SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) Analysis Axia College

The business plan is highly-detailed, written statement that explains the purpose of creating a new venture, either a new company or a new project in an existing company which will provide products to customers. A business plan contains several important kinds of information according to the Axia College text (2009):

A business plan explains the new venture or the business of a company model describing what kinds of product it will make and sell and why they will appeal to customers.

A business plan explains why and how the new venture will be able to compete successfully against established competitors

A business plan explains how the entrepreneur, business owner, or manager intends to obtain, use, and organize the resources the company will need to make and sell these products.

Planning for a new business venture begins according to the Axia College text (2009) when an entrepreneur notices an opportunity to develop a new or improved good or service for the entire market or for a specific market segment. To accomplish this according to the Axia College text (2009), an entrepreneur or functional experts perform a detailed SWOT analysis, which is a kind of strategic planning exercise.

SWOT analysis according to the Axia College text (2009) is a technique that focuses on identifying the internal Strengths and Weaknesses of the proposed new venture, such as the financial resources available for the project and the skills and experience of the entrepreneur and functional experts in marketing or manufacturing and being responsible for launching the new product. SWOT analysis also focuses on assessing external Opportunities and Threats in the competitive environment that will promote or impede the success of the new venture (this is the term SWOT analysis).

Safe Kids Child Care according to Bplans.com (2009) is a start-up organization that provides daycare services to Lynn, MA, a suburb of Boston. This mid-sized child care facility serves children from three months to six years of age. Their services are safe and secure, providing the parents with an excellent place where their children can be taken care of. The SWOT analysis for this, business according to Bplans.com (2009) is:

The strengths of the Management Team consists of two child care industry veterans, Andrea Child and Danielle Freelander. Andrea has a sales, marketing, and management background within the industry, having spent seven years at The Toddler Warehouse. During her tenure at Toddler Warehouse, Andrea helped grow the business from $98,000 in yearly revenue to over $4.6 million. The partner of Andrea is Danielle Freelander who has a finance and administration background. Previous to Safe Kids, Danielle worked for The Rug Rat Vault, the seventh largest child care corporation in the USA. While Danielle was at The Rug Rat Vault as CFO, she was able to increase operating profits by 12%, an increase that is generally unheard of in this industry (Bplans.com, 2009).

Safe Kids according to Bplans (2009) have a well designed structure which will reach sustainable profitability over the next three years, with $674,000 in sales by year three. Through a combination of well-priced services, outstanding customer service, and a well seasoned management team, Safe Kids will quickly gain market share and a reputation as a premier child care provider. The mission for Safe Kids Child Care is to offer safe and secure child care at all times. Close personal attention to each child is essential to providing a quality experience for all children; therefore, adequate personnel will be hired to ensure each child has the proper supervision in our care. Keys to success for the company according to Bplans.com (2009) will include:

Maintaining a reputable and untarnished reputation in the community

Quality care

Competitive pricing

Flexible hours

Opportunities for Safe Kids according to Bplans.com (2009) will be concentrating on two different target customer segments. The first is full-time working couples. This group is forecasted to account for 80% of Safe Kids’ business. This group is growing at a rate of 25% and there are over 100 potential customers in a 10 mile radius. The second group of customers are drop in, customers who use Safe Kids sporadically, whenever the need arises. This group is growing at 20% and there are 50 potential families. Safe Kids in the future can offer new services by offering after care for older children from the age of seven to fifth- teen, with an after-school program helping children with homework (Bplans.com, 2009).

The weakness of this start-up business and, I quote “is the second differentiating effort will be benchmarked customer service” (Bplans.com, 2009). According to Customer Satisfaction Strategy (2008) when conducting benchmarking studies, do not limit ones scope to competitor companies; also look at the array of companies that customers are likely to compare a person against, for example, currently, the four largest child care facilities in the USA account for 29% of the market. There are also many different smaller locally run and owned faculties (Bp-lans.com, 2009 & Customer Satisfaction Strategy, 2008).

Safe Kids Daycare services according to Bplans.com (2009) will meet and top the threats of other companies with an exciting opportunity that provides safe and secure child care. Through a combination of well-priced services, outstanding customer service, and a well seasoned management team, Safe Kids will quickly gain market share and a reputation as a premier child care provider Bplans.com (2009).

Planning for a new business venture or project inside of an established company according to the Axia College text (2009) begins when an entrepreneur notices an opportunity. Many successful new products result from continuous hard thinking and from intuition and luck. They can also result from a formal, in-house strategic planning process whereby product development and marketing managers brainstorm ideas for new products or new ways to package and deliver them to customers. Once a new product idea has been generated, the crucial next step in creating a business plan is to test the feasibility of the new idea and the business model behind it. Safe Kids Child Care according to Bplans.com (2009) is offering such a business as it aims to offer safe and secure child care at all times; close personal attention to each child is essential by providing a quality experience for all children (Axia College, 2009 & Bplans.com (2009).

References

Axia College of University of Phoenix. (2009). Retrieved May 28, 2009, from Axia College,

Week Four reading. Axcess BUS 210 Foundations of Business Website.

Bplans.com. (2009) Day Care Business Plan. Safe Kids Child Care. Your business starts

here. Retrieved May 28, 2009, from

https://axiaecampus.phoenix.edu/afm102/secure/view-thread.jspa?threadID=35040108

Customer Satisfaction Strategy. (2008) WhitePaper; Benchmarking: Why? How?

Interaction Metrics. Retrieved May 29, 2009, from

http://www.customersatisfactionstrategy.com/CEM_benchmarking.html