The Managing Of A Small Business Business Essay

Published Date: 23 Mar 2015

Many times setting up a small business is easy, but running them successfully is very difficult. As already mentioned, there are increasing numbers of small businesses every year however, statistics also reveal that many of newly formed small business do not run into second year as they collapse. Although the major causes for this collapse are poor money management and poor resource management there is one another cause - poor support. A successfully running small business need plenty of support; support as money, as systems, as workforce, as time and as plans. http://www.esalestrack.com/blog/

This essay is about managing small business with context to how a small enterprise named 'HO WAH Chinese Restaurant' been managed. Based at Plumstead High Street, Plumstead, London, It was established in year 2001 by a Chinese family living at same place. Since its establishment it has earned its reputation for serving delicious Chinese cuisine, in clean and hygienic area, for the people living around Plumstead. They operate 7 days a week from 2pm-11pm and currently has 6 people working as full time and 2 drivers who works as part time. As the firm was established with the vision of serving customer with good quality of food with great hospitality together with the expectation of making maximum profit, there are various aspect that persuade me to run this firm.

Planning

To run a firm effectively, everything must be pre-planned with respect to be prepared for future as any obstacles may turn up and turn whole operation upside down. With respect to planning in Ho Wah, they are prepared for what problems may occur for their day to day operation. They have some expectation with regard to how busy store is going to be in a particular day. They have records from past which help them to project their sales for the day as on same sales made on same day last year. This helps them to be prepared for the amount of food to be prepared for the day so as they can serve customers on time and also helps them to reduce the waste. They also plan for the busy periods as for Christmas and new years and other festivals, and recruit extra part time staffs to cope with the busy periods for extra customer satisfaction.

Organizing

Organizing a firm basically means putting bits and pieces of a company together to utilize its resources and to get most of it. It is also deciding what resources and activities are needed to meet organizational objectives, setting up work groups, and assigning authority and responsibility to achieve them.(ref) As on Ho Wah, everything has been organized to its best. The layout of Ho Wah has been setup as to get maximum number of customer with small available place. Not only that, foods are stored in safe place so as the quality of food is not compromised. Raw and cooked foods are kept separate so as to prevent from cross contamination and also temperature of chillers and freezer are constantly monitored so as food does not get wasted. It has also complied with all the government regulations so as there are no hazards for health and safety. It has also organized its financial aspect so as there are no misunderstandings with codes of cash handlings, and also made sure their suppliers get their payments on time.

Staffing

In order to run a firm, workforces are required so as to achieve its objectives. Every new firm established generates some kind of employment which also helps community to minimize the problem of unemployment. Staffing includes selecting right person for the job, training them, developing their skills, and orienting needed employees where they can be most productive (ref). Ho Wah makes sure that every staffs they recruit are well aware of company's vision and its objectives. Working with Ho Wah also provides its employees with comprehensive learning experience with regard to vocational qualifications as they get trained by experienced staffs so as they gain expertise in the field they are working at. As there are not many staffs employed, it is easier to communicate within staffs and any problems arose between staffs can also be judged properly.

Leading

A good leader inspires employees, boosts morale and encourages effective communication among employees. Getting employees to do what company want them to do by communicating within them and motivating them to perform, leading them toward goal achievement and informing them about their work assignments (ref). Ho Wah make sure that every employee gets greater job satisfaction as it believe it's employee as valuable assets and motivates them to be productive to achieve company's goal. They lead as an example for what customer expects them to behave to provide greater customer satisfaction.

Controlling

Various Processes are used by companies to direct, regulate and restrain the actions of people so that the established goals of an enterprise may be achieved. As per every organisation, Ho Wah has it separate set of standards, measuring performance against standards and taking corrective action to see that planned performance is achieved so as to maximize its profit. It has its different control procedure for controlling its food and labour cost. Standard procedures that have been established as the correct methods, routines and techniques for day-to-day operations.Only required foods are prepared during day so as there is no wastage of food which helps to cut food cost, on the other hand part time drivers are called only when there are any home delivery orders.

Marketing

In general terms, marketing refers to what an organization must do to create and exchange value with customers. In the sense, marketing has a major role to play in setting a firm's strategic direction. Successful marketing requires both a deep knowledge of customers, competitors and collaborators and great skill in deploying an organization's capabilities so as to serve customers profitably. (Alvin J. Silk). Each and every organization has its own marketing strategy so as to conduct its business and maximize its profit. As per Ho Wah they have their separate strategy to meet the requirements of customer and to maintain good relationship with its customers and community.

'Ho Wah' name itself represents the company and helps to identify itself to its customers and its logo helps to represent its brand. They know their target market and have setup their menu and restaurant design accordingly. They also have setup its pricing strategies focusing its target market. Prices in Ho Wah are affordable with comparison to its competitors. They also do meal prices, as well as family prices, which makes already cheap food cheaper and also provide discounts to some of its regular customers. They also have free takeaway facilities for customers who don't have time to eat in restaurant and free home delivery service for orders above £10, with promise to deliver food within an hour, for those who enjoys eating food at home. Moreover They also launch different promotional items time to time so as to attract more customers by providing variety of menu, which tend to be successful as customer would like to try something new every time. Being a small business, although it can't advertise its product on television, however they distribute leaflets and brochures door to door within a radius of 2 miles and also advertise itself on local news papers and directories which helps to boost its business.

Although these marketing strategies used by Ho Wah have been successful till date, Ho Wah still lacks e marketing. As people now use internet to search for any businesses use of website could help them to advertise about itself and its product 24/7 in cheaper price. Also including online ordering system and availability of information of food and its basic ingredients would help people decide their food as some customer could be allergic to some products.

Conclusion

For a business to be successful it doesn't need to have a higher investments and big brand names, even business like 'Ho Wah', being a small business can be successful and earn profit by a managing its resources and having good marketing strategies.