Mobilink: an innovative student discount advertising service

Innovative Business Plan

Explain the innovative idea concisely

The Mobilink solution employs the standardized technologies for instance SMS plus a general website easily accessible via the internet. The usage of set market standards works for all, rather than the latest technology (Market must be open for all degrees of users). This is vitally imperative while bringing out a new service. It is highly probable that the target market for Mobilink solutions is worthwhile for the student category. The youth seldom have out dated mobile devices. The data shows that mobile phones have a period of functionality of just 2-3 years in the case of Finland. This means that present end users are deprived of this sophisticated technology. That's why it's advisable to work with present technology rather than futuristic one. Mobilink can bring in WAP later and utilize it. The following two subsystems define the system and service proposition of Mobilink:

Mobilink advertising system website

Mobilink registration website

The end user will register on the registration website and receive the discounted products. The Mobilink's advertising system partners with other companies in ad campaigns. Mobilink will be working as the mediator between end users (students going out on a movie) and facilitators (movie theater owner). This process takes in three parties:

End users

Mobilink

Partner company

The basic procedure begins when the end user logs on the Mobilink website and approves the desired service. The end users find ads and link by partner companies appealing as well as the service commendable. The marketing campaigns and website ensures that part of the job (Pinson, 2004).

Determine the best choice of business structure. Support your claim.

John Carter along with James Blunt owns 30% of the Mobilink with 15% each in this joint venture. Their partnership status is equal but they will look after separate aspects of the industry.

John Carter is working on early development of his system. He is tasked with narrowing down and selecting probable development alliances. James Blunt will be looking at the website development and will go through personal contacts while he's at it. This will assist him in the system development phase. John Carter will oversee the development of SMS generation system. When the system is fully operational, John Carter will work on the plausibility of expanding and implementing newer technologies (Robbins and Judge, 2007).

James Blunt will work on the management front and customer relations department. He will forge contacts and form alliances with probable business partners. He will be in charge of human resource department of the company. For cutting costs, system upgrade and maintenance is mandatory.

The SMS generation and sending will be taken care of by the system developers in place as the management team works on the management front. The system developer should have some prior experience in this case for inducting SMS system.

The half year plan is to design and implement the system and develop initial contacts with business partners. The secretary will oversee the day-to-day routine at the workplace. The sales officer will assist Mr. Peter with support and sales. Next, the system developer will work with John Carter on system development. The company will be kept to a bare minimum. Five employees are allowed for the initial five-year plan.

Define the stages of the entrepreneurial process which are needed to kick start a business. Outline the tools and resources needed in this case for success

The primary idea which Mobilink has is to provide different companies with mobile marketing solutions, hence becoming a mobile marketing agency in the process. This initial offering will allow targeted marketing at the eleventh hour. This is the pillar of the company on which it rests while developing a huge clientele list and customer base. As the initial service has found its feet, some mobile marketing services will be required for instance (Rogoff, 2004):

Questionnaires

Interactive ads

Location based ads

MMS coupons

Spa hotels (French spa, Spanish spa and La sauna)

They are well settled scale of economies (high fixed costs and modest variable costs). This in layman words means that a given customer won't give rise to the additional costs but rather be a welcome source of revenue. A typical customer will essentially make use of other services as well (purchase popcorn, beverages and candies / visit la sauna after a visit to a restaurant). These extra services bring in extra revenues. In the case of UK, the average occupancy of a seat is 25%, which is meager. This opens a huge gap for selling out the excess capacity.

The mobile marketing campaign can be flogged all across the world where mobile services reign supreme. For it to blossom, the masses must be exposed to mobile services (students and young generation). The target groups are seen all across the industrialized countries. Given the fact that Mobilink has decided to jump start the service in Finland where mobile services are sky high and target market is pretty broad. After a successful kick start in Finland, it will stretch out in European Union and few other countries. Launching this service doesn't justify in all countries if a fellow citizen doesn't benefit from a service while a foreigner does.

The business model of Mobilink is all the easier to copy-paste for the rivals in case service is successful. That's why a barrier will need to be put up to fend off the competition and implement the first mover tactic. A strong network effect will be created when Mobilink will reach out to probable business partners. Signing a deal with the partners early on is a huge plus point for both parties along with end users. In case of a following scenario, Mobilink offers its mobile discounts on cinema tickets for starters. Thus, the Mobilink website will be flogged with movie fanatics and students (on budget) to buy tickets. Then, soon enough, amusement parks will join the bandwagon and bring in families and children to Mobilink website.

The new flood of end users hoping for discounts on amusement parks and movie tickets will avail various other services. Taking a small step, discounts can be flooded on the target audience; the budget audience. Also, as new business partners arrive in and take the reins, they take marketing efforts in their hands too. These partners will be present on the website too.

The Mobilink's business model is verified by the traits of its service. After the partnering company comes in the fold of Mobilink and sets up the services, it is faced with high switching costs in case it finds another service provider appealing. This in turn with raise the retention rates of Mobilink.

The Mobilink business model is pretty viable for huge scale economies. The early costs and expenses for system development and website development are fixed. The costs won't budge for a while. When a partner hops on board, it doesn't create a rift. Mobilink can easily spread out the costs against the revenue incoming, which is problematic for the smaller companies.

As mentioned above, the Mobilink business model is troubled with:

Network effects

Retention rates

Scale of economies

These traits show that Get Big Fast tactic works in the long run. This means that Mobilink will be aggressively pursuing the marketing campaign and to multiply momentum and solidify its customer base. It will leave its small time rivals far behind (Robbins and Judge, 2007).

Develop an action plan and explain the barriers to overcome to attain the venture's viability

The Mobilink business model is not particularly new as companies for instance Ufone and Warid are huge competitors, who haven't brought out such a service. The services of Mobilink can be copied easily by competitors who will outfox Mobilink, given their input. To cope with this barrage of competition, a fortified wall can setup. This is possible by implementing a mover strategy for initial service. In case, Mobilink is able to reach the business partners in time and align them with their services, a huge network effect will materialize.

Making a business deal early on helps with the end users boarding the service and attracting the business partners at the same time. Then, as new partners hop on the winning deal, the Mobilink community benefits and is assisted with marketing procedures and budget allotments. The end users are price conscious here and pose a huge question mark. The biggest achievement is to capture the audience with initial service offering and save the troubling competition. Mobilink will be able to expand its portfolio with partners. A small level strategy is to work with an unknown advertising company (Pinson, 2004).