UNIT 6 Managing a Successful Business Project Milestone 3 – Presenting and Communication the Findings Author’s Name: Imran Imtiaz Butt 3/17/2018 Table of Content: S. No Topic Page No. 1 Literature Review 3 2 Research Methodology 6 3 Results and Finding 7 4 Conclusion 15 5 Recommendations 15 6 References 16 7 Appendix A 17 8 Performance review of the Project 19 Literature Review: Introduction: In recent years, digital technology has played an important role in boosting businesses for companies. Digital technology has been revolutionizing many sectors whether they are belonging to food, retail, transportation or hospitality industries. For example, Uber and Airbnb have shaped the dynamics of transportation and hospitality sector by giving customers a reliable platform where they can book their ride or accommodation place at ease. Similarly, technology have played an important role in booming food industry by providing customer a platform where they can select and order their favorite food available in restaurants situated in the vicinity of their areas. This report will examine the impact of Just Eat upon the UK’s food market. As takeaway restaurants are situated everywhere in UK which are also termed as the engine of economic growth. Hence these takeaways are embracing digital technology for the growth of their business and to satisfy the appetite of their customers through online ordering. E-Commerce: Electronic Commerce or E-commerce is considered to be a powerful tool of recent times. This tool brings the people on one page while buying or selling goods and services. It is the phenomenon in which the data can shared with the customers and service provider on internet in order to do business. It is however the related to the use of internet and other equivalent IT services for organizational communication and management of the firm. By substituting paper based methods and manual operations with electronic procedures and by utilizing information trails in new and active ways are all related to e-commerce. Hence, e-commerce can boost up business by using high speed processes of ordering, delivering and paying for services and goods as well as minimizing the costs which are used in operations and inventory management (Maner, 2007). Just Eat is also based on e-commerce where it connects customers with takeaway restaurant and also deals their transactions electronically. The advent of e-commerce has created many opportunities for SMEs and restaurant businesses but there are some advantages as well as some disadvantages of this modern technology (Poon and Swatman, 1999). Advantages of E-Commerce: 24/7 Buying and Selling: Due to the use of e-commerce, now the customers can buy goods and order services 24/7, 365 days a year. This creates an opportunity for businesses to grow more and more. Decrease in operational cost and overheads: E-commerce can decrease operational costs and overheads of the company in the form of online transactions which cannot require any persons’ assistance and physical location to entertain customers. Smooth Business Operation: The takeaway businesses can take maximum advantage from e-commerce in a way that they would require any type of office or takeaway counters where they take orders from customers and deal with crowd. The customers can easily pick and place order while sitting at his/her home. Price comparison: It is now become easy for customers to compare prices and quality of product from different suppliers and service providers which give customers decision making power for acquiring services and ordering goods. Disadvantages of E-Commerce: Security concerns: The transaction through e-commerce can be perceived by many users as unsafe and unreliable medium. This perception is built up in users’ minds due to spreading of news as well as rumors of online hacking and credit card password stealing (Messmer, 2001). Guarantee issue: In online shopping, there is no guarantee for quality of the product as the customer cannot experience the product physically. There are chances that the product may differ from presentation on internet. Lack of Privacy: The customers’ data and their information are important aspects, which has to be secured in company’s database hence shows the credibility of that company. But there is a perception that the data can be compromised through cyber attacks. However, it is ensured by companies which collect customers’ data that their information and identity will be kept safe and will not be shared with non-concerned entities. Hidden costs: Although online ordering is suitable, the price of this convenience is not always apparent at the front end. For example, online buying is frequently accompanied by elevated shipping and restocking fees, unacceptable delivery times and lack of warranty coverage. Advantages of online food ordering: Despite of some disadvantages of e-commerce, online food ordering has many benefits which contribute in the growth of economy (Summer, 2012). Some of the advantages are as follows: Forming new and diverse operating condition for businesses, online food ordering has put forward a novel vision to the relationships between buyers and sellers. Online food delivery boosts up sales and increases revenues for takeaways businesses and related companies. The sales are increased through publicity and marketing. People can view and try food of those restaurants which have better reviews and recommendations. Online food ordering encourages restaurants owners to improve quality of their food so that they can receive positive feedbacks from customers. Takeaway businesses can have opportunity to market their product on online portals such as Just Eat or Takeaway.com so that more and more people get to know the portfolio and specialties. Difference between online ordering and conventional ordering of food: The differences between classical ordering and online ordering of food are quite much apparent in form of information, management and marketing point of view (Dhamija, 2008). The conventional method for ordering food is via telephone, and online method is through using food ordering portals such as Just Eat. Some of the differences are mentioned in the following table: Services Conventional Method Online Method Information about the menu and food items Advertisements or vis-à-vis Internet and social media Ordering medium Telephone E-commerce Information about the prices Advertisements or vis-à-vis Internet and social media Promotion campaigns and sales None Yes Concept of standards for food delivery Sometimes Yes Time period for services Limited 24/7 Delivery time Unknown Speedy Fake order ratio High Very low Research Methodology: This research is aimed to analyze the impact of digital technology on restaurant businesses and food services as internet has become so much common among the people that companies are now digitally promote their products and sell their goods online. Now many people prefer mobile apps for their online shopping rather than physically go outside. In this scenario, the businesses are transformed from physical entity to digital reality (Chan et. al., 1997). In this research, a random number of people were chosen to participate in the study in order to express their views over usage of online services for ordering food. However, research methods are used to classify problems, collect information, analyze data, develop theories and propose result along with conclusions and recommendations (Clifford, 1927). In that case, qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods are applied so that proper data can be collected and processed accordingly. In this report, the quantitative method is used by distributing questionnaires among the participants in order to record their data and draw outcome. Quantitative Research: The quantitative method can be used to verify and correlate hypothesis from the data collected from a large and randomly selected participants. The collected data from this method is statistical and can be applicable upon any other group keeping in mind the error factor (Johnson & Christensen, 2008). In this report, the quantitative method is used and the data is analyzed through graphical representation and pie charts. Questionnaire: Questionnaires are the medium to collect data from participants through open-ended or closed-ended questions in which participants express their views so that their feedback can be processed via statistical data processing software or manually through graphical representation (Buttle, 2009). In this report, the semi-structured questionnaire is used which included mostly closed-ended questions and some open-ended questions (see questionnaire in Appendix A). Sampling: The stratified random sampling method is used in this report which is based on the participants’ age and their preferences over using mobile app for ordering food online. There were total 14 participants participated in the research who successfully gave their views as per the questionnaire. Results and Findings: The major aim of this report is to explore the impact of digital technology upon small businesses which is done by collecting feedback from 14 participants having different ages by giving preferences to the use website and mobile app (Just Eat) for ordering food. This app is based on online food ordering and delivery services which can create impact upon small businesses related to restaurants and food cafes. The target sample of this report is those people who have at least ordered their food through online service once in their lifetime. The questionnaire included 9 closed-ended and 1 open-ended questions which are associated with the behavior of utilizing online food delivery services. The responses from the participants are shown below: Demographic Profile: The demographics of the participants were classified by their gender and age in this report (shown in table 1). However, the majority are female in this research which somehow indicates that females are more likely to order food online as compared to their male counterpart (shown in figure 1). The second variable of demographic profile is the age of the participants which shows that about half of the participants were in the age of 26-35 years. However, there was no such participant available who is above 50 years which shows that the trend of using mobile apps such as Just Eat or Hungry is common in young people rather than those people who are 50 years or above (shown in figure 2). Figure 1: Gender profile of the participants Figure 2: Age profile of the participants Variable Subgroups N (14) % Gender Male 6 42.85 Female 8 57.14         Age 16-25 2 14.28 26-35 8 57.14 36-45 2 14.28 46-55 2 14.28 56-65 0 0 66+ 0 0 Table 1: Demographic profiles of the respondents How often participants use Just Eat: The use of mobile app for ordering food has now become common in society. The small businesses such as restaurants offer facility for their customers to order food via their own website or mobile app or via those apps which serve multiple restaurants such as Just Eat. This self-services facility gives customers more level of control and options so that they can choose from the variety of products from single platform (Sheryl & Phillip, 2011). The questionnaire asked the participants that how often they use Just Eat app for ordering food. The response from 5 participants dictated that they use the app 1-4 times a week which is very often. However, 4 respondents stated that they use the app once every month. And the rest of the respondents gave their response that they usually don’t use the app every month and marked as others (see figure 3). Keeping the result in mind, it shows that the Just Eat app is quite popular among the participants who usually order their food online. Figure 3: How often the respondents use Just Eat app Favorite Cuisine of the respondents: The respondents were asked to tell their favorite food so majority of the respondents (40%) told that their favorite cuisine is traditional Indian dishes such as Curry, Chicken Tikka etc. 30% of the respondents replied that their favorite cuisine is pizza. While 10% respondents selected Chinese cuisines and 5% said that they like Fish and Chips. However, the rest 15% respondents marked their favorite cuisine as ‘Others’. From the response, it has become evident that most of the people here in UK like Indian cuisines which include Curry, Chicken Tikka Masala, Butter Chicken and many more. The Curry in UK is so much famous that the British people celebrate National Curry week in the country (BBC Food, 2013). Figure 4: Favorite cuisines of the respondents Preferable medium for Takeaway: According to the respondents, the most preferable medium to order takeaway is through phone as eight (57.14%) respondents said that they prefer to directly call on official number of the restaurant if they want to place order for their food. But six (42.85%) respondents prefer Just Eat app when they need to avail takeaway. However, according to response, other than Just Eat app has become unpopular among the respondents such as Hungry House (see figure 5). Figure 5: Preferable medium for takeaway Type of takeaway through Just Eat app: Just similar to the previous response upon most favorite dish of the respondents, the most takeaway through Just Eat app is also traditional Indian cuisines. 5 out of 14 participants point out that they mostly order Indian cuisine through Just Eat app. 4 out of 14 participants gave their response that they prefer pizza when they need to order the takeaway through the app. However, it has been observed that most respondents avoid Chinese food and fish and chips as their takeaway meal. Figure 6: Type of takeaway mostly order by respondents through Just Eat app Expenditure upon ordering food through Just Eat app: The participants put forward their responses over the question of how much money they do spend per month while ordering food through Just Eat app, where around 22% respondents agreed that they spend £1-10 per month, around 21% respondents said that they spend £10-20, approx 21% respondents respond that they spend around £40-60 while using Just Eat app to order food per month. However, 36% respondents elaborated that they usually spend £20-40 whenever they use Just Eat application per month. Interestingly nobody spends more than £60 for takeaway through Just Eat app per month. Figure 7: Expenditure of money per month upon takeaway through Just Eat Increase or decrease in the amount of money spent since using Just Eat: The questionnaire has one question for the participants that whether the amount of money which they used to spend on Just Eat app has increased or decreased from their previous budget, the majority of the participants (e.g. around 9 participants) have agreed upon the point that they have increased their expenditure as compared to their previous amount of money which they used to spend for ordering food through Just Eat application. Only 5 participants responded that they have cut their expenditure on takeaways through Just Eat. However, it is apparent that people used to increase their expenditure more and more if they frequently use this app (see figure 8). Figure 8: Increase or decrease in expenditure since using Just Eat by respondents Perception of respondents upon Just Eat that whether it helps the small businesses to grow or not: By asking respondents that whether Just Eat helps the small businesses to grow or not, the respondents unanimously agreed that Just Eat which is the UK’s leading online takeaway website and mobile app can greatly benefit small businesses like restaurants or cafes to grow more and more. These types of websites and apps are essential for small businesses as many people have turned to mobile application usage and connected with the internet all the time. The responses from the respondents are mentioned in below table: S. No. Respondent Comment 1 Respondent 1 Get more customers 2 Respondent 2 Yes it has helped businesses 3 Respondent 3 Good for small businesses 4 Respondent 4 Great for business 5 Respondent 5 Gets more customers 6 Respondent 6 Yes it has helped businesses 7 Respondent 7 Good for advertising 8 Respondent 8 Yes with marketing 9 Respondent 9 If you don’t have cash you can pay by card 10 Respondent 10 Advertising and Marketing 11 Respondent 11 More people can see your business 12 Respondent 12 Does lots of marketing for the businesses 13 Respondent 13 Helped reach more customers 14 Respondent 14 Great platform to promote business Perception of participants upon whether digital technology helps SME to innovate: Majority of the participants have agreed to the point that digital technologies can help small to medium sized enterprises to innovate more and to bring out new ideas. The digital technologies constantly update customers and retailers about the new trends and preferences over products. Around 11 participants agreed that digital technology is the vital part that drives innovation in small businesses. However, only 3 participants disagreed that it can help small businesses to promote innovation within the organization (see figure 9). Figure 9: Views of respondents whether digital technologies help small businesses to innovate or not Conclusion: From the research, it has been concluded that digital technologies can create positive impact on small businesses. The most of the respondents expressed that they often use Just Eat for their takeaways and their spending are increasing the more they use this facility. Just Eat has played an important role in the growth of restaurant and takeaway businesses as it has provided a platform for the customers to locate any restaurant within the vicinity of the postal code which they entered in the website. Through this, many entrepreneurs have gained advantage in the form of getting more response and feedback from customers. In this case, the feedback of customers forces many entrepreneurs to bring innovation in their businesses and rectify the weak areas of the business. Just Eat launched its mobile app on March, 2011 for Android and iPhone users through which it received more than a quarter of their orders directly from mobile users and the numbers are still increasing till date. Through their commitments to the users regarding the best services, it has now become one of the most popular websites and mobile apps in United Kingdom (Just Eat, 2018). The respondents have also mentioned that their most favorite item for takeaway is Indian Cuisine, which proves that traditional Indian Cuisine is so much popular among the people of UK. However, apart from Indian dishes, Italian food such as Pizza and pasta are also very famous in the country. But Chinese food is losing its popularity according to the respondents’ reviews. Just Eat can also provided platform for those restaurants who wish to market their newly unique dishes to the people and regain their lost popularity. In short, there are many benefits of digital technology for small to medium sized enterprises in case of takeaway businesses. Recommendations: Just Eat could do much to give benefits to its customers and the restaurants’ business owners. Just Eat should also promote those restaurants which offer healthy diets and less caloric food because now-a-days people are becoming so much conscious regarding their health. Just Eat can also provide tracking on the orders upon those restaurants which are famous among the users so that the delivery time can become minimized. Just Eat should also give rewards to those restaurants which receive great compliments and all-stars from customers. It should also recommend customers to try new stuff in the market by promoting cuisines so that people could know about the newly entered cuisine in the market. References: BBC Food, (2013), “CURRY: WHERE DID IT COME FROM?” http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/0/24432750 Buttle, F., (2009), “CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT: CONCEPTS AND TECHNOLOGIES” Chan, S., Huff, L., Barclay, D. W., & Copeland, D. C. (1997), “BUSINESS STRATEGIC ORIENTATION, INFORMATION SYSTEMS STRATEGIC ORIENTATION, AND STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT” Clifford Woody, (1927), “AN ARTICLE IN THE JOURNAL OF SOCIAL STUDIES RESEARCH” Dhamija, S. (2008). Online Food Ordering: The Internet Advantage. Retrived From The Web: 24 March 2012, URL: http://www.articlesbase.com/food-andbeverage-articles/online-food-ordering-the-internet-advantage-679401.html Johnson, B., & Christensen, L., (2008) “EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH: QUANTITATIVE, QUALITATIVE, AND MIXED APPROACHES” Just Eat (2018), https://www.just-eat.co.uk/ Maner, M . (2007). Electronic Business. Retrived From The Web: 20 February 2007, URL: http://pigseye.kennesaw.edu/~mam7384/Final%20Project.html Messmer, Ellen, “Visa presses for e-comm security in wake of credit card theft”, Network World, March 12, 2001, pg. 10, Volume 18, Number 11 Poon, S., & Swatman, P. (1999). An exploratory study of small business Internet commerce issues. Information and Management, 35(1), 9–18. Senecal, S., & Nantel, J. (2001). Online interpersonal influence: A framework Retrieved 2012-05-10 Available from Sheryl E. Kimes, & Philipp F. Laqué, (2011), “ONLINE, MOBILE, AND TEXT FOOD ORDERING IN THE RESTAURANT INDUSTRY” Summer Sharon, (2012). Merits And Advantages Of Online Food Delivery, Retrived From The Web: 24 March 2012, URL: http://www.foolsource.net/archives/4389 Appendix A: Just-eat Questionnaire As part of my college studies, I am conduct research into the impact digital technology has on small businesses. This questionnaire is designed to see if just-eat has helped small business to grow. It should take no more than 10 minutes to complete. Please indicate your answers by circling the correct box. 1 Are you? Male Female 2 Your age group? 16-25 26-35 36-45 46-55 56-65 66+ 3 How often do you use the just eat app? 1-4 times week 1 time a month 1-3 times a month Other, please state 4 Which cuisine do you like? Indian Fish and chips Pizza Chinese Others 5 How would you best prefer to order your takeaway? Just-eat Hungry house Over the phone Website Other (Please state) 6 What type of takeaway do you by the most through just-eat app? Indian Fish and chips Pizza Chinese Others 7 Per month, How much do you spend when ordering takeaways using the just-eat app? £1- 10 £10 - 20 £20-40 £40-60 £60-80 £80 + 8 Has the amount you spend increase or decreased since using the just eat app? Increased Decreased 9 P.T.O What is your perception of the just-eat in helping small businesses to grow? 10 Do you think digital technology helps small business to innovate and come up with new ideas? YES NO Why? Please expand on your answer Any other Comments Thank you for taking the time to complete this questionnaire. Performance review of the Project: What was the project supposed to accomplish? This project was based on the impact of digital technologies that benefit small businesses in terms of growth and profitability. This project thoroughly reviewed the responses of participants who have little or vast experience of acquiring takeaway services for their food consumption from restaurants and cafes. These responses were linked to the usage of digital technology for ordering food items. The project was supposed to prove that the digital technology can create great opportunities for small businesses related to restaurant sector. Did the project succeed in its aims? How do you know? Specifically, please outline any evaluation and assessment undertaken. The project has succeeded in its aim in a sense that the analysis of responses have proved that digital technology such as Just Eat is a vital part for any restaurant business in UK as this platform can provide customers a type of freedom to freely select and choose food items and exotic dishes from a vast list of restaurants within their locality. This analysis have proved that people are willing to spend their money more and more in takeaway services through using Just Eat, as majority of the respondents have agreed that they have increased their budget for spending money on takeaway through Just Eat. What things do you think worked well and why? Evaluate all aspects of the project (e.g. initial inception, project activities and project outcomes) from a range of perspectives. Some of the major aspects of project which went well are the responses from the participants, which were totally unbiased and truthful through which the analysis become easy and fruitful. The participation of respondents was good and helpful. The structure of the questionnaire was perfect and typically designed to target the precise responses so that its coding can easily be done. What problems emerged during the project and how were they tackled? Was there timely identification of issues and resolution during the project process? The major hurdle which emerged during the execution of the project was time management. At inception, the time was not perfectly managed due to confusion and ambiguity in the scope of the project. During the time of surveying, many people had refused to participate in the research due to their lack of time and hesitation in matter of anonymity of their identities. The time was then managed after carefully understanding the scope of work and scheduling the timeframe for every milestone of the project. The trust of participants was restored through ensuring them that their identity will not be disclosed to anyone. What did you learn from undertaking the project? The things which are learnt from undertaking this project include time management, documenting the progress of work, defining tasks, sampling, designing of questionnaire, collection of data, analyzing the data and formulating the result from the data. How would you rate your performance as project manager? I would like to rate myself “7” out of “10” as a project manager. This rating can be more improved by successful time management and thorough analysis of data. What strengths and weaknesses of your performance did you identify? The strengths are communication skills, experience of restaurant business and understanding of market. The weaknesses are time management, work scheduling and data collection. How will this inform and support your continuous professional development? This will definitely support my continuous professional development as the project has given me an idea of executing a research from the collection of data to its analysis. The development can be more progressive if the sample will be large. The large sample can provide diverse data so that the cross tabulation can also become possible which can give more diverse results and findings. 16