(BSN450) Business intelligence assignment analysing the strategic position of Food Connect

Question

Task: Choose one organisation to analyse for your business intelligence assignment. Write about the value proposition the organisation aims to deliver, and the customer segments it targets with this value proposition.Analyse how the organisation has been performing as a result of its implemented business model (as measured by various metrics related to its product/service as well as internal processes – provided by the case organisation in the form of a dataset). Provide recommendations of a more effective data-led strategy and overall business model to the case organisation based on data analysis and visualisation, including strategies to overcome existing challenges to becoming evidence-based.

Answer

1. The Organisation: Mission and Current Business Model under consideration in the business intelligence assignment
1.1 Mission
The chosen company, Food Connect, comes under the ‘Food and Beverage Manufacturingindustry. It is an Australian company which is located at the8 Textile Cres, Salisbury, Queensland 4107 AU. Robert Pekin, the founder and the CEO of the mentioned company established it in the year of 2005 (Food Connect, 2022). Robert Pekin started this company along with a small group of local farmers. As per the business intelligence assignmenttheir vision is to create a world of healthy, nutritious and ecological food for everyone at the planet. They want to make ‘working hub’ for the ‘regional food’ which is regulate by their community. They serve as to fulfil the gap in the food system through revolutionary changes. Their mission is making a ‘DEMOCRATISE THE FOOD SYSTEM’. It is ‘community -owned local food hub’ of the Australia which offers a proper infrastructure and the balanced market to the farmers. They have some specialities such as the “circular economy’, ‘community engagement’, ‘climate adaptation’, ‘fair trade and ethicalSourcing’ (Au.linkedin.com, 2022).

The company considered in the business intelligence assignmentthrives on some core values such as taking risks and learn lessons from theirMistakes. This kind of activity helps the company to bring some revolutionary changes in the food system. They practise equity and foster inclusivity. Moreover this thing leadsto incensed productivity of the employees. Higher their morale, improved the creativity andproblem solving power of the employees. Though the organisational flexibility is also enhanced (Food Connect, 2022).

The organisation addressed in the business intelligence assignmentcultivates the seed of learning, honesty, transparency and humility in theiremployees. It resolve the communication gap among the employees as well the managers.

The other values of the organisation are ‘producer viability’ and ‘fair access to healthy food.
They collaborate with the farmers and build strong relationship with them. Further it helpsthem build a healthy community. The objectives of their mission is paying fair enough price andmake strong connection with the food producers. The second one is the ‘beyond organic’ offering seasonal, healthy food to the consumers. They use the concept of the reduce, reuse,recycle(Au.linkedin.com, 2022). Further these objectivesmentioned in the business intelligence assignmentare aligning with their core values and make the path to achieve theory end goal. These strategic objectives clarify the vision of the organisation in front of their employee and help the leaders to set measurable tasks which areachievable. Thus the organisation can be able to fulfil its final goal.

1.2 The Business Model
Food Connect, the Australian company supplies food beverages into the local market of the consumers. The urban farmers and the community are their key partners (Au.linkedin.com, 2022). The company considered in the business intelligence assignmenthave circular economy and community supported agriculture. The circular economy involves in the leasing, reusing, recycling and sharing of products. It further expands the life cycle of the leasing, reusing, recycling and sharing of products(Foschi, &Bonoli, 2019). It further expands the life cycle of theproduct and the decrease the waste to lower level. The community supported agricultureprovides seasonal, nutritious, and healthy foods to the consumers which help the company tomaintain its vision policy. Fair trade offers the farmers a reasonable earning. It providessustainable development, good profit to the workers. The unique value proposition of the company considered for the business intelligence assignmentis ‘local, seasonal ecological food direct fromthe farmer. This thing drives more customers in the organisation. ’The increasing foodEquity and the customer satisfaction are the main assets of the company. Apart from this thefinancial assets [provide financial support to the organisation (Au.linkedin.com, 2022). Generally they operate aswholesale market for the consumer and small business like restaurants, hotels and many others.Customers buy the products from the company website as per their convenience. The delivery isonly expanded in the local market of the Salisbury in Australia. The main customer segment ofthe company considered in the business intelligence assignmentis the B2B and B2C(Bhat, Darzi& Bhat, 2020). In B2B they interact with small business. The B2B businessmodel is more beneficial for the however it offers long term sells to the organisation. On theother hand B2C business model helps the company into direct interaction with the consumer.The online shopping offers more leverage into the B2C marketing.

Key
partners:

Figure 1: Business canvas model
(Source: Self- created)

The above figure 1 in the business intelligence assignmentrepresents the business model of the Auistralian company Food connect. Which reperesents the key partners, resources, revenue model, unique value proposition, customer segemnt and many others. This business model connect the mentioned points which are major concerned area in the business.Further it helps in the taking the execuition stepes for the marketing purposes.

2. Data Analysis and Visualisation in the business intelligence assignment
2.1 Data visualisation for the business intelligence assignment
According to Gottfried, Hartmann, and Yates (2021), data visualisation is the way of representing information of the organisation graphically, at the same time highlighting the trends in data and aiding the viewer to achieve quick insights. As per the business intelligence assignmentdata visualisation is worth creating a visualisation of data in a short period of time. This fosters the enterprise professionals arranging as well as presenting information of the business insightfully. In this study, data visualisation is taken in the form of the tableau technique. Hence, the tableau visualisation representation of Food Connect is illustrated below. The results achieved from the business intelligence assignmentanalysis are helpful in making decisions.

Figure 2: Application of Visualisation by Food Connect
(Source: Tableau.com, 2022)

The above figure in the business intelligence assignmentshows the trends of revenue, cost of goods sold, gross profit, operating expenses, and operating income of Food Connect for two years. It is observed that the financial position of Food connect is better in 2021 as compared to the previous year, depicting the healthy position of the business. However, the operating expense of this company is also increasing along with its profit. The company considered in the business intelligence assignmentneeds to have control over its indirect expense to maximise its operating income. In a nutshell, the financial information of Food Connect through the application of data visualisation is visible (Gottfried, Hartmann, & Yates 2021). Thus, from the above visual representation of Food Connect’s financial data, the business analyst, as well as the financial expert of Food Connect that works in the organisation, can process the information and make some effective strategies in regard to the business's prosperity.

Data processing via visualisation aids Food Connect in easily interpreting their current conditions in the areas of expense-bearing nature and profitable sources and, at the same time, taking efficient measures related to financial analysis (Gottfried, Hartmann, & Yates 2021). By utilising visual representation of the revenues and the cost of goods sold, the business experts such as business executives and managers can make crucial metrics the way, they can elucidate their algorithms. The output received from the tableau technique is helpful in predicting and representing the market position of the organization (Tableau.com, 2022). These techniques mentioned in the business intelligence assignmentare helpful in improvising the financial health of the enterprise and enable to achieve a positive performance impact on its activities in regard to output validation in the long run.

Limitations of the method
Lack of assistance
One of the major disadvantages of this method that fails assist in many audiences this means that multiple groups of audiences may interpret differently or antithetically.

A wrong-focused individual may skip the core message
One of the problems with data visualisation comes up with that though it appears to be explanatory; its lucidity in explanation is dependent completely on the focus of the audience (Venkatraman & Venkatraman, 2019). As per the business intelligence assignmentit means that when individuals are not concentrating on the core message wherein the visualisation is shown, it might not seem satisfactory hence individuals might remain untouched to core purpose of performing analysis.

Renders estimation, not accuracy
When data is appropriate in projecting the conditions, the visualisation of the same renders the estimation only (Conner et al., 2020). As per the business intelligence assignmentit means that it is surely easy to convert length and hefty data into pictorial format however; this kind of information representation may result in speculative conclusions often.

2.2 PESTLE analysis for the case organization
Political factor
There exists political stability in Australia, opening the door to a healthy as well as a positive environment for business (Darmawan, 2021). In aspects of the food industry addressed in the business intelligence assignment, the Australian government has an expansive regulatory framework which makes this sector tightly regulated sector. This would be a positive or strict factor for Food connect that would ensure customers would not be delivered poor-quality food.

Economic factor
The per capita income of Australian individuals is high. In the general context, it can be ascertained that the population in Australia comes from richer people. There is an enhancement in the GDP of the population. Previously it was perceived as 52,847.68 U.S. dollars in 2020, and in the current year, it is as 63,529 U.S dollars (Statista.com, 2022). As per the business intelligence assignmentthis depicts individuals' lives, quality of life, and ability to spend on multiple products which meet their needs. This is a positive factor for Food Connect.

Social factor
The population of Australia is about ca. 25.8 million, and most of the individuals in this country are educated and, at the same time, care for society's growth completely(Statista.com, 2022). It is found in the business intelligence assignmentthat after the pandemic, people are now becoming very health conscious. This serves as critical for the food business in order to create impressions on the customers.

Technological factor
Technological growth in Australia is significantly good (Rejeb et al., 2020). The adoption of artificial intelligence in the food sector solves many problems. Hence it is found in this business intelligence assignment, this serves with the advantage of facilitating a reduction in cost and, at the same time, improving services to the customers for Food Connect.

Legal factor
The food sectors have extremely high standards in regard to safety, and there is the existence of scoring rules as well as regulations in Australia. Hence it is found in this business intelligence assignment, it could be a legal matter for Food Connect when it breaches safety standards.

Environmental factor
There are greatly implemented emission control policies in Australia. Additionally, there are legal obligations for the enterprise to avoid fines and penalties. As per the business intelligence assignmentthis means that enterprises are required to aim at solving issues pertaining to environmental degradation.

2.3 Porter's five forces analysis for case organization

Figure 3: Porter five forces analysis for Food Connect
(Source: Wood et al., 2021)

New entrants
New entrants are facilitated by the government in Australia by following detailed steps in starting up a business (Trevena et al., 2021). To compete in acquiring market share, the new entrants must differentiate products unique to the customers, which is not an issue. However, the only issue comes up with initial capital investments. It is found in this business intelligence assignmentthat achieving high-tech like competitors to set up operations can be complex for new entrants. Hence, it is low.

Substitutes
In this industry mentioned in the business intelligence assignment, there are various enterprises rendering food services to customers, which means that switching cost is relatively low for these products, and hence individuals can easily switch to substitute products. Hence, the threat of substitutions in this industry is very high.

Suppliers:
The food supply chain in Australia used to have options for selection over thousands of suppliers, and it appeared that screening procedures were done by incorporating a competitive bidding approach (Wood et al., 2021). Hence it is found in this business intelligence assignment, supplier power is low, and enterprises can switch services easily.

Competitors
As per the business intelligence assignment findings, the competitive market in the food industry is very high. The company needs to make some changes in its business industry(Trevena et al., 2021). However, changes in the cost of the product can attract more customers, whereas, on the other hand, they can improve the product quality to make variations in organic foods to leverage their sales.

Customers
The bargaining power of the customers ishigh in the market. However, it puts pressure on the brand to reduce its pricing(Trevena et al., 2021). Which further reduces its profit margin? In the food industry the consumers wants good product with high quality, and affordable pricing. It is found in the business intelligence assignmentthat increasing the purchasing decision also enhances the bargaining power.

3. Synthesis of Findings of the business intelligence assignment
Theme 1: Current financial considerations of Food Connect
It is observed in the business intelligence assignmentthat the current financial consideration of this company is with the revenue that is considered to be positive. The total incomes constituting from the sources such as Food Hub Revenue, grants, unrestricted revenue and education services appeared to be 2,360,698which is higher than the previous year, which was about 1999, 124.64. The reason for the growth is observable in terms of company effort in rendering services to the customers (Static1.squarespace.com, 2022). There is an increment visible on the part of the supply chain network that this company increased in times of covid-19. This company was able to bring farms to the school and able to supply daily meals to the student. On the other hand, the cost of goods sold by this company appeared to be high in the current year.

This means that the direct expense of the company was high in the current year. This results from sourcing the raw material for crop production and incurring the direct labour charge. Apart from the direct expense, there is an increment in the gross profit of the company as compared to the previous year (Static1.squarespace.com, 2022). Despite the hit of the covid-19, it is found in this business intelligence assignmentthat the company is showing that there is still demand for its product in times of covid-19. One thing is noticeable in the business intelligence assignmentis that there is a decrease in the operating income of this company. This depicts that the company was unable to control its indirect expense, which degraded its profit level. This company needs to have effective cost-controlling planning its organisation.

Theme 2: Factors influencing the company’s financial growth
It has appeared in the business intelligence assignmentthat for decades, the 4 organisations comprised of VFHC worked in Vermont and supported farm viability, creating experiences and food access for customers to engage in the food system. Undoubtedly, the 4 food hubs of food connect saw the sale of $6 million in food sales in cumulative form (Food Connect.com.au, 2022). They worked together, shared infrastructure, and created connections with expertise; hence they had an exponentially significant impact. However, carving out opportunities for producers that are poised to grow their business as well as meet regional needs for them trying to compete with a small producer is difficult.

They do not have proper resources and effective resource planning in place. Additionally, of the several challenges, competitive cost, overall capacity and effective logistics are the chief areas for this business. In this context, the cost appeared to be probably high. This is because when this business sells 20 lb boxes instead of 40 lb boxes, it costs more (Static1.squarespace.com, 2022). Apart from the cost structure when it comes to the supply chain, it is observed in this business intelligence assignmentthat in 2021, Miller farm became the fluid milk supplier of food connect. However, due to the arrival of the pandemic, the supply chain has wavered. The price for the generation of milk was used to be set by the external factors that invariably impacted or lagged the production cost of this company. The other factor that is influencing the growth of the organisation is its competitors.

Theme 3: Analysing strategic positions of Food Connect
Analysing the microenvironment of this company in the business intelligence assignment, it is apparent that larger societal forces used to have a direct effect on the company’s ability in order to serve its customers. This depicts that there are penalties which are linked to a lack of following rules set by the government. This industry is viewed as a growing industry, and integration of technologies or investing in technologies may serve the benefits (Static1.squarespace.com, 2022). This industry has a great business model. As per the business intelligence assignmentthis means that this is associated with supplying food and beverages to the local markets for the consumers. In this process, it is viewed in the business intelligence assignmentthat this particular company has key partners such as community and urban farmers. The strength of the company is that this company has a circular economy which supports agriculture. The circular economy of this company includes the activities such as leasing, reusing, recycling and sharing the product (Food Connect.com.au, 2022). This company has great partners working with them, which helps expand its business. The organisation support agriculture and provides seasonal nutrition, which results in the generation of lower levels of waste. Additionally, the application of fair trade in the business offers the farmers reasonable earnings.

4. Data-led Strategy and Business Model
4.1 Recommendations in the business intelligence assignment
Food connects visions adhere with the creating world wherein everyone has access to fresh, healthy and ecologically-grown food that is fair to eaters, growers and the planet. In order to transform its food system, creating a local working hub for a regional food economy which can be easily owned by the communities are difficult. Some of the recommendations developed that can be followed are mentioned in the business intelligence assignment.

Increase efficiency in logistics
An enterprise's logistics performance is the key factor in its distribution success. Having an optimal warehouse lay for the operations will help maximise productivity. It is recommended in the business intelligence assignmentthat Food connects needs to locate its product in the best conditions so that flow of goods via the warehouse would not be problematic. Fast-moving stocks require quickly accessible in order to avoid operatives spending much time traversing the warehouse for hospitals, schools and communities.

Reducing cost by applying cost controlling method
The company is required to have to control its direct cost as well as indirect costs. These can be achieved by improving inventory management, investing in end-to-end procurement solutions, and improving supply chain relationships. Using the cost-controlling method the company will be able to have an overall account in which area this company is bearing the extra cost so that it will be able to make an effective strategy (Melkonyan et al.,2020).It is recommended in the business intelligence assignmentthatadditionally, this companyrequires adopt competitivepricingstrategy to increase its profit level.

Investing in technology
The company requires investing in new technologies that can reap multiple benefits. It is recommended in the business intelligence assignmentthatwhen it comes to farming fruits and vegetables, the integration of robots would add an advantage in irrigating the crops at optimum times. Drones, artificial intelligence and others would serve the path of work efficiency and reduction in cost (Kakani et al., 2020).

Marketing the products
Increasing awareness about the products which this company manufacture is essential. This will help families, and people choose food products as per their income. It is recommended in the business intelligence assignmentthatenrolling on the campaign will benefit this company in increasing its product awareness and fight against its rival.

References
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Darmawan, H. (2021). LONGING FOR KEVIN RUDD AND HIS LEGACY IN IMPROVING AUSTRALIA-INDONESIA RELATIONS. Journal of Social Political Sciences, 2(2), 189-204.http://e-journal.unas.ac.id/index.php/jsps/article/view/58
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1-Page Summary
The business intelligence assignmentaimed to evaluate the challenges and strength while operating the business function in the food business environment with the applications of different business models. For this, a non profit organisation was chosen namely, Food connect. The activities of the business depicted through business canvass model, data visualisation through tableau technique, pestle models and porters five forces.
Using this strategic models the company’s strategic position were known and on the basis of this analysis recommendation were developed.The company is been viewed as facing high competition, however it has better business environment in the country where it operates. Applying some effective strategies can make this company achieve greater success in the coming years.Currently, this company is facing issuers with its cost structure, logistics, rise expenses and a lack of effective strategies.

It can be stated in the business intelligence assignmentthat with the help of strategic models the position of the Food Connect has been observed. The company is facing with high competition, lack of resources, ineffective pricing strategies however the positive business environment has. By integrating some effective strategies as efficiency in logistics, Reducing cost, investing in technology and Marketing the products, the issues can be resolved.