Duque Papetiers Gros: Data Analysis for Strategic Problem Solving

This report analyzes various issues for Duque Papetiers Gros, a French stationery company, focusing on the feasibility of expanding its business into Germany. It provides an overview of the wholesale stationers market in Germany, including annual spending on writing and drawing materials per capita. The report includes an analysis of Duque’s sales data from 2015-2017, highlighting sales trends across different product categories. Furthermore, it assesses the feasibility of expanding to Germany based on international standards, discusses the costs associated with a new building, and touches upon customer satisfaction and order values to provide a comprehensive view of the company's potential for growth in the German market.

Analyzing Information and Data for
Problem Solving
1

Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction...........................................................................................................................3
2 Analysis of Issues for Duque Papetiers Gros...............................................................................4
2.0 An Overview of the Wholesale Stationers Market in Germany...........................................4
2.1 Annual Spending on Writing/Drawing Materials per Capita....................................................4
2.2 Analysis of Duque’s last three financial years of sales data (2015-2017).................................6
2.3 Feasibility of Expanding to Germany & International Standards.............................................8
2.4 Costs of a New Building............................................................................................................9
2.5 Mean Value of Orders.............................................................................................................23
2.6 Customer Satisfaction:.............................................................................................................23
3.0 Conclusion..........................................................................................................................29
Reference.......................................................................................................................................29
2

1.0 Introduction
Duque Papetiers Gros is a French company owned by a person named Donald Duque. The
company runs its business in the stationery sector. The owner of Duque Papetiors considers it to
be a small family business. The European organization is currently operating only in the
Northern France area. Although it is a small business, the company has been into the industry for
more than fifty years today. It directly does not deal with customers. It is a B2B company that
has products base ranging from Printer Cartridges to General office supplies. In this report, the
aim is to look for prospects of expanding the business of the company out of France.
3

2 Analysis of Issues for Duque Papetiers Gros
2.0 An Overview of the Wholesale Stationers Market in Germany
At present, the German stationery business is well set and progressing. A total of €14.8 billion
was the figure of turnover for the market, according to the facts provided by the Trade
Association for Office Supply and Writing Materials (HBS).When it comes to the European
Union, the nation is second when measured according to money spent for stationery purposes.
The same association came up with another statistics (Büchs, 2017). It claimed that an amount of
€35.2 billion is usually spent only on materials related to writing and drawing. 2015 saw
organizations related to stationery business having a healthy amount of increase in sales. Also, it
has been seen that during 2014-2015, the stationery industry as a whole witnessed a big growth
of 3.5%. It is not very difficult to analyze the reason for this growth though. An industry grows
when the demand for the products or services it delivers increase (2017). In Germany, recent
times have witnessed a steady increase in the demand for stationery products from both the
native market as well as the foreign market (Strange, 2015). The rise in the demands of the
native market was 2.5% while the demands from the foreign market witnessed an increase of 5%
(Freund, 2016). This statistics have been provided by the Association of German Stationery
Brands (Verband der PBS-Markenindustrie). In a nation which has almost 2,200 wholesale
companies and 5,000 retail companies, the scope of development is always possible (Richards,
2017). However the low birth rate and ever reducing pupil rates, the path of development of the
stationery industry is not as easy as it should be. (Gilpin, 2016)
2.1 Annual Spending on Writing/Drawing Materials per Capita
Country Annual Spending ( in €)
Germany 35.2
Austria 35
France 28.3
Italy 18.6
Spain 8.9
4

Slovenia 20.4
Poland 8.5
Germany
Austria
France
Italy
Spain
Slovenia
Poland
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
35.2 35 28.3
18.6
8.9
20.4
8.5
Annual Spending ( in €)
Annual Spending ( in €)
Figure 1: Annual Spending of European Countries on Writing/Drawing Materials Per
Capita
(Source: The Economist, 2018)
From the chart, it is evident that per capita, it is Germany which spends the most when it comes
to the Stationery Industry. However, like it is mentioned in the previous paragraph, due to
several problems such as the Birth rate reduction, decreased rate of pupils and also the ever
fluctuating prices of Crude oil, whether or not Germany will be able to keep its first position
intact is a big question today. And for the same reason, it becomes a big chance for the French to
establish themselves as the leader of the stationery market in the European Market. Currently,
France stands way behind Germany (first) and Austria (second) when measured in terms of
Annual Spending. The various problems in Germany such as the poor GDP rate and also the
hugely low employment rate shall act as a booming prospect for France. The nation can take a
stride forward if the stationery industries based in France boost up their investment and
undertake the necessary actions to venture into the international markets.
5

2.2 Analysis of Duque’s last three financial years of sales data (2015-2017)
Product item 2015
Sales
(€)
2016
Sales
(€)
2017
Sales
(€)
Total Sales
(€)
Printer Cartridges 25000 26000 22000 73000
general office
supplies
25000 27000 23000 75000
low-cost printers 15000 18000 18000 51000
office furniture 25000 25000 27000 77000
shredders 25000 29000 29000 83000
paper-based
supplies
25000 27000 27000 79000
writing/drawing
materials
25000 30000 32000 87000
Figure 2: Analysis of Duque’s last three Financial years sales data)
(Source: Created by Author)
From the above given figure, it can be seen that Duque Papetiers has experienced highest sales
figures in the last there years with the aid of shredders. The report also states that when it comes
to low-cost printers, the sales figures are the lowest.
6

26000
27000
18000
2500029000
27000
30000
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Figure 3: 2016 Sales chart
(Source: Created by the Author)
In the Pie-chart given above, the Sales figures of the various products of Duque are provided.
22000
23000
18000
2700029000
27000
32000
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Figure 4: 2017 Sales Chart
(Source: Created by the Author)
7

In the figure given above, the Sales figure of 2017 is given.
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Series1
Linear (Series1)
Axis Title
Axis Title
Figure 5: Scatter Diagram of Total Sales and Years
(Source: Created by Author)
According to the above created Scatter Diagram, it is evident that the Sales rate has been highly
stagnant and hasn’t moved up a lot. Rather, on some products, the sales figures have also
showcased a downfall.
2.3 Feasibility of Expanding to Germany & International Standards
Should I expand my business to Belgium & Germany?
Pros Score/10 Cons Score/10
One of Europe’s top economies 8 Lack of Professionalism 3
One of World’s top exporters 6 Emotional outbursts are very
common 5
People are largely analytical and
deep thinkers 8
Employees do not like much
governance when it comes to
work
5
8

Planning and Management is
supported extensively by the
people
8 Lack of proper appraisal system 4
People are largely abided by law 9 Lack of confidence when it
comes to start-ups 6
Total Pros 39 Total Cons 23
Average Pros 7.8 Average Cons 4.6
From the above created table, it is evident that the value of pros is way higher than that of cons.
This makes the idea of expanding one’s business to Germany feasible. Although the market is
not much prosperous, but one can still make an attempt to expand the business in Germany
(Malaysia, 2018). The country remains one of the top economies of Europe. Also, it is one of the
World’s top exporters (Visser, 2017). The working natures of the people residing in Germany are
enhanced as proper planning and management is always supported by the employees of an
organization (Bryson, 2018).
2.4 Costs of a New Building
In the following table, the monthly cost of a 30-year repayment mortgage of £200,000, where
interest is applied to the loan outstanding at the beginning of each year and the mortgage rate is
10% per annum is provided:
Years Amount
Rate of
interest
Interest
payment
Total amount
paid
Monthly
payment
1 200000 10% 20000 26667 2222
2 193333.3 10% 19333 26000 2167
3 186666.7 10% 18667 25333 2111
4 180000 10% 18000 24667 2056
5 173333.3 10% 17333 24000 2000
9

6 166666.7 10% 16667 23333 1944
7 160000 10% 16000 22667 1889
8 153333.3 10% 15333 22000 1833
9 146666.7 10% 14667 21333 1778
10 140000 10% 14000 20667 1722
11 133333.3 10% 13333 20000 1667
12 126666.7 10% 12667 19333 1611
13 120000 10% 12000 18667 1556
14 113333.3 10% 11333 18000 1500
15 106666.7 10% 10667 17333 1444
16 100000 10% 10000 16667 1389
17 93333.33 10% 9333 16000 1333
18 86666.67 10% 8667 15333 1278
19 80000 10% 8000 14667 1222
20 73333.33 10% 7333 14000 1167
21 66666.67 10% 6667 13333 1111
22 60000 10% 6000 12667 1056
23 53333.33 10% 5333 12000 1000
24 46666.67 10% 4667 11333 944
25 40000 10% 4000 10667 889
26 33333.33 10% 3333 10000 833
10

27 26666.67 10% 2667 9333 778
28 20000 10% 2000 8667 722
29 13333.33 10% 1333 8000 667
30 6666.667 10% 667 7333 611
The remaining amount left is € 6666.667
Now, in the upcoming tables, the monthly cost assuming that the interest is to be applied to the
loan every month is calculated:
Year 1
1 200000
555.55
6 10%
20555.
6
2 199444
555.55
6 10% 20500
3 198889
555.55
6 10%
20444.
4
4 198333
555.55
6 10%
20388.
9
5 197778
555.55
6 10%
20333.
3
6 197222
555.55
6 10%
20277.
8
7 196667
555.55
6 10%
20222.
2
8 196111
555.55
6 10%
20166.
7
9 195556
555.55
6 10%
20111.
1
10 195000
555.55
6 10%
20055.
6
11 194444
555.55
6 10% 20000
12 193889
555.55
6 10%
19944.
4
11

Year 2
1 193889 538.58 10%
19927.
5
2 193350 538.58 10%
19873.
6
3 192812 538.58 10%
19819.
8
4 192273 538.58 10%
19765.
9
5 191735 538.58 10% 19712
6 191196 538.58 10%
19658.
2
7 190657 538.58 10%
19604.
3
8 190119 538.58 10%
19550.
5
9 189580 538.58 10%
19496.
6
10 189042 538.58 10%
19442.
7
11 188503 538.58 10%
19388.
9
12 187965 538.58 10% 19335
Year 3
1 142162
394.89
3 10% 14611
2 141767
522.12
4 10%
14698.
8
3 141245
522.12
4 10%
14646.
6
4 140722
522.12
4 10%
14594.
4
5 140200
522.12
4 10%
14542.
2
6 139678
522.12
4 10%
14489.
9
7 139156
522.12
4 10%
14437.
7
8 138634
522.12
4 10%
14385.
5
9 138112
522.12
4 10%
14333.
3
10 137590 522.12 10% 14281.
12