Business in action (BSP5071)

MODULE LEADER: - Dr. Pranjali Madhur

Topic: - OnePlus

NAME: - BATCH:-BABM7
RUDRAKSHA SHARMA (st20149954)
Introduction
OnePlus is a smartphone manufacturing company which was founded by Pete Lau and Carl
Pei in the year 2013 in Shenzhen, China. “After the successful launch of their first
smartphone, the company has grown more rapidly, serving over 34 countries spanning Asia,
United States, and Europe.”
OnePlus has a simple and bold vision that is “to share the best technology with the world.
The goal of the company is to achieve the highest standard, while providing the best value
available in the market and to complete the goals and mission, the company has gathered the
best talents globally. Within a short span of time, OnePlus has plotted its way up the
smartphone industry and constantly find themselves going head on with the top smartphone
contenders. The brand’s latest product- OnePlus 7T was” awarded the best smartphone of
2019 (Brandwatch Case Study: OnePlus. 2020).

The steps involved in a business set-up

1. Organize a self-assessment- in order to start any business, one needs to plan, set goals
and should know about the strengths and opportunities which can take a business forward
in the future. One can perform a SWOT analysis test to figure out this. A business should
not be completely out of your expertise otherwise it can take a lot of time to get set in the
market and one can lose a lot of money (Landau 2020).

2. Analysis of the following industry- once you decide on a business that can fulfill your
goals and gives you a healthy lifestyle, you have to evaluate the industry under which
your business falls. One should clearly know about the types of inputs which are required
to work under certain industries. To know about industries one can consult with the
industry supplier who can give a sense of market demand and other related information
(Landau 2020).

3. Evaluate your target audience- a market analysis can be done to know how striking the
future market is. One can think about certain questions like:-
 Whether the product or service which you will be selling is necessary for the
customer or not?
 What’s the size of the market? “Are there already a lot of people paying for
products or services similar to yours?”
Being specific will help you focus your marketing message and investment. One should
always know about their competitors and analyze there weaknesses so that when they
enter into the market they do not repeat the same (Landau 2020).
4. Set up your business- registration of a business is the first step to make a business real.
One should work with a proper business lawyer to fill out the business details because no
one wants to go wrong in this area. Depending upon the business one can required a
proper licensing or permits to work. “While incorporating can be expensive, it’s worth the
money. A corporation becomes a separate entity that is legally responsible for the
 business. If something goes wrong, you are less likely to be held personally liable
(Landau 2020).”
5. Start the planning process- “a business plan will help you figure out how much money
you will need to get started, what it will take to make your business profitable, what needs
to get done when, and where you are headed. A good business plan is required to attract
more investors and partners and it also defines your strategy and tactics with which you
will work to fulfill the goals. The process of business planning will help to uncover any
holes or areas” you have not thought through well enough (Landau 2020).

6. Have a plan for funding- “Depending on the size and goals of your business, you may
need to seek financing from an investor or from a venture capital firm. But, most small
businesses begin with a loan, financing from credit cards, help from friends and family,
and so on.” To get good amount of funds and loans the business plan must be well
structured and detailed, which will help the investors to know what your idea is (Landau
2020).

7. Set up your space- “Your business location will dictate the type of customer you attract,
what types of promotions you can run, and how long it will take you to grow. While a
great location won’t necessarily guarantee your success, a bad location can contribute to
failure.” One should consider the following points like price, visibility, distribution of
competitors, access of transportation, and etc. before choosing a location (Landau 2020).

8. Prepare for trial and error- “whether you are starting your first business or your third
business, expect to make mistakes. If you do not make mistakes, you do not learn what to
do less and what to highlight.” Be open minded and creative, adapt, and “look for
opportunities. The great thing about owning your own business is that you get to decide
what you want to do and where you’ll grow (Landau 2020).”

Feasibility testing for a successful start-up:

As “the name implies, a feasibility study is used to determine the viability of an idea, such as
ensuring that the project is legally and technically feasible as well as economically justifiable.
In other word it tells us whether a project is worth the investment. A feasibility test usually
answers whether the specific action can still be performed or not?”
Feasibility test comprise of four components i.e. marketing, operations, human resource, and
finance. All these functions are taken under thought to check whether they are feasible for the
business or not.
Here are some question with their answer which were found in order to check upon the
feasibility, which OnePlus took under consideration.
1. What kind of people they will be targeting?
The target audience are those people who are looking for premium smartphone but in low
cost.

2. Does the business has the capabilities to fulfill the customer’s needs?
 The customer needs larger screen with fast processor and therefor OnePlus used the
fastest processor of 2019 which was Qualcomm Snapdragon 855+ which was 30% faster
than the earlier processor.

3. Is there any other area in technological sector in which the company can make a
future?
OnePlus is not only going a great job in smartphones business but also entering into TV
and earphone sector, which can give a chance to the company to exceed in future.

The business process which OnePlus follows in the following functions:

1. Marketing functions:- “The marketing strategies of OnePlus have made all the
difference in its success when compared to the other competitors. The marketing geniuses
behind this brand deserves a mention for greatly reducing advertising costs, retailing
commissions and other costs that might have caused an increase in price.” Some of the
marketing strategies used by the brands are:-
 “Creating Buzz with Exclusivity”
 “Clever Use of Influencer Marketing”
 “Leveraging on Word of Mouth”
 “Less Expenditure on Traditional Marketing”
 “A Quality Product”
 “Maximally Utilizing an Hashtag (#NeverSettle)”
 “Affordability of the Device”
 “Building Loyal Community Members”
 “Online Sales with no Offline Store at the Beginning”
“Social media promotions are one of OnePlus’s main tools for raising brand awareness. The
company has employed an unusual ‘invite policy’ that requires people to receive an invite –
either from an OnePlus employee or an existing phone owner – to buy the product. The key
aim is to allow OnePlus to match its inventory level to demand, but it has also given the
business an ability to execute digital marketing campaigns as tech enthusiasts scramble to get
invites (Saxena 2019).”
  “They have recently launched their own e-commerce store to offer a more
personalized and convenient shopping experience to the user and are also
strengthening their exclusive service network to offer 1-hour service guarantee to user
beyond metro cities as well (Saxena 2019).”
 “Through its marketing campaigns, OnePlus aimed to take their customer on a
journey where they can experience the ‘Never Settle’ way of life. The #NeverSettle
hashtag proved that you don’t need necessarily need big bucks to make an impact. If
you have a great product, customers will be drawn to your brand (Saxena 2019).”

2. Operations functions:- OnePlus offers more value than their rivals.

• “It has an innovated unique supply chain that have forgone the warehousing and
inventory accumulation model and replaced it with a direct from manufacturing to
shipping model.”

• “Reviews and analyses often point to limited stock/unavailability as shortcomings of

this brands, when in fact, it’s the very basis for their success.”

• “One Plus’s main contribution to the Smartphone Wars has been to cut out
warehousing time altogether, bringing smartphones to market as soon as they are
assembled, in whatever minimum order quantity is available.”

• “This model is somewhat unstable and doesn’t deliver a uniform customer

experience. It reaches ahead as eagerly as possible to the future, optimizing the flows
of technological development and capital.”

3. Human resources functions:- The HR manager of the company is coordinating and

implementing all human resources activities for the OnePlus office India, in line with
their global HR strategy and policies (GM 2015).

It's a “strategic and hands-on role that provides full-cycle human resources support, the
role is critical in executing people’s initiatives, providing great internal customer support,
and driving HR functional excellence and process improvement (GM 2015).” Key
responsibilities of HR manager:-
 “Handled entire life cycle of an employee from hiring, on-boarding till separation.”
 “Ensure implementation of key processes and capabilities to support learning and
growth for the – organization.”
 “Scout, acquire, and retain talent appropriate for current vacancies.”
 “Coordinate with the headquarters to identify hiring needs and recruiting plans.”
 “Partner with the marketing team to increase visibility and attract the right talent.”
 “Manage employee life cycle processes and actively improve them to enhance
employee experience.”

4. Financial functions: - A “finance business process is a sequential set of tasks that takes a
set of data to a finished state. For example, travel reimbursement is a common finance
business process. The process involves collecting employee expenses, passing that
 information to managers and finance teams for review, and getting it approved until the
employees get reimbursed.”

“There are several finance business processes like purchase requests, invoice approvals
that the team must complete on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annual basis.”

“Businesses that are heavily reliant on manual methods like paper forms, spreadsheets,
and emails do not take advantage of the predictability of the finance processes. Once
you’ve identified the finance process flow, you can easily identify areas where tasks are
hung up. Employees no longer have to pass on information manually.”

Business ethics
“Ethics means the set of rules or principles that the organization should follow. While in
business ethics refers to a code of conduct that businesses are expected to follow while doing
business. Through ethics, a standard is set for the organization to regulate their behavior. This
helps them in distinguishing between the wrong and the right part of the businesses.”

“Code of conduct is another term that is used extensively in businesses nowadays. It is a set of
rules that are considered as binding by the people working in the organization. Business ethics
compromises of all these values and principles and helps in guiding the behavior in the
organizations. Businesses should have a balance between the needs of the stakeholders and their
desire to make profits (Business Ethics: Meaning, Importance, Ethical Principles, Videos.
2020).”

*Source (Business Ethics: Meaning, Importance, Ethical Principles, Videos. 2020)

How OnePlus protects personal information.

“OnePlus only retains your personal information for the time period necessary for the
purposes described in this Privacy Policy and as required by applicable laws and regulations.”

“OnePlus uses various management policies (such as establishing information security

system; signing a confidentiality agreements with information management employees;
allowing only work-related employees to access the information collected; and other similar
policies) and security techniques and procedures (such as entering passwords before access,
access control isolation, monitoring for computer use, etc.) to prevent the loss of information,
improper use, and unauthorized reading or disclosure. For example, in some services,
OnePlus uses encryption technology (such as TLS) to protect the personal information you
provide. However, please understand that due to technical limitations and possible malicious
means, it is impossible for any company providing Internet-related services to guarantee
100% security of information, even if all efforts are made to strengthen security measures.
One need to understand that the systems and communication networks one use to access
OnePlus services may be subject to problems that are beyond OnePlus’s control (Never Settle
- OnePlus.com. 2020).”

(trancell.com.2020).

If “OnePlus is informed that the security of data it has acquired and stored is compromised or
the user's nonpublic information is disclosed to an unrelated third party due to external acts
(such as cyber-attack), OnePlus will take reasonable actions. These actions may include
internal investigations, reporting and notification to law enforcement agencies, and
cooperation with the law enforcement agencies, and other actions OnePlus may consider
appropriate to reduce the impact of data leakage accidents on users, notwithstanding any
disclaimer in this Policy. In parallel, OnePlus will take legal and reasonable steps it may
deem appropriate to notify the relevant users, informing them of the information disclosed
and the extent to which we are aware of such situations (Never Settle - OnePlus.com. 2020).”

“Cross-border data transfer: your personal information may be transmitted and transferred
across borders (regions), and stored and processed in the target country (region). Depending
on the laws in your country and region, the receiving country and region of these data may
not meet the requirements. We promise that we will have the right security and privacy
safeguards to ensure that the protection level of data can meet the full requirements of the
laws and regulations of your country and region (Never Settle - OnePlus.com. 2020).”

What it takes to act ethically in business

1. Leadership: - “Ethical executives are conscious of the responsibilities and opportunities
of their position of leadership and seek to be positive ethical role models by their own
conduct.”

2. Honesty: - “Ethical executives are honest and truthful in all their dealings and they do not
deliberately mislead others by misrepresentations, overstatements, partial truths, or any
other means (Rushton et al. 2020).”

3. Concern for others: - “Ethical executives are caring, compassionate, and kind; they like
the Golden Rule, help those in need, and seek to accomplish their business objectives in a
manner that causes the least harm and the greatest positive good (Rushton et al. 2020).”

4. Commitment to excellence: - “Ethical executives pursue excellence in performing their

duties, are well informed and prepared, and constantly endeavor to increase their
proficiency in all areas of responsibility (Rushton et al. 2020).”

Significance of business communications

1. Managerial efficiency: “Communication helps in the even operation of management. A
managerial task can only be performed when the communication system is active.”

2. Enhance morale and relations: “Effective communication highlights the employee’s

participation in management. It helps to build the employees.”

3. Effective leadership: “Effective leadership depends on effective communication. Two-

way communication helps in effective communication. A managerial leader must know
how to handle the juniors. For ordering, qualitative leadership is essential. And that can
be achieved from a proper system of communication.”
4. Better decision: “The success of an organization can be measured in better decisions.
When the information, data, and other fact are not effectively communicated, it hampers
the decision-making. So, when the facts are communicated to concerned department,
organization, and person. It is easy to make decisions promptly.”

(wps.com.2020)

5. Staffing: “When the information are correctly communicated in time, it helps in the
function of selection, placement, socialization, promotion, and transfer (Importance of
business communication | Management Notes | TyroCity. 2019).”

Significance of teamwork in an effective business organization

1. Increased productivity: - “a team that works together and employees help each other
overcome challenges, problems get solved efficiently. Your workflow gains an extra layer
of support”, which reduces errors.

When you create connection, “you get to know which employees are good at different
tasks. This understanding is extremely valuable for assigning roles. Your business’s
output improves by understanding each employee’s strengths and weaknesses (Bossart
2017).”

2. Innovative solutions: - “the importance of teamwork in the workplace is clear when it

results in open communication. Problems are met with proper solutions when employees
are comfortable speaking openly.”
 “Employees become more apt to share ideas when you create connection. Your business’s
weak points are met with fix from different perspectives. When employees bring their
viewpoint to the table, your business is never quiet (Bossart 2017).”

(brio.co.in.2015)

3. A committed workforce: - “teamwork and motivation go hand in hand. A disconnected

and unenthused team can spell trouble for any business. When morale is low, employees
are unhappy and when they are unhappy, the quit. High turnover rates can cost you a lot
of money, from the hiring process to a loss in productivity.”

“Teamwork creates a sense of togetherness that promotes employee retention. You can
increase the number of loyal workers on payroll by encouraging teamwork (Bossart
2017).”
Bibliography

 Shaw, W. 2008. Business ethics. 6th ed. Canada: Thomson Wadsworth, cop.

 Brandwatch Case Study: OnePlus. 2020. Available at:
https://www.brandwatch.com/case-studies/oneplus/#digital-content [Accessed: 28
February 2020].
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https://articles.bplans.com/business-ideas/7-steps-to-starting-your-own-business/
[Accessed: 28 February 2020].
 Saxena, D. 2019. One Plus Marketing Strategies – 9 Big Takeaways - Super
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 Business Ethics: Meaning, Importance, Ethical Principles, Videos. 2020. Available at:
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2020].
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