BUSINESS PLAN

PCM CONSULTING COMPANY

This business plan was made as an exercise for the Coursera MOOC Course Launching New Ventures by Christopher L. Tucci and Marc Gruber / EPFL.

Legal Page

Confidentiality Agreement

The undersigned reader acknowledges that the information provided by PCM Consulting in this business plan is confidential; therefore, reader agrees not to disclose it without the express written permission of PCM Consulting.

It is acknowledged by reader that information to be furnished in this business plan is in all respects confidential in nature, other than information which is in the public domain through other means and that any disclosure or use of same by reader, may cause serious harm or damage to PCM Consulting.

Upon request, this document is to be immediately returned to PCM Consulting. This is a business plan. It does not imply an offering of securities.

This business plan was made as an exercise for the Coursera MOOC Course Launching New Ventures by Christopher L. Tucci and Marc Gruber / EPFL.

Executive Summary (Part I)

PCM Consulting (PCM) is an ambitious innovative new company that is attempting to turn the business consulting where decisions are taken based on experienced professionals throughout a filtered analysis of neural networks. With an experienced consultant at the helm as President, PMC intends to be a leading consulting company in Project Management.

Company Summary

PCM Consulting (PCM) will start with two experienced consultants working at the Delaware Innovation Park. PMC will be composed by certified professionals issued by PMI and listed on Presidential List of FIDIC.

PCM offers will start with a list of services which includes project management tools and techniques according to PMI and contract management using the rainbow series of contracts issued by FIDIC. PMC will have a focus on infrastructure projects, preferably financed by Multilateral Development Banks.

PCM will be established in the of Delaware, USA with two principal partners, each of whom owns a 50% share in the company. Mr. F. Soares has extensive international experience in Project Management and underground infrastructure projects. Mrs. A. Perestrelo brings in experience in the area of business administration.

Executive Summary (Part II)

Mission

Our mission is to provide clients across South and North America with project and contract management services for all types of infrastructure projects, from concept planning through to completion, with a highly skilled professional team working together, using common sense and practical experience.

Keys to Success

Provide professional quality services on time and on budget.

Develop a follow-up strategy to gauge performance with all clients.

Implement and maintain a quality control and assurance policy.

Executive Summary (Part III)

Objectives

Modest revenues the first year, with slow by steady growth over the next two years.

Achieve 20% of market value at the end of the third year of operation.

Increase gross margin significantly by the third year of operations.

Executive Summary (Part IV)

Company Ownership

PMC will be created as a limited liability company. The company will be privately owned by Mr. F. Soares and Mrs. A. Perestrelo. Mr. F. Soares will also be listed as a Director.

Start-up Summary

Our start-up expenses allow for initial legal expenses, licenses, permits, stationary, specialty software, office equipment, and furniture. In addition to these start-up costs, an initial balance will be placed in the company accounts.

Start-up Expenses Legal $500

Stationery etc. $600

Professional Liability Insurance $1,200

Business Licenses $1,000

Permit Holder $500

Website Development $600

Office Furniture $600

Software Purchases $7,000

Computer/Office Equipment $500

Other $500

Total Start-up Expenses $13,000

Start-up Assets Cash Required $12,000

Other Current Assets $0

Long-term Assets $0

Total Assets $12,000

Total Requirements $25,000

Services description

Project Consulting: Proposed and billed on a per-project and per-milestone basis, project consulting offers a client company a way to harness our specific qualities and use our expertise to develop and/or implement plans, from conceptual planning to turnover. Proposal costs will be associated with each project.

Project Management: Our project management services include defining client needs, preparing bid documents, tendering, bid analysis, construction review, payment certification, contract administration, and warranty inspections. This work will be supported by PMI certified professionals.

Dispute Resolution: We draw upon our broad range of construction and contract administration experience to provide dispute resolution services, including arbitration, mediation and expert reports for litigation. This work will be supported by accredited professionals registered on FIDIC Presidential List.

Market Analysis

The business consulting industry is very fragmented. Several large multinational companies dominate the industry while many smaller (and often more specialized) firms occupy their market niches. Major management consulting companies have established their dominant position by providing services to the leading companies in various industries. Consulting practices of the major firms have established worldwide presence and sell their packaged services to companies of different sizes and industries. At the same time, numerous firms and individual business consultants prosper in the market niches that bigger players consider unprofitable to enter.

Infrastructure projects are the target market of this firm. PCM intends to contact projects financed by Multilateral Development Banks where specific knowledge and practice are required. There is a serious need in the marketplace, and certainly a significant demand for, these types of project consulting services.

Competitors in the forefront of the marketplace typically offer many of the services that PCM has. However PCM will be specialized in the contract management of the rainbow series issued by FIDIC.

Structural engineering and general project management services there were also analyzed to be provided by the company. However there are many competitors in the market providing it.

Strategy and Implementation Summary (part I)

PCM will focus on the South America market initially.

PCM offers the following competitive edge:

State-of-the-art project and contract management capabilities.

Certified PMI professionals.

Registered FIDIC consultants.

An internal neural network software developed to predict the most important decisions to be made during the project;

An Internet website (http:\\www.pcmconsulting.com, and e-mail, info@pcmconsulting.com).

Marketing Strategy

We will be using the MDB contacts extensively in our sales promotion.

We will focus our limited advertising budgets to promote community sponsored events. We will also offer technical services at discount rates to non-profit organizations.

Strategy and Implementation Summary (part II)

Pricing Strategy

Most consulting work is billed on an hourly basis to pre-determined levels dictated by project schedule milestones. We have assigned a rate of $80/hour for basic consulting services for and $40/hour for data collector services. These are conservative values for the consulting market. We have used conservative unit rates to remain more competitive.

Sales Strategy and forecast

Success in a consulting market is focused on client service and typically translates into repeat business. We will avoid the pitfall of buying a project, only to find the scope of work far exceeds renumeration.

We expect sales to remain at a constant level after three months of operation. We predict the first two months of operations will be slow. Revenues will be limited while a generic quality management plan is formulated and basic office administration tasks are completed.

Direct unit costs for the first year have been set at less than one-third of unit revenues, which yields a high gross margin. In the third year of operations, we plan to increase gross margin as a result of providing a more efficient service to our clients.

Financial Summary

The Company will be self funding