Comprehensive Case Study: The Manager Assessment

Dan is an ambitious, knowledgeable and goal oriented individual who is willing to risk with a motive of becoming successful. He possesses all the qualities of a potential entrepreneur and therefore given an opportunity, I would advise him to push through with the idea because of the following reasons;

First, the ladder rail is a new invention that lacks competition and is motivated to solve the problems of the community members. Dans invention is unique as it values customers challenges and has emerged to bridge the gap and relive the consumers a certain problem that larger companies manufacturing ladders have failed to identify. It, therefore, clearly indicates the fact that, the business will only require a minimum duration and pick official never to experience financial challenges anymore.

Secondly, is to organize a competent strategic marketing plan to increase awareness of the availability of the product. As a small and emerging business, Dan should locate it at a strategic place that is accessible by most of the consumers. Provided the community members are aware, it will be their duty to assist in advertising though indirectly while Dan sharpens the quality and the competitive advantages capable of making him dominate the market.

Thirdly, He should ensure that the prices of the products are affordable depending on the purchasing ability of the customers. Furthermore, the prices are to be flexible depending on the size and quality of the ladder rail demanded by the customer. The idea is to capture customer loyalty by providing the best quality and competent services that meets their demand.

Importantly, customer value and satisfaction is what he is to focus on. It is the key element determining consistent customer creation and retention that assists in increasing the revenue. It is an aspect that makes a business superior regardless of its size since it has the support of the customers who are principally majority of the community members.

Dan has a strong personality trait supported by his background and therefore stands a better opportunity to own and sustain a business.

To begin with, he is experienced. He has worked with a carpentry company in Hamilton and Ontario. Furthermore, he managed to rise into a position of a project manager, and this explains that he has the potential to control the financial inflow and outflow from his own business without incurring losses emerging from such operations. Also, it implies that he has the management mind that understands the invisible forces of demand and supply and how they are likely to influence the operations of the business.

Secondly, He is ambitious. Ambitions emerge as a result of dreams, and the dreams cannot exist without goals. It implies that Dan is goal oriented and has the mentality of growing which is best suited for the expansion of the business. With such a drive, he can not only start a small firm but utilize his diverse ideas to make it expand and dominate the market easily. Provided the ambitions are alive and the goals set are achievable much can be done beyond the imagination of many.

Thirdly, he is innovative: - For an entrepreneur, innovation is the key to customer creation, loyalty, and retention. Furthermore, it is a tool that sharpens the competitive advantage making a firm to operate and dominate the market regardless of the existence of competitors. Innovation varies depending on the market needs, expectations and preferences. His ability to understand the market gaps and to bridge them is strategic to entrepreneurial success.

Also, he is a hardworking, persistent and determined individual. After undergoing through working frustrations, he makes an effort to invent a new idea unique in the market. He forwards the idea to his boss who instead of encouraging him, shuts him down. In the long run, he makes an effort and conducts a study on the population count, household and their expenditure in purchasing hardware tools. It is a move that reflects the level of hard work, a high achieving mind and a potential of achieving in any given undertaking especially entrepreneurship.

Notably, strong personality is not enough; other personal factors might as well hider his success in achieving his ambitions. These may include being dependent, improper attitude, being irresponsible and lack of commitment to duty. It is therefore important to be disciplined, committed and consistently determined to achieve objectives within specified durations to avoid failure.

Conceivably, some factors are characterizing the business and product that might be source of its success or failure, and this includes;

Price of the product: - For Dan to ensure that he captures the heart of the people especially larger institutions specialized with construction works, he has to ensure that the costs of ladder rails are friendly to the people purchasing both in small scale and large scale. In a circumstance where he decides to sell the products expensively, he will be increasing his chances of losing customers hence risking the stability of his business.

Product quality: - Besides the price, quality is another important factor considered by the consumers. Most consumers will disregard cheap products and end up purchasing expensive products mainly because of quality. Quality has a culture of capturing customers especially from the high socio-economic status, and that is critical to the performance of the firm. In a circumstance where the quality of products is interfered with, customers may lose trust in the firm. For example, in the case of Dan, customers will be used to ladder rails made from aluminum and therefore, at a point when hell change to a different poor quality metal, he might lose the customers.

Business location: - The location of a firm is key in determining its success or failure. In Dans situation, for the business to thrive quickly, it should be located in an area characterized by a large population, good infrastructure particularly power and transport system. Furthermore, it should be not far from companies manufacturing ladders to obtain direct market or tender, since they may be in need of purchasing and fixing the rails. If the business is located in areas with low population, there will be inadequate market hence less revenue.

Productive capacity: - The productive capacity of the business is critical to meeting the customer demand. For the case of Dan, the motive of conducting market assessment was aimed at enabling him to conduct a market test and know the attitude of the people towards the products and whether it will bridge the existing gap or not. When the demand grows, the volume of supply is bound to increase as well. It is therefore important for the business to adjust and meet the consumption level. On the contrary, if the demand increases and the business fail to respond to meet the needs of the people, many might shift to seek the products elsewhere, and that might destabilize the revenue potential of the business.

Financial potential of the business: - The financial capability of the business is reflected in its financial statements. The cash flow in and out of the business, balance sheets and even the profit and loss accounts determines the success of the business as they are critical in making investment decisions. They also reflect the market share in determining the profit margin. These details are critical for Dan to expand his business through loan acquisition or external investment. Also, a firm that lacks such important details might not access the available pool of funds making the firm not to grow with demand.

Dan being a competent and a high achiever, after making the invention, he never decided to take it to the market but conducted some strategic steps to ensure that he is making the right decision. First, he subjected his invention to an online platform to enable hi gather opinions of the people who are part of this market. The positive and negative feedback motivated him to move forward and conduct a market test.

Also, he conducted a market research in Canada, Ontario, and Hamilton where he focused much of his efforts in establishing population count, the number of households and their annual expenditure in hardware facilities. Furthermore, he assessed the manufacturers expenses, that is, the amount that he was going to require to make the ladder rails. All these aspects combined gave a crucial understanding of the market hence the confidence that made him conduct a market test in Hamilton.

As much as Dan conducted market feasibility test, there are some critical economic aspects that he is to put into consideration and these include;

Government policy: - The government has requirements that are to be met for an individual to operate effectively in the market. Dan, therefore, must understand and adhere to all these requirements to ensure that the business is legally operational. These policies might regulate the production of certain products in some areas and therefore accessing to such details may influence the location where one may place the business.

Security: - It is an instrumental factor as it will determine whether the business will survive or not. Dan should ensure that the area where he locates the business is safe and that his investments may not be vandalized by criminals.

Market entry strategy: - After sufficient analysis and determination of the market potential, it is prudent for Dan to determine the market entry strategy that he will utilize to access new niches immediately after the success of the market test at Hamilton. When determining this, aspects such as the number of employees needed to assist him and operational costs are critical.

In conclusion, Dan has the potential to become the best entrepreneur he is aspiring. The fact that he became a manager provided him with a knowledge of monitoring financial inflow and outflow hence making him aware of management policies and methods of managing performance in business. Provided he makes the strategic feasibility plan and has the right resources to start and control it, his ambitions and life-long objectives are bound to be fulfilled through his efforts.