EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Goal

The main goal of the project was to develop three country specific market entry strategies for a cloud based accounting software developed by RISE. To accomplish this goal, two subgoals were derived - to conduct a break-even analysis and to identify the key success factors for each country.

Methodology

Relying on the previous project the chosen countries to be entered were Germany, Poland and Romania. Under the overarching concept of the break-even analysis, the main goal was to find out, if profitability could be reached in all three countries.

For this matter, an interactive financial model was created in Excel. It considers revenues as well as expenses and from the given data calculates and illustrates when the break-even point is reached, as well as how much capital is required to do so.

The financial model was filled with data from extensive desk research, as well as expert interviews with people from within the industry in the given countries. From this, the most important cost drivers where derived, which had the most impact on profitability.

By conducting further expert interviews, as well as a benchmark analysis, key success factors for entering a foreign country were obtained. This was done by creating a Value Matrix for the expanding product, along with a Competitive Analysis Matrix for each of the three countries respectively.

Results

The conducted research lead to an service obtainable market of 11,7M for Germany, 7,2M for Poland and 2,6M for Romania. Furthermore, the expected break-even points are 40 Months, 48 Months and 37 Months for the three countries. The required capital for each country will be 1,4M, 990k and 480k respectively.

The key insights for the countries were that different marketing strategies would be needed in Germany than in the other countries. This will require clear market segmentation and communication of the USP. For Poland it will be crucial to overcome the lock-in-effect that established players in the polish accounting industry have created. In Romania the extremely low price levels will have an impact, as well as getting certified by the fiscal authorities.

Cooperation Partner

• RISE – Research Industrial Systems Engineering
  Concorde Business Park F
  2320 Schwechat, Austria
  www.rise-world.com

Contact Person

• DI Gerd Schaffer
  gerd.schaffer@rise-world.com
  
  Michael Pably
  michael.pably@rise-world.com

Student Team

• Alin Ionesi
  Anna-Katharina Schmidt
  Mariyana Angelova
  Nadine Rührlechner
  Reka Holicsek
  Roman Pfligl

Project Manager

• Sophie Quach