Business Research: Market, Competitor, and Financial Analysis

Research Conducted

Business Research is important and usually conducted to determine whether a company can succeed in a new region or industry. You have been tasked as the new Business Researcher for your business/project of your choice. It is your role to compile, analyse and synthesise research to support this new business/project venture. Use this research to understand your competitors, or to simply select a marketing approach for a product. Your report must include an overview of the market analysis, financial analysis, brand analysis, product analysis, risk analysis, competitor analysis, demand analysis and distribution analysis to ensure that your proposed business/project is viable. Please note: This unit is based entirely around you and your research. Make sure that you provide clear evidence of Primary Research data collection wherever possible. As part of your Individual Research Report, you will be required to report what Primary Research activities and methods you have completed. o Individual Research Report: You will be expected to submit a 2,500-word report on how you would develop and expand business research in order to support a business or project you would like to set up; this maybe in the UK or internationally. o Individual Presentation: A 10-minute presentation highlighting your findings based on your chosen case study. Ensuring that you explain key points, a gap you may have identified and sharing the research methods you may have used, alongside how these findings may be adapted and used in the next stages of project creation or new business set up. The work needs to be submitted through Turnitin in a PDF compressed format The Individual Research Report should consist of:  Report produced in an Adobe application (InDesign) • Presentation is key, consider the reader; make your report visually appealing, interesting and easy to follow • Avoid large chunks of unbroken text • Do not produce a report in upper case text Do not write in the first person “I” • Support your proposals with relevant primary and secondary research evidence, with a clear narrative thread through your report Must be UCA Harvard referenced with bibliography and list of illustrations Title Page – Include your name, student number, unit code and title of your report Contents Page – Include page numbers, section subheadings and sub-numbers Executive Summary Your Executive Summary should be no more than two or three paragraphs  It should be the last thing you write in your report even though it's usually the first thing read by others  It's concise length and summary format will enable the reader to quickly understand what you plan to do with your business 1. Introduction Purpose of the report and why the report was written  Sources of information you have used for your report Limitations of your research How you conducted your research (primary and secondary) 2. Research Conducted Research Sources used (Primary and Secondary) Qualitative and Quantitative methods 3. Business Analysis  Mission + Vision Statement Overview of Business – What are you researching into? 4. Market Analysis  Market Conditions (market size, performance, growth, shrinkage)Market Share (key players, changes to market share)  Qualitative & Quantitative findings – what have you discovered about the market? 5. Demand Analysis  Is there demand for your business project? What type of demand is there? What customer demands trends are relevant to your project? 6. Competitor Analysis  Highlight your key competitors – Who are they? What are they doing? What aren’t they doing? What’s working for them? How can you differentiate from them to support your growth?  Include relevant business models and frameworks to support your analysis (Price band matrix, competitor position matrix etc) 7. Brand Analysis  Looking into the brand itself – What are the core values? What does your brand/product do? How does your wider research support your brand analysis – do you have market or trend research relevant to your brand?  Determine your tribe, who are they and what do they stand for? Analyse the long-term sustainability of your brand – what are potential future strategies? 8. Product Analysis  If you have a product, does the design/idea work? What research do you have to support the viability and usability of your product/service?  How does your product/service differentiate from your competition?  How has your research helped to determine the justification for your product/service? 9. Financial Analysis What financial factors do I need to be aware of? How could they impact my idea? What has my research told me about financial trends that could affect my idea? What is my financial plan? How do I plan to operate for the first year? 10. Operational AnalysisRisk analysis – Assess the risks associated with your idea, highlight these risks and explain how they could affect your idea and how you would plan to alleviate them Demand analysis – Is there demand for your idea? Support with relevant research findings Distribution analysis – Can I distribute this? Is there a supply chain? Support with supply chain research 11. Conclusion Your conclusion should be evaluative and include the main findings of sections 1 – 8, suggesting the potential for future development and sustainability, bringing your report to a logical end 12. Appendices Additional information to support your report such as articles and academic writing. Please include the results of your primary research i.e. evidence of survey and/or focus group. Examples include:  Any extra, relevant research/analysis that supports your project (e.g. Social Media analysis, data analysis) • Primary interviews/questionnaires, focus group responses etc. 13. Bibliography Make sure that you use Harvard Referencing for all visual and written referenced material. See myUCA Library for further information 14. List of Illustrations The first 5 parts of the assignment are due on 15th November. The next 5 parts are due on 15th December.