The objective of the coursework Essay Example

The objective of the coursework Essay The objective of the coursework to investigate the companys behavior on the market and its prices2. The importance of the economic analysis for every company is essential to know how the local market operates and how it could take advantage of it. Another important thing is that every company should be aware of its own economic state.3. The company under investigation AIMS Human Capital Bulgaria.4. Methodology:* Companys background* Services it provides* Target markets* SWOT Analysis* Price, financials and future predictions5. Data sources:* Internal data of the company* Web pageII.Economic Analysis of AIMS Human Capital Bulgaria1. Companys BackgroundAims human Capital Bulgaria is a member and representative of one of the top three worldwide leaders in the field of Human Resources consultancy AIMS the Association for International Management Search (www.aims-network.com), headquarters in Vienna, Austria.AIMS Network has more than 250 consultants in 80 offices and 40 countries on 5 continents. The turnover achieved by the member companies in 2000 was 250 million USD and theres a 20% average increase of turnover per annum.AIMS Human Capital Bulgaria was established in 1994 in Sofia, Bulgaria. Today it has more than 130 clients which are major multinational and leading local companies, more than 1000 successful placements, 15 full time employees, more than 1000 contract/leased employees since 1994, 10 editions of compensation and benefits surveys for major multinational companies in Bulgaria (as of December 2001), 3 groups of services representing the full range of integrated Human Resources Solutions.It is very important for every business to know how it fits in and interacts with the surrounding environment on both the international and domestic market. I will focus my analysis on the development of AIMS Human Capital Bulgaria on the Bulgarian Market.2.The services it providesAims Human Capital Bulgaria core areas of expertise are:* Executive Search Solutio ns* HR Consultancy and* Training and Coaching Services1. Executive Search SolutionsAIMS team takes time to understand their clients business and the full scope of each project in order to provide a tailored to the clients needs solution. They are committed to reach the right balance between time and cost efficiency with no quality compromises.The outstanding features that AIMS brings to the Executive Search process in order to ensure quality and reliability, while recognizing that every search is different are:* An extensive network of high-profile executives based on AIMS trustworthiness ; professional reputation* Thorough familiarity with the candidates professional record* Shorter length of the executive search procedure due to extensive knowledge of the key professionals on the local market* Expertise on the top executive market and compensation benefits schemes* Application of uncompromising ethical business standards in attracting and evaluating executives* Observing compreh ensive and meticulous confidentiality throughout the whole executive search process.2. HR ConsultancyAIMS Human Capital Bulgaria is an experienced Human Resources Consultancy company, offering services aimed at supporting the strategic initiatives, and analyzing organizational development options open to clients. The focus of AIMS work is to help business be more effective at managing the human dimension of work.They provide comprehensive analysis and integrated Human Resources solutions to enable clients accomplish their objectives on a long-term basis through on-going support.AIMS provide the best learning and development solutions, from the initial assessment to defining the strategy, developing and implementing the solution, and measuring the results.3. Training and CoachingThe training programs of AIMS are highly interactive and include guided discussions, video case studies, small and large groups activities, role plays, simulations and skill practice accompanies by simultaneo us feedback.AIMS Training Packages:* Effective Leadership* Team Power* Customer Management* Professional Skills* Effective Sales* Power Package for Administrative Assistants3.Target MarketsAims Human Capital Bulgaria focuses on providing executive search solutions, HR consultancy and training and coaching services. The most important clients are executives in larger companies. They are marketing managers, general managers, sales managers, etc.Target MarketsThe most important clients of Aims are the Leading Bulgarian Companies and the Multinational Companies, like Balkanpharma, Globul, Allianz Bulgaria, Bristol Myers Squibb, DHL International, Danone, etc. They are most willing and capable of investing in the HR services. The market share of small businesses its not so big because most of them cant afford this service or are unaware of it.4. SWOT AnalysisThe SWOT Analysis covers strengths (what an organization can do), weaknesses (what an organization cannot do), opportunities (poten tial favorable conditions for an organization) and threats (potential unfavorable conditions for an organization). Strengths and weaknesses are generally internal attributes and opportunities and threats are external.We live in an age of growth, change, and business revolution. The HR business is risky, it offers us a lot of opportunities and threats, but we need to make the dealing with HR one of the biggest strengths, to minimize the weaknesses.Strengths1. True Expertise: The area of the business is known very well. The AIMS experience and expertise is better than anybody else is in the same field.2. Skilled Workforce: The team is small (only 15 employees), but theyve been chosen very carefully, and as a consequence theyre loyal to the company, highly qualified, theyre hard workers and everybody knows what their duties include.3. Companys Name Recognition: AIMS is a very well known name in the HR market, its professional reputation is confirmed over the years.Weaknesses1. Machiner y not up to date: There are very few new computers. Most of them are being up dated, but this is not enough for some of the applications used.2. Suspicion: Still some of the Bulgarian companies are not familiar with the services AIMS provides, so they are a little uncertain when investing in them.3. Marketing: It can be considered as both Strength and Weakness, because marketing strategy is almost entirely focused on the people and the companies that were already clients of AIMS Human Capital Bulgaria. Brochures have been sent to them and theyve been up to dated with information concerning new changes in the company, BUT there are no advertisements in the media, so AIMS can rally only on word of month ads for attracting new clients.Opportunities:1. The present financial position of AIMS is very good, which creates a good reputation for future bank loans and borrowings.2. The skilled workforce means that they can be moved and trained for other areas in the business.3. The HR Business is still not very well developed in Bulgaria so the clients that need such services have a limited resource.Threats:1. Though the HR services are something new on the Bulgarian market, this is a fast growing area and a lot of small HR companies pop up.2. The better advertising of the competitors.How some changes can affect the companys behavior:1) Changes in the Competitive EnvironmentOne of the largest trends in the Bulgarian economy in recent years has been the rapid increase of small businesses. While in 1994 AIMS was one of the few HR companies, today there are hundreds of them on the Bulgarian market, most of them are too small and still not trust-worthy, but anyway they are potential big competitors.2) Changes in the Sociocultural EnvironmentSocial and cultural influences cause changes in the attitudes, beliefs, norms, customs, and lifestyles. A firms ability to foresee changes in this area can prove beneficial, while failure to react to these changes can be devastating.3) Ch anges in the Political/Legal EnvironmentRegulatory actions by government agencies often restrict the activities of companies in affected industries. It is important to identify political/legal threats and opportunities in order to keep an edge on the market (Austainer, 1999)4) Changes in the Internal Organizational EnvironmentVarious elements within an organizations internal environment can also have impact on marketing activities. Changes in the structuring of departments, lines of authority, top management, or internal political climate can all create internal weaknesses that must be considered. It is good to up-date the employees with the changes in the company.It is not simply enough to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of a company. Weaknesses should be looked at in order to convert them into strengths. Likewise, threats should be converted into opportunities. And the strengths and opportunities should be matched to optimize the potential of the fir m.5. Price, Financials and Future PredictionsPrice:AIMS services are adequately priced. Its positioning, as well as its finances, demands high pricing. When a job is exactly their expertise a high pricing is expected. The prices are fixed and they rarely change, of course there are some exceptions depending on the service provided.Ultimately, the clients will risk less with a company with high reputation as AIMS, than with another one thats been just invented. Theres more security when working with world recognized company.Financials:The business plan of the company calls for sales of nearly $2.6 million this year growing to $3.8 million by 2004, on marketing expenses of slightly more than $300,000.It includes two very important things:1. A steady decline in cost of sales and growth in gross margin percentage as more of their resources are build, as full-time personnel and fixed costs instead of contractors and outside consultants.2. A decline in marketing expenses.* Break-even Anal ysisFor consultants, AIMS has a high variable cost of 30% of sales. Turning to experts on a permanent job basis, reduces the risk of fixed costs.This break-even is a reflection of the last year, in which AIMS has built its fulfillment mainly based on variable cost people instead of fixed-cost people.Break-even Analysis$150,000$100,000$50,000$0($50,000)($100,000)($150,000)$0$70,000$140,000$210,000$290,000$360,000Monthly break-even point* Sales ForecastAIMS sales for this year grow from $100,000 per month to $800,000 next fall. The sales forecast is aggressive, assuming financing for the marketing expenses and hiring permanent personnel.* Expense ForecastAIMS projects sales and marketing expenses from $320,000 this year to $450,000 in the next year. This compares to sales increasing in the same period. AIMS believes that effective marketing requires a very high percentage of sales, but over the time they can bring that percentage down to more acceptable levels.The expenses are divided over the two main departments the training department and the consultancy department. Each one of them has its own budget, which includes advertising, public relations, travel, internet traffic, coping and printing expenses and office materials. Theres also a substantial additional budget for contingencies.As we see from the chart most of the expenses are managed by marketing (the advertising or the public relations). The coping and printing expenses are not low too. Thats because a lot of materials are copied and printed for the training seminars, thats why it is known that the AIMS seminars are one of the best, but also one of the most expensive. Most of the time the income covers the expenses, so the financial state of the company is stable.* Sales Vs. Expenses monthly* Contribution marginsThe contribution margin should increase steadily during the next year because of two factors:1. The cost of sales goes down as the HR business is being developed, bringing on the know-how it needs to fulfill the promise it has given to the clients. Risk goes up with the increased fixed costs, but the margins go up too, because cost of sales is less.2. AIMS sales and marketing expenses will stabilize. A decrease in the overall level of expenses is not expected, but they should decline in percentage terms as sales go up.III.ConclusionAs we see from the economic analysis, AIMS Human Capital Bulgaria is one very successful company. Still, there are some things that need to be improved, for example the marketing strategy.The main obstacle I had when writing this coursework was the difficult access to the companys data. The profit and loss account, the pricing and the salaries are confidential information and no big company will reveal them. Anyway, I was provided with some data from AIMS, because Im a member of its team, but the numbers I used are not true, they are similar to them, but I was not aloud tell the real ones. However, the final conclusions are true and as this i nformation is confidential it should not be distributed.