Business Research Project (HI6008) Assignment Solution
Table of Contents
- Introduction-------------------------------2
- Discussion---------------------------------2
- The return on investment perspective-------3
- The sustainability perspective-------------4
- The mentorship perspective-----------------5
- The entrepreneurship perspective-----------5
- Conclusion---------------------------------5
- References---------------------------------6
- Appendix-----------------------------------6
Introduction
In this discussion the emerging business opportunities as proposed in the pitch presented for investment in Dragon Den’s Canada show has been elaborated. Two ventures: Mossify Mister which sells garden accessories and other Unightie which sells sleeping bag liners has been examined for prospective investment. The purpose of the task is to evaluate both business venture and determine the best option for investment considering four dimensions: return on investment viewpoint, sustainability viewpoint, mentorship viewpoint and entrepreneurship viewpoint.
Discussion
The return on investment perspective
In plain words, return on investment (ROI) evaluation, commonly termed as cost-benefit assessment aims to approximate and contrast cost and gains of an undertaking and this cost-benefit assessment can be utilized in overall three manners. First ROI evaluation viewpoint can be utilized as planning instrument in selecting amid multiple options of business or projects and assigning scarce resources amid competing dimensions. Secondly, ROI assessment outlook can be utilized as evaluation instrument to explore the current project or venture and lastly, it can be utilized as technique to build quantitative assistance so as to financially or socially stimulate a decision.
In context to business proposals pitched at Dragons Den, one of the ventures highlighted has been Mossify Mister which is a houseplant accessories business operating throughout Canada, US and Europe. The venture from the perspective of ROI assessment can be sound investment as the worldwide gardening equipment market size is rapidly growing and in 2021 it had been valued at 40.40 bn USD. It is even estimated to reach to 74.97 bn USD by 2031, extending at CAGR of 6.2% from 2022-2031 (Allied market research, 2022). This shows that in context to ROI the venture Mossify Mister is placed in a better market position to justify and extend influence on their investment and enterprise as gardening equipment market is booming. Even Mossify can be a good investment because the residential section is estimated to account for bulk share of worldwide gardening equipment sector owing to prompt urbanization, rise in disposable earning of people and rise in popularity of outdoor activities which has necessitated maintaining gardens at backdoor in the COVID and post pandemic period. All these factors are driving demand for garden equipments and adding to prospective progress in the sector. Even one of the substantial geographical markets in the gardening equipment sector is North America owing to the rising inclination of population for gardening activities, comparatively larger disposable and optional earning in contrast to the rest of the globe (Expertmarketresearch, 2020). As per National Gardening Association data a considerable amount of households within US grow food indoor in their backyard or gardens, which reflects a prospective demand for gardening accessories and tools, thus projecting flourishing market over time in the region due to innovative gardening tools and changing customer choices. Additionally, Mossify Mister already has presence in North America with 440 supplies been made through garden centers in addition to 5 centers in Europe. Even revenue generated was 516,000 USD in 2021 with net earnings of 144,000 USD (Dailymotion, 2022). Based on the figures it is evident that Mossify Mister can be good investment option due to significant growth prospects in the garden accessories industry, which ultimately highlights strong ROI projection.
On the other hand, another venture Unightie which manufactures sleeping bag liners for outdoor camping activities can be said to not being a sound investment option as the market size of the bed liner is not definite. Even the units sold by the venture was only 232 which reflects inadequate business performance as comparative to capital invested (60,000 USD) in the venture (Dailymotion, 2022). The revenue generated was not definite and they only had distribution across 5 stores, which reflect a poor figure and business value. Hence, Unightie is not a promising business venture and does not illustrate returns of the venture to offset upfront and continued execution expenses in contrast to gains projected. Based on ROI outlook, so Mossify Mister is a better investment than Unightie as product is viable and in demand amongst market.
The sustainability perspective
Sustainability in enterprises highlights to a firms approach to minimize adverse environmental influence leading from their functions in a specific marketplace. Firm’s sustainability approaches are commonly examined against environmental, community and governance parameters (Robinson & Nikolic, 2013, pp.23 (3)). As the world is facing irreversible modification in the planet’s system, the risk of climate change has turned out to be too challenging to be neglected. The overrun of environmental limits is extending problems about domino influence in worldwide natural system and communities. Hence, enterprises are observing both pressure and possibility to determine sustainability perspective. Further, sustainability and handling an enterprise that operates to add to sustainability needs a distinct outlook than several other firms at present. Most enterprises emphasize on profitability, commonly with short period attention. However, sustainable business viewpoint needs a long period focus and system outlook on how the enterprises actions or operations can influence the surrounding and community (Nikolic & Robinson, 2013, pp.1 (1)). It needs entrepreneurs being mindful and taking into account not only conventional business issues like revenues, cost and profits, but even the influence of their actions or decisions over physical surrounding and welfare of the upcoming generation.
From the sustainability viewpoint it can be stated that Mossify Mister which sells plant accessories and gardening tools like automatic mister, moss pole etc. is perhaps more eco-friendly business venture. This is because their products promote gardening activities amid household people, landscape admirers and corporate and contributes to beautification, sustainability and functionality of spaces as well as simultaneously helps in conserving the planet with innovative gardening tools. Such products and business idea facilitates gardening services which can further promote green endeavors in future. Also due to automatic gardening tools the Mossify Mister business facilitates easy and quick solutions for people who are inclined to gardening as their outdoor activities or hobby. The product is environment friendly, addresses need for convenient gardening solutions as expected by youth population who are rapidly inclined to gardening due to change in customer preference for green future and sustainability. Thus Mossify Mister can be considered as viable business investment preference due to sustainability viewpoint as the venture is profitable due to market demand, eco-friendly to conserve environment as well as promotes habit in people to grow plants and undertake gardening a leisure activity.
On the other hand, by examining another venture Unightie on three pillars of sustainability practices: profit, people and planet it can be said that in terms of profitability, the venture is not sufficiently commercial as the product is not feasible and there is no demand as such for sleeping bag liners amid people. Further, in context to people the venture Unightie being less profitable does not currently contribute to people dimension as well because it functions by employing their owners only at present, and does not contribute a substantial role in improving employment possibilities for local people and community. However, in context to planet aspect, Unightie does not contribute to adverse impact on environment as fabric used to make the sleeping bag liner is eco-friendly and does not produce a meaningful impact due to the operations and distribution process. Overall Unightie from the perspective of sustainability as well can be said to be less appealing investment due to product being unfeasible to customer needs.
The mentorship perspective
Business mentoring is a scope for emerging entrepreneurs to obtain assistance from knowledgeable and experienced businessman who interpret the requirement of proposed venture. Business mentoring can aid with extending the expertise of emerging entrepreneurs, offering outlook and feedback on business practices, assisting in establishing objectives for progress, and associating the emerging entrepreneurs with networks and possibilities. The mentoring perspective in context to entrepreneurship is an association in which established entrepreneurs assist, coach and prepare novice businessman for probable business challenges. The seasoned entrepreneurs examine the business model of the venture and offer assistance as well as promote novice entrepreneurs in their individual and venture prospect to attain the strategic objectives of business (Robinson & Yannakou, 2016, pp.11 (5)).
Based on mentorship perspective it has been evident that Mossify Mister requires guidance from seasoned experts of Dragon Dens Canada, specifically in the area of marketing and distribution like establishing online marketing channels for their gardening equipments. In the pitch presented to the expert panel of Dragon Den, it has been observed that presently the emerging venture though showing significant growth opportunities due to emerging interest of people in gardening as activity or leisure form of hobbies, still relies mostly on garden centers for distributing their supplies. Almost 70% of Mossify Mister products are supplied via garden centre which is a huge number. The entrepreneur of Mossify venture even asserted that they did not have online marketing and distribution channel, and seeing the business prospect, the expert panel of Dragon Den’s can invest in mentoring and guiding the novice firm to support their digital presence. This will enable Mossify scale their venture through both offline and online presence. With committed mentorship of Dragon Den’s experts who are well established and experienced in their respective domain, the Mossify Mister can make significant influence over prospect of their venture. From mentorship perspective Mossify Mister is a profitable venture and authentic mentor association can enable experts of Dragon Den to learn about their novel approaches such as product market, branding etc, while on other hand the emerging entrepreneur of Mossify can obtain wisdom and access to network from Dragon Den’s experts which can support in scaling of business. So experts from Dragon Den can invest their resources and time on Mossify Mister.
On the other hand, Unightie venture which sells sleeping bag liner even needs significant guidance of seasoned entrepreneurs of Dragon Den in terms of every aspect of entrepreneurship including building market feasibility perspective and approaches to victoriously begin the new venture or prosper established business, enhancing the interpretation of monetary and non-monetary success indexes and protocols, advice on sustainability approaches and assistance in resolution of general business challenges along with mentoring for leadership expertise development of novice entrepreneurs. However, as the business feasibility Unightie is weak, so investing resources, time and efforts would be not preferable from seasoned experts of Dragon Den in context from mentorship perspective. Rather it would be preferable to invest resources in mentoring venture of Mossify Mister witnessing its prospective business demand in the market.
The entrepreneurship perspective
Entrepreneurship is a complicated concept that has been refined by broad array of disciplines involving economics, psychology and sociology. From the viewpoint of economics, entrepreneurship brings resources together (people, materials and vision) to drive innovation or extend goods/provisions of value and probably engage others through employment (Robinson, and Harvey, 2008, pp.466, (3)). From this outlook of entrepreneurship it can be observed that venture of Mossify Mister due to its prospect of economic gain linked to the business idea, can be considered a good investment for experts of Dragon Den. On other hand, another venture Unightie which sells sleeping bag liners do not have strong market demand and product is unfeasible and cannot be associated with economic viability. Hence from entrepreneurship viewpoint Unightie can be stated to not be a valuable investment when compared with Mossify Mister.F
Even from the sociological outlook of entrepreneurship which is linked to social classification the entrepreneur’s social context like social class and possibilities can afford or limit influence on entrepreneur’s preference and perspective. This means entrepreneurs cannot be interpreted beyond socio-cultural dimension in which they function like customer preference, values etc, which attribute the society’s impact on entrepreneurship (Kunaka & Moos, 2019, pp.1 (5)). Based on this viewpoint it can be stated venture of Mossify Mister remains viable in sociological outlook as well as it presents solutions by considering emerging customer inclination for gardening as leisure activity. Hence it projects demand for product and it is recommendable for experts of Dragon Den to invest in Mossify. However, Unightie’s sleeping bag liner is not a viable product and has not definite market need, demand or prospect for growth. Hence, on the viewpoint of sociological context as well, it remains nonviable and should not be considered for investment.
Conclusion
Hence from the analysis it can be stated that Mossify Mister is a better business proposal in contrast to Unightie. Like in context to ROI viewpoint as gardening equipment marketing is rapidly emerging so Mossify Mister project strong business opportunities and increase in revenue in future. However, Unightie which sells sleeping bag liner has no strong product idea and there is no significant demand for their product as well. Due to weaker business prospect it has low possibility of ROI. Likewise from sustainability viewpoint, Mossify Mister’s automatic mister and moss pole are feasible goods that can meet needs of people who extensively demand for easy and user friendly garden accessories or tools to fulfil their hobby and interest for gardening and planting. However, in terms of sustainability aspect of profit and people the venture Unightie is not viable. Similarly it can be concluded that from mentorship viewpoint Mossify Mister is viable as experts of Dragon Den can mentor the novice entrepreneur in area of digital marketing and distribution to scale the business in future, however no such possibility exists for venture of Unightie. Lastly, in terms of entrepreneurship viewpoint as well, Mossify Mister stands viable as it relates with economic value and sociological outlook due to change in customer preference towards gardening as leisure activity, however, this does not holds true for case of venture Unightie.
Appendix
1. The teams agreed objectives involve discussion about the venture of Mossify Mister and Unightie and examining the business viability in context to determining the best prospective investment through examining elements, like considering ROI aspect, determination of sustainability viewpoint, mentorship and entrepreneurship viewpoint. Team members will meet in weekend for talking over the topic, undertake joint decisions and brainstorm to generate solution. Timeline for finishing the project was 2 weeks.
2. Member 1 (leader) will be accountable for summarizing the key points of case study and determine outcome of project. Member 2 (facilitator) has been accountable for documenting literature review and member 3 (completer) has brought together different elements of the report into single paper and has maintained structure defined in the instruction brief to determine proper presentation. Member 1 played role of leader, member 2 has been facilitator and member 3 has been completer.
3. Team projection in context to meeting attendance has been that every peer would engage in discussion on virtual platform Zoom during scheduled days to discuss topic. Early exit and delays were not encouraged. No group member missed out meeting schedule and discussion. In event of urgency when a peer would not report to meeting schedule as determined, it was suggested to inform other member in advance in order to insure recording facility of discussion which could be delivered to absent member. Even in case a peer fails to attend the established deliverable it would be suggested to correspond same to other members accordingly so that remaining work can be adjusted and completed by fellow members.
