Operation, Technology, and Management Plan

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KISMET SMOOTHIE CO - OPERATIONS

Operations, Technology, and Management Plan

Regina Crews

Strayer University

BUS 599

Prof. Andrea Banto and Prof. Adrian Allen

March 1, 2019

Q1. Operation Plan

General Operating Hours

Kismet Smoothies Company intends to from 8 am to 6 pm weekdays and from 9 am to 4 pm on Saturday and Sunday. The company will be in operation all year round.

Human Resources

Kismet Smoothies Company will have 20 sole employees for the first year of operation. Upon requirement of additional workers, the Company will hire on contract basis individuals who have been identified with the relevant qualification to assist. The owner will also be incorporated into the extra contract working team. Among the identified personnel who will be hired on contract include 5 nutritionists, 4 product promoters and 10 salespersons. Once the employees are hired, they will be covered by the Workers Safety and Insurance Board besides being covered by the Employee Benefits (Katzenbach, & Smith, 2015).

Insurance Obligations

The cost of business liability insurance will be incurred by Kismet Smoothies Company. The annual approximated cost for this business expense is $3,300.

Operating Capital Obligations

Because of the demands required in starting this business, the Kismet Smoothies Company will be required to have enough working capital which will meet all the operational activities of the Company business for the first five months. To sustain all the opening and on-going financial requirements of the Company for the five months period, the Company will need an estimate of $15,000 of working Capital. Due to the fact that there tends to be a duration of low activities throughout the year in the company, during these periods, the company will tend to experience financial pressure. During this low activity periods, there is a need for the company to maintain sufficient working capital even if this time will be spent on marketing strategies and proposal development. During these periods, diversifying the company besides product quality training to the public will be the best thing to do (Du, Zhang, & Ni, 2018, October).

Office Requirements and Asset Acquisitions

The office space for the company is leased and it will contain the necessary office necessities such as fax machine, furniture, telephones, fax machines, photocopier, printer, and other necessary equipment. This office will be leased at a cost of $200 each month. The associated costs for renovating the office and equipping it to the customer and owner satisfaction are as follows;

· Office equipment and furniture $7,000

· Renovations $4,000

· Capital costs $45,000 which will help in buying the necessary company services equipment like vats, refrigerators, burners, ovens and bottling equipment besides enhancing workers professionalism through training besides preparing the company for the projected demand for services (Mendelson, & Matsoso, 2015).

Operation Workflow Steps

· Step 1, the company will respond to RFP through a professionally prepared drinks supply proposal.

· Step 2, if the company is awarded the contract of supplying drinks, it will collect a deposit from the client then start supplying the drinks.

· Once the required supply is attained to the satisfaction of the client, the final contract payment will be made.

Competitive Advantage

· The company products being the first one in the American market, there will be no competition which means that the company will be enjoying a monopoly in the market.

· The company products being natural, it will attract many customers since they are harmless to human health, unlike the other drink companies which use preservatives in their products which tends to be a health threat to the human body.

Q2. Technology Plan

Since the vision of the company is to provide a portfolio of drinks brands that satisfy the needs and desires of people, this cannot be achieved if the technology is not incorporated in the processing besides in all company learning activities. Under the company technology plan, for the start, the company needs hardware, software, telecommunication besides temperature monitoring system (Blanchard, 2018).

Hardware Requirements

For effective data storage in the company, there is a need to buy some hardware system that will aid in this effective data storage besides enhancing office arrangement. The input devices, output and storage contraptions devices, central processing unit devices, information exchange devices besides the necessary linking devices are required. It's good to note that each of the mentioned devices is basic and they can't be detached from the system (Barney et .al 2017).

Software Requirements

For product pricing, there must be specific computer software that has to be used for coding of the products. The specific code price is usually detected by the scanner. This software is necessary to reduce time wastage besides ensuring the security of all priced products. Every sale made, the system has to detect which enhances accuracy in documenting the products taken out of the company after production and packaging. There will be also recruiting software which will be used in streamlining the recruitment process in the company. Through this software, the company can post job adverts, sort besides accepting applications. The software can also be used to manage candidates besides generating payrolls (Ni, Yang, & Lv, 2018, October).

Temperature Monitoring System

To increase the duration of the company manufacturing products, the maintenance of air temperature in a controlled surrounding, which ranges from storage floors besides storage places to industrial scale freezers, the ovens, and walk-in refrigeration systems is of great importance hence the need to forecast in buying the temperature monitoring system as the company activity starts. This will ensure that the quality and health products are delivered to the customers of Kismet Smoothies Company (Sobol, 2016).

Telecommunication Requirement

To achieve appropriate correspondence in the Company, effective communication within the company needs to be adopted. Under the company technology plan, for the start, WI-FI, optional short amplify Bluetooth remote access and the general packet radio service will be utilized for telecommunication related services within the company. On the side of order tracking, we will first make use of online tracking technology before advancing to other modern tracking methods (Sobol et .al 2016).

Q3. Management and Organization

Management Review

The company management team comprises of top-level managers, middle level and lower level managers. All these have got specific tasks and 78% of them have experience in the soft drink industry. The philosophy of the company is a laser-like focus on our consumer needs. The company has a CFO and two directors reporting to the CEO. The customer support desk, as well as part-time positions staffing in the company, are usually filled when necessary then they report to the operations director. The eight-county sales managers will be employed in contract form and they will be required to report to the business development director. The five managers of the eight have already been identified (Zupic, & Čater, 2015).

Organization Structure

Regina (CEO)

Vincent CFO CFO

Roy Operations Dir. Operations

Jane Dir. Bus Dev

Sales Mrg

Sales Mrg

Sales Mrg

Sales Mrg

Sales Mrg

Sales Mrg

Sales Mrg

Sales Mrg

Customer Supt.

Customer Supt.

Customer Supt.

Management Team

Vincent Smith

Dr. Vincent Smith will be the company CFO. Dr. Smith has been working with the World Food Organization over the next six years. He holds a Ph.D. degree from Georgia University with Food nutrition specialty. Besides working with the World Food Organization, he was a board member in the national consumer protection agency where he served for three years. With his specialty in food and health industry, he is considered to be fundamental in leading to company towards achieving its goals more especially in human health and satisfaction.

Roy Robert

Roy holds an accounting master’s degree from Harvard University. Roy is a registered accountant and he has been practicing for the last eight year. Roy worked as an assistant accountant in the coca cola company in North Carolina in his first four years after college. He has been working as a certified accountant in the National Bureau of Statistics. He is considered to be the key personnel in advising the company in matters that deal with finance and project implementation strategies.

Jane James

Jane James is a registered Manufacturing Engineer having received her Engineering degree from Minnesota University. Jane also earned a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration from North Dakota States University. Jane was the co-founder and chief executive officer of the North Dakota Engineering Consultant Firm. For the past three years to present, she has been involved in consultancy services in Florida Consulting Firms where she provides customer training besides operational support. She has been considered to be very fundamental in the company's operations management and both internal and external workers training.

References:

Barney, J. B., Dagnino, G. B., Della Corte, V., & Tsang, E. W. (2017). Management and organization review special issue ‘Coopetition and innovation in transforming economies’. Management and Organization Review, 13(1), 201-204.

Blanchard, K. (2018). Leading at a higher level: Blanchard on leadership and creating high performing organizations. FT Press.

Du, G., Zhang, X., & Ni, S. (2018, October). Discussion on the Application of Big Data in Rail Transit Organization. In International Conference on Smart Vehicular Technology, Transportation, Communication and Applications (pp. 312-318). Springer, Cham.

Katzenbach, J. R., & Smith, D. K. (2015). The wisdom of teams: Creating the high-performance organization. Harvard Business Review Press.

Mendelson, M., & Matsoso, M. P. (2015). The World Health Organization global action plan for antimicrobial resistance. SAMJ: South African Medical Journal, 105(5), 325-325.

Ni, S., Yang, F., & Lv, M. (2018, October). The innovation of Networked Railway Transportation Organization in High-Speed Railway. In International Conference on Smart Vehicular Technology, Transportation, Communication and Applications (pp. 305-311). Springer, Cham.

Sobol, I. (2016). The project of technology and organization of accomplishing a complex of multiple residential developments with services located on Nocznickiego 25 in Warsaw (Doctoral dissertation, Instytut Inżynierii Budowlanej).

Zupic, I., & Čater, T. (2015). Bibliometric methods in management and organization. Organizational Research Methods, 18(3), 429-472.

Feed back from professor

Hi Regina - You earned a grade of C on your paper (77%). There are several areas needing more detail and explanation. Please review my feedback below.

Good effort! You described the operations plan for your business using most of the items in the template. Be sure to use all the information pertaining to this section as outlined in the NAB Company portfolio. A manager must understand how a business operates step-by-step so that decisions can be made. Each step must be carefully evaluated as improvements and flow should always be the goal. Improvements in this area can lead to cost reductions and increased profit margins.

I loved how you outlined the competitive advantages you have and how you justified your position. The competitive advantages you have will allow you to grow compete with other companies out there and increase your market share. Great work!

You did not address the research and development section of your business. You must also discuss how these activities will contribute to the business. These activities are key for developing new products or improve current ones and serve your customers better.

Great work! Your technology plan is clearly explained and includes information from the NAB Company portfolio as well as additional information based on your company's needs. Investors want to see that you understand the nature and scope of your technology needs and that you have planned adequately for your hardware/ software needs.

You are missing the section discussing the personnel needs. Always check to make sure each question is addressed.

You outlined the management team for your business and you also used some of the information from the NAB Company Portfolio. To make your response more robust, you want describe the role of each individual in more detail. People are key for the success of every business. Investors may make their investment decisions based on the strengths of the people involved in a business. Experience, skills, and personalities of the people in an organization influence the success of that organization. Developing a strong management is key and the management style is also important for the overall organizational climate and success.

Excellent work outlining the management hierarchy. Clarity of roles and responsibilities is very important in all companies. More companies use the horizontal management structures rather than the traditional top-down lines of authority. In these types of organizations, employees are empowered to make decisions on their own, there are fewer management levels, and decisions are made faster, making the organization more agile and responsive to the needs of the customers or production team.

You are missing a section justifying the management structure (lines of authority, relationships) and style (how the manager will interact with employees: policies, communication, recognition, etc.)