MIZAN ATVET COLLEGE

DEPARTMENT OF ANIMAL SCIENCE (LEVEL II)

Unit of Competence: Develop business practice

LO1. Identify business opportunity

Identifying unusual business opportunities

Definition: Opportunities are external factors which are expected to improve the organization’s
competitive position, and which should be fully exploited.
A business opportunity consists of four integrated elements all of which are to be present within
the same timeframe and most often within the same domain or geographical location, before it
can be claimed as a business opportunity. These four elements are:
 A need
 The means to fulfill the need
 A method to apply the means to fulfill the need and;
 A method to benefit
Undertake feasibility study to determine business viability

Undertake feasibility study

Feasibility studies precede technical development and project implementation.
Simply, it is an examination of your business model. You are checking that it is possible to make
a profit from your intended business.
When considering how to write a business feasibility study, it is important to consider three main
areas of the business:
Market Potential Assessment
Technical and Operational Assessment
Financial Assessment
Determine business viability
Viability means ability to survive.
For many enterprises, viability is ultimately linked to profit. Even if the business is not currently
profitable - perhaps it is in the early stages of development, undergoing a growth spurt. The
expectation of future profit justifies continued investment.
This economic notion of viability can also be extended to not-for-profit enterprises such as public
sector organizations an d charities. Such organizations are viable if they are seen to deliver social
or other value, sufficient to justify adequate funding and support on an ongoing basis.

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In addition to economic notions of viability, we can also consider the social viability of an
organization. An organization is socially viable if it provides enough value to justify any social
costs (internal or external).
Participate specialist and relevant parties in conducting feasibility study:
 Chamber of commerce  Government agencies
 Financial planners and marketing  Industry/trade associations
specialists  Business brokers/business consultant

Personal skills

Personal skills play a very important role in the success of business. There are many business
skills that are derived from personal ones and often times the two go hand in hand. One very
important personal skill is the ability to communicate with others. In order to obtain the results
you desire, you must be able to provide information in a way that is clear, concise and easy for
others to understand. The clearer the message is, the more positive the results.
Business skill
The greatest people in business have certain attributes in common. Several personal qualities are
important, like a thirst/need for continuous education, personal drive and motivation, strong
goals and ambition, clear vision, and always a great deal of passion.
The ability to work with a wide range of personality types is also an important personal and
business skill to possess. All employees of an organization have different personalities and it is
important to be as adaptable as possible in order to effectively communicate with one another.

Goal setting is a very important personal and business skill that covers many areas. If you are
someone who sets goals for yourself and works hard to achieve them, this will probably cross
over into the way in which you conduct business.
Time management is another personal skill that will most definitely cross over into business.
The better you are able to manage your time, the more efficiently you will be as an employee or
manager.

Critical thinking is another skill that is absolutely necessary in both personal and business
endeavors. Once you have set goals, you should then make plans and follow them. This is where
critical thinking comes into play. The better you are at this skill, the more effective you will be as
a leader

Business risk

A business risk is a circumstance or factor that may have a negative impact on the operation or
profitability of a given company. Sometimes referred to as company risk, a business risk can be
the result of internal conditions, as well as some external factors that may be evident in the wider
business community.

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The possibility that a company will have lower than anticipated profits, or that it will experience
a loss rather than a profit.

Types of risk
The Business risk is classified into different types
 Strategic Risk  Compliance Risk  Environmental risks
 Financial Risk (Legal Risk  Political and
 Operational Risk  Employee risks economic risks

Manage Risk
Risk may be managed in a number of ways:
By using existing assets: Here existing resources can be used to counter risk. This may involve
improvements to existing methods and systems, changes in responsibilities, improvements to
accountability and internal controls, etc.
By contingency planning: You may decide to accept a risk, but choose to develop a plan to
minimize its effects if it happens. A good contingency plan will allow you to take action
immediately, with the minimum of project control if you find yourself in a crisis management
situation. Contingency plans also form a key part of Business Continuity Planning (BCP) or
Business Continuity management (BCM).
By investing in new resources: Your risk analysis should give you the basis for deciding
whether to bring in additional resources to counter the risk. This can also include insuring the
risk.
LO2 Plan for establishment of business operation

Determining organizational structure

The most common forms of business are sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation and
cooperatives.

Developing and documenting procedures

A procedure is a chronological sequence of steps to be undertaken to enforce a policy and to

attain an objective. It lays down the specific manner in which a particular activity is to be
performed. It is a series of detailed steps indicating how to accomplish a task.

In business, procedures are generally established for purchase of raw materials, processing of
orders, shipping of goods, selection of employees, redressed of grievances, holding and
conducting of meetings, handling claims, collecting payments, etc. Procedures are generally laid
down for repetitive work so that same steps are taken each time the activity is performed.
Procedures are needed for every part of the organization.

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Procedures are different from policies and methods though both serve as guides to future actions.
A policy is a broad and general guide to decision making while a procedure is an operational
guide to action. A policy delineates a broad area of operation; a procedure lays down the specific
path through that area. Procedures play an important role in the daily operations of an
organization. Procedures are established after thorough study and analysis of work.

Therefore, importance of procedures are;

 It simplify work by eliminating unnecessary and overlapping steps
 They avoid chaos and random activity
 It ensures uniformity of action
 Procedures promote efficiency of employees.
Identifying Business requirement
Human and physical resource

Human resource

Any organization is as good as its people. Without competent and skilled man power, no refined
technological advancement can yield the result anticipated. In order to achieve the objectives of
an organization having competent human resource is vital.

Human resources planning:-is the process of identifying and analyzing the need for and
availability of human resources so that the organization can meet its objectives.”

Purpose and Importance of HRP

 Helps to determine future need for personnel
 Eliminates any gaps that may exist between HR supply and demand.
 Provides information about existing strengths and weaknesses
 Helps in the control of budget, controls wage and salary costs.

Plan and Establish Recruitment strategy

A recruiting strategy gives recruiting managers guidance about what they should do more of and
less of. It also helps ensure that everyone on the recruiting team understands the priorities of the
business and how recruiting can have an impact on the business. Steps to develop recruitment
strategy are listed below:

1. Determine accountability for the strategy. Start the recruiting strategy development process
by appointing an individual to manage it. Clear accountability for developing and maintaining the
appropriate recruiting strategy must be made clear the very beginning.

2. Identify the business and overall HR goals of the firm. It’s important to realize upfront that
recruiting priorities and goals can’t be set independently; they are dependent on already-
established business and HR goals and objectives.

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3. Identify which business goals and which business units you wish to impact. For each major
business goal you believe you can impact, you need to cascade down to recruiting to identify any
possible links or connections between recruiting programs and corporate goals.

4. Identify any possible (future) changes to the internal or external business environment.
Forecast any possible changes in the business or recruiting environment in the next few years that
may force recruiting (and the business) to reassess its current strategy, approach, programs, or
process. Developing a “static” recruiting strategy that does not change with the shifting economic
and business environment is a common but disastrous approach

5. Determine who your primary customer is. Since recruiting can’t please everyone in a
corporation, it is important to first determine “who,” by title, your primary target is customer.
Once you have identified your customer, it’s important to interview or survey them to ensure that
you know their current expectations and their changing needs.

6. Select between the traditional “narrow” recruiting strategy and a broader talent
management approach. Most traditional recruiting strategies limit their focus to recruiting.
However, select organizations have gone the next step to adopt a broader talent management
approach. A talent management approach integrates many of the often independent HR functions
relating to talent and recruiting into a single coordinated effort.

7. Develop or refine your recruiting mission statement. Before you can set specific recruiting
goals and select your strategy elements, you should first clarify your overall mission or purpose.
A recruiting mission statement is a short (one or two paragraphs) statement of purpose. A
mission statement can be used to direct and refine all current and proposed recruiting activities. If
you already have a mission statement, it’s appropriate to update it before you begin developing
your recruiting strategy.

LO3 Implement Business Development Plan

Obtaining physical and human resources

The physical resources are:

Building Logistic materials

Facilities Capitals
Elements of operational unit

Production:-How and where are your products/services produced?. Explain your

methods of:
 Production techniques & costs
 Quality control
 Customer service
 Inventory control

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  Product development
Cost:  -Estimate your occupation expenses, including rent, but also including: 
maintenance, utilities, insurance, and initial remodeling costs to make it suit your
needs.  These numbers will become par t of your financial plan.
Legal Environment; Describe the following
Licensing and bonding requirements
Health, workplace or environmental regulations
Special regulations covering your industry or profession
Zoning or building code requirements
Insurance coverage
Trademarks, copyrights, or patents (pending, existing, or purchased)

Personnel
Number of employees
Type of labor (skilled, unskilled, professional)
Where and how will you find the right employees?
Quality of existing staff

Discussing and understanding simulation on the development plan

Successful implementation starts with a good plan. There are elements that will make a plan
more likely to be successfully implemented. Some of the clues to implementation include:
Is the plan simple? Is it easy to understand and to act on? Does it communicate its contents easily
and practically?
Is the plan specific? Are its objectives concrete and measurable? Does it include specific actions
and activities, each with specific date of completion, specific persons responsible and specific
budgets?
Is the plan realistic? Are the sales goals, expense budgets, and milestone dates realistic? Nothing
stifles implementation like unrealistic goals.
Is the plan complete? Does it include all the necessary elements? Requirements of a business
plan vary, depending on the context. There is no guarantee, however, that the plan will work if it
doesn’t cover the main bases.
Undertake Marketing business operation

Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to
customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It
generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business
developments. It is an integrated process through which companies build strong customer
relationships and create value for their customers and for themselves.

Marketing is used to identify the customer, satisfy the customer, and keep the customer. With the
customer as the focus of its activities, marketing management is one of the major components of

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business management. The adoption of marketing strategies requires businesses to shift their
focus from production to the perceived needs and wants of their customers as the means of
staying profitable

Inbound Marketing Includes Market Research to Find Out:

What specific groups of potential customers/clients (markets) might have which specific needs
(nonprofits often already have a very clear community need in mind when starting out with a new
program -- however, the emerging practice of nonprofit business development, or earned income
development, often starts by researching a broad group of clients to identify new opportunities
for programs)
How those needs might be met for each group (or target market), which suggests how a product
might be designed to meet the need (nonprofits might think in terms of outcomes, or changes, to
accomplish among the groups of clients in order to meet the needs)
How each of the target markets might choose to access the product, etc. (its "packaging")
Outbound Marketing Includes:
Advertising and promotions (focused on the product)
Sales
Public and media relations (focused on the entire organization)
Customer service
Customer satisfaction
Legal document to ensure validity and accessibility
1. Partnership agreement
A partnership agreement allows you to structure your relationship with your partners in a way
that suits your business.
Here's a list of the major areas that most partnership agreements cover.
 Name of the partnership  Partnership decision making
 Contributions to the partnership Management duties
 Allocation of profits, losses, and draws  Admitting new partners
 Partners' authority  Withdrawal or death of a partner
 Resolving disputes
Statutory Books
Statutory Books are the official records kept by the company relating to all legal and statutory
matters. A company's statutory books are usually kept at the registered office of the company.
The books should be available to the general public for inspection during reasonable office hours.

The typical contents of a company's statutory book are:

    * the register of shareholders

    * the register of company directors and secretaries
    * the register of company directors' interests

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    * the register of charges
 

Certificate of incorporation

A certificate of incorporation is a legal document relating to the formation of a company or

corporation. It is a license to form a corporation issued by state government. Its precise meaning
depends upon the legal system in which it is used.

4. Franchise agreement

This document is the legal binding contract between the franchisor and the franchisee. It is a
meaty document and covers the nitty-gritty detail pertaining to the obligations of the parties
(franchisor and franchisee), financial intricacies, operational procedures, length and validity of
contract and renewal rights.

Negotiate and Secure Contractual procurement right for good and service

Procurement:-is the process of obtaining goods and services from preparation and processing of
a requisition through to receipt and approval of the invoice for payment. It commonly involves
(1) purchase planning, (2) standards determination, (3) specifications development, (4) supplier
research and selection, (5) value analysis, (6) financing, (7) price negotiation, (8) making the
purchase, (9) supply contract administration, (10) inventory control and stores, and (11) disposals
and other related functions.

Completed Contractual agreement

A contract is an agreement that commits you or your business to a course of action. Therefore, it
is important that you ask your solicitor or adviser to explain any language or terminology that
you do not understand.
The Client is of the opinion that the Contractor has the necessary qualifications, experience and
abilities to provide services to the Client.
The Contractor is agreeable to providing such services to the Client on the terms and conditions
set out in this Agreement.

LO4 Review implementation process

Developing and implementing review process

Successful businesses usually use feedback to improve upon the ways things are done. What part
of your marketing plan isn't working? Can you improve it? Should you discontinue it? What have
customers told you about your product? Is it suitable to the market you envisioned? Run with

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your marketing strengths. Reevaluate, improve, or drop your marketing weaknesses. Seek new
and better methods of marketing your product.

Identifying improvements in business operation

Performance Improvement can be defined as the process of designing or selecting interventions
which may include training directed toward a change in behavior, typically on the job.
Performance improvement is any positive change that can be measured after you have actively
decided to make a change in your current circumstances.
Implementing and monitoring identified improvements
In reality, the first step towards performance improvement is defining your goal. Following a
goal setting process will ensure that performance enhancement is made.
Goal Setting Process
There are seven steps to setting the goals that will achieve your objectives and improve your
performance. Using the above example of improving sales to explain the goal setting process, the
seven steps are as follows:
1.       Define what you wish to achieve
To begin the process, consider what it is that you broadly want to achieve. For example, you wish
to improve your performance by increasing sales.
2.       Make sure that your goal is specific and time bound
Once you have determined the broad area of improvement you will need to define your goal
more specifically. If you are not specific in your goals then it will be difficult to achieve it,
especially if you have not set a timeframe for achievement. Many of us work best when we have
deadlines to work towards. Setting realistic timeframes and measurements enables us to assess
our progress.
3. State your goals appropriately
It is very easy to sabotage yourself when you are setting yourself improvement targets.
Increasing your profits may make you believe that you will be wealthy and wealthy people are
never happy. You therefore sabotage your attempts to improve your sales. The annoying thing is
you may have set SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time bound) objectives
perfectly.
4. Record your goal and have leverage
To ensure that you become fully committed to your goal you should record it. This will give the
subconscious mind a detailed set of instructions to work on. The more information you give it,
the more clarity the final outcome has. Once you have recorded the goal you will need to write
down the factors that will motivate you to achieve the goal. It helps to know whether you are
motivated towards or away from things.
5. Check your priorities and resources
If you have more than one goal, you will need to prioritize them to ensure that they do not
conflict with each other in terms of deadlines and values.
6. Chunk your goals and make yourself accountable

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To achieve this goal you can chunk it down to smaller goals. This process will enable you to set
manageable smaller goals that work towards the larger goal. Make yourself accountable, by
telling someone of your goals. This will help focus you on achievement.
7. Check and review progress
This is the final step. It is important to ensure that everything that you do is working towards the
performance improvement. By checking and reviewing progress you will be able to adjust your
performance accordingly.

LO 5 Establish contact with customers and clarify needs of customer

The difference between Customer and Consumer

Customer is the one who buys your product/service. Customer definition is key organizational
culture performance driver.
Consumer is the one who uses/consumes your product/service.
The product which is consumed by other person then the other person is the consumer and the
buyer is the customer. By definition, a customer is someone who buys services or goods from
someone else while a consumer is someone that consumes a certain product or commodity.
. Developing and discussing persuasion strategies
Persuasive ploys can be helpful, to attract customer and resist unwanted or unnecessary purchase
like pointing out the best foods for maintaining good health. The typical sales strategy follows
three or four steps,
1. Get the customer’s attention.
2. Create or identify a need, problem, or desire.
3. Offer a solution.
4. Close the sale.

Internal Customers
Internal customers are those colleagues and departments within your own organization. Again in
the previous module we looked at internal functions and how marketing can be used internally
for the flow of internal services and communication. Sometimes you are the customer and
sometimes you are the service provider. We considered how marketing connected internally with
how marketing interacts with research and development, production/operations/logistics, human
resources, IT and customer service.
External Customers
External customers are more likely to be customers, users, and stakeholders. As we said in
previous lessons in this module, customers are those that exchange money for goods and services
and consumers are those that actually use the product (and as we said they may or may not be the
same person). A connected stakeholder is one with the direct association with your business, and
this would be a supplier or a shareholder. Obviously other stakeholders would not have the same
strength of connection, for example in the case of the local community.

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Providing information to satisfy customer needs

Identifying Customer Needs

Providing superior customer service means meeting customers’ needs by providing them with the
products and services they want or by providing effective solutions to their problems. In order to
do that, customer service, customer care, and call center representatives must be able to
accurately and completely identify customers’ needs

Why “Identifying Customer Needs”:

 Correctly identifying customers’ needs is essential for ensuring customer satisfaction and
loyalty.
 Customers have unique needs.
 Identifying clients’ needs creates satisfied customers,
 To ensure customer satisfaction, you must correctly identify customers’ needs.
 To identify needs, you must both listen and ask the right questions.
 After identifying needs, always check for additional or related needs.
 Use your knowledge and experience to identify and present the right products, services,
and solutions to meet your customers’ needs.

Assessing customer needs

Establishing customer needs
Customers are people who buy products and services from other people (usually companies of
one sort or another). What customers think, and feel about a company and/or its products is a key
aspect of business success. Attitudes are shaped by experience of the product, the opinions of
friends, direct dealings with the company, and the advertising and other representations of the
company.
Irrespective of whether a business' customers are consumers or organizations, it is the job of
marketers to understand the needs of their customers. In doing so they can develop goods or
services which meet their needs more precisely than their competitors.
Customers do not usually make purchases without thinking carefully about their requirements.
Wherever there is choice, decisions are involved, and these may be influenced by constantly
changing motives. The organization that can understand why customers make decisions such as
who buys, what they buy and how they buy will, by catering more closely for customers
satisfaction and needs, become potentially more successful.
Target customers
The supermarket industry provides a good example of the way in which different groups of
customers will have different expectations. Some customers just want to buy standard products at
the lowest possible prices. They will therefore shop from supermarkets that offer the lowest
prices and provide a reasonable range of goods. Most markets are made up of groups of
customers with different sets of expectations about the products and services that they want to
buy. Marketing oriented businesses will therefore need to carry out market research into

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customer requirements to make sure that they provide those products and services which best
meet customer expectations in the relevant market segment.
The Six Basic Needs of Customers
1. Friendliness
Friendliness is the most basic of all customers needs, usually associated with being greeted
graciously and with warmth. We all want to be acknowledged and welcomed by someone who
sincerely is glad to see us. A customer shouldn’t feel they are an intrusion on the service
provider’s work day.
2. Understanding and empathy
Customers need to feel that the service person understands and appreciates their circumstances
and feelings without criticism or judgment. Customers have simple expectations that we who
serve them can put ourselves in their shoes, understanding what it is they came to us for in the
first place.
3. Fairness
We all need to feel we are being treated fairly. Customers get very annoyed and defensive when
they feel they are subject to any class distinctions. No one wants to be treated as if they fall into a
certain category, left wondering if “the grass is greener on the other side” and if they only
received second best.
4. Control
Control represents the customers’ need to feel they have an impact on the way things turn out.
Our ability to meet this need for them comes from our own willingness to say “yes” much more
than we say “no.” Customers don’t care about policies and rules; they want to deal with us in all
our reasonableness.
5. Options and alternatives
Customers need to feel that other avenues are available to getting what they want accomplished.
They realize that they may be charting virgin territory, and they depend on us to be “in the know”
and provide them with the “inside scoop.” They get pretty upset when they feel they have spun
their wheels getting something done, and we knew all along a better way, but never made the
suggestion.
6. Information
“Tell me, show me – everything!” Customers need to be educated and informed about our
products and services, and they don’t want us leaving anything out! They don’t want to waste
precious time doing homework on their own – they look to us to be their walking, talking,
information central. The art of customer service is making people feel special
Making people feel special is one of the essential elements in forming good customer
relationships. In a customer service situation, you have just ten seconds to start building a
relationship with your customer
Customer Clarity … Exactly who is your Customer?
Customer Confusion
Lack of customer clarity creates organizational challenges that extend far beyond customer
service. A lack of clarity and alignment about the customer leads to confusion and uncertainty

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about critical organizational priorities. A consistent definition of customer, can break down silos,
unlock lost productivity and empower your people.
The Case for the Customer:
Research consistently proves the organizational impact benefits of a high performing culture on
measures such as sales growth, market share, ROI, net income, customer satisfaction, innovation,
etc
Culture Challenges Caused by Customer Confusion:
Misalignment about the customer at the senior leadership team impacts the entire organization. A
lack of alignment is manifest in many ways. For example:
Coordination & Agreement – Different customers have different needs. What we experience
when an organization allows multiple customer definitions is competition for resources. The
competition for resources creates conflict and lost cooperation towards aligned goals, and a lost
opportunity for maximizing value.
Values Alignment – Multiple customer definitions can result in competing goals and objectives
across organizational boundaries. The customer is a driving force in an organization and when
that force is applied against competing goals and objectives across a leadership team or across
organizational boundaries, conflict will inevitably be played out in visible ways.
Trust Decline – Value erosion creates enormous negative impact to culture. When stated values
are not operating trust goes down in an organization. 
Lower Engagement – Lack of clarity and alignment about who the customer is creates
confusion about goals, priorities, values and trust in the organization. This ultimately stifles
engagement and productivity, decrease pride and enthusiasm for the organization.
Change Resistance – When trust goes down, resistance to change goes up and change grinds to
a painfully slow pace. I have witnessed many situations where customer confusion has caused
resistance to change.
Steps to Create Customer Clarity
STEPS 1:
Define and get Buy In about the definition of the customer – Your customer is the person or
entity that receives and in turn pays for the value that your organization provides.
STEPS 2
Create a vocabulary to define the other roles – Who is not the customer? These may be people
who are very important to the organization, but they are not the customer. So how do you define
them? Are they internal business partners, vendors, channel partners or influencers? Define them
so that they can be appropriately served and focused on by your organization. Don’t fall into the
trap of using the term internal customers. Internal customers are business partners. You want
your internal partners to be thinking of the ultimate customer when they are helping you to do the
job of serving the ultimate customer. Everyone needs to be thinking this way.
STEPS 3
Map the “Value Chain” to the customer – The Value Chain. Once you know who that singular
customer is, each person at the leadership level needs to be able to explain how their business

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function, business units or departments deliver value to the customer. It also necessary to identify
how the other non-customer roles map to the value chain.
STEPS 4
Align and Communicate – Once you have the customer defined and identified the value chain
in the context of customer, you may need to consider how your organization is set up to service
customer. Do you need to make organizational changes? Take a look at the individual goals you
have set up for the people in the value chain for alignment with delivering maximum value to the
customer. Take the time to thoughtfully and thoroughly explain the definition of the customer to
the entire organization. Use the work you did to map the value chain as a tool to create alignment
across organizational units to better service their business partners in ultimately delivering value
to the customers.

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