Global Consultants Business Strategies - Essay Example

Global Consultants Business Plan Though being an international business is not as difficult as it appears, there are very vital legal concerns to consider. Different nations have different laws. Businesses should consider the law in every country where it wants to do business. In order to do this, it is essential to have a team of legal experts locally. Lawyers who were licensed in the U.S. are only allowed to offer clients legal counsel on the laws of the state where they are authorized to practice. Businesses should have their local legal team set a trend and begin with a collection of U.S.-complaint official policies. Businesses must also not disregard cultural concerns. They should set up specialists to ensure that their business' giveaways or advertisements do not go against any cultural norms. Businesses should also be adaptable regarding the advertising arrangement. For instance, Italy and Hong Kong set restrictions on cash prizes, while current policies in Canada have challenged the ability to organize a skill competition with a prerequisite purchase. There are usually simple workarounds like offering an alternative means of entry or prize. Businesses should also be ready to run the campaign structure differently. Some countries might require different methods of promotion administration and advertising. For instance, drawings may need to be locally held and witnessed by certain officials, and winners informed by certain means. Some provinces might require that the rules and promotion be in the language or dialect of the locality, while others might require newspaper publication. Also, in some countries, some campaigns may need to be registered. Privacy law also differs from one country to another. Thus, the utilization, transmitting, accumulation, or gathering of exclusive data needs particular deliberation. Also, businesses should not believe that since a country in a specific territory allows a certain system that it will be permitted in all areas in that territory. Country-specific understanding of rules will spell a big difference. Lastly, businesses should budget funds and time to get it correctly accomplished. Synchronizing the legal issues in several regions is definitely more costly and time consuming than doing business in the U.S. alone. Be prepared to add around half a month to the time frame if the business intends on going global. Summary of the Business Plan The Philippine situation is presently characterized by the facts that investment appetites are low, budgets are being slashed, businesses are cutting costs, and times are tough. Being aware of this situation, Global Consultants (GC) has concluded that its potential clients would be interested in doing things in a smarter way, with adequate support of competent and dependable market intelligence. Global Consultants knows that it can offer both value creations and solutions to its potential clients. The senior consultants have been working with some highly regarded U.S.-based multi-national businesses for many years, andhave wide knowledge of Southeast Asian business environments. The company will aim to provide marketing services to targeted business environments in the Southeast Asia region, particularly the Philippines. The target start of operations is January 2009. Mission GC will offer businesses an excellent, dependable option to in-house resources for channel development, industrial sectors analysis, market intelligence, market development, and business development on a global range. A proper alternative to in house resources offers an exceptionally sophisticated practical experience, skill, connections, and privacy. Clients must be aware that working with the company is a less risky and more professional method of developing new areas compared to working in-house with their own employees. GC should be also able to maintain financial stability, charging a high value for its services and delivering an even higher worth of output to its clients. Primary focus will be expansion in the Southeast Asian market. Description of Services GC is a market-development consulting company that specializes in marketing a wide-ranging set of integrated professional services that offer clients high-quality consulting services for channel development, industrial sectors analysis, market intelligence, market development, and business development on a global range. Also, the company aims to specialize in providing sales assistance for multi-national businesses in the Filipino market. GC will offer expertise in the services it provides. Having much experience in this field, GC will be able to package and sell its services in numerous ways that let clients decide on their desired benefit. 1. Hourly/Temporary Aid. - The less traditional sort of short term assignments helping a company solve a marketing-related problem. 2. Retainer Contracts. - The more traditional form of consulting, including regular and long-term assistance on different marketing strategies of a client business. 3. Project Consulting. - This will include such things as consulting on major purchases and major disaster recovery. 4. Market Research. - This will include qualitative and quantitative research on the target market of a particular business. 5. Feasibility Studies. - This will include formulation of possible business plans for specific clients on different markets. Competitive Comparison Within its niche, GC does not have any competitors, but rather has"potential business partners." This is because GC offers solutions as well as value creations to its clients. The services it offers will be sought out by businesses ranging from management companies to market research businesses. Businesses that want to do in-house market research, channel development, and business development, will hire GC's services to provide the following value creations: Consulting / Market Researchers / Traders / Suppliers: - Improved communication - Access to new markets - Broader services offering - Lower cost of doing business - New ways of adding value Individual clients: - Shopping convenience -Immediate delivery - More frequent updates - Access to more products and services - Better pricing Technology Providers / Manufacturers: - Lower cost of sales - Access to niche markets - Better cost of identification Fulfillment of Services GC's core value is professional expertise presented by an amalgamation of, respectively, skill, hard and smart work, discipline, developments, and education. GC will turn to trained professionals for freelance assistance in market study,presentation, and report development.These are the areas that GC can afford to outsource without jeopardizing the core values provided to the customers. The principals of the business will deliver the key fulfilment of services; however, qualified professionals are also readily available for freelance back up. Pricing Strategy GC will be priced at the upper edge of what the market will allow, competing with the other big time consultants. The pricing will fit the company's high level of expertise within its niche. Consulting should be based on $10,000 per day for project consulting, $5,000 per day for market research, and $25,000 and up per month for retainer consulting. Market research reports and/or feasibility studies should be priced at $10,000 per report, which will of course require that reports be very well planned, focused on very important topics very well presented. Hourly aid will be based on the client's requirements. Sales Forecast The sales projection summary per month is shown in the appendix. The yearly sales forecasts are also shown here in the table. Sales Forecast 2009 2010 2011 Retainer Contracts $400,000 $500,000 650,000 Project Consulting $540,000 $650,000 $700,000 Market Research $244,000 $300,000 $400,000 Feasibility Studies $0 $100,000 $250,000 Other $0 $0 $0 Total Sales $1,184,000 $1,550,000 $2,000,000 Cost of Sales 2009 2010 2011 Retainer Contracts $60,000 $40,000 $60,000 Project Consulting $90,000 $50,000 $62,000 Market Research $168,000 $90,000 $100,000 Feasibility Studies $0 $40,000 $80,000 Other $0 $0 $0 Total Cost of Sales $318,000 $220,000 $302,000 Monthly Sales Forecast Annual Sales Forecast Market Segmentation The company's target market are large corporations, medium companies, small businesses, regional (Provincial Government Offices), academics, and individual customers. GC has a distinctive offering of services that attract alarge customer base. The company will focus on large businesses since they provide the greatest revenue potential. Market Growth Analysis Potential Customers Growth 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 CAGR Large Corporations 11% 50,500,000 56,034,800 62,176,214 68,990,727 76,552,111 10.96% Medium Companies 35% 37,000,000 49,950,000 67,432,500 91,033,875 122,895,731 35% Small Businesses 5% 12,500,000 13,125,000 13,781,250 14,470,313 15,193,829 5% Regional (Provincial Government) 2% 1,500,000 1,530,000 1,560,600 1,591,812 1,623,648 2% Academics 1% 2,250,000 2,272,500 2,295,225 2,318,177 2,341,359 1% Individual Customers 332% 87,500 377,580 1,629,333 7,030,898 30,339,731 331.52% Total 24.43% 103,837,500 123,289,880 148,875,122 185,435,802 248,946,409 24.43% As indicated by the chart, GC must focus on individual clients and large, medium, and small businesses in the global market. In the Filipino market, individual clients, NGOs, regional government offices,and academics will be the centre of earnings. Service Business Analysis The following companies are key players in Filipino market research consulting business (in no particular order): 1. AGB-Nielsen Philippines 2. Synergy Business Consultancy 3. The Asia-Pacific Centre for Research Inc. 4. Ayre Consulting 5. Team Asia Strategic Marketing Firm 6. Healy Consultants 7. John Clements Philippines 8. Datamex 9. Andersen Consulting Basic Need Potential GC will focus on six techno-graphical market segments. 1. Large corporations. - The most significant market segment consists of the engineering industries, consulting, mining, banking and financing institutions, utilities, developers, turnkey contractors, trading houses, suppliers, technology providers, and large manufacturers. These businesses will be working togetherwith GC for progress operations that are more effective when outsourced than when done in-house. 2. Medium-sized companies. - For high-growth areas, such as multimedia and software, GC will provide an attractive growth option that will allow the business to deal with opportunities in new market sectors. 3. Regional Government Office and NGOs. - GC will provideunique assistance in investment campaign and export facilitation. 4. Academics. - Colleges and Universities granting doctorate, masters, and professionals degrees in technology, engineering, and business-related subjects are believed as lucrative by GC. 5. Smallbusinesses owners and Individual customers. Consists of prominent personalities such as government officials, sales managers, general managers, marketing managers, and boards of directors. Exchange Rate Trends The Development Bank of Philippines (DBP) announced a forward foreign rate protection scheme and a foreign exchange insurance scheme to facilitate exporters' hedging to cope with an appreciating currency. In a situation of unpredictable exchange rate trends, DBP planned the conception of a pool of funds, from collections from exporters, from out of profits due to exchange rate fluctuations in a depreciating currency situation. So far, the current exchange rate of U.S. Dollar (USD) to Philippine Peso (PHP) stabilized at 1 USD = 48 PHP for the past few months. Import Restrictions and Price Control Investments are welcome in this country. The nature of the business will suffer no import restrictions and price controls in the Philippines. The Philippines has one of the most liberal regulatory frameworks and policies for investments in Southeast Asia. When investing in the Philippines, businessmen are directed by clearly spelled out rules, regulations, and laws that control the establishment of investments in the country. Generally, regardless of nationality, anyone is welcome to put up a business in the Philippines. Most economic activities restriction on foreign investments is on the extent of foreign ownership permitted for a particular investment and not on the nationality. Key Competitors The company sees the following as key competitors: The sophisticated management consulting Strengths: International sites run by owner-partners with a sophisticated degree of knowledge and presentation of general business. Enviable statuses which make hiring of services a simple choice for a manager, regardless of the very expensive fees. Weaknesses: General business skill does not stand in for the specific distribution, channel, and market expertise of GC, concentrating on high- technology products and markets solely. Also, fees are very steep, and work is sold by high-level partners but usually done by very junior-level consultants. The international market research company Strengths: International headquarters, specific market understanding, permanent staff developing market research data on permanent basis, satisfactory relationships with potential client businesses. Weaknesses: Market numbers are not market development, not channel development or marketing. Though these firms vie for some of the businesses GC is after, they cannot actually provide the same degree of business knowledge at an advanced level. Market specific or function-specific experts Strength: Expertise in functional or market fields. Weakness: Usually unable to rise above a particular focus, or to go beyond a particular focus, to provide actual management familiarity, skill and understanding outside the specifics. No consulting The most crucial competition is no consulting at all, businesses deciding to do business development and channel development and market study in-house. Strengths: No incremental expense aside from travel. The planning is done by the people who will execute, and the general work is done by the people who are wholly in-charge. Weaknesses: Business managers are already burdened with a lot of daily business functions that they would have less or no time at all for added tasks in new market or channel expansion. Also, GC can approach channels, vendors, and alliances on a confidential basis, making primary contacts and acquiring data in methods that the business managers cannot. Socio-cultural Forces The Philippines consists of a very broad-minded population open to foreign investors and businesses. Almost every Filipino is English literate, which makes working with these people an easy task. Due to the availability of primary and secondary education (patterned in the U.S. educational system), and the presence of international schools, the country's population is educated "western-style" at large. Since most of the population in this country have a "clinging" to the west, most western businesses in this region are highly regarded. A developing country that attracts many foreign investors who outsource their businesses due to its excellent labor force and low labor rates, makes the feasibility of a successful consultancy business large. Export Marketing Strategies Public relations and industry media will assist in general industry awareness campaigns. Services reviews and feature articles will aid introduce awareness. Direct mail to target market sectors and ads in trade publications will help with client influences. All key market sectors will be targeted and an annual event will be funded. Conclusion It was revealed in the business plan that the proposal for the services to be offered by the company is lucrative. The target market for the business is also strategic due to the current economic situation of the target country. Also, the Philippines, being located in Southeast Asia, has businesses with key relationships with other Asian businesses. Via links through these different businesses, future prospect of gaining entry in the whole Southeast Asia community is more viable. The location for the business is also strategic since the target area is open to this type of business, and there are hardly any restrictive conditions for the nature of the business. Also, since it is known that the Philippines attracts many multi-national companies who outsource their operations, there is vast potential for a large clientele. References (2003). Business Forum - How do I start a consulting service LASER FOCUS WORLD. 39, 47-48. ABRAMS, R. M., & KLEINER, E. (2003). The successful business plan: secrets & strategies. Palo Alto, Calif, ThePlanningshop. KIMMERLING, G. (1995). How To Start a Consulting Business. TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT -ALEXANDRIA- AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT. 49, 22. MAZZOTTA, F. G. (2001). A Guide to E-Commerce: Some Legal Issues Posed by E- Commerce for American Businesses Engaged in Domestic and International Transactions. Suffolk Transnational Law Review. 24, 249-278. SYCIP, GORRES, VELAYO & CO. (2000). Doing business in the Philippines. [Manila], SGV & Co. Read More