BACHI Barcelona Case Study Project

Final Project Guidelines

Please use this format to submit your final project. The paper must follow all the guidelines as instructed in order to obtain full grades.

Remember that our team of tutors is available for any questions regarding your final project. You must present the final version of your work as no previous corrections will be carried out. To submit the final project, students must use the template below, with their answers written after each statement.

Please present your final paper according to these requirements:

• Arial 12 Font.
• Margin: 2,5.
• Line spacing: 1,5.
• All fields on the cover page must be completed.
• The document needs to be properly paged.

Your final project must be authentic and individual. Any work that has been plagiarized or papers written by others or with the help of others are likely to be failed and may incur in economic penalties.

Be aware that you are permitted a maximum of two submissions per subject. If both projects do not meet the standards and fail, the student must pay the corresponding fee to be evaluated again.

When writing your final project please use Microsoft Office, Adobe or Apache’s Open Office Writer tools (DOC, DOCX, ODT, PDF, etc.). Please consult your tutor when using a different format. Additional information about the software will be needed.

Please use the following format:

ddmmyyyy_Subject_LastNameandName.pdf

Example:

11052018_Strategic Management_ElsaMoore.pdf

The project should not exceed more than 18 pages, excluding the cover page, bibliography and the appendix.

Evaluation Guidelines

The final work will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

• Acquired knowledge (25%): the knowledge acquired throughout the course of the subject will be evaluated through the analysis of the theoretical data shown in the project presented by the student.
• Development of the Subject (25 %): the interpretation of the thesis subject by the student and its development will be evaluated in a coherent and analytical manner.
• Final result (25%): the final evaluation is based on coherent solutions applied to solve objectives set out in the paper. The presentation must be conclusive and formatting must meet established parameters.

Additional information and bibliography (25%): additional information regarding the research and subject matter will be evaluated and taken into consideration as a bonus. This consist of: bibliography, visual graphics, charts, independent studies carried out by the student, external academic sources, articles of opinion, etc. All sources, both printed and online, must be referenced according to the APA regulations.

BACKGROUND

BACHI Barcelona (http://www.bachibarcelona.com) is a company that sells medium-high range handbags and accessories for men and women. This project has been created by two friends, Meritxell and Nuria, passionate about fashion and fully orientated to the satisfaction of their customers through their products, and it has been in the market for one year.

These two enterprising women have a common idea: to create comfortable accessories but without sacrificing innovative designs. Therefore, their products seek differentiation through originality, because their patterns are visible both inside and outside of the bags, thereby creating a different product.

BACHI Barcelona stands out for online sales through a website that tries to be intuitive and with a high navigability whilst, of course, gaining visibility for their bags and accessories. In addition, it has the following services:

• Complete catalogue of their accessories for online sale.
• Filtering by categories and price system, to customize searches.
• Offers and temporary discounts on some products.
• Form for potential customers to request information.
• Delivery service of 24-48 hours. Cost: € 5 (other costs assumed by BACHI Barcelona). However, they offer several promotions with free deliveries.
• National and international shipments (European Union), although they are still not very clear how to penetrate international markets.
• “Stories by Bachi” blog, where they report announcements and related news.
• Newsletter service (previous subscription with welcome gift).
• Access to their social media: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.

In relation to other information of interest:

• Human capital is composed only of them: Meritxell and Nuria. They both have extensive knowledge of the fashion industry and new trends. Also, they have earned a degree in Law, so they have great knowledge in legal matters.
• High involvement, enthusiasm, desire to grow and meet the needs of customers in the fashion and accessories sector.
• They have external consultants in different areas such as Marketing, Community Manager, Web Positioning, Accounting, Photography, Web Programming or Modelling.
• Clear awareness of the importance of the presence of BACHI Barcelona in social media to obtain a good position in the market.
• Low bargaining power of the price of the deliveries until they start getting a higher number of orders.
• Very close relationship with their suppliers. Currently they are working with 20 suppliers because of the many details that their accessories have. These are local Eco Friendly suppliers, thus contributing to the sustainability and development of local commerce, even though this may translate into less competitive prices than if they worked with suppliers from countries with different labor rights cultures. 
• All their designs are unique and handcrafted in Barcelona. 
• The stock policy is very clear: refuse to work on request. They prefer to have surplus for all their star and classic products. They will only work on request for cost or limited edition designs.
• At a financial level, they work with a Business Expansion Account for SMEs with advantageous conditions in terms of fees and bank charges, but they do not have financing.
• They often base their strategy on participating in fairs and events to bring their product and brand closer to the public, at strategic points such as Barcelona, Tarifa and different Italian cities, avant-garde in the latest fashion. 
• Currently BACHI Barcelona faces stiff competition. Their main competitors are:
  • Zubi (http://zubidesign.com/es/)
  • Afortunadas (https://shopafortunadas.com/tienda/)

Meritxell and Nuria have some priorities related to gaining presence in social networks and increasing their competitive advantages over their main competitors. They consider it very important to increase the number of subscribers on the web, get more followers to increase visibility, try new ways of online communication (guest posting, banners, collaboration with bloggers and other national and international friendly companies) and increase sales from the promotions they make.

Although they are very aware of these facts, they have never stopped to elaborate a strategic plan that helps them achieve their main goals for BACHI Barcelona. For this reason they’re contacting you to help them in this task.

RESOLVE

1. Create the mission, vision and values of BACHI Barcelona

• With the information provided, we need to carry out an internal analysis based on the evaluation of both the website and any internal elements mentioned.
  • Describe and explore the competitive advantages and disadvantages of BACHI regarding its competitors.
  • Identify the tangible resources (physical and financial), the intangible resources and the capacities that we have.
  • Prepares a VRIO analysis of the resources of BACHI Barcelona
  • Conclude the exercise with a small matrix that reflects the resulting Strengths and Weaknesses.
• Perform an external analysis (macroenvironment and microenvironment) of the current situation.
  • PEST analysis.
    • 4 elements of the economic structure.
    • 2 elements of the technological structure.
    • 2 elements of the political structure.
    • 2 elements of the social structure.

• Analysis of the 5 Porter Forces
  • Bargaining power with suppliers.
  • Power of negotiation of the consumers.
  • Threat on income of substitute products.
  • Threat of new competitors.
  • Rivalry among competitors.
  • End the exercise with a small matrix that reflects the resulting Opportunities and Threats.

• In accordance with the Weaknesses, Strengths (internal analysis), Opportunities and Threats (external analysis), propose the following:
  • Defensive strategy.
  • Offensive strategy.
  • Survival strategy.
  • Reorientation Strategy.

• Develop a BSC in the form of a matrix.

• Based on the contribution of Michael Porter, you must propose and justify the following (one of each):
  • Strategy in Cost Leadership.
  • Differentiation Strategy.

Focus Strategy.