Gloagburn Farm Shop And Coffee Shop Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Gloagburn Farm Shop And Coffee Shop - Essay Example The restaurant also offers take away and picnic arrangements. Though the firm had previously won several awards in various categories, with the rising competition its future doesn’t seem very promising (PKC government, 2012). A situational analysis has been conducted using SWOT and Porter’s five-force analysis to assess its present situation and its future progress. 1.SWOT ANALYSIS 1.1Strengths 1.1.1 Products Gloagburn has a nice breakfast and lunch offering with options like porridge, eggs, bacon brunch and various coffee options. For lunch they offer fresh soup, sandwiches, baked potatoes and fresh bread etc. they also have a wide dessert variety like fruit crumbles, pies, cakes scones and different tarts to name a few. Such an offering is appreciated by the customers as the products a farm fresh that make all the difference (Gloagburn, 2012). The restaurant has also won Scottish Food and Drink Excellence Award 2009 and many other awards in 2004 (PKC government, 2012) . 1.1.2.Restaurant environment The main strength of the coffee shop is its location and its environment of a farmhouse. Customers get a feel of the countryside, which is its main competitive edge. Away from the hustle of city life the serenity and the friendliness of the place is what attracts the customers (Gloagburn, 2012). ... 1.1.4 Ingredients The ingredients are another factor that give the SME its competitive edge over the competition. This is because not every restaurant can boast to have in-grown ingredients like turnips, potatoes, fresh meat etc. 1.1.5 Low cost of production 1. 2 Weakness 1.2.1 The service The services was commendable when the restaurant was smaller, however, with the expansion by increasing the seating area outdoors also, the service is not as sufficient as before. This is because every order is prepared from scratch, which is good however, the wait for meal to arrive is long and the customers have to wait for a long time. The restaurant was fine with a smaller setup however; there are issues especially in terms of services when the restaurant increased on the size. There were some complaints regarding the attitude of the waiters towards the customers, which could in turn be bad for the customer flow and ultimately have a bad impact on the restaurant reputation. 1.2.2. Self-supplier s This is though considered a strength but it is also a weakness. This is because the supplies quantity is limited and thus there is only a certain amount that the restaurant can produce. After this limit is exhausted, more supplies cannot be obtained and thus this limits the expansion of the restaurant. Moreover, if on a particular day, the customers’ demand exceeds the farm’s capacity to produce, the customers will be disappointed. On the other hand, if a commercial restaurant is considered that outsources its supplies, it may not face this problem as it may over stock or under stock depending on the demand predictability (Gloagburn, 2012). 1.2.3 Losses in terms of decayed products. The restaurant may also

Globalisation of business activities Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Globalisation of business activities - Essay Example It should be noted that there are quite a number of key players that drive globalisation and these include the multinational corporations, World Trade Organisation (WTO), World Bank and International Monetary Fund (Rodrick 2001). Different governments are also key actors as they authorise trade to take place between them and the multinational corporations intending to invest in their countries. They are very instrumental in determining the outcomes of trade and investment between the states involved as they would be responsible for regulating the operations of the multinational companies. The WTO also plays a pivotal role in that it facilitates the platform through which international trade agreements are negotiated and enforced among member states. On the other hand, the World Bank and the IMF are major actors in that they provide with loans as well as technical assistance to the governments or multinational corporations that wish to invest in other different countries. 2. The manufacturing sectors in different countries seem to have rapidly expanded on a global scale and the three major drivers that seem to have accelerated the trend of globalisation in this sector include the government, cost, market and competitive. In the manufacturing sector, it can be noted that it is expensive to manufacture certain products in other countries as a result of availability problems of raw materials, transport costs involved as well as labour costs. Against this background, various multinational companies prefer to establish their manufacturing business in areas where raw materials are readily available and in some cases where there is availability of cheap labour. The market drivers are particularly influenced by per capita concentrations in industrialised countries where they seem to have greater control of the means of production hence can determine the