MRM

: spilled milk in the Polish market

Abstract

The Case Study presents a Portuguese transport and logistics firm, MRM, founded in 1993 by Afonso Ramos and operating in PALOP countries. The company entered the Polish market in 2009 because of the financial crisis and the drop in maritime transport. MRM was then faced with a lack of price competitiveness of the commodity transported which lead to the loss of its main client. This situation placed Afonso in a position where he had to decide to keep the Polish office open. The Case Study approaches topics such as internationalization, big client dependency, price fluctuation, and market structure. This Thesis includes a Literature Review of subjects related to the key issues raised by the Case and a Teaching Note that offers an analysis of the main problem of the case study, in order to help instructors prepare for the discussion in class of the Case. Conclusions are the need to know how to navigate financial instability and broaden the scope of a firm to reduce exposition to external factors.

Date of Award	5 May 2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Nuno Magalhães Guedes (Supervisor)