RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT

SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING & DESIGNResearch Unit for Modern Architecture Studies in Southeast Asia

Foundation of Natural Build Environments (FNBE)

English 2 [ENGL0205]

STATIONARY BUSINESS

GROUP MEMBERS:

ALVIN TAN SHING YEOU (0314850)EUGENE PENG YAP SIANG (0315259)BENNY TAN SHOWIE (0315447)CHAN PIN QI (0314676) MACY KHOR SEEM LENG (0315208)LEE JO YEE (0314880)

- More than just pencils selling -

Stationery Business: more than pencils selling

ContentsINTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................3

INTRODUCTION OF RESEARCH PROJECT.............................................................................3

INTRODUCTION OF STATIONERY SHOP...............................................................................3

KEY SUMMARY.........................................................................................................................4

THE HISTORY OF THE STATIONERY BUSINESS...........................................................................4

DOWN-SLOPE BUSINESS......................................................................................................4

BACKGROUND INFORMATION OF THE BUSINESS:....................................................................5

HENG CO STATIONERY SHOP...............................................................................................5

TEE SENG SDN BHD..............................................................................................................6

VISION ART...........................................................................................................................7

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE BUSINESSES’ COMPETITIVE TRAITS.....................................7

VISION ART...........................................................................................................................7

TEE SENG SDN BHD..............................................................................................................8

HENG CO STATIONERY SHOP...............................................................................................9

CONCLUSION......................................................................................................................10

RECOMMENDATION...............................................................................................................11

VISION ART.........................................................................................................................11

TEE SENG SDN BHD............................................................................................................11

HENG CO STATIONERY SHOP.............................................................................................12

BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.

APPENDICES............................................................................................................................13

APPENDICES 1 : PHOTO......................................................................................................13

VISION ART.....................................................................................................................13

TEE SENG........................................................................................................................17

HENG CO STATIONERY SHOP..........................................................................................20

APPENDICES 2: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS....................................................26

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INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION OF RESEARCH PROJECTThe main focus of this assignment was to compare the similarities

and contrasting differences of three specific business . We will be

doing a research on stationery shop ,focusing on three very-owned

stationary shop in Subang Jaya, Kuala Lumpur which are Vision Art

& Stationery shop , Tee Seng Sdn Bhd and PJS 7 Stationary shop .

This aim of this research project is to compare the alter business

strategies used by different owners respectively. We will mainly

enquire about their history and the differences of how the business

has been operating between now and then. (Home: Categories:

Education and Communications :Research and Review, 2014)

INTRODUCTION OF STATIONERY SHOPStationery shop is a place where you can find a large range pens,

paper, envelopes , ink toners and other supplies for home or

office .Stationery has historically pertained to a wide gamut of

materials: paper and office supplies, writing implements, greeting

cards, glue, pencil cases and other similar items. The usage and

marketing of stationery is a niche industry that is increasingly

threatened by electronic media. As stationery is intrinsically linked

to paper and the process of written, personalized communication,

many techniques of stationery manufacture are employed, of

varying desirability and expense. (Hannon, 2013)

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KEY SUMMARY

THE HISTORY OF THE STATIONERY BUSINESS

DOWN-SLOPE BUSINESS Nowadays, the stationary manufacture sector is filled with 60% from China 30% from Japan & 10% from others like Malaysia, Thailand, and etc. (Sheng, 2013)

Before 1980s, global market was just local manufacture and not much of international trade. In the decade of the 1990’s the world is entering a period of economic prosperity and China as well. Due to low labor cost and higher productivity, China increase production from small portion to at least 10-15% raise per year. (Reportlinker : Customer Goods and Service)

The market now is divided into two main sections, high quality product by advance country & lower quality product by growing economy. Malaysia’s manufacturer was eliminated since 2000’s, because of higher labor cost and only the higher quality manufacturer survived.

Stepping into internet era, the retailing market competition increases gradually into free trade with the growth of online trader. Retail success is no longer all about physical stores, due to the increases in retailers now offering online store interfaces for consumers.

With the rapid growth of online shopping, comes a wealth of new market footprint coverage opportunities for online dealer that can offshore market demands and service requirements, like more specific product that can only be found through online market

In a nut shell, local stationary industry face two major challenges since 1990’s, which are global competitors and flexibility of online dealers.

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BACKGROUND INFORMATION OF THE BUSINESS:

Before we go for the interview, we have done some background research about this three stationery shops through various channel such as on-site observation, books, verbal surveys from the residents and etc. Below are our findings.

HENG CO STATIONERY SHOPThe first shop is an old traditional stationery shop situated at

Jalan PJS 7/15 known as Heng Co stationery shop. It is a 6062 ft small shop below the residential flats and operated from morning 11am to 7pm evening. At the entrance, there are some toy vending machines, that kind where you slot in coins in exchange for a mysterious toy wrapped in a plastic ball-like casing and also a big ice cream machines there. For a moment, you will most probably feel like you have traveled back in time because of these vintage furniture. Furthermore, most of the furniture such as the book shelves, racks, bamboo chairs, tables and wardrobes were handmade by the owner’s father and has a very high sentimental value. The shop is not occupied with any high technology electronics appliances but just a traditional ceiling fan in a shabby condition. Although the products are kept inside the glass-shielded counter, it is not hard to notice some have covered with dust and even yellowed with age.

After some conversation between the owner, Mrs.Chang Lin Lee and our group members who are Benny Tan and Lee Jo Yee, we have learned that the shop not only sell stationery but provide basic sewing service too. Mrs. Chang The shop sold hardware products previously but slowly has stopped because lack of demand in this particular area. She serves around 10 customers per day with most of them are students from the nearby primary school and some elderly residents nearby.

Speaking of the history, the business has started back to 1960 when it was situated at Sungai Wang Tin Ming upon the request from the British rulers. The local ruler of that time was an English man and has asked the owner’s mother, Mrs. Khor Sai

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Ngoh to open a stationery shop for the convenience of the villagers at the area. With the fear being punished, her family has accepted the model provided by the British and opened a shop obediently. Mrs.Khor passed away after 3 years the shop was established and has her husband and 18 years old Mrs Chang Lin Lee to continue the business. The business grew rapidly and earn a great amount of profit back then until 1990s when they were forced to move to PJS 7 due to the demolition of the area in order to build more double-story houses. (TN), 1966)

TEE SENG SDN BHDThe second shop is situated at a strategic location which is

situated inside Taylor’s University Lakeside Campus, the Tee Seng Sdn Bhd. From the appearance, the shop looks small and seems to have nothing to offer other than some basic pens and papers; you will be fooled if you believe so. Upon stepping inside the shop, you will be welcomed by the owner, a 55 years old friendly looking uncle, Mr. Loo Tee Seng. With another 2 employees a girl from South-Africa and a local boy, he sells stationery and provides Photostat, printing and binding services to their main customer source which is the Taylor’s University community. They serve around 50 customers per day with most of them are students, lecturers, school officers and clerks. The shop is fully air-conditioned and the products are neatly arranged in shelves or hung on racks. The uncle keeps an eye on the hygiene of the store all the time and makes sure that his customers queue up for the printing service during peak hours.

From the interview between our group members Macy Khor

and Chan Pin Qi and Mr.Loo, we have learned that before the shop

was established together with Taylor’s University Lakeside Campus

in 2011, the owner Mr.Loo worked with his brother in a stationary

shop located at KL Jalan Ampang in 1996. Back then, it was a huge

business where their customers are mostly large cooperation

companies. They have signed contracts and have great business

cooperation with those big cooperations. He shared his experience

by telling us the importance of strategy location of the business and

also the specialty of the business you provide to the customer.

Their specialty field was providing binding services like binding of

books or magazine as there were a lot of engineering firm around

their location back then. After working with his brother for more

than 20 years, he decided to retire from his work and find a more

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relaxing work to pass his time as his daughter and son were all

grown up .In 2010, he meet his old friend, Datuk Loy, the owner of

the Taylor’s University and was notified that there was shop lots in

the commercial block available for him to start his stationary shop

business. Initially, the business did not go very well as most of the

students were not relocated in this new campus (Taylor Lakeside

University campus). However, for the next 2 years, the business

has showed great improvement because of the increase in the

student population along with the improvement in Malaysia

economics. (Country Intelligence: Report: Malaysia., 2013)

VISION ARTAlvin Tan and Eugene Peng have been assigned to interview

another well-known stationery shop known as “Vision Art” which is situated at 3, Jalan PJS 11/28,Bandar Sunway, 46150, Petaling Jaya is another favorite spot for art students around Bandar Sunway. Other than the Singaporean investor Mr. James, the founders and also the owner of the shop Mr. Franky and Mrs. Winny Hiau welcome around 150 customers everyday with most of them from Sunway University, The One Academy and Taylor’s University. With only 3 Malay female employees, they sell mainly stationery and vast options of art materials and provide Photostat and binding service. There are many choices The one and only Vision Art has most of their products up to date and they are nicely arranged on the book shelves and situated in a specific area so that students may help themselves in searching their desired materials. The shop is also fully air-conditioned and occupied with close-circuit televisions (CCTV) to ensure the security in the shop.

After having a quick chat with Mr.Franky, we have learned that the history of the business can be traced back to the period from 1994 to 1997 when they had been introduced to a stationery supplier and decided to start a small shop in PJS state with the target customer are the students of Saito Academic of Art College. Starting with a very small model and without much expectation, the business grew and earned more profit than they have expected and eventually require a bigger venue. They moved to Bandar Sunway at 1998 and the number of customers has increased since from previously 80% students vs 20% outsiders to now 50% students vs 50% outsiders. Outsiders are some office workers, professional artists, photographers, lecturers and so on.

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COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE BUSINESSES’ COMPETITIVE TRAITS

As fellow architecture students, we understand the

importance of stationeries and various art tools in our pursuit of

our career. In this research assignment, we made these stationary

shops as our interview subjects. We analyze the business’s

competitive traits of these shops, which are namely Vision Art,

Heng Co and Tee Seng.

VISION ARTOut of these three shops, Vision Art has 20 years history and

thus more experienced in this particular field. As the business go

on, the goods and services provided diversified as well. The shops

has started giving printing and binding service but these services

face furious competition as more and more professional printing

shops emerge in vicinity. They can only depend on the cheaper

price and faster speed as they stand no chance in the battle of

quality against these shops. As per their printing and binding

service, they applied the same strategy on their goods as well. They

lower the price of their goods according to the customers’

feedbacks and demands. Their strategy is to attract customers with

their cheaper price vast diversity of goods.

Most of their customers are art students from nearby

universities and working designers. This is the one of the

immediate causes of its goods diversification towards art tools. This

specialization is one of its advantages as these goods are not very

common. Another advantage is the well-trained employees. They

are familiar with all the goods and their purpose and other detailed

information. They provide advice and left a good impression in the

customers that are unfamiliar with these goods. As such, the shop

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is frequently promoted through words from others and gained a

strong reputation, especially in the nearby universities.

However, these art tools are also rather expensive, thus it is

hard to just rely on these art tools alone. On the other hand, the

more common goods such as A4 papers and pens face more

competition from many others shops around area SS 15. Another

major disadvantage is the location of the shop. There are very few

numbers of parking lots around the shop so it is really difficult for

people to stop by and stay for a long time.

TEE SENG SDN BHD Comparatively, Tee Seng Sdn Bhd has the shortest history

among the three shops. However, the owner has experience

running a stationary shop before opening this shop in Taylor’s

University lakeside Campus. Since this shop was establish as pass

time business, the owner does really care about the present

competition and hence no strategy is used. The pricing is higher

than the stationary shops outside of the campus because of the

higher rental.

The shop also provides printing and binding service. It faces

competition from other printing and binding service within the

campus and outside of the campus. Its printing service is especially

unprofitable because of the good printing service provided by the

library. It is more student-friendly and better in quality as well with

same price. The variety of the goods in the shop is also very limited

that students have to go outside to get required art tools. This is

most likely due to the small space of the shop that inhibited the

shop’s further development.

The shop’s only advantage against other stationary shops is

its location which is within the university compound, making it

more convenient for the students as no transportation is needed.

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The numbers of students in the university is also steadily

increasing.

HENG CO STATIONERY SHOPHeng Co has the longest history among the three shops but it

can be categorized as sunset business at that area. The owner is

the 2nd generation of the business and wish to continue the

business as pass time business. Therefore, there is no strategy to

use at the shop and the price is lower than the other stationary

shop because it doesn’t have to pay the rental fee. It doesn’t have

printing and binding service as other shop but it provided sewing

service to the old customer.

One of its advantages is the short walking distance to the

residents in the area since it situated in the residential area. The

main source of customer is student from primary and secondary

school. This is one of the main causes of the cheaper price goods.

Another advantage is the cheaper price of goods, the goods are

generally cheaper than other stationary shops at the same business

area. For example, the manila card it sells with RM 0.60 but the

other shop sells RM 1.00.

Since their profit is less than RM50 per day, the owner is

selling breakfast in the morning market before the stationary shop

start operation. I think this is the strategy for the business and

owner herself. Previously, the stall is situated in front of the

stationary shop, so it brings the customer to the shop but it has

moved to the morning market nearby after getting complain of

blocking the parking places.

CONCLUSION(Blais, 2012)

In conclusion, the Vision Art is the most successful among the

three stationary shops because of its diversity of goods and

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cheaper price whereas Tee Seng Sdn Bhd has highest pricing,

albeit, the nearest and most convenient but Heng Co. stationary

shop has lowest pricing, near and convenient to the resident

around. Other than Heng Co. stationary shop, Vision Art and Tee

Send Sdn Bhd both manage to get an annual revenue figure of

more than RM 1,000,000. With just the advantage of location alone,

Tee Seng Sdn Bhd was able get on par with Vision Art. Tee Seng

Sdn Bhd with only 3 years old is also very much younger than

Vision Art which is 20 years old. Furthermore, Heng Co. stationary

shop is 54 years old but its revenue isn’t much if compare to them.

The effect of location of a business is clearly shown in this scenario.

Although Vision Art and Heng Co are not placed in a

university, but Vision Art has a pretty good location. It is located in

the vicinity of Sunway Pyramid Shopping Mall and a residential

area. Heng Co is located near the Pangsapuri Mutiara Perdana in

PJS 7. Vision Art possesses higher exposure to the public compare

to Tee Seng Sdn Bhd which is confined in the university and Heng

Co which is confined in the residential area. Outsiders are less

likely to travel to a university compound to purchase stationeries.

Both of Vision Art and Tee Seng Sdn Bhd adopted the same

strategy with their pricing but Tee Seng Sdn Bhd has got a slight

disadvantage due to its higher rental price. However, Heng Co has

the cheapest pricing due to the shop is owned by itself.

Nonetheless, Vision Art has more diversified and specialized goods

that attract students with more advanced demands. Therefore, it

has a wider range of customers which allows it to triumph over

others easily. They are not just limited to the students of one

university or primary and secondary school as Tee Seng Sdn Bhd

and Heng Co , instead they are consisted of students from different

universities and many other sources.

All three of the stationary shops basically face similar

competitors but the number of strong competitors is very

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negligible. The market has a nature of oligopoly. All three of the

shops entered this market with different methods. The owner of

Vision Art has established relationship with good suppliers while

the owner of Tee Seng Sdn Bhd has prior working experience.

These are just the basic criteria to enter the market. Even with all

the criteria fulfilled, it is still very hard to enter the market due to

its oligopoly nature. Unless it can establish a good reputation

among the local communities and insure a good amount of

customers in a short time, the business will last for long.

RECOMMENDATION (Bharadwaj, Anandhi ; El Sawy, Omar A ; Pavlou, Paul A. ; Venkatraman, N., 2013)

VISION ART Limited space in Vision Art has become the biggest problem in running the business. It is always filled up with customer but will never get enough space to move around. Imagine when people carrying the materials that are large in scale moving around the shop. Besides, stocks are piled up until the ceiling. It will be a threat when people walking by in the risk of goods falling down. Therefore, larger space is needed to fit in the customers and the stocks existed.

Other than larger space is recommended, student price discount is also a preferable way of running a stationery business in the area of various university existed. Student who have zero income and still gaining financial support from their parents will find it a burden for monthly expense especially architecture or design school students which need variety of materials from different price range. Therefor, price should be lower down when comes to students. (NIEMAND, 2013)

TEE SENG SDN BHDTee Seng is now encountering a threat, which then affect its business performance, which is the rental. The rental here has reached its high peak until RM 4000 per month excluding the electricity and maintenance fee, therefore, the pricing will be a bit higher compare to others which then lose his customer. Price

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should be a standard price and figure out another way of solving the rental problem.

The goods in Tee Seng are founded not sufficient when comes to modeling. More variety of goods is recommended for the shop in order to increase its profit. This will then be a preferable place for students, as no travel is needed.

HENG CO STATIONERY SHOPThe maintenance of shop lot structure is recommended to improve. As shop lot has been standing for over few decades, it is already old and full of dust. Running a business should have a good impression for customers in order to attract them. That’s why it should start renovation of the shop if the business wants to be continued. If the business is not meant to continue, a promotion is needed to clear its stock out and gain back the cost of running it.

Besides, the arrangement of goods being displayed is a biggest problem in attracting the customers, as it does not look like a stationery shop. People tend to ignore the shop, as it is nothing that can let them know there’s a business running inside. Moreover, old furniture like altar and the Rotan chair are recommended to be discarded from the shop as they should not be them who becoming the focus of the business instead of the stationery. If the sticks are placed in a neat way, customers can notice the goods easier, the performance increase, and yet it still has the chance of surviving in this competitive business. (Nazari & Allahyar, 2012)

BIBLIOGRAPHYBharadwaj, Anandhi ; El Sawy, Omar A ; Pavlou, Paul A. ; Venkatraman, N. (2013). DIGITAL BUSINESS STRATEGY: TOWARD A NEXT GENERATION OF INSIGHTS. TOWARD A NEXT GENERATION OF INSIGHTS. , 471-482.

Blais, S. (2012). Business Analysis : Best Practices for Success. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley Press .

(2013). Country Intelligence: Report: Malaysia. Malaysia: Malaysia Country Monitor.

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Hannon, K. (2013, October ). Money. The Write Stuff , p. p29.

Home: Categories: Education and Communications :Research and Review. (2014, February 10th). Retrieved February 10th, 2014, from www.wikihow.com: http://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Research-Paper

Nazari, A., & Allahyar, N. (2012). Grammar Teaching Revisited. EFL Teachers between Grammar Abstinence and Formal Grammar Teaching , 16.

NIEMAND, T. (2013). 7 DEADLY SINS OF BUSINESS OWNERS. p49-49.

Reportlinker : Customer Goods and Service. (n.d.). Retrieved February 2nd , 2014, from Reportlinker web site: http://www.reportlinker.com/ci02159/Office-Supply-and-Stationery.html

Sheng, L. P. (2013, December 8th). Several Trends Affect Future Stationery Development. Retrieved February 9th, 2014, from http://www.made-in-china.com/: http://resources.made-in-china.com/article/industry-trends/amYQdItOTnif/Several-Trends-Affect-Future-Stationery-Development/

TN), J. L. (1966). Small business problems in urban areas. Government Document.

APPENDICES

APPENDICES 1 : PHOTO

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VISION ART

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Figure 1: Front view of Vision Art stationery shop outside Sunway Pyramid shopping complex.

Figure 2: Picture of Alvin and one of the owners of Vision Art, Mr. Franky.


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Figure 3: Picture of worker serving customer and recommending the product which suitable for the customer.

Figure 4: Rack of putting variety of papers at the end of the shop.


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Figure 5: The other side of Vision Art, which rented to a telecommunication shop.

Figure 6: rack of Kure pen in variety of colors.


TEE SENG

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Figure 8: Front view of Tee Seng stationery shop.

Figure 13: Picture of Macy and the owner, Tee Seng.


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Figure 9: rack of pen being sold

Figure 10: Little corner, which acts as counter.


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Figure 11: Two binding machine in the shop.

Figure 12: Variety of tape being hanged for easier approach.


HENG CO STATIONERY SHOP

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Figure 15: Owner of the Pjs shop.

Figure 14: Side view of Pjs 7 shop.


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Figure 16: Old radio being displayed at the corner of the shop.

Figure 17: Pictures of sewing machine.

Figure 18: Old cupboards which fill up the stock.

Figure 19: Place where act as guardian for their business. Figure 20: cupboard of stocking products, which lack of sale.


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Figure 20: Old stuff being stacked in a messy way. Figure 21: Toy machine outside the shop to attract children.

Figure 22: Fridge selling ice cream. Figure 23: Accessories of daily stuff also being sold instead of stationery such as battery.


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Figure 24: Picture of Benny and the owner.

Figure 25: Picture of Joyee and the owner.


APPENDICES 2: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

NAME OF THE SHOP : VISION ART

DATE : 3 /1/2014

TIME : 1.00 p.m to 2.30 p.m

INTERVIEWER : Alvin Tan & Eugene Peng

Front view of Vision Art stationery shop outside Sunway Pyramid shopping complex.

1. When was the business founded and who are the key founders?

- Started since 1994, with 3 founders, Franky 52 years old, Winny 46 years old, James 57 years old from Singapore.

- James as the main investor, he invest the money since 20 years ago and never invest anymore, just share the profit yearly.

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2. What prompted the founders to start this business?

- Reason start up business, mainly to find a business which can make money, and know where to find the source. (friend introduce them a stationary supplier)

3. What are your main products?

- Main product are material & stationary, mainly retailing and servicing (Photostat & binding)

4. Who are your customers?

- Average of 150 customer per day

5. Can you provide us a brief history of your business and its most recent developments?

- Started with very small model with a small shop in PJS state during 1994-1997 because they targeted Saito Academic of Art College student. But move to Bandar Sunway at 1998 because they aim for a better market, The One Academy College student. Result is better and profit of business increase and bigger model.

- The customer source increase especially outsider. From 80% student vs 20%outsider increase to 50% student vs 50% outsider. Average of 50 customer increase to 150 customer per day.

6. Is the business constantly facing strong competition from other competitors? What strategies have they used to compete with you?

-Price setting is mainly by reflection of the product sales, and also customer feedback, will adjust the pricing once the certain product sales is not good (not always happen, as long as reasonable price setting strategy). Price setting is not depending on competitors.

7. How do you compete with your competitors i.e. what strategies do you employ to divert customers away from your competitors?

- Strategy to stock their stock, once the product finish, boss will call the supplier, not really have fix period like order once a month, or order twice a month, its all depends on how much stock left. Will stock more if better

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selling product. Supplier will introduce them new product, hence no research needed.

- Main competitors are from nearby and online shops, nearby – SS15 stationary shop & Shah Alam section 2 stationary shop.

- But they don’t do much of market survey and research, never visit any stationary shop for special purpose.

8. Are your pricing decisions strongly affected by your competitors?

- Strategy to stock their stock, once the product finish, boss will call the supplier, not really have fix period like order once a month, or order twice a month, its all depends on how much stock left. Will stock more if better selling product. Supplier will introduce them new product, hence no research needed.

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NAME OF THE SHOP : TEE SENG STATIONERY SHOP ( Taylor’s commercial block )

DATE : 10 /1/2014

TIME : 3.00 p.m to 5.15 p.m

INTERVIEWER : Khor Seem Leng & Pinky Chan

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Front view of Tee Seng stationery shop.

1. Can you provide us a brief history of your business and its most

recent developments?

- Loo Tee Seng ,the founder of this stationary shop graduated from

one of the university in UK in 1985 with a degree in

economics .After he graduated ,he travel for a few years and

studying about the psychology of human beings .He learned about

the attitude of human being ,get to know more about the mentality

of society .He then work with his brother in a stationary shop

located at KL Jalan Ampang in 1996 .Back then ,it was a huge

business where their customer are mostly large cooperation

company. They also did have a lot of contract with big cooperation

company ,running a big business back then. He also did stress on

the importance of strategy location of the business and also the

specialty of the business you provide to the customer .Their

specialty field was providing binding services like binding of books

or magazine as there were a lot of engineering firm around their

location back then .After working with his brother for more than 20

years ,he decided to retire from his work and find a more relaxing

work to pass his time as his daughter and son were all grown up .In

2010 ,he meet his old friend ,Datuk Loy that is going to launch a

new Taylor campus that is Taylor University Lakeside

campus .With the connection he have with Datuk Loy ,he rented

one of the shop lot in the commercial block to start his stationary

shop business .That is where his business start to operate when

Taylor’s university started three years ago. The initial year of the

business did not really progress well as not all the students are

relocated in this new campus ( Taylor Lakeside University

campus ).However, for the next 2 years ,the progress of the

business were establishing because of the population of students

start to increase but then competitors start to invade in .The

business were establishing quite slowly due to the space of the

shop and the increase rate of competitors.

2. Do you have many competitors? Who are they? Who are your top 3

competitors?

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- Yes ,the shop besides his shop selling a few kind of stationary

products ,the library and the shop near Student life center .All of

them are doing quite similar business such as providing binding

and printing services .

3. Is the business constantly facing strong competition from other

competitors? What strategies have they used to compete with you?

- Yes , lower pricing ,conveniency ( library –improve their facilities by

having dropbox for smartphones )

4. How much capital is required to start this business? What, if any,

specialized field of knowledge do you need to run this business?

- RM 150,000. According to Mr. Loo, do not need any specific

knowledge to run his business. Only thing need to know about is

where to get the suppliers and some basic knowledge to the machine

being used. Previously, in his young age, he had been practicing the

binding book service when he was operating his old stationary shop

beside KLCC where there’s lots of engineering firm at the area.

Besides, knowledge of managing human resources is very essential in

running this business. Worker being trained and left the shop

happened very common in Tee Sheng shop. As it is a less challenging

job, people tend to leave while they have gained certain basic

knowledge on how to manage the printing machine.

5. Generally, do you feel it is easy or hard to enter this market?

Why?

- It is hard to enter this market because the competition out there is

much more stronger than imagined. One cannot stand still in this

business if they are not competitive enough.

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6. How do you compete with your competitors i.e. what strategies do

you employ to divert customers away from your competitors?

- Actually, in the state of just want to settle down and passing time

through retirement, there are no strategies being used to divert

customers away from the competitors. Customers have the right to

choose where they prefer. However, because of its location is at the

commercial block, people tend to buy things there. Therefore, the

location will be their only strategy to attract people. However, some

who are studying at the academic block will find it inconvenient to

buy things there.

7. How often do you release a new product (this assumes the

business sells differentiated products)?

- Once or twice a year will introduce new products. He tried his best in

introducing variety of products in order to increase the business

performance and keep them updated.


The competitors do not affect the pricing decision here. It is the rental who

affect. The price will be higher compare to the competitors as cost used for

the rental and maintenance of machine is high. As the owner does not care

about how much he earned, it is oaky for students to choose others rather

than him.

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NAME OF THE SHOP : HENG CO STATIONERY SHOP

DATE : 8 /1/2014

TIME : 1.00 p.m to 2.30 p.m

INTERVIEWER : Benny Tan & Lee Jo Yee

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Side view of Heng Co stationery shop .

1. When was the business founded and who are the key founders?

- Started since 1960, with founders, Khor Sai Ngoh

- British boss of tin mining as the main sponsor, he sponsor the money for the shop opening to the founder.

2. What prompted the founders to start this business?

- Reason start up business, mainly is asked by the British boss of tin mining to give benefit, advantage and convenient to the villagers at that time.

3. What are your main products?

- Main products are thread, stationary, rope, hardware (stop selling)

4. Who are your customers?

- Mainly are student from primary and secondary school nearby the shop in the residential area.

5. Can you provide us a brief history of your business and its most recent developments?

- 1960s, Khor Sai Ngoh started business at sungai wang tin mining by the sponsor of British boss of the tin mining. The target customer is the villagers from the area. Her husband and son continue her business after 3 years. 1990s, moved to Pjs 7 because the government want to demolish the previous place to build double story houses. The business revenue decrease day by day and now only maintain the shop operation, not for earning.

- The customer source is 90% come from the nearby primary and secondary school due to the cheap pricing, 10% come from the resident nearby.

6. Is the business constantly facing strong competition from other competitors? What strategies have they used to compete with you?

-No, price setting is mainly cheaper compare to others shop since the owner just want to maintain the shop

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- Main competitors are from a nearby stationary shop.


- Not really, just maintain the cheap and reasonable pricing

APPENDICES 3: THE DIFFERENCES AND SIMILARITIES BETWEEN THE 3 BUSINESS.

VISION ART TEE SENG SDN

BHD

HENG CO.

PRICING Reasonable Highest Lowest

STRATEGY Yes No No

LOCATION Excellent Good Bad

GOODS

VARIETY

Diversified Limited Limited

RENTAL PRICE Reasonable High None

NUMBER OF

EMPLOYEES

3 2 0

ANNUAL

REVENUE

Highest High Lowest

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SHOPSAREA

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RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT

Education

Transcript of RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT