Corporate Governance and Employee Remuneration - Essay Example

Technology plan Our key technology concerns are the ability to develop a technology that contributes to a better shopping experience for customers and hence increasing sales for our clients. In addition, we are concerned about development of a technology that will help us to efficiently serve our customers at all time. The reliability of our 3D software as described above at all times is of great concern to us. As such, we aim at hiring the most experienced and qualified IT and computer engineering experts who will solely be responsible for the development and maintenance of the software. An investment in quality 3D design experts is viewed as being of vital investment towards the success of our company. In addition, it will be observed below that most of our board members are experts in the area of our specialization and hence they will be of great help to our technical team. As far as our business software needs are concerned, our top priority is the actual ‘Fiddit virtual 3D “Try on” software. In these regard, we have identified a range of 3D computer aided software that will be used by the 3D design experts in developing and running the product. Our operating system which will be windows 8.1 operating system will therefore support the Autodesk 3ds 2014 software that we intend to use in designing and developing the Fiddit 3D try on application. We also need other office software that will enable for ease of communication between us and our customers at all times including a reliable internet over which communication will be conducted. In this regard, our computers will be installed with both Google Chrome web browser and Mozilla Firefox web browser. However, we have already developed an application we are calling Fiddit communicate which is supposed to ease all form of communication both with our clients and also within Fiddit. We also have hardware needs which include computers into which the software will be installed. The computer specifications will include CPU specifications of 64-bit Intel, Graphic hardware wizard which will also include graphic cards that will support Fiddit 3D designing. The computers will have installed RAM of 8GB with a disk space of 4.5 GB and the sensor mouse.We also need phones and internet hardware for ease of communication between us and our clients. We do not envisage any consulting needs for our business. This is because we are the developers of the software and hence we know everything about its operation and control as well as other aspects. In addition, all our employees will be trained on all details to do with our product so that they can assist our clients whenever they are called upon to do so. This will be supported by the quality technology and communication hardware and software that we intend to buy or develop. Overall we will employ ten IT and computer engineering experts who will in conjunction with our board members be responsible for design, development and installation as well as running of our software in our clients online apparel shops. However, it should be noted that the maintenance of all our hardware will be outsourced since it will entail some cost savings as opposed to employing someone to perform this function. This is because the hardware rarely breaks down hence it is more economical to outsource this function as opposed to employing someone to perform this function. Management and organization Byron Hugh Byron is a graduate of Harvard University where he graduated with a bachelor of business and information technology. Prior to his joining Harvard, he had a higher diploma in computer science from the Technology college of Carolina. He has ventured in establishment of many technology businesses for a number of years and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in business administration. He is currently the chief executives officer of Byron technologies and hence he brings in a wealth of experience to our company. He will be our technical lead. He will be responsible for transformation of data to computer interface equations and for interpreting the equation outcomes into useful results. In addition, Byron will also serve as the company’s president. James Sake James has a five years’ experience as an independent computerprogrammer having consulted for a number of companies also. James will be our research and technology advisor. He has a bachelor’s degree in computer science MIT as well as a software development certificate from California College. He has also developed various 3D software programs for various apparel industries. He will be responsible for designing data collection processes as well as collecting and interpreting data. Wilson Ng Ng brings in a five years’ experience in information systems management in the apparel industry. In addition, it should be noted that he has been the designer and the sales lead in Fits.me for the last one year. She graduated with a computer engineering degree from Harvard University but he also holds a marketing degree from London school of business. Ng will be our sales lead where he will be the major overseer for all design aspects and will also be responsible for ensuring that the company achieves its sales targets. Taekyun Tom Lee Lee graduated from the Cambridge school of business with a bachelor’s degree in business and information technology. He has been the business lead for care.com which provides products similar to ours to the medical care industry. Lee will be our business lead responsible for all written documentation while assisting in data analysis. Alex Stephens Alex obtained his mechanical engineering degree from the University of Cape Town. He later pursued a master’s degree in business administration with a bias in marketing from Leicester University. He has vast experience in technical marketing having worked for yahoo as a marketing executive for the last five years.Alex will be our marketing lead who will oversee all marketing activities while acting as a consultant in all business aspects. Zihao Shen Shen has a bachelor’s degree in finance from the London school of economics. He also has vast experience having worked in the finance team of BHP Billiton Australia for the last six years. Shen will be our financial advisor who will oversee all financial activities. He will also act as a consultant in all financial matters. The following is the organizational structure for Fiddit As stated above, we will initially hire ten additional staff to help the partners/directors start up and run the company initially. The nature of the positions for which we will employ staff are explained in the staff plan below; a) Marketing and sales executives We believe that a strong marketing department will be vital to our company’s success. As such, we intend to undertake aggressive marketing of our product to our potential customers so that we can achieve our sales and profits milestones stated below. In this regard, we seek to employ marketing and sales experts to help us in this respect. Those employed will be responsible for marketing our company and product to various online apparel shops. As such, they will have to have a career background in marketing. In addition, they will be required to have basic knowledge of 3D software. This will ensure that after induction, they will be able to demonstrate to potential customers how our product works and hence improve their chances of winning the customer. As such, their basic qualifications will have to include a basic degree in marketing as well as a diploma in information technology. b) 3D designers We believe that by continually being innovative, we will be able to stay ahead of competition and hence remain relevant in the market. As such, we will seek to employ experts in 3D designing who will continually come up with innovative products for our company while ensuring that the current 3D product remains ahead of the competition. As such, those to be employed for this function will have to possess basic degrees in computer related designs, computer science or information technology. They will also be required to possess five years’ experience in a similar field as a minimum. This will ensure we attract and retain a pool of best experts which will be an added advantage for our company. c) Accountant Prudent financial management is also considered key to organizational success. As such, the company will be looking for an accountant to work in conjunction with our financial director in order to prudently manage all the company’s funds and revenues. The successful candidate will be required to have basic qualifications in accounting and finance. This will entail a bachelor’s degree in accounting and finance as well as other relevant qualifications such as CPA or CFA. In addition, the candidate will be required to have at least five years of professional experience as a basic minimum. He will also assist the financial advisor in setting up sound financial systems for the company. d) Computer specialists The company will also be seeking to employ computer specialists who will help the various directors in various technical issues related to our Fiddit 3D product. They will also form part of our technical team. Their basic qualifications will be basic degrees in computer science and information technology. They will also have to have two years of relevant experience. As stated below, the company will also establish an internship program that will cover the various fields represented in Fiddit. This will also form a pool of potential employees to the company. Corporate governance and employee remuneration All the directors with exception of our president have agreed that they will not be drawing any salary or allowance from the company until the company starts operating profitably. On the other hand, the president who will also oversee the day to day running of the organization will be entitled for a monthly salary of $2,500 as the starting salary. However, when the company starts operating profitably, these terms will have to be reviewed in accordance to the terms that will exist then. In addition, the employees who will be employed will be given salaries ranging from $1,500 to $5,000 per month depending on their qualifications and output. Similarly, the terms will be reviewed when the company starts operating profitably. Management style We envisage a Fiddit family where everybody feels part of Fiddit and hence responsible for the company’s growth. As such, the management will use a management style that allows the subordinates to take part in decision making pertaining to their work while granting them considerable autonomy in performing their duties. We envisage the style used in IBM where workers are given autonomy if finishing their projects though with a lot of responsibility. This way, we feel each of the Fiddit members will be responsible for the company’s exemporary performance. Community involvement and social responsibility Fiddit will be a strong believer of the fact that the society has given us the chance to exist. It is the society that gives us resources, workers and also the source of our revenue. As such, we will dedicate 5 % of our annual profits every year to communal projects. Half of this will be dedicated to providing scholarships to the less fortunate in the society while the rest will be donated to communal projects such as schools and hospitals. In addition, we will offer five internship to students graduating from local institutions every year so as to enhance their employability. We believe that such initiatives will also go a long way into marketing us as a company that cares about the community where we exist. It should be noted that part of our startup funds are intended to come from an incubation fund that funds technological startups up to 20% of their capital requirements. As such we also intend to set aside 2% of our annual profits in establishing such a fund. This way, we believe that we will have gone a long way into giving back to the society. We will also have an environmental care program which we envisage to sponsor with 5% of our annual profits. In this regard, the company will aim at planting 2000 trees every year in the local schools and hospitals. This way, we will also be marketing ourselves as a company that cares about our environment. Development, Milestones and exit plans We aim at recouping back our initial investment within the next three years. as such, we should have started operating profitably by the fourth year since our starting operations. Although our type of business does not need a lot of employees, we envisage doubling our initial number of employees to 20 by the end of five years. However, most of this will be based in the marketing department since the other area is mainly software maintenance and installation that does not require a lot of employees. We aim at increasing our marketing efforts so that we can have more than twenty online apparel shops using our software by the end of five years from the two who have already confirmed that they will be purchasing our software currently. By the end of five years, we envisage our sales revenues to hit the $ 1 million mark with our profitability being $150, 000. We also envisage going global within our first five years with our first overseas office being opened in New York. It should be noted that our type of business are usually faced with highstartupcosts as well as competition. Being able to find customers who will give us high amounts of revenue is also a problem experienced by companies in our industry. Our company is not an exception and hence we must put in place measures to overcome these risks. One of the strategies that we will use to ensure that we succeed in the market and hence operate ahead of our major competitor fits.me is through use of aggressive marketing. Furthermore, we plan to develop a high quality product that will be superior to that of fits.me as well as above those of any emerging competitors. We also plan to offer our product at a price that is five percent less than that which is currently being offered by fits.me. It is our belief that the aggressive marketing strategy, the high quality product strategy and the low pricing strategy will ensure that we achieve all our milestones stated above. Exit strategy After our business turns out to be very successful, the partners are in agreement that we will convert the business into a public company by listing it in the stock exchange. As such, the partners will be able to reap from the capital gains while still being able to expand into new markets. However, should the project fail to generate enough profits such that it allows us to list on the stock exchange owing to its attractiveness, we intend to sell it to a third party dealing with similar products such as the fits.me. Read More