Link Group

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Université de Bourgogne – DIJON

UFR Langues et Communication

2, boulevard Gabriel

21000 DIJON

MASTER 1 LANGUES ETRANGERES APPLIQUEES

AU COMMERCE ET AUX AFFAIRES

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT INTERNSHIP

FINAL REPORT

María Alejandra Castro Cárdenas

January - July 2016

Practical supervisor: Zhansaya ISSAYEVA

Academic supervisor/coordinator: Candice LEMAIRE

Host Company: Link Group 360

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank my company supervisor, Zhansaya Issayeva, Team Leader of the Marketing and Business Department. Her confidence in my work, guidance and encouragement highly contributed to the progression of this internship.

I am grateful to Gabriel Castro , my brother, for his support and encouragement all long this new experience.

I am thankful to my academic supervisor, Candice Lemaire, English lecturer at the University of Burgundy, for her pedagogical support all along the completion of this report.

Finally, I wish to extend my gratitude to all members of the Link Group team for their warm welcome and for their help and cooperation.

Contents

Introduction…………………………..…………………………………………….…..…3

1. Link Group & China`s real estate market……………...……………………..…4

1. General description…………………………………………………………..….4

1. Vision of the company....………………………..……………………...…5
2. Link Group projects...……..…………..…………...……….…………..…5

1.2.1) Link Investment……………………………………….……………...5

1.2.2) Link Residential……………………………………….………….......5

1.2.3) Link Commercial...........................................................................6

1. Real estate market in China ...………………………………….……….…..…6

1. My contributions and achieved knowledge………………….……….….….…8

1. Link Group`s situation on Shanghai’s real estate market.............……….…..8

        2.1) The strategy……………………………………………………………..…..9        2.2) Applying the B2B as Link Group`s market strategy……......………......10

III.   Results and recommendations………………………………….……………...13

1) Results………………………………………………………………….…....…...13

        1.1) Recommandations……………………………………………..…...….......13

Conclusion……………………………………………………………....………………14

Bibliography……………………………………………………………..……………...15

Annexes……………………………………………………………………………...…..16

“Business development is not merely sales role; it combines sales, marketing, strategic analysis and negotiations to accomplish one goal and building new relationships with potential clients”. Buddy Norman

INTRODUCTION

As a compulsory component of the LEACA^[1] Master`s degree of the University of Burgundy, I carried out a six-month internship as Business Developer Analyst on the Marketing and Business Development Department, at Link Group Company - located at East Kangding Rd. #45, Building 5, Shanghai, China. The internship focused on market research, partnerships and negotiations, communication and market strategy.

I started my internship on 18th January, 2016 and I will finish it on 18th July, 2016. I arrived in the company just at the time when they were trying to set the new company`s targets within the short term and they were reorganizing their structure due to the constant employee turnover in the sales department over the last couple of months. I had the opportunity to participate in this “new era” of Link Group right from the beginning. Moreover, my colleague and I took in charge one of the main projects within the company - the expansion of the company`s market using alternative ways, other than the conventional channel. This was a new challenge for me and it gave me the opportunity to concretely take part in Link Group`s activities. 

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Image 1: Link Group`s official logo

The question I intend to answer in this report is: how could the correct application of a B2B (Business to Business) strategy on real estate market in Shanghai become the best way to find the right costumers for the company.

I am first going to briefly describe the company and analyze the real estate market in China. Then I am going to present a part of the work I did and analyze how effective is our first approach with the B2B strategy within Shanghai`s real estate market. Finally, I am going to study how those tasks helped the company develop its business and what should be done in the future in order to improve their approach to the target market.

1. Link Group & Shanghai`s real estate market

1. General description

LINK Group is one of the branches of Sylvan house (this company is the main company and is located in Hong Kong - this is an American real estate company who has its operations in mainland China). Link Group started its activities as a start-up in September 2015. Link Group is a real estate investment fund which primarily focuses on investing in commercial and residential renovation projects in Shanghai. They explore the real estate market in Shanghai in order to find attractive real estate development projects whose realization will be beneficial not only for investors but for the society as well. Its goal is to offer investors profitable projects with solid returns.

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