Scana Propulsion China

On behalf of Scana Propulsion, four students have conducted this thesis. Scana Propulsion is a concept where Scana Volda, who is a Norwegian company, holds the majority share. Scana Propulsion is producing intergraded propulsion systems and tunnel thrusters. The thesis aim is to provide Scana Propulsion with knowledge and information about Chinese ship owners and shipyards way of making decisions, in accordance to purchase, and find out how to approach them in the best possible way. The authors have collected secondary data, and conducted in-depth interviews as a basis for this thesis. China´s offshore- and shipping industry is rapidly growing, along with the nations’ economy. Scana Volda has been present in China since 2005 with a Representation office, and Scana Propulsion entered the market in 2009. Ever since the beginning, they have put a lot of emphasis on capturing projects from the Western companies established here, and less effort towards the Chinese. Therefore, Scana Propulsion China wanted to find out how they could reach the Chinese customers, and where in the buying process they should approach in the best possible way. Throughout this thesis, the authors experienced that the buying process were quite similar between Western companies and Chinese companies, even though the buying process is a Western model. The authors gained knowledge about how the decisions are made, and on which attributes of the products and the suppliers that are of most importance. This would be of great knowledge to Scana Propulsion. The authors have, from the information collected, proposed different suggestions on how to reach preferred customers and how to reach the goals stated, according to the critical success factors that must be present in order to reach the goals declared. A big part of this thesis discusses the importance of establishing relationships. This is essential for any company doing business in China, and especially in the offshore segment, as the relation between a customer and a supplier could determine the decision