Fast track couriers business plan

BSBMGT617 Develop and Implement a Business Plan

Assessment Task 2

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Assessment Task 2-(Project)Develop a

business plan

Submission details

The Assessment Task is due on the date specified by your trainer. Any variations to this

arrangement must be approved in writing by your trainer.

Submit this document with any required evidence attached. See specifications below

for details.

You must submit both soft copies and printed copies of your answers.

Soft copies-

Upload on the eLearning to the specific submission folder with a cover page clearly indicating

your name, student id, assessment no and the unit name or put those information in the header

and footer of your documents.

Printed copies-

Submit to your Trainer with the "Assessment Cover Sheet" (Filled out and signed appropriately)

attached on top of your documents.

Performance objective

To demonstrate the skills and knowledge required to develop and communicate a business

plan.

Assessment description

Use the information provided in the case study ‘Fast Track Couriers’ (see Appendix 1) to develop

a business plan to support the company’s strategic and operational goals. Develop a plan for

communicating the business plan to relevant parties.

Procedure

1. Review the information in the case study.

2. Analyse and interpret the current business environment, goals and objectives embedded

in the case study.

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3. Consult with your trainer (assume the trainer is a key stakeholder) and discuss and agree

upon performance objectives and measures.

4. Document a business plan to assist the organisation to achieve its goals.

5. Document a plan for communicating the business plan to all relevant parties.

6. Present the business plan to your trainer (assume the trainer is a

key stakeholder).

Specifications

Deliverable specifications

● Submit a completed business plan. (approx. 3-4 pages)

● Consult with key stakeholder (trainer) and document the outcomes of the consultation.

● Submit a communication plan.

Quality specifications

● The business plan must include the following:

○ Table of contents

○ Executive summary

○ Introduction

○ Description of the business (background)

○ Business products and services

○ Marketing activity – the market

○ Business operations:

– productivity and performance targets for key result areas (in consultation with

key stakeholders)

– include financial and non-financial performance measures

– detail resource requirements, including human resources, capital equipment

and other resources required to achieve business goals

○ Management and organisational structure

○ Proposal

○ Financial background

– trading to date

– forecasts

○ Risks (risk analysis)

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– include a section on how you will ensure skilled labour is available to

implement the plan, such as a recruitment or training strategy

o Licensing

– include any permits or licences required

○ Conclusion

● Communication strategy

○ Produce a report or document which covers the following areas:

– Who are the key stakeholders?

– What information will each person (position) require?

– What are the relevant timeframes?

– How will you communicate this information?

– How will you ensure their understanding of their role in implementing the

business plan?

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Assessment Task 2

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Appendix 1: Fast Track Couriers

General Information

History

Fast Track Couriers is a courier company operating in New South Wales for the last 15 years.

Their primary business function is delivering medium to large size packages across metropolitan

Sydney. The business has a good reputation in the marketplace for reliability and value for

money.

After a slow start entering the competitive delivery market, Fast Track Couriers has built a solid

reputation over the past 12 years, and this has been reflected in their growth and profit

margins.

Fast Track Couriers primarily targets small to medium-sized business which make up 80% of

their customer base. They are limited by their geographic location, as they currently do not

deliver outside of the Sydney metropolitan area.

The company has been marketed through direct sales, telephone, internet listings and mail-

outs. Through a program of telephone follow-up to ensure customers’ ongoing satisfaction with

the business, Fast Track Couriers has an admirable 87% retention rate for existing customers.

Although sales and profits have increased each year by an average of 5%, the owners are

looking to move forward by delivering to regional areas in NSW.

Organisational structure

The organisation is family owned, with three family members acting as a Management Board

and responsible for approving all business decisions.

● Managing Director – responsible for daily operational management decisions.

● Logistics Manager – responsible for the scheduling of the trucks and drivers.

● 20 truck drivers.

● 5 office support employees – responsible for administration, accounts, human resources

and sales.

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Strategic plan goals

The organisations strategic goal is to grow the business and increase business profits over the

next three years by expanding delivery routes to include regional NSW.

Operational plan goals

Fast Track Couriers will:

● commence deliveries to regional NSW within 12 months

● increase sales by 40% in the next three years.

Background

The owners of the business are not risk takers. They are aware that their ongoing success is the

result of a small, experienced team, close personal ties with clients and a reputation for reliable,

low cost service. Moving forward, their vision for the company is to retain those strengths and

core values through any expansion process.

The strategic and operational plans were developed as a result of external market research,

indicating a shortage of delivery organisations providing services to regional NSW towns. Fast

Track Couriers were looking for their next growth opportunity and saw that this was an ideal

opportunity to be seized upon.

It was also felt that the company was now sufficiently stable and experienced, and in a financial

position to expand the business without risk to their current financial stability or reputation.

Reports from the Sales Manager indicated that contracts have been lost because some clients

want to engage a courier who can deliver to their regional offices, in particular Newcastle,

Wollongong and the Central West. Fast Track is currently unable to meet this demand and

Management Team (owners)

Managing Director

Logistics Manager

Truck Drivers x 20

Administration Officer

Human Resources

Officer

Finance Manager

Accounts Clerk

Sales Manager

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therefore some potential clients have been lost. This became a motive to expand operations for

both financial and customer service reasons.

Proposed strategy

Fast Track Couriers currently allocates two drivers per truck to ensure that drivers are able to

load and unload heavy packages. The strategy going forward is to remove the need for two

drivers per truck by installing an automatic lift gate on the back of each truck, at a cost of

$10,000 per truck. This will mean that only one driver is needed per truck, as no heavy lifting

will be required.

This will allow Fast Track to purchase 10 new trucks and use the existing drivers for regional

routes.

Each new truck will cost $60,000 (including installation of an automatic lift gate). The money to

purchase the trucks will be borrowed from the bank on a business loan.

Financial information

Annual sales

Current sales Estimated sales (Yr 1)

$17 million $22 million

Annual net profit

Current net profit Estimated net profit

$1.9 million $3.2 million

Increased costs

Loan repayments Operating costs (fuel,

servicing, etc.)

+$200,000 per annum +$2.2 million

Administrative costs Labour costs

+$100,000 Nil

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General information

The company communicates with employees via email for head office employees, and a printed

monthly newsletter for drivers. The company provides information regarding policies and

procedures through employee manuals that are kept in each truck. Office-based staff can

access copies of these manuals in the office.

All trucks are fitted with a GPS system to assist drivers in navigating to each pick-up and drop-off

location. Trucks are also assigned a PDA that provides drivers with the details of each delivery,

and records when a job starts and finishes. The data from this device is sent back to head office

to complete productivity reporting. When this device was introduced, drivers were not happy as

they felt it meant that the organisation did not trust them to manually record the time spent on

each job. Many drivers also resented having to learn how to use the device and thought it was a

waste of time.

Head office employees work very closely together as a coherent and motivated team. They are

generally positive about the organisational direction and respond well to change.

Drivers are currently happy with the work environment, as they enjoy working as part of a two-

man team. The Logistics Manager typically leaves the drivers alone to do their job as this is what

seems to make them happy. In the past, supervisors and HR have tried to encourage drivers to

participate in organisational activities, but this was not received well –the drivers complained

and asked not to be involved. The drivers’ view is that their team is the two-man driver team,

and they seem to like the comforts of that working environment.

Drivers are typically negative about change. They have, in the past, done their best to block any

changes from being implemented, even going to the lengths of threatening strike action and

getting the Union involved to assist in resolving the issue.

Summary of current employee populations

Head office employees

● covered under individual contracts

● salary range $32,000 – $75,000 annum

● small team of mainly male employees, with a wide range of ages

● many opportunities to participate in learning and development programs due to

management support, however, have shown little interest

● high employee engagement scores, citing team work and opportunities have contributed

to the company’s success as real motivators.

Drivers

● covered by an award

● salary $45,000 per annum

● heavily unionised

● employee demographics are all male employees, aged 25–65.

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● few opportunities to participate in learning and development programs due to being on

the road, however, have shown very little to no interest

● large number of workplace injuries due to heavy lifting

● low employee engagement scores, citing pay as an issue

● currently experiencing low turnover

● history of industrial disputes regarding pay and other change initiatives.