UNIT 6
Managing a Successful
Business Project
Milestone 3 – Presenting and Communication
the Findings
Author’s Name: Imran Imtiaz Butt
/2018
Table of Content:
S. No Topic Page No.
1 Literature Review 3
2 Research Methodology 6
3 Results and Finding 7
4 Conclusion 15
5 Recommendations 15
6 References 16
7 Appendix A 17
8 Performance review of the Project 19
2
1. Literature Review:
1.1. Introduction:
In recent years, digital technology has played an important role in boosting businesses for
companies. Digital technology has been revolutionizing many sectors whether they are
belonging to food, retail, transportation or hospitality industries. For example, Uber and Airbnb
have shaped the dynamics of transportation and hospitality sector by giving customers a
reliable platform where they can book their ride or accommodation place at ease. Similarly,
technology have played an important role in booming food industry by providing customer a
platform where they can select and order their favorite food available in restaurants situated in
the vicinity of their areas. This report will examine the impact of Just Eat upon the UK’s food
market. As takeaway restaurants are situated everywhere in UK which are also termed as the
engine of economic growth. Hence these takeaways are embracing digital technology for the
growth of their business and to satisfy the appetite of their customers through online ordering.
1.2. E-Commerce:
Electronic Commerce or E-commerce is considered to be a powerful tool of recent times. This
tool brings the people on one page while buying or selling goods and services. It is the
phenomenon in which the data can shared with the customers and service provider on internet
in order to do business. It is however the related to the use of internet and other equivalent IT
services for organizational communication and management of the firm. By substituting paper
based methods and manual operations with electronic procedures and by utilizing information
trails in new and active ways are all related to e-commerce. Hence, e-commerce can boost up
business by using high speed processes of ordering, delivering and paying for services and
goods as well as minimizing the costs which are used in operations and inventory management
(Maner, 2007). Just Eat is also based on e-commerce where it connects customers with
takeaway restaurant and also deals their transactions electronically. The advent of e-commerce
has created many opportunities for SMEs and restaurant businesses but there are some
advantages as well as some disadvantages of this modern technology (Poon and Swatman,
1999).
1.3. Advantages of E-Commerce:
1. 24/7 Buying and Selling:
Due to the use of e-commerce, now the customers can buy goods and order services 24/7, 365
days a year. This creates an opportunity for businesses to grow more and more.
3
2. Decrease in operational cost and overheads:
E-commerce can decrease operational costs and overheads of the company in the form of
online transactions which cannot require any persons’ assistance and physical location to
entertain customers.
3. Smooth Business Operation:
The takeaway businesses can take maximum advantage from e-commerce in a way that they
would require any type of office or takeaway counters where they take orders from customers
and deal with crowd. The customers can easily pick and place order while sitting at his/her
home.
4. Price comparison:
It is now become easy for customers to compare prices and quality of product from different
suppliers and service providers which give customers decision making power for acquiring
services and ordering goods.
1.4. Disadvantages of E-Commerce:
1. Security concerns:
The transaction through e-commerce can be perceived by many users as unsafe and unreliable
medium. This perception is built up in users’ minds due to spreading of news as well as rumors
of online hacking and credit card password stealing (Messmer, 2001).
2. Guarantee issue:
In online shopping, there is no guarantee for quality of the product as the customer cannot
experience the product physically. There are chances that the product may differ from
presentation on internet.
3. Lack of Privacy:
The customers’ data and their information are important aspects, which has to be secured in
company’s database hence shows the credibility of that company. But there is a perception that
the data can be compromised through cyber attacks. However, it is ensured by companies
4
which collect customers’ data that their information and identity will be kept safe and will not
be shared with non-concerned entities.
4. Hidden costs:
Although online ordering is suitable, the price of this convenience is not always apparent at the
front end. For example, online buying is frequently accompanied by elevated shipping and
restocking fees, unacceptable delivery times and lack of warranty coverage.
Advantages of online food ordering:
Despite of some disadvantages of e-commerce, online food ordering has many benefits which
contribute in the growth of economy (Summer, 2012). Some of the advantages are as follows:
1) Forming new and diverse operating condition for businesses, online food ordering has put
forward a novel vision to the relationships between buyers and sellers.
2) Online food delivery boosts up sales and increases revenues for takeaways businesses and
related companies. The sales are increased through publicity and marketing. People can
view and try food of those restaurants which have better reviews and recommendations.
3) Online food ordering encourages restaurants owners to improve quality of their food so
that they can receive positive feedbacks from customers.
4) Takeaway businesses can have opportunity to market their product on online portals such
as Just Eat or Takeaway.com so that more and more people get to know the portfolio and
specialties.
1.5. Difference between online ordering and conventional ordering of food:
The differences between classical ordering and online ordering of food are quite much apparent
in form of information, management and marketing point of view (Dhamija, 2008). The
conventional method for ordering food is via telephone, and online method is through using
food ordering portals such as Just Eat. Some of the differences are mentioned in the following
table:
Services Conventional Method Online Method
Information about the menu and food
Advertisements or vis-à-vis Internet and social media
items
Ordering medium Telephone E-commerce
Information about the prices Advertisements or vis-à-vis Internet and social media
Promotion campaigns and sales None Yes
5
Concept of standards for food delivery Sometimes Yes
Time period for services Limited 24/7
Delivery time Unknown Speedy
Fake order ratio High Very low
2. Research Methodology:
This research is aimed to analyze the impact of digital technology on restaurant businesses and
food services as internet has become so much common among the people that companies are
now digitally promote their products and sell their goods online. Now many people prefer
mobile apps for their online shopping rather than physically go outside. In this scenario, the
businesses are transformed from physical entity to digital reality (Chan et. al., 1997). In this
research, a random number of people were chosen to participate in the study in order to
express their views over usage of online services for ordering food. However, research methods
are used to classify problems, collect information, analyze data, develop theories and propose
result along with conclusions and recommendations (Clifford, 1927). In that case, qualitative,
quantitative or mixed methods are applied so that proper data can be collected and processed
accordingly. In this report, the quantitative method is used by distributing questionnaires
among the participants in order to record their data and draw outcome.
2.1. Quantitative Research:
The quantitative method can be used to verify and correlate hypothesis from the data collected
from a large and randomly selected participants. The collected data from this method is
statistical and can be applicable upon any other group keeping in mind the error factor
(Johnson & Christensen, 2008). In this report, the quantitative method is used and the data is
analyzed through graphical representation and pie charts.
2.2. Questionnaire:
Questionnaires are the medium to collect data from participants through open-ended or
closed-ended questions in which participants express their views so that their feedback can be
processed via statistical data processing software or manually through graphical representation
(Buttle, 2009). In this report, the semi-structured questionnaire is used which included mostly
closed-ended questions and some open-ended questions (see questionnaire in Appendix A).
2.3. Sampling:
The stratified random sampling method is used in this report which is based on the participants’
age and their preferences over using mobile app for ordering food online. There were total 14
6
participants participated in the research who successfully gave their views as per the
questionnaire.
3. Results and Findings:
The major aim of this report is to explore the impact of digital technology upon small
businesses which is done by collecting feedback from 14 participants having different ages by
giving preferences to the use website and mobile app (Just Eat) for ordering food. This app is
based on online food ordering and delivery services which can create impact upon small
businesses related to restaurants and food cafes. The target sample of this report is those
people who have at least ordered their food through online service once in their lifetime. The
questionnaire included 9 closed-ended and 1 open-ended questions which are associated with
the behavior of utilizing online food delivery services. The responses from the participants are
shown below:
3.1. Demographic Profile:
The demographics of the participants were classified by their gender and age in this report
(shown in table 1). However, the majority are female in this research which somehow indicates
that females are more likely to order food online as compared to their male counterpart
(shown in figure 1). The second variable of demographic profile is the age of the participants
which shows that about half of the participants were in the age of 26-35 years. However, there
was no such participant available who is above 50 years which shows that the trend of using
mobile apps such as Just Eat or Hungry is common in young people rather than those people
who are 50 years or above (shown in figure 2).
7
Figure 1: Gender profile of the participants
Figure 2: Age profile of the participants
8
Variable Subgroups N (14) %
42.8
Male 6
5
Gender
57.1
Female 8
4
14.2
16-25 2
8
57.1
26-35 8
4
Age
14.2
36-45 2
8
14.2
46-55 2
8
56-65 0 0
66+ 0 0
Table 1: Demographic profiles of the respondents
3.2. How often participants use Just Eat:
The use of mobile app for ordering food has now become common in society. The small
businesses such as restaurants offer facility for their customers to order food via their own
website or mobile app or via those apps which serve multiple restaurants such as Just Eat. This
self-services facility gives customers more level of control and options so that they can choose
from the variety of products from single platform (Sheryl & Phillip, 2011). The questionnaire
asked the participants that how often they use Just Eat app for ordering food. The response
from 5 participants dictated that they use the app 1-4 times a week which is very often.
However, 4 respondents stated that they use the app once every month. And the rest of the
respondents gave their response that they usually don’t use the app every month and marked
as others (see figure 3). Keeping the result in mind, it shows that the Just Eat app is quite
popular among the participants who usually order their food online.
9
Figure 3: How often the respondents use Just Eat app
3.3. Favorite Cuisine of the respondents:
The respondents were asked to tell their favorite food so majority of the respondents (40%)
told that their favorite cuisine is traditional Indian dishes such as Curry, Chicken Tikka etc. 30%
of the respondents replied that their favorite cuisine is pizza. While 10% respondents selected
Chinese cuisines and 5% said that they like Fish and Chips. However, the rest 15% respondents
marked their favorite cuisine as ‘Others’. From the response, it has become evident that most
of the people here in UK like Indian cuisines which include Curry, Chicken Tikka Masala, Butter
Chicken and many more. The Curry in UK is so much famous that the British people celebrate
National Curry week in the country (BBC Food, 2013).
10
Figure 4: Favorite cuisines of the respondents
3.4. Preferable medium for Takeaway:
According to the respondents, the most preferable medium to order takeaway is through
phone as eight (57.14%) respondents said that they prefer to directly call on official number of
the restaurant if they want to place order for their food. But six (42.85%) respondents prefer
Just Eat app when they need to avail takeaway. However, according to response, other than
Just Eat app has become unpopular among the respondents such as Hungry House (see figure
5).
11
Figure 5: Preferable medium for takeaway
3.5. Type of takeaway through Just Eat app:
Just similar to the previous response upon most favorite dish of the respondents, the most
takeaway through Just Eat app is also traditional Indian cuisines. 5 out of 14 participants point
out that they mostly order Indian cuisine through Just Eat app. 4 out of 14 participants gave
their response that they prefer pizza when they need to order the takeaway through the app.
However, it has been observed that most respondents avoid Chinese food and fish and chips as
their takeaway meal.
Figure 6: Type of takeaway mostly order by respondents through Just Eat app
12
3.6. Expenditure upon ordering food through Just Eat app:
The participants put forward their responses over the question of how much money they do
spend per month while ordering food through Just Eat app, where around 22% respondents
agreed that they spend £1-10 per month, around 21% respondents said that they spend £10-
20, approx 21% respondents respond that they spend around £40-60 while using Just Eat app to
order food per month. However, 36% respondents elaborated that they usually spend £20-40
whenever they use Just Eat application per month. Interestingly nobody spends more than £60
for takeaway through Just Eat app per month.
Figure 7: Expenditure of money per month upon takeaway through Just Eat
3.7. Increase or decrease in the amount of money spent since using Just Eat:
The questionnaire has one question for the participants that whether the amount of money
which they used to spend on Just Eat app has increased or decreased from their previous
budget, the majority of the participants (e.g. around 9 participants) have agreed upon the point
that they have increased their expenditure as compared to their previous amount of money
which they used to spend for ordering food through Just Eat application. Only 5 participants
responded that they have cut their expenditure on takeaways through Just Eat. However, it is
apparent that people used to increase their expenditure more and more if they frequently use
this app (see figure 8).
13
Figure 8: Increase or decrease in expenditure since using Just Eat by respondents
3.8. Perception of respondents upon Just Eat that whether it helps the small businesses to
grow or not:
By asking respondents that whether Just Eat helps the small businesses to grow or not, the
respondents unanimously agreed that Just Eat which is the UK’s leading online takeaway
website and mobile app can greatly benefit small businesses like restaurants or cafes to grow
more and more. These types of websites and apps are essential for small businesses as many
people have turned to mobile application usage and connected with the internet all the time.
The responses from the respondents are mentioned in below table:
S. No. Respondent Comment
1 Respondent 1 Get more customers
2 Respondent 2 Yes it has helped businesses
3 Respondent 3 Good for small businesses
4 Respondent 4 Great for business
5 Respondent 5 Gets more customers
6 Respondent 6 Yes it has helped businesses
7 Respondent 7 Good for advertising
8 Respondent 8 Yes with marketing
9 Respondent 9 If you don’t have cash you can pay by card
10 Respondent 10 Advertising and Marketing
14
11 Respondent 11 More people can see your business
12 Respondent 12 Does lots of marketing for the businesses
13 Respondent 13 Helped reach more customers
14 Respondent 14 Great platform to promote business
3.9. Perception of participants upon whether digital technology helps SME to innovate:
Majority of the participants have agreed to the point that digital technologies can help small to
medium sized enterprises to innovate more and to bring out new ideas. The digital technologies
constantly update customers and retailers about the new trends and preferences over
products. Around 11 participants agreed that digital technology is the vital part that drives
innovation in small businesses. However, only 3 participants disagreed that it can help small
businesses to promote innovation within the organization (see figure 9).
Figure 9: Views of respondents whether digital technologies help small businesses to innovate or not
15
4. Conclusion:
From the research, it has been concluded that digital technologies can create positive impact
on small businesses. The most of the respondents expressed that they often use Just Eat for
their takeaways and their spending are increasing the more they use this facility. Just Eat has
played an important role in the growth of restaurant and takeaway businesses as it has
provided a platform for the customers to locate any restaurant within the vicinity of the postal
code which they entered in the website. Through this, many entrepreneurs have gained
advantage in the form of getting more response and feedback from customers. In this case, the
feedback of customers forces many entrepreneurs to bring innovation in their businesses and
rectify the weak areas of the business. Just Eat launched its mobile app on March, 2011 for
Android and iPhone users through which it received more than a quarter of their orders directly
from mobile users and the numbers are still increasing till date. Through their commitments to
the users regarding the best services, it has now become one of the most popular websites and
mobile apps in United Kingdom (Just Eat, 2018). The respondents have also mentioned that
their most favorite item for takeaway is Indian Cuisine, which proves that traditional Indian
Cuisine is so much popular among the people of UK. However, apart from Indian dishes, Italian
food such as Pizza and pasta are also very famous in the country. But Chinese food is losing its
popularity according to the respondents’ reviews. Just Eat can also provided platform for those
restaurants who wish to market their newly unique dishes to the people and regain their lost
popularity. In short, there are many benefits of digital technology for small to medium sized
enterprises in case of takeaway businesses.
5. Recommendations:
Just Eat could do much to give benefits to its customers and the restaurants’ business owners.
Just Eat should also promote those restaurants which offer healthy diets and less caloric food
because now-a-days people are becoming so much conscious regarding their health. Just Eat
can also provide tracking on the orders upon those restaurants which are famous among the
users so that the delivery time can become minimized. Just Eat should also give rewards to
those restaurants which receive great compliments and all-stars from customers. It should also
recommend customers to try new stuff in the market by promoting cuisines so that people
could know about the newly entered cuisine in the market.
16
6. References:
BBC Food, (2013), “CURRY: WHERE DID IT COME FROM?”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/0/24432750
Buttle, F., (2009), “CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT: CONCEPTS AND TECHNOLOGIES”
Chan, S., Huff, L., Barclay, D. W., & Copeland, D. C. (1997), “BUSINESS STRATEGIC ORIENTATION,
INFORMATION SYSTEMS STRATEGIC ORIENTATION, AND STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT”
Clifford Woody, (1927), “AN ARTICLE IN THE JOURNAL OF SOCIAL STUDIES RESEARCH”
Dhamija, S. (2008). Online Food Ordering: The Internet Advantage. Retrived From The Web: 24
March 2012, URL: http://www.articlesbase.com/food-andbeverage-articles/online-food-
ordering-the-internet-advantage-679401.html
Johnson, B., & Christensen, L., (2008) “EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH: QUANTITATIVE, QUALITATIVE,
AND MIXED APPROACHES”
Just Eat (2018), https://www.just-eat.co.uk/
Maner, M . (2007). Electronic Business. Retrived From The Web: 20 February 2007, URL:
http://pigseye.kennesaw.edu/~mam7384/Final%20Project.html
Messmer, Ellen, “Visa presses for e-comm security in wake of credit card theft”, Network
World, March 12, 2001, pg. 10, Volume 18, Number 11
Poon, S., & Swatman, P. (1999). An exploratory study of small business Internet commerce
issues. Information and Management, 35(1), 9–18.
Senecal, S., & Nantel, J. (2001). Online interpersonal influence: A framework Retrieved 2012-05-
10 Available from
Sheryl E. Kimes, & Philipp F. Laqué, (2011), “ONLINE, MOBILE, AND TEXT FOOD ORDERING IN
THE RESTAURANT INDUSTRY”
Summer Sharon, (2012). Merits And Advantages Of Online Food Delivery, Retrived From The
Web: 24 March 2012, URL: http://www.foolsource.net/archives/4389
17
7. Appendix A:
Just-eat Questionnaire
As part of my college studies, I am conduct research into the impact digital technology has on small
businesses. This questionnaire is designed to see if just-eat has helped small business to grow. It
should take no more than 10 minutes to complete.
Please indicate your answers by circling the correct box.
1 Are you? Male Female
2 Your age group? 16-25 26-35 36-45 46-55 56-65 66+
3 How often do you use the just eat app?
1-4 times week
1 time a month
1-3 times a month
Other, please state
4 Which cuisine do you like?
Indian Fish and chips Pizza Chinese Others
5 How would you best prefer to order your takeaway?
Just-eat Hungry house Over the phone Website
Other (Please state)
6 What type of takeaway do you by the most through just-eat app?
Indian Fish and chips Pizza Chinese Others
7 Per month, How much do you spend when ordering takeaways using the just-eat app?
18
+
£1- 10 £10 - 20 £20-40 £40-60 £60-80 £80
8 Has the amount you spend increase or decreased since using the just eat app?
Increased Decreased
P.T.O
9 What is your perception of the just-eat in helping small businesses to grow?
10 Do you think digital technology helps small business to innovate and come up with new ideas?
YES NO
Why? Please expand on your answer
Any other Comments
Thank you for taking the time to complete this questionnaire.
19
8. Performance review of the Project:
1. What was the project supposed to accomplish?
This project was based on the impact of digital technologies that benefit small businesses in
terms of growth and profitability. This project thoroughly reviewed the responses of
participants who have little or vast experience of acquiring takeaway services for their food
consumption from restaurants and cafes. These responses were linked to the usage of digital
technology for ordering food items. The project was supposed to prove that the digital
technology can create great opportunities for small businesses related to restaurant sector.
2. Did the project succeed in its aims? How do you know? Specifically, please outline any
evaluation and assessment undertaken.
The project has succeeded in its aim in a sense that the analysis of responses have proved that
digital technology such as Just Eat is a vital part for any restaurant business in UK as this
platform can provide customers a type of freedom to freely select and choose food items and
exotic dishes from a vast list of restaurants within their locality. This analysis have proved that
people are willing to spend their money more and more in takeaway services through using Just
Eat, as majority of the respondents have agreed that they have increased their budget for
spending money on takeaway through Just Eat.
3. What things do you think worked well and why? Evaluate all aspects of the project (e.g.
initial inception, project activities and project outcomes) from a range of perspectives.
Some of the major aspects of project which went well are the responses from the participants,
which were totally unbiased and truthful through which the analysis become easy and fruitful.
The participation of respondents was good and helpful. The structure of the questionnaire was
20
perfect and typically designed to target the precise responses so that its coding can easily be
done.
4. What problems emerged during the project and how were they tackled? Was there timely
identification of issues and resolution during the project process?
The major hurdle which emerged during the execution of the project was time management. At
inception, the time was not perfectly managed due to confusion and ambiguity in the scope of
the project. During the time of surveying, many people had refused to participate in the
research due to their lack of time and hesitation in matter of anonymity of their identities. The
time was then managed after carefully understanding the scope of work and scheduling the
timeframe for every milestone of the project. The trust of participants was restored through
ensuring them that their identity will not be disclosed to anyone.
5. What did you learn from undertaking the project?
The things which are learnt from undertaking this project include time management,
documenting the progress of work, defining tasks, sampling, designing of questionnaire,
collection of data, analyzing the data and formulating the result from the data.
6. How would you rate your performance as project manager?
I would like to rate myself “7” out of “10” as a project manager. This rating can be more
improved by successful time management and thorough analysis of data.
7. What strengths and weaknesses of your performance did you identify?
The strengths are communication skills, experience of restaurant business and understanding of
market. The weaknesses are time management, work scheduling and data collection.
8. How will this inform and support your continuous professional development?
This will definitely support my continuous professional development as the project has given
me an idea of executing a research from the collection of data to its analysis. The development
can be more progressive if the sample will be large. The large sample can provide diverse data
so that the cross tabulation can also become possible which can give more diverse results and
findings.
21
