A Critical Analysis of the Process of Developing Students Lottery (Essay Sample)

A critical analysis of the process of developing student lottery
Student’s name
Course name and number
Instructor’s name
Date of submission
Introduction
A business by the name "Students Lottery" engages in selling tickets for winning prizes to students in the tower bar of the University of Lincoln. The prizes won depends on the content of the ticket purchased. There are 10 prizes won at end of the sale of tickets in which each ticket has a description of the prize won. Those students who lose get tickets written "Thank you”, appreciating them for their active participation even if they lost. The prizes won by the students include laptops and nightclub tickets.
Four people manage the lottery business, each individual being responsible for his or her sector as there are four sectors. Those sectors are the finance part in charge of controlling all the resources in the business. The marketing sector is accountable for the management of sale of the tickets and makes sure that the customer’s needs and tastes are fulfilled. The sale sector ensures that the tickets are sold to the students and decide on the most appropriate methods and time of selling them. Lastly, there is the product sector that ensures that the tickets are printed well and in time and buys, the prizes won in the lottery.
The lottery business is more or less similar to gambling games, which have a lot of influence to people living in the United Kingdom CITATION Pre13 \l 1033 (Press 2013). The only difference between the Students Lottery and gambling is that one is only allowed to buy one ticket daily at a price of one pound. In gambling, one buys as many tickets depending on his or her purchasing power leading to use of resources meant for other purposes in gambling. The only similarity is that they are addictive making the students participate daily and in the process they get prizes such as laptops. The tickets are however offered at a reasonable price of one pound so that all students can manage to pay for them. Therefore, the problem gambler is much reduced among the students who are the target clients of the business.
In the course of planning for the business enterprise, a market research is done among the students in the tower bar of the University of Lincoln. According to the total number of students that participated in the research, 80% like the business while the 20% does not. As the majority of the students like it, it is at a higher opportunity of growing fast in a very short period. The use of social media like Twitter is in the process, a step that will help in maximizing the sale of tickets and channel of information to the students on the progression of the business without meeting them in person.
The partners of this business aim at increasing their sales with time so that they can have enough resources to start similar businesses all over the country. This is a wonderful move as they will be at a better place to take over all the lottery businesses within the country. Having many branches commensurate making more profits in all the branches scattered in the country. This paper aims at getting an analysis of the procedure used while developing a business plan by considering the Students Lottery.
Merits of the opportunity
The lottery business is likely to grow as it is based on gambling, an activity liked by most people in the United Kingdom. Statistics made by the Gambling Commission shows that 73% of the people in UK have engaged in gambling at least once in their lifetime CITATION Pre13 \l 1033 (Press 2013). Therefore, it is a very opportunistic business to venture in, as students are no exemptions from the statistics results. The business will be a bit different from gambling, as students will win prizes some of which are helpful in improving their academic performance. The prizes are going to persuade more students to try their luck in winning them. They will thus play many times and inform other students to buy the tickets making a chance in winning the prizes.
The business does not cause a problem gambler although it is based on gambling. The tickets are sold at one pound each, which is a fair price to the students at the University of Lincoln. More so, there are rules governing the lottery such that a student is only allowed to buy one ticket daily. This rule ensures that all students have equal opportunities in winning the prizes and will do away with chances of a student engaging in crime in order to get money for buying many tickets daily CITATION Joa14 \l 1033 (Saisan 2014). More so, none of the student will overspend his/her pocket money in buying many tickets while foregoing other important items such as books and pens.
The business is helpful to students who are the participants of the lottery. After buying a ticket daily, the students will be in a position to win different prizes like shopping vouchers. However, not all students win the prizes; some walk away empty handed to try another time. Winning depends on the content of the ticket, as those with the words ‘thank you’ will have to try their luck another time. The different prizes won in the lottery, which include laptops and shopping vouchers, will be useful to students and even motivate them to work harder in their schoolwork.
The lottery business needs less amount of capital in order to start. The only amount needed at the beginning is that of printing the tickets. It is after selling them that the money for buying the prizes can be got making it easier to start it. According to the financial plan, only 31 pounds are needed to print the 520 tickets. This amount is small and can be got easily without borrowing loans from financial institutions, which are some interests CITATION Tho13 \l 1033 (Piketty 2013).
The lottery is easy to manage as only four people are needed each heading his or her sector. These sectors are four, namely: the sales, finance, marketing and the product sector. The management is also flexible in that the head of one department can help the head of another department in case there is need for an extra hand in the course of running the business. Flexibility will ensure that no sector is left behind in the growth of the business such that no retardation will be experienced.
The partners have fully used opportunity recognition theories in determining the type of business activity to venture. The theories are useful when one is opening a fresh business as they help one critically analyze the business fully. The urge to continue doing the business depends on how the partners find it after putting the theories in consideration. The main objective of the theories is to come up with a type of business, which is gainful. The partners forego the unprofitable businesses and only take the most profitable one in case they have many choices of business ideas.
Market research
In carrying out the market research, a survey is carried out in the tower bar of the University of Lincoln. The target group for this survey are the students who are asked on their views about the "Student Lottery" business CITATION Don \l 1033 (Doman 2006). During the survey, telephone calls are made to different students in order to gather data on the lottery. The main reason for using telephone calls is that research has proved that most people in the UK own a phone. Therefore, it is easy to reach out many students in a month; the time allocated to the survey.
The telephone survey is also cheaper and more effective than other types of surveys like the mail and in-person survey. The mail surveys, which entail sending questionnaires to the target group, may fail due to unanswered questions as well as their low rates of responsiveness, which is about 3 to 5 percent CITATION Don \l 1033 (Doman 2006). The in-person surveys are tiresome and require many people while approaching a large number of people. The telephone survey is therefore the most appropriate way of carrying out the market research although interviews are also used in this case as they offer a chance for getting clearer feedback. Out of all the students involved, 80% gave a positive review on the "Students Lottery" while the 20% did not like the idea. These results are encouraging and motivate the entrepreneurs in starting up the business as majority of the students like what they are up to.
During the process, the entrepreneurs are able to gather different information about their business to be. The students proposes the kinds of presents that they want to be winning, an information that enables the entrepreneurs know what the students like and therefore they can modify it before the business commence CITATION The10 \l 1033 (The Staff of Entrepreneur Media 2010). Apart from that, the entrepreneurs are able to know where the lottery tickets are affordable to the students. The information on the affordability of the tickets helps the entrepreneurs approximate the number on students who can buy the tickets even before starting the business. In case many students complain on the cost of tickets, the entrepreneurs have to reduce it in order to suit the student’s purchasing power.
The partners need to have an analysis on their customers who are students and see how long they can rely on them. This step helps in knowing whether the business will grow or will just boom and then fail. Many business enterprises start without the entrepreneurs taking chance in considering the duration the customers will be stuck with them. Another way of finding out whether the business will go further is by ensuring that they have savings for their business. The partners having a joint business should not share all the profit but should share some and save the rest of the money. This amount will be useful when planning to start similar lottery business across the country.
Financial planning
The Stu...