Executive summary

Company Description

“Clear” is a non-alcoholic beverage company, that seeks to produces fruit and vegetable infused drinks using natural ingredients. Clear intends to bring a wide variety of all-natural fruit and vegetable drinks that will help promote and nourish the health of all consumers who will form the company’s market base. As the name suggests, the company will have a flagship product that will be produced using a process that makes the final product resemble clear fluid. Ideally, the beverage will contain extracts from natural fruits such that the resultant product is a clear fluid of concentrated nutrients from fruits and vegetables (Ashurst, 2016).

The company seeks to take advantage of the numerous natural fruits planted by local farmers which in some cases go bad unconsumed. The motivation behind the flagship product is the increasing awareness creation against the effects of alcoholic beverages and an increasing need for healthy lifestyle following the increase in chronic disease associated with poor lifestyle. It is out of this that the flagship product will resemble water but will come in a number of colors based on the fruit and vegetable from which the nutrients are extracted.

The target market for this drink is not specific since it can be consumed by everyone age and gender notwithstanding. However, the company has identified an opportunity where sportsmen can form a strong customer base. Since the drink couples up as energy non-caffeinated energy drink, it is fit to replace plain water during work outs and serve as revitalization for the sports people. In addition to the sports fraternity, the company’s flagship product will also be suitable for people who are having private work outs for healthier lifestyles.

The company targets the whole of Washington DC for the start and will be seeking to have contracts with military and sports training bases. This starting point is informed by the potential benefits of the flagship product and the fact that the company’s central operation base and factory will be situated in Washington DC. In addition to the flagship product which will be a clear fluid beverage but rich in fruit and vegetable nutrients, the company will also produce what is referred to as smoothies. This is well known for its health benefits especially for the segment of the population seeking to control weight.

Furthermore, the company will produce the normal fiber-rich fruit drinks with the all the fruit ingredients and vegetable additives for heavier juice nourishment. This will target the propel who seek to have fruit and vegetable juice that will get them fool and replace actual meals. Below is the company’s mission and vision statements.

The company’s mission is to work collaboratively to serve to provide customers with healthy beverages across that will replace the excessive indulgence in alcoholic beverage at an affordable price. This is an attempt to contribute in the fight against chronic conditions and improve lifestyles and general health of the consumers. The company also seeks to establish itself in non-alcoholic beverage industry by introducing products that are quite unique and capture the majority market share in the long run. The company also intends to be the leading disruptive force in the industry by coming up with innovative undertakings that will appeal to the customers and help the company acquire sustainable competitive advantage.

The non-alcoholic beverage industry is steady and stable with rapid growth due to the high demand and population growth. The industry has been in existence for several centuries and even if the market is experiencing increasing competition on a day to day basis, the market size is rapidly growing as well.

The non-alcoholic beverage industry was valued at $1,548 billion in 2016, and is estimated to grow even more in 2017. The continuing advancements in the non-alcoholic drinks market with new growth and efforts of good but also “good for you” beverage drinks for individuals from all walks of life. The beverage market is so huge, that this product holds an advantage to have substantial growth globally, not just locally (Sharma, Lambert, 2013).

The major competitors in the global non-alcoholic beverage market are known to many as Pepsi Company and Coca-Cola Company. These two companies have dominated the market for a long time and enjoys the world’s largest market share in the non-alcoholic beverage sector. Coca-Cola and Pepsi company has dominated the beverage market for years. On one hand, Pepsi soft drink brands which majorly include Pepsi and Dr. Pepper which are the major drinks however Cola products are not the company's only beverages.

Many consumers do not know that the Pepsi company also houses other products such as fruit drinks, known to many as Gatorade and Tropicana orange juice. Besides these strong brands by Pepsi company, Coca cola is the major brand name that houses major brands such as Fanta, Sprite and Nestle. The major barriers to entry in this market are due to strong market competition from these two companies and health regulations of the products (Sharma, Lambert, 2013).

The selected strategic tactic that “Clear” decided to utilize would be the strategy of Consumer perception of the products that we plan on producing. Based upon the findings that may products are being perceived as time consuming goods, let’s take milk and juice, these two beverages are mostly consumed at breakfast rather or the early part of the day. Here at “Clear” we plan on changing that perception worldwide with our product (Olson, 2013).

· Juice & Milk can be consumed at any part of the day

· Appearance more as a sports drink will help better increase consumer consumption

· That this drink is better positioned as snacks or general consumption, either after workout or just to quench your thirst.

The next thing we are aiming towards is to make “Clear” a household name such as “Deer Park” or “Snapple” making people wanting to consume it every minute of the day whether at work, home, gym, or school. That is why we are going to be producing ready to go bottled drinks that are more enjoyable to enjoy while on the go (Blodgett, 2015).

Overview of company’s distribution channels

Marketing and distribution channels

Our distribution channel starts at the company’s warehouse and due to the products having to be produced on certain level that helps it more acceptable in reputation within our local areas that our channel plans on to distribute too. We will channel them to authorized dealers, partners and SOMS (store managers) of retail stores all over our local communities and communities within a 50 to 200-mile radius.

When introducing our products, we will take a more time sensitive road, about shelf life of the product that will in turn gives us a better advantage over the competitors which will help us venture out further in new developed markets. Occasionally we get endorsement offers from retail managers requesting us to make them an official distributor for our products. Our packaging will help draw the attention of customers. Our clear bottled that is designed with colors and designs that help our product stand out and help people want to buy what’s in the bottle because it’s attractable appearance.

Risk for our Business

· Intense competition

· Decrease in consumption in expenditure among our customers

· Disposable income decrease and low consumer confidence

Mitigation plans for the risks above

Intense competition

We acknowledge the fact that there is intense competition from giant companies such as Nestle and Snapple who are leaders in the beverage market. We are going to be coming in the market in a strategic way by use of market segmentation. We will target towards a specific market at a time starting with our own home area market and aiming to penetrate regional and intentional markets as time go on.

Decrease in consumption expenditure among consumers

Based upon the continuously deteriorating economy going up and going down, you never know how things may play out. Being able to consume certain products can be considered as a luxury based upon the convenience of the product. With our efforts, we will ensure that quality as well as maximize the production costs to make our products consumers pocket friendly to make sure we serve our customers with a satisfactory good tasting beverage.

Disposable income decrease and low consumer confidence

Based upon decreased consumer expenditure, consumers are not willing to spend on certain products they want rather than what they need and that is just simple facts. Therefore, there will be reduced consumer awareness hence less confidence in our product. To make sure that there is maximum consumer confidence in our products, we are going to maintain a high-quality product and ensure the diet and nutrients contents of our products are very well known by our consumers (Olson, 2013).

The main target market for “Clear” products is the population of Washington DC. However, the company also targets the whole of DMV (D.C., MD and VA) population and the United States. Washington D.C has over 600,000 residents with 11,000 people per square mile. The products are targeted to meet the tastes of different type of consumer despite their age. However, the product majorly targets the young people in schools and colleges and the public. The District of Columbia demographics reflect an ethnicity, diverse, cosmopolitan mid-size capital city. The target consumers include both male and female in the population. The products will be differentiated and customized to meet varying needs of everyone from grandpa, to grandson, to the athlete or the housewife. The beverages will be conveniently package to meet different needs that is, prepared to consume and take home. The mission of the company is to deliver our customers with delicious, affordable, convenient all natural healthy drinking beverages. The company is also dedicated to devoting themselves and the company in the people and the communities where the operation is aimed to aid sustainable growth within the local communities (Sharma, Lambert, 2013).

The nonalcoholic beverage market size was valued at $1,548 billion in 2016, and is estimated to grow even more in 2017. The continuing advancements in the nonalcoholic drinks market with new growth and efforts of good but also “good for you” beverage drinks for individuals from all walks of life. The beverage market is so huge, that this product holds an advantage to have substantial growth globally, not just locally. The major competitors in the global nonalcoholic beverage market are known to many as Pepsi Company and Coca-Cola Company. These two companies have dominated the market for a long time and enjoys the world’s largest market share in the nonalcoholic beverage sector. Coca cola and Pepsi company has dominated the beverage market for years. On one hand, Pepsi soft drink brands which majorly include Pepsi and Dr. Pepper which are the major drinks however Cola products are not the company's only beverages. Many consumers do not know that the Pepsi company also houses other products such as fruit drinks, known to many as Gatorade and Tropicana orange juice. Besides these strong brands by Pepsi company Coca cola is the major brand name that houses major brands such as Fanta, Sprite and Nestle. The major barriers to entry in this market are due to strong market competition from these two companies and health regulations of the products (Baker, 2014).

In addition, there is also other form of indirect competition from other companies. This will be majorly depending on the consumer’s behaviors and their preference and taste. Natural fruit infused water based drinks that can either be consumer carbonated or non-carbonated. Companies like That National beverage corp. is the company behind the non-carbonated fruit drink known to many as Clear Fruit. However, besides the existence of strong competitors our marketing plans and strategies will give us here at “Clear “an opportunity to thrive in this competitive market. To begin with, the company will introduce the infused water beverage products. The naturally infused beverage, will obtain a significant market share due to the demand in the market for healthy non-harmful consumable products. This drink will be majorly targeted at all different types of consumers regardless their age and ethnicity. Keeping in mind that this sector is rapidly growing globally. This offers a great opportunity for rapid growth for the energy drink line. The company will use aggressive advertisement and promotion to reach to its target customers. The company will have used several channels including print media, TV billboards social media advertisement and more (Baker, 2014).

The company will utilize the five “F’s” strategy to translate information to our consumers;

1. Functions. The company will produce high quality beverages that will meet the customers’ expectations. The energy content will be highlighted so that consumers can know what the beverage does to their body and the usefulness in revitalization during workouts.

2. Finances. The company will offer affordable products to all our customers.

3. Freedom. The products will be available in the stores next door. Customers will have the freedom to purchase our products from various outlets at any time. In addition, the company will produce numerous flavors that the consumers can choose from based on their tastes and preferences.

4. Feelings. The company will offer respectable brands for all our customers. The company will also employ respectable personnel with good customer service and relation.

5. Future. Our products will enhance the customer’s productivity in the future. The company will produce high quality drinks that will boost productivity of the consumers and therefore a productive future.

The marketing vehicles of our company “Clear” will help us to apply our marketing strategies and plans. The company will promote our product using several networks to help us better market our brand and products. Initially we will start out by using social media outlets, we believe that social media is the best way to market any product with less out of pocket expenses. Many business or rather yet brands grow through word of mouth. The marketing team will create a Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snap Chat page where several adverts will be placed, this in turn will help save the company money. The use of social media is a current trend on advertising and companies like Pepsi has been successful in using this channel. The company will also write blog, stream live video and share them online via social media highlighting the most important factors of our products, and what we are trying to obtain here at “Clear”. Publicized media channels will also be utilizing to advertise our products. Finally, the company will sponsor several community events to better help us promote our product. This will support the image of the company as well as visibility of our products (Baker, 2014).

Like any other corporate entity, Clear’s relevance in the corporate sphere relies heavily upon the operations of the company. Operations in this case encompasses all the company’s activities ranging from purchases of supplies for the production of flagship product an any other diversification thereof, the production itself, the marketing and distribution as well as any other activities relevant to the success of the organization Ricketts (Gaskill, Howard, Van, 2007).

Clear like any other start up enterprise is facing the challenge of finances. As it stands, the owner of the company has a starting capital of $350,000 and will acquire a loan of $300,000 from the Navy Federal Credit Union. The pledges from close family and friends as it stands amounts to $350,000 which brings the available funds to $1,000,000. However, as will be broken down, this amount is not sufficient for the startup set up.

Renting the facilities for operations for the first year will cost the company $10,000, initial supplies of raw materials for the ingredients will cost $5000. The company intends to buy equipment and general internal furniture rather than rent which cost the company $40,000 while production machines will cost the company $69,000. The setting up of distribution stores will cost $300,000 for 10 stores including the land leases. For the overall distribution of products and orders delivery, the company will require vans and tracks which are estimated to a total of $700,000. The working capital and employee salaries are estimated to a total of $1,000,000 for 30 employees. As for miscellaneous expenditure, the estimation is $150,000.

The above investment plan clearly indicates that Clear seeks to ensure that orders are delivered within 12 hours of placement. Diversification of products is also an operational agenda and the source of inputs will be from farmers. The company also seeks to establish farms that will be producing fruits solely for the company.

Being that Clear seeks to penetrate the Non-Alcoholic Beverage industry, the focus of all operations will be on creating a reputation with the consumers that will inspire customer loyalty and trust. As such, the company will produce quality beverages including energy drinks and distilled fruit juices rich in nutrients that are essential to human health. The distribution channels will be set in such a manner that ensures a perception of reliability and trust is instilled in retailers and customers through consistent availabilities in all stores and conspicuity for ease of access. Also, the company will seek to compete on cost leadership to target consumers of all income brackets. Consumer freedom of choice will be upheld by producing a wide variety for extensive market penetration and acquisition of market share (Gaskill, Howard, Van, 2007).

Research and Developmental Activities

Clear will not depend solely on the flagship products but will venture deeper into consumer refreshments and energy drinks. However, this diversification plan will be a unique case as it will rely on research teams of food scientists to come up with ingredients that are not in the market. This way, Clear will the cause of disruption in the NAB industry. Also, through research, the company will seek to get a deeper understanding of consumer perceptions and behavior for appropriate product and marketing strategy adjustments.

The current business environment has gone through evolution making it quite dynamic. Monopolies no longer have the luxury of sitting back and dictating the price of commodities in the market. Every firm must go out of its way to either embrace disruptions and change in the industry or become the agents of change and the disruptions in the industry. One thing for sure however is that technology is the key to staying ahead in the world of constant innovation and change. As such Clear has a detailed blueprint with regards to technological operations.

First and foremost, Clear seeks to apply latest financial analysis software to monitor and track its financial performance. In this respect, the company will purchase high speed Apple Computers for the finance department which will help harmonize the expenditure and revenue so as to be able to keep the overall organizational finances in check. This technology will also help in ensuring that the company complies with all the tax requirements and offers benefits to employees appropriately on merit grounds.

Secondly, in the actual production of the beverages, the company will employ the latest technology in the beverage industry especially in the mixers so as to improve efficiency in the mixing of ingredients. This is important in ensuring that the company does not waste a lot of resources or does not end up with poorly mixed beverages. In addition to the mixing technology, the company will seek automated equipment for bottle washers, filters and fillers not forgetting bottle fillers (Hugenholtz, 2013).

The bottom line is that since the company seeks to be capital intensive to cut on recurrent labor costs, so much of automation will be done. The conveyer belts and quantity calculation will be synchronized with the quality control system such that the whole production process will be a synchronized chain of activities managed by a few experts (Ashurst, 2016).

Orders and inventory will be one of the areas which will use quite sophisticated technology. All the tracks will be fitted with communication devices which will ensure that any order placed is delivered within 12 hours and the transactions include signature are completed on site and transmitted to the main database which will be set up by the ICT department. The inventory will be updated immediately an order goes out or comes in thereby saving time that would be wasted in stock taking.

Lastly, the HR department and the ICT department will be synchronized through a database and portal that allows for e-recruitment and video interviews. Moreover, the training will be conducted remotely upon qualification so that only the most competent candidates are recruited. The management of the human resources will also be conducted in such a manner as to uphold integrity and competence by using appraisal software that measures performance and indicates areas of weakness (Armstrong, Taylor, 2014).

The company despite emphasizing on capital intensity over labor intensity recognizes the significance of human personnel in the following areas. The company must have a functional management structure for coordination of activities. In addition, the automation must be coordinated by qualified personnel not forgetting overall equipment handlers. The ICT team must also be available in case of technical hitches. In addition, the drivers and merchants are crucial to the organization. Lastly, the human sales and marketing teams are the pivot of competitive advantage since they are responsible in ensuring customer needs and satisfaction are met (Armstrong, Taylor, 2014).

As indicated earlier, the human resources are very crucial to the success of any venture whether social or business. As such, Clear seeks to present the overall management structure of the organization ranging from the top most position to the least ranked employee. In that respect therefore, Clear will have a simple structure symbolizing chain of command with departmental heads aimed at simplifying the functionalities of all organizational operations.

At the top of the organization will be the Chief Executive Officer who will be the owner of the company who will not be paid for the first 6 months. Right below the CEO will be Board of governors consisting of initial investors who also will be paid salaries but will enjoy quarterly dividends. They will not have any management duties but will play the oversight role. The day to day operations will be managed by executive directors who will be appointed on experience and must also be shareholders of the company and each will head one out of the five departments of the company. Below the executive directors will be team leaders for every functional component of the organization but will not have any special privileges compared to other employees. This will help reduce inequalities and bureaucracies.

The board of governors will not be included in the structure since the governors will not be playing any management roles. As such, only the CEOS and the Executive directors will be included in the structure according to the departments as shown in the diagram below.

Rationale for The Management Structure

Clear chose a management structure with few autonomous departments for one simple reason; to eliminate bureaucracies. It has been observed that organizations waste a lot of time insisting on chain of command. To eliminate excess bureaucracies while at the time not undermining leadership, the company decided to have a simple structure that operate independently and harmoniously.

The structure is also in line with organization’s leadership style which is transformational. It means that each department is able to work on new ways of positively transforming the organization with every employee’s input considered for overall organizational change and growth. Furthermore, with autonomous units, every employee will be motivated to embrace creativity and innovation and every individual will serve as a change agent.

As a corporate entity, Clear is part of the society that forms its customer base. As such, Clear has a responsibility of upholding all the ethical guidelines and social responsibility obligations. This section of the business plan seeks to outline the plan that clear has in ensuring that it fulfills all the legal and ethical requirements while at the same time operating as a socially responsible entity. This plan will be present under subtitles that differentiate social responsibility form ethical requirements.

Ethical considerations often arise from an entity’s moral conviction to uphold that which is right. As such, there are different angles that Clear seeks to fulfill all the ethical considerations. The first consideration is with respect to being a law abiding corporate citizen. In this endeavor, Clear has set a legal team that will help the company correctly interpret all the state laws in the area of relevance. After correct interpretation, the company will make it its business to comply with all these laws and regulations and any emerging amendment to the same. This includes all the environmental regulations as stipulated by the Federal and State laws (Zoe Demitriades, 2007).

The company has also enacted an internal legislation verifiable through the department of human resources that will ensure fair treatment of all employees regardless of organizational position. By fair what is implied is that every employee’s welfare will be taken into account. There will be honesty in the process of promotion and bonus awarding in a manner that upholds the spirit of competition just as much it promotes team work (Zoe Demitriades, 2007).

Also in the same light, the company will have a disciplinary sub unit of the human resources department that will operate with utmost discretion and privacy in an attempt to ensure that in all its endeavors, there is no discrimination of any kind or on any grounds. Vices such as favoritism on racial or gender grounds will not be tolerated. In the recruitment exercise, every applicant will be accorded equal opportunity and gender balance will be considered just as much as merit will be the key determining factor (Zoe Demitriades, 2007).

Clear through its finance department will ensure that the company complies with all the financial regulations as stipulated in the corporate act and will above everything else comply with tax obligations. Under this segment too the company will seek to establish good corporate relationship by upholding the spirit of fair competition (Zoe Demitriades, 2007).

Under this section, what Clear will be focusing on is its actions with respect to their impacts to the society while also considering voluntary actions to make the society better of as compared to how it was prior to its operations. This however, should not be taken to mean that Clear is a social venture for as a matter of fact, it is a business venture. The most obvious social responsibility of Clear is the creation of employment opportunity for the residents of its territory. in addition, the company will be sourcing its inputs from local farmers and enterprise (Tomoda 2006)

The decision to make this a business venture lies in two aspects. The first aspect is the flagship product. It is obvious that the production of non-alcoholic beverages requires capital and to maintain subsequent production of the same an entity must rely in profit creation. Furthermore, beverages are not considered as basic commodities and as such the production of the same cannot be termed as of significance to society’s basic needs. As such, Clear has to be a business venture to serve the customers that find value in the beverages.

The second factor is the financial aspect. Most social ventures are financed by governmental organizations. However, organizations that finance social ventures cannot finance the production of beverages for the perception is that beverages do not meet the most pressing human needs. As such, to get investors on board, Clear has to be a business venture so as to create value for the shareholders and stakeholders at large (Zoe Demitriades, 2007).

Being a factory oriented company, the activities of clear will most definitely in one way or the other impact the environment. This consideration therefore makes it imperative that Clear develops a plan to mitigate any negative environmental impact. Among the many ways the production may affect the environment include the use of resources such as water and electricity.

To mitigate any adverse effect of water overuse, Clear intends to construct an internal borehole so as not to put too much pressure on town water. Furthermore, Clear will establish a recycling plan that will be tasked with recycling plastic bottles and a section charged water recycling and purification. This move will help ensure that there are now wastages on resources (Vakili, Nouri, Mansoori, Saeb, Haeripour, 2015).

The company’s factory chimneys will be fitted with filters that are efficient enough to enhance combustion and minimize the level of emissions so as not to increase the level of greenhouse gases in the environment. This also goes for solid and liquid waste from the factory which the company intends to construct proper drainage system to handle the disposal (Vakili, Nouri, Mansoori, Saeb, Haeripour, 2015).

Lastly, the packaging will be done in plastic bottles but the company will put measures in place to ensure that consumers properly dispose of the bottles. Moreover, the company will rely on plastic recycling and encourage uniform disposal of the bottles at points where they can be accessed for recycling purposes (Vakili, Nouri, Mansoori, Saeb, Haeripour, 2015).

Clear will be dealing with both fruit beverages and soft drinks. This will mean the production will include both carbonated and non-carbonated beverages. Whereas there are no health effects of purely fruit beverages, the carbonated soft drinks and preservatives have health effects on some sections of the populations. The company will use the labelling on the packaging to create awareness to groups such as the diabetics and the old regarding the dangers of consuming some products from Clear company under their condition (Tomoda 2006)

In addition, advertisements through social media and television will factor in the sensitization with respect to the health side effects for the affected section of the population. However, the company will also provide products for the groups with special needs. The diabetics will have their sugar free beverages will the old will have zero carbon soft drinks.

The company will also research on consumer perception of the products and gather information about any positive and negative health claims. Afterwards, the company will ensure that the ingredients that attract the positive claims are focused on while the ingredients that attract negative claims are done away with or regulated (Tomoda 2006)

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CEO

Human Resource Department

Finance Depapment

Sales and Marketing Department

Information Technology Depament

Customer Service Department

Production and Operation Department