Business Strategy Plan for Afro Impressions Ltd

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Business Strategy Plan for Afro Impressions Ltd




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DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT LEADERSHIP & MARKETING







Introduction

This report aims at providing the detailed business strategy plan for Afro Impressions Ltd, a hair and beauty organization situated at Camberley London, United Kingdom. The company wishes to expand its market and start a new hair training academy and wants to get the consultancy regarding every aspect of business strategy. The business strategy project is selected in this report which reflect the individual consultancy project through four major objectives. The main objectives of this report are to expand the business at three times and create training academy which improvise the employee’s skills through market analysis and other aspects. This report will analyze the internal and external factors of the organization with SWOT, PESTLE, and Porter’s five forces. Further, the Ansoff matrix, Mendelow’s matrixes, and cost estimation plans will be developed to overall understand the situation of the company.



Objective 1 – Market Analysis

Pestle Analysis

Political Factors

This factor includes all the political aspects which can affect an organization (Achinas et al., 2019). The hair and beauty industries are very diverse in terms of the product range. To open a new training academy, Afro Impression must take care of the government guidelines of the United Kingdom in terms of product safety. All the manufacturers and businesses must comply with the Consumer Protection Act, 1987, to ensure the safety of their products and services. The planned training academy will include private manufacturing or at least labeling of hair and beauty products which must meet all the safety criteria as per the Consumer Protection Act. Afro Impressions Salon will have to abide and obey all the governmental rules and guidelines for the hair and beauty care industry along with academic regulations for the smooth flow of the business. As per the National Hair and Beauty Federation (NHBF), there are more than 43,000 hair and beauty businesses across the United Kingdom as of 2019. There is a rise of 1000 since 2018. The NHBF is the organization that sets rules and guidelines for the hair and beauty industry across the United Kingdom. Afro Impressions will have to obey their guidelines when developing the strategy for their proposed hair academy.

Economic Factors

Economic factors play a vital role in deciding the fate of any business (Islam and Mamun, 2017). As per the report from the National hair and Beauty Federation (NHBF), the hair and beauty industry contributed £8 billion to the economy of the United Kingdom in the year 2018, it is less than previous years and clearly show that the hair and beauty industry is declining and has less contribution towards economy when compared with past. Thus, Afro Impressions Salon will have to be very careful regarding their investments and they will have to execute the business strategies very systematically to get positive results. The survival rates for the hair and beauty industry have declined in the United Kingdom from the year 2015 to 2019. The National Hair and Beauty Federation (NHBF)’s data shows that the number of hair dress and salon apprenticeship is getting down in the United Kingdom which is not a positive sign for Afro Impressions Salon and they will require very critical and rational execution of business strategy in the process of developing new hair and beauty academy. The overall economy of the United Kingdom also dropped down in the last three months of the year 2018 as per the CNBC report. The GDP growth of the final quarter of 2018 fell to 0.2% from the previous quarter, which was 0.6%. This directly relates to the savings of customers (Vallati and Grassi, 2019). The less the savings, the fewer people will spend.

However, there is some positive facet as well. The employment rate of the hair and beauty industry has been decent in these years. More than 1 million people were employed in the hair and beauty industry as of 2018, these people include barbers, hairdressers, skin specialists, massage therapists, and manicure and pedicure people. Afro Impressions Salon must consider the recent economic changes in the country so that correct decisions can be made.

Social Factors

The Afro Impressions Salon mainly focuses and attracts the African populations residing in London and its outskirts. The 44% population of London consists of Africans and minorities as of 2018; it was approx. 28% in the year 2011 (Kohli, 2015). This major increment shows the positive sign for the growth of Afro Impression Salon as their main target audience would be minorities. The total population of London is 9.39 Million as of 2019, out of that, 83.9% is the urban population and comprises all ethnic groups (Christodoulou and Cullinane, 2019). These are the best opportunities for Afro Impressions Salon if they would like to expand their business further. Moreover, this is the best time for the company to open its salon academy to attract the targeted demographic. Apart from demographics, product diversification also plays important role in terms of social factors. When a consumer goes out in the market to buy a hair and beauty product, the consumer gets so many options available; however, he/she ends up buying only one. Once the product is purchased, the customer will most likely repeat that company for the next couple of years until/unless some breakthrough product comes into the market. The point is that Afro Impressions must include the unique products and services in its proposed academy to attract more and more customers.

Technological factors

The advent of technology has brought in immense opportunities for every business, and the hair and beauty industry is no exception here (Racz et al., 2018). The technological factor brings in both opportunities and threats for the businesses at the same time. Nowadays, companies can set up their seller accounts on e-commerce sites such as Amazon and eBay and start selling their products and services without getting into the offline retail market (Muntoha and Sudiarno, 2019). The offline retail market can be an expensive option for startups and growing companies in the initial process that is why new companies tend towards e-Commerce options. Afro Impressions Salon can get the most out of this opportunity by setting up its services on e-Commerce websites. The company can also launch its products which it will use in the proposed Academy. On the other hand, there are some threats and drawbacks of launching the products online with the use of technology. As almost everybody uses smartphones nowadays, they have direct access to websites and products. They can form their reviews directly. This may create some problems for businesses if they get heavy negative reviews for any of their products (Widya Yudha, Tjahjono, and Kolios, 2018). It is like a chain reaction, once a negative review gets viral, it becomes hard to stop that, and it directly attacks the consumer’s subconscious. Afro Impressions must consider these opportunities and threats of technological factors in their proposed Salon academy plan.

Legal Factors

All the hair and beauty products in the United Kingdom are controlled and governed by EU Cosmetics Regulations (EC No. 1223/2009). No company can circulate and launch their products without the approval of EU Cosmetics Regulations (Moro Visconti, 2016). It is the certification of safety and quality which ensures consumer safety. There is another non-profit organization that takes care of all the hair and beauty businesses and makes official guidelines for the industry. This organization is the National Hair and Beauty Federation (NHBF). If companies manufacture beauty and hair products that include non-approved ingredients from EU Cosmetics Regulations and NHBF, then the products may get banned. Afro Impressions Salon must abide by the laws and regulations circulated by these organizations to maintain the smooth flow of the business and to make the impression of safe and secure products in the consumer’s mind. The proposed academy will include the company’s own manufactured products, thus, it becomes essential for Afro Impressions Salon to follow the federal regulations pro-actively.

Environmental Factors

Environmental factors play a vital role in any business. The evolving ideology of consumers prefers environmentally friendly products. If product A is comparatively more environmentally friendly than product B, it is more likely that customers will go with product A. The growing campaigning to fight against Global Warming and other Ecological issues develops the understanding of consumers and makes them realize their responsibility towards the environment and society. That is why the hair and beauty industry is also emphasizing going Green with their products and manufacturing process. There was a time when beauty care products included “Microbead” an ingredient that easily removed the dead cells from the skin and was very effective. However, it was made up of plastic and created a lot of negative buzz in the beauty and hair care industry (Merli, Acampora, and Ali, 2019). Thus, it has been stopped from using in the manufacturing process. This industry is more focusing on plastic-less products and packaging to avoid and mitigate the usage of plastic. Going green is another trend in this industry as a liability towards the environment. Thus, it creates a lot of pressure and responsibilities on new companies and startups to abide by all these practices in their initial phase of expansion. Afro Impressions must abide by all these practices in their expansion and the proposed salon academy to be more competitive and sustainable in this cut-throat market.

Five Forces Analysis

Michael Porter’s five forces analysis is the best way to understand the impact of external factors on a business (Safari, Farhang and Rajabzadehyazdi, 2016). Those who are not involved directly in the business, but surely impact the functioning and results of the business with their changed perception and actions, are considered as external factors. These factors can also be ranked from low to high based on their impact on the business. Below is the diagram consisting of all five forces with their impact ranking.

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Figure 1 Ranking of Porter's five forces

(Source: Author, 2020)

Competitive Rivalry

The Hair and Beauty industry is surely customer-driven. Customers are the key point behind any decision making (Mugo, 2020). If an individual is not satisfied with the products and services of a particular salon, he/she will not visit that in the future and there are chances of negative mouth publicity. On the other hand, an individual will become a permanent customer of a salon that fulfills his/her requirements (Fosu-Whyte, 2018). That is why every salon and beauty company tries to please customers at their best, which ultimately results in great products and services in all major salons and companies. This competitive requirement automatically develops high competition in the industry. Afro Impressions Salon is very unique and already segregated in its target audience; however, there is always a chance of competition. The company gets high competition from its nearby rivals. The Marc Daniel is situated in Camberley, UK, and is indulged in the hair care industry since 1987. Marc Daniel has 15 staff members including hairdressers, barbers, and manicure/pedicure staff and the company makes approx. $516,966 a year. Afro Impressions must show a competitive edge in its products and services to successfully expand the business and to open the proposed salon academy.

Bargain Power of Customers

As discussed above, the customer is the king in this industry. He/she drives the market and can force the organizations to change their business models and strategies to remain competitive (Hafezi, Akhavan, and Pakseresht, 2017). That is why Afro Impressions Salon must be very attentive towards its product and service offerings and make sure that the highest quality parameters are achieved. This can be achieved by understanding the latest trends in the hair and beauty industry and listening to the needs and wants of each customer because every customer is somehow inspired by any fashion style, and hairdressers and barbers need to fulfill their requirements.

Threats of New Entrants

New companies and startups are always a big threat for established companies (Jel?i?, 2019). Even though Afro Impressions Salon deals with a specific target audience in the majority, still, there are chances of danger from new ventures that can copy an established company’s product and service idea and change it slightly to circulate in the market. Frimley Barbers Ltd is an emerging company located in Camberley, United Kingdom, and deals in the hair care and beauty industry. The company was founded only in 2018 and gives strong competition to Afro Impressions Salon. Frimley Barbers Ltd has 2 employees at the Camberley branch and has revenue of $69,741 as of now. Again, no company can stop other companies from setting up their businesses, it is the capital market and everybody had the right to do open businesses (Bhatia, 2016). However, existing companies can be pro-active in their approach of maintaining quality services and products with top-notch customer satisfaction levels (Zhang, Leng, and Zhou, 2020). Afro Impressions Salon can only stand out in the market with its top quality services and product offerings.

Bargain power of suppliers

The bargaining power of suppliers plays a vital role as an external factor (Huang, 2019). As Afro Impressions Salon will be opening a hair and beauty academy, they will be manufacturing their products to mark the competitive edge and also cut down on high supply prices. However, there are still big suppliers in the hair and beauty industry which supplies to retail salons in bulks. The major players such as Schwarzkopf and L’Oreal supply their hair and beauty products to the majority of salons across the United Kingdom and have been doing this for years (Lumbanraja, Dalimunthe, and Hasibuan, 2019). Thus, they have full control on market and counts as a medium factor in suppliers' bargain power. However, Afro Impressions Salon must find some more suppliers and emerging product supply companies as well to have a variety of product lines to increase the product diversification. This will also control the monopoly situation of suppliers.

Threats of substitute products

There is a very low threat of substitute products in the hair and beauty industry (Boafo, Kraa, and Webu, 2018). The market and suppliers will always be providing products and services to consumers (ONEREN, ARAR, and YURDAKUL, 2017). The substitution will consider in a way that consumers find some way of creating their beauty products at home or start cutting their hair while sitting home (Max, 2018). The creation of beauty products is not possible because it involves proper chemistry. The second option of cutting hair at home is not practical on a daily or weekly basis. Thus, there will always be a low threat of substitution in this industry, and Afro Impressions Salon will surely get benefits from this.

SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis is the practice which helps the organizations in understanding the internal strengths and weaknesses of their business along with external opportunity and threats (Vlados, 2019). It is a great way of forecasting information based on current data and the current circumstances of the industry (Kudriavtceva, 2019).

Strength

The strength of a hair and beauty salon always lies in the number of fixed clients it has. Customer loyalty depends on the quality of products and services (Topchiy, Zabarniy, and Lugina, 2020). Afro Impressions Salon has its set target audience and it is one of the strengths of the company. Below are the other strengths:

  • A good clientele that has been loyal to the company for a long period now (Karyono and Agustina, 2019).

  • Skilled staff members with higher subject knowledge

  • Variety of styles and options in hair and beauty department

  • The prime location of London is another strength for the company for both expansion, as well as opening of hair and salon academy

Weaknesses

The weaknesses are the internal lack of resources or other things that might create problems in the future (Berisha, Kutllovci and Shiroka, 2017). As Afro Impressions Salon is planning to expand its business and want to open a hair and beauty academy, below will be its proposed weaknesses:

  • Lack of funds for such a huge investment

  • Lack of co-operations from stakeholders in the long-run (Abdel-Basset, Mohamed, and Smarandache, 2018).

  • Afro-centric approach (It can be considered as a weakness because other community people might regard it as specific for Afro community)

Opportunity

The opportunity is the external factor that will be in favor of the company (Puyt et al., 2020).

  • The emerging trends in the hair and beauty industry

  • High understanding of fashion and hair trends by London’s population

  • Favorable policies and guidelines by National Hair and Beauty Federation (NHBF)

  • Environmental friendly approach of hair and beauty industry

  • Willingness to adopt Green Office practices will ultimately attract a lot of new customers who are Eco-Savvy (Nejad, Agha and Zadeh, 2017).

Threats

Like opportunity, threats are also the external factors that might create trouble for the company in the future (Thamrin et al., 2017). The decision of business expansion and manufacturing of new hair and beauty academy is not an easy task as it gets affected by several external factors such as competitors, economic failure, lack of employment, and several other governmental restrictions.

  • The pro-active approach of competitors in this business (Madsen, 2016).

  • Newly emerging startups create a lot of trouble

  • The economic slowdown in the United Kingdom Martin-Caceres and Cuenca-Lopez, 2016).

  • Low employment rates

Objective 2 & 3 – Company Strategy

Existing strategic capabilities

Strategic capabilities refer to the existing resources, assets, labor, skills, and overall potential an organization has to achieve its aim. According to Company Checker (2020), Afro Impressions Salon has been in the business since 2013. The company has 4 employees presently, including hairdressers. The net worth of the company was GBP874.00 in the year 2019, which is 328.43% higher than in 2018. Total current assets were GBP206.00 as of 2019. Afro Impressions Salon had GBP1,694.00 as total current liabilities in the financial year 2017, which reduced and became zero in the year 2018, then again in the year 2019, total current liabilities were GBP1,305.00.

Figure 2 Account information of Afro Impressions Ltd.

(Source: Company Checker, 2020)

Based on this report, it is clear that Afro Impressions Ltd is performing decently currently, although the performance is not at par with the year 2015 and 2016, however, there is surely an improvement in the year 2019 as compared to 2018.

Approach and suitability

Based on the above data, it seems that Afro Impressions Ltd. is using the Market Penetration strategic approach a company is still new and trying its level best to adjust in the market. Market penetration has no specific definition as it depends on the circumstances and the position of the company at a particular period. In this context, market penetration refers to the process of entering into the market to sell products and services. It also refers to how much a particular product or service is used by the customers about the total approx. the market for that product or service. Afro Impressions Ltd is always on priority in the neighborhood with its products and services designed keeping certain communities and customers in mind. Thus, the African population of Camberley always gives priority to Afro Impressions Ltd when they require assistance in hair and beauty care. However, Afro Impressions Ltd must expand its horizon to achieve its final goal of business expansion and opening of new Hair and Beauty academy. The suitable approach for the company should be Market Expansion to achieve its desired goals. The market expansion approach refers to the new practices and planning a company must possess to explore the new market and to attract a new customer segment.

VRIO Analysis for the current strategy

VRIO refers to four frameworks of value, rarity, imitability, and organization. This framework is used to find the sustainable competitive advantage of a company (Ariyani and Daryanto, 2018). Below is the detailed explanation of the VRIO framework based on the current strategy of Afro Impressions Ltd.

Table 1 VRIO Analysis of Afro Impressions Ltd.

VRIO

Result

Value

Yes

Rarity

No

Imitability

No

Organization

Yes



Value

Does Afro Impressions Ltd offer services that add value to customers?

Yes – Value refers to offering products and services to customers who add value to their life (Miethlich and Oldenburg, 2019). Afro Impressions Ltd offers its unique hairdressing and beauty solutions to its target customers. The company has its certain target audience which always prefers Afro Impressions Ltd when it comes to hair and beauty treatments. These customers are fixed and loyal to Afro Impressions Ltd. This is evident that Afro Impressions Ltd provides value to its customers in its products and services.

Rarity

Does Afro Impressions Ltd offer something very hard to find in competitors in the industry?

No – Companies should offer something which is not at all easy to find in the market (Seo, Park and Choi, 2016). Afro Impressions Ltd is not yet providing any unique product or service to its customers which no other competitors can provide. This means the company has a value framework but lacks rarity. This puts the company in competitive parity. The resources of the company are surely valuable to its customers but not unique, which means that company needs to focus on aspects that bring in some uniqueness and rarity in its products and services to maintain competitiveness and sustainability in this cut-throat market.

Imitability

Is it very difficult and expensive to copy and imitate the products and services offered by Afro Impressions Ltd.?

No – This aspect requires companies to offer unique products and services to their customers that cannot be copied or imitated easily by their competitors (Buzatu, Plesea, and Iulian, 2019). Afro Impressions Ltd offers hair and beauty solutions that are not very difficult to imitate and for sure not very expensive. Thus, the company lacks an imitability framework as well to stand out in the industry. If Afro Impressions Ltd wants to expand its services in the market and wants to open a hair academy, the company should focus on its unique selling proportion to attract more and more customers. The company also needs to provide some special hair and beauty treatments to its existing customers which will eventually spread the positive word in the market.

Organization

Does Afro Impressions Ltd have an organized process system, management structure, and appropriate work culture to fully utilize its capability and resources?

Yes – This part of VRIO analysis requires appropriate organizational culture, structure, and management to fully achieve the desired goals. Afro Impressions Ltd was founded in 2013 and has been performing well with its limited resources. The company has 4 employees and that is sufficient based on its current responsibilities. However, the company will have to improve its employee count and its overall potential if wants to successfully expand the business and open a hair academy.

The best strategy to grow

Porter’s Generic Strategies

According to Business Ball (2019), Michel Porter provided three generic strategies for organizations to gain more competitive advantages in the market. These strategies can be applied to Afro Impressions Ltd to make it more competitive and cost-efficient when it expands the business and opens the hair academy. The strategies are discussed below:

Figure 3 Porter's Generic Strategies

(Source: Business Balls, 2019)

The cost leadership strategy

This strategy suggests that organizations should minimize the cost of delivering goods and services in the market (Mutinda and Mwasiaji, 2018). This will make them more competitive and sustainable among its competitors. Moreover, the companies with this strategy will be able to capture more market share as the total costing of the product will be minimum, thus, more and more customers can purchase it. Afro Impressions Ltd should involve the cost leadership strategy in its business model while planning to expand its business and opening the hair academy. It is understood that the company will not be able to apply these cost leadership strategies very effectively in the beginning; however, the company can apply once the new market is approached and the academy is opened and maintained with the existing cost strategy.

The differentiation strategy

This strategy refers to involving different and unique approaches, features, and qualities in the product and services so that company can stand out in the cut-throat market (Omsa, Abdullah and Jamali, 2017). The more unique the products and services will be, the more competitive edge the company will achieve. Afro Impressions Ltd deals in hair and beauty solutions. It is understood that the company cannot go beyond the rules of science and chemistry to develop some unique beauty products, however, the company can bring in some unique approach and skills for its hair and beauty services that make the company stand out in the market. The company must focus on the latest technological trends in the hair and beauty industry which can provide more unique features and comforts to the customers (Indarwanto, Puro, and Manurung, 2019). The thorough market research will help the company identify new ways of providing hair and beauty services to its customers. For this, the company can have separate research and development departments which can bring in innovative ideas and practices in the organization (Farah, Munga, and Mbebe, 2018). As Afro Impressions Ltd is planning to open a hair academy, it must approach the best staff available in the market that brings in fresh skills and expertise in the hair and beauty sector to add value to the company.

Focus strategy

The focus strategy suggests focusing on a particular market segment so that company can bring in low-cost strategies by knowing the needs and wants of that limited market and then offer the best products and services in the most cost-efficient way (Kasongo and Misango, 2019). The focus strategy is further divided into Cost Focus and Differentiation Focus (Taghipour et al., 2020). As Afro Impressions already provides its services to most of the African population across Camberley, it seems that the company is already following this strategy somehow. However, it is essential to further strengthen it and provide more values and unique features to target audiences. This strategy does not mean that the company should type-cast itself, instead, it suggests focusing on limited groups for the limited period and then moves on to another group so that company can focus more and more productively. Afro Impressions should focus on more demographics from time to time to expand its horizon.

Ansoff Matrix

Ansoff Matrix is a strategic plan to correctly market products and services. The Ansoff Matrix focuses on four aspects that can help the organization in becoming more competitive (Loredana, 2017). Afro Impressions Ltd will get a decent understanding of the current market as well as the new market based on Ansoff Matrix. As Afro Impressions Ltd wants to expand its existing business and wants to open a hair academy, it is essential to see its resources and potential through the Ansoff model. This model talks about four facets to make proper strategic marketing judgment. Market penetration, Product development, Market Development, and Diversification strategy are the four components of the Ansoff matrix (Sukma, Lubis, and Utami, 2019).

(Source: Hanlon, A. (2020) Figure 4 Ansoff Matrix for Afro Impressions Ltd.

Market penetration

Market penetration is a process of selling more and more products and services to its existing customers in the existing market. This helps in cost reduction when there are high demands for products and services (Suciati, Kurniawan, and Iswahyudin, 2020). Afro Impressions Ltd can start its service day a bit early than usual to cover more and more customers, and also reduce services charges a bit so that maximum customers can be attained and attracted in the same area with same products and services.

Product Development

This refers to the development of an existing product in the existing market to add new qualities and features. This new outlook of the product will eventually attract more buyers in the existing market. Afro Impressions Ltd must add new features and qualities to its existing products and services to impress the existing customers even more.

Market Development

This refers to exploring the new market for new opportunities. The new market will come with great opportunities, as well as huge challenges. Thus, the organization needs to plan its moves properly. Afro Impressions Ltd is planning to expand its services and wants to open a hair academy. Studying the new market, the buying behavior of the new customers, and governmental rules and other guidelines are part of the faces of Ansoff Matrix. Afro Impressions Ltd. must study all these aspects before moving to the new market.

Diversification strategy

This is linked with market development. Ansoff suggested that if the organization is planning to get into a new market, it is better to also bring in product diversification to attract more and more customers. This product diversification will cover two things for the organization: first, it will fulfill the requirements of multiple customer segments, second, it will mitigate the high risk involved in selling only one product and services because the risk involved in one product or service can be covered by increasing the profit and sale of another product and services. Afro Impressions Ltd should think about product diversification strategy in the process of expansion and opening of hair academy. It will help the company in sustaining in the new market, with new customers.

Objective 4 – Implementation Plan and Cost Estimation

Suitability

Suitability in business strategy is referred to how suitable is the current capabilities of the company to fulfill its final goals of expansion and hair training academy. The suitability is considered based on internal and external factors of the company and these factors can be understood from Pestle and Porter’s five force analysis discussed above in this report.

The main goal of the company is to expand its business and to open a new hair-training academy. The suitability raises the question that, will it be possible to achieve this target based on existing resources and internal and external factors of the company?

Based on Pestle analysis, the Political scenario of the United Kingdom is very suitable and appropriate for the hair and beauty industry. National Hair and Beauty Federation (NHBF) has made some helpful rules and regulations for the industry. Thus, it will not be very difficult for Afro Impressions Ltd to implement its plan based on political factors.

The economic factors of the United Kingdom have been slightly disappointed for the final quarter of the year 2018. Moreover, there has been some slowdown in the growth of the hair and beauty industry recently. Considering this, Afro Impressions Ltd might face some issues from the economic part of the country.

The social factors of the United Kingdom and more precisely, Camberley are totally in favor of Afro Impressions Ltd. The population of Africans and other minorities in London was 44% in the year 2018. This is a very good sign for Afro Impressions Ltd as its unique selling proportion is the population of Africans living in the city of London.

The technological aspect is always in favor if correctly applied with proper planning. It is very easy nowadays to create a seller account on E-commerce websites and start selling products. Afro Impressions Ltd can have its seller account on E-commerce websites and start selling its beauty and hair products to make the most of this technologically driven era.

The legal factors are something that needs extra attention to detail. All the beauty and hair products in the United Kingdom are controlled by EU Cosmetics Regulations (EC No. 1223/2009). National Hair and Beauty Federation (NHBF) is another organization that makes rules and guidelines for the beauty and hair industry in the United Kingdom. Afro Impressions Ltd will have to abide by their guidelines while manufacturing and offering products and services to consumers.

The environmental factors are also very vital in shaping the future of an organization. This factor is suitable for Afro Impressions Ltd in its business expansion plans. More and more consumers are preferring the Go Green approach nowadays and showing their concerns towards environmentally friendly products. This is the opportunity for Afro Impressions Ltd to go green and adopt an environmentally friendly approach in its manufacturing and offerings.

Based on Porter’s five force model, the competitive rivalry is very high for Afro Impressions Ltd as the beauty and hair industry is very competitive. This can be treated as an opportunity for the company to bring in some unique and competitive edge to its business model and practices.

The bargaining power of customers is also very high in the hair and beauty industry and it affects Afro Impressions Ltd as well. There are so many options available for customers for beauty and hair solutions. If a customer is not satisfied with one particular salon, he/she will move on to another one. This forces the industry to always be attentive, and innovative in its offering and it is a suitable atmosphere for companies working in this industry. Hence, it applies to Afro Impressions Ltd as well.

The threat of new entrants is a medium for the beauty and hair industry in United Kindom. The services of this industry are easily adaptable; thus, new companies and startups can get into the market. However, there is still suitability for Afro Impressions Ltd to try its expansion program without the fear of new entrants in the market.

The bargaining power of suppliers is also medium in this industry and it is suitable for Afro Impressions Ltd. Most of the United Kingdom market is covered by Schwarzkopf and L’Oreal as the main supplier for products. Thus, Afro Impressions can get the supplies from these giants and can also approach its manufacturing of products if budget permits in the future.

The threat of substitute products is very low in this industry because it is not possible for consumers to create their cosmetic products and to cut their hairs at home on daily basis. Thus, this industry will always remain low in the substitutive category and it is the biggest suitability for companies, including Afro Impressions Ltd.

Acceptability

The acceptability asks if an organization has sufficient funds and resources, and consent from its stakeholders to execute the business strategic plan. Afro Impressions Ltd has approx. 1500 customer base currently which is communicated through face to face, website customer, social media customers, and email/texts. The existing sale is approx. GBP100K per year and the company wants to multiply it thrice in its new expansion program. This revenue will be total from both hair and beauty services and hair-training academy. Below is the Cost estimation plan for the strategy.

Table 1 Cost Estimation Plan for Afro Impressions Ltd

Category

Cost Estimation for one year (GBP)

Staff Hiring (at least 10 more employees required)

1,66,536 (based on 13,878 per employee monthly)

Hair and Beauty Products

2,00,000

The premise for training academy

80,000

Construction cost

60,000

Hair and Beauty Equipment

28,000

Furniture and Interior Cost

35,000

Advertising and Marking Cost

10,000

Total

5,79,536



Table 2 Sales Estimation Plan for Afro Impressions Ltd

Product and Services

Current Pricing (in GBP)

Proposed Pricing

Thermal Styling

30

45

Cornrows

30

45

Locks

40

50

Cuts

20

30

Gents Cuts

10

20

Single Braids

25

35

Hair Relaxers

40

50



Based on the above sales estimation and cost estimation, Afro Impressions Ltd will be able to achieve its annual sales of more than 300K with the proposed prices. The company will be able to recover its investment of GBP5,79,536 within 2 years from the time of inception.

Stakeholders of the company

The major stakeholders of the company are people who get affected directly or indirectly by the company’s decisions. Below are the stakeholders of Afro Impressions Ltd.

  • Customers

  • Suppliers

  • Employees

  • Government bodies

Mendelow’s stakeholder mapping

(Source: Manuel, 2019) Figure 5 Mendelow's Stakeholders Mapping for Afro Impressions Ltd

According to Manuel (2019), Mendelow provided a simple matrix to understand the position and impact of stakeholders on its business. He divided the stakeholders in terms of Power and Interest. Some stakeholders can impact the business based on their powers like customers and suppliers. Others can impact the business based on their likelihood and interest like employees of the company. Mendelow suggested that it is important to understand each one of them to execute a proper strategic plan.

Minimal Effort includes the suppliers which have high power in the business but put in minimal effort (Bernstein, Weiss and Curry, 2020). The Afro Impressions Ltd must satisfy its suppliers but they are less likely to put in extra efforts.

Keep informed are the employees and trade unions in the business (Mints and Kamyshnykova, 2019). Afro Impressions Ltd should keep them informed about its planning and practices.

Keep satisfied belongs to government bodies that do not put any effort in businesses but need to be informed and up to date. Afro Impressions Ltd must keep informed them.

Key players are the major stakeholders; they are the customers of the business (Ludovico, Dessi, and Bonaiuto, 2020). Afro Impressions Ltd must satisfy them at any cost to be more competitive in the market.

Feasibility

Do the resources and competencies (from SWOT analysis) exist currently? Or needs to be obtained?

Based on the strength of SWOT –

Table 3 Strength part of SWOT as Feasibility

Strength from SWOT

Feasibility

A good clientele that has been loyal to the company for a long period now

Currently exists

Skilled staff members with higher subject knowledge

Currently exists

Variety of styles and options in hair and beauty department


Currently exists

The prime location of London is another strength for the company for both expansion, as well as opening of hair and salon academy


Currently exists



Table 4 Opportunity part of SWOT for Feasibility

Opportunity from SWOT

Feasibility

The emerging trends in the hair and beauty industry


Needs to obtain

High understanding of fashion and hair trends by London’s population


Currently exists

Favorable policies and guidelines by National Hair and Beauty Federation (NHBF)


Currently exists

Environmental friendly approach of hair and beauty industry


Currently exists

Willingness to adopt Green Office practices will ultimately attract a lot of new customers who are Eco-Savvy

Currently exists



There is only one part which needs to be obtained, the emerging trends of the fashion industry. It is a constant process and cannot be fulfilled at once.

Strategic implementation plan

Table 5 Timeline of strategic activities

Activities

Time

New Staff Hiring

2 Months

Purchase of hair and beauty products

1 Month

Construction of training academy

6 Months

Furniture and Interior

1 Month

Advertising and Marketing

2 Months



Budget plan

Activities

Cost Estimation for one year (GBP)

Staff Hiring (at least 10 more employees required)

1,66,536 (based on 13,878 per employee monthly)

Hair and Beauty Products

2,00,000

The premise for training academy

80,000

Construction cost

60,000

Hair and Beauty Equipment

28,000

Furniture and Interior Cost

35,000

Advertising and Marking Cost

10,000

Total

5,79,536



Gantt Chart

(Source: Author, 2020) Figure 6 Gantt Chart for Afro Impressions Ltd

Overall recommendations

Use fundamental administration tools to record-keep the actions

It is essential to have documented data of everything and every step of the strategic action plan. The record-keeping and documentation will provide transparent information about the progression of the strategic plan and every stakeholder will be aware of the succession of the planning.

Hiring Financial experts

It is very important to hire a financial expert who can keep an eye on all the credits and debits within the strategic planning. This will keep the budgeting concise and the plan will use the funds most appropriately.

Use of strategic planning software

There is multiple budget-friendly strategic planning software in the market. This software reduces the time and efforts of humans. It is recommended to use any such software based on the requirements.

Timely meetings and conferences with stakeholders

Timely meetings and conferences are necessary to keep updated every stakeholder of the company and to obtain their suggestions. This collaborative effort will help the organization in the final stages of strategic planning.



Conclusion

This consultancy report concludes the internal and external factors of Afro Impressions Ltd, a hair and beauty company in Camberley, London. The company aims to get consultancy on business strategy as it wants to expand its market and build a new hair training academy. The report concludes market analysis based on PESTLE, 5 force analysis, and SWOT analysis. Also, it focused on the company strategies and its capabilities which improvise its productivity. The current strategies are evaluated based on the VRIO chain. In the last phase, the report concludes the development of three strategies which are dependent upon the external and internal environment analysis.









Reflective portfolio

In the reflective portfolio, the Gibbs reflection model is chosen which demonstrate the different six phases. The Gibbs reflection model is the process of providing self-reflection for a particular situation. The person reflecting on this situation resembles him/herself in the situation and judges it with the help of various events, incidents from real life (Hussein, 2018). This experience of reflection enabled the person to provide negative and positive opinions about the work he/she completed. The Gibbs reflection model is a cycle that starts from Description and goes clockwise to Feeling, Evaluation, Analysis, Conclusions, and finishes with Actin plan (Sweet et al., 2019). I am going to reflect on my experience with this consultancy report based on the Gibbs reflection model.

Shape3

Figure 7 Gibbs Reflection Plan

(Source: Author, 2020)

Description

This consultancy report was about the business strategy plan for Afro Impressions Ltd. I had to thoroughly study the company’s website, its articles, and other web-related content to get the insights. The company is planning to expand its market and also wants to open a new hair training academy. Thus, required a detailed business plan with cost estimation. I had to prepare the in-depth consultancy report including all the major aspects which can impact an organization internally and externally in the future. I had to check the product offerings of the company with current pricing so that new suggestions could be provided. Every phase of the consultancy report included some deep analysis of the provided topic and industry knowledge. I was dependent on secondary research to complete this report. I got to know that Afro Impressions Ltd has its specific target audience across Camberley, London. The company mainly deals with the African population living across Camberley and fulfills their hair and beauty requirements. The main people involved in this business are four employees including the hairdressers and the CEO miss Sophia Mayers. The report included a detailed analysis of the company’s customers, suppliers, required employees, competitors, and all the factors which can affect the company’s strategic planning in the future. The result of this action and a strategic plan was very helpful and transparent as it reflected the proposed situation of the company for its business expansion and development of a new hair training academy.

Feelings

While writing this report, I got to know and learn so many things. I never looked at the business strategy the way I now look after completing this report. It has changed my perspective towards seeing different aspects within a business. I felt so many things while preparing the report. I was able to image Afro Impressions Ltd and its working style when I was writing the report. Every phase of the action plan was visible in my imagination and further helped me in writing more productively. I also thought of my uncle’s business of a small food retail store that he wanted to expand. At that time, I used to manage the back-office work at my uncle’s business and I was very young, so could not understand his working styles and decisions. However, now I can connect the dots when I see my findings of this consultancy report and relate them with my uncle’s action plan. He used to have a lot of meetings with his suppliers, employees, and other important people to understand their opinions regarding expansion. He wanted to shift the business to a nearby shopping mall which included a lot of investment, manpower, and other resources. Moreover, he also wanted to include product diversification in his business by adding new product ranges like packaged food and drinking items, bears, and other soft drinks. Now I think that if I get the opportunity to help him in expansion, I will be able to do that much better because I can see where he was lacking. This consultancy report of Afro Impressions Ltd helped me understand that it is not sufficient to have a skilled team, ample budget, and promising strategic planning, there are a lot of other factors that are essential to consider while making the strategic plan. The most important factor is the follow-up of the plan and having a financial expert to monitor all the credits and debits of the company (Pullman, 2018). Small businesses avoid hiring financial experts due to budget issues but they do not understand that a lot of miss-match can happen in their absence. My uncle handled all the finances on his own, and this is where he made mistake. He faced a lot of trouble and disturbances with budgeting planning because he could not monitor the credits and debits, and at the end of his planning days, he was broken by seeing the failure of his planning. I think it is very essential to hire professional financial experts or one can hire their friends or family member who can focus only on finance. This will save a lot of trouble in the process of business strategic planning.

Evaluation

There are some good and bad things which I would like to highlight in my reflection of the report. The bad thing is that I was dependent on secondary data in my research and regretted and felt lack of primary information because Afro Impressions Ltd is still a developing organization and does not have in-depth information on the internet. I faced trouble finding the facts and figures about this company. That is why I thought of the primary data collection process as it gets you exactly what you want. The good part was everything I learned from this report. I understood the functionality and processing of an organization. I got to know about stakeholders of the businesses and their importance based on power and interest as described by Mendelow in his stakeholder mapping matrix. One of the best parts of this report writing was knowing about internal and external analysis of an organization which makes the organization competitively strong. Overall, I tried my level best to contribute towards the betterment of the report and I made sure that I avoid any sort of plagiarism while writing the report. I chose the authentic sources and study materials published by established authorities. I gave my honest efforts to this report.

Analysis

Based on my learning in this report, I have figured out what to do and what not to do in the future. If I talk about the report making process, I will try to make notes of the provided company in the beginning and will note down every aspect I will have to cover so that there will be no confusion. At the beginning of this report, I started searching the provided company and wrote about whatever information I found on the web. This made the initial work slightly irrelevant because I mixed the several facets of the company. However, I corrected that mistake immediately by making notes about my findings and followed that note for the entirety of the report. Moreover, if I talk about any real-life business experiences, I would like to focus more on financial expert’s help in budgeting and cost estimation plans. It is very essential to have finances sorted to execute the business plan smoothly (Al-Jubouri and Al-Jubouri, 2019). I would also use some kind of business strategic software as this software reduces the effort and time, and provides the best results without any error.

Conclusion

When I look back at the report from the beginning, I think there are few things that I could have done differently from what I have done. I was not sure about the formatting and structuring of the consultancy report in the beginning and had to struggle a lot to understand this aspect. I even had to change many structuring again to make the final work look convincing. However, if I will do similar works in the future, I can handle them more systematically with proper structuring. This was the negative aspect for me. There were positive aspects as well like I easily searched all the secondly information regarding the topic discussed in the report like SWOT analysis, PESTLE, Porter’s five forces, Porter’s generic strategies, Ansoff Matrix, Mendelow Matrix, and Gantt chart.

Action Plan

The action plan requires promises to learn from mistakes and never to repeat them in the future (Cherkis and Rosciano, 2018). I have learned so many things from this consultancy report writing and made many mistakes like structuring and formatting. I also did not make notes in the beginning. I am sure that I will not repeat these mistakes in future projects because these small things eventually waste a lot of time and effort which can be utilized in the betterment of the overall report. I will make segregation of my entire works in the future so that I can utilize the time appropriately. An action plan is very important as it separates the topics (Aljuwaiber, 2016). This way individuals can easily segregate the work and execute accordingly. To conclude, I got to learn many things about the business strategic plan while writing this report.



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