Activelect and Power Harvesting System

ActiveSteps by Activelect Co.

1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Activelect creates innovative power harvesting systems for households, bussiness owners and the construction sector. We are aiming to use all our resources in the most efficient way possible, offering both high returns to the shareholders and revolutionary solutions to world's energy problems. The following business plan will summarize our methods, techniques and strategies that - we believe - will lead us to success.

Activelect Corporation was founded in 2009 by its five shareholders. We believe in the capabilites of our young, innovative and dynamic members, all of which are technology and strategy makers whose knowledge, relevant backgrounds and careers form the strong stature of Activelect.

Activelect is introducing itself to the market with an innovative product called ActiveSteps which harvests an individuals kinetical energy when they are climbing the stairs, converts it to electrical energy and uses it to power the stair lights when needed. It has countless benefits ranging from environmental friendliness to drastically reduced construction costs. We are confident that ActiveSteps will revolutionize the power harvesting industry and encourage many similar innovations around the globe.

Our strategy for reaching such an ambitious goal is staying active, aggressive and dynamic. Activelect will fully utilize available resources to gain a significant share at this newly emerging market. We plan on incorporating various marketing, bussiness and advertisement strategies to draw attention to our company and, in the long term, help it evolve into a successful enterprise.

As a startup company, Activelect expects no income for the first year, in which full resources will be assigned for R&D to create a perfect final product. After the first year we expect Activelect to be both a financial success that brings considerable profits to its shareholders and a pioneer in the green energy systems field.

2 COMPANY PROFILE
2.1 Our Vision

Our vision is to become recognized and respected as one of the premier companies that help saving the environment and natural resources by bringing useful and innovative solutions in the energy sector. By developing the necessary tools to harvest the otherwise-wasted energy from our everyday consumption, we are striving to make clean, safe, renewable and self-sufficient energy the prime source of powering the future's demand.

2.2 Our Mission

As a business, we develop and utilize market driven economics to create demand for the self-sufficient, clean, economic and innovative energy production mechanisms.

As environmentally conscious individuals, we strive to build understanding and working relationships with the public through science-based outreach, research and demonstration.

2.3 Basic Company Information

* Name of the Company: Activelect Corporation

* Status: Corporate

* Chief Executive Officer: Cansu Türkay

It is the responsibility of the chief executive officer to align the company, internally and externally, with their strategic vision. Her core duty is to facilitate business outside of the company while guiding the rest of the employees and other executive officers towards a central objective.

Chief Financial Officer: Ekin İlhan

The chief financial officer is the corporate officer primarily responsible for managing the financial risks of Activelect. She is also responsible for financial planning and record-keeping, as well as financial reporting to the company partners.

* Engineering Force: Can Celasun & Çınar Yeşil

The engineering force works to develop economical and safe solutions to practical problems, by applying mathematics and scientific knowledge while considering technical constraints. They use the scientific method and are involved in every step of product development including design, testing, assembling and delivering the final product. Requirements, feedback and suggestions from the CEO and CFO are taken into consideration by the engineers and changes are made to the production steps if necessary.

* Design Team: Andaç Bingöl

The designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography or motion graphics to create a piece of design. He creates the graphics primarily for published, printed or electronic media, such as brochures and advertising. He is also responsible illustrations and web design. His main duty is to present information in a way that is both accessible and memorable.

3 MARKET AND COMPETITOR ANALYSIS

ActiveSteps is a product that integrates usefulness with design. Moreover in the long run it is expected to contribute to economic savings of households or buildings and most importantly it is expected to contribute to environmental health.

Market conditions and competitive analysis is investigated by starting from the general aspects of the market environment and then focusing down to competitors to make it easier for the readers of this business plan to comprehend.

3.1 Industry and Product Classification

The first step for determining the marketing environment we must first start defining which industry class our product fits in to.

At first glance Active Steps may be classified as another illumunating product but it is certain that it is much more than that. It is something that will ease people's lives, to add an aesthetic and quality to their living environment and in the long run to protect the environment as well savings from cutting electricity usage.

Mainly many products of illuminating sector has a design, quality and an aesthetic side to it. The place where our product differs is that it has a very innovative design and technology. An illuminating stareway as people walk on it is a very new concept in both matters- technology and design.

When we consider these two effects- technology and design - it is posiible place Active Steps in Architecture and Engineering industry. As far as our product is concerned, it fits this industry rather perfectly. The industry combines the technological aspects of innovative design products.

So there are mainly 2 market bases exist, if properly used, can easily allow us to achieve our stated revenue and growth goals. Our targeted client base is taken from the following sectors:

1) Lighting Fixtures Sector

2) Architecture and Engineering Secotor

3.2 Illumination Sector In Turkey

Electric illumination sector is one of the candidates of being a locomotive sector in Turkey. In late years it has been one of the sectors that has been expanding, increasing its competitive power and exportings at a huge amount.

The volume of the market is an estimated of 350 million dolars. Its is assumed that 130 million dolars cover the lightening products such as lamps and 220 million dolar is lightening fixtures.

Today illumination sector constracts an important detail in space decoration. Design and tastes change every year so the way to win a certain place in the market technological development and innovation is crucial. There is where our product steps in. The technology ActiveSteps uses is unfamiliar to the rest of the world. The concept of cutting usage of electricty entirely for illumination is one of the top technological procedures of the illumination industry.

When the importance of the industry for the country is investigated we can see that market is condensed with the companies importing illumination products. There is a great expectation that the market volume increase that has been observed since 2002 will continue at an increasing speed.

The table below shows the value of output for years 2000-2004 to observe the increase in the volume of the sector at the given years.

TABLE 1: Value of Output of illumination products for years 2000-2004 in Turkey

YEAR

Value of the Output ( million TL )

2000

4.969.199

2001

6.552.975

2002

12.918.373

2003

19.035.189

2004

18.939.798

The production value of 4.9 million TL on 2000 has been quadrupled in 4 years. So this industry is a fast improving, expanding, high return sector for Turkey.

The illumination sector also has a great stance in Tourism, Constraction and Architectural Design sector. So the two sectors that ActiveSteps may have stance in are also related with each other.

3.3 Construction & Architectural Design Industry in Turkey

Construciton Sector in Turkey is one of the most rooted and high domained industries. Every year the biggest 225 international contracting companies are determined by an international construction sector magazine “Engineering News Record” (ENR), there were 23 Turkish companies among the biggest 225 international contracting companies in the world in 2008. Income earned from the previous year's works abroad was taken as a basis in the research.

In 2008, 23 Turkish contracting companies made it to this list and in 2007 there were 22 Turkish contracting companies on this list. The Turkish companies that made it to the ENR list are as follows: “Nurol, Enka, Gam, Renaissance, Tekfen, Yüksel, Kayı, Baytur, Tav,, Mak-Yol, STFA, Hazinedaroğlu, Summa, Gap, Yenigün, Cengiz, Rasen, Doğuş, Alarko, Mesa, Yaşar Özkan, TML, Üstay.” Turkey, is the third country on the list with the most contracting companies.

The architecture design has been a rooted sector in Turkey as well, since the Otoman empire. Although the architecture industry gets hit pretty quickly in a downward economy, it has maintained its place in Turkey among the profitable sectors and expecting growth intenrationally. Modern architecture is a growing sector and innovative designs are being used such as the Azizpasa yalısı and therefore the product will fall to the right segment.

3.4 Competitor Analysis
3.4.1 Primary Competitor

The main competitor of our product- Active Steps is also an innovative design that is currently being used in the market and it is called “Heel - Strike Generator” which is a device that generates power by the help of piezoelectric materials. Christopher A. Howells explains the mechanism of the “Heel-Strike Generator” on the web page “Science Direct” with an article as:

“Piezoelectric materials can be used to convert oscillatory mechanical energy into electrical energy. This technology, together with innovative mechanical coupling designs, can form the basis for harvesting energy from mechanical motion. Piezoelectric energy can be harvested to convert walking motion from the human body into electrical power. Recently four proof-of-concept Heel Strike Units were developed where each unit is essentially a small electric generator that utilizes piezoelectric elements to convert mechanical motion into electrical power in the form factor of the heel of a boot.”

The device was initially designed for the U.S military. The objective was to lighten the weight that the soldiers carry as most of the weight comes from the weight of the batteries they carry. This technology was developed by Ronald E. Pelrine, Roy D.Kornbluh, Joseph Stephen Eckerle, Scott E. Stanford, Seajin Oh and Pablo E. Garcia. What they have initially designed was a system that was placed under the heels of the soldiers' boots.

The inventors explain the mechanism as: “Disclosed generators include one or more transducers that use electro active polymer films to convert mechanical energy to electrical energy. The generators may include one or more transmission mechanisms that transfer a portion of an unused biological energy source, an unused environmental energy source or combinations of both to the one or more transducers located in the generators. The energy received by the transducers may be converted to electrical energy by the transducers in conjunction with conditioning electronics located within the generator. A heel-strike generator is disclosed that is integrated into the heel of footwear and is used to convert mechanical energy generated during human bipedal motion to electrical energy.” (See Exhibit 1)

The first large-scale application was used in Spinnaker Tower viewing platform in Portsmouth, UK in 2005. The “Heel - Strike Generators” were placed on the stairs on the tower to collect energy from pedestrians who visit the tower. There have been no other widely known applications of the product.

The Facility : Innovative is a London - based design firm which is interested in environmental projects is planning on implementing this technique on the shopping malls and Tubes in London to power the underground generators.

There are many foreseen applications of the “Heel - Strike Generator” and it seems that it can be a widely used system in the future.

Spinnaker Tower Stairs to Generate Electricity - Kinetic energy is looking more and more promising, particularly as a way to create small amounts of energy for individual devices. Expect to hear more about this field in the coming months. (Inhabitiat; June 19, 2008)

Light fantastic: pedestrians to generate power - The power of the wind and the tide have been harnessed - now the footfall of trudging shoppers is to become the latest source of emission-free energy. (The Sunday Times; June 8, 2008)

The Facility - Innovate is a sister company of The Facility Architects born from their innovative R&D projects and is also developing a variety of other methods to harvest lost energy.

The devices they develop convert the mechanical movement associated with footsteps or transport vibration into electricity. When harvesting power from footsteps they use a flooring system that incorporates a matrix of hydraulic compression cushions. The energy harvested from every footstep pushes fluid through a micro-turbine, generating power that is stored in a super-capacitor. This electricity is then utilised locally. When harvesting power from vibrations they use a magnetic beam and coil arrangement to power light fittings. The beam resonates in tune with ambient transport vibration within the generating coil. This electricity is then used to power LED emitters within the self-contained units.

Charging up the stairs - Energy harvesting is an exciting field to explore, looking at ways to tap into the energy available from the workings of the human body or transport vibrations. (BBCNews; May 24, 2006)

Another main competitor is US Patent 6768246 - Biologically powered electroactive polymer generators

Disclosed generators includes one or more transducers that use electroactive polymer films to convert mechanical energy to electrical energy. The generators may include one or more transmission mechanisms that transfer a portion of an unused biological energy source, an unused environmental energy source or combinations of both to the one or more transducers located in the generators. The energy received by the transducers may be converted to electrical energy by the transducers in conjunction with conditioning electronics located within the generator. A heel-strike generator is disclosed that is integrated into the heel of footwear and is used to convert mechanical energy generated during human bipedal motion to electrical energy.

Competitive Advantage: The main benefit we have against the “Heel-Strike Generator” is that, our product - “Active Steps” is a less costly system.

3.4.2 Secondary and Third Degree Competitors

One of the competitions from similar products that can be counted as a substitute product is Thermo Electric Generators and they can be explained as:

“In 1821, Thomas Johann Seebeck discovered that a thermal gradient formed between two dissimilar conductors produces a voltage. At the heart of the thermoelectric effect is the fact that a temperature gradient in a conducting material results in heat flow; this results in the diffusion of charge carriers. The flow of charge carriers between the hot and cold regions in turn creates a voltage difference. In 1834, Jean Charles Athanase Peltier discovered that running an electric current through the junction of two dissimilar conductors could, depending on the direction of current flow, cause it to act as a heater or cooler. The heat absorbed or produced is proportional to the current, and the proportionality constant is known as the Peltier coefficient. Today, due to knowledge of the Seebeck and Peltier effects, thermoelectric materials can be used as heaters, coolers and generators (TEGs).

Ideal thermoelectric materials have a high Seebeck coefficient, high electrical conductivity, and low thermal conductivity. Low thermal conductivity is necessary to maintain a high thermal gradient at the junction. Standard thermoelectric modules manufactured today consist of P- and N-doped bismuth-telluride semiconductors sandwiched between two metalized ceramic plates. The ceramic plates add rigidity and electrical insulation to the system. The semiconductors are connected electrically in series and thermally in parallel.

Miniature thermocouples have been developed that convert body heat into electricity and generate 40µW at 3V with a 5 degree temperature gradient, while on the other end of the scale, large thermocouples are used in nuclear RTG batteries.

Practical examples are the finger-heartratemeter by the Holst Centre and the thermo generators by the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft.

Advantages to thermoelectric:

No moving parts allow continuous operation for many years. Tellurex (a thermoelectric production company) claims that thermoelectric are capable of over 100,000 hours of steady state operation.
Thermoelectric contain no materials that must be replenished.
Heating and cooling can be reversed.

One downside to thermoelectric energy conversion is low efficiency (currently less than 10%). The development of materials that are able to operate in higher temperature gradients, and that can conduct electricity well without also conducting heat (something that was until recently thought impossible), will result in increased efficiency.”

The price range of Thermo Electric Generators are known to be around 195$ to 235 $.

Another similar product may be a wind turbine that converts the kinetic energy of the wind to mechanical energy by the help of turbines. The Wind Turbine system is explained by:

“Wind turbines are designed to exploit the wind energy that exists at a location. Aerodynamic modeling is used to determine the optimum tower height, control systems, number of blades {fact|April 2009} and blade shape.(See Exhibit 2)

Wind turbines convert wind energy to electricity for distribution. Conventional horizontal axis turbines can be divided into three components.

* The rotor component, which is approximately 20% of the wind turbine cost, includes the blades for converting wind energy to low speed rotational energy.

* The generator component, which is approximately 34% of the wind turbine cost, includes the electrical generator, the control electronics, and most likely a gearbox component for converting the low speed incoming rotation to high-speed rotation suitable for generating electricity.

* The structural support component, which is approximately 15% of the wind turbine cost, includes the tower and rotor yaw mechanism.”

Wind Turbines are systems that are not very useful for small buildings but are generally used as a source of electricity for cities. There are also small Wind Turbines for limited usage. The price of a typical 1kW wind turbine is $13379.00.

Another substitute product may be solar panels. The system is explained as:

“Solar Panels use light energy (photons) from the sun to generate electricity through photovoltaic effect (this is the photo-electric effect). The majority of modules use wafer-based crystalline silicon cells or a thin-film cell based on cadmium telluride or silicon. Crystalline silicon, which is commonly used in the wafer form in photovoltaic (PV) modules, is derived from silicon, a commonly used semi-conductor.

In order to use the cells in practical applications, they must be:

* connected electrically to one another and to the rest of the system

* protected from mechanical damage during manufacture, transport, installation and use (in particular against hail impact, wind and snow loads). This is especially important for wafer-based silicon cells, which are brittle.

* protected from moisture, which corrodes metal contacts and interconnects, (and for thin-film cells the transparent conductive oxide layer) thus decreasing performance and lifetime.

Most modules are usually rigid, but there are some flexible modules available, based on thin-film cells.

Electrical connections are made in series to achieve a desired output voltage and/or in parallel to provide a desired amount of current source capability.

Diodes are included to avoid overheating of cells in case of partial shading. Since cell heating reduces the operating efficiency it is desirable to minimize the heating. Very few modules incorporate any design features to decrease temperature; however installers try to provide good ventilation behind the module.

New designs of module include concentrator modules in which the light is concentrated by an array of lenses or mirrors onto an array of small cells. This allows the use of cells with a very high-cost per unit area (such as gallium arsenide) in a cost-competitive way.

Depending on construction the photovoltaic can cover a range of frequencies of light and can produce electricity from them, but sometimes cannot cover the entire solar spectrum (specifically, ultraviolet, infrared and low or diffused light). Hence much of incident sunlight energy is wasted when used for solar panels, although they can give far higher efficiencies if illuminated with monochromatic light. Another design concept is to split the light into different wavelength ranges and direct the beams onto different cells tuned to the appropriate wavelength ranges. This is projected to raise efficiency by 50%. Also, the use of infrared photovoltaic cells can increase the efficiencies, producing power at night.

Sunlight conversion rates (module efficiencies) can vary from 5-18% in commercial production (solar panels) that can be lower than cell conversion.(See Exhibit 3)

A group of researchers at MIT has recently developed a process to improve the efficiency of luminescent solar concentrator (LSC) technology, which redirects light along a translucent material to PV-modules located along its edge. The researchers have suggested that efficiency may be improved by a factor of 10 over the old design in as little as three years (it has been estimated that this will provide a conversion rate of 30%). Three of the researchers involved have now started their own company, called Covalent Solar, to manufacture and sell their innovation in PV-modules.

The current market leader in efficient solar energy modules is SunPower, whose solar panels have a conversion ratio of 19.3%. However, a whole range of other companies (HoloSun, Gamma Solar, NanoHorizons) are emerging which are also offering new innovations in photovoltaic modules, with a conversion ratio of around 18%. These new innovations include power generation on the front and back sides and increased outputs; however, most of these companies have not yet produced working systems from their design plans, and are mostly still actively improving the technology. As of January 14, 2009 a world record efficiency level of 41.1% has been reached.”

The solar panels that are 1500W are rated at $902.6.

Ø There are also expected future technologies such as:

“Electroactive polymers (EAPs) have been proposed for harvesting energy. These polymers have a large strain, elastic energy density, and high-energy conversion efficiency. The total weight of systems based on EAPs is proposed to be significantly lower than those based on piezoelectric materials.

Nanogenerators, such as the one made by Georgia Tech, could provide a new way for powering devices without batteries. Although at present (2008) it only generates some dozen nanowatts, which is too low for any application.”

Ø Also there is a new technology, which is at the stage of being tested. The technology is producing energy from trees:

“Voltree has developed a method for harvesting energy from trees. These energy harvesters are being used to power remote sensors and mesh networks as the basis for a long-term deployment system to monitor forest fires and weather in the forest. Their website says that the useful life of such a device should be limited only by the lifetime of the tree to which it is attached. They recently deployed a small test network in a US National Park forest.”

Ø “Active Steps” could be a competitor in different sectors such as the photocell lamps (photo diode lamps) used widely in many buildings as well as in the flats.

Those photocell lamps are sensitive to light and motion, and their basic working principle are to provide light when there is motion and darkness. It helps the users to have light in dark environment when they move, i.e. show their presence in the environment.

“A photo diode lamp includes lamp head, receiving body, outer shell, cover and photo sensor. There are projections and indents provided on the inner circumference of the receiving body, which receives base and circuit block. The lamp-tube is fixed on the base, its circumference provides screw thread and wire opening. The photo sensor is provided from the end of the wire, the respective projections are provided at lower end of its screw thread. The base of the circuit block is the circuit of the energy-saving type lamps and lanterns, the photocell is provided thereon through an IC. The end with larger diameter of the outer shell provides inner screw thread. Between the outer shell and the cover is clipping connection. The circuit is controlled by means of photo sensor responding to the brightness of outer circumference the lamps and lanterns can be automatically in switch-on/switch-off state.”

CompetitiveAdvantage:

The advantages of Active Steps with regard to photo diode cells can be considered as following:

* Photo diode cells require electricity and it is reflected on the electricty bills. However ActiveSteps generates its own electricity and therefore is economically more beneficial.

* Since Active Steps does not use the main electricity of the house, it is also environmentally friendly.

* When there is an electricity cut, photo diode lamps will not function however Active Steps can be used, as it is activated by the kinetic energy provided by the user.

* The product will also contribute to design and aestetic of the environment.

4 MARKETING STRATEGIES

After investigating the general and distinc economic environment and the competitive advantages with the company goals it is best to define the strategy of the firm in marketing. Setting a marketing strategy is vital to marketing success. It helps the organization to be focused about how to market, to whom should the firm market and how should the firm position itself in the market place.

4.1 Segmentation

Segmentation is very important for the delivery of the product to the right customers. It is the process of identifiying the subsets of buyers who share similar needs and behaviours. Our main customers will be architects - both interior and exterior as well as constructors and stores selling lightening products and design goods. We have segmented the market thinking that our customers can both be business and individuals. According to all things said above, we have made two segment categories and tried to find our potential customers( for all types of customers) by integrating these two segments.

* Geographic Region: By geographically segmenting the market we can easily decide on which geographic regions are beneficial for the sales of the products, what parts of Turkey are best for increasing the brand awareness of the product and in what regions the product will be accepted easily. So this segment will help us define the places of businesses to target.

o Big Cities: This segment represents the largest cities in Turkey. They have the largest population, education rate and economic activities.(Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir for Turkey)

o Smaller Cities: This segment represents the cities other than the major ones with people having more modest lifestyles, lower population and education rate.

o Suburbs: This segment represents the lowest level of population, education in Turkey. Suburbs mainly have a more traditional lifestyle ruled mostly by cultural motives.

* Income level & Innovativeness: This segment is the group of businesses that are categorized both their income levels of both business and their attitude towards innovative products.

o High income level - traditional

o High income level - innovative

o Intermediate income level - traditional

o Intermediate income level - innovative

o Low income level - traditional

o High income level - traditional

4.2 Targeting

Targeting is the second stage of segmentation. Now we need to define which segment or segments to target our single product. Since we have a single product we do not have the opportunity to target all segments with different products yet, we need to choose couple of segments to target to which we think our product will perform best in terms of sales volume.

For the geographical region segmentations we decided to target the segment of big cities in Turkey. Our rationale for targeting this segment is that the fact that technological and innovative products attract more customers in bigger cities. Also the environmental concerns arousing are most common in big cities which may also construct an opportunity. Lastly design products which are far from traditional are more than welcomed by the citizens of bigger cities.

For the second type of segmentation we had done to divide the market further- the income level and innovativeness segmentation, we decided it would be best for us to target couple of segments. Since our product is a quite costly product, it will not be easy for all firms to afford it. So we will definetely target the segment of high and intermidiate income level of businesses and individuals. Moreover our product is an unusual product with many technological and innovative attributes which may not appeal to traditional users. Thus firms and individuals interested in innovative designs are targeted by our company.

Hence our definate target market is individuals or businesses living in big cities who have high - intermediate income and who are open to innovative designs.

4.3 Positioning

After targeting, the next step we took was to position our product in our customers' minds relative to competitive products. In order to take a position in the market we identified and high lighted our competitive advantages. We wanted our customers to think of innovation and technological advancement, environment protection and aestethic design when they hear ActiveSteps. But we need to make a pick from all these qualifications of the product and make it a simpler positioning phrase for the sake of being easily identified.

So our positioning mat be “A high class innovative design illuminating system that is environment friendly” . So we want to reckoned in the market by an unsusal, quality product that also helps the environment.

To gain this kind of positioning we do not think one product that we launch may be enough. We believe through our Research and Development activities we will constantly renovate ourelves and products and remain an innovative and a high class brand in the market place.

4.4 Marketing Mix
4.4.1 Product

Defining the product is vital before any marketing efforts are initialized. The market should have a clear understanding of the product. Since ActiveSteps is a technologically enhanced good, we need to define the technological aspects of the product. First let us explain the features of the product as a regular person will understand it.

ActiveSteps is a product that creates light without using electricity. Basically when you step on the stairs the machanism starts to run and saves the energy the system generated from the person stapping on the plate and saves it if there is enough light in the environment or lights its bulbs if there is not enough lightening.

The product is attractive in many ways that are listed below:

* Aestetic and creative design

* Quality product

* Environment Friendly

* Technologicaly innovative

* Innovative in design

* Easy to implement

* Can be implemented to not only newly constructed buildings but also for existing ones.

4.4.2 Pricing
4.4.2.1 Factors that affect Pricing Decisions

i-)Internal Factors

* Our marketing objectives- desired market share-target group, segments

* Cost of production- in cost analysis part we will explain costing concepts detailed.

ii-)External Factors

* Market analysis -size of market- desired market share-possible growth

* Demand analysis that we will mention detailed in sales forecasting

* Price elasticity

* Competitors costs, prices and offers

* Macroeconomic factors

4.4.2.2 Pricing Strategy

Our product has many unique features. First of all we think that technology always draws attention and ActiveSteps bears many technological and innovative features. Besides being technological and having innovative features another attribute of the product is that it is an environment friendly which we believe will increase the attention for the product that we are expecting. A third attribute of the product will be that it is a luxury product with exceptional quality and has the element of an innovative design in it. So we will start with the method of premium pricing and set a high price consedering the characteristics that ActiveSteps carries.

Moreover there are no direct competitors to compare the price and the quality of the good. The quality of the product will be improved further in the later years and the price will increase accordingly. Also as the product awareness increases with more usage of the product, another product will be produced and launched to match with another segment of buyers of middle-low income levels. So mainly two types of products will be in production, one will be referring to high class segment whereas the second type will be suitable for the middle class as the product will become more user friendly, comfortable to use. Also middle segment product will be produced and marketed with penetration pricing. To implement this method we will tighten the cost as much as we can. This product will be produced as explained before if the first product becomes a success and gains a market approval, becomes a reknown product in the middle income level segment.

4.4.3 Place
4.4.3.1 Distribution Strategies

As for the distribution strategy we will use both the direct and indirect channels.

4.4.3.1.1 Direct Distribution Strategy

The product will be sold through our office directly to the customer. Some previously determined customers(most probably architects-both interior and exterior and constructors) will be visited at the convinience of their offices for the sales of the product.(door to door sales). We will mostly target architects(exterior and interior) and constructors to sell our products for implementation of ActiveSteps at the buildings/houses they constract /design. When the customer makes a purchase of the product, the delivery costs are on the customer. If customer wants the product to be delivered, it is required to pay fort he delivery expenses. The product will be installed by our own trained, electricians.

4.4.3.1.2 Indirect Distribution Strategy

* MinorRetailers(ex: Showlights Design): We will use minor retailers that are interested in innovative, design products. Retailers are channels which already has a relation with the customer and customers are exposed to several kinds of brands. Retailers give the final price to the product. Since retailers already have a certain level of communication with the customers they are a good way to reach the end customers. Retailers are the main selling point for the individuals that are willing to buy the product for their own purposes.

* Internet: We believe that Internet may be very useful for the fact that it can facilitate a geographically dispersed market reach. We will sell the product on our very on website. Of course there will be no chance for customers to view the product first hand if not seen from a customer who is using the product. The customers will be charged when the purchase is made including the shipping costs.

4.4.4 Promotion Strategy

Promotion is essential for communication with the market place. It is planned to use couple of promotion strategies:

* Personal Selling: At least 2 sales person that will promote the product on behalf of the organization. 2 or 3 sales person is projected to be enough since it is a high price product, will need high sales efford. So until we attain brand and product knowledge in the market we plan on staying with 2 sales people

* Direct Mail: We will implement a promotional strategy of mailing the potential customers of our product(architects, constructers etc.) and explain the features of our product and catch their attention via e-mailing.

* Advertising: We will draw an aggressive advertising method giving add's to top design magazines. The detailed advertising plan is explained at the Start Up Costs section as well as the Fixed and Variable Cost Analysis section of the business plan.

After we define basic features of the product we can explain how the mechanism works in detail.

5 SYSTEM DESCRIPTION & BLOCK DIAGRAM

ActiveSteps is a power harvesting system that will convert the kinetical energy that exists during the motion of the stepper plate into electrical energy. This energy will in turn be used in lighting the stairs (see Exhibit 4).

5.1.1 Specifications
5.1.1.1 Software Specification

Operating Environment:

Use the supplied code to program the Atmel Atmega328 microcontroller.
We'll be using and Arduino Duemilanove, which provides useful development interfaces for the Atmega368 microcontroller.

Function of the Software:

The software will monitor external conditions such as the level of illumination on the stairs and whether somone is currently on the stairs or not.
It'll be responsible for interpreting the data from the sensors.
It'll also enable/disable the lights when necessary.

5.1.1.2 Interface Specifications

Sensors
Photoconductive Cell

We'll be using a CdS GL5528 photoconductive cell.
It's resistance changes with the lux in the following fashion:

* 0 lux => 1MΩ

* 10 lux => 8 - 20kΩ

* Maximum power dissipation should not exceed 100mW.

IR Range Sensor

We'll be using a Sharp GP2Y0A02YK0F long range infrared sensor.
Measuring distance is between 20cm to 150cm.
It needs 5V to operate and draws approximately 33mA.
Output voltage varies between -0.3V to 5.3V for a 5V input voltage.

Battery

We'll be using a capacitor array consisting of 8 Suntan TS-128R 10F 2.5V capacitors.
We'll be connecting 4 of them in series and the other 4 in parallel to these, obtaining a 5F 10V capacitor array.

Microcontroller

An Arduino Duemilanove development board will be used.
It features an Atmel Atmega328 microcontroller.
It should require no interaction other than loading our software.
It needs 1.8V to operate and will draw between 0.75μA and 0.2mA depending on the state.

Stepper Plate

The plate should have the same dimensions as the stair surface.
It should be mounted on the surface with the front end mounted and the rear end is placed 1.5cm above the surface with the help of the spring assembly.

Spring Assembly

The spring assembly consists of 3 seperate torsion springs placed beneath the stepper plate with equal spacing.
Placing the springs in this fashion will prevent the plate from bending, hence avoiding possible discomfort for the user.

Gear Assembly

A gear ratio of approximately 27:1 is needed.
6 gears in series is used to obtain the above ratio.
A one-way clutch and an inertial wheel are mounted at the end of the assembly which is connected to the stepper plate.
The other end is connected to the DC motor.

DC Motor

A 7700 RPM DC motor will be used in the system.
The motor is rated at 6V and outputs a current of 0.5A at around 50% efficiency.
The battery system is designed to handle higher voltages even if the motor voltage exceeds 6V.

5.1.2 Physical Dimensions and Mounting Instructions

Physical dimensions of the stepper plate vary greatly with the stairs that the system is applied.
The rest of the system is contained inside a box with dimensions not exceeding 30x40x20cm.
The system box should be mounted at a position that is easy to access if maintanence is required.
Everything else regarding mounting details will vary with the stairs.

6 PRODUCT TREE

See exhibit 5 for the product tree.

7 Start Up Costs
7.1.1 Capital Spendings

To decide what are startup costs will be and to act according based on these costs, plan the steps ahead that we may take. So below, the startup costs that we will incur before initiating our operations are listed.

A note should be made that all costs have pillar values for unexpected increases in price or unexpected extra costs.

7.1.2 Office

The extention of a marketing plan and business strategy is determining the place of which the organization will settle to reach its costumers. The concept of our product can be defined by luxury, aestethic, design, technology, innovativeness and environment friendly. So it is safe to say that ActiveSteps is a product that is suitable for metropolises. As the administrative unit we have decided yo set our headquarters at Istanbul. It is decided that one Office will be enough for the start since we will reach our customers by advertising, by door step selling techniques and by our websites and the deals we make with the Design&Lightening product stores. It is unneccessary to start off with many offices before the brand obtains a recognition on the larger scale. Since our target market is the upper class in terms of income level, we think that it is best for us to obtain an office building in Nişantaşı or Etiler. These two districts of Istanbul are probably the best representor of innovativeness, technology and design in whole İstanbul.

It is agreed that the office will be enough to carry all the following three main activities: executive, developmental and sales activities.

As information on rents in offices of these both districts-Nişantaşı and Etiler is around 2,000TL to 3, 000 TL per month for an average area of 120m2 to 200m2.[1]

We decided on particular office of 200m2 and the costs are the following( as of 2nd of December 2009): Office

City - District

Cost(monthly)

Cost(annually)

İstanbul - Nişantanşı

2,900TL

34.800,00 TL

7.1.3 Office Layout

There is only a sinle office that require an office fitting. As company we decided to prepare a budget of 45,000 TL fort he office layout.

1 Conference room layout

1.570,00 TL

1 Kitchen

14.750,00 TL

1 Restroom

9.750,00 TL

1 R&D Fully Equiped Room

21.750,00 TL

total

47.820,00 TL

7.1.4 Office Fittings

There is only a single office that require an office fitting. As the company we decided to prepare a budget of 40,000 TL (rounding 36.630,00 TL )for the fitting.

To decide on office fitting we must also decide on the type and number of employees that we plan on hiring in the office. Following table shows the employees and the office fitting accordingly.

List of Employees - working within the office

Fixture Needed

Price

CEO, Inside Sales Lead, Operations Manager

Engineering Managers(2)

5Executive Table

1.250,00 TL

1 Designer

1 Design Table

300,00 TL

2 Sales Person

2 Personnel Table

200,00 TL

2 R&D Team

2 Personnel Table

200,00 TL

1 Office Boy

1 Conference Table

320,00 TL

30 Chairs

2.500,00 TL

10 Computers

20.000,00 TL

1 Kitchen Table

160,00 TL

12 Dining Chairs

150,00 TL

Kitchen Supplies

2.000,00 TL

Total

27.080,00 TL

7.1.5 Office Equipments

The office equipments refer to the equipments such as stapler, faz machines, copy machines, pencils, papers etc. We expect these equipments to cost around 3000TL maximum. We have set a higher price then usual for the sake of having a pillar cost for unexpected office equipment costs.

7.1.6 Research and Development Equipment

The R&D room is mainly going to be located in the manufacturing room and the equipment costs and materials listed under office layout are the costs of materials that might differ from the manufacturing equipment.

7.1.7 Vehicles

It is decided to buy 2 vehicles since sales people will visit the customers and perform door step selling approach. We also foresee many transportation needs which also validates the vehicle need. We have decided - for cost cutting puposes - to obtain second hand cars which will be more than enough to cover the needs. Two second hand cars costs 45,000TL in total.

7.1.8 Legal/professional fees

We will probably need the assistance of a lawyer in drawing up the proper documents and filing them with the state since we are forming a legal entity. Part of the professional fees you need to budget include the accountant's fees. It is estimated that the legal fees will cost 1,000 TL. This number is not a complete estimation. We have interviewed some consultants and found out that the consultancy and accounting fees add up to at most 1,000TL for a business like ours.

7.1.9 License&Permits

This cost includes all fees charged by the local, state and federal agencies. The fees for our industry generally adds up to 300 TL.

7.1.10 Advertising and Promotion Expenses

This cost includes the advertising spaces on the 5 top design magazines that are issued in Turkey. This cost will be incurred only once before starting the business, to be recognized in the market.

1. Interior Design Magazine : whole page advertisement for the magazine is 600 TL.

2. Architectural Review Magazine : whole page advertisement for the magazine is 750 TL.

3. Azure Architecture Magazine : whole page advertisement for the magazine is 1,000 TL

4. Design Build Magazine : whole page advertisement for the magazine is 800 TL.

5. Environmental Design and Constraction Magazine : whole page advertisement for the magazine is 700 TL

Also 1,000TL will be spent on the extra advertisement. This extra advertisement will consist of brochures, flyers etc.

7.1.11 Utility Deposit

In Turkey there is law of paying a deposit for electricty before starting your business. After consulting to our accountant we found out that our deposit costs 200 TL maximum.

7.1.12 Insurance

For the insurance we have made fort he R&D equipments and cars we have, we have made an insurance deal with Güneş Sigorta and had to pay a downpayment of 1,800 TL.

So the start up costs can be summarized with the table given below:

Startup Costs

Price

Business Fixture and Equipment

27.080,00 TL

Decoration

47.820,00 TL

Starting Inventory cost

15.000,00 TL

Office Supply

3.000,00 TL

Utility Deposit

200,00 TL

Legal/professional fees

1.000,00 TL

License&Permits

300,00 TL

Insurance

1.800,00 TL

Advertisement for opening

4.150,00 TL

2 Vehicles

45.000,00 TL

Petty Cash

5.000,00 TL

total

150.350,00 TL

8 SALES FORECAST

First of all to determine the sales forecast, we should list our potential customers in a different way than we did for our marketing purposes. We have based our sales forecasts according to the existing constructions and new costructions that will be made. ActiveSteps is a product that can easily be implemented to an existing building so it is reasonable to take existing buildings as one of our potential customer base. Both existing buildings and to be constracted building can be divided into two categories that our product may target. Apartment buildings and private houses. Apartment buildings may be built for any kind of usage. They can be residential buildings or they can be buildings used for business purposes. Private houses are most probably villas that pretty luxirious. Both types of constructions are aimed for high and high - middle income level purchasers.

As Activelect Co. we think that as most aparment buildings has many floors thus an elevator. They may not be willing to spend extra cash on stair design. So it is a viable conclusion that ActiveSteps will be purchased by private house owners who want a unique design at their houses that is environment friendly.

Also as ActiveSteps we target stores that sell design products for decoration purposes and stores selling lightening products. We have contacted with Showlights Design which is a store located in İstanbul and talked to the owner Yurdaer Keser and she really liked the idea of our product and said that she would be willing to purchase 50 units of such product with the condition that she can return 25% of the purchase if she failes to sell them within a year.

For the sake of calculations we have assumed that apartment buildings on average has 5,2 floors(DIE, Constraction Count,2000) and has an average of 15 stairs. Moreover we assumed that private houses have 2,1 floors(DIE, Constraction Count,2000) and an average of 10 stairs per house.

To make sales forecasts for years 2011 and 2012(years 2 and 3) we have evaluated the growth potential of Turkish Economy. According to the reasearches made on ntvmsnbc.com, we have observed that Turkish economy will once again start to grow starting from 2010 and on 2011 a growth of 5,5% is expected whereas this number is 5,8% for 2012.

We have calculated the sales forecasts for 3 states of economic conditions that our company and sector may perform. For the fist state we have made the assumption that we might perform better than the overall Turkish economy. So the for the sales growth of first year to second is expected to be 6% and from second to third year it is expected to be 6,5%.

Second state is if we perform as good as the Turkish economy. So the first year growth rate is set at 5,5% and the second year is 5,8%.

Third is if we underperform and we have set the percentages for fist year as 4,2% and for second year as 5%.

Moreover we have made a more realistic assumption as the fourth forecast. As the product is a quality and high price product with environment friendly characteristics, the brand recognition may be hard to attain although we will be very aggraseive about our advertisement policies. That is because ActiveSteps is a product with features that are hard to digest before its quality and usefulness is proven. So for the second year we do not expect a very high brand recognition thus increase in sales as 2011 will be the recovery year from the crises. However we expect a great increase in sales on the third year since environmental concerns will sit at the center of many discussions and the economy will be nearly fully recovered from the crises. To sum it up we expect an poor performance on the first year, expecting a growth rate of 5% and for the second year we expect to outperform the Turkish economy with the product's innovative design and environmental properties and expect a growth rate of 6%.

Sales s for all there possible scenarios are listed below:

SALES(YEAR 1-optimal)

potential customers

numbers of units

number of stairs(estimate)

unit price

total sales

existing constructions

aparment buildings

4

78

650,00 TL

202.800,00 TL

private houses

3

21

650,00 TL

40.950,00 TL

new constructions

aparment buildings

4

78

650,00 TL

202.800,00 TL

private houses

5

21

650,00 TL

68.250,00 TL

Ligthening&Design stores

60

650,00 TL

39.000,00 TL

TOTAL

852

553.800,00 TL

SALES(YEAR 1-optimistic)

potential customers

numbers of units

number of stairs(estimate)

unit price

total sales

existing constructions

aparment buildings

4

78

650,00 TL

202.800,00 TL

private houses

6

21

650,00 TL

81.900,00 TL

new constructions

aparment buildings

5

78

650,00 TL

253.500,00 TL

private houses

7

21

650,00 TL

95.550,00 TL

Ligthening&Design stores

80

650,00 TL

52.000,00 TL

TOTAL

1055

685.750,00 TL

SALES(YEAR 1-pessimistic)

potential customers

numbers of units

number of stairs(estimate)

unit price

total sales

existing constructions

aparment buildings

1

78

650,00 TL

50.700,00 TL

private houses

2

21

650,00 TL

27.300,00 TL

new constructions

aparment buildings

2

78

650,00 TL

101.400,00 TL

private houses

3

21

650,00 TL

40.950,00 TL

Ligthening&Design stores

30

650,00 TL

19.500,00 TL

TOTAL

369

239.850,00 TL

Sales forecasts for 4 kinds of scenarios are listed below:

SALES FORECAST(3 YEARS- normal)

year 1

year 2

year 3

potential customers

existing constructions

aparment buildings

202.800,00 TL

213.954,00 TL

226.363,33 TL

private houses

40.950,00 TL

43.202,25 TL

45.707,98 TL

new constructions

aparment buildings

202.800,00 TL

213.954,00 TL

226.363,33 TL

private houses

68.250,00 TL

72.003,75 TL

76.179,97 TL

Ligthening&Design stores

39.000,00 TL

41.145,00 TL

43.531,41 TL

TOTAL

553.800,00 TL

584.259,00 TL

618.146,02 TL

Units Sold(total)

852

898,86

950,99388

SALES FORECAST(3 YEARS-optimistic)

year 1

year 2

year 3

potential customers

existing constructions

aparment buildings

202.800,00 TL

214.968,00 TL

228.940,92 TL

private houses

81.900,00 TL

86.814,00 TL

92.456,91 TL

new constructions

aparment buildings

253.500,00 TL

268.710,00 TL

286.176,15 TL

private houses

95.550,00 TL

101.283,00 TL

107.866,40 TL

Ligthening&Design stores

52.000,00 TL

55.120,00 TL

58.702,80 TL

TOTAL

685.750,00 TL

726.895,00 TL

774.143,18 TL

Units Sold(total)

1055

1118,3

1190,9895

SALES FORECAST(3 YEARS-pessimistic)

year 1

year 2

year 3

potential customers

existing constructions

aparment buildings

50.700,00 TL

52.829,40 TL

55.470,87 TL

private houses

27.300,00 TL

28.446,60 TL

29.868,93 TL

new constructions

aparment buildings

101.400,00 TL

105.658,80 TL

110.941,74 TL

private houses

40.950,00 TL

42.669,90 TL

44.803,40 TL

Ligthening&Design stores

19.500,00 TL

20.319,00 TL

21.334,95 TL

TOTAL

239.850,00 TL

249.923,70 TL

262.419,89 TL

Units Sold(total)

369

384,498

403,7229

SALES FORECAST(3 YEARS-optimum)

year 1

year 2

year 3

potential customers

existing constructions

aparment buildings

202.800,00 TL

212.940,00 TL

225.716,40 TL

private houses

40.950,00 TL

42.997,50 TL

45.577,35 TL

new constructions

aparment buildings

202.800,00 TL

212.940,00 TL

225.716,40 TL

private houses

68.250,00 TL

71.662,50 TL

75.962,25 TL

Ligthening&Design stores

39.000,00 TL

40.950,00 TL

43.407,00 TL

TOTAL

553.800,00 TL

581.490,00 TL

616.379,40 TL

Units Sold(total)

852

894,6

948,276

The bar chart for sale forecast of the most expected situation is given below:

9 INVENTORY STOCKING

After forecasts for sales has been made, we have drawn a projection for stocking up the inventory. Units of inventory is determined according to the sales forecasts we have made. We decided to keep the invetory stock low, not higher than the sales forecast amount since the product is easy to constract thus it can be produced in a short notice. Even the approach of producing after an order is received may be taken. The projections of inventory account is listed below:

Projections

Sales Unit

Inventory (unit)

Cost of Inventory

year 1

852,00

900

256.185,00 TL

year 2

894,60

1000

284.650,00 TL

year 3

948,28

1000

284.650,00 TL

10 FIXED AND VARIABLE COST ANALYSIS
10.1 Utilities

i-)Electricity: The unit cost of electricity is 15 kr/KWh. Electricity is the most costly utility in order to perform R & D activities. We estimated to use 20 KWh electricity for the R&D researchs conducted by our R&D team and engineers. Also electricity can be a fixed cost utility for computer usage, for lightening, for white appliances etc. We estimate to use 1000 KWh in a month in ordinary use and it costs for our company around 150 TL

ii-) Natural Gas is used in heating system. It is again a fixed cost with unit cost of 0,56 kr/m3 for business establishments and we estimate to use 500 m3 on average( the natural gas usage projection has been made considering the winter and summer effects). So the cost of natural gas will be around 280 YTL per month..

iii-) Water: Water is not foreseen to be a lot of expense for the company. The unit cost of water is 50 kr/m3 and we estimate to use around 100 m3 in a month with a fixed cost of 50 TL

iv-) Telephone and Internet Expense is also a fixed cost and estimated as 100 TL in a month.

Utility type

Cost of the Utility(per month)

Electricty

150TL

Natural Gas

280TL

Water

50TL

Internet and Telephone Services

100TL

Total(per month)

580TL

10.2 Salary Expense

Salary costs are only fixed behavior because they do not fluctuate with the production level. Below our workers are listed.

Type of Employee and Employer

# of workers

Average Salary (net)

Total Expense (Monthly)

Total Expense (Yearly)

CEO

1

3.000,00 TL

3.000,00 TL

36.000,00 TL

Inside Sales Lead

1

2.000,00 TL

2.000,00 TL

24.000,00 TL

Engineering Managers

2

2.000,00 TL

4.000,00 TL

48.000,00 TL

Designer

1

1.600,00 TL

1.600,00 TL

19.200,00 TL

Sales Person

2

1.000,00 TL

2.000,00 TL

24.000,00 TL

R&D Team

2

1.000,00 TL

2.000,00 TL

24.000,00 TL

Accountant

1

1.700,00 TL

1.700,00 TL

20.400,00 TL

Electritians

2

750,00 TL

1.500,00 TL

18.000,00 TL

Office Boy

1

770,00 TL

770,00 TL

9.240,00 TL

TOTAL

13

13.820,00 TL

18.570,00 TL

222.840,00 TL

10.3 Variable Costs

On top of raw material expense there is one more expense that is a variable cost for us. According the deals we made with the manufacturer, we agreed that the manufacturing firm will demand 50 TL for the unit they produce.

The delivery of raw materials will be provided by the stores we purchase these materials from. Since we will be buying in lump sum amounts suppliers have offered us a discount on the price. So the raw material prices also cover the delivery charges on products.

Name of Material

unit costs

cost per product

microcontroller(1)

29,95 TL

29,95 TL

photoactive cells(2)

1,50 TL

3,00 TL

capacitors(3)

20,60 TL

61,80 TL

LED(4)

7,60 TL

30,40 TL

IR Sensors(5)

19,90 TL

99,50 TL

DC Motor

10,00 TL

10,00 TL

Cost of production

50,00 TL

50,00 TL

total

284,65 TL

10.4 Selling Expense

Selling expenses generally constitute of advertising and marketing expenses. Some of selling and administrative cost is variable and some of them is fixed. We do not expect to make an advertisement per product so we consider the whole selling expenses as a fixed expense. It is decided that mostly we will focus on giving ads to design and architecure magazines. We do not intend to rent advertising spaces on magazines not every month but generally every other month. We believe our sales on winter will increase due to the time spent on indoor activities will increase as well as the duration of light consumption will increase. So we plan on giving more ads in winters. Below shows the average selling expenses alocated to 12 months.

month

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

total

advertising expense

500

450

400

400

300

300

200

200

200

300

350

400

4.000 TL

10.5 Insurance

Insurance is a fixed expense and the only insurance we have is for our furnitures and R&D equipments in the office. We estimate the utilities will cost 200 TL monthly, 2.400 TL yearly according to the deals we made with Güneş Insurance Comapny.

10.6 Research and Development

Research and Development is a fixed cost and highly important cost for our company. Because we are an innovative and creative company, we have a high budget and cost of Research & Development. Estimated cost on average 1.700 TL per month, 3,400TL per year.

10.7 Deprecation

For the sake of calculating the fized costs we need to consider the depreciation expense. There are only a few asset that are depreciable. Below is the deprecable assets and their costs are listed.

Name of the Asset

Depretiable amount

Salvage Value

Useful Life

Depreciation Expense(yearly)

Depreciation Expense

(monthly)

Office Funiture

27.080 TL

4.080,00 TL

15

1.533,33 TL

127,78 TL

Office Computers

20.000 TL

5.000,00 TL

16

937,50 TL

78,13 TL

Company Cars

45.000 TL

10.000,00 TL

10

3.500,00 TL

291,67 TL

R&D Equipment

21.750 TL

9.750,00 TL

10

1.200,00 TL

100,00 TL

10.8 Other Fixed Expenses

Office Supply is required to maintain ordinary works in office processing such as paper, pen, pencil etc. and categorized as a fixed expense of 150 YTL per month.

Car, delivery and travel expense is for the sales of sales people since they will be visiting the customers, demonstrating the features of our product by conducting a door-step selling approach. Since we will not be delivering the product to customers, there is no delivery expense foreseen by the company. If the client requires a delivery an extra charge may be applied but it is not possible to identify related costs for such circumstances. This fixed expense is expected to be 200TL per month, 2,400TL per year.

10.9 Interest Expense

We have obtained a 100,000 TL loan from Akbank and from the amortization table(See. Appendix 1) it can be clearly seen that monthly payment for the loan is 1.732,73 TL for 5 years.

10.10 Tax Expense

The only fixed tax expense is the expense from payroll taxes since there is no real estate ownings, tax requiring belongings etc. that may require a fixed tax payment. The payroll tax expense is 6% per year.

11 BREAK-EVEN ANALYSIS

Break even analysis is an important factor to test the return of our investment. The break-even point is calculated to see if ActiveSteps would be profitable to sell.

For finding our break even point we need to list the fixed costs (monthly):

Expenses(monthly)

Salary expenses

18.570,00 TL

Depreciation

597,57 TL

Office Supply

150,00 TL

Insurance

200,00 TL

Research and Development Expenses

1.700,00 TL

Car, delivery and travel

200,00 TL

Rent

2.900,00 TL

Utilities

580,00 TL

Advertising Expenses

500,00 TL

Payroll taxes

1.114,20 TL

Principle and Interest expense

1.732,73 TL

TOTAL

28.244,50 TL

Contribution of a single unit of ActiveSteps= price - variable cost

= 650 TL - 284,65 TL = 365,35 TL

Break Even Point (output) = 28.244,50 TL / 365,35 TL

= 77,31 units

So to break even we need to sell 77,31 units ( the number is rounded to 77 units) per month. This amount of sales per month may be hard to attain in couple of the first 3 years but after the first year we expect a sales of more than 77 for each month. So after the first 3 years we expect to pass the break even point each month and achieve profit. The main reason for not breaking off for first couple of months is the huge interest expense we need to pay for the loan each month.

12 FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Financial statements are important indicators to analyze company's situation both yearly and specific time. We will prepare three main financial statements to serve our shareholders and SPK (Sermaye Piyasası Kurulu). The balance sheet, income statement and cash flow table are significant sources to evaluate company's performance. The financial statements are in the annex, however we will give brief information for each statement.

For forecasting the financial statements the following assumption were made;

GENERAL ASSUMPTIONS

year 1

year 2

year 3

Plan Month

1

2

3

Current Interest Rate

10%

10%

10%

Long Term Interest Rate

10%

10%

10%

Tax Rate

24%

24%

24%

Inflation

5,30%

4,90%

4,80%
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