Feasibility analysis of an educational anti-café for people with eating disorders
Eliseeva, Adelina (2020)
2020
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2020112724723
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2020112724723
Tiivistelmä
The topic of eating disorders is increasingly discussed around the world. Unfortunately, Russia is lagging on this issue. The author faced it when the problem affected her. It was impossible to find reliable information on eating disorders in the Russian language and get help from the doctors.
Based on this experience, the author came up with the idea aimed at creating a safe and supportive place for those who anyhow are or have been affected by eating disorders. The concept of educational anti-café was chosen for such a place. Its main characteristic is payment for the time spent in the café, while various treats and services are included in the price. For the author’s idea, it means that people can come there to find support from a staff psychologist or someone with the same history, listen to lectures on psychology and other relevant topics, have access to the specialised library, snacks and drinks at the price of the time they spent there.
This product-based thesis was created to analyse the above idea from an entrepreneurial point of view. The feasibility analysis was chosen for this purpose. It is conducted when the initial research of the viability and attractiveness of the business ideas is needed.
The thesis is divided into theoretical and empirical parts. The theoretical part, in the beginning, introduces the concept of eating disorders (their variations, symptoms and reasons). It highlights the problems in the diagnostics of the disease, discusses the destructive factor of social pressure and explores the triggers which people with eating disorders face in restaurants and cafés. After that, the theories on multiple perspectives of the entrepreneurial process are considered to justify the choice of feasibility analysis over the business plan. The different outlines of feasibility plans and their elements are also presented and discussed. Finally, based on the described components, the methods, and tools which could be suitable for the study are introduced.
After the theoretical framework is built, the author moves to the empirical part, where the feasibility analysis of the educational anti-café is conducted in the step-by-step process. It consists of a series of studies, namely situation in Russia, industry, customer, organisational and financial analyses. Such tools as five forces industry analysis, concept testing and customer profiling are used. As a result of this comprehensive investigation, the overall assessment of the idea is presented.
After the results are voiced, the last part remains. It describes the author’s reflections on the whole thesis process and how she coped with the initial goals in the tight timeframe (28 September 2020 – 26 November 2020).
Based on this experience, the author came up with the idea aimed at creating a safe and supportive place for those who anyhow are or have been affected by eating disorders. The concept of educational anti-café was chosen for such a place. Its main characteristic is payment for the time spent in the café, while various treats and services are included in the price. For the author’s idea, it means that people can come there to find support from a staff psychologist or someone with the same history, listen to lectures on psychology and other relevant topics, have access to the specialised library, snacks and drinks at the price of the time they spent there.
This product-based thesis was created to analyse the above idea from an entrepreneurial point of view. The feasibility analysis was chosen for this purpose. It is conducted when the initial research of the viability and attractiveness of the business ideas is needed.
The thesis is divided into theoretical and empirical parts. The theoretical part, in the beginning, introduces the concept of eating disorders (their variations, symptoms and reasons). It highlights the problems in the diagnostics of the disease, discusses the destructive factor of social pressure and explores the triggers which people with eating disorders face in restaurants and cafés. After that, the theories on multiple perspectives of the entrepreneurial process are considered to justify the choice of feasibility analysis over the business plan. The different outlines of feasibility plans and their elements are also presented and discussed. Finally, based on the described components, the methods, and tools which could be suitable for the study are introduced.
After the theoretical framework is built, the author moves to the empirical part, where the feasibility analysis of the educational anti-café is conducted in the step-by-step process. It consists of a series of studies, namely situation in Russia, industry, customer, organisational and financial analyses. Such tools as five forces industry analysis, concept testing and customer profiling are used. As a result of this comprehensive investigation, the overall assessment of the idea is presented.
After the results are voiced, the last part remains. It describes the author’s reflections on the whole thesis process and how she coped with the initial goals in the tight timeframe (28 September 2020 – 26 November 2020).