Building Blocks Day-Care in the Downtown Chicago Research Paper

Building Blocks Day-Care in the Downtown Chicago - Research Paper Example In the year 1940 only 8.6 percent of the mothers with children younger than 18 years of old were working in the factories (NCCIC, n.d.). The number of child care facilities has increased rapidly over the years and this increase has been mainly due to the rise in maternal employment. Currently 60 percent of the mothers with children at their preschool age are working; 70 percent of them work full time while the remaining works part time. Some of the mothers also remain sick most of the time (Witt, 2008). As per a survey conducted by the National Child Care Information Center, most of the women employees quit their job in USA because they found it challenging to balance between work and children. The number of child care facilities has increased rapidly from 25000 in the year 1977 to 116000 in the year 2004. 41 percent of the school children are admitted into the child care center for more than 35 hours in a week (Witt, 2008). Child care providers and parents share the responsibility o f the children during their growing years. In addition to attending children’s basic needs and wants they create an environment for children and develop their skills and talents by engaging the children in extracurricular activities. The main aim is to make Building Block’s day care center one of the prime child care service providers in Chicago, USA. The center has already obtained its license from the government authorities in the year 2011 and would have a capacity of 106 children. The main objective would be to look after children aged between 6 months to 12 years. Building Block’s day care center would be a new center compared to the other child care centers in Chicago (Child Care Center. Us, 2013c). The child day care center has opened in the current year 2011 in the city of Chicago, USA. Table of Contents Executive Summary 2 Table of Contents 3 1.0 Situation Analysis 6 2.0 Competitors 7 2.1 Substitutes 9 2.2 SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threa ts) Analysis 10 2.2.1 Strength 10 2.2.2 Weakness 10 2.2.3 Opportunity 11 2.2.4 Threats 11 2.3 Key to Success 12 2.4 Critical Issues 13 2.5 Macro Environment Factors 14 Demographic factors 14 Cultural factors 14 Environment factors 15 2.5.2 Porter’s Five Forces model 15 2.6 Mission statement 16 2.7 Marketing Objective 17 2.8 Financial objectives 18 2.9 Target marketing 19 21 3.0 Positioning 21 3.1 Strategic Pyramid 22 3.2 Marketing Mix 24 3.2.1 Product strategy 25 A chart providing details of the above mentioned programmes should be maintained and revised regularly by the teachers. 26 3.2.2 Pricing strategy 26 3.2.3 Promotion strategy 26 3.2.4 Placement strategy 27 3.3 Market research 27 3.4.1 Financials 28 29 29 3.4.2 Revenue forecast 29 30 30 3.4.3 Expense forecast 31 31 32 3.4.4 Contribution Margin / Breakeven Point 32 33 3.5 Implementation Milestone 33 3.6 Marketing Organization 34 3.7 Contingency planning 35 35 References 36 PEST Analysis 38 1.0 Situation Analysis The num ber of child care service providers has increased rapidly due to their increasing demand. Building Block’s day care center will be providing ultra care to the infants and children admitted in the center. The center has obtained its license in the year 2011 and has to comply with the rules and regulations of the Child Care Facilities Act. The Child Care Facilities Act was introduced in the year 1988 and the government expects all the child care centers to abide by the regulations of this act. Apart from complying with the rules an