Business planning

: a tool for SMEs - Perfect Fit Services Case

Abstract

.The main purpose of this dissertation is to build a Business Plan and a set of recommendations for a micro-enterprise as a tool to prepare its future strategy. Small companies are constantly busy with their daily tactics and forget about their long-term strategy. Hence, a formalized document analysing the company, both externally and internally, may serve as of basis to formulate a strategy to grow and to overcome the competition in the future. This thesis uses Perfect Fit Services as a practical example. This company has two different lines of business, hardware baby products and textile, and it operates as a services provider between foreign brands and Portuguese businesses. The range of services goes from agency brokers, brand representation to opening different markets. Its main assets include the established networks, strong relationships with the brands, factories, retailers and expertise acquired through the years. However, the lack of formalization, formal contracts and personnel, the high fixed expenses aligned with the Portuguese economic and social scenarios can represent critical barriers for its growth. Thus, it seems important to create switching costs to engage the existing customers and attract new ones. Therefore, Perfect Fit Services could improve its marketing strategy by increasing its presence in social media platforms, updating the company´s website, creating partnerships as well as to use a mix of advertising methods. Moreover, it could hire one employee for the administrative tasks, to establish binding and exclusivity contracts with its clients and to define a clear division of tasks within the two business lines.

Date of Award	2015
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Rute Xavier (Supervisor)