PinPane Limited
Computer Assembler
Chapter I• Company Profile
PinPane is a company based in Germany, found by Andreas Lahm in the year of 2000. The company has a total number of employees of 680 and its headquarters are situated in Dortmund. PinPane has one subsidiary, which currently operates in Switzerland. It operates on the IT market and provides a various range of IT products. The company products offered are the following:
I.01 Touch Screen Notebooks
With an internal 260GB hard drive, the TS-1000[1] series touch screen sensitive notebooks are classified under the product code name "one spin.".
The TS-1000 Specifics are the following:
· CPU: 2.2 Ghz AMD Core 2 Duo processor pre-bundled with PinPane LongRun Power Manager (doubling battery usage time)
· Display: 13.3” LCD Screen WSXGA+ (1680x1050) wide-format with embedded touch screen
· Operational Memory: 3GB 1066MHz DDR3 memory, SDRAM; two SO-DIMM slots support up to 4GB
· Disk Hard Drive: 260GB Serial ATA hard drive, 7000 rpm
· Graphic Adapter: NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processor 256MB DDR3 SDRAM
· Slot-loading optical drive: 8x SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
· Video: Built-in iSight camera; Mini DisplayPort output port with support for DVI, VGA, and dual-link DVI
· USB: 4 USB 2.0 ports (up to 480 Mbps)
· Built-in Wireless LAN (802.11b)
· L2 cache: 3MB shared
· Quick Point pointing device and stylus
· Operating system: Microsoft Windows Vista, Ubuntu Linux (dual boot)
· Embedded Bluetooth adapter
· Size and weight :
o Height:0.95 inch (2.41 cm)
o Width:12.78 inches (32.5 cm)
o Depth:8.94 inches (22.7 cm)
o Weight:4.5 pounds (2.04 kg)
I.02 Portable hardware, including USB, Floppy, Mice, PC tablets
· The PP tx2500z tablet features an AMD Turion 64 X2 Dual-Core Mobile Technology processor, up to 4GB DDR2 system memory, ATI Mobile Radeon HD 3200 integrated graphics and a 12.1" WXGA touchscreen/active digitizer display.
· ThinkPad Secure Portable hard drive with 128-bit hardware encryption(available in 160GB and 320GB)
o Weight: 0.69lbs
o Dimensions: 3.5 inch x 4.8 inch x 0.9inch (width x depth x thickness)
· USB 2.0 Hubs (measures 3.5" x 1.75" x 0.75" and weighs a feather-light 1.8 ounces)
· Supplementary USBpower cable
· External floppy disk
· Neoprene travel case with storage pocket for cables
· USB slippers
· Optical mouse
I.03 Technology supported:
We have for years supported both Windows and Linux technology for CPUs, although we've switched vendors many times for the Windows (and previously DOS) lines. We are also supporting Novell, Banyon, and Microsoft networking, Xbase database software, and Claris application products.
I.04 Ranking and market share
PinPane Co. is in the top five producers and retailers of IT services on the Swiss and German market. The market share reached for the last two periods is 18%.
I.05 Organizational Hierarchy
1. Description CEO
Contact Person Adreas Lahm
2. Description Chief Operating Officer
Contact Person Timothy Boil
3. Description Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary
Contact Person Tim Hadwig
4. Description Software Innovations
Contact Person Alexander Smith
5. Description Senior Vice President, Industrial Design
Contact Person Nick Lassen
6. Description Senior Vice President, Retail
Contact Person David Mumberg
7. Description Vice President, Hardware Engineering
Contact Person Tina Misberg
8. Description Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Contact Person Antoan Clamaran
9. Description Senior Vice President, Worldwide Product Marketing
Contact Person Mari-Ann Kruff
10. Description Senior Vice President, Software Engineering
Contact Person David Clinsman
11. Description Senior Vice President, Applications
Contact Person Michael Stoven
I.06 Company Administration
· Human Resources and Quality Management Department
Contact Person Pavel Antonov
· Logistics Department
Contact Person Georgi Georgiev
· Marketing Department
Contact Person Alexander Smogorzhevsky
· Legal Advisor
Contact Person Ina Rasheva
· Financial Department
Contact Person Pavlina Rangelova
· Research and Development
Contact Person Alexander Smith
· Production Department
Contact Person Allan Gregory
· Plant Manager Chris Helbig
I.07 Organizational Chart
I.08 Quality of products
When we are talking about quality we have to know that the word by itself means a lot of things. Quality means:
· Low weight.
· Stable software systems Better design.
· The software is user friendly Reasonable price.( only 16% higher than other laptops)
· All users can collaborate with each other.
· Also have a combination of listening, talking, making photos and surfing the webCompact with a lot of storing space
I.09 Core Values, Mission and Vision of PinPane Co
(a) Vision
We are committed to supply the market we serve with advanced technology and outstanding quality of products and services by being innovative and socially responsible organization.
(b) Mission
We are committed to bring the gap between man and machine away, through a constant innovation and pushing the world ahead, we change the industry standards.
(c) Slogan
The Unimaginable is doable
(d) Company Values
· Innovative design
· Teamwork
· Shared Responsibility
· Reliability
· Creativity
· Continuous Improvement
(e) Goals of the company:
The company aims at entering a foreign market and strengthen the customer awareness of the company brand on the new market by achieving 3% market share by the end of the first year.
Chapter II• Country Screening
II.01 Criteria
PinPane has a stable position on 2 markets where it operates nowadays. It is Germany and Switzerland. On the meeting of board the decision of expansion to European country was taken. The countries were selected on the basis of certain criteria, which are economical environment, logistics aspects, technological level and IT industry attractiveness. On the basis of these criteria three countries were selected and a decision matrix was created for them and they were ranked. The three countries, which are compared, are Denmark, United Kingdom and the Netherlands.
The criteria are:
1. Economic environment
This factor describes overall economical situation within each country. These include state of the economy, main trends, GDP per capita and rate of taxation. Also the financial crisis is going on nowadays and it is vital to mention how it influenced the economical situation in countries that are examined for expansion. The state of economy and well being of customers are directly related to amount of sales. The weighting factor of 20% is given.
2. Technology level
This factor provides information about the overall technology level in examined countries. These include main trends, market potential and amount of people that use internet and IT technologies. The weighting factor of 10% is given.
3. Attitude towards technology
This factor is related to cultural aspect how people are interested in IT technologies and recent innovations in this field. This factor is important, because PinPane’s target group is a people who are interested in innovations and recent development in this sector. The weighting factor of 25% is given.
4. Logistics
As PinPane’s production still remains in Dortmund, the logistics factor becomes important. It includes proximity of selected countries to Dortmund and possible costs of services of logistics companies, which we will use to distribute our production. The weighting factor of 15% is given.
5. Industry attractiveness
This is the last but not the least factor, on basis of which we compare selected countries. Industry attractiveness includes such vital factors as competitiveness rivalry on the IT market of specific country. Also it describes potential market niche for our company. The weighting factor of 30% is given.
II.02 Quick Scan of the Netherlands
(a) Economic environment
The Netherlands has a prosperous and open economy, which depends heavily on foreign trade. The economy is noted for stable industrial relations, fairly low unemployment and inflation, a sizable current account surplus, and an important role as a European transportation hub. Industrial activity is predominantly in food processing, chemicals, petroleum refining, and electrical machinery. A highly mechanized agricultural sector employs no more than 2% of the labor force but provides large surpluses for the food-processing industry and for exports. The Netherlands, along with 11 of its EU partners, began circulating the euro currency on 1 January 2002. The country is one of the leading European nations for attracting foreign direct investment.
The stern financial policy has been abandoned in 2009 on account of the current credit crises. The relatively large banking sector was partly nationalized and bailed out through government interventions. Large unemployment, double the current rate of 4% is expected since the Netherlands is an open economy. A large deficit in government accounts of 5% is expected for 2009. The government wants to stimulate the economy by accelerating already planned projects. Fundamental reforms for long term recovery will be implemented as well. The GDP per capita is 31,434 in year 2008.[2]
Taxation of wage income tax in the Netherlands (Average personal income tax and social security contribution rates on gross labor income).[3]
Tax / % AW66 % / 100 % / 133 % / 166 %
Central income tax / 4,7% / 14,0% / 20,9% / 27,1%
Sub-central income tax / 0,0% / 0,0% / 0,0% / 0,0%
Total income tax / 4,7% / 14,0% / 20,9% / 27,1%
Employee social and health insurance / 26,0% / 21,4% / 16,5% / 13,2%
´All-in´ / 30,7% / 35,4% / 37,4% / 40,3%
Employer social and health insurance / 15,9% / 15,4% / 12,8% / 10,2%
Taxation total / 40,2% / 44,0% / 44,5% / 45,8%
(b) Technological Level
In the second quarter of 2008 turnover in the IT sector was 1.1percent up on last year’s second quarter. For nine months in a row turnover is distinctly better than in 2004 and 2005. The downward trend in turnover in this sector has now been reversed.
The Netherlands is highly technologically developed country. The percent of people than use Internet is 82.9 % (13,791,800 people).[4]
(c) Attitude towards technology
The Dutch have a positive attitude towards science and technology and hold scientists in high esteem. The population's ideas on the meaning of the concept of science, however, are fairly vague. These were among the main findings of the survey "The image of science" carried out by the Social and Cultural Planning Office of the Netherlands (SCP).
The Dutch population considers science as trustworthy and prestigious. Although the public perceives some risks, there is a marked optimism about the power of science to solve today's problems. Compared to 1985, the overall attitude towards technological innovations is more positive. However, there are ambiguities according to the type of innovation. While the Internet or emails are held in high esteem, there are still objections to genetically modified food, nuclear energy and military technology.
We should note also an interesting fact that Philips, nowadays a leader in innovations in IT industry, is a Dutch based company.
(d) Logistics
Speaking about Logistics expenses and distances we should note that the Netherland is the closest country to PinPane’s factory in Dortmund. The distance between Dortmund and Dutch-German border is 100 km. The distance between Dortmund and biggest cities in the Netherlands are:
· Dortmund-Utrecht 205 km
· Dortmund-Amsterdam 241 km
· Dortmund-Den Haag 258 km
· Dortmund-Rotterdam 254 km
So the average distance between Dortmund and main cities in the Netherlands is 230 km and such proximity sufficiently decreases costs involved in Logistics.
(e) Industry Attractiveness
The Dutch IT market we can characterize as highly competitive. As a country with open and highly developed economy and high technological level, the Netherlands is country where customers can find products from almost all IT companies worldwide. So that makes the competitive rivalry is extremely high. Nevertheless we should note that Dutch IT market is quite attractive for expansion for PinPane because of general attitude towards technology in the Netherlands. And people, who are interested in innovations, are our main target group of customers
II.03 Quick Scan of United Kingdom
(a) Economic Environment
Latest National Accounts data confirms the preliminary view published last month that the UK economy has entered recession, and that the pace of the downturn has accelerated. In the final quarter of 2008 Gross Domestic Product fell by 1.5 per cent, driven by large output declines in the manufacturing and distribution, hotels and catering industries. New data on the expenditure side of the economy shows that household consumption and fi xed investment have contracted sharply, but the most signifi cant contribution to falling demand has come from falling inventories as fi rms prefer to meet demand by running down stocks rather than through production. Strong and rapid pass-through from falling output to the labour market has continued, with further rises in redundancies pushing up the unemployment rate to 6.3 per cent. Consumer prices inflation remains above target at 3 per cent, but is expected to fall sharply during this year.
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Intermediate taxesCommercial and industrial rates / 191 / 232 / 277 / 311 / 397 / 282
Employers' NI contributions / 319 / 386 / 462 / 520 / 663 / 470
Duty on hydrocarbon oils / 129 / 156 / 186 / 210 / 268 / 190
Vehicle excise duty / 27 / 32 / 39 / 43 / 55 / 39
Other / 172 / 208 / 249 / 280 / 357 / 253
Total indirect taxes / 3 357 / 4 393 / 5 274 / 5 974 / 7 350 / 5 270
Post-tax income / 7 127 / 14 399 / 19 508 / 25 997 / 46 227 / 22 651
Benefits in kind
Education / 3 624 / 3 013 / 2 214 / 1 632 / 1 057 / 2 308
National health service / 2 389 / 2 535 / 2 462 / 2 253 / 2 009 / 2 330
Housing subsidy / 115 / 53 / 32 / 12 / 3 / 43
Rail travel subsidy / 26 / 30 / 42 / 61 / 105 / 53
Bus travel subsidy / 43 / 45 / 45 / 49 / 42 / 45
School meals and welfare milk / 109 / 38 / 12 / 6 / 2 / 33
Total / 6 305 / 5 715 / 4 809 / 4 011 / 3 218 / 4 812
Final income / 13 432 / 20 114 / 24 317 / 30 008 / 49 444 / 27 463
1 Including pension credit
2 Child tax credit and working tax credit payments which are treated as benefits (see Appendix 2, paragraph 22).
3 Child tax credit and working tax credit payments which are treated as negative income tax. Also includes tax relief at source on life assurance premiums.
4 Council tax and Northern Ireland rates after deducting discounts.
The following table examines the scope of the average income, taxes and benefits of the British households. It could be concluded, that the economic turbulence has its effect on the income of the British citizens. The declined in the income comparing 2008 with 2007 is almost double.