A good and innovative entrepreneurial business idea only be productive when it is put into action, and the business plan rolled out in a well set and sequential flow of activities without which the project may tumble and collapse (Amit & Zolt, 2012). RunandPlay. Com is an exclusive online company that targets to excel in the provision of internet based sporting entertainment, equipment and costumes for the various respective game programs offered. In setting up, an online business various concepts need to be put in place, and the entrepreneur is well conversant with the necessities required for the operational system so as to be sure the hired personnel is working on the right program.
For an online company to take off on a business platform, it must have a domain identification name as the first step in making official the operation (Sweeney & Sweeney, 2011). In this case, the company would be identified as RunandPlay.Com that is a top level domain (TLD) and is mostly preferred worldwide. It is sufficient and well-developed for global businesses operation. This is very essential since it is the address and the words the customer will search from their browser so as to visit the company’s website. In order to avoid customers’ mix up, the company would register www.runandplay.com.au as an alternative domain alongside the main domain www.runandplay.com (Sweeney & Sweeney, 2011).
Following the creation of a domain, it is the designing of a dynamic hosting provider that contains all the available information and acts as server-store for the domain created. This is usually known as the website information (Sweeney & Sweeney, 2011). The hosting also ensures the information is made available to all the possible browsers of the internet that key in the name of the domain. Furthermore, it provides a platform to interact by the customers for instance, leaving their opinions on the page and signing in their own personal profile under the company’s name. The software does not require a content management system to manage the hosting website since it updates itself automatically. This ensures there is an efficient and most proficient method of directly interacting with the customers (Sweeney & Sweeney, 2011).
The third step in making official the business involves the use of a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) in conveying all the data to the website of the company or the domain. This one of the most secure way of transferring data as it ensures the domain has a security code or password hence is not at all prevalent to hacking or to edit by unauthorized persons. It avails all the information that is configured to the company’s domain to all the internet browsers so as the customers who view the website access the information and interact on the page (Tobin, 2012).
Exploration engines commonly used by browsers who are the customers is the yahoo and Google tool. The next step in officiating a business thereafter, transferring the information is initiating is configuring the company’s domain to these search engines to identify and receive traffics within the shortest timeframe (a week) rather than a month as the case with others that have not (Tobin, 2012). This is integrated with an optimizer report (OR) which capture all the information as pertained in the company’s site. It ensures it identifies how the website information is interpreted by the search engines and makes the necessary recommendations (Tobin, 2012).
An online business venture would only excel if proper online marketing is done so that the domain is not overlooked by the browsers. Marketing is a very critical step in initiating an online business operation (Amit & Zolt, 2012). The company runandplay.com initiated an SEO (Search Engine Optimizer) that serves as a traffic accelerator in conveying the information to the company’s domain when the search tools key in the main company address. It also ensures the domain has a dominant position on the initial pages so that it can be instantly recognized by the web user. This gives the company a high profile in the market amongst its chief competitors and optimizes its sales since the traffic is received almost instantly.
The above stated are the major initial steps in initiating an online business and once it is done there is need to maintain and improve the company’s profile so as to ensure a good rapport is maintained between the customers and the company through its domain. This is done most effectively through initiating an email room (Tobin, 2012). An email room does the role of posting adverts and email marketing through instant sending of newsletters to potential clients hence maintains a positive interaction without the customer having to revisit the website. The email room has the capacity of managing a huge database of addresses used by all the clients that visits the company website leaving behind their comments and profile on the site.
The organization structure for Www.runandplay.com Company comprised of the chief executive officer at the top most position which is the main entrepreneurial in initiating the idea and putting it into action. The CEO’s office is the top senior organ in decision making. He is, however, assisted by a chief operating officer and a chief financing officer (Amit & Zolt, 2012).
The chief operating officer does the supervisory role and ensures competency is maintained across the three main departments. The chief financing officer, on the other hand, has a responsible for planning of finance and management of the organization. He also assists in policy making and standardizes the company’s progress against the best performing businesses (Amit & Zolt, 2012).
In-store operations refer to all the activities that are undertaken by the company so as to make sure their product and programs are made available in the market. It involves mailing off newsletters by the mailroom, designing and posting of adverts on the company’s domain and continuous reviewing of the website by the webmaster (Tobin, 2012). This ensures the manner in which the users view the company’s profile is always up to date. The catalog system of RunandPlay Company lists all the services and products with their respective costs offered by the company. This is mandatory as it enables the customer to compare the prices and hence could resolve to buy with www.runandplay.com Online-outlets are the various alternatives the company provides in delivering its products to the respective customers (Sweeney & Sweeney, 2011).
The major sources of income and funding systems for Www.runandplay.com Company include the following:
- Through advertisement and web banner integration on the company’s domain – Advertisers who use www.runandpay.com for their banner ads as well as articles that feature in the form of placed links within the content would pay a service fee. This would, therefore, source revenue or income to the company. Furthermore, is most preferred because it also boosts the company’s profile and makes it be identified easily by the search tools on various browsers.
- Revenue from commissions allied to the product integrated adverts- This is mostly reached by clicking of the integrated advert by merchants who are usually allied to the purchases that are joined. RUNandPLAY.com would then obtain the preferred transaction and click through entitlement commissions.
- Commissions from e-commerce fees in payment of product sponsorship. This was opted for because it is one of the greatest escalation engines and because most of the customers prefer offline purchases. The service charge that would originate from the e-commerce is considered as a major source of income to the RunandPlay Company.
- Other sources of revenue will be comprised of elite based sponsorship and customized packages to an elite sponsor grouping. This is in addition to the payment returns in form of monthly fees. Sponsors will receive fixed charges as premium on the online business transaction platform on all the adverts and integrated content services.
- Concerning syndication of content or programming RUNandPLAY.com premium content would be sold in association with allies in the re-publishing and exposure of co-brands. On the other hand, service value, addition is revenue earning avenue with RUNandPLAY.com. This offers services to its sponsors for instance live casting on the online platform in addition to moderation of chat rooms as well as hosting.
Intellectual property is another aspect that is very critical in starting a business. This protects the company’s resources, assets and products ensuring the company uphold high competition standards in the market without being intimidated by other companies (Amit & Zolt, 2012). The company, www.runandplay.com, protected its trademark, patents, copyright and trade secret protection. This involved creation of the company’s intellectual property (IP) by the laws governing the region under which the company operates. This is always done in line with the intellectual property law (IP) of the state enacted under the rule of law.
The company, must after the realization of its vision and full achievement of its strategic plan in the world markets, improve its operational services to suit the social needs of its esteemed customers in return get more profit. The company therefore, has resorted to a purely virtual manner of doing its transaction and delivery of its entertainment programs and equipment to its customers. In order to achieve this, the company restructured its funding sources by seeking other alternatives that included the equity and debt investments.
Seeking finance through the equity and debt technique for a company involved borrowing from investors (debt) and issuing of stock to investors (equity) without them claiming possession of the company (Amit & Zolt, 2012). Equity finance generation technique mainly constitutes withholding of salary, paychecks and any other outgoing capital, and issuance of the company’s stock to investors. Debt financing of funds, on the other hand, comprises of borrowing capital to fund the project from an investor who would not claim for the membership of the company. RunandPlay.com opted for these funding sources mainly because the company would retain its financial state without running into a crisis and comfortably finance the new improvement scheme (Amit & Zolt, 2012).
After actualizing a business operational plan, a company must evaluate its progress to be able to determine if its capital input corresponds with the output and if it balances the returns (Amit & Zolt, 2012). RunandPlay.com, therefore, evaluated their hypothetical need for capital change over a period of five years. The company’s need for capital progressively increased over time from the minimal starting cost and assets value to a very high value in assets and liquid cash.
On a yearly basis, the company’s demand in running its costs and expanding its services and products would increase by a significant percentage of about 10%. Cumulatively, for the five years of full operational the company capital change stood at about 53% from the initial startup cost. This indicates a positive trend in the rise and growth of the company. The funding sources, thus differed greatly from the initial since much of new projects were venture into for the betterment of the company.
Reference List
Amit, R. Zolt, C. (2012).Value creation using innovative business models.MIT Sloan Management Review .53(53310), 41-49.
Sweeney, S., & Sweeney, K. (2011). 101 Internet businesses you can start from home: How to choose and build your own successful Internet business. Gulf Breeze, FL: Maximum Press.
Tobin, L. (2012). How to start up your online business: How to start on online business. Chichester: Capstone.
