Business Plan

Revise the opportunities. Opportunities are not under your control and cannot be created. You can just take advantage of them to grow the business. These should be stated to specify the external factors you plan to take advantage of to grow the business: events, trends, etc. Check the examples provided in the discussion under the second post (to help with week 2 discussion). 

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Revised Mission Statement: Topmark Cafe is a sole-proprietorship business that will be located at the heart of Applewood Mott Estate, Vienna, VA. The business will provide assorted snacks and to the population living in the area targeting students and employees residing, learning in schools, and working in the area. 

SWOT Matrix

Strengths 1. Topmark Cafe will have a vast customer strength whereby most potential customers will be students and employees residing, learning in schools, and working in the area. 2. Topmark has invested in business research, which was conducted earlier that led to the establishment of the idea that in the heart of Applewood Mott Estate, Vienna, VA, there is enormous demand for snacks in that area. 3. The snacks will also be of high-quality standards with moderate returns, meaning that their prices will be affordable to all their potential customers as they aim to make a small margin out of the cafe. 4. Topmark cafe has a tremendous financial strength whereby they have an initial capital of $80,000.

Weaknesses 1. Topmark Cafe has five employees and the owner as the manager, which means they will not meet potential customers' demands due to the overwhelming numbers of customer inflows. 2. Topmark Cafe owners will be required to employ more employees to avoid customer order delays to maintain a reputation based on managing time. 3. The owner should also employ a qualified professional manager who will be able to run the activities, however, the compensation plan may be below market rate. 4. Procuring other resources that will ensure the consumers are interested the snacks and become return customers.

Opportunities 1. Topmark Cafe has opportunities to offer a wide range of providing a wide range of products such as, pastries and desserts, cookies, coffee cakes and other delicious snacks. 2. Topmark Café will offer other snacks, such as sugarless biscuits, brown bread, and ice sugar cakes, will be offered at the cafe. 3. With time, international snack items will be made available in the cafe as it expands. 4. Additional products will ensure customer retention and maintain their loyalty when high quality is offered. There will be more significant potential for loans and mortgages by various financial institutions due to a massive potential, as earlier research

Threats 1. Topmark cafe faces a threat of understaffing is quite critical because it needs to meet the overwhelming demand to avoid customer disappointment. 2. Topmark cafe offers a down pricing making the profit margin smaller, which may fail to meet the operational costs of the cafe in the long run. 3. The cafe should structure its prices, if not, the closure of the business of they operate with substantial incidental charges. 4. Customers tend to depart when introducing inflated prices in the various new products offered.

The specific requirements for this assignment are to write a 3–5 page paper in which you:

1. Describe the product or service on which the company is focusing, including the company's name and its significance.

2. Revise the company’s mission statement based on feedback received in the Week 1 discussion thread, including the rationale for each component of the mission statement.

. Place the mission statement within quotation marks.

. Use the Mission Statement Worksheet on pages 72–73 of your textbook as a guide.

Mission Statement Worksheet on pages 72–73 (next two pages)

· Describe the trends in your specific industry, focusing on your particular type of product or service.

. Research and outline industry trends. Be sure to consider the size and growth rate for the overall industry and for the specific product or service on which you are focusing.

. Search the  Strayer Library , industry associations, and reliable websites for recent data.

· Select the strategic position from the course text (pages 146–147) that you believe is the best one for your chosen company and explain how you will implement it to distinguish your product or service from the competition.

Consult Chapter 9, "Strategic Position & Risk Assessment" of your text for help in crafting this portion of your business plan.

Text (pages 146–147)

What Kinds of Strategic Positions Are There?

What makes a company different? Is it the nature of its products or services? The quality or cost? The geographic area or type of customers served? Perhaps the company has proprietary products customers can’t find elsewhere.

There are many ways to distinguish yourself from your competitors, including:

■  Customer Perception Factors

■  Market Segment

■  Market Share

■  Operational and/or Technological Advantages

■  Proprietary Products, Technology, Abilities, or Relationships

■  Sales Channels

■  Business Model

■  First-Mover Advantage

■  Lean Startup

■  Branding

Each of these strategic approaches offers opportunities but also poses pitfalls. And they may be related: If you are positioning your company on the basis of low price, you’ll also need operational efficiencies to reduce costs or else you won’t be able to survive against competitors with higher profit margins.

Customer Perception Factors

This is the “better, faster, cheaper” approach, based on how customers distinguish your company and its products and services from the competition.

· Describe the company’s distribution channels and provide the rationale for your selection.

. Sample questions to ask when choosing distribution channels:

. Will you sell your product in grocery stores, restaurants, or sports venues?

. Will you sell your product online or as a subscription?

. Where will the service be offered?

· Revise your selected company’s SWOT matrix based on feedback from the Week 2 discussion thread and summarize the key learnings from your matrix.

· Be sure to use the  SWOT Matrix [DOCX]  (table) when revising your SWOT matrix(above)

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