BSBMGT617

Assessment 1

Business Plan

FAST TRACK COURIERS

Table of Content

Title

Executive Summary

1.0 – Introduction

1.1 – Background on Fast Track Couriers

2.0 – Company Structure

2.1 – Facilities and Equipment’s

3.0 – Marketing Activity

4.0 – Business Operations

4.1 – Strategy to Expand Business

5.0 – Financial Information and Forecasts

6.0 – Risk Analysis

7.0 - Conclusion
Executive Summary
Fast Track Couriers is a courier company operating in New South Wales for the last 15 years. The
company basically delivers medium to large size packages across metropolitan Sydney.

Following are the main points and summary of this plan.

 Strategic plan goals – Grow and increase business profits over the next 3 years by expanding
delivery routes to include regional NSW
 Operational plan goals – commence deliveries to regional NSW within 12 months and
increase sales by 40% in the next 3 years
 Vision – maintain strengths and core values through expansion process
 Fast Track Couriers primarily targets small to medium-sized business which make up 80% of
their customer base
 The company will propose strategies to expand the business to the regional NSW without
risking its current financial stability or reputation, since potential clients had been lost due to
its inability to deliver in regional offices
 Proposed strategy – remove the need for two drivers per truck by installing an automatic lift
gate to avoid heavy lifting and purchase 10 new trucks

1.0 – Introduction
Fast Track Couriers has a good status in the marketplace for reliability and value for money and
developed a solid reputation over the past 12 years. This has been reflected in its growth and profit
margins. The company limits its delivery by its geographic location, which is only within Sydney’s
metropolitan area. Hence, the company is looking to move forward by delivering to regional areas in
NSW, even though sales and profits have increased by 5% each year. Fast Track Couriers has an
admirable 87% retention rate for existing customers.

1.1 – Background on Fast Track Couriers

The owners of Fast Track Couriers are not risk takers and they are aware that the company’s ongoing
success is the result of a small, experienced team as well as their maintenance in personal ties with
clients. Their services are reputable for being reliable and low cost. The vision of the company is to
retain these strengths in their expansion of business.

The strategic and operational plans were developed as a result of external market research,
indicating a shortage of delivery organisations providing services to regional NSW towns. Fast Track
Couriers were looking for their next growth opportunity and saw that this was an ideal opportunity
to be seized upon.

Reports from the Sales Manager indicated that contracts have been lost because some clients want
to engage a courier who can deliver to their regional offices, in particular Newcastle, Wollongong
and the Central West. Fast Track is currently unable to meet this demand and therefore, some
potential clients have been lost. This became a motive to expand operations for both financial and
customer service reasons.

2.0 – Company Structure

The company is family owned, with 3 family members acting as a Management Board and
responsible for approving all business decisions

 Managing Director – responsible for daily operational management decisions

 Logistics Manager – responsible for the scheduling of the trucks and drivers
 20 truck drivers
 5 office support employees – responsible for administration, accounts, human resources
and sales

2.1 – Facilities and Equipment

 Computers
 Manuals
 GPS
 PDA
 Trucks

3.0 – Marketing Activity

 Direct sales
 Telephone
 Internet listings
 Mail-outs

4.0 – Business Operations

The company communicates with employees via email for head office employees, and a printed
monthly newsletter for drivers. Policies and procedures are provided through employee manuals
that are kept in each truck.

Trucks are fitted with a GPS system to assist drivers in navigating to each pick-up and drop-off
location. They are also assigned a PDA that provides drivers with details of each delivery and records
when a job starts and finishes. The data from this device is sent back to head office to compete
productivity reporting.

4.1 – Strategy to Expand Business

Fast Track Couriers currently allocates 2 drivers per truck to ensure that drivers are able to load and
unload heavy packages. The strategy going forward is to remove the need for 2 drivers per truck by
installing an automatic lift gate on the back of each truck, at a cost of $10,000 per truck. This
indicates that only 1 driver is needed per truck, as no heavy lifting is required. Hence, it will allow
Fast Track to purchase 10 new trucks and use the existing drivers for regional routes.
Each new truck will cost $60,000, including installation of an automatic lift gate. The money to
purchase the trucks will be borrowed from the bank on a business plan.

5.0 – Financial Information and Forecasts

Annual sales

Current sales Estimated sales (Year 1)

$17 million $22 million

Annual net profit

Current net profit Estimated net profit

$1.9 million $3.2 million

Increased costs

Loan repayments Operating costs (fuel servicing, etc.)

+$200,000 per annum +$2.2 million

Administrative costs Labour Costs

+$100,000 Nil
6.0 – Risk Analysis
Since drivers are typically negative about change, there is a risk that the turnover of drivers may
increase. Hence, proposing the sudden change could be done in a positive note by offering higher
salary and rewards if sales manage to increase significantly. By doing so, this could motivate the
drivers to engage in the sudden change and as well as getting involved in organisation activities. If all
else fails, Fast Track Couriers could retain the accepting drivers and recruit new drivers.

7.0 – Conclusion
In conclusion, the expansion in Fast Track Couriers’ business operation is seemingly promising even
though there may be risks of losing drivers. Based on the forecasts of annual sales and profits, the
progression in operation for the company is so much bigger compared to its current state. Hence, it
is advisable that Fast Track Couriers proceed with the proposed strategy to retain its existing
customers so that customers would not be lost to its competitors.
Part B

Business Plan 1
1.0 – Introduction
A business plan of a company has to be thoughtfully planned and assembled as it is the
outline of any company’s direction and it obliges company owners to constantly evaluate the
strengths and weaknesses of their operations. Throughout the report, discussions on the strengths
and weaknesses of Quality Training’s business plan will be touched on as well as the analysis of the
business plan’s relevance and compliances with the effective criteria for business plans.

2.0 – Analysis on Quality Training’s business plan

The criteria of developing an effective and strategic business plan are, in summary, to create
specific goals and missions for the business; developing solutions to achieve goals and evaluating the
benefits of the action plans; analyse the industry, market-sizing, competition, sustainable advantage,
marketing strategies; explicate the business model; and lastly, develop funding requirements and
financial forecasts.

2.1 – Objectives, Goals, Missions, Action Plans

Quality Training’s general objectives are to emphasise quality training and services so as to
retain and generate repeat clients, which would, in turn, expectedly generate higher profits and
growth in the coming years. The company’s targeted net profit is $100,000, with a 25% increase in
each consecutive year. As stated in its business plan, the action plans to achieve the profit are
basically to ensure quality training and provide good customer service, i.e. meet client’s needs,
maintaining relationships through networking as well as developing reasonable and affordable
stand-alone and quality training packages for clients.

2.2 – Competitors, Threats, Weaknesses and Strategies

Based on its analysis on competitors, the greatest competition to Quality Training is private
registered organisations (RTOs) and its strategies to overcome these organisations are to focus on
networking and marketing, constantly keeping track of relevant legislation and industry
requirements so as to sustain its legitimacy and compliances, as well as seeking opportunities to
develop mutually-beneficial partnerships with other RTOs and business so as to diversify its business
and offer more varieties of trainings and expansion of the business. As Quality Training is a small
business, funding is also one of Quality Training’s main risks, thus, its costs efficiency solutions
include delivering non-accredited training, produce timeframe expenses and contracting workers to
reduce employment costs.
2.3 – Market Segments, Target Market, Trends, Pricing Strategy

The company’s main target market in the retail segment will be independent supermarkets
that select their own training providers. As of industrial and manufacturing industries, medium-sized
businesses, i.e. with 20 to 200 employees, will be targeted, which allows Quality Training to expand
a niche as there are only a handful of “industrial parks” within the Penrith area, which is the target
location of the company. In summary, the company’s justification of its sustainable advantage is that
the current trend for this market is seemingly cultivating because many employers are viewing the
importance of training and development due to low unemployment rates and higher competitions in
staffs growth. In addition to that, since schools are focusing on gaining recognised qualifications to
their students, employers would perhaps find traineeships an effective and inexpensive solution to
attract high quality employees. Last but not least, all businesses in Australia are required to comply
with State and Federal legislation in the areas of occupational health and safety, harassment,
discrimination and unfair dismissal, therefore, Quality Training is strategising to make use of that
particular requirement. As for its pricing strategy, Quality Training would be charging training
courses less than its market rate because it is a small company with low operation and overhead
costs.

3.0 – Strengths and Weaknesses of Quality Training’s Business Plan

Based on the brief analysis on the company’s business plan, in this segment, evaluation of
Quality Training’s strengths and weaknesses will be discussed against the criteria for effective
business plans in terms of quality and relevance of information, i.e. the quality of research on
competition market conditions, sufficiency of information to determine the success of the business
as well as specificity and pragmatism of performance measures.

3.1 – Strengths of the Business Plan

Quality Training’s business plan is very well set out and brief as it is categorised specifically,
thus, readers can easily comprehend and understand the basics of the company’s background, goals
and mission. The company’s objectives, goals and mission are laid out very clearly and its solutions
to achieve these goals are projected with relevance and apparent action plans. The company
structure and service provision structure are very well put out and clear for readers to identify the
company’s main operations and specialisations. In addition to that, the risks and opportunities
comparisons of operating a new small RTO, although concise, is relatively noteworthy and relevant
for the company to reflect back and focus on its main competitive advantage against other
competitors.

The relevance of its sustainable advantage in the current market trend is very
comprehensible and logical, as well as its main target market, strategies and materials. The
information provided in its trend research is relatively viable and coherent and seemingly attainable
to achieve success in the company’s target segment. The emphasis of Quality Training’s business
plan in terms of effectiveness of marketing strategy, financial management and strategy reviews are
very well put out and succinct. By reviewing on those points yearly, the company can strategically
monitor its performance and establish performance metrics. This would force Quality Training’s
owner to set better directions for the company and facilitate better communications to propose
more effective blueprint for its company.
3.2 – Weaknesses of the Business Plan

Although Quality Training’s business plan is very understandable and clear, there are certain
justification and information lacking in its analysis. Firstly, the explanation of the company’s business
model is lacking. The company owner should clearly clarify with appropriate figures on how the
company intends to make the money, i.e. who pays and how much of that the company gets to keep
after expenses and such. A mere glance should yield a decent grasp of the business’ potential
growth, and that information is not at all present in the business plan.

The industry and market-sizing is well put out in the business plan. However, the company
owner should realistically capture the customer landscape as well as presenting the overall industry,
market segmentation and market dynamics with relevant figures and charts from accredited
sources. By doing so, information would be more sufficient and determining the business’ success
would be promising and clear cut to investors and the business owner. Adequate and accurate
researches on competitors are highly significant for businesses to assemble good and effective
action and contingency plans to survive.

Funding requirements information are also lacking in the company’s business plan.
Explanation on how Quality Training arrived at the target net profit and quantifying its capital,
amount of financial commitment founders and equity owners have in the company are not
described in the business plan, which are highly critical in developing an effective business plan.
Financial forecasts such as revenue and expenses should be clearly shown as well as growth,
breakeven points and whatnot. Cash flows and income projections need to be shown so that readers
or investors will yield a grasp of the company’s quality and potential for success.

Last but not least, the management, i.e. the company ownership background, should also be
provided clearly. Quality Training’s company ownership and staffs information are not present.
Detailed bios and backgrounds of the executive and management team are critical to a strong and
effective business plan. For instance, experiences and expertise of the owner or management team
should be briefly described so as to provide a good and productive impression of the management of
the company. There may be potential sign of weakness that Quality Training may not succeed in
attracting clients as qualifications of trainers and owners are lacking in the business plan.

4.0 – Conclusion
All in all, Quality Training’s business plan is undeniably comprehensible and easy to read.
However, the sufficiency of information is lacking in certain areas and should in-depth enough to
prove success factors. Viable and relevancy of information is key to develop strong business plan so
as to provide a road map for turning small businesses into a profitable enterprise, which is
perceptibly Quality Training’s company aim.