Question

You have a family "Quik Stop" (Gas Station/Convenience store) chain that has been left to you in your great uncle's will. You've come to realize, through financial projections, target market studies, and start-up investment analysis, this is not the business of the future. But, it does have real estate, positive cash flow, and can be viewed as the seed of a new enterprise.

What will you propose to do with these businesses to assure that they will still be viable operations 10 to 20 years from now?

How can you reinvent the business?

You can approach this project in one of two ways:-

a) Take what you have (business and locations) and reinvent the business so it is positioned for the future, or

b) Work with a clean slate. Assume that the existing business is nothing more than seed capital and the world is a blank slate.

Don't confuse this project with a business plan. I am not interested in financial projections, target market studies, start-up investment analysis, (etc.).

Please add introduction and conclusion paragraph as well.

Answer 1

In the given case, I would opt for the 1st option. I would take the business and the location that is provided to me in the will and reinvent it to make it viable for coming 10 to 20 years. In order to do so, I will plan for other forms of energy. In another 20 years, the mode of transportation will undergo changes. There will be less usage of non renewable sources of energy and more usage of electric vehicles or vehicles driven by solar power. So, I would modify the gas station into a solar power based vehicle charging unit. Along with this, in place of the convenience store, I would start a food centre. The place would have a small entertainment park also so that people who are travelling for long distances can take a break and rest for a while. This would be a suitable plan for next 10 - 20 years.