ANNUAL REPORT

Minor: International Entrepreneurship

Coaches:

Avans Tutor: Jan Luijks

Jong Ondernemen:

Mentor: Robert Nahon

Accountant: Tim Eerhart 4th academic year

15.01.2016

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Table of Contents

Introduction..................................................................................................................................................... 3

Decisions ......................................................................................................................................................... 4

Key business decisions ................................................................................................................................ 4

Business setbacks ........................................................................................................................................ 5

Actual performance versus business plan ....................................................................................................... 6

New Media ...................................................................................................................................................... 8

Finance .......................................................................................................................................................... 11

Balance ...................................................................................................................................................... 11

Profit & loss account ................................................................................................................................. 11

Actual Performance vs Business plan ........................................................................................................ 11

Liquidation form ........................................................................................................................................ 11

Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................................... 12

Team

Bram Kepser 2060209 General Manager

Daisy Bax 2059891 Marketing Manager

Kris van der Velden 2063980 Purchase Manager

Bart van Drunen 2060956 Financial Manager

Antoine Scala 2105995 Sales Manager

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Introduction Square-it is a sales company build around the Square-it key finder, the core product of the company. The

Square-it key finder is a small key chain which you can put on your keys, wallet, bag or any other

possession of you. Through an application on your phone you are able to find your belongings easily with

the key finder. By using Bluetooth, which connects the key finder with your phone, you can make the key

finder beep and find your belongings. It also lets you find your phone and track the last location where the

key finder disconnected and you lost your stuff, so you can easily find it back.

The company started on the 31th of August, 2015 and is officially out of stock on the 13th of December.

This all in more than a month before the liquidation date, which is on the 29th of January. The decision for

not reordering is based on the high costs, the minimum volume of 100 pieces and not having the

advantage of the holidays anymore. The past period when the products were sold was in a good period,

just before the holiday season, the time when people spend a lot on gifts for themselves and others. This

will be much lower going near the end of December and in January it is practically finished. Taking the

advice of the mentor and tutor of the group in account and the experience from last period it is best to

stop at this point. The company succeeded in selling every product, made sure the shareholders got their

investment plus dividend back and the members learned a lot and earned a lot of experience around

setting up and running a company.

This annual report shows which decisions were made. Which were good and which almost took the

company down. Besides that, this concept and way of working was based on a business plan, was it a

good set up or pure fiction? And what about the New Media that was implemented, did this pay off?

These questions will all be answered in this annual report. In the end the financial file will be shown which

shows the end balance, profit & lost and the liquidation form of the company Square-it.

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Decisions This chapter will explain all the decisions that were made during the minor International Entrepreneurship

by group 8 with the student company: Square-it. Every group had to make decisions and a lot was

possible. There were many decisions based on the products and the marketing that had to be made. This

company made not only good decisions, but also bad ones that afterwards needed to be fixed again

before it became a problem. In this chapter the good and bad decisions will be discussed and explained,

which were key business decisions and which were business setbacks?

Key business decisions In this chapter the key business decisions that

square-it has made will be explained. The key

business decisions are decisions that had the most

impact and thought behind it. These most

important decisions that were made are:

Product

The first decision that had to be made was which product was interested enough to sell and resell to a

bigger amount of people and that was able to make enough profit. The company had to order the product

abroad, because the role is that the product has to be bought abroad if the selling part is in Holland. After

some searching on the Internet at Chinese websites, the key finder was found and bought.

Procurement

It was a difficult decision how much products had to be bought, because some people wanted to buy

more than 100 pieces to get more profit. Other group members did not want to have as much profit, but

thought it was better to play safe and make sure that they shareholders would get their money back.

Eventually 100 pieces were bought and the student company wanted to see what was going to happen

further. Before the Christmas fair an extra 100 pieces were bought, because of the hope that all of the

products would have been sold at the end. Unfortunately the sales at the Christmas fair were not as good

as suspected, but at the end of all the marketing and sales, all of the products were sold.

Price

Another decision was about choosing the price of the product, at what price would the key finder be sold?

It was difficult to set up a price, because there were no ideas on which price would work best. A research

had to make sure there would be a good price and in interviews a lot of people were asked at which price

they would buy the product. In the market research the price that people would like to pay was higher

than expected at the start of the research. After a discussion about the price with the teacher, they said

that it would be a good idea to set the price a little higher, because of the possibility to offer a lower price

for B2B. Eventually Square-it agreed and it was a good choice, because people bought it for that price.

B2B and B2C

First of all the product was meant to sell B2C and when there were some products left or when there

were organisations interested it would have been sold to them as a reseller or as a present. Eventually

150 key finders were sold to customers and 50 pieces to a company. It went exactly as expected.

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Avans University of applied sciences ‘s-Hertogenbosch

The stand at Avans Univercity of applied scienses in ‘s-Hertogenbosch was totally free of charge and the

time that the key finder could be sold was from 10am until 2pm. The circumstances were really good

because of the time and the heat compared to the stand at the market. At the stand at Avans more key

finders were sold than in a whole day at the market in Den Bosch or at the Christmas fair. This was by far

the best decision for selling the key finder. First of all because of the students are the right target group.

And secondly, because the students already saw the key finder at the screens and toilets of Avans. There

was a lot more marketing to reach these customers.

Social Media

The Facebook, LinkedIn and Marktplaats page did not get the company more customers, but with this

channel the brand square-it got noticed more and people could tell their friends and family about the key

finder.

Website

A lot of people have ordered their key finder online at the company webpage: www.square-it.eu. Opening

this channel was a great decision. By use of a web designer for free, the website was a professional way of

showing the company’s image and generate sales. The only thing that cost money was the domain name.

The company was able to make money out of the website. On the webpage there was also an order form

that people could use if they liked the key finder.

Business cards

250 business cards were bought at vistaprint.nl, but unfortunately the delivery was not good. The first

delivery had a double print on it of the picture of square-it and one of another company. After a call with

Vistaprint new business cards were on their way. Of the first delivery 30 ones were not good, so these one

could not be used. Together with the new free delivery, in total square-it had 470 business cards. At the

end, all of the business cards were given away.

Business setbacks Not only the good decisions are important, but also the bad ones that were made. Then it is all about how

the organisation handles it. The following subjects are the business setbacks that the company had:

Christmas fair

The Christmas fair was really expensive. It costs more than 200 euros to

stand there for four days. On the webpage of the Christmas fair they said

that every day there were a lot of people who would go to the Christmas

fair and these people would spend around the 80 euros each at the

Christmas fair. Unfortunately this was not the case. This year there were

not a lot of people and they did not spend as much money as the years

before. People only came to the Christmas fair to look around and to buy

stuff for themselves. Almost nobody bought the key finder for themselves,

because the target group of the Christmas fair was 50 years and older. A

lot of them did not even have a smartphone…

Den Bosch market

The market at Den Bosch was not a really bad decision, because it was really cheap to have a stand at the

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market. Not much key finders were sold in these three days, but it was really cold. A lot of people walked

by and did not notice the key finder stand at the market, because it was raining or cold and they just

wanted to get there groceries and go back home. At the moments it did not rain, there were people who

thought the key finder was interesting. A lot had to be explained to let the people know what the key

finder can do, but sometimes they did like it. Also the people who came for the market were not the

target group of the key finder. A lot of people did not know how to use it and did not understand the

product.

Toilet Advertisement: Bloë

The company arranged advertisement on the big screens at Avans and eventually also at the toilet

screens. It was really difficult to put the advertising at the toilet screens, because nobody knew who was

responsible for this and who was able to arrange something. At the end there was someone who could

help us, but unfortunately it was not possible to put something on the toilet screens. A few days later

someone noticed that the other group had their advertising at the Bloë toilet screens. After a little chat

with this group and the person who arranged everything the advertising was also at the screens. Actually

it took one month to get the advertising on the toilet screens from the moment they said no until it was

finally on the screens. Hopefully Avans will learn from this and will do something about it for the next few

years.

There were a lot of good decisions made by the company and a couple of bad ones, but they were not

even that bad. This because there was always an opportunity to make it better again.

Actual performance versus business plan In this chapter the actual performance and the performance according to the business plan will be

compared. Was it the same or are there differences? If there are differences, are they better or worse and

why did it go different. This will all be clear with a conclusion. With this there is the possibility to evaluate

and look back to all the activities and learn from it.

Goals

According to the business plan, four different goals were set. One of these goals was that the stock had to

be sold 100% by January 29th. This goal was reached on Tuesday the 13th of December 2015, when the last

Square-it key finder was sold. Because of the Christmas holiday which is almost starting and the time of

delivery for new key finders, Square-it has decided not to re-order again. Only when selling business to

business with a minimum of 50 pieces, so purchasing will be only done by orders.

Promotion

The promotion of the Square-it key finders has gone the same way as described in the business plan.

Business cards, television screens at Avans, posters and movies and word of mouth advertising have been

used as offline promotion. For the online promotion a website and social media have been used to

promote the product and create a distribution channel.

B2C and B2B

As described in the business plan, the focus would be on consumers, Square-it stayed with the plan of

focussing on consumers. There has been only one Business to business client, who bought 50 pieces.

There was almost no profit for Square-it at this deal, this was only used to get out of the costs and lower

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the risk of stock at the liquidation. The profit did come from the sales to the consumer and for this reason

Square-it kept going on with this strategy. Which was the one that was described in the business plan and

resulted in the most profitable one.

Schedule of sales

The schedule of expected sales shows that most sales would be done in week 45. This is based on the fact

that Square-it was at the Christmas fair for four days. The expectations were that this fair would be

successful and profitable for Square-it. The reality is that it resulted in a loss for these days, instead of

selling 60 pieces it became around 30. Also week 46 and 47 were not as successful as expected, this

because the market at Den Bosch was also not a success. This was for a several factors, one of this was

the weather, which was too bad to attract people to go to the market. Another factor, which could have

been influenced by Square-it was the market stand. This could have been presented more professional

and clear to show the people the product by just looking.

After three, not really successful, days at the market Square-it decided to cancel the last day at the

market. This decision was made after two successful days with a stand at the entrance of Avans Den

Bosch. Which showed that there was more potential at that spot, so this resulted in two more days selling

at Avans Univercity of applied sciences in Breda. Which shows us the result that the expected sales from

week 45 till 47 are done in the weeks from week 45 till 50.

Small differences

Except for the described large differences there are also some minor differences. To focus on the business

to business market Square-it decided to set up a LinkedIn account to reach these clients, which was not

described in the business plan. In some situations the company decided to sell the Square-it key finders

for a different price, which results in a difference in the profit at the end. These decisions were made to

make sure there was a deal, instead of letting the client slip away.

Looking at all the facts and comparing the actual performance with the business plan the conclusion is

that Square-it did not perform very differently. The expected sales did not really match with the reality,

but without results from other years it is hard to make expectations which will match the reality. So this

was just a different outcome, which was still a positive result. According to the result and the fact that

Square-it performed like the business plan the conclusion can be made that the business plan showed its

positive outcome.

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New Media To run the company in the best way, the best option was to be present and sell on various markets. For

that, many different tools were needed, for example social media and e-advertisement. These tools

brought more visibility and allowed Square-It to get more potential customers on social media or through

the website or the city markets. Besides that, the company also made a good use of events, markets and

Avans University of applied sciences.

TV screen marketing in Avans Univercity of applied

sciences

One of the first advertising used was a picture of the key

finder on the screen in the Avans entrance hall with: the

price, the logo, a picture of one white key finder, mail

address, phone number and website link of the company.

By using a simple and clear advertising tool which is

attractive for a lot of people and easy to understand. In this

way, everybody could see in one second what the company

is selling, who is Square-It and how to make contact. This

was a free tool, which makes it more attractive. The only

thing was that the waiting time was very long. A lot of calls had to be made before the advertisement was

put on the screens.

Toilet Screens: Bloë

Another advertising tool was Bloë on the Avans toilet screens, which showed the message to a lot of

students and teachers. This is an efficient way to be known and generate more traffic around the

company. The use of these screens were an idea started by this company. Square-it was the first one who

used the toilet screen Bloë advertising tool. Everybody needed to go to the restroom and could see the

product and the website of the company. As a result, a lot of people were often talking about the

advertisement, or wanted to know more about the product itself. As expected, this advertising helped us

a lot, maybe more than the advertising in the University hall.

Business Cards

Like every other professional company, Business cards are a good tool to show who you are and trade

contact information. For the business cards only two colours are present (blue and white), a logo which is

a little white square-it and the name of the company. On the bottom of the card you could see the name

of the CEO, his phone number, plus the mail address and a link to the company website.

The advertisement for the tv screens & the toilet

screens in Avans University

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Social Media and Square-It website

In the world of today a lot of people are

connected and have a profile on social

media. As learned in the Market research

classes and following the results from several

interviews and polls, the company finally

decided to build its own Facebook page,

LinkedIn profile and website.

Statistics and figures from the market

research revealed that most of the people

were willing to buy the key finder on the

internet, because it is easier and faster than

going to a market or have a meeting with

one of the group members. On the website

there were some pictures and a description

of the Square-it key-finder in three different

languages (Dutch, French and English).

In this way it was easier to approach more

customers from different countries and ages,

without going to a specific place, and that

saved a lot of time. LinkedIn was less

“profitable” simply because only business to

business goes on in there. You have to

contact other businesses or they need to

contact you, but that doesn’t happen a lot.

The network is more professional and should

be used in a different kind of way compared

to Facebook.

Finally, the website www.square-it.eu

brought us a few customers, without any

problems. They just had to click on the link,

then they arrived on the homepage. First there was some information about the company and then it

went through all the aspects of the key-finder. Through the website the product could easily be ordered

by going to the shop, choosing a colour and quantity, wrapped or not and how they want to receive the

product (by PostNl, DHL or at Avans).

Christmas Fair

From the 5th to the 8th November, the company was standing on the Christmas Fair in Brabant-Hallen in ‘s-

Hertogenbosch. The group paid 60€ per day to have a stand there, that was the first time the Key-finder

was exposed and sold on a “physical market”. Christmas decorations, business cards, Christmas

packaging, a Christmas tree, pictures and posters were settled to make the stand attractive. The posters

were used to bring customers to the stand, people walking in front of the stand directly see it and know

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which product they were looking at, the different uses, the free app and the price. Moreover, an Avans

University flag was attached in front of the stand in order to show that Square-It is new student company.

This was also a way of attracting customers to the stand

Den Bosch Market

After the Christmas Fair the Den Bosch city markets seemed more interesting and contact was made with

the organiser of the city market, where we stayed the 11th, 18th and 21st of November. The main audience

of the market were the people who always go to the market to buy food. The attraction was high because

the stand was original and something new, but it still wasn’t a big hit because on the market the company

sold only 3/ 4 key-finders average per day. Staying all day long from 9am to 5pm was hard, and on the 21st

November the weather was terrible, as a result people went home. Finally, the sales did not go like it was

expected, but this experience made the student group learn how to present the stand and themselves in a

strategic way, with stick flyers and posters.

Den Bosch and Breda stands

Finally, Square-it was also standing in Avans University in Den Bosch on the 24th and 26th November, and

in Avans University in Breda on the 4th and 6th of December. The university did not ask any money for that,

and allowed the group to stand from 10am to 2pm. In Den Bosch, a lot of key-finders were sold, this was

the best sales spot so far. This was an interesting spot, because located in front of the main entrance

where each student has to come by to go to classes or go home.

In Breda it was less profitable, the first time. The second time was much better, seven key-finders were

sold that day. The different building and place of the stand were a problem here, because there is more

than one main entrance and not as much people as in Den Bosch came by that day.

To conclude, new media are now essential for companies which want to stay ahead of their competitors

and earn more money and more market shares. In the world of today, innovation, technologies and

communication are the keys for a good business. With new media, companies could save money and

time, moreover they could reach millions of consumers in one click because they are more connected

than ever.

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Finance In this chapter the balance and the profit & loss account will be shown. In these documents the results of Square-it are displayed and there is a clear overview of all the costs that were made by Square-it.

Balance

Here you can see the opening balance (on the right) and the closing balance (on the left). Square-it started with €1.320 in shareholders capital. Along the way they made €137,51 profit, in the next chapter is shown what the costs and the turnover are that made this happen. The VAT payable are taxes that Square-it still has to pay because they received more VAT than they paid.

Profit & loss account Here you can see how Square-it made their profit. The turnover consist of sales business to business and business to consumer.

Actual Performance vs Business plan According to the business plan Square-it would have made a profit of 509,60 euro, but in reality Square-it made a profit of only 137,31 euro. The big difference is mostly caused by the business to business (B2B) sales and the extra marketing/additional costs which were not taken into account in the business plan. The B2B sales were done to cover the costs and to make sure that the whole stock would be sold at the end of the project.

Liquidation form Financial Closing

Gross wages: €49,30

Net profit: €137,51

Balance VAT €112,51

Sum total Taxes €189,29

These numbers come from the last step from

jongondernemen.nl, the financial closing at the end.

Debet Credit

Current assets Equity

Inventory -€ Share holders capital 1.320,00€

1.320,00€

Liquid assets

Cash 1.320,00€

1.320,00€ 1.320,00€

5-10-2015 Debet Credit

Current assets Equity

Inventory -€ Share holders Capital 1.320,00€

Profit 137,51€

Liquid assets 1.457,51€

Cash € 1.646,79

Short-term loans

VAT Payable 112,51€

Income tax Payable 41,07€

Payroll tax 35,70€

1.646,79€ 1.646,79€

29-1-2016

IncomeTurnover: € 1.887,19

Variable CostsCost of goods sold € 706,00

Import administration costs € 14,00

Import tax € 0,00

Total variable costs € 720,00

Fixed CostsWages € 85,00

Jong ondernemen € 200,00

Telephone € 11,90

Travel € 32,30

Office supplies € 297,52

Marketing € 361,89

Total Fixed Costs € 988,61

Total Costs € 1.708,61

Net prof (before Taxes) € 178,58

TaxesIncome tax € 41,07

Total € 41,07

Net. Profit (after Taxes) € 137,51

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Conclusion The company Square-it experienced a good semester with good key business decisions, business setbacks

to overcome and a strong realistic business plan that kept everything together. What a good market

research, a lot of hours spend discussing, good use of new media and a great business plan can put

together. Square-it sold every key finder they had and made a decent profit out of it. As a company the

members may be proud of what they accomplished. It was a great period full of knowledge and use full

experience for in the future or like Square-it calls it: Find a better future with Square-it!