Business Management Skills - George and Mildred Case Study - Business Assignment Help

Assignment Task:

Capital City Finance and Mortgage Brokers (CCF & MB)
George and Mildred are very happy with the way you service your clients and are sure that you are a good fit for the team. They now want you to turn your focus to your primary task, which is to assist in expanding the business by building relationships with selected real estate agents, accountants and legal firms through strategic alliances. They also want you to consider how CCF & MB can consolidate its relationships with its existing strategic partners.
Let’s recap on what you already know about Capital City Finance and Mortgage Brokers (CCF & MB).
It’s a family owned business providing a range of mortgage and finance broking services to the business and private sectors, with experience in all facets of finance and insurance, providing expert advice covering a multitude of products and options existing within the market.
CCF & MB specialises in home loans, commercial lending, business lending, personal and motor vehicle finance and insurance (life and general) and focuses on helping clients find the finance service suited to their individual circumstances. 
It provides its services through its association with the following partners:
•Australian Aggregators: a rising company within the aggregation business, with an extensive panel of residential and commercial lenders, and asset finance.
•ABC General Insurance: a boutique insurance company specialising in a full range of general insurances.
•XYZ Life: a small family-owned insurance brokerage specialising in the full range of life insurance products.
Based in the city, CCF & MB has the capacity to service clients from their office or anywhere at their clients’ convenience through its team of mobile brokers. 
CCF & MB does not hold a credit license but operates as a credit representative of Australian Aggregators.
Since its inception 13 years ago, CCF & MB has built a loan book of almost $1.2 billion and averages over $120 million in new loans annually.
CCF & MB’s vision is to be the mortgage and finance broker of choice in the greater metropolitan area.
CCF & MB’s mission statement is: ‘to operate professionally in accordance with legislation, our licence and professional standards’.
CCF & MB’s values are as follows:
•to act with honesty and integrity at all times
•to provide unbiased advice and conduct business, free from any conflict of interest 
•to maintain confidentiality in all dealings
•to meet all NCCP regulatory requirements
•to comply with all mortgage industry laws and regulations
•to ensure quality and efficiency in its loan processes.
CCF & MB’s people
CCF & MB is owned by husband and wife, George and Mildred Spencer.
With over 35 years’ experience in finance and business ownership, George established and built a successful business dedicated to assisting clients with managing their finances effectively. Starting the business with his wife Mildred 13 years ago, George gained immense satisfaction in seeing it expand, to service more and more clients across the city and greater metropolitan area. Although in recent years he has stepped back from dealing directly with clients, he still maintains a small select clientele. He also takes great pride in training and mentoring his team to enhance their performance.
Mildred has over 22 years of lending experience and is qualified, not only to assist her clients with their mortgage requirements, but also to assist them with their commercial finance requirements. She also holds financial planning qualifications. She specialises in asset finance.
The company has a small team of five additional consultants and two administration staff members. Profiles for the team are as follows:
•Jennifer Dee is recognised as one of the top female brokers in Australia. She has been in the broking industry for over 10 years and has a passion and dedication to assist and accommodate all of her clients’ needs with their financial dreams. Jennifer is an Accredited Mortgage Consultant with the Mortgage and Finance Association of Australia (MFAA).
•Louise Spencer (George and Mildred’s eldest daughter) is an Accredited Mortgage Consultant with the Mortgage and Finance Association of Australia (MFAA) and has been working as a loan consultant for almost two years. Louise started off in the lending industry in the office as an administrator to gain as much experience and knowledge as possible before taking a broking role. Her passion for helping her clients ensures that she is always available to her clients at a time and place convenient for them.
•Michael Spencer is George’s younger brother and is CCF & MB’s equipment finance specialist. He has over 25 years of working in the equipment finance industry. He has developed an in-depth understanding of the transport and agricultural industries, and also provides finance for general equipment, motor vehicles, and computer equipment.
•Martin Long has specialized in equipment finance for the last three years, but prior to this, he spent five years operating his own retail food business. This practical experience allows him to see things from his client’s point of view, including experience with equipment finance. He specializes in plant and equipment in the machinery, woodworking and packaging industries. Examples of some of the equipment he has financed are farm machinery, extrusion lines, plastic injection molders, commercial catering equipment, woodworking plant, packaging lines, forklifts, office fit-outs and many different motor vehicles.
•Luis Ramirez migrated to Australia as a young boy; 25 years ago with his family. After completing high school he graduated from university with an accounting degree and worked in ANZ in commercial lending. He joined CCF & MB four years ago and specializes in vehicle and capital equipment financing. He provides ITC and general equipment lease funding options for clients. By providing better outcomes, both during and at the end of their equipment leases, Luis’ many clients have been able to reduce costs and maximize the value of their available budgets.
CCF & MB is a member of the MFAA, as a broking business dealing directly with the public. Both George and Mildred are fellows of the MFAA. CCF & MB is also a corporate member of the FBAA.
All staff members, including consultants, are paid an annual salary plus superannuation. Consultants also receive a car allowance plus a percentage of trail commissions, which are paid quarterly based on their performance targets.
Task 1 — Developing and nurturing relationships with clients, other professionals, and third-party referrers
George and Mildred now require you to write a plan to assist in developing and nurturing relationships with clients, other professionals, and third-party referrers.
The layout and content of your plan should address the following:
1.How CCF & MB’s policies and procedures and legislative, regulatory and professional codes of practice impact on developing and nurturing relationships.
2.How you would use CCF & MB’s social, business and ethical standards to develop and maintain positive relationships.
3.The importance of confidentiality and how you would maintain it in your dealings with colleagues, clients and other parties. 
4.How you would adjust your interpersonal style to the needs and situation of other parties.
5.How you would go about developing and maintaining business and professional networks and other relationships to benefit the organization; and how you would use them to identify and cultivate relationships in order to promote and market the organization.
6.How you could use and cooperate with other professionals and third parties to expand and enhance the reputation of the organization and to identify new and improved business practices.
7.How you would build referral business through appropriate communication channels, to find and secure new business relationships.
8.How you would identify referral needs and provide information about CCF & MB’s relevant products and services.
9.How you would secure interviews with referral business so that the needs of clients can be met.

Task 2 — Growing the business
Having considered how you would go about building and nurturing relationships, George and Mildred now require you to turn your attention to marketing and promoting CCF & MB’s business. This requires you to develop, implement, monitor and adjust a Marketing Plan for the business. When doing this, you will need to:
Ensure your plan is developed in line with CCF & MB’s vision statement. 
Conduct some research (or make assumptions) and identify key market data for the plan. This can include, for example, customer demographics, product types (i.e. census data if available), marketing media data (i.e. social media).
Identify of target markets, using a combination of research and your own personal experience.
Identify your major competitors (at least two) with a competitor analysis developed for each competitor.
Conduct a review of CCF & MB’s current market position based on your research findings in conjunction with competitor analysis; and identify where improvements can be made.
Document changes you could introduce to improve the brand of CCF & MB, and what promotional activities you could introduce to build the customer base.
The provision of options for increasing yield per existing client.
2.Refer to the email from co-worker identifying potential risk in the toolbox. Using the box below, write an email to management outlining the identified risk, your analysis, how you would evaluate the risk and suggest how the risk could be best treated. 
Task 3 — Identifying risk and applying risk management processes 
George and Mildred have become very concerned about the potential risks that could jeopardise 
CCF & MB’s business operations. They were very impressed with your growth and marketing plans for 
CCF & MB so they have now moved you into more of a general manager’s role with expanded responsibilities, including managing CCF & MB’s risk. 
As part of your new responsibilities you are required to develop a risk management plan which:
•Establishes the context for CCF & MB’s risk management plan.
•Lists and explains the tools you will use in assessing the risks you identify.
•Identifies the stakeholders you would consult in establishing context and the tools you would use in identifying CCF & MB’s risks.
•Identifies at least two risks that CCF & MB could face for each of the six categories of business risk including strategic risks, compliance risks, financial risk, operational risks, market and environmental risks and reputational risks with an appropriate risk statement for each identified risk.
Task 4— Improving the business
Over the last few months business for CCF & MB has been very good with a number of new clients coming on board as a result of implementing your business growth and marketing plans. However, neither you or the business owners are satisfied with maintaining the status quo; as you and they are committed to a program of continuous improvement. 
You all feel that CCF & MB’s competitive advantage needs to be strengthened and a SWOT should be undertaken to establish CCF & MB’s strengths and weaknesses including benchmarking the business against the industry. You now decide that you will carry out a diagnosis of the business including a SWOT analysis and a benchmarking exercise to improve CCF &MB’s competitive advantage and its business. You are to produce a document covering your diagnosis, which will be distributed amongst CCF & MB’s key personnel.
As a minimum, your document should cover the following:
1.The data you have used as part of your diagnosis to identify CCF & MB’s competitive advantage. 
2.A SWOT analysis to identify CCF & MB’s strengths and weaknesses, its threats and opportunities.
3.How you identified and sourced relevant benchmarking data. 
4.How you selected the key indicators (and who you consulted with) for your benchmarking exercise. 
5.A consolidated list of the areas for improvement you have identified with a cost-benefit ratio established for each of them.
6. Recommendations on the changes that may be required that will affect existing workflows or 
CCF & MB’s organizational structure
7.A high-level action plan that will implement and monitor the recommended changes to be made.

Task 5 —Managing people performance
One of your key responsibilities as a general manager is to develop and implement ways to improve the performance of CCF & MB’s consultants and other staff members. 
Answer the following questions:
1. Why is it important to consult with stakeholders when allocating work? What are the possible consequences of allocating work without consultation?

Task 6 — Showing leadership in the workplace
Leadership is defined as the ability to influence others. This assessment task requires you to reflect on your own ability to positively influence others in the workplace and the negative aspects of poor leadership.
Note: If you are not currently working in the finance and mortgage broking industry, you may reflect on your experiences in another industry.
1. Reflect on a situation where you have had a positive impact in the workplace. Please include the skills, decisions and/or behaviours you demonstrated that contributed to this positive change and what the impact was for the team/clients/organization. (400 words)
Task 7 – Standards and values
1. Refer to the Organisational standards and values document located in the toolbox and identify two of the standards and two values that would be important to CCF & MB.
Task 8 - Develop a performance plan
For CCF & MB to continue to meet their primary goal of being a leader in offering broking services to the local community, they have asked you in your capacity as the newly appointed general manager to develop a performance plan and establish some ‘key performance indicators’ (KPIs) for all customer service staff. 
The objective of the performance plan is to focus on the organizations' key goals and objectives in line with the ‘Service standards statement’ available in the toolbox.

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