Business Concept Part 1 & 2 Copyright © Basic Comfort -1- Part 1 1. What is our business? Our company is professional in selling and distribution waterproofing and anti-moisture material for house.. Our office and warehouse are located in Room 3005, No.23, Zhongshan Eight Road, Guangzhou city, Guangdong province. Our company started after seeing how much the weather can affect the living conditions of many people. Humidity and moisture can penetrate inside most of the houses and buildings in China, causing fungus, rotting walls, rotting ceilings and bad smells. Humidity indoor can also damage electronic devices such as televisions, microwaves, computer and many more. For offices and homes, this is a very uncomfortable, and many times, expensive situation. Replacing walls or repainting them, can take days, and a lot of money. Also, anything affected by moisture can create indoor air quality problems. Mold, mildew and fungus can grow in damp environment, and release spores and other allergens that impact indoor air quality. People living or working in moldy environments can suffer hay fever-like symptoms or other more serious health problems, if you are allergic to mold, or have asthma, being around mold may make your condition worse. If you have a chronic lung condition or a weak immune system, you could develop mold infections in your lungs and you should try to avoid buildings contaminated with mold. According to Harriet M. Ammann, Ph.D., D.A.B.T., a senior toxicologist for Washington State Department of Health, Office of Environmental Health Assessments, there are three main health issues that can come with molds and fungus, this happens to children as well as adults. Copyright © Basic Comfort -2- a) Allergy: The most common response to mold exposure may be allergy. People who are atopic, that is, who are genetically capable of producing an allergic response, may develop symptoms of allergy when their respiratory system or skin is exposed to mold or mold products to which they have become sensitized. Sensitization can occur in atopic individuals with sufficient exposure. Allergic reactions can range from mild, transitory responses, to severe, chronic illnesses. The Institute of Medicine (1993) estimates that one in five Americans suffers from allergic rhinitis, the single most common chronic disease experienced by humans. Additionally, about 14% of the population suffers from allergy-related sinusitis, while 10% to 12% of Americans have allergy-related asthma. About 9% experience allergic dermatitis. A very much smaller number, less than one percent, suffer serious chronic allergic diseases such as Allergic Broncho Pulmonary Aspergillosis (ABPA) and hypersensitivity pneumonitis (Institute of Medicine, 1993). Allergic fungal sinusitis is a not uncommon illness among atopic individuals residing or working in moldy environments. While there are thousands of different molds that can contaminate indoor air, purified allergens have been recovered from only a few of them. This means that atopic individuals may be exposed to molds found indoors and develop sensitization, yet not be identified as having mold allergy. Allergy tests performed by physicians involve challenge of an individual’s immune system by specific mold allergens. Since the reaction is highly specific, it is possible that even closely related mold species may cause allergy, yet that allergy may not be detected through challenge with the few purified mold allergens available for allergy tests. Thus a positive mold allergy test indicates sensitization to an antigen contained in the test allergen (and perhaps to other fungal allergens) while a Copyright © Basic Comfort -3- negative test does not rule out mold allergy for atopic individuals. b) Infection: Mucous Membrane and Trigeminal Nerve Irritation A third group of possible health effects from fungal exposure derives from the volatile compounds (VOC) produced through fungal primary or secondary metabolism, and released into indoor air. Some of these volatile compounds are produced continually as the fungus consumes its energy source during primary metabolic processes. (Primary metabolic processes are those necessary to sustain an individual organism’s life, including energy extraction from foods, and the syntheses of structural and functional molecules such as proteins, nucleic acids and lipids). Depending on available oxygen, fungi may engage in aerobic or anaerobic metabolism. They may produce alcohols or Aldehydes and acidic molecules. Such compounds in low but sufficient aggregate concentration can irritate the mucous membranes of the eyes and respiratory system. Certain fungi can release highly toxic gases from the substrate on which they grow. For instance, one fungus growing on wallpaper released the highly toxic gas arsine from arsenic containing pigments (Gravesen, et al., 1994). c) Adverse Reactions to Odor: Odors produced by molds may also adversely affect some individuals. Ability to perceive odors and respond to them is highly variable among people. Some individuals can detect extremely low concentrations of volatile compounds, while others require high levels for perception. An analogy to music may give perspective to odor response. What is beautiful music to one individual is unbearable noise to another. Some people derive enjoyment from odors of all kinds. Others may respond with headache, nasal stuffiness, nausea or even vomiting to certain odors including various perfumes, cigarette smoke, diesel exhaust or moldy odors. It is not know whether such responses are learned, or are time-dependent Copyright © Basic Comfort -4- sensitization of portions of the brain, perhaps mediated through the olfactory sense (Bell, et al., 1993), or whether they serve a protective function. Asthmatics may respond to odors with symptoms. 2. What is our product? The materials of B.C. use a new technology, to keep humidity and moisture away from indoor. The main characteristic of our walls is that they are made mainly with Zycosil Nano technology, an eco-friendly organo-silicon product to waterproof practically all the different kinds of building materials. The Nano technology has ensured that service life of this approach will lead to life cycles beyond 20 to 30 years at very economical cost of Rs.57/sq.ft. (0.14 US dollars) This organo-silicon product, which forms a particle size of 4-6 ηm in water and penetrates deep into the building material pores 3-5 mm. The product becomes part of the building material and makes it highly water repellent. It is a long expected life of 20 to 30 years confirmed by weathering test data by ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) methods. The product has shown 4 major attributes: • It is diluted 1:10 and more with tap water and emits extremely small amount of organics in the atmosphere making it eco-friendly. • The product can be applied by brush, spray or roller techniques makes it user friendly. • The product will be providing water repellency at a material cost of Rs.5 - 7/sq.ft. (0.14US dollars) • The product is non flammable Copyright © Basic Comfort -5- Zycosil treated samples (brick, concrete, cement sheet, plaster, Dholpur stone etc.) reduced water absorption rates by over 99 %. The type of our waterproof materials: a) K11 Nano-waterproof materials (5kg、10kg、20kg、25kg) b) Nano negative ions wall paint (10kg、20kg、30kg) c) Nano interior wall paint (5kg、10kg、20kg) d) Rigid waterproofing and Nano-elastic wall paint (10kg、20kg、30kg) e) Bitumen membrane (㎡) f) Polymer waterproof membrane (㎡) 3. What is our target market? As an anti-humidity material merchandiser, our target market will be mainly, buildings under construction or new construction projects. Old buildings with old walls and older Constructions are very hard, expensive to replace and also takes long time (it can be months, according to the building size) therefore it won't be our primary focus. Our market is generally new buildings for office use, Guangzhou experiences extreme humidity of 66% for the past few years. This phenomenon is not unusual in Guangdong. The people in Guangzhou have named it "Huinan (回南)," the dampness which appears in February and March. After the cold air departs, the warm and humid air flows in, temperatures and the humidity in the air rise sharply, lasting for as long as 15 days in the worse case. During this humidity period, houses and offices tend to get wet on the inside, causing a lot of damage to their walls, to their electronic devices such as computers, cables, TV, microwaves, and other types of electronic devices. Copyright © Basic Comfort -6- Usually offices contain a lot of electronic devices, and with water inside them, there is a lot at stake. Not only in monetary investment, but in data loss and time wasted for repairing damages. That is why our niche market will be new offices buildings in Guangzhou. We will supply them the quantity required to make the anti-humidity walls for the offices. If our clients have specific needs and wants, we will ask the factory to design and produce it. Meanwhile a large percentage of Chinese people move to a new house when they get married or have children. Humidity can be a big problem for newborn babies, and children, so this can be a good target for us to market our product as well. 4. What type of company we are? Our company is a limited company. A limited company, also known as a limited liability company (LLC), is a type of business ownership which determines many aspects of the way the business is run. A limited company shares some aspects with a privately owned company, some with a partnership, and some with a corporation. There are both advantages and disadvantages to making a company a limited company. A limited company may be formed in the United States by a fairly simple process. First, the owner or owners of the company, who will be called "members" when the limited company is formed, must file articles of organization with their state's Secretary of State. Each state has specific laws about how these articles should be written. The members of the company must then pay the required fees to the state. Each state also has guidelines about other matters that may be required, such as filing an operating agreement, or making a public notice of the limited company's formation. Once a limited Copyright © Basic Comfort -7- company is formed, the members gain all the benefits of the limited company, as well as all the disadvantages. One of the main benefits of a limited company is that, as the name suggests, the liability of the members is limited. Members of the company are not responsible for the debts of the limited company, as it is treated as a separate individual in its own right. All of the limited company's debts are the responsibility of the company, and cannot be passed on to its members. In this way, a limited company operates in much the same manner as a corporation, but with fewer restrictions and requirements of the members. Corporations, for example, have the disadvantage of double taxation. The corporation is taxed on its profits, and the members are taxed on their income. In a limited company, the company is not taxed on its profits. Each member pays the tax on his or her own profits. This is known as flow through taxation. While a limited company has distinct benefits for its members, it also comes with disadvantages over other types of business. A limited company has much more paperwork and different rules to follow than a partnership or sole-proprietorship. In addition, members of a limited company must participate in the running of the company, or they are considered investors. If your members are investors, then their share of the company is considered a security. Rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will apply, requiring more paperwork and regulations, unless the company qualifies for an exemption. With many advantages and disadvantages to forming a limited company, business owners and investors have a lot to consider. A limited company is not the perfect business type for every business, but many find it both secure and advantageous. Copyright © Basic Comfort -8- 5. Who are our competitors? There are many companies provide waterproof material to customers in Guangzhou. But it has few companies to provide the nano-waterproof material. All agents, wholesalers, manufacturers and retailers who sell waterproof material are our competitors. As we can see, we find a company be our main competitor, which called Tongjian New Building Materials (Guangzhou) Co., Ltd The Guangzhou city needs companies to provide waterproof material because of the humid subtropical climate. However, it has few manufacturers to provide them and cover all main functions such as production, research and development, sale and marketing. But, Tongjian New Building Materials (Guangzhou) Co., Ltd does these. It is a leading manufacturer in China, involved in the manufacturing and distribution of dry-mix mortar with Waterproof Slurry series, Tile Adhesive series, Putty series, Grout series and Thermal-Insulation series which are widely applied to construction and high end industries. Strengths: Tongjian are leading manufacturers in china and has variables series to manufacturing dry mortar. They also have deep experience, loyal customers and long-term relationship in this market. Weakness: Tongjian only focus on manufacturing and distribution of dry mortar, less focus on research and development or sale and marketing. Copyright © Basic Comfort -9- Part 2 Our Brand name: B.C. (Basic Comfort) B.C. means “Basic Comfort”. No matter work or rest, almost all of people live in doors. Therefore, from the moment of birth, people’s most basic requirements are to have a comfortable and safe living environment. No matter how long ago, people needed to have residence. This also reflects a safe and comfortable home is importance for people. Logo: Slogan: Let Basic Comfort be your foundation! Mission and Vision Mission: “Provide the best quality products to avoid humidity and moisture in doors, giving our customers a much safer, cleaner, healthier, comfortable, organic and humidity-free place to live and work in”. Vision: Enhance the value and quality for the customer to create an excellent living Copyright © Basic Comfort - 10 - Strategic Marketing Part 3 Copyright © Basic Comfort - 11 - Part 3 Strategic Marketing: Marketing strategy is a process that can allow an organization to concentrate its limited resources on the greatest opportunities to increase sales and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. A marketing strategy should be centered on the key concept that customer satisfaction is the main goal. 1. Elements of a Strategic Marketing: There are nine major steps required to develop a well-crafted, strategic marketing plan: set your marketing goals, conduct a marketing audit, conduct market research, analyze the research, identify your target audience, determine a budget, develop specific marketing strategies, develop an implementation schedule for the strategies and create an evaluation process. a. Set your marketing goals. Once you’ve decided to market your practice, you need to set realistic and measurable goals to achieve over the next 18 to 24 months. This time span allows you to plan activities around community events that are in line with your marketing goals. For example, you might speak at your community’s annual health fair. Because of the rapid changes occurring in the health care environment, we don’t recommend planning specific activities more than two years in advance. One way to define your goals is to separate them into the following three categories: immediate, one to six months; short-term, six to 12 months; and long-term, 12 to 24 months. Here are some examples of measurable goals: Increase the number of new patients seen in the practice by 5 percent within the first six months and 10 percent by the end of the first year. Copyright © Basic Comfort - 12 - Shift your patient mix by expanding the pediatric and adolescent patient base from 15 percent to 25 percent of total patient visits within 18 months. Increase your gross revenue by 30 percent within 24 months. Improve your practice’s image, which may be measured by “before” and “after” scores on a community survey or by reviews from focus group participants. It’s important to share these goals with your staff members. They can tell you from their perspectives whether they believe the goals are reasonable. If you want your marketing plan to be successful, your staff needs to support your efforts to achieve the marketing goals. Key Point: Marketing can increase your income, introduce new providers or improve your practice image, among other things. A strategic marketing plan requires you to define your practice in terms of what it does for patients. Every goal, strategy and action in your marketing plan is subject to change as you evaluate your progress. b. Conduct a marketing audit. A marketing audit is a review of all marketing activities that have occurred in your practice over the past three years. Be as thorough as possible, making sure to review every announcement, advertisement, phonebook ad, open house, brochure and seminar and evaluate whether it was successful. c. Conduct market research. The purpose of market research is to draw a realistic picture of your practice, the community you practice in and your current position in that community. With this research, you can make fairly accurate projections about future growth in the community, identify competitive factors Copyright © Basic Comfort - 13 - and explore nontraditional opportunities (such as offering patients nutritional counseling, smoking-cessation programs or massage therapy). Your research may even bring to light some problem areas in your practice as well as solutions you can implement right away. Conducting market research is often the most time-consuming step in this process. However, it’s also one of the most important steps. It’s from this research that you’re able to find out what your practice does best and what you need to work on, what the needs of your community are, who your practice should be targeting and how you should go about it. d. Analyze the research. Next, you need to analyze the raw data you collect and summarize it into meaningful findings that will be the foundation for determining which marketing strategies make the most sense and will get the best results for your practice The research will identify the wants and needs of your current and potential patients and will help you to define your target audience (for more on target audiences, see step 5, below). This is also a good time to look back at the goals you’ve chosen. Based on your research findings, you may need to modify some of your goals. A strategic marketing plan requires that your practice be defined in terms of what it does for patients. The research analysis will reveal your practice’s strategic advantages. After looking closely at your own practice as well as your competitors’, you can ask yourself some key questions: What are the similarities and differences between your practice and your competitors’? What sets your practice apart from your competition? Is your location more desirable than your competitors’? Do you offer a broader scope of services than the competition? Is there a service you provide that no one else in the community currently offers? Your competitive edge may lie in your style of practice, the range of services you offer, the ease of making an appointment or the way you and your staff communicate with patients. Copyright © Basic Comfort - 14 - A guide to market research: To gather the kind of information you need to develop a strategic marketing plan for your practice, you need to conduct market research on your practice, your competition and your community. You can’t rely on intuition, judgment and experience; your practice needs hard data. Although it will take some time to gather this information, a number of resources are available that can make the process easier for you. Your practice: Much of the information you need about your own practice can be found through discussions with staff members and other physicians, or by reviewing your patient records. You can also find out about your practice and whether it’s meeting the needs of your current patients by asking them to fill out a patient survey about the practice. Here are some of the questions you need answered about your practice: What is the background and history of your practice? Has it been in the current community for a long time? What are your practice’s strengths and weaknesses? Are there problems with scheduling, cancellations, staff turnover or reimbursement management? Who are your current patients in terms of their age, sex, ethnic origin, type of insurance coverage, chief complaints and where they live? What are the services provided by your practice? Who needs these services? Are these needs changing? How is your practice perceived by your patients? Your competition: You need to find out who your competitors are and what they have to offer. Check with your county or state medical society and your local hospital to find out how many other family Copyright © Basic Comfort - 15 - physicians, nurse practitioners and general internists are in your service area, how long they’ve practiced in that location and how many have moved into your area over the past five years. Once you’ve determined who your competitors are, you need to assess them. This information may be a little harder to come by, but you can try to gather as much information as you can by simply asking other physicians, listening to your patients, friends and neighbors when they talk about their physicians and keeping your eye out for competitors’ advertisements. To assess your competition, you need to ask the following questions: What are your competitors’ target audiences and niche markets? Why do certain patients or groups of patients particularly like or dislike your competitors? How are your competitors viewed within the community? What marketing activities have your competitors tried? Your community: In addition to gathering information about your practice and your competitors’ practices, you need to learn as much as you can about the people in your community. You can find answers to the following questions by contacting your local Chamber of Commerce, your state vital statistics department or the U.S. Census Bureau. Census data is available for every state, county, city, ZIP code, neighborhood, etc.: How many people live in your service area? Is the population expected to grow or shrink? What are the demographic characteristics of the population in your area? How is your practice perceived in the community? Are you known in the community? Who are your potential patients? Are their wants and needs being met elsewhere in the community? If not, how can your practice meet those needs? Copyright © Basic Comfort - 16 - e. Identify a target audience. With the help of your market research analysis, you should be able to identify your practice’s “target audience,” which is the specific group of patients to which you’d like to direct your marketing efforts. Your target audience might include patients of a certain age, gender, location, payer type or language/ethnicity and patients with certain clinical needs. Keep in mind that your target audience should not only be the patients you want to attract but also the people who can influence and provide exposure to that segment of the population. For example, if you wish to treat patients with arthritis, you might want to get involved in the local and regional Arthritis Foundation and explore senior organizations in the community. If you want to treat young athletes, you might consider giving talks on sports safety and first-aid tips to coaches and athletes at the local high schools, colleges and YMCAs. The key to marketing lies in targeting the audience that your practice can serve better than your competition – and communicating this to that group. f. Determine a budget. Before you can decide what specific marketing strategies you want to implement to achieve your goals, you need to examine your financial information and come up with a marketing budget. Marketing budgets vary by the type of market a practice is in, the age of a practice and whether the practice has marketed before. There’s no standard for how much a practice should spend. However, in our experience, practices in open markets have spent 3 percent to 5 percent of their annual gross incomes on marketing. If your practice is new, in a highly competitive market or has never been marketed before, or if you intend to roll out an ambitious new program or service, you can expect to spend 10 percent or more of your annual gross income the first year you implement the plan. Copyright © Basic Comfort - 17 - Some of the initial marketing activities can be expensive. For example, it can cost more than $5,000 to have a corporate image package (i.e., logo, stationery and collateral pieces) developed by a professional and as much as $10,000 if you add a brochure. On the other hand, some of the best marketing activities cost practically nothing. For example, to build your referral network, you might try meeting with new physicians in your community and sending follow-up/thank you notes to referring physicians. Big or small, these are all worthwhile investments that will give the community a positive image of your practice. g. Develop marketing strategies. With your budget in place, you can begin to define specific marketing strategies that will address your goals, reach your target audience and build your patient base. Remember to focus your strategies on the elements of your practice that can be used to create a special value in the minds of patients and referral sources. Each strategy should be related to a specific goal and should be made up of numerous actions. For example, one strategy related to the goal of increasing patient satisfaction might be to make the office more patient friendly. The actions required for that strategy might include the following: Provide patient satisfaction training sessions to staff; Develop a patient self-scheduling system within the practice Web site to eliminate the need to telephone the office for an appointment; Improve the reception-room decor; Provide name tags for staff; Require staff to introduce themselves to each new patient; Conduct post-encounter telephone interviews with new patients within three days of their appointments. Copyright © Basic Comfort - 18 - h. Develop an implementation schedule. An implementation schedule is a time-line that shows which marketing actions will be done when and by whom. The schedule should also include the cost of each marketing action and how it fits into the budget estimates for the 24-month period. When creating the schedule, need to carefully consider how the activities will affect the current practice operations, and whether there are sufficient resources (such as staff, time and money) to accomplish the necessary tasks. In some cases, it may be necessary to whittle down the list or postpone some activities. In other cases, it might be best to go ahead with full implementation of your plan. If you want to fully implement the plan but don’t quite have the staffing resources, you might consider bringing in a consultant to coordinate the marketing activities and/or adding a part-time staff member to handle the majority of the marketing tasks. The implementation schedule will also give you a basis on which to monitor the progress of your marketing plan. i. Create an evaluation process. The value of a marketing plan is its effectiveness, which requires deliberate and timely implementation and monitoring and evaluation of results. It’s important to measure your results against the standards you set in establishing your goals. Review your plan periodically (we recommend quarterly) by comparing your progress with the implementation schedule. There are several ways you can measure the results of your progress: patient survey scores, referral sources, increased income, increased new patients and decreased complaints. If at any time you find your progress does not measure up to your expectations, you need to determine why. Perhaps the advertisement about a new service you are marketing has not attracted new patients. If the ad campaign has been carried out as directed without results, dump the campaign and try other actions. Perhaps you’ll want to try giving a series of seminars specifically targeted to the group you want to attract or developing a new segment Copyright © Basic Comfort - 19 - on your Web site for patients that describes the benefits of the new service. You may even find that if each physician in the practice talks about the new service with his or her patients as merely informational conversation, favorable results will follow. In other words, the actions – and even the strategies and goals – in the marketing plan are not written in stone. By regularly monitoring and evaluating each action, you can always change and try new approaches. 2. Why a Strategic Marketing Plan: Running a successful business is not like a field of dreams; you can build it but they might not come. Marketing is all about letting people know about the product or service you offer, and persuading them to buy or use it. And for effective marketing you have to let people know about your product or service repeatedly. To do this, you're going to have to come up with both a marketing strategy and a marketing plan. Copyright © Basic Comfort - 20 - Marketing Section Part 4 Copyright © Basic Comfort - 21 - Part 4 The current Marketing Situation: 1. Market Situation: Humidity and moisture can penetrate inside most of the houses and buildings in China, causing fungus, rotting walls, rotting ceilings and bad smells. Humidity indoor can also damage electronic devices such as televisions, microwaves, computer and many more. So, waterproof material is very necessary to use in houses and buildings. In the market, our products have a great potential. The marketing situation for waterproof material in China (and Guangzhou) is just beginning to develop. In addition, our products NANO Waterproof Material, it is relatively new products. B.C. uses a new technology, to keep humidity and moisture away from indoor. The main characteristic of our walls is the wall was made mainly with Zycosil NANO technology, an eco-friendly Organo-Silicon product to waterproof practically for all different kinds of building materials. The NANO technology has ensured that the service life of this approach will lead to life cycles beyond 20 to 30 years at very economical cost of Rs.5- 7/sq.ft. (0.14 US dollars) In China,waterproof material market is little bit confusing, this occur because a lot of fake and shoddy products access to the market. There are also many foreign products has entered the market. However, our products are used nanotechnology and in the market, it is still not widespread and difficult to counterfeit our products. Therefore, they are hard to copy our products because of the high technical content. 2. Product Situation: The underwater paint and the waterproof volume material are the widespread two broad heading waterproofing materials that used in the waterproofing works. Copyright © Basic Comfort - 22 - The underwater paint widely applies in the roofing and the inferior waterproofing works. Nearly for more than ten years, it also expands to bridges, tunnels, subways, water conservation, reservoirs, sewage treatment and so on. But due to production of underwater paint process, some enterprises use the tar and so many other toxic substances, in production and the construction process the deleterious substance volatilizes massively and causing serious accidents, such as poisoning and even death of workers every year. Also serious pollution to the environment harmed the production and constructors' health. "Construction Underwater paint Deleterious substance Will limit the quantity" This profession standard constructs the underwater paint to enter our country and the construction waterproofing market, namely the first threshold. After standard authorization promulgation implement, only which conforms to this standard and the corresponding product standard underwater paint is able to produce, can enter the waterproof market as the commodity and use in the waterproofing qualities. Therefore, this profession standard formulate and implement can improve the underwater paint quality, the product turns to a new generation, protect the environment, safeguards person's health and the life, guaranteeing that the waterproofing works and that quality play a very important function, plays more and more important role in the construction profession. According to the related building waterproofing request's new stipulation, the ammonia fats underwater paint, which gathers generally the ammonia fat and the coal-tar oil that are made as raw material. It volatilizes the tar gas toxicity in a big quantity, and is not easy to eliminate, therefore is forbidden in China since 2000. But the polymer cement base underwater paint, because of the convenient, the comprehensive construction cost is low, is fast to use and non-toxic environmental protection. Therefore, the polymer cement base already became the underwater paint market lead. Copyright © Basic Comfort - 23 - 3. Competitive Situation: The waterproof material market is still developing, so it still has a great potential. And many companies fancy to this market's development potential. It leads more and more waterproof material companies starting. For the old competitors, they have the deep experience about this market and products. They also have loyal customers. They have ever set up the great relationship and became the market’s leaders. For the new competitors, they have their strong and special strengths. They have the new technology or products to impact the market. 4. Distribution Situation: In China, the humid areas are mainly in the Northeast and South district, such as Yunnan, Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Hubei, Chongqing, Hainan and Taiwan. So, waterproof materials in these areas are necessary. There are also many waterproof materials companies set up in these areas. In China, there is an association called China National Building Waterproof Association (CNBW). According to relevant laws and regulations, CNBW is voluntarily organized by nationwide production, research, design, construction and business units such as enterprises, institutes, colleges and universities in waterproof materials industry to form a national non-profit, self-discipline organization. CNBW also provides the new information about waterproof material on domestic and foreign markets. It not only helps all the waterproofing companies understand the market in China and help them develop, but also promote the development of building waterproof materials market in China. In Chinese coastal and economically developed provinces and cities are dotted with lots of Copyright © Basic Comfort - 24 - large and small waterproof materials companies. With the economic development of China, the demand of waterproof material rapidly increased from small to large, rapid expansion from the total to structure significant upgrade, and gradually formed with Chinese characteristics, the diversification and multi-level consumer market. And some big cities such as Beijing and shanghai have used waterproof material in buildings. Guangzhou also has lots of waterproof materials companies or manufacturers, but it is rarely used in buildings. Objectives and SWOT: 1. Marketing Objectives: 1.1 Product: B.C. have developed technology to avoid and keep moisture outside of the houses or offices. The main characteristic of our walls is that they are made mainly with Zycosil Nano technology, an eco-friendly organo-silicon product to waterproof practically all the different kinds of building materials. The Nano technology has ensured that service life of this approach will lead to life cycles beyond 20 to 30 years at very economical cost of Rs.57/sq.ft. (0.14 US dollars)Nano sized Zycosil penetrates deeply into structures and provides repellence into cementitious pores where other film-formers like silicone resins, acrylic resins and epoxy resins cannot penetrate. Because of its nature, it penetrates up to some millimeters and fills micro cracks, still maintaining them breathable. It can be applied to any substrate, old or new like concrete, brick, mortar, plaster, cement sheets, lime, sandstone, granite, tile and grout by using low pressure agro spray pump or brush or paint roller for vertical surfaces and simply flooding for the horizontal surfaces. Copyright © Basic Comfort - 25 - The substance can be used for basements, foundations, utilities like kitchens, toilets and bathrooms, internal and external walls, rooftops, underground water tanks and overhead cement tanks for hospitals, clinics and hotels and restaurants, concrete paved areas and paving blocks cement sheets and pipes, as well as clay/cement pots, statues and sculptures. 1.2 Price: B.C.’s management team have discussed the price for selling this product, and came to the conclucion that selling it as follow: Nano-waterproof materials (30RMB/Kg) Nano negative ions wall paint (36RMB/Kg) Nano interior wall paint (18RMB/Kg) Rigid waterproofing and Nano-elastic wall paint (24RMB/Kg) Bitumen membrane (40RMB/㎡) Polymer waterproof membrane (80RMB/㎡) 1.3 Place: The office and warehouse of B.C. are located in Room 3005, No.23, Zhongshan Eight Road, Guangzhou city, Guangdong province. Because B.C. wants to be affordable and accessible to people in China, so we will have distributors which will be placed all over the Guangdong province later. Specially in coastal and humid cities such as Guangzhou (where headquarters will be), Shenzhen, Dongguan, etc. Copyright © Basic Comfort - 26 - 1.4 Promotion: B.C. will set up a website and provide the online shopping. People also can cooperate with B.C. through this website. B.C. will also need some advertising. We plan to have the advertisement on TV, newspapers and magazines. We also have outdoor billboard and Google or Baidu propaganda. 2. Advantages and disadvantages of using SWOT analysis: 2.1 Advantages: One of the advantges of doing SWOT analysis, is that it only costs time to do. A SWOT Analysis can help you determine the risks and opportunities associated with each outsourced vendor that is being considered. Once the Swot analysis is done, it can be used for problem solving, planning, strategic planning, decision making, competitor evaluation and our personal development. It facilitates and understanding of the strengths and weakness of our organization and encourages the development of strategic thinking. Our management team can focus on B.C.’s strengths and build new opportunities for our business to grow, and anticipate future business threats, so we can take action to avoid or minimize impacts on us. By knowing all of our weakness, strengths, threats and opportunities, we can spot business opportunities and take the most advantage we can of them helping our company to grow not only in sales but in costumer satisfaction. Copyright © Basic Comfort - 27 - 2.2 Disadvantages: If SWOT analysis is not properly done, it can bring big consequences to our company: *If by any reason data is simplify, this can lead to misunderstanding or lack of information. *Decisions can be make under wrong data or information, leading company to make wrong decisions. * Because we are a new organization, taking data for the first time can take very long time, and mistakes are expected to be made. * The data used in the analysis may be based on assumptions that subsequently prove to be unfounded (good and bad). * Lack detailed structure, so easy to miss key elements. *Is a simple list and not critically presented, our SWOT analysis is more a report than a research. * To have a better reviews, it is requires that different people be involved in the analysis, each having different perspective. But a lot of it is subjective, especially when analyzing the Strengths and Weaknesses. What one person might perceive its strengths or weaknesses to be, another person might (if they were in the same position) might disagree. Something like low-pricing could be seen as a strength or weakness- that could be down to the person doing the analysis to decide. On the Opportunities and Threats part of the analysis, often some of the most important opportunities or threats may not yet have been spotted by the individual/group doing the analysis. It's very common that an opportunity is only recognized once the timing has passed and it is no longer and opportunity. Copyright © Basic Comfort - 28 - 3. SWOT Analysis: 3.1 Strengths: a) Technological skills: Nano sized Zycosil penetrates deeply into structures and provides repellence into cementitious pores where other film-formers like silicone resins, acrylic resins and epoxy resins cannot penetrate. b) Production quality: The main characteristic of our product is that they are made mainly with Zycosil Nano technology. Many fake and shoddy products access to the market. There are also many foreign products has entered the market, but our products are used nanotechnology. In the market is still not widespread and difficult to counterfeit our products and hard to copy our products because of the high technical content. c) Unique performance: The Nano technology has ensured that service life of this approach will lead to life cycles beyond 20 to 30 years at very economical cost of Rs.5- 7/sq.ft. 3.2 Weaknesses: a) Lack of experience: The investors are new to the trade. They do not have professional knowledge and prior working experience. b) Loyal customers: Our company doesn’t have any relationship and loyal customers. It is difficult for us to let people trust us and become our customers. Copyright © Basic Comfort - 29 - c) No distribution experience: Our company hasn’t delivered any goods yet. 3.3 Opportunities: a) Rapid growth of market: Guangzhou experiences extreme humidity of 66% for the past few years, this problem has affected the living and working conditions of the persons, anti-humidity products are a need now, by developing a solution people will respond fast, by buying the problem b) The humid weather affects environment: Because of the humid weather, the environment becomes wet and the house also wet. It lets people feel uncomfortable. So the demand of waterproof material is increasing. c) Increased awareness of health: The Mold, mildew and fungus can grow in damp environment, and release spores and other allergens that impact indoor air quality. People living or working in moldy environments can suffer some serious health problems. Because of the increased awareness of health, people aware that waterproof material is necessary to use. 3.4 Threats: a) Concept can be easily copied: China is known for its rapid reproduction for things, especially for new and wanted products. b) Improvement in technology: As the social, science and technology development, technology improvement is no longer a problem, which leads the advantage to be replaced. Copyright © Basic Comfort - 30 - c) Increased of competition: Once a product is developed and the market answers, followers and other companies will try to do the same, due to new market opened. Marketing Strategy: 1. Targeting: As an anti-humidity wall wholesaler, our target market will be mainly, buildings under construction or new construction projects. Our market is generally new buildings for office use, Guangzhou experiences extreme humidity of 66% for the past few years. This phenomenon is not unusual in Guangdong. Also we will focus on selling our products to new houses or apartments; the fact humidity is also an issue for households and families in households. A large percentage of Chinese people move to a new house when they get married or have children. Humidity can be a big problem for newborn babies, and children, so this can be a good target for us to market our product as well. 2. Differentiating: B.C. uses Zycosil Nano technology, an eco-friendly organo-silicon product to waterproof practically all the different kinds of building materials. The Nano technology has ensured that service life of this approach will lead to life cycles beyond 20 to 30 years at very economical cost of Rs.5- 7/sq.ft. (0.14 USD) Copyright © Basic Comfort - 31 - 3. Positioning: The B.C. Company is going to be positioned as unique New High-tech non-pollution waterproof material. It is more than being a better alternative to conventional waterproof material. The waterproof material of B.C. is one of its kind in the market that has a life-span of more than 30 years. Other waterproof material available in the market are not designed nor produced to be effective for use long time. The waterproof material of B.C. is a little bit more expensive than ordinary waterproof material, but in the long run it is more cost effective Marketing Mix: 1. Product Line: B.C. (Basic Comfort) will have these two main lines: a) Product Line and b) Service Line. The product line in the B.C. will be innovated and improved from time to time, depending on consumers’ demand and innovate of technology. The service line will also be improved to meet consumers’ demand and satisfaction. 1.1 Strategy: Product Line: The product shall be support through a three-prong approach: A) A factory using Zycosil Nano technology to produce Nano waterproof materials. B) Design the products to fit consumers’ demand and the building materials. C) Market researchers to cooperate and innovative new materials with the factory. Types of our product line: K11Nano-waterproof materials (5kg、10kg、20kg、25kg) Nano negative ions wall paint (10kg、20kg、30kg) Copyright © Basic Comfort - 32 - Nano interior wall paint (5kg、10kg、20kg) Rigid waterproofing and Nano-elastic wall paint (10kg、20kg、30kg) Bitumen membrane (㎡) Polymer waterproof membrane (㎡) 1.2 Strategy: Service Line: a) Making special arrangement to meet customer specific requirement and the unique building material & situation at the site. b) Have technical specialist to instruct and oversee workers in installing the materials. c) Professionally supervise all waterproofing project by our staffs. d) Free inspection of the interior and exterior wall before application. 2. Distribution: B.C. plans to sell the products in Guangdong province directly. B.C. will cooperate with some building companies and provide the products to them, then instruct them to use the products. B.C. will also have some distributors in Guangdong province. In China, the humid areas mainly in the Northeast and South district, such as Yunnan, Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Hubei, Chongqing, Hainan and Taiwan. So after, B.C. wants to provide products to some agents, wholesalers or retailers in these areas, coastal cities and some big cities. Copyright © Basic Comfort - 33 - Action Plan: Before B.C Company opening day, we need to implement several factors. First is to rent our office with a small warehouse. We set up our company in Zhongshan Eight Road. We can put some our company products in there for samples and sales. Next we are going to apply an industry and commerce business license. In the period of application we can decorate our office and buy some equipment. After that we are going to hire staff. We will have 11 staffs to responsible for Financial, Human Resources and Administration, and Marketing Department. And then we are going to contact factory. The factory’s name is Jianqiang Waterproof Material Factory. And we will sign a cooperation contract with factory. At last we can begin to advertise our company through placing advertisements in Guangzhou based magazines and newspapers. And set up a website for our company. Customer can visit our product and buy it on website. Our company is tentatively set to open in January 2012. Below is a timeline of what we must do in order to meet our intended start-up date: Copyright © Basic Comfort - 34 - Management Section Part 5 Copyright © Basic Comfort - 35 - Part 5 The Management Plan: B.C. Co., Ltd. is comprised by 6 general partners. Each of the partners invests 300 thousands. The company will be divided into 3 departments. Each department will have their different duties and responsibilities to fulfill the organization’s work and achieve its goal of partnership value maximize. It will also have 3 supervisors to help the CEO control and manage each department. Partners Shareholding List: Partners Air Einna kristy Nergy Sara Serena Total Total Investment (RMB) 300,000 300,000 300,000 300,000 300,000 300,000 1,800,000 Share Owned (%) 16.67 16.67 16.67 16.67 16.67 16.67 100 B.C. Organization Chart: Copyright © Basic Comfort - 36 - Job Descriptions: 1. Job Title: CEO General Description of the Job: CEO is the owner of the company. The manager needs to control and organize development of the two most important departments in the company. Principle Duties and Responsibilities: 1. Need to coordinate the whole company 2. Organize and manage the work of departments 3. The vision about plan the development of whole company 4. Responsible for the whole company's necessities General Qualification Requirements: 1. Education: Master degree or above 2. Experience: 7 years 3. Knowledge, skills and abilities: leadership; strong verbal and written communication skills; fluent in Chinese and English; know the basic IT information and software; Type of Job: Full-Time Salary Range: 6000-7000RMB Copyright © Basic Comfort - 37 - 2. Job Title: Financial supervisor Reports To: CEO General Description of the Job: Responsible for the whole company's finance and supervise the bookkeeper Principle Duties and Responsibilities: 1. Supervise the Bookkeeper for their responsible about company’s financial 2. Knowledge about Accounting. 3. Responsible for the whole company's financial 4. Report to: CEO General Qualification Requirements: 1. Education: Bachelor degree or above 2. Experience: 3 years 3. Knowledge, skills and abilities: leadership; strong verbal and written communication skills; fluent in Chinese and English; know the basic IT information and software; knowledge about Accounting skills Type of Job: Full-Time Salary Range: 4500-5500 RMB Copyright © Basic Comfort - 38 - 3. Job Title: HR & Administration supervisor Reports To: CEO General Description of the Job: Responsible for the whole company's personnel changes and supervise the staff who recruit employee and who want to leave the company. Principle Duties and Responsibilities: 1. Supervise the HR staffs in Recruit staffs and deal with staffs leave the company 2. Knowledge about Human Resources Management. 3. Responsible for the whole company's personnel changes 4. Coordinate with each department in the company 5. Report to: CEO 6. Responsible for the whole company's personnel changes General Qualification Requirements: 1. Education: Bachelor degree or above 2. Experience: 3 years 3. Knowledge, skills and abilities: leadership; strong verbal and written communication skills; fluent in Chinese (can speak English is better); know the basic IT information and software; knowledge about Human Resources Management; administration skills. Type of Job: Full-Time Salary Range: 4500-5500 RMB Copyright © Basic Comfort - 39 - 4. Job Title: Marketing Supervisor Reports To: CEO General Description of the Job: The marketing manager guides the whole marketing department development. Principle Duties and Responsibilities: 1. Knowledge about marketing strategy, business laws, sales skills and trade skills. 2. Good leadership with customers 3. Guide marketing department development 4. Report to CEO General Qualification Requirements: 1. Education: Bachelor degree or above 2. Experience: 4 years 3. Knowledge, skills and abilities: leadership; strong verbal and written communication skills; fluent in English and Chinese; know the basic IT information and software; professional knowledge about material; sales skills; trade skills; Type of Job: Full-Time Salary Range: 4500-5500RMB Copyright © Basic Comfort - 40 - 5. Job Title: Bookkeeper Reports To: Financial supervisor General Description of the Job: Responsible for the whole company's finance Principle Duties and Responsibilities: 1. Knowledge about Accounting. 2. Responsible for the whole company's financial and make sure there no errors 3. Report to: Financial supervisor General Qualification Requirements: 1. Education: Bachelor degree or above 2. Experience: 2 years 3. Knowledge, skills and abilities: leadership; strong verbal and written communication skills; fluent in Chinese and English; know the basic IT information and software; knowledge about Accounting skills Type of Job: Full-Time Salary Range: 1500-2500 RMB Copyright © Basic Comfort - 41 - 6. Job Title: HR staff Reports To: HR & administration supervisor General Description of the Job: Responsible for recruit staffs and deal with staffs leave the company. Principle Duties and Responsibilities: 1. Recruit staffs and deal with staffs leave the company 2. Knowledge about Human Resources Management. 3. Report to HR & Administration every month General Qualification Requirements: 1. Education: Bachelor degree or above 2. Experience: 2 years 3. Knowledge, skills and abilities: leadership; strong verbal and written communication skills; fluent in Chinese (can speak English is better); know the basic IT information and software; knowledge about Human Resources Management; Type of Job: Full-Time Salary Range: 1500-2500RMB Copyright © Basic Comfort - 42 - 7. Job Title: Market researchers Report To: Marketing supervisor General description of the job: The marketing researchers are the one who do some research activities to seek the customer’s want and need and try to fulfill and meeting the customer ‘s expectation by represent their product. Principle duties and responsibilities: Knowledge about research skills likes science, people’s behavior, economy and etc. Do some research to seek customer’s want and demand Represent some innovation ideas Report to Marketing supervisor General Qualification Requirements: 1. Education: Bachelor degree or above 2. Experience: 4 years 3. Knowledge, skills and abilities: leadership; strong verbal and written communication skills; fluent in English and Chinese; know the basic IT information and software; professional knowledge about material; science; human skills; Type of Job: Full-Time Salary Range: 1500-2500RMB Copyright © Basic Comfort - 43 - 8. Job Title: Staff (salesman) Report To: marketing supervisor General description of the job: Their job is to make sales for the company and sell and advertising the product as much as they can to attract customers buy the product. Principle duties and responsibilities: Knowledge about marketing strategy, business laws, sales skills and trade skills Have Good skills and personalities to handle every different customer. Report to Marketing supervisor General qualification requirement: 1. Education: Bachelor degree or above 2. Experience: 2 years 3. Knowledge, skills and abilities: leadership; strong verbal and written communication skills; fluent in English and Chinese; know the basic IT information and software; professional knowledge about trade skills; sales skills;, marketing strategy; Type of Job: Full-Time Salary Range: 1500-2500RMB Copyright © Basic Comfort - 44 - 9. Job Title: Warehouseman Report To: marketing supervisor General description of the job: Manage the inventory and product to keep safe Principle duties and responsibilities: Organize and manage the activity in the warehouse. Control and coordinate the inventory to keep on track Make sure the number of inventory is correct. Report to marketing supervisor General qualification requirement: 1. Education: Bachelor degree or above 2. Experience: 2 years 3. Knowledge, skills and abilities: leadership; strong verbal and written communication skills; fluent in English and Chinese; know the basic IT information and software; professional knowledge about security skills; managing skills Type of Job: Full-Time Salary Range: 600-800RMB Copyright © Basic Comfort - 45 - Financial Section Part 6 Copyright © Basic Comfort - 46 - Part 6 The Financial Plan: Copyright © Basic Comfort - 47 - Copyright © Basic Comfort - 48 - Copyright © Basic Comfort - 49 - Copyright © Basic Comfort - 50 - Estimate price list: Copyright © Basic Comfort - 51 - Copyright © Basic Comfort - 52 - Copyright © Basic Comfort - 53 - Reference: The competitor: http://bondal.en.alibaba.com/ Demographics: Chinese land area: http://www.china.org.cn/english/zhuanti/china2003/73162.htm Guangzhou land area: http://www.asiarooms.com/en/travel-guide/china/guangzhou/guangzhou-overview/geography-of-guan gzhou.html Guangzhou population: http://www.cantontradefair.com/cityguide/guangzhou-demographics.aspx China population and density: http://www.chinatouristmaps.com/china-maps/population/full-population-map.html Age structure and gender proportion in china: http://www.chinatouristmaps.com/china-maps/population.html Ethnic group in china: http://www.chinatouristmaps.com/china-maps/ethnic-minorities-in-china.html Religions in China: http://www.char4u.com/article_info.php?articles_id=42 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_China List of ethnic groups in China: http://www.china.org.cn/e-groups/shaoshu/index.htm Large cities in China: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_in_China Educational system in China: http://www.edu.cn/20041203/3123354.shtml Guangzhou Population and Density: http://www.chinatouronline.com/china-travel/guangzhou/guangzhou-facts/guangzhou-population.html Educational system in Guangzhou: http://www.lifeofguangzhou.com/node_10/node_38/node_51/2006/02/17/1140148212168.shtml Language in Guangzhou: http://iguide.travel/Guangzhou/Language Ethic Group and Religions http://www.newsgd.com/gd/introduction/content/2009-08/24/content_5621512.htm The Eleventh Five-Year Plan, 2006-2010: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five-Year_Plans_of_China#The_Eleventh_Five-Year_Plan.2C_2006-201 0 Economics: Economic System: http://www.china.org.cn/english/features/China2004/106995.htm Copyright © Basic Comfort - 54 - Increase of CPI hits new high in 2008: http://www.gz2010.cn/09/0212/15/51VADPFL0078008O.html Chinese Foreign Trade: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2010-03/10/content_9567357.htm Infrastructure in China: http://www.allbusiness.com/government/809808-1.html Guangzhou’s unemployment rate: http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90778/90857/90862/6721876.html Chinese employment: http://news.xinhuanet.com/zhengfu/2004-04/26/content_1440838.htm Floor Space of Buildings Completed & Residential Buildings Completed http://www.gdstats.gov.cn/tjnj/ml_e.htm Transportation in Guangzhou: http://www.biztradeshows.com/china/guangzhou/hotel-transport.htm China's GDP grows 8.7% in 2009: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2010-01/21/content_9354887.htm China's CPI rises 4.6% in Sept in 2008 http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90776/90884/6517813.html Chinese economic development zones: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Economic_Zones_of_the_People's_Republic_of_China Ecology: Climate in Guangdong: http://www1.chinaculture.org/gb/en_map/2003-09/24/content_21609.htm Chinese Currency & Foreign Exchange Control: http://www.servinghistory.com/topics/Chinese_financial_system::sub::Currency_And_Foreign_Excha nge_Control Guangzhou weather: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guangzhou Pearl River Delta Urban Environment Project: http://www.china.org.cn/english/BAT/97761.htm Guangdong water projects’ graph: http://www.docstoc.com/docs/22940319/Waste-Water-Treatment-in-Guangdong Guangdong Blue water project: http://www.gdepb.gov.cn/eng/2002/em/ Air pollution in China: http://factsanddetails.com/china.php?itemid=392&catid=10&subcatid=66#04 Air pollution in Guangzhou: http://d.wanfangdata.com.cn/Periodical_jes-e200704010.aspx Bustling Guangzhou's greenery still growing http://www.newsgd.com/specials/30yearsreform/News/content/2008-12/26/content_4799455.htm Strategic Urban forestry in China http://www.etfrn.org/etfrn/newsletter/news4748/nl47_oip_26.htm Copyright © Basic Comfort - 55 - Climate in china: http://www.chinaorbit.com/travel/china-climate.html Political & Legal Systems: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-limited-company.htm Legal Systems: Constitution & Legal Systems: http://www.china.org.cn/english/features/38127.htm Multi-party cooperation: http://www.china.org.cn/english/Political/29034.htm China national people’s congress: http://www.china.org.cn/english/chuangye/55414.htm China people’s court: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_People's_Court_of_the_People's_Republic_of_China Hierarchy of Chinese system of law: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_the_People's_Republic_of_China Social: Chinese Social Security System: http://www.cato.org/events/china/papers/jie.html Chinese social science: http://bic.cass.cn/english/infoShow/Arcitle_Show_Cass.asp?BigClassID=1&Title=CASS Chinese social customs: http://www.asia-planet.net/china/religions-social-customs.htm Strategy Marketing: Element of a strategic marketing plan: http://www.aafp.org/fpm/2001/1100/p39.html Strategic marketing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marketing_strategy Why a strategic marketing plan: http://sbinfocanada.about.com/cs/marketing/a/marketingplan.htm The current market situation: http://bondal.en.alibaba.com/ http://gzluban.en.china.cn/ http://www.fsjc.cn/zx/1796.htm http://www.cnwb.net/index.asp http://www.davco.cn/ Copyright © Basic Comfort - 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