Information on the company, obtained from different sources, is collected and systematized in the dossier on the company. The questions on which the material for the dossier is selected can be divided into 2 groups:
1. Issues of the general characteristics of the company, including the type of activity of the company, the nomenclature of production and trade, the size of production, other issues characterizing the company, its role and place in the market of this product;
2. Questions on special aspects related directly to the conclusion of contracts (creditworthiness, financial position of the company, loading with orders, interest in receiving orders from foreign firms, clarification of relations with other firms and state bodies, business characteristics of representatives of the company with which negotiations are supposed to be held, etc.).
The firm’s dossier includes a number of documents, such as:
information map of the company – a basic document that collects comprehensive information about the company of interest; information about negotiations with the company; information about business relationships.
The company map is a questionnaire, the content of which is grouped according to the main issues characterizing the various aspects of the activities of the studied company:
country, postal address, telephone, fax, e-mail address; year of foundation; objects of trade, production (indicating the main technical characteristics of goods and technical innovations) or the nature of services; production capacity, trade turnover, number of employees and other data characterizing the production capabilities and activities of the company by year; data characterizing the financial position of the company; branches, subsidiaries, participation and other relations of the company (cartels, financial, personal, etc.); the most important competitors; owners, managers of the company, contact persons; turnover, including in different markets; negative aspects characterizing the company (non-fulfillment of obligations, complaints, arbitration, court cases, etc.).
The standard form of the company’s information card is presented in Appendix 3.
An important place in the company’s dossier is occupied by such documents as “information about negotiations with the company” and “information about business relations”. They collect information based on personal observations and impressions of employees obtained during negotiations, during the execution of contracts and visits to enterprises.
Information about negotiations with the company is recorded after each round of their completion. The main questions to study are:
the subject of negotiations; the results of the negotiations; characteristics of the representatives of the company involved in the negotiations, down to their character traits (strengths and weaknesses), the degree of ownership of commercial and technical issues; the company’s behavior during negotiations; business relations with other business partners in your country.
Information about business relations, unlike information about negotiations, is compiled once a year and reflects the experience of working with the company during the year (fulfillment of the terms of contracts, its interest in working in this market, the business qualities of the company and its representatives, etc.).
The dossier on firms is replenished systematically and updated before the beginning of the new fiscal year or when preparing large transactions. Each organization, taking into account the specifics of work in the market and the characteristics of the circle of its counterparties, can prepare its own version of the dossier on the company, both on paper and in electronic form.