Running head: LUMIDESK BUSINESS PLAN 1

University of Technology, Jamaica

Module: Entrepreneurship

Title of Paper: LumiDesk Business Plan

Group members:

Demario Hinds 1905574

Kevaughne Johnson 1907322

Tevin McLeod 1703571

Yasmin Williams 1802023

Lecturer’s Name: Mrs. Erica Donaldson

Academic Year: 2020-2021

Tutorial Day/Time: Thursday, 1-3pm

Semester: 2
 Definition of the Business

LumiDesk is a company that specialises in the production of ergonomically friendly study

desks which goes by the same name as the business ‘LumiDesk.’ LumiDesk promises to
offer unique features geared at providing comfort and convenience to individuals who are
pursuing courses of students and are engaged in self-study sessions. The product main
characteristic is the provision of additional lighting support for individuals as they engage in
these study sessions. The lighting support provides additional illumination thus reduces the
strain that is placed on the eyes in an otherwise poorly lit environment.

Other features of the LumiDesk includes a pull-out tray that provides additional space for
gadget or for writing support. The desk also boasts a mini bag compartment that allows for
the storing of backpacks or handbags. LumiDesk also boasts lightweight metallic material
that is rust resistant and a hard plastic desktop that supports portability.

LumiDesk will operate as a Partnership with its office located in Crossroads, Kingston. This
location is considered ideal as it is accessible to the potential target market. LumiDesk
intends to produce an initial line of 150 desks to supply initial demand identified through the
feasibility study. The business intended to offer the desks at an introductory price of $30,000
JMD.

The business intends to conduct sales promotional activities on the campuses of all
universities and colleges in the Kingston and St. Andrew to further introduce the product and
widen the market. Further growth and development of the business is expected in the medium
term as LumiDesk intends to market to colleges and universities in other parishes.
 Purpose of the Business Plan and Justification of the Business

The development of the business plan is aimed at providing a detailed description of the
business idea and its intended product. The plan also seeks to provide a clear description of
the direction of the business, its target market, its intended marketing strategies and the key to
success that are expected to be implemented.

The business plan seeks to further outline details of the business environment obtained
through business scanning activities; this includes the potential risks and opportunities
identified in the business environment. Additionally, the business plan postulates ways in
which the business intends to lessen or mitigate the potential of the risks identified and ways
in which the business intends to capitalize on the identified opportunities. This information is
necessary to allow potential investors (National Commercial Bank, NCB; Exim Bank;
Sagicor Bank) to make informed investment decisions.

The overarching reason behind the preparation of the business plan is to make the planning
process of the business more manageable by clearly identifying goals and objectives and to
establish timelines for implementation and evaluation. The business plan acts as a blueprint to
provide a framework with which the business can follow from the manufacturing,
introduction and other stages of the product life cycle. The business plan also outlines the
intended job opportunities that LumiDesk intends to create. It gives details on the positions,
the qualification requirements and the job duties and responsibilities.

The business plan also seeks to outline the intended social activities that it hopes to undertake
and the extent to which it will develop and support these programmes.
 Business Feasibility

The instrument that was chosen to complete the business feasibility analysis was a
questionnaire. The instrument, which was administered to 100 participants via Google Docs,
consisted of twenty (20) questions. Since the business intends to introduce a novel product,
one of the main objectives of the study was to determine the extent to which individuals
would be interested in the product and whether or not they will make the final buying
decision.

Figure 1 above reveals that 80% of the respondents are between the ages of 19-50 years ,
10% between the ages of 16-18 years and 10% above 50 years old.

Figure 2 indicates that the largest percentage of the target population is registered in
programmes of study in excess of one academic year (bachelor and master’s degrees). This is
denoted by 68 respondents or 68% and 19 respondents or 19% for bachelor and master’s
degree respectively.
The study also reveals that the target population has a high propensity to consume as 80% of
the respondents indicate that they have disposable income with which they can make
purchases, as indicated in Figure 3 above. The remaining 20% indicates that they can access
sponsorship to purchase the LumiDesk. In summary, the study indicates that the larger
percentage of the potential market consists of individuals who are either being financed as
students or are of employable age. Therefore, it is safe to say that the target market has access
to finances with which they are able to make purchases.

Figure 4 above reveals that 65 respondents or 65%, will be able to make purchases at $40,000
- $50, 000, which is above the suggested $30, 000. The study also reveals that 25 respondents
or 25% of the sample would be willing to make a purchase should the LumiDesk be offered
within a range of $30,000-$39,000.00. The remaining 10% of respondents indicated that they
would be willing to make a purchase if the LuniDesk is offered for a price range between
$25,000-$29,000.

The business intends to pitch the product at its intended offer price of $30, 000 by featuring
the product characteristics and the added benefits these features provide. It is expected that
through extensive marketing activities, the 10% will be convinced to make purchases at the
introductory price.

Overall, the questionnaire was quite effective in capturing the views of the target market. The
use of pointed questioning techniques also allowed for ease of analysis and quick
determination of the likelihood of the success of the business idea. The responses also
highlight the need for strategic thinking in order to influence the entire target market to make
a purchase decision. The successful planning and implementation of these strategies will be
among the key factors which will influence the success of the business.
 Human Resources
Human resource management is the organizational function that manages all the

issues related to the people in an organization. That includes but is not limited to

compensation, recruitment, and hiring, performance management, organization development,

safety, wellness, benefits, employee motivation, communication, policy administration, and

training (Heathfield, 2021).  Human resources is set to find the best persons suitable for each

position in the organization, so they must take the time to decide on the right candidates. To

continue, we will be looking at the sourcing and staffing considerations, arrangements for

training, development evaluation and compensation.

Sourcing and Staffing

This is the aspect of Human Resources where the search for the right candidate is

done. This is a crucial step as employees are one of the biggest assets of an organization, so

the person(s) who are chosen for a particular job must be very suitable or there will be a

problem. In this section, we must look at how many employees are required, for which

department, what kind of employees they are and what qualification is expected. When

sourcing the employees, we look at whether we want employees already apart of the

organization or if we must advertise publicly to get new employees through the sources of

employment agencies, educational institutions, professional organizations, walk-ins, and the

one mostly used these days, the internet. Let us first look at the employees needed:

Number of Types of Employees Qualifications Departments

Employees
1 Assistant Certification in Secretariat Human Resources
1 Accounts Manager Bachelor’s degree Accounting
1 Payroll Manager Bachelor’s degree
1 Production and Operations Bachelor’s degree

Manager
1 Supervisor/Trainer Certification in Carpentry
4 Carpenters Certification in Carpentry
2 Technicians Certification in Electrical
1 Truck Driver Truck License Production and Operations
1 Marketing Manager Bachelor’s Degree Marketing
1 Receptionist Certification is Secretariat Customer Service
1 Customer Service Agent
1 Cleaner High School Diploma Ancillary

The business will need a total of 15 employees. The HR generalist of the business

will need an assistant to help with inquiries from staff or filing forms and documents such as

requesting sick leave. The business will require an accountant to take care of the finances

and budgeting of the business. Along with an accounts manager in the accounting

department, there will be a payroll manager to take full charge of employee timesheets and

payslips. On to the production and operations department, it will need a manager to keep

operations running as smoothly as possible, which then there requires a supervisor/trainer to

get the new employees in that department ready to start carrying out their specific duties and

he will also be the one overseeing the day-to-day operations. Next, in that same department,

we need some carpenters to build the desk and having four will give the business enough

hands to keep up to production levels but it will not be LumiDesk without the lighting, so the

business needs a technician to install these lights. Two technicians will be adequate as to not

put the pressure to keep up to production on one person. LumiDesk is a big item, so the

business will require a driver to do deliveries. To market the product, there will be a

marketing manager to come up with new ways to pull new customers and new ideas for the

product. When entering a place of business, the first person everyone wants to see is a

receptionist to provide guidance to where they need to go or what to do. The receptionist will

also be responsible for making appointments, taking calls but calls directed at placing orders

will be sent to the customer service agent. The agent will also be responsible for providing

instructions and assistance when persons need help with the product. The business will need

to be kept clean, so there will be a cleaner coming in the evenings to prepare the office for the

next day, every other day.

 With all, the key staff members of the business will be the carpenters and the

technicians while the management team will consist of the accounts and payroll managers,

production and operations manager, the marketing manager and the human resource manager.

They will work together to ensure efficiency and effectiveness for the product and the

business.

Training and Developing Employees

To train and develop the employees, it would be best to work with the method of On-

the-Job Training and its different variances. On-the-job training, also known as OJT, is a

hands-on method of teaching the skills, knowledge, and competencies needed for employees

to perform a specific job within the workplace. Employees learn in an environment where

they will need to practice the knowledge and skills obtained during their training (Heathfield,

2021). This method will give employees a chance to get familiar with everything and prepare

for the task ahead with step-by-step instructions. On-the-job training is set to give employees

the chance to practice and get feedback from their training to see if what they are doing is

right or what they need to adjust. There are several different types of on-the-job training,

such as: tacit knowledge, known unknown, knowledge of results, situated knowledge. The

carpenters and technician will get on-the-job training from the supervisor, who will teach

them how to go about creating the desk and this will be the tacit knowledge. Managers

having been to school for many years have to go through on-the-job training variation of

known unknows and this is where they realized that everything they needed to know does not

come from a book. The customer service agent and receptionist will have gone through the

process of the knowledge of results, where they will try with a customer and if they fail then

next time, they will be better prepared to handle such a situation. An assistant must know

what their manager wants and how to go about this and this is why she will have training of
situated knowledge training. All these employees required on-the-job training whether

formal or informal.

Development Evaluation

Performance management is a whole work system that begins when a job is defined as

needed. It ends when an employee leaves your organization by way of finding a new job or

retiring (Heathfield, 2020). This means that the evaluation process never stops even though it

might have high and low points of it, it still prolongs. To develop an effective performance

management system, the business will require hard work and consistency. Let us look at what

will be a part of the system:

 Develop clear job descriptions: each job description for the various positions needs

to be precise and defined as to attract exactly the candidates the business is looking

for. After this then we must choose candidates most suitable by qualification and

conduct an interview to determine the final candidates. If there is still a dilemma on

who is the best persons then additional meetings, testing and assignments can be

done, which will determine which individuals complete the assignments how the

business would prefer and get a feel of who everyone is, how great are their strengths

and weaknesses. The best candidates can now be selected and invited to work with

your business where you will now discuss salaries and benefits.

 Welcome the new employee to your organization: every new employee has to go

through a recruitment process to get them familiar with the business and its culture

and as stated above, on the job training will be provided whether formal or informal,

so there will always be an opportunity to learn something new plus there will be

feedback on how well candidates are grasping.

 Set measures between employee and manager: the managers and employees will

get a chance to express their expectations of each other and set goals to be attained.
 They will also get to negotiate requirements and accomplishment-based performance

standards, outcomes, and measures to ensure productivity. Managers will also be

tasked with conducting quarterly performance development discussion and assist with

opportunities such as transfers.

 Conduct exit interviews or surveys: the best thing in an organization is to seize the

opportunity of gathering new information, so this would be a great way to find out if

the business is at fault and how to improve their system or get feedback on how well

the business is treating their employees.

Compensating Employees

Compensation is defined as the total amount of the monetary and non-monetary pay

provided to an employee by an employer in return for work performed as required

(Heathfield, 2020). Compensation can be referred to as the regular salary but also benefits

from the job such as health care, overtime, vacation time and university grants for employee’s

children. The business will seek to provide benefits for the employees as best as possible to

improve job satisfaction. Health care insurance will a great benefit, as it gives employees a

chance to keep up with their health and be in top shape for work. The health care benefit will

remove a percentage from all medical bills and visits to make it more affordable for the

employees. Making overtime an option gives the employees the decision to do overtime to

earn a little extra on their salaries with overtime being paid at time and half. At some point,

all employees might feel overwhelmed and need a break and allowing vacation time is

justified. Of course, not all employees can go at the same time, so vacation time must be

requested at least two weeks prior to give the business time to plan for the absence.

Maternity leave will also fall under the category of vacation request for expecting mothers or

those that recently had a new-born. University is an expensive route and most would like the

assistance in paying the fees, so the business will allow employees to request the grant for
their children. The business will try to provide benefits that are advantageous to the

employees.
 Operational Considerations
Operations management (OM) is the administration of business practices to create the

highest level of efficiency possible within an organization. It is concerned with converting

materials and labour into goods and services as efficiently as possible to maximize the profit

of an organization (Hayes, 2021). This is where the business makes effort to use all resources

as best they can, to ensure full productivity. Making use of all resources include, the location

of the business, the technical requirements, equipment required, suppliers of raw materials,

utilities, opening hours and all other factors to make the business run smoothly.

LumiDesk will be in Kingston as a lot of our potential customers will be in that area.

For customers who live at a further location then there will be delivery provided at a cost.

Additionally, technical requirements for the business will be construction of the desks to be

adjustable and installation of the lights. The desks will be required to be tweakable, so

customers can customize it to how they feel comfortable and the lights will provide adequate

lighting for the eyes in the right place needed and will be able to be dimmed if necessary.

LumiDesk being a manufacturing business means it will create the products but the raw

material is needed to be supplied. To get this done, it will require wood, hammer, and nails

to create the structure and screws to make it adjustable. It will also need the wires, bulbs, and

switch to create the desired lighting. As stated above, there will be four carpenters and two

technicians, so each carpenter will create a desk then the two technicians will input the

lighting. These carpenters will already be certified in the business, so they will receive two

weeks of training to get familiar with the way of the business and the precise structure of

LumiDesk. With the workers in mind, there will be an adequate supply of chair daily as we

use the FIFO (First in, First Out) distribution process. The suppliers of these materials will

be Tools Hardware and Supplies, also located at 279 Spanish Town Road, Kingston and they

provide “top of the line” equipment and supplies at reasonable prices. In the other
departments, they will require desks, chairs, computers, papers, filing cabinets, sofa,

microwave and a mini refrigerator for the lounge and a printer. The business will incur a few

utilities, namely: electricity bill from Jamaica Public Service, water bill provided by the

Water Commission, internet preferably from Flow and rent to the owners of the building.

LumiDesk will be open for business Mondays to Saturdays between the hours of 9am to 5pm.

Figure illustrating process to creating LumiDesk shown below.

Operation to Creating LumiDesk

Carpenter build the first level of the desk.

Desk is built with space to add next step.
1st Step

Technician then adds the wiring for the lighting.

Switch is added to adjust light.
2nd Step

Carpenter adds the final touch to the desk, ensuring it is

adjustable and ready.
Technicians add the lights and finishes up for inspection by
3rd Step supervisor.
 Marketing Consideration

A marketing plan is an operational document that outlines an advertising strategy that

an organization will implement to generate leads and reach its target market (Chen, 2020).

This is what they use to attract new customers and ensuring the return of previous customers.

A marketing plan is used to focus on the target market, how to improve the product, the

pricing, distribution, and promotion.

Target Market

Target marketing is the marketing concept used to divide the market into like-minded

people which helps with designing specific strategies and techniques promoting a product to

the target market (Juneja, 2020). Having this in mind, when targeting, LumiDesk uses niche

marketing. This is where the business focuses on customers who have similar interests and

traits. LumiDesk targets persons who needs the perfect station to work or study, meaning

university students and persons employed in an office. The diversity of the desk will also

have it targeting tech stores. Moreover, LumiDesk is an industrial marketer involved in the

business to consumer market and the business-to-business market. The business to consumer

market where they provide products directly to the customers and potential customers, so the

target market will be directly to customers. The business-to-business market is where the

product is provided to another business (i.e. tech stores) to have them distributed or to be

sold by the business itself, so the target will be on other business that would demand this

product for resale.

Definition of the Product

The definition of a product is where we discuss the attributes of the product to

develop a clear mental view of it. LumiDesk seeks to provide the best quality desks as we

ensure to have the best supplier of the materials needed and do our own checks on the

supplies when purchasing them. This desk will provide comfort with the best lighting and
posture control, plus it will be very ergonomically friendly. Being around a desk can be

tedious but with the comfort LumiDesk provides, you will be able to sit for longer hours and

lighting can be damaging to the eyes but with the lights on the desk, you will be able to dim

or brighten to satisfaction. The ability to correct your posture and sit in a healthy position or

however most pleasing is one of the many things LumiDesk supply its customers with. The

adjustability allows it to benefit anyone, no matter the physical appearance, for example, your

height. See appendix for image of the LumiDesk.

Pricing Strategy

This is the marketing method used to determine the price of a product or service, that

is normally formulated by calling the expenses of producing the item plus the percentage

profit (Suttle, 2019). LumiDesk will use the product life cycle strategy, this is where the

business will increase or decrease price based on the stages of the cycle. The cycle has four

main stages, namely: introduction, growth, maturity and decline. So for the introduction

stage, the price will be low as we are just starting up, then there will be an increase in the

growth stage as the product becomes known and so on. The uniqueness of LumiDesk will

allow prices to be considerably high in the growth stage. As per the survey, the majority

would pay $30,000 for the desk, which could be the introduction price and increase at the

growth stage for maximum profits.

Distribution Strategy/ Place

This is the chain of businesses through which a good or service travels through to the

final buyer is the distribution channel which includes retailers, wholesalers, distributors, and

the internet (Kenton, 2020). LumiDesk uses two channels, one from us directly to the

customers and the other from us to distributors or retailers. We create the product then it is

transferred by our drivers to the location of the customer upon request as customers can also

do pickups. The next method is, we create the product and sell to a retailer who then sells at
a different price to the customers or we use a distributor to sell for us at a cost which could

be a percentage of the profit. A figure displaying just what was explain is outlined below.

Product is delivered or
Product is created and
picked up by
ready for distribution.
customer for final use
1. From Vendor to Customer

Product is
Product is created Product is sold
delivered to
and ready for to customer for
retailer or
distribution. final use.
distributor
2. From Vendor to Intermediaries to Customer

Promotion Strategy
This is the part of the marketing mix that deals with public relations, advertising, and

promotional strategies to let consumers know why this is the product for them (Twin, 2020).

With that, LumiDesk will use advertising on radio, social media, and television to publicize

the product. We will also use public relations by getting involved with the community to

create a space there and use direct marketing to directly get in touch with customers through

emails and texting campaigns. This will help to build LumiDesk’s customers as they

gradually get involved in more promotional strategies such as coupons.

 Appendices

Floor Plan
 References

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