Business plan: Opening of Taiwanese automobile spare parts trading company branch in Russia

• Main Authors: Mikhailov, Artem, 余藝
• Other Authors: Wu, Jack
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2016
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/35737471427059978579

碩士 === 國立政治大學 === 國際經營管理英語碩士學位學程(IMBA) === 104 === This business plan aims to open a Russian branch of the Taiwanese company Spare-Parts Zone Co ltd, which specializes in the export of NON-OEM automobile spare parts such as bumpers, lights, hoods and fenders for passenger vehicles and trucks. Taiwan is a world leader in the NON-OEM spare parts industry and Russia is a very attractive market for Taiwanese exporters due to its large market, considerable market growth and comparatively low regulated import regime when compared to the European Union or United States of America. Moreover, Taiwanese spare parts have a good reputation among Russian consumers due to their reliability and lower price compared to OEM parts. Many export/import contracts have been signed between Taiwanese and Russian companies since 1991 when the economy of Russia liberalized and marketized. However, there are no strategic alliances or foreign direct investments to be found within the market. Taiwanese companies are still not represented in the Russian automobile market, neither in the form of their own branches nor in joint ventures. A branch of the proposed Taiwanese company will have several significant advantages in comparison to the domestic importers. 1. Financial advantage. The import/export business for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is always connected with considerable investments. Taking into account the current average bank-issued annual interest rate for companies in Russia at 26 per cent, Taiwanese head office will be able to leverage branch sales by using loans from Taiwanese banks where the annual interest rate for SMEs is normally no more than 5 per cent. 2. Payment delay advantage. Russia still lacks a clear legal system to resolve international law suits. This is why Russian importers usually do not experience any payment delays from their foreign suppliers and have to settle all payments before a telex-release (the exporter’s permission to handover container to the consignee) in the port of destination. At this point the branch will have a huge advantage in the Russian market using the head office payment to delay agreements with Taiwanese and Chinese manufacturers. The Russian branch will act as a discounter in the market. Using these systemic financial and payment delay advantages the branch will be able to set lower prices and sell items much faster than others. Taking into account that the delivery time from Taiwan to Moscow is typically one month and the normal payment delay usually takes two to three months, the branch will be able to receive goods, sell them, and send money back to head office account within only three months. In the ideal scenario capital investments will not be needed at all to purchase goods from the manufacturer. 3. Sourcing the right suppliers. This is one of the most complicated processes for domestic importers. However, for the benefit of the branch this function will be done by the head office which will have a better performance in this capacity than any supply chain department of a Russian domestic company. Why do we need to penetrate the Russian market today? Despite the current Russian economic crisis there are a number of reasons why now is the time to penetrate the Russian market. 1. The financial and payment delay advantages mentioned above will allow us to successfully compete with domestic Russian importers. 2. The market structure is much more attractive nowadays than in the previous years. Approximately 80 percent of sales in the industry are made by several major Internet shops. These companies became market leaders in B to C sales due to Internet technology breakthroughs and strong company-owned distribution branches in Russian regions with main warehouses located in Moscow. Using online stores as the key means of customer outreach, we will not need to have a marketing department nor build our own distribution network to deal with many clients. A small number of major customers will allow us to cut our operational costs and become an industry discounter. Moreover, it will allow us grow faster than traditional business models in the industry wherein the importer has to expand its customers database when searching for local wholesalers in the regions. 3. The considerable aggregate experience of the Spare-Parts Zone team in Taiwan and Russia should be able to gain a synergy effect in a short run. At the beginning stage we will not need to find new team members or teach them how to start the business. All the international cooperation advantages mentioned above will bear fruit only if the Russian branch is able to run the business in an appropriate way to achieve the project’s goals. The performance of the Russian branch will have the same influence on the business as the head office has. Therefore, the purpose of this business plan is to create a strong business model based on the international cooperation that leverages the performance of the each side.