iBlue Sustainability Analysis in the Cyprus Boatbuilding Sector

2019

 

Navigator Consulting was commissioned by the Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry to support the EU Interreg-Med Programme, the iBlue Project, by conducting a sustainability analysis in a small enterprise in the boat-builing sector.

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Our selected small enterprise, is one of the last companies still operating in Cyprus, with production of approximately 15 boats per year in previous years.

 

The iBlue Project has developed a 3-Pillar Business Model for use by small- and medium-enterprises. This Model adds important strategic objectives and metrics for sustainability and social awareness to three existing analytical tools:

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• The Business Canvas Model

• The Resources-Processes-Value Framework

• The Influencing Forces Model

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These provide a good framework with which small companies can assess their current situation and understand how environmental and social awareness link into their wider business strategy and competitive advantage.

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Our experience in applying the 3 PBM in Cyprus shows that the competitive and regulatory environment for small firms is becoming even more difficult.

 

Regulatory costs are rising while price competition is increasing. Consumer disposable income is falling, and in the boat-building sector, small boats are now considered a luxury item, not an ordinary item, as they were only ten years ago.

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Our analysis showed that the wider market environment will become more challenging. This is due to rising input costs (electricity, property, staff), falling consumer disposable income and higher competition, primarily through imports. Companies in Cyprus also face increasingly absurd regulatory requirements that threaten to strangle small business.

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We are also at a late stage in the current economic cycle and face the increasing likelihood of another synchronized economic downturn.

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It is dramatically apparent that given this conjuncture, the break-even point for small boatbuilders is rising every year.

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This is not a particularly new situation, but the magnitude of the present competitive situation is truly different from previous economic cycles.

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For further information on our work in strategic analysis and restructuring, please contact us.