Name: Wesley Arthur Hudson

Student I.D: 33173354

ACC/ACF 1200: Accounting for managers

Individual Assignment One
This essay will evaluate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to the proposed business
plan created by a university student named Charlie. She is undertaking this venture, to create a new
means of reliable income; due to her current working arrangement being unreliable. To accomplish
this, Charlie has decided to create a small business centred around the offering of dog walking and pet
minding services within her local suburb. Charlie is considering becoming partners with a neighbour
of hers, who is in a similar situation. Therefore, This essay will highlight whether Charlie should
undertake this venture as well as what needs to be changed and adapted to make the venture
successful.

Some of the major strengths proposed by this business venture primarily relate to the ease of
establishment, these include cost, concept, and context. Initially, Charlie’s business will cost her little
to no major capital to set up. Primarily, al Charlie must do to be compliant with Australian law is
purchase a business name to operate under, set up a business tax file assuming she doesn’t operate on
a cash only basis. This will mean her investment will be low, her potential return will cover any of
these costs.

Another strength of the venture is Charlie is undertaking a course in veterinary science, so she already
has both an educational understanding as well as an emotional understanding of dogs and how they
need to be treated. The concept also lends to needing minimal equipment, such as leads and jackets
for the dogs. As Charlie requires clients to provide equipment. Furthermore, the additional dog
minding service wouldn’t require to her to have a dedicated area for the dogs to be, such as a bricks
and mortar facility, as she can use local parks and her house depending on how long she will be
watching over the animals.

Another benefit is to only serve the local suburb as well as operate within it. This limits any potential
threats to business by operating in an unknown area, whilst also providing her good will by potential
customers, due to being seen as the “girl next door” and not a large business with employees.
Currently Charlie’s scheme has many strengths due to the low cost and the concept as well the context
of the business.
The venture offers numerous weaknesses. These include limited scope and the fact it is a service
rather than a good. One major weakness presented by this venture is Charlie limiting her scope of
operations to just her local area. Charlie has indirectly made her only operating in area which
potentially might not have a lot of customers. Furthermore, Charlie can’t really travel outside of her
area due to her not having consistent access to a car. Another weakness which will impact the
potential success of the business is that Charlie main product of dog walking and minding is a service
rather then a good. Unlike goods, a typical price can’t be placed on what she is doing, as Charlie is
providing no materials outside of her time. Charlie could loose or have troubles with potential
customers over the price of service.

Charlie’s business venture has a large range of opportunities which will see her potentially become
successful. These include collaboration with similar businesses, how she advertises and creation of
goodwill. With regards to collaboration with similar businesses Charlie could make contact with dog
groomers or make dog food and other related products. If Charlie were to become associated with
groomers, she could sell a packaged deal where she looks after the dog for the day and within that
time frame, she takes them to her associated groomer. This would cater for those who don’t have the
time to take their animals to the groomers due to the busy schedules etc: By collaborating with similar
businesses she also can create advertising opportunities as the groomers or producers of dog related
products spreading her name via word of mouth. For example, if a dog groomer has known that one of
their customers is going away soon and someone needs to look after their pet, they could provide
Charlie’s name which means she has now free advertisement. Complimentary services provide
credible references and can lead into the creation of greater good will for the business. As
groomers/producers mentioning her assist the business to grow, potentially leading to an opportunity
of greater profits. Charlie’s business venture has a lot of opportunities and if adopted correctly will
make her more successful.

Finally, for the business venture to be successful Charlie must consider the following potential threats
to her business, these include problems with partnerships, family issues and potential liability for any
accidents which could happen. Currently, Charlie is considering forming a partnership with a
neighbour of hers, however this can be a potential threat to the integrity of the business. For example,
if the partnership has formed and the two decide to separate, legal ramifications will occur over who
gets what parts of the business such as the name, capital, and other factors. Furthermore, this
neighbour has not currently provided any capital to the business to help, as well as not having any
traits which might actively support the business outside of general labour.

Another threat that Charlie must acknowledge is potential liability for any accidents such as a dog
biting her or other citizens, her losing a dog and the treatment of the dogs. As if an incident such as a
dog biting a citizen when she was walking them were to occur who would have the duty of care, her
or the owner of the animal. Finally, the last threat Charlie must acknowledge in the context of the dog
minding side of the business is if she keeps them at her house, what does her family think. For
example, if a dog was brought in to be watch and it hasn’t been toilet trained, this would not be at the
approval of Charlies housemates. Forcing her to either cease that operation entirely. Therefore, these
threats must be taken into consideration by Charlie for her to be successful.

Therefore, if Charlie wishes to be successful in her business venture of dog walking and watching.
She should understand the strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities to be successful. However,
from this is evaluation it can be determined that the business will be successful. Though she must look
to not enter a partnership and be especially careful with duty of care and the actions of the dogs under
her control.

Word Count 1098