1

Running Head: EVALUATION OF GROWTH & HARVESTING STRATEGIES FOR SMALL BUSINESS

Evaluation of growth and harvesting strategies for successful small businesses

Name

Course

Institution

Date
 2
EVALUATION OF GROWTH & HARVESTING STRATEGIES FOR SMALL BUSINESS

1. Introduction of eLearning industry

In recent times, technology and entrepreneurship have increasingly contributed the significant

developments in the education and other economic sectors in the UAE and other parts of the world. The

rapid rise in the use of internet-based technologies offers an opportunity for entrepreneurs to venture

since it has high potential to growth. In the UAE the value of the education market in 2019 was

approximated to be USD 5.2 billion, and was also estimated to rise annually be about 8.3%, and the

eLearning segment alone to increase by a CAGR of 15.2% to hit USD 1.3 billion by 2023. The Global

Forecast Report 2027 research report projected that the global e-learning market was set to increase

between 2021 and 2027 by 21% to exceed USD 250 billion in 2020 with a CAGR of 21% (E-Learning

Market Trends 2021, 2020). The key drivers in the modern business world are efficiency and

advancement—institutions are increasingly turning to the use of e-learning to economies the use of

resources, save time, enhance flexibility, enable convenient learning, and offering of multiple

personalized courses simultaneously. These aspects and dynamics according to the Global Forecast

Report 2027 report make e-learning market in the UAE a lucrative business venture as more businesses

and schools utilize learning tools to improve learning and engagement of employees and experiences of

students. This paper proposes an eLearning platform with more advanced functions for use in business

organizations to facilitate training and development and also in higher levels of learning institutions for

teaching and learning. Evaluation of growth and harvesting strategies for the online learning platform

business are also presented. The users are required to subscribe to use the service to facilitate delivery of

their services in both learning institutions and business organizations.

2. The parameters of a venture or project idea

 3
EVALUATION OF GROWTH & HARVESTING STRATEGIES FOR SMALL BUSINESS

People

This business idea will be launched by the author. The author founded the venture alone with little

involvement of other parties. The founded of the venture is an entrepreneur and is equipped with

sufficient knowledge and skills to turn the ideas into a potentially profitable business start-up—however

little knowledge on information technology. Considering the potential of the venture, Information

Technology experts, financiers and other necessary teams will probably show interest to fill in the skill,

knowledge, and possible knowledge gaps.

Customer

The target customer segments for the project are adult learners in learning institutions, employees of

various organizations undertaking training and development programs. The modern diverse economy of

the UAE highly demands skill-based training, a significant aspect that was on high demand in the

eLearning industry and other sector of economy in the GCC between 2018 and 2022. These technical

skills-based training services are majorly delivered through simulated case scenarios with AI and

gammification techniques to enhance the training programs’ efficiency.

Core competency

Even though the proposed platform shares most of the characterizing technology functions with others in

the market, our offering has a wide range of complex system functions which differentiates it from

rivals. The use of the most recent AI and gammification technologies for automation of processes

operations and simulation during learning and teaching respectively fill the missing gap in most

platforms in the market.

Value proposition
 4
EVALUATION OF GROWTH & HARVESTING STRATEGIES FOR SMALL BUSINESS

The services offered using the integrated eLearning platform will enable trainers and instructors to

enhance learner engagement and interest on the training and development or teaching, and provides a

tool of performance tracking and progress. The use of advanced AI technology will also improve data

analysis and decisions making for the buyer organizations. The offer addresses the needs of the target

segments because eLearning platform service providers in the market do not offer solutions for skilled-

based technical teaching and learning in schools, and also training of employees in business

organizations.

Offering

The offering will be a combined product and service in nature. The proposed eLearning platform

comprise of integrated learning management systems and advanced technologies to enhance training and

development services delivery and also improve the learning outcomes for earners. The main features

include use of AI to enhance data analytics, gamification to improve technical skill-based training and

learning through case simulations.

 5
EVALUATION OF GROWTH & HARVESTING STRATEGIES FOR SMALL BUSINESS

3. Visualizing the idea canvas

These ideas are discussed comprehensively in question 2 above

4. Peer assessment

Features of the business idea which are potential for growth and harvesting

One of the major features is the increasing adoption of the use eLearning technologies in both education

and corporate sectors of the economy across the globe (Thomas, Scarborough & Wilson., 2005). In

2017, the corporate sector accounted for the largest share of 47% of the use of eLearning platforms

because of important roles they play on delivering high quality and standards of skill-based training and

development services. The growth was also shown by the projected increase of CAGR of about 14% in

the GCC between the 2018 and 2022 forecast periods (Facts & Factors., 06-Apr-2021).
 6
EVALUATION OF GROWTH & HARVESTING STRATEGIES FOR SMALL BUSINESS

The start-up capital requirement is low for the customizable platform. The maintenance and operations

costs are also low because it is integrated with learning management systems and also automated, thus

reducing the number of platform host experts required to monitor the analytics and other processes such

as cloud backup on behalf of clients and also share with relevant stakeholders. It is therefore cheap to

start and run, unlike other business which requires logistics, office space, etc. The low administrative

costs due to integration also make it a potential for growth and higher revenue harvests for the

entrepreneur.

5. Strategies for improvement, growth and harvesting going

One of the strategies is a business meager in order to widen their reach, increase the share of the market,

and extend their operations into other segments. This makes smaller entity to gain extra financial muscle

and also give the resultant entity a competitive advantage (Shava., 2020). These strategic steps will

boost the value of the stakeholder and contribute to improvement of performance of the business,

growth, and as a strategic harvest for the entrepreneur.

Another strategy is that owner may permit stock ownership plan (ESOP) in order for the employees own

interests through buying of stock. Considering the fact that ESOP shares comprise compensations for the

workers, the firm may use this strategy to keep the members more committed on the appreciation of

share prices and also the overall corporate performance. This may motivate the members to put all their

efforts to maximize the benefits for shareholders as a strategy for improvement, growth, and harvesting

of entrepreneur’s investment.
 7
EVALUATION OF GROWTH & HARVESTING STRATEGIES FOR SMALL BUSINESS

6. Contributions of the eLearning platform to environment, society & economy

The use of technology to enhance employee training and development in business organizations equip

them with skill-based technical training used for production of goods and services and make an income.

In essence, this affects the society since the income earners will use the incomes to improve their living

standards, health and wellbeing, and increase their productivity in the economy.

It also enables effective and comprehensive data analysis. By promoting effective and more efficient

research and development, eLearning facilitate formulation of strategies for adaptive and sustainable

businesses and economies. The online platform provides an effective communication and infrastructure

too which improves connectivity among the users—the entrepreneur, business organizations and their

human resources, and also between learners and instructor/ teachers, therefore enhancing social cohesion

and interaction among the members of the society and other stakeholders.

The use of eLearning also promotes environmental sustainability because it encourages the transferable

and sharing of learning content. It also enables advanced searches for content available on various

databases which are reusable, which then reduces the need for physical printing of papers. Besides, the

platform allows delivery of services without mobility, thus helping to reduce carbon footprint in the

environment.
 8
EVALUATION OF GROWTH & HARVESTING STRATEGIES FOR SMALL BUSINESS

7. References

“E-Learning Market Trends 2021, Global Forecast Report 2027,” Global Market Insights Inc. [Online].

Available: https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/elearning-market-size.

Facts & Factors (06-Apr-2021). GlobeNewswire News Room. [Online]. Available:

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2021/04/06/2205170/0/en/Growing-at-14-6-

CAGR-The-Global-E-learning-Market-Size-Will-Exceed-a-Value-of-374-3-Billion-by-2026.html.

Gifford, E. (2021). Theory-driven methods for practical entrepreneurship: Hypothesis testing in

entrepreneurship education. Industry and Higher Education, 09504222211021761.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/09504222211021761.

Shava, H. (2020). Business Harvesting Strategies for Entrepreneurs. In Entrepreneurship-Contemporary

Issues. IntechOpen. Available: https://www.intechopen.com/chapters/73000.

Thomas, W., Scarborough, N. M., & Wilson, D. (2005). Essentials of entrepreneurship and small

business management. Available: https://www.just.edu.jo/~mqais/HSS119/Ch.03.pdf.

 9
EVALUATION OF GROWTH & HARVESTING STRATEGIES FOR SMALL BUSINESS