Company Business Model Analysis
Executive Summary
In this huge world of variety people, we can identify a few people that we may know that too with their names. Once our mind catches on to their names, their character, their style and their attitude comes to our mind that results out of our direct or indirect interaction with them. Similarly there are a variety of products and services around us which is very difficult to differentiate from another. The brand name comes to our rescue to pick up our preferred product among similar other products are based on our experience with the brand. This experience also can be called as a conducted tour or a customer journey offered by various business models practiced by these brands. So the difference between the names, brand names and business models are- the first two distinguishes one from another but the last, business model decides the success or failure of the products and brands among other brands in the market.
Business Model: It is a balancing act performed by organisations by keeping revenue, cost and profits under desired level with profound importance to customer value. A successful business model finds a competitive advantage over other business models by keeping the revenue and profit to the maximum and cost to the minimum by offering unique value addition to their customers that no other similar players can offer!
Key words: Business Model, Customer journey, revenue creation, cost creation, value creation.
In this business model analysis report, I have analysed the business model of the latest entrant, Z from the biggest sector, energy. This report covers how Z energy balanced the three core elements of business (revenue, cost, profit) with value addition to their customer. For a better understanding to decide on success or failure of this brand (business model), I have furnished the business importance of the sector (environment) it operates .The core analysis are done with the findings based on their customer feedbacks, journal, newspaper, article references, and Annual Reports and IPO documents.
The oil industry in NZ used to import crude oil and other refined petroleum products from other countries as the local production is not sufficient to meet up with the NZ customer demand for fuels. So it is of no doubt that this industry is going to be one of the promising revenue earning area for the country as well as for the business owners.
As the product itself, oil, cannot be differentiated by appearance, it is a very challenging job for marketers to gain customer trust by way of offering value addition to customers. The revenue generated need to be increased and investors has to be kept in confidence by effectively executing a business model. It can be achieved only by a team of people who have the expertise in investing in growth areas, foresee risks and grab opportunities in advance.
Z strategic investment intelligence is reflected in their strong balance sheet published in their annual review reports. We can find Z has been successful in all these aspects in their past three years in NZ market where they sat with their customers, listened to them , implemented their feedbacks, created revenue and profit for shareholders and continuing their journey to be a world class kiwi company .
Significance of energy sector.
From an investor point of view, the organisation as well as the industry it operates is of worth considering. So if we take the top 10 companies in the world or top 10 profitable companies in the world , 5 is from oil and gas sector . That itself shows the importance or business potential of this industry. Moreover the oil industry is categorised under the sector with inelastic demand where demand will fall a very less percentage when price increases, results in increase in turn over. The energy market in NZ is also of no difference. The overall transport fuel consumption in NZ is around 8000 million litres and Z caters to one
third of this fuel demand .The other major operators in this category are BP, Exxon Mobil, Gull, Caltex, G.A.S, Pak n Save, RD, Nelson etc.
The return on a business is determined in large portion for being in an industry with a strong business model. An attractive industry has the capacity to meld the world for their
profit rather to respond feebly by pushing and shoving on which it has no control. This will contain many enterprises that are cost effective, because of the low costs and / or do something else examples being of banks, oil, snuff and pharmaceuticals (Watson, 2005)
Z-Business journey:
2010 (Shell) -> Infratil (which is listed on the NZX and capitalised at over $1.4 billion,
is an owner and operator of businesses in the energy (mainly renewable), airport and public
transport sectors and popular infrastructure investor with long term investment focus offering 20% annual return consistently ) + New Zealand Superannuation Fund ($23 billion Fund has $3.3 billion invested in New Zealand, including more than $1 billion in the local share market. The Fund has returned 8.99% per annum since inception in 2003.) Green stone Energy -> Consumer research + Product development -> distinctive Kiwi brand – Z ( 2011) -> IPO ( 2013).
They fall in to the segments of importers, distributors, sellers of transport oil and connected products in NZ .Their main line of products are petrol, diesel, jet fuel and minor products are bitumen and chemicals for household cleaning solutions. They have an array of customers from fuel retailers, manufactures, constructors, airline& fishing companies and regular retail consumers. Their business is basically driven by factors such as growth in population, economy, and industry and vehicle fuel efficiency.
How Z conducted their customer Journey.
Z provided three energy drops that made their customer journey successful whereby giving confidence for future customers to take up their journey with this organisation.
(1) Revenue creation (2) Cost analysis (3) Value for customer
How Z creates revenue:
Revenue is the income generated by sale of goods or services before deducting cost or expenses of the organisation.
Their main source of revenue is from their retail service stations. They have the highest number of service stations (213) in the NZ market and 94 truck stations spread across the country (IPO Document, 2013). They sell around 48 % of their volume of total refined product through these outlets and they claim a market share of 29 % in NZ branded fuel market.
Z is also leading in average throughput per service station with 5.4 million litres a year against the industry average of (approx) 3.2 million litres of furl per year. They have a competitive edge over other players in their professional and systematic way of functioning like maximum coverage (Service stations) integration in fundamental process like supply, procurement, refining, distribution etc. All this could have made up their revenue to $2989 million (2013) from $2795 million (2011).
The retail service stations with convenience stores show a growth of 9 % as they cater to convenience of customers and so claim high margin.
Car Wash is another area capitalized by the enterprising organisation as a revenue source even the amount will be less it is an area of opportunity to attract customers as well.
Other revenue sources are from the construction industry where Z supplies more than half of bitumen used for road construction. Even if the contribution is less to the overall revenue, Z found a niche market and provides high quality chemicals to manufacturing of household detergents.
Is the business making profitable margin.
Z gives thrust on gross margin (margin calculated on a replacement cost margin, RC) and they categorized this margin in to three parts:
Please note all figures below are in (NZ $ Millions)
Replacement gross margin shows a steady growth from 407 (2011) to 472 (2013)
Fuels margin which is the highest contributor to the gross margin with 81 % share of total RC gross margin in the financial year ( FY) 2013.This has increased from 319( 2011) to 384 ( 2013)
Non -fuels margin from royalties derived from convenience stores, discounts and commissions from suppliers
Margin from Refining NZ as per the agreement with them.
How they are managing liquidity of revenue.
Z has announced their IPO in August 2013, and captured an over whelming response in the market.
The management highlights on the offer is
*Z energy will be among the 20 largest NZ companies on the NZX Main Board by 2014.
*Estimated market value from $1300million to $1500 million.
* Expect to announce an $88 million dividend on the basis of FY 14 returns.
* The owners are basically investors (investment companies like Infratil and NZ Superannuation fund) and can easily identify and invest in future growth areas assuring maximum return.
Cost Analysis
Z has been successful in starting their business with basic fundamentals in place. These arrangements gave those advantages in operation costs and distribution cost.
The heads covered under operation expenses are On -site costs , selling commissions, secondary distribution , employee benefits, storage and handling, insurance , administration and related costs, unrealised gain/(loss) on commodities and foreign exchange .
The increase in operational expenses can be justified with the increase of operational capability in the organisation.
Z effectively controls its costs on all the above heads with their own state of art operational efficiency.
The causes for On-site costs are inflation and earthquake at Christ church may not affect in FY 2014, no plans of additional commissions in next year and the normal inflationary increase is calculated and accounted for the next fiscal year. Z has also foreseen and budgeted for other operating Costs that can incur for operating retail service petrol pumps, marketing and other corporate over heads.
Distribution Costs: Z energy has a joint venture with COLL (Coastal Oil Logistics Limited) and Refining NZ, brings down the primary distribution costs and terminal storage costs compared to similar players in the market
How value created
Car max , a US based company who sold second cars to 4 million customers with 100 locations within a short span of time is only on the basis of offering a different value proposition to the customers. The management learned the objections rose by the second hand buyers and converted it as opportunities for their business. They value proposition they executed was a trouble and bargain free environment, great variety and no pressure sales.
Similarly, the analysis found that Z has created value through process innovation.
It is a better way of making or selling or distributing an already proven product or service
(HBR, 2002)
In 2010, when Infratil and NZ Superannuation fund bought Shell, they had a vision of creating a world class kiwi brand and they named it with the first letter of second word of the country, New Zealand, i.e. Z.
They have built up this organization with strong base of customer preferences, values and feedbacks. The five values honesty, boldness, support, passion and sharing forms the pillars of this great organisation.
Value created on honesty: Their fuel prices are always displayed in the pump station and in their websites shows that they are transparent. They are realistic in the way they designed their service stations with long hoses and increased the pace of transaction by cutting down the queues and made their customers life faster in their daily move ( as per the feedback received from their survey )
Value created out of Passion - At Z, great work is all about having the energy to do what matters (Their caption). They don’t simply sell oil products they feel responsible to help their customers to run their business successfully.
Value created by sharing everything: Z Cards offers not only payment convenience but also help to manage costs effectively to commercial customers who owns fleet of vehicles. Promotions through supermarket chains like Countdown, Fresh Choice and Super value and other loyalty and discount schemes.
USP, Unique selling preposition from Z- Fly Buys –Z is the only fuel retailer that provide Fly Buy card points for fuel and in store purchases. Z has got 25 % share in Loyalty NZ made this a roaring success with more than 50 % of the county’s population owns and uses in their day to day life.
Back the people and help them grow added value to Z: Arranged NZ contractors’ Federation People Awards, CSR activities like -Doing good in the hood - They support their people around and make a better living for the people in New Zealand. An amount of $ 5000 has been divided among neighbourhood groups who really need it and around $1 million people across the country has got a share of it, women’s empowerment, safety driving etc.
Bold on taking commercial decisions, supply chain management, alternative energy sources like bio fuels etc.
Overall they have created a Z experience with their connected investments in food, coffee, forecourt services which makes the choice for Z easier among NZ customers.
The independent survey results on fuel brand preferences supports the Z energy as it is giving value for money. An example for customers guarantee on value for money is IKEA, a Swedish company, leaders in retail home furnishing. Their main USP is their well designed products are affordable to people in all walks of life. The reason explained by them is that their strength is procurement –They know the right place to get their right product.
This adds value to their customer and made them the world’s largest furniture retailer. This is same in case of Z , as the management knows the strategic investment areas and invest in their business.
Risk
By and large the oil industry itself is a volatile industry with lots of fluctuation on prices as it is dependent on various market conditions and government policies. The major risks are supply chain interruption, environmental, competition , brand and reputation, unpredicted gain/ loss in commodity and foreign exchange , related to contracts and agreements, contamination in refining, changes in cost, availability and demand as most of this are operated on joint ventures and third party contracts. Z management is equipped with risk management tools to cover those risks to the maximum extent possible by focussing on current cost earnings, currency and commodity hedging.
Opportunities
The opportunities in this energy sector are enormous and it benefit from high barricade to entry by new players that may otherwise undercut profitability by increasing volumes and reducing prices. These barricades give a competitive advantage for existing players as they have locked in customers, suppliers, distributors in the case of oil and gas retailers.
The huge investments in growth areas made by Z during the last three years in new retail service pumps, customer offers and expansion of terminal infrastructure shows their long term vision to offer higher returns to shareholders.
Investors can rely on the opportunities based on their competitive advantages like (1)Strictly integrated operating business mode ( 2) being a local company decision making
process will be faster(3) highly recognized kiwi brand ( 4) Highly experienced and efficient management team from the energy sector who knows the business matrix of fuel business.
( 5) Owners( Infratil and NZ superannuation Fund) are basically investment companies and proved as intelligent investors and they are investing in their own business. Infratil is expertized in investments in infrastructure that is a part of social and economic capital and for that reason they always keep priority for customers in all their investments (6) Management focus is on profitability rather than on volumes or market share. (7) Always want to be unique in customer offers and experience (8) Basic fundamentals of business are in place and execute technological changes with operational efficiency. (9) Product procurement, Refinery optimisation, Delivery optimisation, Coastal distribution, big ships to big tanks,Industry consolidation are there on their priority list (10) Proven track record in their 3 year strategy programme. (11) Focus on Customer footfalls-eyeing on 60 million customer transaction per year (12) Alternative fuel- Develop bio fuels.
Z is forecasting a cash dividend yield of 6.8% to 5.9% and gross dividend yield of 9.4% to 8.1% for the prospective financial year ending 31 March 2014.
Z- Business Model
(Diagram 1)
How Z fairs in Digital context:
They have test marketed the online based fleet management consultancy services to control the fuel costs .Even though it will not fetch any monetary improvement , it can create happiness among customers there by enhance customer loyalty.
Z has also launched a new coffee app that helps customers to have the digital equivalent of coffee stamps on their I Phones and android phones. They are actually concerned about Voice of the Customer in social media and sometimes their CEO Mike Bennetts joins the team to address the customer queries online.
Theoretical & Practical Implications
*A business model should add value to customers at the same time create money for the organisation and investors. Z has created Z experience with a strong financial balance sheet for the last 3 years.
*A business model can turn good only when it is executed well by the employees. For that employee needs to recognized and rewarded. Any Z employee can refer a good person they know for a position and if they apply and get a job they will be rewarded .A package of $ 500 gift card that can be redeemed at any Z service station. Z provides Zero Harm Work place with International partnerships and strictly adhere to Chemicals Environment Policy.
* Business model can create value through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) - Good for hood programme created by Z has really benefitted the neighbourhood. They support their people around and make a better living for the people in New Zealand. An amount of $ 5000 has been divided among neighbourhood groups who really need it and around $1 million people across the country has got a share of it. * Revenue created through strategic investments in the areas where people really care in their daily lives like infrastructure and convenience. Customer feed back forms the basis of formation of the brand Z.
* Collaborations, Joint ventures, acquisitions, currency and commodity hedging help to share the risks in different market.
*Lock in business with Fly buys, Z cards and other discount schemes
Recommendations:
1) Z can offer insurance coverage in association with an insurance company to all loyal customers to add value and loyalty. This can attract more customers to increase the market share.
2) Lock in business model -Z can announce a limited period offer - life time cards – for a fixed amount. Main highlight of the offer is that price change will not affect these customers in this volatile industry. Advantage for Z is getting advance revenue for diversified investments.
3) For a good cause -Z can take initiative to address a common problem . Examples- Earthquake resistant homes and brand as( Z homes )or old age homes( Z age) as NZ aged population is increasing and becoming a liability for the government.
4) Z can expand to health care industry; to start with they can specialize in critical care
( Z care ) in road accidents as their business is more or less connected with roads.
Customer journey-Customer Feedback (17,000 Customers)-Z Experience
Forecourt concierge,espresso coffee,road planner, reduced que time-
revenue from 213 service stations , Fly Buys. Z cards, discounts and loyalty schemes
CSR Activities-world class kiwi company -Z energy .
Conclusion
Z action speaks for their words. The reasons for huge response for their IPO itself are an evidence of their consistent and effective business model. The culture they intentionally made by listening to the local customers brings confidence and trust to their brand. The investors got convinced about the scalability of Z business. They were successful in creating an impression among customers that Z will keep their promise in this highly volatile market. Their vision to become a world class kiwi company will be achieved no sooner than later as they made their customer journey, the way they like. Z realised the emotions of the customer that it is relevant to be competent and cost effective but it also should meet customer expectation to result in satisfaction. There is no other go to take a different route or a brand as they have locked in the customer with a unique Z experience.
