to individuals is also increasing as the cause of diseases is increasing. In New Zealand, asthma and respiratory diseases are two of the major causes of sickness and death. Every 1 individual out of 6 has a respiratory disease. Also, it is not only common in adults but every 7th child is suffering from these diseases and the same is becoming the main cause of death in the country.

This is because the fast-paced life, has restricted the scope of movement, and the air is not fresh anymore. The country is also very aware of the ongoing disease and is spending almost $7 billion every year to maintain the health and ecosystem and to provide better services to its patients and individuals (Shinde, et al, 2021, p.56)

The country has recently issued their first COPD guidelines. This step was taken by the government amid COVID-19 as the pandemic is mostly impacting people who have weak breathing systems. Earlier the country has never issued such guidelines which will help the individuals and show that the country care for their patients. This is also because the country lacks in non-pharmacological management and does not understand its importance. Hence, as important it is for people to do yoga, it is important that consideration is paid to non-pharmacological management as well.

Hence, in this case, the device that the company has made will be very helpful for the patients as it is specially designed for people who have respiratory issues as the device is also useful in conducting vital expiratory tests. The patients can link the device to their system which can help them to share data with their doctors or their care team. Hence, the device will provide ease to the patients and their doctors.
Business model:

The NuvoAir is based on the idea of letting people know about their illness at an early stage. The idea of a start-up is something similar to what the Sleep Cycle app does. The app will track your sleeping cycle and at times with the help of machine language, it will even tell the user the times that they have coughed in the night. Hence, the device is based on the same idea where it uses the app to track the cycle and also do health check-ups.

The company was founded in 2014, but, has seen immense growth amid covid because it was the time when people became more aware of their health. At that time, the stock of the company has seen a growth of 500% (Parrott, 2020, p.32)

The product works through a spirometer which is a Bluetooth device and remotely monitors the lung movement of the user. The model of the company is such that the sensor gets connected to their body which is then integrated with their Fitbit devices or their smartphones. It also depicts the data related to how many times the user has coughed during the night as it helps in better assessment of lung movement.

The business model enables the health plans, healthcare systems, insurance companies as it helps to reduce the cost of managing severe respiratory patients, and also provide patients with the care that they need. The company has stated that all over the world more than 300 million people suffer from respiratory issues, and the solution that the company has provided decreases the chances of visiting the doctor by 39%. Over the years the company has already made a strong base in the United States, and Europe, and is working to raise finance to expand its operations in other countries as well.

The business idea is also inspired by the personal health condition of the founder, where he suffered from asthma as a child. Also, the younger son of the founder has asthma and he has been seeing respiratory conditions prevailing in his family for a long time. Hence, the founder has joined the Novartis franchise and has realized how much technology has developed in the meantime, and how the same can be used to develop a device that will help the patients to examine their lungs and keep a track of the times when they need severe medical treatment. The system will be cost-efficient and will help the patients to save their time and cost (Sleurs, et al, 2019, p.67)

The product has got support from various medical health institutions as it is safe to use and helps the patients and doctors to remain connected and also give a breather to the doctors to examine those patients first who needs immediate attention. Hence, the business model of the product is simple, as the users need the device and the sensor is connected to their bodies, and as it is a Bluetooth device it can directly be connected to the smartphones or smartwatches of the individuals and the data can be shared with the doctors, hence, increasing the care and attention that is provided to patients.

Crowdfunding operations:

The start-up was founded in 2014 with the help of arranging finance from different investors. Hence, now as well, the company is trying to look for expansion options there is an opportunity for the company to use different methods to raise finance. However, the company should also analyze the risks and returns of every method. For instance, the company can use debt financing, where loans can be taken from banks, and the company will have to repay the loan in equal instalments.
But, if the company uses debt financing that it can be an optimal manner to raise finance but it also comes with a number of risks. Such as sometimes a company might not be able to repay the interests amount which will make the company a defaulter. And more loans do not look good on the balance sheet and pushes the company towards the risk of bankruptcy. However, today there are various private financing options that companies can use such as crowdfunding, venture capitalists etc. These platforms provide finance to the users at a low cost and without much hustle (Robach, 2020, p.21)

There are various crowdfunding websites that will provide initial investment to the investor i.e. if the investors have liked the idea they will provide finance to the company. However, before looking for financing options, it is important that analysis has been conducted to decide the amount of initial investment that the company will require. It is important to understand that cost in this industry is high, but, over the years measures have been taken by the company to reduce their overhead cost and it is by deciding how the company wants to conduct their repairs. Hence, before an investment plan is drawn company should evaluate the cost of conducting business in New Zealand, i.e. the overall cost of starting the business, the overhead cost, the employee's cost, etc. The company should also make provision that the cost company has decided might overrun the initial amount because there will be various differences in the cost of living.

Hence, it is very important that before financing and investment options are decided company analyses every option based on its cost and benefit i.e. risks and returns of every financing option should be evaluated as it will help the company to raise maximum finance at a minimum cost and in the most efficient manner (Kostikas, et al, 2020, p.65)

Human resource options:

Human resource management is one of the major issues that the company faces when they are looking for an expansion option. It is because the human resource is one of the most important resources which helps the company to gain a competitive advantage. In this case, the company is looking for an expansion option in New Zealand, hence, analysis is to be conducted of how the workforce moves in the country and what are the current issues that the workforce is facing.

From the analysis, it has been analyzed that the major human resource issue that the companies are facing is related to the recruitment of individuals. Staffing is one of the major issues, then managing human resources is another issue, and because the requirement of every is different it is first important to assess the requirement (Elsafty, et al, 2020, p.45)

In this case, the company will need to have a store or department where the company will be selling its products and conducting campaigns to make the consumers understand the importance of the device and how it can provide help and care to them. Hence, as a preliminary part, it is important that the company has tied up with local hospitals and have analyzed the hospitals that take maximum cases of respiratory issues, and whether there are cities like Auckland, where the rate of disease is high.

There are various considerations that a business has to take in relation to sanitization, plant management, billing, food requirements etc. The company will have to interview a number of candidates for different roles such as sales person or hiring a doctor who will be available at the site to ensure that users are aware of the device and how the same should be used.

Right now, the medical human resource is also tired and is feeling less motivated, hence, it is very important to ensure that company is paying something extra to ensure that their goals are matched with the goals of the organization. While hiring the human resource team also, the company has to ensure that professionals are educated and have the required degrees that allow them to work in this profession (Zhou, et al, 2020, p.5)

The company will also require to depart some of the existing workforces to New Zealand to ensure that they are aware of the way the company works and how they approach the clients. Hence, the major issue will be to handle the human resource and to recruit them, because beliefs of every country are different and it will be difficult for the company to understand the ways human resources work in New Zealand, i.e. their paychecks, what they expect is more than what company can afford. The recruitment in health care in the country is not easy because competition is increasing and there are various companies who have to eye the talent. Hence, the efforts must be taken by the company to attract employees as well and to provide them with the advantage which is not provided by other companies. This will help the company to build a gap between the company and the doctors, and the patients.

Ethical Considerations and Legal Compliance:

Whenever any company is rolling out any new device, they must ensure that all the ethical requirements are fulfilled before the product is rolled out in the market. However, the laws and regulations of every country are different and hence, reliance is to be paid to ensure that before expansion consultation is taken from the native lawyers to understand whether the company will be required to register the product with the health authorities of the country as it is considered as a health device.

The product should be rolled out only after analyzing that the product has an active market in New Zealand, and the product has passed all the necessary tests. The ethical issues that can arise here, is the quality of the product and its effectiveness. For instance, there are chances that some products might be defective or do not give accurate results to the users, or there are even chances that the product has a bug and the company is not disclosing the same to the users because it will decrease the demand of product (Blštáková, 2021, p.76)

Hence, the product should be given to a patch of health users and users who suffer from respiratory issues and should be enrolled after the company has disclosed all the details to the consumers and the health professionals. Also, measures have to be taken by the company to ensure that the data stored in the device about the clients is safe and is not misused by the company or other professionals in an inconvenient manner.

For instance, all the documents have to be shared by the company with the health department and the test reports from other countries where the product has been certified as safe for the use of humans will also require to be shared. Hence, the process can be time-consuming because the company will have to dedicate time to understand the legal compliances and regulatory compliances of the country because they will not be able to roll out the product before doing the same. The same can be time-consuming as well because COVID country has put various restrictions and it is not easy to conduct trade in the country. Also, the decision is to be taken whether the company wants to set the plant in New Zealand or whether the company will work on a retail basis only, i.e. products will be imported and then sold (Liu, 2021, p.78).

Conclusion:

A conclusion can be drawn from the above study, that the idea behind the start-up was very prominent because as use of technology is increasing people have stopped going out for fresh air which has caused various respiratory diseases and every year government and health departments of every country have to spend a ton to maintain the systems in check.

Hence, in this case, the product that the company has developed can be very useful, also because New Zealand is a country where every 6th person suffers from a respiratory problem and this device can help the patient to build the gap with the doctors and take timely advice and medication.

Reference: