Canal and river trust opportunity recognition wiki by

Mohammed Shafiq Hanif - 100134260

Rami Eter - 100263494
Sheraz Gill - 1002283733

Module code
Module leaders name
Tutor group

Context Page

Executive Summary
The canal and river trust has been given responsibility of 2000miles of waterways but lacks
the drive to create new business opportunities. This might be due to their previous status as
government funded and know as a registered charity. The major flaws of the CRT are that it is
not being treated as a business that needs to be self sustaining. This wiki will highlight
current problems that obstruct people from using the facilities that the CRT has to offer and
offer an opportunity to help the CRT bring in their own money. Also in this wiki there are the
stage the group when through to get the proposal stage.

Mission Statement
We are here to support the canal and river trust with business proposals. Along with their
current financial support we hope to boost their financial standing and when profitable help
maintain the canals and rivers located in England and Wales to the highest standards and
make access to this heritage available to all and integrated into their daily lifestyle.
Our vision for our organisation is to become nationwide and be the hub for all commercial
and free activities that are based around Englands rivers and canals. Our main goal is to
integrate the canals and rivers into modern society through increased services and businesses.
This will be primarily done by increasing access to the rivers and canals by roads and public
transport. Also by making businesses aware that data transfer can be done easily anywhere
for the same cost if not cheaper than any business park.
Our absolute goals, values and ethics are to protect the heritage of the rivers and canals and
we will strive to create the best original business proposal to keep income coming in for this.
Heritage, community, trust

Introduction
Company history
As the canal and river trust (CRT) is relatively new its history lies within it creation of the
canals and their purpose and what rivers have been used for throughout the ages, but the most
important aspect is how they have been maintained. Rivers have always been an important
aspect of society and all major cities that have been around more than a century have a major
river or river estuary. These have primarily been used for cheap transport for goods, waste
disposal and as a source of generating energy for producers. They have also been used more
creatively for example, by the London fire brigade who currently have a fire boat and
historically a boat called the Massey Shaw which its restoration was shown on television.
Canals on the other hand have been created for the sole purpose of making people lives easier
by better irrigation and land drainage by the Romans, or for transportation of materials to
build castles etc throughout the middle ages. Also throughout the post mediaeval age natural
waterways where converted to canals and people where charged taxes to use them. (Charles,
H, 1996, p277-279)
The real boom with canals came along with the industrial revolution. They were used for
moving heavy materials which would have been too costly to move by road therefore
reducing cost of goods. The canals were so successful at connecting major industrial centres
there were plans to build a true canal, which is a canal built specifically to two certain places
and this was done with the Newry canal in 1741. After the industrial revolution, demand for
the use of canals fell due to the capability of mass transportation by trains around the 1920s.
After this the lack of use of the canals led them to be increasingly neglected, this is also the
same case for rivers. (David M. Harper, 1999, p141-157)
Before the CRT was given charge of 2000 miles of water way they were under the care of
British waterways. At this time the water ways where wholly government funded, this status
was given up to increase funding. Along with the waterways becoming mainly a charitable
cause, the government has promised 800million pounds over the next 15 years. The CRTs
main goal is to make the waterways cleaner and more attractive for the estimated 10million
visitors every year.
Business and industry profile
The newly created canal and river trust (CRT) has been given responsibility of 2,000 miles of
waterways located in England and Wales along with the historical sites based along them.
They work with local businesses to add value to local communities and to promote active
lifestyles by encouraging people to enjoy this localised heritage which is available in most
cities in England and Wales. They also want to encourage reduction in current businesses
carbon foot prints by taking donations to improve locks and waterways for transport of
goods. Along with this they plan to make the canals and rivers hubs for living and
commercial business through local, national and international tourism. (Canal and river trust,
2005)

Description of products and services

The main source of income for the CRT is boat licensing, this is a yearly fee to enable boat
owners to travel on rivers and canals. In addition to this there is a yearly boat safety
certificate (Boat safety scheme) that all operational boats need to have; this is like a car m.o.t.
and any other income is from donation of private citizens or companies. Also most of the
services that are on offer are provided from third party companies that operate near the rivers
and canals. (Canal and river trust, 2005)
The other products and services that are currently operational are;
Mooring

Museums and
attractions

Tea cruises

Bike offs / bike trails

Fishing

Property development

Canoeing

Eating and drinking

Utilities such as water

sales, cooling and
heating, surface water
drainage, hydro power,
wind power and
routing of telecoms and
power lines

Walking and viewing

heritage sites

Consultations to help
with businesses on or
from a boat

Boat licensing and

boat safety
certificates, also boat
hire, boat cruise, boat
gatherings

Description of current target market and method

This trust works with private, public, voluntary sectors and the public to earn money to reinvest into the canals and rivers. Some of the ways they do these are;
Private sector encourages and aids in the development of boat related business.
Public sector these are the people who wish to use a boat on the CRP waterways. This
includes yearly boat licensing that gives unlimited access to canals and rivers. Also yearly
boat safety certificates to ensure all vehicles on water are safe. In addition to this these are
also services available for boat gatherings, hire and cruises.
Voluntary sector getting local people involved with small project and maintaining land
surrounding canals, also basic wildlife and plant conservation.
Public sector the trust encourages the general public walking and cycling for greener more
environmentally conservative lives. The public is mostly involved when they want to be and
can donate money monthly or whenever they want. The public can also access these services
free of charge as and when they please. (Canal and river trust, 2005)

The entrepreneurial view

An entrepreneur is a term used to describe someone who has strayed from the convention
labour pool for certain reasons to who organises and operated a business from the ground up.
The reasons why these people are popular among consumers are that they meet the customer
needs with better and with greater care of their customers. Taking this approach , the CRT
would greatly benefit as their consumers would feel more appreciated and as a charity they
would more like friends. (Heidi M. Neck, 2004, p190-208)
Opportunity Recognition
Throughout our research of the CRT, it became clear that the ideas and opportunities that
come from the CRT are generic and lack originality. Also even with over 10million people
visiting their canals and rivers every year, the majority of the money spend goes to businesses
that are not owned by the CRT. (Canal and river trust, 2005)
Convergent and Divergent Thinking Brainstormed Ideas (David M. Harper, 1999, p 259230)
Creative thinking is divergent, often intuitive and unstructured. This enables the opening up
of new ideas, new possibilities and connections. Divergent thinking is valuable in generating
ideas for an opportunity or project. It includes: identifying, defining and defending the
opportunity, also exploring and investigating new opportunities. Divergent thinking is best
used with convergent thinking, this helps to funnel the broad range of ideas from
brainstorming. (Moon, R and GEE, S, 2012, p259-260) Convergent thinking is focused on
problems to create innovative solutions or applications to overcome problems. For this we
had to find the problems that affect the CRT which are;
Mooring- this is a term used to describe the process of parking a boat up, this can be costly as there
are rarely any free mooring places.
The Great British weather- the British weather is unpredictable, this affects the river and canals as
business that use them are forced to become seasonal.
They breakdown occasionally- this might be due to poor maintenance as the rivers and canals are over
200 years old. Also there are various mechanisms to control the flow of water and traffic that breaks
down due to age.
They're not being used correctly- the canals were originally created for transporting materials, there
were never design for motorised vehicles. This is probably the reason why there is still a 4mph
restriction on canals.
Some of the sections of river and canals are occasionally closed this is due to poor maintenance and

poor repair.
Canals and rivers are slow and never became popular as passenger transport.
They're expensive and hard to build.
There are no new plans for canals and rivers.
Never been successful in agricultural areas.
Difficult to manage and run due to traffic on water ways.
Flooding and leakage is one of the main and major problems.
Rivers are also affected sewage disposal- poor management of the sewage leads to less tourism as its
a not pleasant place to be.

We used convergent thinking to come up with solutions to current problems affecting the
CRT. The problems and solutions are listed within this report although most of these
problems can be overcome with better financing. We initially used divergent thinking to
brainstorm ideas that are below, and then we moved on to convergent thinking to filter out
our ideas to opportunity.
Restaurant boat

Nightclub boat

Bus boat / taxi

Business mergers with

other company's such
as narrow boat's or
heritage sites

Business mergers with Pub boat

other companies such
as narrow boat's or
heritage sites

Art gallery on a boat /

museum

Boat tours / Day trips

(sightseeing)

Franchise of food and

pubs

Discounts or
encouraging schools
to send students

Retail shop

canoes / row boat /

kayak hire boat race

Environmentally
friendly shopping
centre along rivers
and canals

Sustainable fishing

Concerts on river

Boat racing race /

competitions boat
events

Boat driving lessons

Environmental energy
though fallen trees
and natural materials
for power

Selling hydro power

to the national grid/
power from waste

Environmental fishing
of over populated
species.

We have chosen five different ideas that we think are reasonable as opportunities. For these
five ideas we are going to use an opportunity model with a DIFA model to evaluate them as a
group and decide if they are applicable as opportunities. This is an important step as it helps
identify what are just ideas and what are opportunities. Ideas can become opportunities at a
later stage but might not be realistic at the current moment in time. (Robert A. Baron, 2006,
p104-119)

Boat events boat events consist of boat racing in numerous forms such as rowing, kayak,
canoe, paddle and motorised boat rallies (long distance races where people can enjoy site
seeing, not a lot of emphasis to win the actual race).

D - The actual customers are in the age range of 45+. The potential customers are 20+, this
includes people with small families that could take part in the paddle boat races. Also single
people can take part in group events such as canoeing, kayaking and rowing. To make this an
opportunity it needs to be price competitively, therefore we have decided to make it
affordable to all audiences and the price we decided to choose is 25 to 40. (Prices may vary
on weekends). This is achievable by doing business with other companies such as boat hire
shops.

I - we think the boat events idea is innovative because its never been organised by the canal
river trust. The benefit of this opportunity is to increase profits and attract more people. The
only technological material that is required is a GPS/Sat-Nav. This is optional for the boat
riders.
F - This is easily done as the CRT can do business with other companies to astatine the
recourses they need. The benefit of this is that they do not have storage costs of the
equipment that they use as it goes back to the original suppliers.
A - This product differs from other services because its family friendly and other services do
not offer motorise boat racing.

Boat bus The boat bus will transport commuter to in and around city centres, this service is
to be competition to current rail and bus services. This will benefit the city centres as it will
ease congestion. The boat bus will be able to travel on roads and on waterways and can carry
numerous passengers.

D - The potential customers for this service would be people who commute to work by bus or
train. This sector is vastly filled with people who dont like the rising commuting costs. As
the boat bus is relatively new, it will be competitively priced to gain loyal customers.
I - This idea has many benefits such as reducing congestion within the city centres and also it
will encourage further business for the CRT as the boat bus would be making regular stops in
these places.
F - The hardest thing to do would be to create access routes through rivers and canals and
hire or purchase a fleet of boat buses. This is very feasible as if done correctly the boat bus
service would not be affected by traffic jams. Also the boat bus can be used for different
services such as sightseeing etc.
A - This service is different from others as it is mainly based on rivers/canals and not
congested roads.

Boat restaurant this is restaurant based on a boat, the service will provide fresh food and
beverages, and this will be labelled with CRT brand. This will also bring charitable donation
from public and also attract new people.

D - The potential customers for the boat restaurant would be people who prefer enjoying
good food and enjoying sightseeing at the same time, also people who would like to support
their local communities as the boat restaurant will be a registered charity.
I - This idea could attract people who do not like cooking and by doing that they might be
able to reduce their carbon foot print and also conserve the river and canal heritage at the
same time. This service innovates as there are not any boat restaurant charities, there are high
profile restaurant charities but none of them are targeted at the working, middle class.
F Restaurant boats are common sights on rivers throughout UK, they are a relatively well
known attraction. This would require an initial investment that would be high in cost.
A The rivers are a very pleasant place to be and research shows booking are always high.

Retail charity shop the CRT could open or rent space for a retail shop on some of their
unused land. This shop could be anything from a small charity or grocery store such as a CRT
charity shop or a farmers market or a fully blown outlet store or retail park depending on
location.

D There is a demand for cheaper clothing because of the recession, majority of customers
would be mothers/women and elderly women.
I it is a charity clothes shop and its benefits are that it provides cheaper clothing for all.
Also this shop will advertise other businesses located around the canals and rivers.
F Physical shop and websites are easily obtainable.
A It will not be labelled like other charity shops, so will not have the stigma that comes
with them.

Reusable energy this recommendation includes the unused land and waterways the CRT
has to create electricity and sell it back to the national grid. They could use wind turbines,
solar panels, hydroelectricity generators and WTE techniques on unused land. Also they
could apply for government support for this.

D There is a demand for cheaper alternative electricity. There are also government
indicatives for companies that that the initiative for renewable energy.
I it is cheaper, reusable energy that doesnt harm the environment. The benefit is to save
money on energy for the CRT and the public around where the scheme is running.
F The technology can be brought but is costly but can be seen as a long term investment;
also government has promised reimbursement schemes to company who take the lead with
reusable energy. The resources need for the WTE can come from the woodlands around the
CRT and waste that is pumped into rivers.
A - The national grid always buy power from local residents from stored up energy from
solar panels, the excess useless land the CRT has available can be used as they can find
locations that are not high profile.
The two most viable opportunities where the retail shop and the WTE, reusable energy but
the recommendation that we have chosen is the retail shop to maximise profit potential.

Proposal / Marketing
The opportunity that has been identified is the CRT retail charity shop because it is the most
realistic and cost effective. Also this will bring the greatest awareness of the CRT.
The Marketing Mix (E, J McCarthy, 1960)
Product - The opportunity that is being recommended is a retail charity shop that will hold
the brand name of the CRT; it will sell a whole variety of products such as everyday items to
clothing, electronics, fresh fruit and vegetables and have an emphasis of organic foods. The
target market for this retail shop will include a range of different audiences such as young
mothers, OAPs, low income households, students, and migrants. These audiences will be
targeted while the shop gains stability as the prices will be fairly low attracting lower income
people anyway.
Price - The initial cost the retail charity shop will be quite high as a building to house all the
products will need to be made, this will vary depending on who the building contact is given
too. Also as this retail shops profits will be given to support the CRT it is not eligible to be
taxed on its profits from land or products sold new or donated because of British legalisation
affecting charities. This means that after they have broken even all money made will be
theirs. Also as the CRT is a registered charity they can take on volunteers to help with
organisational running. Before the opening of the retail shop the pricing schemes for the
products needs to be calculated. The product prices need to be competitive with local shops
and supermarkets, also they need to be prices in a way to maximise profits but by giving the
feeling of value and quality to their customers. This can be done by doing market research by
comparing prices in other shops.
Promotion - Successful promotion of the shop will increase profits and create loyal
customers; this can be done via, TV, radio, face book, twitter, leaflets, emails and online
shopping forums. Also this shop will have all in store offers such as two for one etc.
Place This retail shop is located within Derbyshire in a town called Chellaston next to the
Trent and Mersy Canal. This area was chosen because of its high population. This is also 5
miles from the city centre next to densely populated area and a dual carriage way for good
logistical access (E, J McCarthy, 1960, p83-93). This location will benefit the shop as
Michael E. Portera says big populations means less risk for organisations. (Michael E.
Portera, 1994, p35-40)

Capacity and resources

Innovation in business terms is creating new products and services that meet the customers
needs more effectively. Also innovation brings a competitive advantage with ever changing
customer needs, increase competition, changing business environments and technological
advances. (Johnson, D, 1969, p135-140)
Our opportunity innovative as it will be the first retail charity that will take the bold leap to
sell new products and not rely on second hand donations. Also with a consumer shift towards
being more environmentally responsible and living healthy lives the retail shop would have
the advantage as it will have emphasis on responsibly sourced products.
Degree of product innovation (Hudson, J, 2013, last accessed 30/04/2013)
Degree of product innovation
Improvement and revision of existing products
New products that similar performance at lower cost
Existing products that are targeted to new markets
Addition of products to an existing product line
Creation of new product lines
New-to-the-world products

Old/new product development

Old
New
New
New
Old
New

Dimensions and degree analysis (Hudson, J, 2013, last accessed 30/04/2013)

Degrees of Innovation

Dimensions of Innovation
Product

No innovation
Improvements
Similar performance at lower costs
Targeting new markets
Addition to existing product lines
Creation of new product lines
New to world

Services

Process

Business process

X
X
X
X

Rogerss diffusion model (Everett M. Rogers, 1995, p204-216)

Relative Advantage

What are the new benefits?

Cheaper products, helping protect heritage,
grow awareness, helps the communities as it
will take on volunteers to tackle issues of
employment regarding work experience.
Does the innovation cover all of the
benefits of the existing product, process or
service?
Innovation only covers products.
How much better is the innovation, in

terms of financial, time saved and other

measures?
Financial innovation is better as 0%
enterprise tax has to be paid. No innovation
on times saved and other measures are that
they can take volunteers to help.

Observability

How can the benefits of the innovation be

made as tangible and demonstrable as
possible?
The innovation will be made tangible and
demonstrable as it will be made clear that
products are noticeably cheaper than other
retail shops because of the CRT not having to
pay taxes.

Trialability

Is the customer easily able to trial the

innovation to perceive the benefits first
hand?
Yes as they can purchase more products and
compare with various retail shop
Can a trial on a small scale be used?
Small scale can be done relatively cheaply
via third party online retailer such as eBay
and Amazon.

Compatibility

In what ways can the innovation be made

similar to the customers current way of
working?
Products can be moved on to a different
medium such as internet to match customers
way of working which is shopping online.

Complexity

How can an innovation be designed to be

simple?
It can be simplified by making the
purchasing process easier such as;
Clear pricing and signs, in store credit
method for people who are not
technologically savvy.
What is the customers perceived risks of

Perceived risk

adoption?
Social stigma and over priced products.
How can they be minimized?
Advertising affordable products and can
reduce social stigma by selling products that
are trending.

Growth
For positive growth for the CRT retail shop the shop will be analysed against the Ansoff
matrix. Also if the opportunity is successful in its implementation a franchise chain can be
implemented and a web based online store can be made to sell products nationally and
internationally. A business always needs to grow or it will be left behind.
Ansoff Matrix (Igor Ansoff, 1957)
The Ansoff matrix is used for marketing planning and helps an organisation increase their
market share. Using this with our opportunity should help create a growth strategy to solidify
the future of the CRT retail shop.

With the Ansoff matrix two opportunities have been identified.

Market penetration - the retail shop will aim to increase market penetration by pricing
products competitively, advertising and in store promotions. Also take advantage of online

retailing to expand to a bigger market. The shop will aim to increase loyalty by introducing
an in store credit system.
Market development - the retail shop could expand its market internationally by selling its
products online; these products can include CRT branded souvenirs such as photo frames,
post cards, key rings etc...

Conclusion
This wiki identifies the history and current problems affecting the CRT. Group research had
revealed that the CRT has no real profitable businesses that make use of their resources. Also
this wiki has identified various ways of creative thinking to create ideas that eventually
leaded to one business proposal. To get to this stage the ideas had to be filtered from ideas to
five opportunities and then the chosen opportunity expanded upon for use within in the
proposal that will be put forward for the CRT.
Reflection
Upon group reflection of the chosen proposal it has been decided that it was not a good idea
for this wiki as it wasnt innovative which had the negative effect within the proposal /
marketing and capacity and resource sections. Also the proposal would require too much
maintenance to be an effective business. After this the conclusion was drawn that the CRT
needed to invest a lot of money to make their resources profitable, but this is probably why
the government has promised 800,000 million to them and from our research they havent
been using it to create new businesses at all. A better opportunity for the CRT would have
been the reusable energy as it would have made better use of the canals and rivers and would
require no costs after initial implementation.
Recommendations
We recommend that the CRT create a new venture with the government to encourage people
to use the CRTs resources for healthy lifestyles and for the CRT to spend money on making
the CRT known nationally.

Appendix

References
Canal and river trust. (2005). About us. Available: canalandrivertrust.org.uk/about-us. Last
accessed 01/04/2013.
Charles, H. (1996). British canals: An illustrated history. Canals; History; Great Britain. 3
(2), 277-279
David M. Harper (1999). Aquatic Conservation. London: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 141-157
Everett M. Rogers. (1995). Attributes of innovation and their rates of adoption . In:
Shoemakers, F Diffusion of Innovation. 4th ed. America : Free press. 204-216
E, J McCarthy . (1960). the 4Ps Classification of the marketing Mix revisited. Journal of
Marketing. 56 (4), 83-93
Heidi M. Neck. (2004). An Entrepreneurial System View of New Venture Creation. Journal
of Small Business Management. 42 (2), 190208
Hudson, J. (2013). Lecture slides, University of Derby online, last accessed 30/04/2013
Johnson, D (1969). Industrial and Commercial Training. 13th ed. Durham: University of
Durham Business School. 135 - 140.
Michael E. Portera. (1994). The Role of Location in Competition.International Journal of the
Economics of Business. 1 (1), 35-40
Moon, R and GEE, S (2012). Creating business opportunity. Derby: Palgrave Macmillian.
255-287
Robert A. Baron. (2006). Opportunity Recognition as Pattern Recognition: How
Entrepreneurs Connect the Dots to Identify New Business Opportunities. ACAD MANAGE
PERSPECT. 20 (7), 104-119