The Business Plan

by: Jean Paolo G. Lacap

With today’s changing market landscape and with the varying demands, needs, and wants of customers, surviving the competition is indeed a hard task. Many successful businesses prospered because of the innovation they have created, the unique and working strategies, and their adaptability to changes in the environment. In order to prosper in the rigid and stiff competition, each enterprise must have competitive advantage. The sources of competitive advantage may come from different factors. One is the business core competencies or the resources of the business that considered unique within the boundary of the enterprise. Thus, competitive advantage may lead to high profitability. It is also important to know how to analyze opportunities in the market and take advantage of it. Exploiting the opportunities in the market may lead to creation of a product that is superior to the existing one and thus may lead to business success.

The Business Planning Process

Establishing a new business venture requires solid planning. Any individual who wishes to come up with a venture needs to learn the fundamentals of business planning. Business planning requires several steps to fulfill it. It is defined as the process in which an entrepreneur formulates a framework to efficiently utilize his/her resources and make sound business decision thus increasing the possibility of business success. The first phase of business planning is product development. In this stage, the entrepreneur brainstorms different unique business ideas based on the analysis of the market. Product development also entails the assessment of the needs and wants of the customers particularly those that are presently not satisfied by the existing enterprises. Thus, environmental scanning is an imperative. Environmental scanning is the process of analyzing the different factors affecting the micro and macro environments of the business. From the different ideas, the entrepreneur selects the best idea by considering various parameters such as: his/her initial capital, manpower requirement, equipment/machinery needed to produce the product concept and so on. The second phase of business planning is product testing. This stage entails piloting the product in the market to test if the customer will like the business concept or not. This stage necessitates in identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the product in order to gauge product's viability in the market. In some cases, product concept may conform to minor or major changes depending on the result of product testing. The third stage is strategy formulation. This phase the entrepreneur crafts marketing strategies, human resource strategies, production/operations strategies, and financial strategies. This part still requires further research such as the identification of possible competitors, the substitute products existing in the market, the suppliers, and so on. SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis is management tool that can be used in formulation strategies. SWOT analysis is a useful business tool in analyzing the internal environment by identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the company and scrutiny of the external environment by recognizing the opportunities and threats in the market. 

 

Figure 1. The Business Planning Process

And fourth stage is the business plan write-up. This phase specifies the different and vital parts of a business plan. A typical business plan includes: executive summary, industry description, marketing aspect, human resource aspect, production/operations aspect, financial aspect, and other pertinent business documents.  And the last phase is editing and proofreading. Since the business plan will serve as the basis of  the entrepreneur in establishing his/her venture, error-free manuscript is necessary. This avoids pitfalls and possible confusions on the part of the entrepreneur.

The Road Less Travelled

by: Jean Paolo G. Lacap

It was in June 2006, immediately after I finished my Bachelor’s degree in Economics when I joined the academe as full-time college instructor of business and economics. At a very young age then, I know exactly what I want to do in life after college and that is to teach.

Teaching really runs in our blood. I have two aunties who are retired public elementary teachers. I have high regard to them even when I was in my primary grade. I see teachers as unique individuals because they have the intelligence to share knowledge to their students and at the same time have the talent to teach children. And basically, I enjoy seeing teachers inside the classroom. Because of that, I knew from the onset that I want to be like them.

At the age of 21, I was hired as a full-time instructor in a college in the province. I know then that my parents don’t want me to be in the teaching arena because they find the profession as a common, mediocre one. They see it as a non-rewarding career (financially speaking, they are right!). But I still pursued my dream.

Journeying my life as a teacher entails huge amount of responsibilities. I am constantly challenging myself to be an effective and efficient teacher. I am certain that I am in the teaching field for the reason that I have the duty to share to young generations what they deserve to learn. I know that I have the obligation to mold these young minds to be better individuals and become productive members of the society.

Every time I see students learning, passing exams, receiving academic and non-academic recognitions, I am the happiest. Those instances are proofs that I chose the right profession. Every time I receive thank you letters and personal messages from students, I am overwhelmed. Those small acts of gratitude are the rewarding aspect of my career. The fact that they learned from me, even a minute thing, means a lot to a teacher like me.

College students are diverse. It is true that there are slow and fast learners. Despite this diversity, one thing is common, once a teacher exhausted the right strategy in teaching, students will learn a lot from the course. Some may ask, what is the right strategy in teaching? The answer is simple: learn how to empathize. I usually ask myself, “If I am a student now, how do I want my teachers to teach me?” And from that, I see to it that every time I am inside the classroom, I am performing as if “it is the last day of my teaching stint!” Thus, teaching is more than passion. I consider it as a lifelong commitment and staunchness to the profession.

I have been in this noblest profession for almost 8 years now. I have handled numerous students from various courses. I have attended so many graduation ceremonies. Definitely saying good bye to students is a hard task to every teacher. But I am certain, that one day, these students will soar high; they will be able to achieve all their dreams. One day I will meet them again successful in their respective fields.

Last April 2014 was the Commencement Exercises of our college. The valedictory speech was given by a BSBA Management and Entrepreneurship student who was also one of the students I coached in various national academic competitions. I expected a usual speech from her, saying thank you to her parents, giving gratitude to the university, telling her humble beginnings, and so on. But hers is a different one. She caught the attention of everyone when she said,

And how would I ever forget, Dr. Jean Paolo G. Lacap, my greatest and at the same time my most difficult mentor. I really had a hard time under your supervision yet you’ve successfully crafted me to be a responsible person, a person with discipline, an aim for excellence and heart for others. At nais ko pong ibahagi sa inyo ang isa sa kanyang mga turo, (And I would like to share to everyone his wisdom) “Once you imbibe excellence on your routine, it is much easier for you to cope and succeed in every struggle that comes along your way”

That moment was I guess the greatest reward I reaped from this profession. It gave me the assurance that I am on the right track and right place and that is the arena of teaching.

Teaching may not be financially rewarding but I am very proud to say that I am a teacher. This is my life! I am indeed thankful for the opportunity of teaching and be able to share my knowledge to the future leaders of this nation. It is a personal goal to shape young minds for them to be productive and proactive members of this country. I am still optimistic that there is hope in changing the political, social, and economic landscape of the Philippines and education is the key.

One day the Philippines will be a great country because the present generation will transform this nation into an outstanding community of intelligent, well-rounded, and capable members of the society. I know I have a duty to shape students to be excellent government and business leaders. It is truly an honor to serve this nation and be an instrument of positive change.

 I am so sure that teaching is the destined profession for me. I hope that there will be more young brilliant minds who will consider the road less travelled - teaching.

Essentials of Marketing Research

By: Jean Paolo G. Lacap

 Last September 19, 2014, I was invited to be one of the resource speakers in the Central Luzon Business Expo (CELBEX) Year 2 held at Hotel Stotsenberg, Clark Freeport Zone. It was organized by APEX Tourism headed by a former classmate in the graduate school and a colleague in the academe, Xander Kim Sigua.

I was assigned to talk about marketing research. Doing research is a relevant matter in the academic set up. The major thrusts of a college or a university include teaching, community extensions, and research, thus producing quality research outputs is vital because they create and/or add new knowledge. Besides, global quality standards on education include research outputs as a parameter of quality education.

In the Philippines, producing researches is quite neglected. This has been a long issue among colleges and universities. One of the vital reasons is funding. Many of Filipino faculty members have hard time producing in quality research outputs because of lack of funding and at the same time, because of too much teaching loads; they have less time in doing researches. The result, few Filipino professors have published researches in local and international journals. With all these factors, in order for us to be globally competitive, we all need to strengthen our research capabilities.

Defining Marketing Research

Now, I will discuss the essentials of marketing research. According to Churchill, Brown, and Suter (2012), marketing research is “the function that links the consumer to the marketer through information – information used to identify and define marketing problems; generate, refine, and evaluate marketing actions; monitor marketing performance; and improve understanding of marketing as a process.” It is a scientific inquiry on marketing processes.

Applied vs. Basic Marketing Research

Marketing Research is divided into two – applied and basic marketing research. Applied marketing research is a scientific inquiry based on the specific marketing problems or objectives of a particular enterprise, firm, or an industry. For instance, a researcher may want to find out the level of customer satisfaction for Product X of Company A. On one hand, basic marketing research is general in nature. Essentially is inquires or validates on broad marketing topics by challenging the existing theories or concepts or extending them. For example, a researcher may want to know what specific constructs are relevant when we talk about customer relationship management (CRM). So the researcher may challenge the existing CRM theories or extend these CRM theories to better apply in real-life corporate scenarios.

Figure 1. Divisions of Marketing Research

The Marketing Research Process

Typically, any type of research starts with identification the research problem or objectives. This involves looking for a marketing problem or creating marketing objectives based on the need of a specific firm or industry. The second step is identifying the right research design. Here, the researcher may use either qualitative or quantitative research design. The third step is the process of collecting the right data. Fourth is to analyze the collected data, and last to put forth conclusions and/or recommendations.

Figure 2. The Marketing Research Process

  

Qualitative vs. Quantitative Marketing Research

Qualitative marketing research answers the general marketing problem or addresses marketing objectives by providing discussions and explanations of marketing concepts, models, or theories with less emphasis on numerical measures. This type of research design is usually utilizes unstructured data collection. In contrast, quantitative marketing research answers specific marketing problem or addresses marketing objectives by providing discussions and explanations of marketing concepts, models, or theories with emphasis on numerical measures and utilizes statistical parameters. This type of research design uses structured data collection.

Research Types

There are basic types of research – exploratory, descriptive, and causal.

1.        Exploratory Research – is a type of research where the inquiry is general in nature and at the same there is little background on the topic under study. It relies heavily on secondary data or on existing literature. Example: An exploratory study on the competitiveness of sustainability of the hotel industry in Pampanga. Since there is limited literature on the level of competitiveness of the hotel industry in Pampanga, an exploratory research is much attuned.

2.       Descriptive Research – is a type of research that describes an overall-view of a specific environment. Example: A study on the characteristics and behavior of online shoppers in the Philippines.

3.       Causal Research – it is a type of research where one variable affects the other variables. In this type of research the research will identify the dependent variable and the independent variables. Example: A correlation study of organizational commitment and the demographic profile of the respondents.

Figure 3. Research Types

Data Collection

There are two types of data collection methods – primary and secondary data.

1.        Primary Data – specific data collected based on the specific problem or objectives of the study. These data come directly from the response of the respondents of the study.  In can come from several sources such as qualitative research, surveys, and experiments.

2.       Secondary Data – these are data that are readily available such as data that comes from National Statistics Office (NSO), Social Weather Stations (SWS), AGB Nielsen, TNS, etc. Example, the researcher wants to know the satisfaction rating of the president of the Philippines; typically it is available from SWS.

Test of Reliability and Consistency

The most widely used data technique in research is survey. One of the important aspects of a survey to test the reliability and consistency of the constructs or questions enumerated in the questionnaire itself.

Cronbach Alpha is a widely used statistical tool to test the reliability and consistency of the survey. Typically, using SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences), the survey can be tested through Cronbach alpha. Generally, 70 percent or higher Cronbach alpha score is the accepted reliability parameter.

Sampling Techniques

There are varieties of sampling techniques used in doing both qualitative and qualitative.

1.        Convenience Sampling – a sampling technique where the researcher identify the most convenient sample that are necessary for the research. For example, a TV reporter may want to obtain the opinions of the people on pork barrel. So basically the TV reporter will ask for the opinions of those people readily available on that specific location of the reportage.

2.        Purposive Sampling – a sampling technique where the researcher obtains the sample based on his/her best judgment or based on the purpose of the study. In this sampling technique, the researcher is considered an experienced researcher and will be able to identify the right respondents for the undertaking under study.

3.       Quota Sampling – a sampling technique where the researcher warrants that the sample or subgroups will be the representatives of the population. For instance, the researcher wants to know the social networking site (SNS) behavior of college students in a university. Through quota sample, the researcher may obtain 200 female 1^st year students and 200 male 1^st year students to be the sample of the study and represent the total population of that university.

4.      Snowball Sampling – a sampling technique where the researcher first identifies selected respondents of the study and these selected participants will refer possible respondents. The primary reason is, the initial respondents may have known additional participants whom they believe have the same characteristics as them.

5.       Simple Random Sampling – a sampling technique where the researcher randomly identifies the sample from the population of the undertaking understudy.

6.       Systematic Sampling – a sampling technique where the researcher systematically identifies the sample by means of a regular interval e.g. all odd numbers in the population.

7.       Stratified Sampling – a sampling technique where the researcher identifies specific samples from different subset/subgroup in a certain population. Example, the researcher wants to find out the level of consumer satisfaction of college students in a university. Using stratified sampling, samples will come from different departments/colleges (strata) within the university.

Once the researcher identified the right sampling technique, it typically involves the identification of the total population then compute for the sample size. Today, due to the advent of technology, computation of the sample size can now be done through the Internet. Raosoft.com is a free online sample size calculator where the researcher can just simply encode the total population and the software will instantly compute for the sample size!

 

Figure 4. Raosoft.com

Data Analysis

Once all the data needed for the study are in place, the researcher performs descriptive analysis. Descriptive analysis involves documenting the data to make them useful information. It implicates document analysis to explore, describe, and/or find causes for the given problem or objectives of the study. A good data analysis includes supporting statements from previous researches. For example, if the researcher was able to identify that here is a correlation between job satisfaction and organizational commitment among the identified respondents, then this claim should be supported (or negated) by previous studies.

Formulating Conclusions and Recommendations

The final part of the marketing research process is to formulate conclusions and/or recommendations. Conclusions should be based from the results of the study. Remember all research objectives/problem statements should be answered in the data analysis part because it will be your basis in coming up for your study conclusions. Recommendations will be done after the conclusions are made, but it will only be there if the study requires you to come up with recommendations. Generally, all applied research topics require recommendations. Example, the researcher wants to know the factors why consumers prefer competitors’ product. From this standpoint, the researcher must recommend how the consumer will change their preference and buy the company’s product. Today, conclusions and recommendations are not limited to marketing strategies, coming up with new business models or frameworks are highly recommended.

Some Tips

Marketing research outputs are not limited to marketing strategies. Today, it is much better if the researcher will come up with business models or frameworks that either enhances the existing marketing concept and/or expands marketing theories. Examples are given below:

Figure 5. Competitiveness Framework

 The Competitiveness Framework above was one of the research outputs of my published study entitled: Competitiveness and Sustainability of the Hotel Industry: The Case of Hotels in Pampanga

Figure 6. Sustainability Framework

The Sustainability Framework was also one of the research outputs of my study entitled:
Competitiveness and Sustainability of the Hotel Industry: The Case of Hotels in Pampanga

Figure 7. Strategic Business Model

 The Strategic Business Model was the result of our study (together with Dr. Tungcab) entitled: Strategic Business Model for Telecommunication Companies in the Philippines.

 

Paradigm of the Study

Paradigm of the study should not be limited to IPO (Input-Process-Output). International journals do not accept this kind of framework anymore. The paradigm should reflect the statement of the problem and/or purposes of the study. Example, the hypotheses of the study are as follow:

H1: Is there a significant relationship between the profile of the respondents and their level of organizational commitment?

H2: Is there a significant relationship between the profile of the respondents and their job satisfaction?

H3: Is there a significant relationship between the respondents’ organizational commitment and their level of job satisfaction?

Instead of the typical IPO model, the researcher may create a paradigm that reflects these hypotheses, like the one in figure 8.

Figure 8. Sample Paradigm of the Study

 Marketing Research Ethics

The biggest no no in research is plagiarism. Plagiarism is copying others’ research papers/study without properly citing the author/s' names. There are available/free online plagiarism checker. Take advantage of them! Following are some of the free online plagiarism checker:

  http://www.plagiarismchecker.com/

  http://www.grammarly.com/plagiarism-checker/

  http://plagiarisma.net/

  http://www.plagtracker.com/

Final words
It is important for everyone to enjoy doing research. We should see this endeavor as part of our academic duty. Students also should imbibe the importance of doing research. Once we learn and love creating research outputs, we will be able to contribute something to our academic sector!

References:

Aaker, D.A., Kumar, V., Leone, R.P., & Day, G.S. (2013). Marketing Research. Wiley.

Churchill G.A., Brown, T.J., & Suter, T.A. (2012). Introduction to Marketing Research. Cengage Learning.

Lacap, J.P.G.  (2014). Competitiveness and Sustainability of the Hotel Industry: The Case of Hotels in Pampanga. Business Management and Strategy, 5(1)115-127.

Lacap, J.P.G. (2014). Analysis of Shares and Likes on Facebook: Crafting Effective Viral Marketing Campaigns. European Academic Research, 5(6), 7874-7888.

Miranda, F.A.F. & Lacap, J.P.G. (2014)  Customer Relationship Management of Department of Tourism (DOT) Accredited Hotels in Angeles City, Philippines. European Academic Research, 5(6), 8041-8064.

Tungcab, A.P. & Lacap, J.P.G. (2014) Strategic Business Model for Telecommunication Companies in the Philippines. European Academic Research, 5 (6), 8505-8529.

Zikmund, W.G. & Babin, B.J. (2013). Essentials of Marketing Research. South-Western Cengage Learning.