Posted: May 19th, 2015

Integrating Business Perspectives

Integrating Business Perspectives

Order Description

May
Good morning everyone: today I will be introducing you to the problem of clothes waste, which our group members think it is very important issue.
According to Kerryn 2009, Australia has been described as being a high producer of waste when compared to other developed economies.
The amount of clothes waste we generate, and its actual or potential negative when we buy a clothe and ware it only for a few times and some times even we never ware again and we decide to through it away actually means we are part of that waste which effects on the environment, and human health.

Trinh
Why it matters?
In recent times, clothe wasting has been a key hitch among many people. People are spending a lot on purchasing new clothes which is uneconomical. To solve this problem, we have come up with two essential procedures of reduced clothe wasting. One of these procedures is efficient clothe washing and the other one is luxury clothing brand from designers such as the Louis Vuittons (LV) brand. These two methods will decelerate clothe wasting at a high rate which is less costly at the long run. Clothe wasting should be an issue that should be dealt with as it brings futility in people’s pockets. The ways in which clothes are handled while being washed has proved to be one cause of amplified clothe wasting. Clothe wasting should also be cut down as it results to environmental degradation (Claudio 2007). We came up with two ways of making clothe wasting an elapsed problem.

Vy

As has been discussed before, cloth wastage in Australia is a big problem. Therefore, my group has created a company that will help reduce cloth wastage. It’s called ClothesLine. The whole concept is that people purchase an item from an ordinary store, wear an item, and then it may sit inside their wardrobe for many months or years without being used. Our business involves a smart phone app which these people can login to, put their item up for rent on the internet, and wait for people who may be in need of a similar garmet to contact them. This way, the owner is earning extra money by renting out the item, and the reciever is saving money that they would have usually spent on that garmet. Our concept will also be easily transferable to other garmets such as bags, shoes, and hats.

Andrew
I am Andrew, and I am here to discuss how the use of our business, Clothesline will help solve the problem that many Australian’s are wasting quality clothing. Clothesline will change the way that Australian’s look at the clothing market, as  this simple solution has never been tried before. Fashion trends are forever changing, with this in mind buyers will no longer have to spend a large chunk of their valuable pay cheque for that formal dress, suit for a wedding, or just a dress to wear to their best friends birthday party. This will not only save them money, but it also helps the environment. They can instead just opt to rent this item from someone who already may own it! A lot of people purchase outfits with the sole purpose of just wearing it once, now these buyers can use their garmet again, whilst also earning extra cash for doing so. Clothesline is innovative as it reaches out to those who are young, and potentionally do not have enough money to keep up to date with fashion trends. It’s based off a  smartphone app, which is free for those to browse, and you’ll only pay when you successfully rent something out. As we mentioned before, it’s extremely simple to use, with a search criteria so you can look for something that’s exactly your size, and even look for items which are close to you. Through the use of ClothesLine we can reduce cloth wastage in Australia.

Johnny
I’m Johnny, I’m here to talk about why people need to use our application so as to save their money as well as protect the environment. Fashion is changing everyday lead to customers have to change their clothes as well. This is the reason why a large figure of clothes is wasted. Therefore, my company has been created to help people solve their financial problems because of buying clothes. Like my group was discussed about clothes wasting before, we’re here to provide you a smart application which can help customers just stay at home, look at the app on their phone or go to our website, choose what they like to wear, and it will be delivery at your house immediately. My company does many researches to make sure that our clothes are the most popular. Therefore, customers can easy to rent for their reasons. (e.g: birthday party, weeding..). This application also shows how you can wash clothes; so do not worry if you wondering about maintain some kind of luxury clothes. So that, join with us, and you can save your time, your money, and also help for the environment.

Integrating Business Perspectives
Autumn 2015

Final Group Report and Pitch Instructions

Learning Outcomes
In Integrating Business our focus is to provide you with the opportunity to develop a business plan (incl. pitch and  supporting report), which could in the future be presented to an investor in order to secure initial seed funding for your business idea.
In this document you will be presented with your final project brief, along with marking criteria for your group report and pitch. These tasks are designed to leverage off the work you have already done to understand the wicked problem space, create empathy links to stakeholders etc. in your tutorials, essays and lectures.
While it is expected that all students will adhere to the principles of good academic practice (critical writing, referencing the source of information etc.) in all of your assessment tasks; in the case of your report and pitch your focus is primarily with justifying the value of your idea to a real world investor, as opposed to including detailed coverage of academic concepts. For this reason academic jargon should be kept to a minimum and students should communicate in a clear, straightforward style that should both educate and inspire.

Project Brief
Your task is to create a business concept that provides a share economy based solution to a wicked problem that your team has identified in an urban environment. There are no restrictions on the type of problem you may respond to however the type of legal business form you will adopt must be one of those discussed in the first law lecture. All businesses must, however, broadly adhere to the principles of the shared economy and students can leverage off their work in the early essays to understand what the shared economy is. All projects will have as overall objectives the following points:
•    Your projects will look at innovative and engaging ways to address problem(s) in the urban space through a share economy business model.
•    Your project will engage and empower your consumers to make simple yet effective actions towards mitigating unsustainable practices in the urban wicked problem environment

Final Group Report
–    Due date: June 1 2015
–    Weighting: 25% of overall subject score
–    Length: Maximum word lengths have been provided for each part of the report.
–    Submission: One team member is to submit the report for the group via Turnitin. All team members should contribute to each part of the report.
In this report your aim is to be able to convince a potential investor that you have considered the breadth of issues likely to impact on the feasibility and viability of your business idea. The Marking Criteria for the Report is listed in Table 1. Given that we wish to equip you with some of the tools you will need post-graduation, each of the sections of the report (see Table 2. See overleaf) should be written in a very concise manner. Your focus is on developing a very clear narrative for your business concept that could be understood by a lay person with little background in your project area.
In completing the various sections of the report students will find ample opportunity to draw on the outcomes of tutorial work, lectures and other assessments. In a small number of sections we have asked students to include the completed outcome of tutorial tasks as appendices (see table 2).
A small list of suggested readings is included at the end of this document, which deals with a number of the technical aspects relating to different parts of the report and pitch.

Table 1: Report Marking Criteria
Creativity of ideas (attempts at logical and creative responses to each aspect of the problem, stakeholder characteristics, and competitive strategy)
20%
Demonstration of human-centred approach (empathy research, links to needs, understanding of problem and stakeholders – supported by appendices i.e. research templates, images, interview transcripts etc.)
20%
Coherent strategies (logical links between each section)    20%
Literacy & conciseness of message    15%
Visual aids (use of images, graphics, charts, sketches, prototypes to support your text)    15%
Investment attractiveness of your idea    10%

Note: All team members will receive the same mark

Table 2: Report Structure
Note: Week numbers referred to in this table correspond to week numbers listed in the course outline.
Section    Max Word Count    Inclusions
Cover Page    n/a    Business name and owner of business (should be fictitious), branding i.e. logo, design, color scheme, visual representation
Elevator Pitch    75    The elevator pitch is essentially an executive summary that has been stripped and condensed into 75 words or less. This means the reader can immediately get the gist of the problem, why it matters (the ‘so what’) and solution on offer.

Teams may wish to consider using the pyramid method of Barbara Minto (see ref list)

Situation – a statement of the problem that no one will argue with (indisputable) Complication – the ‘so what’, why is it important and why should we care Question – this should be the HMW statement used to generate the idea, or a modified version of it Answer – description of their solution
Can use text or other media such as embedded video

Link to course material: HMW tutorial exercise (Week 4), Business Pitching lecture (Week 9)

Introduction to the Problem    500    Describe the problem you are addressing
Focus on why it matters
Indicate the scale and negative impact (use primary and secondary data)
Images relating to the impact of the problem
Indicate how you and your team arrived to your understanding of this problem space i.e. support your claims with street cred (include a copy of a completed wicked problem concept map and empathy map as an appendix)

Link to course material: Problem space mapping tutorial (week 2), empathy tutorial (Week 3)

Your solution    100    Demonstration of your innovation and how it works (Show the reader how your idea works using one or more of – image of a prototype, a sketch, a systems model, an info graphic)

Links to course material: Ideation tutorial  (week 5)
Sustainability    200     Discuss how your solution helps alleviate a problem related to urban sustainability
Link this with key stakeholders – how will they be affected?
Discuss the impact do you aim to achieve, support with references/data

Link to course material: Sustainability lecture (week 2), your work on Essay 1.

Business Model    600    Overview of business model (business model canvas + explanation) with particular focus on:
–    Value proposition
–    Value chain incl supply chain & distribution chain (visual representations and description)
–    How will you make money
–    Marketing & PR plan
–    Sharing economy concept

Link to course material: Situate/ Evaluate a Business lecture (week 4), Communicate/ Report Value lecture (Week 12), Unpacking Value Chain tutorial (Week 9), Business Model Canvas tutorial (Week 6)

The Market    200    Target market and segmentation
Your customer/users/key stakeholder profiles – use visual ‘persona’ and supporting textual description

Link to course material: Value creation and value delivery lectures (weeks 5 and 6), Business Model Canvas tutorial (Week 6), Week 4 tutorial.

Competitive Environment    300    Discuss your inspirations (concepts that already exist that gave you inspiration)
Competitive analysis (look at direct competitors, substitute competitors)
Competitive strategy – your differentiation and how you will compete (and win)

Link to course material: IBP and Framing Business Strategy lecture (week 13)

Legal and
Regulatory    200    Legal structure & justification
Regulatory considerations and strategies to comply

Link to course material: Law lectures (Weeks 3, 10 and 11), Law Tutorial (Week 11)

Team Capabilities    50 words (per team member) + extra for team capability statement    Statement of team capability
Who is in your team, their role going forward
Why they are suitable for the task
Their passion for the problem/solution spaces
Images /graphic representation of each team member

Link to course material: Early team building tutorial tasks (Weeks 1 and 2)

Vision and
Manifesto    150    Vision statement
Manifesto statement (your team’s values – both internal and external to your organisation) & strategies to implement

Link to course material: Lecture (Week 13)

Scalability and Implementation    200    Feasibility – simple start-up costs/revenues projections (use data table)
Start-up strategy – next steps
Scalability – how your concept can be scaled up with complementary products/services or new geographic markets – justify these assumptions
Risks and rewards for investors and other stakeholders.

Link to course material: Tutorial on Viability/ Feasibility of Business Idea and Tutorial on Developing and Operationalising your business idea (Weeks 12 and 13)

Note: There are no examples of previous semester reports available for you to use as a guide.

Final Group Pitch
–    Due date: In your tutorials the week beginning May 4.
–    Weighting: 15% of overall subject mark
–    Length: 6 minutes duration.
–    Format: All team members must be present at the pitch. Roles and responsibilities during the pitch to be split evenly amongst team members. Students are requested to email any ppt slides they may wish to use to their tutor no later than 5pm on the day before their tutorial.
The purpose of your business pitch is to sell your business concept to a potential investor who is being represented by your tutor. It is not a summary of your final report, but rather a persuasive narrative designed to sell the investor on the capabilities not only of your team, but also of the innovative value that can be derived from your concept.
To be successful in this task teams will need to be creative, passionate about your business idea and present a professional face. Tutors will be looking for evidence of teamwork and efficiency, energy and enthusiasm, audience engagement and creativity.
It is expected that all group presentations (Pitches) will include the following material/ sections. These are normal in professional pitches, although there is no requirement to stick to the following order:
•    Team introduction
•    The problem
•    Why it matters
•    The solution
•    How it works
•    What impact on the problem / how innovative
•    Pitch statement/call to action

Within the group presentation each team member will be marked individually on the criteria in Table 3. Students will not be made aware of marks during the tutorial. Marks will be published on Grade Centre. In addition to each student receiving a mark out of 15, groups will also be provided with brief written feedback, focusing on issues they may need to think about more for the group report. This feedback will be emailed to groups by your tutor after the class.

Table 3: Pitch Marking Criteria
Clarity of Presentation (incl. verbal: projection, speaking pace, pronunciation relevant to context, maintains audience interest/ interaction – nonverbal: enthusiasm and confidence, use of eye contact, gestures and movement which enhance the delivery; appropriate attire and demeanor).    Mark out of 12
Time Management     Mark out of 3

References
The following references do not have to be cited in any research output but may be useful for teams as they think about some of the characteristics of good presenting and business plan writing. Students should also cite as appropriate a range of the refs mentioned in the lectures. In the lectures we are including a range of references that will have relevance for your pitch and report.

Brown, T. (2008). Design thinking. Harvard Business Review, 86(6), 84.
Elsbach, K. D. (2003). How to pitch a brilliant idea. Harvard Business Review, 81(9), 117-123.
Fell, J. (2011). Five Worst Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make When Pitching Angel Investors, from http://smallbusiness.foxbusiness.com/technology-web/2011/08/16/five-worst-mistakes-entrepreneurs-make-when-pitching-angel-investors/
Gerber, S. (2009). 6 Steps to the Perfect Pitch: Learn to succeed with investors–from a guy who failed. . The Entrepeneur, from http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/201826
Kelley, T., & Kelley, D. (2013). Creative confidence: Unleashing the creative potential within us all. Crown Business.

There is also a TED talk available on this topic. http://www.ted.com/talks/david_kelley_how_to_build_your_creative_confidence?language=en

Minto, B. (1998). Think your way to clear writing. Journal of Management Consulting, 10, 33-40.
Minto, B. (2014). The Pyramid Principle: Logic in writing and thinking., from http://www.consultingmethodology.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Pyramid-principle_consulting-methodology.pdf
Rich, S. R., & Gumpert, D. E. (1985). How to write a winning business plan. Harvard Business Review, 63(3), 156-&.
Sahlman, W. (1997). How to write a great business plan. Harvard Business Review, 75(4), 98-108.