Business Extension Strategy For Acecol,A Company In The Colombian Steel Sector

This project has the objective of analyzing a business plan for a company operating in the steel sector of Medellin,Colombia.The Company has a business line for distributing steel products.One of the main products of this line is corrugated bars,which are used by constructors to reinforce the concrete.The biggest constructors in the city buy the corrugated bars bent and cut according to their requirements.The Company nowadays is not offering this service.This project analyzes how feasible it is for The Company to extend its distribution line by starting offering these services and by this,reach more clients.The first part of this project contains a literature review made with the purpose of creating a framework for the further analysis of the project.This is done by explaining different models and concepts that are related to this business and studying how they have been applied by other authors.After this,a market research is developed.Here,the local construction sector,which is the target of the project,is analyzed as well as the demand and offer in the city in order to define the gap in the local market.Afterwards,an overall industry review,which analyzes the current competitive situation in the sector is made by using different models as SWOT analysis and Porter?s five forces analysis.The information gathered here,is the base for defining the strategy that The Company must develop in order to succeed in this new business.After this it is defined the team that will make possible this project,its legal structure and ownership.Later,the marketing plan that The Company will implement in the development of the project is presented.This is based on the analysis of the needs of the potential customers,what they value,how the purchasing decisions are made and how The Company will address them.Thereafter,a financial analysis is done in order to define how profitable the project is and if it is worth investing on it or not.Here,all the information regarding costs,break-even point,projected cash flows,net present value and internal rate of return,is analyzed.Possible scenarios,risks and contingency plans are also considered.Finally,the main research conclusions are presented followed by the limitations of the investigation and future research directions.For confidentiality issues,the real name of the company on which this project is developed cannot be mentioned.This is why,in order to refer to it,the name Acecol will be used instead.