Detailed research based recommendation to DreamFolks Services Pvt. Ltd. on their decision to collaborate with DragonPass.

1. 1
Should DreamFolks Services Private Limited collaborate with DragonPass in order to expand into
the global market?

2. 2
RESEARCH QUESTION
Should DreamFolks Services Private Limited collaborate with DragonPass in order to expand into
the global market?
RATIONALE
DreamFolks currently provides lounge access services in India across 40 locations and wishes to
expand. It is considering to collaborate with DragonPass as a market development strategy in order
to cater to customers worldwide and to take advantage of the growing demand for such services in
the global market. This report will aim to evaluate the collaboration proposal and to assess its
financial feasibility.
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
1. Unit 1.3 – Organizational Objectives – Ansoff Matrix – To understand the market growth
strategy DreamFolks may be willing to explore.
2. Unit 1.7 – Organizational Planning Tools – Force Field Analysis – To take into account the
driving and restraining forces that push for and act against the business’s potential decision.
3. Unit 3.5 – Profitability and Ratio Analysis – Gross Profit Margin and ROCE – To
investigate the financial stability of DreamFolks in order to consider the decision.
4. Unit 3.6 – Efficiency Ratio Analysis – Gearing Ratio – To assess the long-term liquidity
position of DreamFolks.
METHODOLOGY
1. Primary research –
• Interview Mr. Mukesh Yadav (Founder – DreamFolks) to know how and why they decided to
consider this collaboration.

3. 3
• Interview Mr. Anurag Prakash Lal (CEO – DreamFolks) to gather information on the
possible problems that they might face as a result of this collaboration.
• Conduct a survey in order to study the impact of demonetisation on the air travel industry in
India.
2. Secondary research –
• Information on the impact of demonetisation on the air travel industry in India.
• Information on the growth of the Indian air travel industry.
ANTICIPATED DIFFICULTIES
Anticipated Difficulty Solution
Difficulties in scheduling an interview.
Be constantly in touch through e-mails and
reminders.
Some people may not respond to certain
questions in the survey.
Keep the questions concise and close ended.
Problems in getting financial data such as
balance sheets.
Assure that the information is required solely for
this report and will not be shared with anyone
who may have intentions to harm the company.
ACTION PLAN
Date Proposed Task Modifications
2nd
March 2017 Finalizing the research question.
15th
July 2017: Changes prior
to writing the structured draft.
8th
March 2017 Research Proposal first draft submission.
9th
March Design a survey

4. 4
11th
April 2017 Research on the global air travel industry.
15th
April 2017
Get financial documents from DreamFolks for
FY 2015-16 and 2016-17.
16th
April 2017: Postponed
due to externalities.
18th
April 2017
Calculate profitability, efficiency and liquidity
ratios.
19th
April 2017 Make graphs for the ratios.
22nd
April 2017
Make questions for the interviews with the
Founder and the CEO of DreamFolks.
4th
May 2017 Conduct interviews.
24th
May 2017 Make a force-field analysis.
30th
May 2017 Survey results analysis.
11th
June 2017 Make an ansoff matrix.
17th
July 2017
Write a structured report from the data collected
until this point.
18th
August
2017
Construct a conclusion and recommendation.
22nd
August 2017:
Rescheduled due to
unforeseen circumstances.
30th
August
2017
Add footnotes, graphs, citations and prepare the
bibliography and appendices.
(Words Count – 499)

5. 5
To: Founder of DreamFolks Services Private Limited Mr. Mukesh Yadav and the Chief Executive
Officer Mr. Anurag Prakash Lal.
Research Question: Should DreamFolks Services Private Limited collaborate with DragonPass in
order to expand into the global market?

6. 6
TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Number
1. Executive Summary ............................................................................................ 7
2. Introduction......................................................................................................... 8
3. Methodology....................................................................................................... 9
4. Main Findings ..................................................................................................... 10-15
5. Analysis............................................................................................................... 16-19
6. Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 20
7. Recommendation ................................................................................................ 20
8. Bibliography ....................................................................................................... 21
9. Appendix............................................................................................................. 22-25
a) Appendix A............................................................................................. 22
b) Appendix B ............................................................................................. 23
c) Appendix C ............................................................................................. 24
d) Appendix D............................................................................................. 25

7. 7
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
DreamFolks is an Indian company that provides lounge access services in India and wishes to
expand into the global market by collaborating with DragonPass (an international company) in an
effort to increase its customer base. DreamFolks has opted for a market development strategy which
is a part of the ansoff matrix. In order to weigh the forces acting in favour and against the decision,
a force-field analysis was done. Profitability and efficiency ratios were also calculated for the
fiscal years 2015-16 and 2016-17 to assess the financial stability of the firm. The primary sources of
data were interviews with the founder and the CEO and a survey to study the impact of
demonetisation on the Indian air travel industry. The secondary sources were articles to study the
impact of demonetisation. Statistics to study the growth of the global air travel industry were also
used.
It was concluded that DreamFolks will benefit with a greater customer base, improved brand image
and will be able to provide a greater variety of services after the collaboration thus making it
favourable. A limitation of the research was the unavailability of data from DragonPass which could
have allowed for a better evaluation of the decision.
(Word Count – 200)

8. 8
INTRODUCTION
Background of the firm: DreamFolks Services Private Limited is an Indian company which provides
travel benefits and services such as airport lounge access and airport retail to its customers.
DreamFolks currently provides its services in 40 locations across India in domestic and international
terminals. They do not own any of the lounges that they operate in instead they have tie-ups with the
lounge companies on airports with whom they have agreements in place. The agreements clearly
state the conditions of the tie-up and the amount DreamFolks has to pay to them per customer visit.
DreamFolks prioritize customer satisfaction and value for money over everything else as evident in
their motto, “Customer First, Quality Always”. In this report I will be researching on whether it will
be financially worthwhile for DreamFolks to collaborate with DragonPass. The sections of the
course involved in this research are growth and evolution, the marketing mix, ratio analysis and
organizational planning tools.
RATIONALE
DreamFolks has been operating in the Indian market for almost 5 years now and wishes to expand its
operations worldwide. The reason for this decision is the limited growth potential in the Indian
market and the vision of the founders for DreamFolks to cater to customers worldwide. In an effort
to increase its customer base and provide services to its customers travelling abroad, DreamFolks
wants to collaborate with DragonPass, a multinational which operates in 120 countries with 1800+
touch-points. If the conditions of the alliance are favourable for both the organizations, they will
move forward with the decision.
RESEARCH QUESTION
Should DreamFolks Services Private Limited collaborate with DragonPass in order to expand into
the global market?

9. 9
METHODOLOGY
1. Primary research –
• An interview was conducted with Mr. Mukesh Yadav, Founder of DreamFolks Services Pvt.
Ltd. to know how and why they decided to consider this collaboration.
• A survey was conducted in order to study the impact of demonetisation on the air travel
industry in India.
• The CEO of DreamFolks Services Private Limited, Mr. Anurag Prakash Lal was interviewed
to gather information on the current market and the possible problems that they might face as
a result of this collaboration.
2. Secondary research –
• Articles from Times of India and The Hindu were also used to obtain information on the
impact of demonetisation on the Indian air travel industry.
• Graph for the change of global demand for air travel was obtained from a statistics website,
statista.com.
The main advantage of using these secondary sources was the reliability of the data as these are
trusted organizations that provide information which is accurate and backed by adequate research.
However, the research is too focused on the primary data due to which it is possible that it is biased.
The business tools that were used include Ansoff Matrix, Ratio Analysis and Force Field Analysis.
These tools were used to understand the market growth strategy, to take into account the forces that
push for and act against change and to evaluate the business’s current financial condition in order to
answer the research question and to provide a structure to the report.

10. 10
MAIN FINDINGS
Primary Research:
1. Current financial status of DreamFolks -
a. Net Profit Margin
Year Calculation Net Profit Margin
2015-2016
11943088
391465414
× 100 3.05%
2016-2017
81145975
987805986
× 100 8.22%
Graph 1.1 – Net Profit Margin for fiscal years 2015-16 and 2016-17
b. ROCE
Year Calculation Returns on Capital Employed
2015-2016
11943088
27108519
× 100 44.06%
2016-2017
81145975
107755650
× 100 75.31%

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Graph 1.2 – ROCE for fiscal years 2015-16 and 2016-17
c. Gearing Ratio
Year Calculation Gearing Ratio
2015-2016
2949325
27108519
× 100 10.88%
2016-2017
29663998
107755650
× 100 27.53%
Graph 1.3 – Gearing Ratio for fiscal years 2015-16 and 2016-17

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2. Survey Results –
Graph 1.4
Graph 1.5

13. 13
Graph 1.6
Graph 1.7

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3. Force-Field Analysis -
Driving Forces
a. Increased customer base and services expansion. (4)
b. Improved brand image and brand recognition. (3) (10)
c. Huge growth potential in the global market. (3)
Restraining Forces
a. Organizational management problems. (3)
b. Slower decision making, disagreements can also be there. (2) (7)
c. Minimal or no global market knowledge. (2)
Diagram 1.1 – Force-Field Analysis
Secondary Research:
1. Impact of demonetisation on the Indian air travel industry.
a. According to an article from the Times of India published in November 20161
, after
demonetisation of the currency, the demand for air travel has dropped by 7-10%.
b. In an article on The Hindu published in December 20162
, the Centre for Asia Pacific
Aviation (CAPA) featured an aviation outlook report for fiscal 2018 according to
which the demonetisation decision would impact the civil aviation market by around
3-5% in 2017.
1
Sinhal, Saurabh. “Flight Ticket Sales Dip 10% as Travel Plans Take a Hit.” The Times Of India, 15 Nov.
2016, timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Flight-ticket-sales-dip-10-as-travel-plans-take-a-
hit/articleshow/55425829.cms.
2
Phadnis, Ashwini. “GST, Demonetisation May Impact Aviation Market Growth: CAPA.”@Businessline, 27
Dec. 2016, www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/logistics/gst-demonetisation-may-impact-aviation-
market-growth-capa/article9447320.ece.

15. 15
2. The global demand for air travel has been increasing year on year from 2013.
Graph 1.83
– Growth rate of the global air travel industry from 2005-2017
3
“Annual Growth in Global Air Traffic Passenger Demand from 2005-2018.” Statista, 1 Jan. 2017,
www.statista.com/statistics/193533/growth-of-global-air-traffic-passenger-demand/.

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ANALYSIS
The collaboration with DragonPass will be a market development strategy taken up by DreamFolks.
The Ansoff Matrix is an analytical tool which DreamFolks can use to devise a market growth
strategy. As DreamFolks will be selling an existing product (lounge access program) in a new
market, it can be quite risky as they have little knowledge of the market conditions and cultures.
Diagram 1.3 - Ansoff matrix
However, this is where DreamFolks’ greatest advantage lies, as mentioned by the founder of the
company: Mr. Mukesh Yadav in an interview, DragonPass is a well established company in this
industry with the edge of an excellent brand name. They cater to 120 countries worldwide and 12
million customers annually. With more than 950 lounges across the globe, they surely have adapted
to the markets and cultures well.4
This is exactly what DreamFolks is going to learn to do from this
collaboration. The key advantage of this strategy is that DreamFolks is familiar with the service
they’re marketing and with support from DragonPass in tweaking the existing promotional strategies,
they can reach out to the potential customers and develop a brand of their own.
4
Refer to the interview transcript in Appendix A.

17. 17
The reasons for this potential step by DreamFolks mainly include the vision of Mr. Yadav to take his
company to the international level and cater to customers worldwide and the effect of the
demonetisation of the Rs.500 and Rs.1000 currency notes in India. According to the articles in “The
Times of India” and “The Hindu”, the demand for air travel fell by 7-10% in November 2016 and in
accordance to a report by the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA), the demonetisation decision
will affect the industry by 3-5% in 2017 as well.5
From a survey that was conducted, with a sample size of 75 people, to study the impact of
demonetisation on air travel, I found that the number of people who used to travel once or twice a
year increased from approximately 60%6
before demonetisation to 81%7
after demonetisation which
means that the people have reduced their travelling frequency to the minimum. The percentage of
people who buy the more expensive service class tickets like Business/First Class has also fallen
from 17% to 5%.8
A reduction in customers in the air travel industry leads to a reduction in
customers for DreamFolks and thus, reduced growth potential and sales.
The market development strategy with the aid from DragonPass and the demonetisation of the Indian
currency notes with the founder’s vision to make DreamFolks an international service provider, are
essential reasons for DreamFolks to go ahead with their collaboration consideration.
For further analysis and to move to a clearer direction for the decision, a Force-Field Analysis9
will
be essential as it helps weigh the different driving and restraining forces that take the business
towards and away from change.
5
Refer to the secondary research section in main results and findings.
6
Refer to graph 1.4 in primary research section in main results and findings.
7
Refer to graph 1.5 in primary research section in main results and findings.
8
Refer to graph 1.6 and 1.7 in primary research section in main results and findings.
9
Refer to diagram 1.1 in primary research section in main results and findings.

18. 18
The biggest driving force to go for the collaboration would be the increased customer base and the
services expansion with a force of weight 4. As mentioned by Mr. Yadav in the interview,
DreamFolks will cater to customers worldwide as well as to DragonPass’s customers who come to
India. An increased customer base will lead to an increase in the sales and revenue for DreamFolks.
Mr. Yadav also mentioned the additional services that DreamFolks will be offering to its customers
as a result of the collaboration as DragonPass offers additional discounts on dining outlets, meet and
greet services and wellness services at the airport. As DreamFolks will be working with a firm as big
as DragonPass, this will benefit its brand image and brand recognition worldwide thus proving to be
beneficial in the future with a force of weight 3. The expansion into the international market will also
provide greater growth opportunities as the growth rate of the air travel industry has been increasing
continuously since 201310
as shown in graph 1.8. This force has been given a weight of 3 thus the
driving forces total to weight 10. Due to the lack of directly related data, data for the growth of the
air travel industry has been taken assuming that the demand for airport related services will increase
with it. However, this may not be true thus reducing the weight of the driving force from 4 to 3.
A possible problem after the collaboration could be the slower decision making process and
disagreements between DreamFolks and DragonPass over business decisions with a restraining force
of weight 2. Another problem could be that DreamFolks has little knowledge of the global market as
discussed earlier with a low weight 2 because DragonPass has been working in the market already
and will be guiding DreamFolks. From the interview with the CEO11
of DreamFolks, Mr. Anurag
Prakash Lal, another issue that came up which may act as a restraining force of weight 3 was the
management problems as it is more difficult to manage operations worldwide as compared to a
single country.
10
Refer to graph 1.8 in secondary research section in main results and findings.
11
Refer to the interview transcript in Appendix B

19. 19
In order to overcome this hurdle Mr. Lal has thought of making a committee with heads in all
regions who will combine all the issues and come up with solutions and recommendations for the
DreamFolks management to act upon. Thus, with strong driving forces (total weight 10) and
weakened restraining forces (total weight 7) due to available solutions, the force-field analysis
strongly recommends DreamFolks to move towards the collaboration.12
However, a limitation of
using a force field analysis would be that the weight given to each of the forces may be biased
towards support for a particular decision.
Looking at the financial position of the firm using a Ratio Analysis, in the fiscal year 2016-2017:
the net profit margin has increased from 3.05% in the previous year to 8.22%13
signaling that the
overhead costs for DreamFolks have reduced and the sales revenue has increased with a reduction in
the direct costs too. The ROCE has increased from 44.06% to 75.31%14
, mainly a result of the
increase in the net profit. The gearing ratio has increased from 10.88% to 27.53%15
which is a
negative.
With an increasing Net Profit Margin and ROCE, DreamFolks is in a strong position to pay off its
debts which will reduce the gearing ratio in the future. DreamFolks is also profitable and stable
enough to go through with a market development strategy which in this case is the DragonPass
collaboration.16
12
Refer to diagram 1.1 in primary research section in main results and findings.
13
Refer to graph 1.1 in primary research section in main results and findings.
14
Refer to graph 1.2 in primary research section in main results and findings.
15
Refer to graph 1.3 in primary research section in main results and findings.
16
Hoang, Paul. Business Management. IBID Press, 2014.

20. 20
CONCLUSION
Collaborating with DragonPass will help DreamFolks in achieving the vision of its founder, increase
its customer base and take advantage of the growth potential that the international market presents.
The revenue lost due to demonetisation can be recovered and DreamFolks can create a better brand
image for itself by working with DragonPass. DreamFolks will also be able provide a greater variety
of services to its customers and learn to adapt to new market conditions and cultures with the help of
this collaboration. The collaboration may lead to certain problems such as difficulties in managing
the global operations however these hurdles can be overcome by using plans set by the CEO Mr.
Anurag Prakash Lal. According to the financial analysis, the firm is in a stable position and
profitable enough to consider expansion into new markets and go through with a market
development strategy. An area for further study would be looking at the financial data of DragonPass
which would allow for a better evaluation of the collaboration decision.
RECOMMENDATION
After considering DreamFolks’s current way of operation and analyzing and taking into account all
the qualitative and quantitative information available, it would be advisable for them to collaborate
with DragonPass. It is recommended that minimal financial help in the form of loans should be taken
in order to keep the gearing ratio low which is currently on the higher side. A limitation in the
research was that brief versions of the financial documents were provided by DreamFolks as they
wanted to keep some information confidential due to which the ratio analysis may not be as reliable.

21. 21
BIBLIOGRAPHY
• Sinhal, Saurabh. “Flight Ticket Sales Dip 10% as Travel Plans Take a Hit.” The Times Of
India, 15 Nov. 2016, timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Flight-ticket-sales-dip-10-as-travel-
plans-take-a-hit/articleshow/55425829.cms.
• Phadnis, Ashwini. “GST, Demonetisation May Impact Aviation Market Growth:
CAPA.”@Businessline, 27 Dec. 2016,
www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/logistics/gst-demonetisation-may-impact-aviation-
market-growth-capa/article9447320.ece.
• “Annual Growth in Global Air Traffic Passenger Demand from 2005-2018.” Statista, 1 Jan.
2017, www.statista.com/statistics/193533/growth-of-global-air-traffic-passenger-demand/.
• Hoang, Paul. Business Management. IBID Press, 2014.

22. 22
APPENDIX A
Transcript of the interview with Mr. Mukesh Yadav –
1. Me – Hello Sir, Let’s start with what DreamFolks is all about.
Mr. Mukesh Yadav – Hey, DreamFolks is basically a lounge access service provider. We
provide these services in 40 locations across India and are looking to expand our operations
worldwide. I found this company back in 2011 with the other two founders, Mr. Dinesh Nagpal
and Mrs. Liberetha Kallat. Since the start we have been looking to make a name for ourselves
and to focus on providing the best possible services to our customers.
2. Me – What do you think about the collaboration with DragonPass?
Mr. Mukesh Yadav – I have always wanted to get DreamFolks to the global platform, to see
this company cater to customers worldwide and this vision of mine can come true with the help
of this collaboration. DragonPass is a well established firm in the international market and is
currently there in 120 countries worldwide with 1800+ touch-points which involve lounges and
restaurants. They also provide additional services such as meet and greet and wellness services. I
feel that this collaboration will be a good decision to go through with.
3. Me – What are the terms of the collaboration?
Mr. Mukesh Yadav – DreamFolks will serve to all of DragonPass’s customers that come to
India and DragonPass will provide is services to DreamFolks’s customers who travel abroad. The
agreement states that all the profits and losses made on per visit basis by the customers of the
brands will be divided half-half between the two organizations.
4. Me – Thank you for all the information and your valuable time sir.

23. 23
APPENDIX B
Transcript of the interview with Mr. Anurag Prakash Lal -
1. Me – Hi Sir, what are the problems that you think DreamFolks might face as a result of
this collaboration with DragonPass?
Mr. Anurag Prakash Lal – One of the biggest problems would be the global operations
coordination as it is more complex as compared to managing operations in a single country.
Managing personnel from different nationalities will be a big challenge. Another problem would
be the single currency pricing for trips all around the world as the costs and per visit lounge rates
vary substantially across countries.
2. Me – Is there a way to tackle these problems? Please elaborate if there’s a plan in place.
Mr. Anurag Prakash Lal – Yes there are plans to tackle these problems. The first problem can
be solved by having designated operations heads for all regions and forming a committee which
will consolidate all the issues and will come up with solutions and recommendations for the
DreamFolks and DragonPass management to act upon. To solve the second problem, we are
thinking of a pricing solution to convert all the costs into a particular currency which would be
from local currency to USD. This way a single rate based on weighted average volume of visits
will be offered to clients.
3. Me – Thank you very much for your valuable time and inputs sir. It is immensely
appreciable.

24. 24
APPENDIX C
Data for the financial ratio graphs of DreamFolks -
2015-2016 2016-2017
Net Profit Margin 3.05% 8.22%
ROCE 44.06% 75.31%
Gearing Ratio 10.88% 27.53%

25. 25
APPENDIX D
Letter of Authentication