Electronic Engineering Business Plan

The management of Rosafarbenes Nilpferd & Sons Engineering is led by the owner/founder, Becket Nilpferd, who has extensive technical experience in consulting to the industry.  A profitable track record indicates the presence of business acumen.  Important additions to sales and marketing staff should round out the needs of the company to achieve the projected goals set by the sales and marketing strategy.

6.1 Organizational Structure

Rosafarbenes Nilpferd & Sons Engineering plans to increase the number of employees to five in the second year and to ten by the third year.  Half of these with be sales staff reporting to a sales manager who reports to the owner, Becket Nilpferd.  Two relatively low-level technicians will be included to deal with repairs and testing of returns.  Rather than depend completely on outside consultants for software engineering, an engineer will be hired by 2002.  The technicians will report to Becket Nilpferd, but there will be a good deal of interaction with the administration manager as well as with the sales manager.  The software engineer will, like the outside consultants, report directly to Mr.  Nilpferd.

6.2 Management Team

The major members of the management team are Becket Nilpferd, owner and founder, his administrative assistant, Ms. Beda Fomm, and two independent consultant-engineers, who, as is common in the industry, prefer to remain independent rather than become full-time employees.  This team will be augmented by a sales manager who will coordinate the activities of those responding to telephone and website inquiries with direct sales efforts to VARs and OEMs referred through the partnering program, and a full-time software engineer.

6.3 Management Team Gaps

It is vital that a more proactive approach to selling be initiated to take full advantage of the partnering program which leverages the connections with operating system developers.  There are about 300 VARs which certainly justifies a dedicated sales person.  The number of original equipment manufacturers is also high enough to warrant employing someone with experience in dealing with large OEMs.  A sales manager should first be employed to oversee these sales efforts and to coordinate the involvement of media specialists and ad agency work.

The Personnel Plan projects the addition of this staff.

6.4 Personnel Plan

The founder and owner, Becket Nilpferd, during his years spent as a consultant to the industry, has many contacts among software and hardware engineers.  He has utilized them on a contractual basis for much of the software engineering during the development of Rosafarbenes Nilpferd & Sons Engineering’s product line.  He will still use them and their cost can be seen on the income statement under the heading “Contract Consultants” rather than in the Personnel Plan.

In addition to the owner/founder (Becket Nilpferd) and the office manager (Beda Fomm), it will be necessary to add this year:

Sales Manager
The primary duties of the sales manager will be to coordinate the activity of media people to make certain the correct amount of advertising is spent in the most suitable trade publications and that the campaign adequately meets the goals of RNSE’s positioning statement.  The sales manager should be engaged as soon as possible.  A starting salary of $60,000 is budgeted with increases to reward sales growth.

Sales Staff
Reporting to the sales manager will be salespersons who will work primarily via telephone and email.  One to concentrate on VARs and another to concentrate on OEMs.  One each will be added by the end of 2000 after the sales manager is in place.  Starting salary projected at $40,000 annually with increases connected to sales success. 

Two more will be added in the third year.

Technicians
Beginning in year 2002 two low-level technicians need to be added to deal with returns, repairs, testing, etc.  Salary of each is projected at $45,000.

Software Engineer
Despite the excellent success that RNSE has had with independent consulting engineers, it will be advisable by 2002 to hire a permanent in-house software engineer at a salary of $80,000.