Examination of the sector performance and the financial performance of the company in comparison with the competitors in the last years

The most important enterprises of the sector:

Regarding the geographical characteristics of competition one can say that the domestic competition is intense while competition abroad is also intense.

The business environment is immaterial regarding the company's survival. The demand for the company's products will be high. Profit margin is increasing. The competition is immaterial related to the prices, very intense related to the quality of products and very intense related to the innovation embeded in new products.

Regarding the marketing characteristics one can say that the consumers are not loyal to brand name. There is a need to often change the marketing plans. The life cycle of the products is short. The products have continuously changes and improvements and one can rarely predict the marketing moves of the competitors. The rate of demand and consumer needs cannot be predicted.

The company has strong collaboration with Subcontracting entrusting and Subcontracting assumption.

In the last three years the domestic competitors have found a prosperous way to implement their strategic plans through stock market. However, there are obvious indications lately for hostile acquisition from multinational competitors. There are some crucial changes in the food production legislation concerning the hygiene of food and the origin of their ingredients (as an example GMO).

Predictions concerning the impact of the following parameters on competition for the next three years:

The production process of this product - category of products is based on: Batches.

The main suppliers are: Business while the main clients are: Business and Consumer.

The degree of technology advancement in the following three years regarding equipment will be rather flat while regarding the product and processes it will be very high.

Description of the business process - added value:
Phase Name: Ingredients selection
Percentage in product cost: 5
Phase Name: Cleaning of ingradients
Percentage : 5
Phase Name: Mixture of ingredients
Percentage : 15
Phase Name: Heating
Percentage : 25
Phase Name: Packaging
Percentage : 15

The production process of this product - category of products is based on: Batches.

The main suppliers are: Industry and Business while the main clients are: Business and Consumer.

The degree of technology advancement in the following three years regarding equipment will be rather flat, regarding processes it will be high while regarding the product it will be very high.

Description of the business process - added value:
Phase Name: Ingredients selection
Percentage in product cost: 2
Phase Name: Cleaning
Percentage : 5
Phase Name: Pulverisation
Percentage : 10
Phase Name: Filtering
Percentage : 3
Phase Name: Heating
Percentage : 15
Phase Name: Pasteurization
Percentage : 2
Phase Name: Packaging
Percentage : 15

Examination of the technology status quo in the company and the detection of the company's technology competitive advantages. Furthermore the examination of the technology changes in the last two years in order to discover the policies concerning the technology (for instance equipment, know-how, executive staff, etc.).

The sources of the main applied technologies are: R&D contracted to external Organizations and Hiring of specialized personnel.

The areas of R&D interest of the company include Biotechnology, Methods of production engineering and FOOD HYGIENE.

In which technology sector has your company developed a specific competence?
We are the most sophisticated company in the creation of food products through the mixture of different traditional foods.

Can your company use this competence in the frame of another business action?
At the moment this is the core of our present business action. But the ability to create new products though this knowledge will help us to enter in relevant markets in the near future.

One can say that the use of state of the art methods and equipments is higher than its competitors, while development of state of the art products is much higher. Regarding the adoption timescale of technological factors/background one can say that it is shorter than its competitors, in fact at a similar rate.

Equipment, technical and scientific personnel and know how expenses are higher than the company's competitors. Finally, raw materials and labor expenses and profit margins per product are similar to the company's competition.

Regarding the ability of the company's personnel for training and adjustment to new technological evolutions one can say that it is higher than its competitors, while the technology watch ability is similar. The ability to adopt new technological evolutions is higher, the ability to develop innovative products is much higher and the ability to have access to scientific experts and Knowledge is higher than its competitors. Finally the ability to take advantage of the company's experiences and Knowledge is higher than its competitors.

The most important technology advances in the last three years related to products were:
For the last five years we have been spending approximately 5% of our turnover in new product development. For this purpose we have hired specialized personnel in the management of R&D projects. These projects were subcontracted mainly to relevant institutes. The results at the moment are extremely positive. We have the knowledge to produce new food products through the mixture of traditional ingredients like greens, olives, oil, cheese, etc.

With regard to business processes (production, marketing, etc) the most important technology advances in the last three years were:
We have developed an e-commerce application (Business to Consumer) where the consumer could order and buy our products on-line.
Packaging

The most important technological parameters for future changes and improvements of the products in the following three years are:

Level of importance   Low High NON - GMO SERTIGICATION SYSTEM CONSERVATION -PPESERVATIVS PACKAGING MATERIALS NEW FORM OF TRADITIONAL FOODS

The most important technological parameters for future changes and improvements in functional technologies (production, marketing, etc) in the following three years are:

Level of importance   Low High System for preventively Maintenance Reverse engineering Project management Enterprise requirement planning (ERP) Logistics Quality standards (ISO, HACCP) Statistical quality control Automation of quality control Bar code readers E-commerce

The most important research and development fields in the following three years are:

Level of importance   Low High Methods of production engineering Biotechnology New Materials