Posted: May 15th, 2016

A description of the specific industry in which the business will operate, identifying current and future trends and justifying the opportunity that you intend to pursue

You graduated with a Bachelor of Business degree at UNE eight years ago and you are now enrolled in a MBA program at the same university. In the last eight years you have been working with Smith and Associates, an accounting firm in a big regional town close to where you live. You have worked your way through the ranks and are now a manager in the firm. You have been thinking about your career plans for the near future and have come up with two options. You can buy a share in the same or another accounting firm or set up a practice to provide bookkeeping and tax compliance services to small and medium businesses in your town and surrounding areas. You have observed that few accounting firms now provide these services, preferring instead the high-end services such as auditing, superannuation, financial planning and information & communications technology. You have chosen to assess the market, product, technical and commercial feasibilities of your idea.

A description of the business idea
A description of the specific industry in which the business will operate, identifying current and future trends and justifying the opportunity that you intend to pursue. Present the key driving forces and key success factors for the industry. Driving forces refer to external factors with significant impact on performance in an industry and include but are not limited to: increasing household income, rising number of retired baby boomers with time and money to spend, a desire to see the world, ready access to information from the internet, high literacy levels among the population and so on.
3. A description of the target market covering:

A profile of each market segment (where there is more than one homogenous target market).
For each market segment describe their needs and buying motives.
The purchasers if they are not the same as the consumers (e.g. health services for children) and the bases of their purchase decisions (price, quality, service, personal contracts, convenience, or a combination of these)
An estimate of the size of the current market and the sales potential for your business. The estimates should be supported by statistics and references and the sales potential should be for three years incorporating any expected growth over the period.
Factors that could affect sales such as seasonal demand, socio-economic trends and changing demand patterns, government policy, whether demand for the service is tied to demand for another and so on.
4. A description of the competition

This should identify the major competitors (in your strategic group). Demonstrate these with a strategic group map.
Each competitor should be rated on the key success factors identified in section 2. The ratings should be explained.
Discuss how your services will be positioned against competitors, presenting and explaining the various service lines and all components of the service offering to customers
5, For purposes of assessing commercial feasibility provide details of the other marketing mix items

How each service line will be priced including percentage mark-up on cost. Justify your prices with respect to the target market, competitors and cost of providing the service. Prices that are higher or lower than competitor prices must be justified.
The promotion strategy showing the media to be used and justifying their choice. A promotion budget should be provided with estimated costs for each year including the cost of launching the service.
A place strategy explaining the atmosphere to be created and its relevance to the services provided
6. Present your operations process which should cover the following: