Business Focus Question Paper

 Focus Question

What is the best approach to establishing an ethical business importing textiles from a developing country?

 Format selected and why

Artefact with Substantiation Report – This suited the research project best as the artefact and its development was one of the main research steps. The website or online business was the long-term goal which led to most of the research.

 Capabilities

The two main capabilities developed during the research were the Creative and Critical Thinking Capability and the Personal and Social Capability.

Interviews and the various business options required the skill of building links with others socially, both locally and nationally. This Personal and Social Capability also involved reviewing and

Firstly, an interview with the School Economics teacher, (Jacobsen, 2014) outlined the importance of a carefully created business plan. As this had already been produced as the first step in the research, (Enloop, 2014) his advice was easy to understand. Further advice was to keep the website secure as the current economic climate has customers being careful with their money. This led to the decision to use Shopify despite added cost.

Accounting and Law

The second interview produced important information on the legal regulations and ramification in a business. The advice of a lawyer enabled some business structures to be implemented, and the interview (Small, 2014) clarified the necessary steps required to create a reputable business, which can operate legally.

Once the website had been created, a problem arose in changing the domain of the website or “directing the domain to the website”. After an online interview with a Shopify expert (Shopify, 2014), it became apparent that such a step would require extra cost. This led to the final interview with an IT expert and

Why use Shopify?

As discussed above, Shopify was one of the cheapest and most reputable website providers (Gregoire, 2014). Various small business blogs mention Shopify as a reputable company, including Think Ecommerce (Think Ecommerce, 2014) which reviews online store website providers every year. Further evidence proving the reputability of Shopify could be found in the case studies of several successful small businesses that had started through this website provider.

Why blue and green as a colour scheme and why the logo?

The colours blue and green were chosen as colours which best represented the tropical island that is Sri Lanka. Blue represents the sea and the sky while green represents the trees and vegetation.

The logo began with the outline of a footprint with the writing Isle of Style. This was an attempt to link the business with the Sri Lankan provider, Barefoot. However, after reflecting on the design, it did not communicate my business’ ideals and the items it was selling (Concept Cupboard, 2014). The idea of the foot could mean anything from beauty care to style