Course Deliverables for the Global Capstone

Project Guidelines

Scope

• Global Capstone Business Plan.
• The plan activity is designed to help students learn through experience.
• Participation in teams to develop a plan for a viable product to include major concepts from the 10 core courses within the University of Fredericton’s graduate degree program.
• The business plan will entail seven sections, including an executive summary and presentation.

Baseline

• Teams will be no less than 3 and no more than 4 students per team.
• Teams will form a new division within a Canadian company, having the viability to carry out an international product plan based on work prepared by the student group. The teams will then prepare a business plan for a “Newly Manufactured” product for the company.

Products will meet the following criteria:

1. It must be a physical product; added value services may be included with the good.
2. The product will be manufactured in any country other than Canada and EU countries.
3. The product will be marketed to 2 European Union countries (choice by student group based on situation analysis).
4. The product will be imported to the EU through Amsterdam, Kingdom of the Netherlands. Amsterdam will not be one of the countries you are selling into.
5. Upon completing the business plan, teams will have to request funding for capitalization of their plan.

NOTE: This is a guide, not Q&A – Headings are required, and the information included is based on your research. More information may be required than the suggested areas under each heading. This will depend on the scope and scale of your project.

Requirements for the Global Capstone Business Plan

Executive Summary

A table of contents is required for all sections and for the final paper.

Section 1: Your Organization/Business Unit

• Develop the vision, mission, and core values for the unit.
• Develop a macro-organization chart with major positions and roles/responsibilities. What type of structure is it? What are the advantages/disadvantages of this type of structure?
• Identify keys to success.
• What are your assumptions and risk factors?
• What are your key strategies, goals, and objectives? Objectives must be SMART (Specific, measurable, achievable relevant, and time bound).
• How does the organization differentiate itself from the competition? (What are your comparative advantages?)
• Identify your product and provide a brief description: This is more fully developed in the Marketing Plan and Mix below.
• Revenue model: How is the product idea going to make money? (e.g., licensing, transactions, acquisition)

Section 2: Industry Overview

• What other two countries will you expand into? Why? What is your rationale? Do the selected nations align with your objectives?
• Describe the overall nature of the industry in targeted countries, including sales and other statistics.
• Identify and interpret trends such as demographics, economic, cultural, and governmental influences (i.e., monetary policy), and market growth. What conclusions do you draw from the trends relating to your business in both countries?
• Describe your business and how it fits into the industry, the global environment, and within your sector (i.e., productivity and competitiveness, changing supply and demand conditions, elasticity considerations, etc.)
• Identify your competition and their relative position (positioning map).

Section 3: Market Analysis and Competition

• You will be entering through Amsterdam. Why is Amsterdam an excellent point of entry?
• Define and clearly describe the target market(s) for your product in each country. What is your rationale? Describe the need for your product for each target market.
• Estimate market share and sales: Estimate the overall size of the target market and the unit sales, and potential repeat purchase volume. Provide TAM (total addressable market), SAM (serviceable addressable market), and SOM (serviceable obtainable market).
• Determine how the market might be affected by political, economic, and demographic changes. Discuss scope and likelihood of occurrence.
• Describe possible barriers to entry (such as technology, regulations, industry policy, employee skill sets, location, tariffs, nontariff barriers to trade etc.) to your markets (Amsterdam and the two other countries). How will these be addressed? Discuss scope and likelihood of occurrence.
• Determine host countries regulations and requirements (countries where you manufacture and where you distribute): Some example would include:
  • Are there requirements to use host country resources.
  • Host country restrictions on repatriated dividends and other cash flows.
  • Taxes on repatriated cash flows.
• Identify your primary competitors and their current market share.
• Estimate the volume and value of your sales in comparison with your competition.
• How will you differentiate your product offering?
• Develop preliminary Break Even estimate.

- B.E. → QBE = F/(P – V) F = fixed costs, P = Price, V =Variable Cost

Section 4: Marketing Plan and Marketing Mix

Describe Your Overall Marketing Strategy

• Describe your overall marketing strategy.
• Will you use push or pull strategy and why?
• What are your objectives?
• What are your critical issues?
• Who are your partners and what is the arrangement (licensing, contractual, joint venture)?

Identify Target Markets

• Identify target markets (detailed, including psychographics, demographics, and usage):
  • Identify the specific target market segments for your product. Who are the purchasers? Do they differ from the users?
  • What influences the purchase?
  • Who is financially responsible for the purchase?

• Include the rationale behind why these are the optimal target market segments (i.e., motivation for purchase, potential as growth rate, purchasing cycle, repurchasing).
• For each segment, provide:
  • Percent of sales.
  • What they want.
  • How they use the product.
  • Support requirements.
  • How to reach them.
  • Price sensitivity.

*You are looking for sub-segments of your SOM that influence buying behaviour and that are large enough to warrant expending funds to differentiate the offering to them.

Conduct a SWOT Analysis

Analyze and discuss how these will be used for strategy development.

Product Offerings

• How will you brand your product?
• Describe your product - features, advantages, and then benefits from a consumer point of view.
• What gives your product unique business value that will benefit your target market segments?
• What is your warranty policy?
• How will post-purchase service be provided?
• How will it be packaged? Will the package be a differentiator?

Pricing Strategy

This area should align with Section 7: Financial Plan.

• What are your pricing goals? (Examples: maximize market share, low price to beat the competition, maximize margins, etc.)
• What are your pricing objectives that align with the aforementioned goals? Make sure they are SMART objectives.
• Describe how you intend to price your product - the pricing strategy (i.e., where are you in the product cycle, market maturity, what are your marginal costs and revenues, margin target, how do you maximize profits, etc.)
  • List price.
  • Discounts (i.e., wholesalers, retailers etc.)
  • Payment terms and financing options.
  • Leasing options.
  • Other associated costs.

• Connect your target market and value proposition to price. How do customers perceive your product in terms of value?
• Determine demand, estimate costs, analyze competitor’s price.
• Select the final price; indicate how you can adapt the price.
• NOTE: Remember if you are offering both wholesale and retail you will need a price point for both distribution methods.
• What means of payment (cheque, cash, terms of payment, financing arrangements, etc.) will you accept?
• What is the impact of currency exchange rates and tariffs on your pricing?

Sales and Distribution Strategy

• Describe how you will distribute your products to the customer (if applicable). Will you be selling wholesale or retail, online, or via a SaaS model? What type of packaging will be required? How will the product(s) be shipped/delivered? What methods will be used for payment?
• From what type of channel, for each sub segment of SOM, do customers prefer to make purchases?
• Channel design decisions – Remember the whole channel – retailing and/or wholesaling strategy or both.
• Describe e-commerce marketing practices if applicable.
• How will your product move from manufacturing (source) to the final user?
• How do trade agreements such as the trade war and sanctions or trade barriers affect sales?
• What post-sales services will be provided?

Advertising and Promotion Strategy

• Establishing goals and objectives (SMART) – what is to be accomplished?
• Discuss how you would be evaluating the results.
• What is the message you want to get across to the audience? (Remember you need it for each sub-segment of your SOM.) Remember you are developing the communication strategy. What is the message and why? What mediums does the sub-segment of your SOM use to receive information about this area of their consumption? This would not include various tactics; the tactics (unless specifically needed as part of the strategy) are developed by department managers as part of their operating plans.
• List the different media/vehicles you will use to get your message to customers (advertising, including media, public relations, promotion programs, giveaways, trade shows, etc.) for each sub-segment of your SOM.
• Will you use promotional materials such as free samples, product demonstrations, free trials, freemium offerings, etc.?
• What marketing collaterals will you use?
• How will you launch your product (i.e., at tradeshows, social media, etc.)?

Section 5: Management Plan

Management Team

• Describe managers and their roles, key employee positions, and how each will be compensated.

Staff and Organization

• Develop a complete organization chart with positions and responsibilities that flow under the management team that the corporation would have.
• What HR services will you provide?
• List the type and number of employees or contractors needed. What proportion will be full-time?
• Develop an estimate of the salary and benefit costs of each.
• How will you recruit (sources/methods) and select (type of interviews) the staff – on-site and virtual team? How will you ensure cultural fit, including the virtual team?
• What will be the talent development needs? How will these be provided?
• Using a virtual global team, address the following:
  • Where will the team(s) be located?
  • What are the cultural implications for decision-making?
  • What are the potential issues of managing a virtual team and how will these be addressed?

External Resources and Services

• List any external professional resources required. What is their role?

Information Systems

• Describe the following:
  • Enterprise-wide software and/or computing needed for decision-making.
  • What is your data management plan? This refers to the skills and equipment used to organize, secure, store, and retrieve information. Data management technology can refer to a wide range of techniques and database systems used for managing information use and allocating access both within a business and between entities.
  • Security and privacy.
  • Technology migration if required.
  • Plan for stakeholder computing (i.e., interaction with organizational data and processes).

*Describe what is recommended but not how it’s implemented or what the assumptions or limitations are. A description with a simple explanation will suffice.

• Software (if applicable)
  • Describe the architecture and technical specifications (i.e., cloud, dedicated servers).
  • Describe information security, cyber security, and encryption (i.e., PIPEDA, GDPR, scans, data backup, logs and failovers, DDoS protection, etc.).

Section 6: Manufacturing and Operations Plan

Please write this section as though the reader does not know your product. Introduce your product, your company name, and any other key information so that the reader will not have to reference prior papers.

Development (if applicable)

• In what country will you produce your product? What were your decision criteria for that country? Provide a comparison of vendors considered with rating scale for each leading to a final decision point.
• What method will you use to ship/transport/deliver your product to your country customers? What were your decision criteria?
• What are the legal/regulatory issues?

Production (if not outsourcing)

• Explain how long it takes to produce a unit and when production begins.
• Include a production schedule from the point of interviewing potential vendors through to delivery of the first batch of goods.
• What factors could affect the time frame of production and how will you address any potential problems, such as demand outstripping capacity to produce, rush orders, and product customization?
• What layout will be needed to maximize production?
• What measurements will be used? What time standards, if any?
• How will inventory be managed (storage and reordering)?
• What quality control measures will be put in place?
• How are product upgrades handled?
• What customer support and training are required, and how will it be delivered? (i.e., SLAs, availability, materials/documentation, help desk, wiki, etc.)

Production (if outsourcing):

• Why are you outsourcing?
• How many vendors will you be using?
• Will the vendor store the finished goods for shipment to customers or will they ship to you to store? If you are storing, then you need to address how inventory will be managed.
• What are the benefits? What are the risks and how will you mitigate them?
• How did you select the outsource partner?
• What quality assurance will you implement to assess the product from the outsourced manufacturer?
• What service-level agreements will you establish with the manufacturer, and what will they include?
• How will you protect your intellectual property and guard against counterfeiting/
  theft, especially in certain countries where the risk is high?
• Include a production schedule from the point of interviewing potential vendors through to delivery of the first batch of goods.

Facilities

• Where will you warehouse your product?
• Will you lease or buy the facility? What are the costs?
• Note: If you are outsourcing completely, then you may not have a facility; however, if you store finished goods, then you need to address the facility.

Staffing

• For operations, identify your required positions by job function. What are their major responsibilities?
• Develop an organization chart for operations.
• How will production personnel and equipment be scheduled to minimize downtime/maximize production while maintaining equipment?
• Note: If you are outsourcing, you need not include an organization chart for the vendor’s company; however, you may need to include special information about jobs, such as if they need to have employees with specific credentials (which may be a selling point in why you chose that vendor).

Equipment

• Identify the equipment needed.
• Will you purchase or lease the equipment? What is your rationale?
• Note: Just provide information on major equipment. You could state the minor tools without going into much detail. For example, if you were manufacturing coffee, your equipment might include a roaster and a grinder, and you might specify their sizes and possibly the brand, ultimately getting to the cost. You would not need to expend much effort on telling us details about scoops and other tools unless they are significant. You could just have a general expense allocated for those tools. It is possible that you will not have any major equipment if you are outsourcing.

Suppliers

• Identify major suppliers and what they will provide.

Section 7: Financial Plan

Start-Up Costs and Investments including Financial Strategy

• What are the financial objectives?
• What are your sales forecasts (first year by month, second and third year by quarter)?
• What are the risks and how will they be mitigated? Provide your risk scenarios.
• Based on the financial analysis, how much investment will you require from the company (including projected working capital requirements and projected requirements for fixed assets, and the financing plan to fund these requirements)?
• Software: Show your licensing, implementation, customization, training, and maintenance fees (when applicable).
• Develop a capital budget.

Income Statements

• Develop a 12-month projected income statement indicating your projected revenues, expenses, and profit. (Estimate fixed and variable costs.)
• Develop a 5-year projected income statement indicating your projected revenues, expenses, and profit. (Estimate fixed and variable costs.)

Cash-Flow Projections

• What are your monthly cash-flow projections (cash revenues and expenses)?
• Develop a pro forma month-by-month cash budget for year one.
• Develop a five-year projection of cash flow. Develop a projected cash conversion period or cycle (Inventory period + accounts receivable period minus accounts payable period).

Build Pro Forma Balance Sheet

• Build a pro forma balance sheet, one for each year for five years.
• Estimate working capital requirements.
• Estimate plant and equipment requirements.
• Estimate capital structure (sources of capital)
• When (in what quarter) do you expect to have receivables?

Currencies, Exchange Rates, and Tariffs

• For each country you are operating in, what is their currency? Must payments be made in their domestic currency, or will they accept Canadian dollars or other major currencies?
• What is the exchange rate? How does this impact your revenue stream? What tools are available to mitigate risk? (i.e., futures, forwards, currency options)
• Are you subject to any tariffs? How does this impact your pricing and revenue stream?
• What is the impact of business taxes? Are there restrictions on dividends and cash repatriations to home country or other taxes on cash outflows?

Break-Even Analysis

Ratio Analysis

• Conduct a ratio analysis to compare the financial plan to the industry and competitors.

Long-Term Financial Plan

• What is the initial amount of capital required to launch the venture? Include funding plan for “permanent” assets (any plant and equipment, office space) and funding plan for initial working capital.
• The financial plan examines risk as well as profit potential: It requires a conversation about risk appetite and preferences, and trade-offs between profit potential against risk of losing the investment.

Final Report and Presentation

Using the feedback from each section, develop a complete, revised Global Capstone Business Plan that provides the basis for the funding request. Provide an executive summary as part of the business plan. Complete and deliver a presentation.

Summary of the assessment requirements

You and your team must produce a Global Capstone Business Plan (team of 3–4) for a newly manufactured physical product that will be manufactured outside Canada and the EU, imported into the EU via Amsterdam, and then marketed to two EU countries (chosen by the team). The deliverable is a full business plan with seven main sections plus an executive summary and an investor-style presentation. Your plan must be realistic, research-based, and include a funding/capitalisation request.

Core deliverables (headings required)

1. Executive summary & table of contents

2. Section 1 Organisation / Business Unit (vision, mission, org chart, keys to success, SMART objectives, revenue model, differentiation, risks/assumptions)

3. Section 2 Industry overview (chosen EU target countries, industry stats, trends, competitor positioning)

4. Section 3 Market analysis & competition (Amsterdam entry rationale, TAM/SAM/SOM, market share estimates, barriers, regulations, break-even)

5. Section 4 Marketing plan & marketing mix (segmentation, targeting, positioning, product, price, place, promotion, SWOT)

6. Section 5 Management plan (leadership, org chart, HR, virtual team issues, IS requirements, external resources)

7. Section 6 Manufacturing & operations (country selection rationale, vendor comparison, production schedule, QC, inventory, logistics, IP protection)

8. Section 7 Financial plan (start-up costs, income statements, cash flows, balance sheet projections, break-even, ratio analysis, currency/tariff effects, funding request)

9. Final report & presentation (revised plan addressing feedback + investor pitch)

Constraints & notes: product must be a physical good; Amsterdam is the import hub (but not a sales market); SMART objectives required; more detail may be required depending on project scope.

Key pointers you must cover

• Team formation and roles (3–4 members)

• Product description and value proposition (what problem it solves)

• Manufacturing country choice (non-Canada/non-EU) and vendor selection rationale

• Why Amsterdam for EU entry (logistics, costs, compliance)

• Two EU target countries and rationale (demographics, demand, regulation)

• TAM / SAM / SOM market sizing and projected unit sales

• Pricing strategy (wholesale/retail), currency & tariff impacts

• Distribution channels and logistics (warehouse, freight, first-mile/last-mile)

• Marketing mix and launch plan (media, promotions, KPIs)

• Org charts, staffing plan, HR and virtual team management

• IT and data management plan (software, cloud, security, GDPR/PIPEDA concerns)

• Quality control, SLA, vendor contracts, IP protection & anti-counterfeit measures

• Financial model: monthly first-year forecast, 5-year P&L, cash flow, break-even, CAPEX, funding ask

• Risk assessment and mitigation strategies (political, supply, currency, regulatory)

• Final funding request with justification and ROI/exit considerations

How the Academic Mentor guided the student 

1. Clarify the brief & constraints

   • Mentor reviewed scope (physical product, non-EU manufacturing, Amsterdam entry) and assessment rubric. Emphasised SMART objectives and investor focus.

2. Team organisation & role assignment

   • Mentor suggested assigning roles by strength: Project lead (integration/finance), Market & marketing analyst, Operations & supply chain lead, Technical/IT & compliance lead. Advised a Team Charter for collaboration norms.

3. Product selection & value proposition

   • Guided brainstorming to select a viable physical product with export/manufacture feasibility. Mentor insisted on a one-sentence value proposition and a brief product spec before deeper research.

4. Country & market research

   • Showed how to gather secondary data (Eurostat, national statistical offices, trade reports) to justify the two EU target markets and to build TAM/SAM/SOM estimates. Recommended competitor mapping and a simple positioning map.

5. Manufacturing vendor analysis

   • Taught a vendor-comparison matrix (cost, quality, lead time, IP risk, compliance) and how to score and justify the chosen production country.

6. Logistics & Amsterdam entry case

   • Worked through port advantages, warehousing, EU customs, VAT, and transhipment considerations. Mentor advised modeling landed cost per unit (FOB + freight + duties + EU import VAT).

7. Marketing & distribution plan

   • Coached the team to define customer segments (demographic/psychographic/usage), select push/pull mix, and assign marketing KPIs. Mentor recommended a phased launch plan (pilot → scale).

8. Operations, staffing & IS

   • Advised on org chart, virtual team locations, recruitment strategy, and enterprise systems (ERP/WMS, CRM). Emphasised GDPR compliance and basic cyber-security measures.

9. Financial modelling

   • Guided building of Excel models: sales by SKU, unit economics, monthly cash flow (Y1), 5-year P&L, break-even QBE, capex and working capital needs. Reviewed assumptions and how to present sensitivity analysis.

10. Risk, legal & IP

    • Helped enumerate regulatory barriers, trade/tariff exposure, supplier concentration risk, and IP protection methods (contracts, trademarks, monitoring).

11. Funding request & pitch prep

    • Mentored the team on structuring a clear funding ask (how much, use of funds, runway, ROI) and coached on a concise 10–15 slide investor presentation and 7–10 minute pitch per team member.

12. Draft review & iteration

    • Performed iterative reviews of each section with feedback loops (content, clarity, evidence, and citation). Final checks for SMART objectives, consistency across sections and professional formatting.

Final outcome what the student team produced

• Complete Global Capstone Business Plan containing: executive summary, org charts, industry & country analyses, TAM/SAM/SOM, SWOT, marketing mix, operations plan, vendor selection matrix, IT/security plan, HR plan, manufacturing schedule, QC and logistics flow, and full financial model (monthly Y1 cash flows + 5-year projections).

• Break-even analysis and sensitivity scenarios (price, volume, variable cost changes, FX shocks).

• Investor funding request with clear use-of-funds, projected ROI and payback timeframe.

• 10–15 slide pitch deck and a recorded team presentation summarising the plan and investment ask.

• Appendices: vendor evaluations, sample SLA language, technical specs, assumptions log, Excel financial workbook.

Evidence of iterative improvement was documented (version control, comments, mentor feedback log).

Key learning objectives covered

• Integrative application of core business disciplines (strategy, marketing, supply chain, operations, finance, HR, IT/security, law) across an international product launch.

• Market research & financial literacy: building TAM/SAM/SOM, forecasting sales, creating cash-flow and P&L models, break-even and ratio analysis.

• Supply-chain & operational decision-making: vendor selection, outsourcing vs. in-house, logistics and warehousing.

• Regulatory & compliance awareness: import rules, VAT/tariffs, IP protection, GDPR/data security.

• Project management & teamwork: role allocation, remote collaboration, version control, and presentation skills.

• Professional communication: concise executive summary, investor pitching, and evidence-based recommendations.

• Risk assessment & mitigation planning for cross-border operations and currency exposure.

Practical tips handed down by the mentor 

• Use clear, cited sources for all market statistics (list URLs in appendices).

• Keep assumptions transparent and include a sensitivity table.

• Make your financial ask specific (amount, use, expected milestones).

• Show pilot metrics or a minimum viable product (MVP) plan to de-risk the request.

• Ensure all objectives are SMART and tied to KPIs.

• Keep the pitch short, evidence-driven, and practice the handover between speakers.

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