The Cyclemate Project Group Report
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THE CYCLEMATE PROJECT GROUP REPORT
K52BFA - GROUP
Phạm Thị Anh Thư
Đặng Nguyễn Thi Thi
Huỳnh Ngọc Thiên Phương
Ngô Cao Ngọc Mai
Đỗ Duy Phước Thành
Phạm Đăng Khoa
- INTRODUCTION :
Cyclermate Ltd is a company producing bicycles in the UK. The firm was founded by two men named Lewis Llewellyn and Dai Armstrong, who worked in a local cycle touring club. They produced traditional bicycle and followed the retro style in 1940s and 1950s. In 1990s, the company was operating well, gaining success due to the good reputation and high sales. Everything had seemed to work smoothly until 2010 when the firm had to face with many issues as the sales decreased significantly and the demand of customers fell rapidly in spite of the lower price.
In the following report, all the troubles in term of SWOT, PEST, Finance, Operations and Human Resource will be analyzed along with some positive solutions for Cyclermate Company in order to handle those problems.
- EXTERNAL ANALYSIS:
PEST analysis is divided into four factors:
- Political factor
- Economic factor
- Social factor
- Technological factor
- Political factor
Two priorities of Cyclermate are strict safety standard and consumer protection laws. By 2010, their products cause accidents. There are increasing numbers of complaints about quality and faults in the product. One customer even threatened to sue after an accident purportedly caused by an incorrectly assembled front brake. These mistakes made Cyclermate become a target of health and safety agencies. This is the reason why they have to improve the quality of products. If not, they can be stuck with legal issues. Furthermore, they need to achieve higher standard in manufacturing to meet with market requirements, especially foreign markets.
- Economic factor
With the high petrol prices in recent years, many businessmen find difficulties in producing and running their own business. Coming along with the increase in fuel price is the cost of electricity. In addition, with the high costs in manufacture such as materials and facilities, the cost of products in the market obviously increases. This is the essential reason which explains the downward trend of consumption level all over the world.
High costs also influence product delivery of this company, it is very hard to expand the brand name and products to customers who live far away. Besides, it also hinders the import or export process because of tax and shipping costs.
After wasting too much money to buy materials, and investing in facilities and technology, spending on marketing and delivery, and paying salaries to their workers, the retained profits of Cyclermate cannot be good. If the sales of this company cannot improve, the worst thing which will happen is to go bankrupt.
Another factor in economics that affects the development of Cyclermate Ltd is labor. The unemployment rate is increasing in these days; therefore, this is a good chance for the company to recruit worker more easily, and employ them easily with affordable price.
- Social factor
Innovation is very necessary for Cyclermate Ltd. High speed innovation as well as the increasing demands of consumers requires Cyclermate to change and improve every day. The higher income distribution they get, the higher demands they require. For instance, rich people want to ride a unique and friendly bicycle, but another client with medium wages just wants to ride a nice quality bicycle. This variety of tastes drives Cyclermate to diversify their price range. Moreover, design and color are important elements because they would make customers buy Cyclermate bicycle. The variation in design and color will attract children and teenagers and give clients more choices. Helpful accessories are also important things that will affect the survival of Cyclermate. A useful bicycle which is light, economical or takes less space in house will be the best choice for customers. In addition, a bicycle should be environment friendly so that it can become popular.
- Technological factor
Cyclermate is using the oldest way to advertise their products which is posting their products in the national newspaper. It has limited their goods to the existing customers. They should invest in online advertisement because it will increase the sales rate of their products. Nowadays, social network is very popular, especially Facebook. Facebook is a good social networking site for business. Cyclermate should create a business page on Facebook because customers can know their products easily.