The value proposition of the service the Trend Setters Hair Studio will offer and explain the rationale
The startup business chosen for this assignment is Trend Setters Hair Studio. Trend Setters Hair Studio will be a business offering top-notch hair cutting & styling services and personal grooming services with the help of the most experienced and cultured professionals working for Trend Setters Hair Studio. The value proposition of the service the Trend Setters Hair Studio will offer is;
“To become the best quality and top-notch hair cutting & styling services and personal grooming services provider in the whole country”
The major market of the personal care service industry is untapped by any giant service provider so it is a great opportunity to enter in this industry and make a profit. Referrals would be a source of getting an extensive client base. It is one of the competencies of the leadership to have the ability to make a client base with the help of personal references. The atmosphere they want to create at their salon will also become a core competency of the business if the managers would be able to create it as intended in the business plan. The ability of the managers to watch out the implementation of strategy is also another competency required for converting the idea into a profitable business. The managers should further possess the competencies of marketing their business effectively. The equipment purchased should be modern so they will also provide a competitive advantage to the proposed salon. If the manager and the person carrying out the business is himself a makeup artist or the styling professional that would also contribute to the existing set of competencies and it will help the owner in managing the business effectively.

The competitive market and the industry in which the business will operate
Trend Setters Hair Studio will operate as the service provider in the personal care industry. As the location of the studio would be in retail mall the market is really attractive. Trend Setters Hair Studio will try to achieve a competitive advantage by offering our complimentary range of personal care services. Trend Setters Hair Studio will also try to achieve competitive advantage by being number one personal care services supplier in the whole area.
The marketing and promotional approach that Trend Setters Hair Studio should use to develop the strategic marketing plan for this new product or service will be of personal selling and promotion and would be based on direct marketing. A carefully designed personal selling and promotional process would be done.
The promotional strategy of direct marketing will be based on directly connecting and communicating with the selected targeted individual customers. Direct connection with the client is necessary as its offering is basically a service.
The promotional activities can also be carried out in the vocational institutes for women for marketing personal grooming services and promotional activities in shorts can be carried out in places where majority of working people are women.
The above mentioned marketing objectives are really necessary to be achieved as they will help in positioning the business in the marketplace.
Referrals can work creating a client base. But on order to maintain and increase their client base, they would have to devise an effective marketing strategy. An effective marketing strategy would help in having profitable customer relationships.
Strategies for protecting the branding
Protecting the brand name is really an essential step while developing a new business. Once we have created a unique name such as Trend Setters Hair Studio many new competitors may try to enter this market using some sort of similar names giving a dent on our business. Thus following steps can be followed in order to protect the brand name.
The best way to protect a name or brand is by using it. The more people associate a name with Trend Setters Hair Studio business and/or its services, the more the courts will recognize that this business has legal rights in it, and punish infringers.
Trend Setters Hair Studio can also protect its brand name by getting it registered at first priority. Registering copyrights in fabric, lace and other components of a design is a fast and relatively inexpensive step. Registering trademarks (including logos) should also be considered in the context of brand strategy, particularly as they can be recorded with customs to help stop shipments of infringing goods at the border.
It’s important that any company that is investing in it’s brand make the effort to monitor their company, brand, product and executive names online. Free services like Google Alerts and RSS feeds of search results are a good start for collecting raw data. For advanced analysis and measures of influence and sentiment, premium tools like Radian6, BuzzLogic, Collective Intellect, Cymfony and Converseon are the next step.
Strategies for protecting the logo
Strategies for protecting the logo can include;
A logo that includes artistic or design elements, (i.e. not just the name on its own), is legally regarded as being a work of artistic creation and therefore will be protected under copyright law
Copyright protects the logo as an artistic work. As copyright is an automatic international right, it therefore follows that, (other than activities specified under fair dealing rules), unauthorized copying of that logo would be an infringement (UK Copyright Service, 2013).
Strategies for protecting the product technology
As Trend Setters Hair Studio will essentially be a personal care service provider so there is no such product technology that is to be protected from imitation by the competitors. However, Trend Setters Hair Studio will have to take major steps to retain employees whom they have trained as they are the basic capital for any service provider and if these trained employees will leave it will cost high to the business.
Methods to test the product idea for feasibility
Business Plan Evaluation is one of the most serious phases in any start-up company. Trend Setters Hair Studio business plan shows a marketable idea, which can result in earning huge profits. The plan is clearly communicating mission and vision. The business plan also describes a clearly defined, and a meticulously crafted business strategy. The offering of the business is clearly presented. The plan also states the benefits and the drawbacks of undertaking the proposed business. The plan overall writing shows that data was communicated in clear, logical sequence. The plan also possesses the capability to relate requirements for the startup. It also contains convincing, compelling reasons. Its documentation also demonstrates the confidence of owners in their business plan.
Feasibility Analysis refers to the method of assessing whether an entrepreneur’s idea is a feasible basis for building an effective business (Zimmerer, 2008). In carrying out a feasibility analysis for the business plan of Trend Setters Hair Studio business, this report will;
Assess whether Trend Setters Hair Studio management team have the attributes necessary for entrepreneurial realization
Evaluate the market for Trend Setters Hair Studio new business idea
Approximate the elementary financial viability of Trend Setters Hair Studio business, together with probable sales incomes, fixed as well as variable costs, and break-even statistics
Recognize the difficulties many new small businesses of hair salons may face—then analyze how Trend Setters can stay away from them; and
Lastly, come up with an informed decision regarding whether or not Trend Setters Hair Studio idea is even now desirable and practical (Reilly & Millikin, 1996).
Strategies to incentivize the founding management team
The management team is going to consists of a receptionist, six hair stylists, two barber, two nail stylists, two facialist, and two Masseur. Thus, if all these employees hired will be experts they will surely take the company to the success. As they are being hired on the commission basis, they will surely provide better services to the customers to earn more commission. Thus this shows that the management issues cannot cause problem for the success of the business. . The only drawback in the management style is, as the employees would be contract worker, if anyone of them would not perform as desired they cannot be replaced before their contract ends.
The management should be built by recruiting professionals who know how to deal with marketing intermediaries, including retailers, whole sellers, physical distribution firms and marketing services agencies. Recruiting the accurate workers is important for the improvement of Trend Setters. A job analysis is to be designed for each position. The job analysis permits an organization to gather data concerning the obligations, tasks, indispensable dexterity, results, and work setting of a specific job. Hiring the exact employee that is fitted with the organization’s culture is a tricky process. Recruiting the incorrect worker is expensive, pricey to organization’s work culture, and lengthy. Recruiting the exact worker, on the contrary, pays the organization back in form of worker‘s productivity, a flourishing service association, and a optimistic effect on organization’s entire work situation. Training the unskilled is also important for Trend Setters.
For the newly hired employees into the organization at any position, the organization must plan these two types of trainings programs;
Classroom / Instructor Led Courses
Structured assignments
Classroom / Instructor Led Courses will be internal training designed specifically for new hires. Classes offer structured learning and frequently include tests and certificates. This approach is best reserved for learning major technologies that have widespread adoption, usually languages or frameworks.
With the help of structured assignments, employees can orient themselves for the type of assignments that they will get on their real jobs and can get familiar what are objectives that are to be achieved in those assignments and in the one that they will get on their real jobs.
Before starting the business, the owner must first become a makeup artist or the styling professional. He should attend some vocational courses in the field of the business proposed. This will help the owner in managing the business effectively.

Estimation of the amount of cash needed to start the business.
Financial plans are defined in detail in the business plan. $25000 monthly sales are estimated for the first year which is really attractive for a relatively new idea. Pro forma income statement, Pro forma Cash flow statement and Pro forma balance sheet are all depicted and show positive results. The estimation of Salaries, Rent, Utilities, Advertising and Selling Expenses is given below;
Jan (Rs.) Feb (Rs.) March (Rs.)
Sales 25000 50000 75000
Salaries 20000 20000 20000
Rent 25000 25000 25000
Utilities 10000 10000 10000
Advertising 100000 100000 50000
Depreciation 50000 50000 50000
Selling Expenses 1000 2000 2500
Total Expenses 206000 207000 157500

The break-even analysis depicts that Trend Setters has a positive amount of fixed costs and appropriate sales figures to keep on being profitable.
As the fixed cost for this project will be Rs. 500000, service price was Rs. 75 and variable cost per unit was Rs. 20, the break even quantity will be;
Break even Quantity = (Fixed Cost)/(S.P-V.C)
Break even Quantity = 500,000/(75-20)
= 14285 units
The difficulties that Trend Setters may face can be the competition from the existing hair salons and the barriers they create. By investing more, Trend Setters can fight off the opposition set forward from the existing competitors.
The sources of funds will include the capital invested by the partners. Although, there is no specific current need to obtain more funds, however, if any such kind of requirement arises, the partners can arrange funds from bank loan and loan from other sources.
Financial Objectives will be necessary to be accomplished as finances are necessary to be managed as they are required for day to day operations as well as for maintaining profits.
The investment in the styling equipment and styling products should be highest, so that the business can be able to provide a high degree of satisfactory services to its client base.

References
Michael D. Reilly and Norman L. Millikin. 1996. Starting a Small Business: The Feasibility Analysis. Retrieved from http://msuextension.org/publications/BusinessandCommunities/MT199510HR.pdf
Zimmerer, T. W. 2008. CONDUCTING A FEASIBILITY ANALYSIS AND CRAFTING A WINNING BUSINESS PLAN. Retrieved from http://www.prenhall.com/behindthebook/0132294389/pdf/Zimmerer_CH04.pdf