Interim Report Example Essay

Introduction: This document contains the interim report of – This report will tell what has been achieved, what still needs to be done in every department in the organization and in which timeframe. The employees of the RB company have been working greatly and putting a lot of effort to be a stable company and ultimately grow into a successful company. This report will show the companies past activities and if they have been completed successfully. Moreover, this report will also include our future goals and perspectives. Overview Review Rainy Business was established in last semester and experienced a whole new process of running a business. The marketing department has taken part in the process of developing products and finding the right way to price, promote and to sell the products. Selling technique In the business plan the Marketing and Sales Department illustrated a specific analysis about the 4p’s. Especially in promotion, the focus was on substantially expanding the selling channel of the company. We thought about selling the different kinds of raincoats through twitter, facebook, personal selling, direct marketing and selling through a website, but eventually personal selling turned out to be the best selling technique for our product. Target group At the start of the life of the company the idea was to focus especially on tourists as target group. By selling our products in the city-center of Amsterdam the company discovered that everyone who needs a poncho fits our target market. Since tourists were not really willing to buy our company’s ponchos including the city-centre map Rainy Business decided to change our product line. Therefore the company does not focus on tourists anymore but on every person in crowded places who is in need of a poncho. Goals & Objectives Sales The company has bought several kinds of rain ponchos at the beginning of the 2nd period. After trying to sell the rain ponchos, Rainy Business discovered that the disposable rain ponchos were selling a lot easier. So the marketing department decided to focus on the disposable ponchos, simply because that generates the quick sales, which our company could really use, with concerning the financial position at the moment. Valentine’s Day The marketing department started to think of new proper dates to sell our rain ponchos and came up with the idea to sell on Valentine’s Day. The reason why Rainy Business is to believe that there will be a lot of sales that day, is due to the fact that our company will order ponchos in red and maybe in white, which represent the colors of love. Our marketing department believes that when you sell the ponchos in these colors at that very moment, that it will sell much better than normal. Market fair The annual Market Fair is coming up, so the marketing department thought of a way to attract people to our stand. And they came up with a few solutions, the first one was: create an Easter theme around the stand and maybe have some people dressing up as an Easter bunny. The second idea was: that the members of Rainy Business could have real live mannequins walking around with our ponchos in all different colors in order to attract people to our market place and of course in order to get the attention of the ladies and gentlemen walking around. End of year By the end of this year the company hopes to have sold enough ponchos to make a good profit. Another important goal is getting satisfaction of the shareholders, which could possibly lead to an after live of the Rainy Business. Production department Overview In the last couple of months, the production department has putted a lot of effort in satisfying the company’s expectations. The department did a lot of research, like researching different kind of products that we can sell. The production department first thought of producing and selling only one product, but then Rainy Business decided that it was better to sell different kinds of products, which are the disposable rain poncho, the basic rain poncho, the basic rain poncho with a belt and a basic rain poncho with a map. The production department was also responsible for holding the stock. What we achieved with the research process The ultimate test was when we found out that there were two companies who are also selling rain poncho’s. We had to make sure to make our product more recognizable and unique. And with secretly approaching our competitors we were capable of screening their product, so we were aware and strong enough to compete with our competitors. We achieved a bigger market share when we came to the conclusion to sell different kinds of products. Instead of one kind of raincoats we have four variants. Our customers can choose from different rain ponchos and feel free to compare them, when it comes to the quality and the prices. The production department worked together closely together with all the departments in the Rainy Business but especially with the marketing department. This made both departments became more effective and efficient to get to understand how the customers would like their rain ponchos. This information is important to keep updated of the wants of our targeted customers. The production department can respond to them with the rain poncho’s who are the closest to their desire to keep their satisfaction on a high level as we try to make profit in such a short term. This gives us space to stay innovative without disappointing the customers. It also gives us a bigger chance to extend our profits for now and in the future. What do we want to achieve. The production team has its own set of goals, where we work hard and contribute to our part of the company. Now that our company has been established some time ago, we have to see where we can add value to the current products to increase profit margin of the company. Goals & Objectives At this moment the production team will cut a product out of our current line, because it decreases our profits, since the sales of that product are not what we expected. However, the production department is already working on a formula to add value to our current products. And the goals for department these couple of months is to create new products, so that we can continu1e our company’s growth and to maintain a stable flow of products against the lowest prices, but a new strategy is required as well, since the one we used up till now didn’t work as we thought it would, the new strategy should be focused on what the customer wants instead of finding a reason for a customer to buy our products. In a few months from now, our department will create new stars for the company where we can rely on, and successfully turn them into cash cows. The final and maybe one of the most important goal of the production department is that we will create satisfaction by giving the cust omers something they need and want. How will we achieve that The production team is always thinking about new innovative ideas. Because one of our products did not sell as well as we thought it would sell, we decided to drop the product, which means that we will focus on the disposable poncho. At this moment, we are going to vary our product line by brighten up the ponchos. Rainy Business is planning on selling the product in several colors such as: red, orange and green. This way, the poncho will be more appealing and will get the consumers’ attention which will lead to a more profitable product. Another idea is to give our customers something extra so they will have another reason to buy our poncho. This will, of course, be something that suits our product and adds extra value to the product. Financial Department Overview During the first semester, there was a high level of uncertainty within the Financial Department. The main cause of this was that the amount of shares was constantly changing, and we do not have a bank account due to the delay of ABN AMRO. So we have been using one of the employees’ account, which makes us difficult to track on every transaction that the shareholders pay and the revenues we have earned. The financial department has tried to cooperate with the other departments as much as possible. This to figure out for example the exact costs, the final profit that indicates how many dividends can be declared to shareholders at the end of the year. Being aware of what influences the other departments may have an impact on the decisions that will be made in the financial department. Moreover, we had to deal with dropouts, which meant loosing shares and not being able to spend the reserved amount of money on the marketing department. Lastly one of our biggest issues was that shareholders did not pay on time. This gave us financial uncertainty of whether they were going to pay or not in the near future. As of now, shares are still not completely sold. After finding a cheaper supplier, Rainy business has been able to finance the products. This happened in November, which is shown in our financial plan. Goals & Objectives The previous financial plan indicated that Rainy business is planning to issue 75 shares. As a result, we got only 50 shares, gaining a startup capital of 1000 Euros. With this starting capital, the decision was made to order 140 pieces raincoat for first semester. 100pcs for disposable raincoats and 40pcs for the normal ones. The product costs for raincoat is 196.83 Euros. The Average Selling price for disposable raincoat was 2 Euro ,for normal raincoat was 4.99 Euro, for raincoat with belt was 5.99 Euro, for raincoat with map was 6.99 Euro. The revenue for the entire business year will approximately be 442 Euro if we sold all of the 140pcs of raincoats. Now, we have already earned the amount of revenues of approximately 282 Euro. Achievements & Failures 1. Product After effort of one semester, our sales are doing quite well. We have learned how to work as a team, communicating with international people who comes from different countries, learn their culture, as well as how consumers establish a good relationship, in which also encountered many difficulties. For example, miscommunication, money are missing sometimes but we have accumulated valuable experience. 2. Marketing Expense We did not spend anything for marketing, even market research. The thing we only have to do is to persuade customers to buy our products. 3. Shares Unfortunately, the goals of attaining 75 shares have not been achieved. At the moment, Rainy Business only has 50 shares in total with a capital of 1000 Euro. This is due to the dropped out of employees during the business year. Even though these problems occurred, we still have enough. 4. Revenue Fortunately, our sales are doing quite well. We have already earned an amount of 294 Euros this includes some money which is going to be received soon. We still have enough capital to sustain and also order new products. If everything stays on track, our company will make a lot of profit at the end of the business year. Human Resource Department Overview The Human Resource Department has been a crucial element to the functioning of the organization. Rainy Business has recognized the importance of the working relations inside the company from the beginning on. Therefore the department has gone through a number of affairs with the personnel. These will be further detailed in the following paragraphs. Contract of employment The department has engaged in preparing the contract of employment. The contract embraces the demerit system and includes restrictions regarding apparel, absence and responsibilities. The contract has been signed during one-on-one conversations with the employees. Personal conversations During the confidential conversations the Human Resource department was able to evaluate the mindset of each individual. Their motivations, abilities, concerns, frustrations and ideas had a primary focus in midst of the conversations. The evaluations have been recorded in personal profiles and considered in the development of the organization. Satisfaction survey Also, all employees have been requested to fill in a survey appealed to value their level of satisfaction in the organization. On basis of views on the organization’s managers, employees’ contributions, task division and other criteria the Human Resource Department was given the opportunity to better the company as well as the working relationships among employees. Demerit system To maintain continuity and the ability to progress, the Human Resource Department has had to occupy in attributing demerits. The department has chosen to limit itself to demerits solitary since its main aim is to motivate employees to participate in the progress of the organization. A merit system would not be necessary and is therefore replaced by employee of the month announcements. Sales pitch Once the other departments had concluded their business activities regarding the attainment of shareholders and the stocking of supplies, the Human Resource Department decided to organize a sales pitch. In this sales pitch selling ideas and former experiences from all employees were brought forward. Team-building activity To both conclude the first few months of existence and to learn on a personal level about each colleague, the Human Resource Department organized a team-building activity. The activity consisted of a laser gaming trip and a dinner at a restaurant. Goals & Objectives When we take a look into the future, it looks very promising. The core competence of the Human Resource Department is that we want the employees to continue feeling comfortable with each other. To achieve this the Human Resource Department will try to build a stronger relationship with the employees. When an employee will feel as a part of the company, he or she will do his or her best to achieve the maximum of productivity. To achieve this goal the Human Resource Department will keep the same working-methods which we saw in the past. Demerit-system and the employee of the month: The Human Resource Department will keep working and using the demerit system and we will announce an new employee of the month. At the end of each month the new employee of the month will be introduced to the group members and the employee will receive a certificate. We use this method to show our employees that we appreciate that they deliver good work. Unfortunately that will not always be the case; sometimes an employee can miss a deadline or be too late at meetings. This can happen to everyone, but to make sure that this will not repeat more often the Human Resource Department set up rules where there is a part which says that missing one deadline a employee will receive 10 demerits and being late without notification will give you 2 demerits. The reason for receive 10 demerits for missing a deadline is because being late with finishing your task can damage the whole company. Everyone works together and everything is linked to each other, so if one person will miss the deadline the others can not continue doing their job. If you have 10 demerits you will get one official warning. If you get another 10 demerits you will get your second official warning. And if you get 10 demerits again, the employee will leave no other choice for the company but to let him or her go. When the employee get 10 demerits they will get a appointment with one of the members of the Human Resource Department who will guide the employee through the process, and they have to represent their new goal which has to be SMARTER and present that to the member of the Human Resource Department. Build/maintain the relationships with the employees: In the past we saw good results from this system, and want to maintain the improvements. One of the most important task for the Human Resource Department is to build trust with the employees and a good relationship, so if there will be conflicts in the company the employees will feel comfortable to communicate with one of the members of the Human Resource Department. To achieve this goal the employees of Rainy Business will get appointments with one or more member from the Human Resource Department, where the employee will get some questions about how they feel at work and if the want to say anything. The Human Resources department believe s that if we maintain delivering good quality to the company, this will lead the company into an positive and interesting future.