BE322-TMA01-2009-2010

Faculty of Business Studies

CIET (Shipping Co) Business Plan

Prepared

By

Maysaa Ballout

Ahmad Soubra

Mhamad El-Sabea

Presented

To

ID Number: 8366
Course: BE322
Section: 518
TMA Number: 01
Semester: Spring2010
Date:
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Faculty of Business Studies

PT3
TMA Cover Sheet FORM
Lebanon Branch
Academic Year 2009-2010 Semester □First √□Second
.Course No ……………………BE322………… .TMA No √□ 1 □2
I. Student Information (to be completed by the student)
Student Name Maysaa Ballout
.Student No 8366 .Section No 518
E-Mail ....….…………………………………………………………….…….……
.I hereby certify that the work presented in this TMA is my own and is not copied from any source

Signature …………………………………… Date of Submission 20 / .…… / ..……

Executive The The
Questions Summary Company
The Market
Organization
Financials Appendix Total
Marks 5/ 15/ 25/ 10/ 25/ 5/ 85/

Criteria PT3-Form Presentation Referencing E-Library Total

Marks 5/ 5/ 5/ N/A 15/
Total Marks 100/
I. Tutor's Comments
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Signature …………………………………… Date Returned 20 / .…… / ..……

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Plan Outline

1. Executive Summary………………………………………………… 4
2. The Company
2.1.Vision ……………………………………………………………………... 5
2.2.Mission ………………………………………………………………….… 5
2.3.Legal Form ……………………………………………………………..…. 6
2.4.Industry ……………………….…………………………………………… 6

3. The Market
3.1.Introduction ………………………………………………………………. 7
3.2.Market Research …………………………………………………………. 6
3.3.Economics
a) Market Size …………………………………………………… 8
b) Estimated Market share ………………………………………. 8
3.4.Challenges and Barriers …………………………………………………. 9
3.5.Product ………………………………………………………………….. 9-10
3.6.Competition ……………………………………………………………..10-11
3.7.Competitive Advantages ……………………………………………….. 11
3.8.Customer/ Segment ……………………………………………………. 11 - 12
3.9.Marketing Strategy ……………………………………………………. 12
3.10. Pricing ……………………………………………………………. 13
3.11. Distribution ………………………………………………………. 14
3.12. Location from Marketing perspective ……………………………. 14
4 Appendix …………………………………………………………………... 15

Executive Summary
In the country of tourism and trade, the best chance for creating a successful business
comes from both domains.
Trade means shipping, transportation, and customs clearance.

Entering the world of such business carry unpredictable rewards and profits if it was
highly studied and well planned
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From this vision, we decided to establish CIET (corporation of import, export and
transport) that activates in the field of shipping and transporting cargo nationally from
and to transport facilities, and internationally across borders for and from the country of
region.

CIET will provide cargo transportation via trucks, sell bill of ladings, and perform
brokering of shipping and customs clearance.

All of the above activities will be listed under one company name (CIET) and interact
efficiently to deliver high quality logistics and compete in the term of quality against its
rival.

CIET location and means of connection are well established and competitive, we use to
be located in all provinces using an online system for direct connection with our
customers, thus we will reduce our expenses and save our customers time that is very
important in this market.

Shipping and transportation market is highly competitive in the term of quality

depending on time efficiency; CIET will set time and logistics as its target and develop
competences in this field.

Financing our company is considered easy using indirect finance as bank and car
retailers for purchasing needed trucks as mortgages where the rest of the investment will
be financed from the equity of the partners who have a well considered experience in
this domain.

After preparing offices and trucks we will make our connections with shipping
companies and start acting as agents, this is easy and affordable.
Forecasts of sales and expenses show positive results and motivate for starting this
business.
Briefly; CIET will be financed easily, benefit from its partners experience, and offers a
distinctive product made of a package of services.
CIET slogan is quality, time challenge, and customers comfort.

:Company Summary
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CIET is Shipping Company which will transport all

kinds of products in an efficient and effective way, using
ships planes and Trucks, in all over the world crossing
seas, besides CIET is environmental care since we only
.use recycled packaging

Vision
To become a leading shipping company with services covering both Lebanese and
.international trade

Mission
1. To become a leading shipping company
from the aspect of development,
innovation and service quality.
2. To always strive to be the best by
offering fast, accurate and reliable
service.

3. To form and make available skilled,

efficient and highly dedicated Human
Resource by applying quality operation
of modern technology and first class
customer service.
4. To establish close working relations with
customers, business partners, relevant
institutions and government in
implementing the Company shipping
business.

5. To create conducive working

environment by giving priority to safety,
integrity and work quality throughout the
Company.

6. To increase revenue and return on

investment for the shareholders by adhering
closely to disciplined financial and
operational practices.
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Management
CIET will be a limited liability partnership registered in the state of Delaware for tax
purposes. Its founder is Ms. Maysaa Ballout, a f master distributor with Mohammad
sabea. Ms. Maysaa has brought together a highly respected group of individuals who are
well versed in foreign trade processes.

Company Ownership
The company will have a number of outside private investors who will own 27% of the
company's shares. The rest will be owned by the senior management including Ms.
Maysaa, (25%), Mr. Ahmad Soubra (20%), and others. All other financing will come
from loans.

Management Summary

Company officers include our President, Ms. Maysaa, our head of exports Mr. Ahmad
Soubra., and our head of imports, Mr. mhmammad sabea.Personnel

CIET management brings to the company strong capabilities in all aspects of trade
relations, logistics, contracting and selling.

The Market
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Starting our business needs many researches and studies; in order to know our
competitors and to know the Strengths & weaknesses (SWOT analysis).we should know
.the market we are dealing with and the rules
Since we are in a world which became global CIET will meet this need in relating the
.whole world together within an efficient and effective Shipment

Market Search

According to searches done Lebanon have a

number of $5.035 billion (2008 est.) in
Imports and a number of $16.25 billion (2008
est.) in Export. So we notice that Lebanon
depend on trading in which CIET will take a
.part of shipping

As searched in the Internet we found that

most customers prefer to use the internet
for making their work, in this way they
.save time and money
Also we will offer a complete packaging
and we will make all the papers needed
for shipping which gives us a
competitive ad since the research showed
.that no one provide that service
CIET will be known through Advertising in
which we searched and found that the most
successful way of ads is through the internet
so it will be shown in all search engines
(Google, Yahoo, Ask....) also flyers will be
.disturbed in all the companies in Lebanon

We searched for a trusted source that

people will feel safe to deal with in order
to do their payments online and we found
.the PayPal is the most trusted one

.CIET will deal with Med gulf insurance

CIET will provide the highest quality of every transportation available. Customers will be
transported with the latest safety features, including dual airbags, safety features, and
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everything that company ofeers to have the customer comfortable w and loyal to our
company

. We believe in the old saying "Treat others as you would want to be treated". This is the
philosophy of customer service. To achieve and maintain excellent customer service,
proper training and monitoring of employees will be critical.

The service will provide is safe and fast responsible transportation exclusively for all...

Economics
Market Size

CIET customers will be international Companies

in which they have to trade globally, also we
have the customers of e-commerce business in
which they sell online so we will Deal with to
ship their products for their customers( EBay ,
Amazon ...) so with time will be dealing with
more companies and our market size will
...decrease

Market Share
CIET will Deliver a Full Package in which at first it will have a small market share (7%)
but with time and according to our strategies that we are going to follow our market share
.is expected to rise and to be noticed by others

Barriers
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Such kind of business needs a large amount of capital
and finance .so finance along the investment for
purchasing and operating will be the following:
Personal funds of the partners will be 60,000 $ each
contribute by 20,000 $
Bank loan will be in the form of mortgage trucks and
mini trucks that will be purchased.
We will purchase 5 big trucks that holds containers each
costs 50,000 $ total 250,000$, this amount will be paid
periodically (installment)
5 mini trucks that holds cargo as cartons and pallets
each costs 10,000 $, total 50,000 $ also will be paid
periodically to the bank (installment)
Total 300,000 $ for purchasing trucks of both sizes
60,000 $ for other expenses, operation, and reserve
The market of cargo shipment and transporting is
showing a growth in demand and increase in
profitability.

Also CIET will face the acceptance of customers since we have lots of known
Competitors but with our strategic and the advertising that we are going to attend
customers will be familiar with our Company; also Competing in term of quality is easier
.than price wars... It just need some time

Products

CIET will deliver a service which is Complete

related to shipment the service will be full
packaging in an efficient and effective way, also
since we are a company which cares for
.environment our packaging will only be recycled
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CIET provides online Service in which it make it

easy for its customers to deal with it and in this
way we save Time and money, Customer will
feel safe for dealing online since we work in
.security way

Competition

CIET Main competitors are: Aramex ,

. Fedex & MSC,TNT and Gifco

CIET competitors are located along all regions

Those competitors are good in: Reputation of competitors is high in the market,
Capital advantage and High experience.
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Besides they are weak in:
 They tend to interact physically with their customers (in offices), there are no
internet facilities.

 They have high operational costs as a result of hierarchy and formal structure
they are big corporations.

 Fixed cost of big competitors are high as they tend to use ware houses.

 There are no substitutes for cargo shipment and transportation, and the only
barrier of entry to this market is experience.

 There is no supplier power, truck suppliers number are very big and they lose
negotiation power, also mother companies of shipment like MSC CMA
MAERSK sell bill of lading to all agents and don’t have any exclusive agency.

CIET Differ from its Competitors since it concentrates to give a full package, and take
consideration on the efficiency Besides, CIET has online business which gives it a point
.to be special from its competitors

:Competitive Advantage
CIET will provide for its customers cargo
transportation from and to transport facilities (port,
airport) as a primary business, and act as an agent for
shipping from and to Lebanon.
Customers will provide our operation by a scheduled
data via internet about their shipments arrival in order
to organize their transportation date, and make direct
orders via phone or internet for reserving vehicles they
need.
CIET will provide a website containing all needed
information about transportation and shipping
including prices in an easy professional way, this will
shortcut the need to have direct contact with our
customers and manipulate time for us and them.
The value added of CIET'S is its knowledge and
expertise in the freight and transportation business and
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its ability to attract customers by offering a total
package of freight, clearance, and transportation.

Customers
CIET will target all customer of this market and all there needs.
There are many players in this market who are divided to three categories.
1-Personal owner of trucks that only deals with transporting cargo from one location to
another, example form the port to customers and vice versa.
2- Small enterprises that owns small number of trucks and deal with transporting cargo
inside Lebanon from transport facilities to second location also transport cargo from
Lebanon to other countries and vice versa (import-export) via trucks and provide as
agents shipments by sea and air.
3- Well established organizations that operate big number of trucks and are agents for
sea and air cargo shipment.

Marketing Strategy

1. Covering into a public company to enhance business professionalism and obtain

access to external funding sources.
2. Recruiting professionals from the shipping sector.
3. Increasing total vessel capacity, vessel and container fleet.
4. Upgrading working co-operation with Freight Forwarding and Transshipment
Cargo.
5. Enhancing logistics business to support the Company’s major business activities
such as warehousing and stevedoring.
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6. Optimizing vessel utilization through co-operation with other shipping lines.
7. Entering into a co-operation with foreign shipping lines either as agent or through
Connecting Carrier Agreement (CCA).
8. Opening new, potential shipping routes and establish new representative offices in
line with the development of regional autonomy.
9. Developing competencies of Human Resources and management information
system that oriented to operational system effectiveness and efficiency.

As mentioned before CIET will deal with advertising via internet (search engine) and by
distributing flyers for all companies in Lebanon besides putting posters in the main roads.
We need to put a special budget for advertising since we are still new.

:Pricing
CIET prices will be according to the quantity, kind of shipping
and the place. Our prices will be much better than our competitors
since we are delivering a full package which means that we are
taking care of all what the customer wants and he will only deal
with us and we will take all the other responsibilities. So this gave
us a good advantage according to the price given which in all
cases will be lower than if the customer will deal with
.competitors

Location
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CIET will take place in the airport road which is known by all, its building will consist
of three floors and an underground floor which will be for parking. We will divide floors
.so a floor will be for managing and IT floor for Import care and a one for Export
Also we will take the opportunity that one of our partners have a piece of land which is
.not far from Beirut Port, so we will make it a warehouse in order to store products on it
So the location will be easy founded by customers and will be related to their
expectations where they will not feel we are separate from the world,(every thing is near
to them, parking ,Food…)

Distribution
CIET will deal on land and online so we provide an easy
service for our customers, by shipping through Trucks,
.planes and steamships
Customers will find it very easy to deal with us since in
our website we will provide a guide to show the customer
how to operate and take what he want. Just like he is
talking to us. Also he will find some one to help him
.incase of facing a problem in the guide or for any inquiry

Appendix
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Flyer

Containers
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Trucks
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