4.1. World’s industry outlook…………………………………………………………….….37

4.2. Economic trends affecting consulting services in Russia…………………………….…58

4.3. Types of consulting firms in Russia…………………………………………………….39

4.4 Qualitative evaluation of consulting services…………………………………………....43

4.5 Market capacity and market growth……………………………………………………..45

4.6. Main factors of competition…………………………………………………………….47

5. Business plan of the new venture……………………………………………………….50

1. Executive Summary……………………………………………………………………...50

1.1 Vision and Mission………………………………………………………………………50

1.2 Core competences…………………………………………………………………….......51

1.3 Management Team……………………………………………………………………….51

1.4 Legal form of company Ownership………………………………………………………55

1.5 Service Targeting…………………………………………………………………………55

1.6 Financial Summary……………………………………………………………………….55

1.6.1. Financial objective……………………………………………………………………..55

1.6.2. Exit Strategies…………………………………………………………………………56

2. Overview of the Organization……………………………………………………………..56

2.1 Registered Name…………………………………………………………………………56

2.2 Company Location……………………………………………………………………….56

3. The Offer…………………………………………………………………………………..56

4. Competitor Analysis……………………………………………………………………….57

5. SWOT Analysis……………………………………………………………………………67

6. Marketing Plan……………………………………………………………………………..70

6.1 Marketing Objectives……………………………………………………………………..70

6.2 Target customer segments………………………………………………………………...71

6.3 Size of the market and market share of Marktune………………………………………..71

6.4 Marketing Strategies……………………………………………………………………...72

6.4.1 Products………………………………………………………………………………...72

6.4.2 Price…………………………………………………………………………………….73

6.4.3 Distribution……………………………………………………………………………..74

6.4.4 Promotion……………………………………………………………………………….74

7. Key Strategic Issues………………………………………………………………………..77

8. Financial Plan………………………………………………………………………………78

8.1 Start-up costs……………………………………………………………………………...78

8.2 Sales Forecasts……………………………………………………………………………78

8.3 Organization Structure Chart……………………………………………………………..79

8.4 Projected financial statements…………………………………………………………….80

6. Conclusion and recommended future work…………………………………………….85

7. Appendix a……………………………………………………………………………….88

References…………………………………………………………………………………...90

1. Introduction

1. Background

The topic of the opening new company could be challenging. The new business brings improvements and modern technologies to the companies and creates innovative offer for customers. However, to establish a new business is very difficult task. Normally, business passes through several milestones, that when achieved, proves that the business is supposed to succeed. These milestones become indicators that showing the business is growing and expanding in the right direction.

The Thesis expends the idea of opening the new venture that serves original needs of the companies in management consulting. The topic of starting a consulting company is chosen because of limited number of theoretical and practical studies of consulting start ups and faculty of the Offenburg University specialization in International Business Consulting. The problem that covers the Master thesis is to create business model of profitable firm. The author of the thesis made a research of nature of entrepreneurship, discovered managerial aspects of consulting company and created original business plan of the new venture – management consulting company Marktune. Business plan includes marketing and financial plan that are introduced in the end of this research paper. The company expected to be incorporated in Central Federal District (Moscow) with Research & Creative Office in Volga Federal District (Saratov) that is considered low cost area. In five years after incorporation annual sales of the company should approach 3 millions Euro.

There are many problems involved in setting up and running a consulting business that could be solved with a good business plan:

• In business, money is usually a problem. When entrepreneurs just getting started with a business, it can be easy to lose money quickly.

• Employees can be greatest asset and greatest expense in consulting business. It costs money to employ, train and retain employees. The company needs to provide some sort of benefits package that includes health insurance, paid vacation days and paid sick days to attract and retain employees, and even then, entrepreneur will have competition from other companies that may be able to offer better. A key employee leaving the company can have an effect similar to losing a major account.

• It is common for a new business entrepreneur to try to keep his office and costs down. When the company first starts out, a small and affordable space may be adequate. As the company grows, business will need more space, and management may realize that the facility signed the one-year lease for is no longer sufficient.

The Thesis provides theoretical knowledge and essential practical thinking that will guide management team of the new venture. The researcher analyses all aspects of business idea of the new venture. What should be the theoretical model of the new venture? Are there market preconditions for opening the new consulting business? What resources are necessary to start the new company? All these aspects will be revealed taking into consideration the highly competitive environment of international and local Russian market.

The hypothesis of this Thesis is possibility to open profitable consulting business in CIS area and giving a solution to arising problems while opening the new consulting company.

Business plan in this Thesis determines that business idea is feasible, and management has sufficient information for business development. Business plan provides results of market analyses, business modelling and financial projections to see if business can make money. Before launching business, the researcher paid special attention on construction of financial reports, including cash flow report of the start-up. The group of entrepreneurs needs to plan financial resources and makes sure there's more than enough capital to cover those costs. A financial indicator of success of the new venture is generation of real profit that will be displayed after calculation of EVA for the new venture. Moreover, other key financial ratios Return on Sales, Return on Investments, Return on Equity, and Return on Assets will be calculated.