Management Succuful Bussiness Project

STUDENT ASSESSMENT SUBMISSION AND DECLARATION When submitting evidence for assessment, each student must sign a declaration confirming that the work is their own Student name & number: Assessor name: (V) Nguyễn Lê Thảo Hương Ms Doti Chee (ID) F10-024 (E) Mary Issue date: Submission date: Submitted on: 31 January 2018 June 2018 Programme: Pearson BTEC Level Higher National Diploma in Business (Accounting) Unit: Unit 6: Managing a Successful Business Project Assignment number and title: MSBP1: The Impact of Digital Technology on Business Activity (1 of 1) Plagiarism Plagiarism is a particular form of cheating Plagiarism must be avoided at all costs and students who break the rules, however innocently, may be penalised It is your responsibility to ensure that you understand correct referencing practices As a university level student, you are expected to use appropriate references throughout and keep carefully detailed notes of all your sources of materials for material you have used in your work, including any material downloaded from the Internet Please consult the relevant unit lecturer or your course tutor if you need any further advice Student Declaration Student declaration I certify that the assignment submission is entirely my own work and I fully understand the consequences of plagiarism I understand that making a false declaration is a form of malpractice Student signature: Date: BANKING ACADEMY The University of Sunderland o0o - The impact of digital technology in supporting small business growth and innovation Lecturer: Ms Doti Chee Student: Mary Date: June 8, 2018 Table of Contents Introduction 1.1 1.1.1 Objective 1.1.2 Cost managing 1.1.3 Quantity Management 1.1.4 Project Communication 1.1.5 Risk Management 1.1.6 Resource Management 1.1.7 Work Breakdown Structure 1.1.8 Gantt Chart 10 Literature Review .12 2.1 Digital Technology .12 2.2 Small Business .12 2.3 The impact of digital technology on a small business 13 Data collection .14 3.1 Questionnaire .14 3.1.1 Nature, purpose 14 3.1.2 Benefits 14 3.1.3 Data collection process 15 3.2 Project Management Plan Sampling 15 3.2.1 Sampling and its purpose 15 3.2.2 Selection of sampling method .16 Finding 16 4.1 The result of structure questions .16 4.2 The result of Unstructured questions 22 4.3 Samarmy 24 Discussions and conclusion 24 5.1 Discussion of the research findings 24 5.2 Limitation of the study .28 5.3 Conclusion 28 5.4 Recommendation 28 Reflection .29 References 32 Appendix A 36 Appendix B 37 Apoendix C 39 Introduction 1.1 Aim and Objective  To discuss the impact of digital technology in supporting small business growth and  innovation To describe the challenge that small business has to face with while using digital technology 1.2 Project Management Plan 1.2.1 Scope of work According to Larson and Gray (2014), the files involve planning process and ensure the success of the project is the definition of Scope of Work (SOW) [CITATION Lar14 \l 1033 ] Mulcahy (2005) added more detail about SOW, this document helps the project team avoid the unnecessary work and prevent the waste of time [ CITATION Rit05 \l 1033 ] The researcher follows tasks:          Producing project Management Plan (A) Researching the general knowledge about digital technology, small business (B) Preparing questionnaire consisting of different types of question (C) All companies are sent the survey and required to fill it (D) All complete surveys are collected for data analysis (E) Analyzing the data and eliminate unacceptable survey (F) Writing the report base on the outcome of analysis (G) Giving the recommendation (H) Self-reflect after doing the project and doing logbook (I) 1.2.2 Cost managing Cost managing is the part of project management plan [ CITATION Rit05 \l 1033 ] This is the process of estimating, controlling, budgeting cost to make sure that the project realistic cost meet the provide budget [ CITATION TDJ15 \l 1033 ] Estimating Cost has to concern all the work needed to complete them There are two most useful ways to have to estimate is Bottom-up estimating and Top-Down Estimating Base on the propose of the project, one of two ways will be chosen to use by the project manager [CITATION Lar14 \l 1033 ] Budgeting cost is the collection of estimating cost The closest meeting of cost baseline is a measure of project success, so the budgeting cost cannot be ignored Otherwise, the cost baseline and cost budget are the principle for estimators to comparing and estimate more detail and higher level [ CITATION Rit05 \l 1033 ] The last one is cost control which similar to others control process, controlling the internal and external factors impact the budget cost This is also the following part of cost budget [CITATION Lar14 \l 1033 ] No Task Producing project Management Plan (A) List of activities Internet fee Borrowing book fee Researching the general knowledge about Internet fee digital technology, small business (B) Preparing questionnaire consisting Borrowing book fee Budget Cost 100,000 VND 50,000 VND of Internet fee Printing fee different types of question (C) All companies are sent the survey and Internet fee Cost of Delivery required to fill it (D) Fax fee All complete surveys are collected for data Printing Fee Cost of Delivery analysis (E) Internet fee Analyzing the data and eliminate Internet fee Electricity Cost unacceptable survey (F) Writing the report base on the outcome of Internet fee Browning Books analysis (G) Electricity Cost Buying Books Giving the recommendation (H) Electricity Cost Self-reflect after doing the project and Electricity Cost 150,000 VND 200,000 VND 200,00 VND 50,000 VND 300,000 VND 20,000 20,000 doing logbook (I) 1.2.3 Quantity Management Quantity Management is the list of policies and procedures in order to help the researcher can meet the aim and objective of the project Rita Mulcahy (2005) provides that this management process including three main phases: quality planning, perform quality assurance and perform quality control To provide a quantitative research can meet the aim and objective of the project, the researcher does those rules:     Researching from a reliable source Reviewing the questionnaire with the lecture Every part of the research should be checked by lecture The questionnaire should not too short or too long 1.2.4 Project Communication Communication planning provides information and communicates with the stakeholder During the early of the project management, the stakeholder not only needs to know their duty and their responsivity but also how frequently, when, whom, what method to the community with [ CITATION Rit05 \l 1033 ] Producing Project the This task needs to have a talk with lecturer and librarian This is the first sections of the reports Management Plan This task helps the researcher in planning, managing and controlling the project Researching The communicating method for this task is face-to-face Communicating with a librarian for doing this task about digital In the first step of the research technology, small To have the idea of digital technology business Preparing Thought the e-mail or face-to-face the Need to have a talk with a lecture questionnaire During the process of communication with small business The researcher needs a list of question can provide the necessary data for the research Delivering Can be through e-mail or face-to-face and Need to communicate with the director or vice-director of small business collecting the While the researcher need to complete the questionnaire questionnaire To collect the prime data of digital technology Contact by e-mail and fax the Need to have a talk with a lecturer Analyzing data and Writing After collecting all survey have been sent to companies the research and The researcher has an overview of own report and makes a correction to self-reflect the error Can be through e-mail or face-to-face 1.2.5 Risk Management In the book Project Management – The Managerial Process, Larson and Gray (2014) definite risk as unpredicted events have a positive and negative effect on the project objective Risk management has four steps:     Steps 1: Risk Identification Steps 2: Risk Assessment Steps 3: Risk Response Development Step 4: Risk Response Control Types of Risk Financial What does the Risk are? How can it happen? The budget cannot Having expectation events How to solve? Need to write down all demand the need expand Additional cost The Time Cannot submit sponsor have provides another plan for that lesser cost than plan the Wasting time research on time and unnecessary things situation on Using the timetable and have a short-term Do not distribute time target Quantity effectively The research has wrong The sources information objective The are not Reading more source to compare and in- researcher depth understanding misunderstands 1.2.6 Resource Management The researcher uses the source come from an online resource (online newspaper) and library resource (article, books, journals…) The online resource does not take too much time to find out the suitable information The effect sides of this resource are that it not always the academic or written base on once opinion [ CITATION Amy17 \l 1033 ] While using the library, the organization by cataloging and staff’s help, the researcher takes lesser time searching for a suitable resource than using the Internet However, in the library, some source only have print-out, the limited opening time is its disadvantage [ CITATION Sim17 \l 1066 ] 1.2.7 Work Breakdown Structure With the help of Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), the project will be more simple and take the researcher lesser time than without it By using a hierarchical framework, the scope of work will be broken down into the smaller task [CITATION Lar14 \l 1033 ] Because of a smaller package, the cost, time, risk in each part will be measured easier and also the whole project [ CITATION Rit05 \l 1033 ] Those are the reason why WBS needs to a successful project even in a small once It cannot be denied that the digital technology has an impact on small Vietnamese business Digital technology brings business both advantage and disadvantage However, the benefits are larger so the business will not ignore the opportunity of using digital technology Moreover, digital technology is an indispensable part of the major business, so that the business needs to maximum exploit technology Though small business in Vietnam is still lack of experience while comparing with larger business or business have the same scale in Southeast Asia Small business in Vietnam should focus on digital technology as the biggest factors of growth and innovation 5.4 Recommendation According to the previous paragraph, a small business in Vietnam can find the way to solve the challenge yet the root is employees Despite investing in new technology or changing digital time to time, business should invest more inhuman Before opening the training course, the manager should analysis which term will apply after doing the training and the purpose of them Moreover, the owner should have digital support culture from the early days This culture can help the company hire employees easier and avoid top talent employees work in the competitor or turnover If a company have talented employees and a friendly culture is no reason for it does not innovate Reflection This report is “The impact of digital technology in supporting small business innovation and growth” There are three objectives of this report The first one is the method does small business use digital technology and which activities dose they apply Secondly, to find out the benefit of digital technology in supporting small business’s growth and innovation The last is some problem while small business tries to apply digital technology After doing the report, all the aim of the objective has been met With the first objective, the Social network is the most effective digital technology in respective mind and business activities dose digital technology support is promoting and informing Question to in the survey is the one help me to find out that information Moreover, digital technology helps small business in any sections, especially in term of connecting and managing To achieve this objective, I have asked respective question and 7, which contain the question of how they feel the importance of digital technology and which is the most impact digital technology support small business Even those question have limited chose, those are the most method and activities dose business use So, it is no barren for I to achieve this objective And the last objective can be achieved through three question, which contains two structure question and one unstructured question The biggest challenge small business has to face with while apply digital technology is the shortage of talent IT’s employees This research has pointed out that, almost small business cannot find the best ways to solve those and apply digital technology However, I have so many problems while doing this report The requirements of the research are doing a survey with 30 small business However, not all of all business answering the survey or not in time As the result, I have to ask 50 small business to the survey and only 38 of them replied Moreover, about business did not answer all the question that means to collect enough required survey, I have to more and contact with more business Moreover, the late respond of those business leaders to the project does not follow the schedules By undertaking this project, I have learned and collected much precious knowledge for doing a project Firstly, I can learn how to create a successful project by using the right method, tool Before learning about this subject, I not have any knowledge about Gantt Chart and how it applies and how to manage my time effectively Now, after doing the project, I use Gantt Chart regular not only for doing the assignment but also for my personal life Although I still lack time in this project at least I can submit the project on time Another benefit I can learn after doing this subject is a deeper knowledge of digital technology By doing research for doing a literature review, I can understand what digital actually means Moreover, this also helps me to know that the importance of digital technology in my future career For reasonably, every company is applying digital technology and some of their problems is lacking employee’s IT skill So, if I have learned and practiced more about more subject relate to digital technology, I will have a higher chance of working in a good business Not only the knowledge of digital technology helps me in the future career but also manage project dose Some skill in management project such as manage time, cost, the risk is also which I still lack With the knowledge I can learn in this subject helps me to improve myself every day and can produce the new project in future effectively References Alvi, M., 2016 A Manual for Selecting Sampling Techniques in Research [Online] Available at: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/70218/ [Accessed 28 April 2018] Barton, A., 2017 WHY ONLINE PRESENCE IS IMPORTANT? 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[Online] Available at: https://www.techwalla.com/articles/what-is-digital-technology [Accessed 15 March 2018] Fuller, S., 2017 Advantages & Disadvantages of a Library [Online] Available at: https://penandthepad.com/advantages-disadvantages-library-12026606.html [Accessed 15 March 2018] Gebhart, M., Giessler, P & Abeck, S., 2016 The Eleventh International Conference on Software Engineering Advances Challenges of the Digital Transformation in Software Engineering, pp 136-141 GREGORY, A., 2017 33 Ways to Use Technology In Your Small Business [Online] Available at: https://www.thebalancesmb.com/how-to-technology-in-small-business2951633 [Accessed 10 March 2018] Guta, M., 2018 52% of Small Businesses Post on Social Media Daily [Online] Available at: https://smallbiztrends.com/2018/03/how-small-businesses-use-social-mediain-2018.html [Accessed 10 March 2018] Hague, K., 2017 benefits to an online presence [Online] Available at: https://www.experian.co.uk/business-express/hub/blog/growth/6-benefits-toan-online-presence/ [Accessed 10 March 2018] HHS, 2017 DATA COLLECTION [Online] Available at: https://ori.hhs.gov/education/products/n_illinois_u/datamanagement/dctopic.html [Accessed 27 April 2018] Hồ, D., 2017 Social Media Việt Nam: Không dạo chơi! 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[Online] Available at: https://techvera.com/company-it-spend/ [Accessed May 2018] Mulcahy, R., 2005 PMP Exam Prep - Rita's Course in a Book for Passing the PMP Exam 3rd ed United States of America: RMC News, V N., 2016 SMEs urged to use digital technology [Online] Available at: http://vietnamnews.vn/economy/345548/smes-urged-to-use-digitaltechnology.html#d2JfBb2tDhdFxQQQ.97 [Accessed 14 March 2018] Phoraris, S., 2016 Online Recruitment: the Advantages and Disadvantages [Online] Available at: https://www.careeraddict.com/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-onlinerecruitment [Accessed 10 March 2018] Phùng, N., 2016 Social Media Marketing cho doanh nghiệp nhỏ [Online] Available at: http://www.brandsvietnam.com/congdong/topic/2230-Social-MediaMarketing-cho-cac-doanh-nghiep-nho [Accessed 12 March 2018] ResearchMethodology, 2016 Data Collection Methods [Online] Available at: https://research-methodology.net/research-methods/data-collection/ [Accessed 27 April 2018] Steward, P., 2017 Organizational Change Management: A Make or Break Capability for Digital Success [Online] Available at: https://www.cognizant.com/whitepapers/organizational-changemanagement-a-make-or-break-capability-for-digital-success-codex2395.pdf [Accessed 13 May 2018] Whaley, K., 2015 Essential Benefits of Email Marketing for Business Owners [Online] Available at: https://www.b2bmarketing.net/en-gb/resources/blog/8-essential-benefitsemail-marketing-business-owners [Accessed 10 March 2018] Whitmyre, A., 2017 Advantages & Disadvantages of Online & Library Research [Online] Available at: https://classroom.synonym.com/advantages-disadvantages-of-onlinelibrary-research-12273751.html [Accessed March 2018] Williams, M., 2014 THE IMPORTANCE AND ADVANTAGES OF HAVING AN ONLINE PRESENCE FOR YOUR BUSINESS [Online] Available at: https://www.wsiwebsense.com/advantages-of-having-an-online-presence/ [Accessed 10 March 2018] Worthington, I & Britton, C., 2015 The Business Evironment 7th ed Singapore: Pearson Appendix A Cover letter 27 March 2018 Dear Respondent, Questionnaires on ‘The impact of digital technology on small business’s growth and innovation’ My name is Nguyen Le Thao Huong, secondary students of Baking Academy of Vietnam, studying Finance –Banking major I would like to receive your help for the assignment for my Managing a Successful Business Project subject This survey has 10 questions in term of your organization and digital technology impact yours The result of this survey will be used for my research and take no more than 10 minutes Your data that I received will be kept in secret So, please freely to answer without concern about information leaking Plese, answer each question as objective as possible If you not understand any question, you can contact me via e-mail (n.l.t.huong1998@gmail.com) or phone (+84915123333) Your brand name will be private Please fill the survey before May 2018 Thank you for your cooperate Best regards, Nguyen Le Thao Huong Appendix B Questionnaire □ □ □ □ How many employees dose you have in your company? One-person agency Less than 10 employees From 10 to less than 30 employees From 30 to 50 employees □ □ □ □ □ The average percentage of revenue does your company invest in technology for over 12 months? Less than 1% From 1% to less than 3% From 3% to less than 4.5% From 4.5% to less than 6% More than 6% □ □ □ Does your company use online presence recently? Yes No Sometime □ □ □ □ Which online presence you think are the most useful? Social Media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter …) Mobile apps Though your own website Via E-mail Which business activities does your business use online presence for? (you can choose multiple answers for this question) □ For promoting and informing customers □ For selling and purchasing product and service □ For researching and developing product and service □ For recruiting □ □ □ □ How important is digital technology to your business growth and innovation? Not importance at all Not importance Importance Very importance What is the most positive impact of digital technology on your company? □ Easily to communicate with existing customers and targeting potential customers □ □ □ □ To communicate with supplier Innovation within business Back up office document Gaining more profit □ □ □ Do you find it hard to apply digital technology to your business? Yes No Maybe What is your business’s difficulties while applying digital technology? (You can choose multiple answers) □ Wasting a lot of money to purchase and operate □ Deal with change management □ Recruit and sustain creative talent □ Respond to an ever-increasing competitive environment □ Lose information 10 How can you overcome that problem? ………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………… Appendix C Logbook Name: Nguyen Le Thao Huong (Mary) Project title: The impact of digital technology in supporting small businesses growth and innovation Date Week Task achieve The definition and process of research (29-Jan – Feb): The requirement of this subject Introduction to What should and avoid while doing this subject MSBP Week 2+3 Taking the first steps of research, and gradually understand how to plan a (26-Feb – 4-Mar) project with seven elements Creating a project Understanding the propose of each project proposal and why I should planning need them before doing a project Seven elements in the lecturer’s guidance: project’s objectives, the scope of work, cost and budget plan, quality management Knowing about Gantt Chart, what is really are and how to draw a Gantt Chart Doing the Gantt Chart is also one of my biggest problems while doing this task This is the first time I had awarded of Gantt Chart and with a little knowledge of Excel, I did not know how to draw Gantt Chart Week 4+5 at first To have a deeper understanding of this project I spend two on this In the (5–Mar – 18 Mar) first week, I have to analysis the keyword (digital technology, small Doing Review Literature business, impact on growth and innovation) Literature review I research have to relate to the objective of the project While doing this task I have trapped in too many trouble while finding a resource reliable and have both author name and date Moreover, the resource I find suitable which my researcher is older than the Week 6+7 requirement (before 2013) In this week I have to choose 50 companies for doing the survey (19-Mar – 1-Apr) Although the required this 30 companies, the 20 more companies in case Sampling some companies did not answer the survey or notice The difficulty while I doing this task is while contact with 50 companies does not have enough (30) companies agree to help me, so I have to take longer This task takes longer than expected because lecturer has personal business during week Week I started making a questionnaire and cover letter However, making (2-Apr – 8-Apr) questionnaire it taking longer than I expect I have to continues to fix the Questionnaire Week 9+10+11 questionnaire until it can help me to meet the research objective After making the survey in the last week, the lecturer requests me to fix (9–Apr – 29-Apr) about half of the survey and this takes me more than two weeks to have Repairing the most complete survey to doing research questionnaire and At the moment, I contact small business the respondent is not as positive asking for doing) as I expected At the late of April, only 28 companies agree to the survey survey for me Moreover, because I have to fix my survey so I have to Week 12 ask them again while the survey competes perfectly Fortunately, in this week, I have the agreement of 38 companies This (30-Apr – May) means I have enough respondent to continue the research However, not Collecting and all of the companies answered all question, about companies avoid the analysis the survey question 10 (unstructured question) Not only that, drawing chart is taken more time than I expect because Week 13+14 Google Docs did not conduct the chart that I want While doing this task, it was not too hard for me because this part is (7 May – 20 May) working on my own ideas and the data that I collect However, some of Discussion finding of my ideas may be wrong so I have done research to provide my ideas and For the recommendation, the ideas may not wrong because I have never Recommendations experience that situation and the lack of knowledge Week 15 This week I also so have required to start doing the logbook This week is also the week I have to oral so I have to complete my (21-May– 27- research before the oral test and doing the logbook May) Doing the logbook may be the hardest task of this research because I Performance have to remain what I had done 15 weeks ago review I have to check schedule one again and all of my note However, the logbook has to have an overview of what I learn and how it helps in my future career Any risks and/or issues identified Lack of time, budget and quality is the man problem I have to face with That problem is the common for any project because of unexpected events, the sponsor did not rely on and so on Problems encountered The late of companies’ response may be the most lead to the lack of time Moreover, the questionnaire has not enough quality have also contributed to this problem The budget is not much as I expect so some step is not satisfying my standards This problem clear show in week 10, while I have to fix the survey and contact with the company at the same time New ideas and change of project direction Overall, I have no need to change my idea to exclude communicate with respondent In the next project, I need to contact they though phone than e-mail E-mail takes longer to reply and cannot solve some problem in the real-time Supervisor comment to address: The lecturer gives me a range of comment Firstly, the length of one paragraph should be shorter (about 3-5 lines) and how to citation right In the cost management, I was wrong at first, I divide the table base into the activities However, the lecturer requires to divided base the scope of the project The one I have to change most is a questionnaire, which I have to changes about times before sent to the companies I was fixed too much about my English and the content of the survey While doing the oral exam I have required to fix the scope of study that I means also have to fix all of chapter ... collecting the While the researcher need to complete the questionnaire questionnaire To collect the prime data of digital technology Contact by e-mail and fax the Need to have a talk with a lecturer... Moreover, while the researcher using Google Docs, the time is shorter This tool auto-generate charts base the types of the question 3.1.3 Data collection process Data collection process is the collection... data collection method secondary data collection methods and primary data collection methods The sooner is a type of data which have been published, while the latter is the original data collected