Eng group-assignment

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SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN FOUNDATION IN NATURAL AND BUILT ENVIRONMENT Presentation Title: A Comparative Analysis of 2 Businesses of Similar Industry in Different Geographical Locations Group Members: Names Presentation & Report Roles Adele Lu Key Summary, Compilation, Minutes Chloe Teh Presentation Slides, Appendix, References Dana Kan Brief Description, Strategies Employed Danica Gan Brief Description, Strategies Employed Phares Phung Interviewer, Recommendation Ong Von Wan Competitive Analysis Table, Interviewer Shum Li Sze Videographer, Video Editor, Interviewer ENGLISH II (ELG 30605) | ASSIGNMENT 2: RESEARCH REPORT | pg. 1

Transcript of Eng group-assignment

SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN

FOUNDATION IN NATURAL AND BUILT ENVIRONMENT

Presentation Title: A Comparative Analysis of 2 Businesses of Similar Industry in Different Geographical Locations

Group Members:

Names Presentation & Report Roles

Adele Lu Key Summary, Compilation, Minutes

Chloe Teh Presentation Slides, Appendix, References

Dana Kan Brief Description, Strategies Employed

Danica Gan Brief Description, Strategies Employed

Phares Phung Interviewer, Recommendation

Ong Von Wan Competitive Analysis Table, Interviewer

Shum Li Sze Videographer, Video Editor, Interviewer

English II (ELG 30605)

Lecturer: Mr. GopiGhantan Mylvaganam

Submission date: 15TH January 2016 (Friday)

ENGLISH II (ELG 30605) | ASSIGNMENT 2: RESEARCH REPORT | pg. 1

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title Page NumbersCover Page 1Table of Contents 2Key Summary 3History of Sundry Shop 4

1.0 History of Trade 51.1 Perniagaan Lee Min 51.2 KwongTuck Sundries & Liquors Sdn.Bhd 5

2.0 Brief Description of Business 62.1 Perniagaan Lee Min 62.2 KwongTuck Sundries & Liquors Sdn.Bhd 7-8

3.0 Competitors of Business 93.1 Perniagaan Lee Min 93.2 KwongTuck Sundries & Liquors Sdn.Bhd 9

4.0 Strategy Employed of Business 104.1 Perniagaan Lee Min 104.2 KwongTuck Sundries & Liquors Sdn.Bhd 10

5.0 Comparative Analysis of Business’ Comparative 115.1 Summary Table Between Both Business 125.2 Summary Analysis of the Similarities & Differences

13

6.0 Nature of their Market 147.0 Obstacles Faced by New Business 158.0 Recommendation 169.0 Biblography 17

Appendices∙ Appendix 1: Transcript with Answers∙ Appendix 2: Photos∙ Appendix 3: Meeting minutes

18-25

References 26

ENGLISH II (ELG 30605) | ASSIGNMENT 2: RESEARCH REPORT | pg. 2

KEY SUMMARY

To deepen our understanding towards our local sundry shop businesses, as a team we researched and interviewed 2 businesses of similar industry in different geographical locations.

Perniagaan Lee Min has been operating for 30 years. Now this family business is run by the second generation. It is located at No.20, Jalan Kinrara, Puchong Selangor. It has also been the favourites of many throughout the areas since it began operating 30 years ago due to its traditional medicine that they provided to the customers.

On the other hand, KwongTuck Sundries & Liquors Sdn.Bhd was founded by the owner, Mr. Woo’s great-grandfather since over 170 years ago. It is a traditional sundry shop in the streets of Georgetown,Penang. Now Mr.Woo is the fourth generation in his family to run this business. Their name, comes from a combination for the first character from his great-grandfather's hometown (Kwangtung or Canton) and another character, de in Mandarin and tuck in Cantonese, which means 'virtue' or 'moral character'.

When these two businesses are compared, the differences in environment and other external factors lead to different business outcomes which leads to a series of analytical research that we, as a team had done.

ENGLISH II (ELG 30605) | ASSIGNMENT 2: RESEARCH REPORT | pg. 3

HISTORY OF SUNDRY SHOP

Before Malaysia gaining her independence, Chinese were brought in from China by sea travel. In the history, the three main ethnics, Malay, Chinese and Indian involved in their activities respectively. The Chinese engaged themselves in mining activities as well as business. They then started to sell goods such as dry food, herbs and traditional medicine. After the years of developing this business, traditional sundry shop was then started in our country.

The traditional Chinese sundry shop usually sells herbs, dry food, goods and traditional Chinese medicine. The sundry shop business is normally inherited and continued by the next generations of the family. The shop is the pride of the family and the surname of the family is often used as the name of the shop to represent the ownership of it.

ENGLISH II (ELG 30605) | ASSIGNMENT 2: RESEARCH REPORT | pg. 4

1.0 HISTORY OF BUSINESS

1.1 Perniagaan Lee Min

For our home based business interview, we managed to find a sundry shop located in Puchong. This business was started 30 years ago when Mr Lee’s father was the founder of this business. Perniagaan Lee Min has been operated and run by the Lee’s family of second generation in a small shop lot up till now. This sundry shop has not changed since they started the business as to keep the shop as traditional as possible for the next generation. During the day, many customers will drop by to buy some traditional groceries for their household.

1.2 KwongTuck Sundries & Liquors Sdn.Bhd

KwongTuck Sundries & Liquors Sdn.Bhd has been in the sundry business for 185 years. It is a family business that has been operated by the Kwong’s family from the 18th century. This sundry shop has been on newspapers for their well-known service in this field. Currently the owner is the 4th generation to continue the legacy of their family business. KwongTuck will operate their shop as early as 8am till 5pm to have their customers drop by for their daily needs.

ENGLISH II (ELG 30605) | ASSIGNMENT 2: RESEARCH REPORT | pg. 5

2.0 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF BUSINESS

2.1 Perniagaan Lee Min

“Perniagaan Lee Min” is a traditional sundry shop that sells products which are mainly herbs and liquor. It is located in No.20, Jalan Kinrara, Puchong, Selangor. The shop was founded by Mr. Lee in the 1980’s by the current owner’s father. As the 2nd

generation in the 30 year-old business, Mr. Lee states that his father had no high ambitions when he opened this shop. His major concern and wish at that time was only to earn a living to live well and support his family.

Throughout the years, no renovations were done and there were no changes to the shop as Mr. Lee wanted to save cost and maintain the most traditional form of business. Being a small-scale family-run business, Perniagaan Lee Min has no branches and has only two employees. Mr. Lee keeps his overheads low in order to stabilize his prices.

The humble shop lot is only one storey with a spacious storeroom at the back of the shop where they keep their stock of supplies. In a day, he receives an estimated amount of 100 to 200 customers which includes young adults and old people alike. Besides selling herbs and liquor, the products sold there also include daily household items and food such as toothbrushes, shampoos, insect repellent, snacks and packet milk. In addition to that, all his herbs and liquors are from a qualified and reliable source and are all locally supplied.

According to Mr. Lee, he does not believe in competitors and rivals. He believes everyone in their own respective businesses each have their own method of running things. Therefore, he does not have a particular strategy when dealing with customers. He emphasizes the importance of treating customers with a sincere and genuine mindset so as to provide the best quality of service to them and maintain his regular customers.

Furthermore, Mr. Lee also stated that he had gone through many hardships when he first started taking over his father’s business. In order to be successful, one has to have knowledge of traditional herbs and liquors in order to understand the customers’ needs. So after running this business for so many years, Mr. Lee had gained experience that helped him overcome the difficulties. In his honest opinion, he discourages young people to run a traditional herbs and liquors shop as it is challenging to maintain and earn in this modern society. He advises people to start a franchise business because it will be easier, more profitable and competitive. They would also have a better and well-planned out system to run their business and better opportunities to develop and expand compared to the type of business he is currently doing.

ENGLISH II (ELG 30605) | ASSIGNMENT 2: RESEARCH REPORT | pg. 6

2.2 KwongTuck Sundries & Liquors Sdn.Bhd

KwongTuck Sundries & Liquors Sendirian Berhad is a shop famously known for its quality imports and exports of liquor, sundry goods, and canned food. The shop occupies a double-storey shop house which is located at Campbell Street, which is one of the famous streets in Georgetown, Penang. The founder of this business was the late Mr. Woo Fook Yin. Mr. Woo Fook Yin started this business in the year 1831 solely due to the lack of fund in China. He came to Malaysia and started off by selling sundries and liquors in baskets around town. Later on, as his business grew he decided to stay in Malaysia and was passed on to his son Woo Kwong Sum. Woo Kwong Sum joined venture with his wife, Wang How Ling and got a shop named KwongTuck. Kwong derived from a proverb in Mandarin which means sociable and Tuck also originated from a proverb which means good personality.

This shop is currently operating for the 185th year and it is now run by Woo Shee Khow who is the 4th generation of the Woo family although the family has its 6th generation already. Kwong Tuck Sundries &Liquors Sendirian Berhad is the only shop and has no branches. Due to the reason of owning a single shop lot only and the amount of customers per day is around 60-100, they only required to hire 5 employees. The customers that patronise the shop consist of teenagers, young adults, adults and regular elders from the neighbourhood. The shop opens from 8.00am till 5.00pm daily and closes every Sunday and public holidays. Its main focus is to sell sundry and liquor products.

There are two major changes in between these 3 to 5 years which is the change in Malaysia’s economy due to the political changes and the implementation of the Government Service Tax (GST). Before the implementation of GST on the 1st of April, the shop uses traditional equipments such as a traditional weighing machine and abacus to run the business. After the 1st of April, technology was introduced to the store by setting up a new computerised system and electronic weighing machine which ease the collections of data regarding the business for accounting and also the refund of GST.

The interviewee stated that they have the principle of not competing with other businesses but rather to establish their own business. They practise this principle as not to offend others as each business has its own uniqueness and after all they have their own loyal customers. Due to the rise of similar businesses in shopping malls and online shopping, the business of the shop was affected. Supermarkets, hypermarkets and online shopping lower their prices with lots of advertisements to draw more customers. However, the owner of the shop said that the lower prices that other shops offer, do not affect them much. His strategy is to win the customer’s heart by ensuring that all their customers are well treated and the prices of their products are reasonable. They provide their customers with fresh sundry items and allow them to select on their own.

ENGLISH II (ELG 30605) | ASSIGNMENT 2: RESEARCH REPORT | pg. 7

In addition, he reminded us that doing business is a life-long learning; the businessman has to keep learning how to improve his business daily. One has to learn to adapt to the changes and challenges that come. To be successful in business is different from acquiring a skill. He further advised that in business, one should not say “Business is difficult or easy.” but “Let the business environment shape one’s business tactics.”

On the other hand, his elder brother stated that in order for the business to improve further, one would require a workforce which has a master’s degree in business. He then said it was difficult to start this type of business. He stated that by not competing with others is a very commendable practice in business but to improve one business and his shop has been opened for over a century. He further said that at the present day, it requires roughly about 1.5 million to start this type of business. When he was asked whether he would recommend us to venture into this retailing business, he said that this is a free world and one can join in any business as long as we are dare to face challenges and be proactive to be successful.

ENGLISH II (ELG 30605) | ASSIGNMENT 2: RESEARCH REPORT | pg. 8

3.0 COMPETITORS OF BUSINESS

3.1 Perniagaan Lee Min

7-eleven, located along the same row of shop lots a few blocks away from Perniagaan Lee Min. 7-eleven is a convenience chain offering grab-&-go bites & beverages, plus assorted newsstand items. However, its price range is slightly higher than at Perniagaan Lee Min.

Wah Fong Supermarket, located approximately 42 meters across Perniagaan Lee Min. This supermarket is rather big in terms of size compared to Perniagaan Lee Min. It also has a wide range of products such as vegetables, fruits, household goods and some herbs. A variety of liquors are sold here.

Home’s Mini Market, located approximately 84m away from Perniagaan Lee Min. It is a mini mart that does not have a variety of choices. They sell food and other ordinary daily goods but there are not specialize in traditional herbs and liquor.

3.2 KwongTuck Sundries & Liquors Sdn.Bhd

Syarikat Loh Yoon Poon, located 2 doors away from KwongTuck Sdn. Bhd. Syarikat Loh Yoon Poon sells similar goods as KwongTuck Sdn. Bhd.

On the opposite side of the road stood Veng Taat Soon Enterprise Sdn. Bhd, sells a wide range of products which include herbs, medcines, instant coffee, carbonated drinks and ice-cream.

There is also Khoon Lok Medecine, located at Lebuh Citra, which is parallel to Campbell Street. This shop only sells various types of traditional medicine and some bottled drinks.

Another shop by the name Weng Heng Medecine Sdn.Bhde, which is also located along Lebuh Citra, specialises in traditional medecines.

ENGLISH II (ELG 30605) | ASSIGNMENT 2: RESEARCH REPORT | pg. 9

4.0 STRATEGY EMPLOYED OF BUSINESS

4.1 Perniagaan Lee Min

According to Mr. Lee, he pays attention to the quality of services and products to his customers. He tries his best to understand his customers’ needs and treats each and every one of them honestly and sincerely. The workers there will greet the customers politely and provide assistance whenever they need to. With a knowledge in traditional herbs, Mr. Lee also provides medical advices as which herbs would be best to cure which ailments in order to help customers identify their problems. As he does not advertise, most of his customers who visit daily are regulars. The products sold here at Perniagaan Lee Min are also of good quality, fresh and reliable. Expired and outdated goods that are not sold within a long period of time will be taken down and replenished with new and fresh ones. He knows that his products’ quality will speak for themselves and customers will naturally want to buy from his shop again next time. Moreover, the prices of the food and herbs are also affordable and reasonable. Prices of the goods did not hike up too much due to 6% GST.

4.2 KwongTuck Sundries & Liquors Sdn.Bhd

KwongTuck Sundries & Liquors Sdn.Bhd has their good pricing for the items that are sold, giving costumers prices that are reasonable according to its quality. Whereas, the services KwongTuck produces are to ensure that their customers are well treated and treated with honesty by the employees. For the products, this sundry shop provides to their customers with fresh sundry items and allows them to select by themselves for what they are looking for.

ENGLISH II (ELG 30605) | ASSIGNMENT 2: RESEARCH REPORT | pg. 10

5.0 COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF BUSINESS’ COMPARATIVE TRAITS

Perniagaan Lee Min(Selangor)

KwongTuck Sundries & Liquors Sdn.Bhd (Penang)

i. Number of Competitors

3 4

ii. Barrier to Entry

Low. The business has less competition. Good customer count. Experience gained overtime. Master’s Degree in Business necessary to start.

Low. The business has less competition around. Customer count is steady. Experience is necessary but can be gained overtime.

iii. Variety / Uniqueness of Products

Standardised traditional product. Traditional and local products.

iv. Pricing Power Low. They have less power to control the pricing of their products as it is mutually affected by their competitors. Pricing range from competitors does not differ too much. But stays reasonable and honest to the price.

Low. They have less power to control the pricing of their products as it is mutually affected by their competitors. Pricing range from competitors does not differ too much.

v. Special Traits Honest, humble and stay loyal to customers. Never cheat.

Traditional, Down-to-Earth.

vi. Competition type

Monopolistic Competition Monopolistic Competition

ENGLISH II (ELG 30605) | ASSIGNMENT 2: RESEARCH REPORT | pg. 11

5.1 SUMMARY TABLE BETWEEN BOTH BUSINESSES

Perniagaan Lee Min (Selangor)

Similarities KwongTuck Sundries & Liquors Sdn.Bhd (Penang)

0 Number of Branches 0

Traditional Sundries and Liquor

Main Product Traditional Sundries and Liquor

Passed down by founder. Interest of founder.

Prompt of business Passed down by founder. Interest of founder.

Home based Business Operation Home based

Work until the retirement age then hopefully pass on

to next generation.

Future Plans Pass on to next generations.

Down to Earth. Traditional. Strategy Humble and Honest. Traditional.

Perniagaan Lee Min (Selangor)

Differences KwongTuck Sundries & Liquors Sdn.Bhd (Penang)

2nd Generation Generation of Owner 4th Generation

2 employees Workforce 5 employees

100-200 Number of customers 60-100

3 Competitors 4

Selangor Location Penang

5.2 SUMMARY ANALYSIS OF THE SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES

ENGLISH II (ELG 30605) | ASSIGNMENT 2: RESEARCH REPORT | pg. 12

Based on the comparative analysis, both establishments are very similar in terms of characteristics with minimal differences. The successes of both businesses are also similar in their unique ways.

As their similarities, even though Perniagaan Lee Min has more average customers a day when compared to Kwong Tuck Sundries& Liquors Sdn.Bhd, it is contrasted with the cost of living in their respective areas. Kuala Lumpur has a higher cost of living than Penang. Furthermore, both businesses are well equipped and experienced in handling their businesses as both are passed down from their previous generations respectively. The owners of both shops are helpful and cooperative as they provided much advices and information in and out of the interview. Also, prices of both businesses are affected by their competitors and they are more or less standard around their areas respectively.

Similarities aside, the Penang shop has more workforces compared to the one in Kuala Lumpur. The work is heavier for the business in Kuala Lumpur as it has fewer employees but more customers. The current generation of the owners also differ and it may affect the future of the businesses. KwongTuck’s current owner is the fourth generation and has two more generations under its belt ready to take over the business. Lee Min’s owner is only the second generation and the future of the business is unclear.

In conclusion, both KwongTuck Sundries & Liquor Sdn.Bhd and Perniagaan Lee Min are near equally successful as both have their unique attractiveness and benefits from their respective area of residence.

6.0 NATURE OF THEIR MARKET

ENGLISH II (ELG 30605) | ASSIGNMENT 2: RESEARCH REPORT | pg. 13

Sundry shops are in a focused business sector. There are quite numbered of sundry shops in the same sector. The sundry shops have weak barriers to entry, Moreover, sundry shops have weak pricing power, which means they could not drastically increase the price of goods without a reference from the market. This will affect the sales and profit margin of the business. Hence, having a reasonable price tag and good quality of products are utmost important in order to maintain loyal customers.

ENGLISH II (ELG 30605) | ASSIGNMENT 2: RESEARCH REPORT | pg. 14

7.0 OBSTACLES FACED BY NEW BUSINESS

Heavy Competition

In Malaysia, there are a lot of individuals and organization involved in the sundry shop business field. Some of them were established more than 200 years before the independence. Throughout their years of business, they have gained trust and reliability from their frequent customers. Most customers will choose to consume at well-established sundry shops as they trust the quality they provide and reliable for compensation if the product is not satisfied.

Commercialization

As for traditional sundry shops, most of them have turned into commercialized sundry shops such as opening franchise and branches. They upgraded their premises by furnishing and adding air conditioners to attract more customers. Sundry shops with several branches holding in hand will slightly lower down their pricing to attract more customers and maintain the profit margin by increasing sales. Some customers will tend to think that commercialized sundry shops are more professional in terms of giving advices compare to traditional sundry shops.

Financial Issues

As confronted my numerous new sundry shop owners, a start-up capital is not a simple stuff to get onto their hands. To start up a new sundry shop business, the budget is tight as they have to consider about the cost of goods, rental, employee’s salary and furniture. Usually, during the initial stage of starting a sundry shop business, the owner will not gain profit to cover the starting cost as goods sold at sundry shops are not fast-selling products.

ENGLISH II (ELG 30605) | ASSIGNMENT 2: RESEARCH REPORT | pg. 15

8.0 RECOMMENDATIONS

Systematize

For both businesses, they should systemize themselves. Systems are the structure around which the other parts of our work are framed and without them, there would be chaos. In other words, an application of a system is to ensure that the business runs smoothly with good coordination and to avoid occurrence of errors. But you need to have the right systems. Sloppy, flabby or silly systems can damage an otherwise beautiful organisation. Specific systems should be applied to specific departments such as logistics, purchasing, accounting, and stock-checking.

Up to date

Technology is highly popularised in the current modern era. It is important to make good use of technology as it cuts down cost and reduce workloads. Technology cuts down costs in terms of advertising. Instead of promoting through newspapers and magazines, social media is a good choice as it has enormous users and it is free. Besides, it is easier to perform accountings and other works by using computer because it is time and cost saving.

Increase variety

In order to increase the number of customers, one of the ways is to increase the variety of goods to be sold in the sundry shop. Customers will be pleased to spend in sundry shops which have more choices and compare their prices. Apart of selling traditional sundry goods, it is advisable to sell other groceries such as liquors, herbs, medicine others. By doing this, it will not only attract customers who want to buy dry goods from the sundry shop but other goods provided from the variety.

ENGLISH II (ELG 30605) | ASSIGNMENT 2: RESEARCH REPORT | pg. 16

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Cohen, W. (2005). The Marketing Plan (5th ed., p. 37). John Wiley & Sons.

Kumar, S.A. (2008). Entrepreneurship Development (p. 26). New Age International

ENGLISH II (ELG 30605) | ASSIGNMENT 2: RESEARCH REPORT | pg. 17

APPENDICES

APPENDIX 1

Transcript with answers (Perniagaan Lee Min):

1. Q: How long has it been since this company was established?

A: It has been about 30 years now.

2. Q: Who is the key founder of this company?

A: My father was the founder.

3. Q: How many generations have this company been running for?

A: Two generations, I am the second generation.

4. Q: What prompted you to start your business?

A: I’m not sure because my dad was the one who started this business.

5. Q: How many workers do you have?

A: I only have two workers.

6. Q: Do you have any branch stores?

A: No, we do not have any other stores besides this one.

7. Q: What are your main products?

A: Herbs and liquors.

8. Q: Where do you get your products from? Do you import any of them?

A: No, all our products are purchased locally.

9. Q: Who are your main customers? Are they mainly senior citizens?

A: My customers come from different places and are of different ages.

10. Q: What is the average amount of customers you have a day?

A: It ranges from about 100 to 200 people per day.

11. Q: What are the most recent developments?

A: We did not make many changes as we wanted to maintain the traditional form of the

business.

12. Q: What are the changes that have occurred in this business over the past 3 to 5 years?

A: I guess not. We want this business to remain traditional.

ENGLISH II (ELG 30605) | ASSIGNMENT 2: RESEARCH REPORT | pg. 18

13. Q: Who are your competitors?

A: We do not really have any competitors. Everyone in this industry has their own

methods of running things.

14. Q: What differs you from other businesses in this industry?

A: Our products are different as we use traditional herbs and products.

15. Q: What specialized field of knowledge do you need to run this business?

A: We must know the traditional herbs and liquors in order to run this business.

16. Q: How did you feel when you entered this market? Was it difficult?

A: It was hard for me, but after running this business for so many years, I gained

experience that helped me overcome the challenges.

17. Q: What challenges have you faced over the years?

A: We’ve never really faced any challenges. However, we are ready to face any

challenges that come our way in order to continue my father’s business.

18. Q: As a conclusion, do you recommend us to step into this business? Any advice for us ?

A: To be honest, it’s very challenging to start a traditional sundries and liquors business.

In my opinion, starting a franchise (Hai-O for example) would be easier, more profitable

and more competitive. Small traditional businesses like this can only earn you a living,

but if you are really interested to develop this type of business, I advise you to start a

franchise as they have a better system and plan.

ENGLISH II (ELG 30605) | ASSIGNMENT 2: RESEARCH REPORT | pg. 19

Transcript with answers (KwongTuck Sundries & Liquors Sdn.Bhd):

1. Q: Who are the key founders?

A: My great-grandfather was the key founder.

2. Q: What prompted you to start your business?

A: My great-grandfather started this business.

3. Q: How many employees do you have?

A: I have five employees.

4. Q: How many branch offices/stores do you have?

A: None, other than this one.

5. Q: What are your main products?

A: Liquor and sundry goods.

6. Q: Who are your customers? i.e. Teenagers? Young adults? Adults? Elderly?

A: All these folks recognise us.

7. Q: What are the average customers you have a day?

A: Perhaps 60 to 100

8. Q: What are the most recent developments? i.e. what has the business accomplished or

what changes have occurred in the business over the past 3 - 5 years?

A: The company has established a new computer department set up for collections and

for other business transactions

9. Q: Who are your top 3 competitors? What do they provide?

A: It’s hard to say, there are so many.

10. Q: Is your business constantly facing strong competition from other competitors?

A: This is a man eat man world.

11. Q: What strategies have they used to compete with you?

A: Lower prices on our products.

12. Q: How do you compete with your competitors? What strategies are employed (e.g.

pricing, advertising, product variety) how successful are they now?

A: We serve our customers well and honestly.

ENGLISH II (ELG 30605) | ASSIGNMENT 2: RESEARCH REPORT | pg. 20

13. Q: Are your pricing decisions strongly affected by your competitors?

A: Not very much.

14. Q: What specialized field of knowledge do you need to run this business?

A: A masters degree to run the business.

15. Q: How did you feel when entering this market? Was it easy or hard?

A: It is difficult.

16. Q: What were the challenges faced at the beginning and how did you overcome it?

A: Since the business has been running for over 100 years, we find that competition is a

very normal thing.

17. Q: How much capital is required to start this business?

A: Roughly about 1.5 million.

18. Q: As a conclusion, do you recommend us to step into this business? Any advice for us?

A: This is a free world; you can do anything you like. If there’s a challenge in front of you,

you have to fight for yourself.

19. Q: Who are your top 3 competitors? What do they provide?

A: In our business, we don't really compete with one another. We stay humble and keep

to our own. We wouldn't want to offend others. After all, we all have our own loyal

customers as we each have our own unique feature.

20. Q: How do you compete with your competitors? What strategies are employed (e.g.

pricing, advertising, product variety) how successful are they now?

A: We do not cheat wise old people and innocent children while running our business.

The prices of our products must be reasonable.

21. Q: What specialized field of knowledge do you need to run this business?

A: In business, you never stop learning. You must learn to adapt learn when new

challenges arise.

22. Q: How did you feel when you entered this market? Was it easy or hard?

A: I let the business environment shape your business tactic.

ENGLISH II (ELG 30605) | ASSIGNMENT 2: RESEARCH REPORT | pg. 21

APPENDIX 2

Following are photos and documents taken during interviews.

PERNIAGAAN LEE MIN

ENGLISH II (ELG 30605) | ASSIGNMENT 2: RESEARCH REPORT | pg. 22

Packaged dry chinese herbs sold in the shopLiquors that are sold in the shop

Exterior view of the sundry shop

The entrance of the sundry shop

ENGLISH II (ELG 30605) | ASSIGNMENT 2: RESEARCH REPORT | pg. 23

Employee weighing the dry food to be sold

Some chinese liquors that are sold in the shop

Exterior view of the sundry shop

KWONGTUCK SUNDRIES &LIQUORS SDN.BHD

APPENDIX 3

Minute 1

DATE 15th DECEMBER 2015TIME 2 PM to 4 PMVENUE Taylor’s Lakeside University Campus

GROUP MEMBERS TUTORIAL GROUPAdele Lu Wednesday Chloe Teh Thursday Dana Kan ThursdayDanica Gan ThursdayPhares Phung ThursdayOng Von Wan ThursdayShum Li Sze Wednesday

No. ACTIVITY ACTIONS TAKEN BY1. Decision of business line for research purposes. All members2. Decision of choices regarding location of businesses. All members3. Finalization of business line and locations. All members4. Listing of interview questions. All members

Minute 2

DATE 06th JANUARY 2015TIME 12 PM to 2 PMVENUE Taylor’s Lakeside University Campus

GROUP MEMBERS TUTORIAL GROUPAdele Lu Wednesday Chloe Teh Thursday Dana Kan ThursdayDanica Gan ThursdayPhares Phung ThursdayOng Von Wan ThursdayShum Li Sze Wednesday

ENGLISH II (ELG 30605) | ASSIGNMENT 2: RESEARCH REPORT | pg. 24

No. ACTIVITY ACTIONS TAKEN BY1. Compilation of home based business and commercial

based business interview questions.All members

2. Distribution of the tasks. All members

Minute 3

DATE 10th JANUARY 2015TIME 10 AM to 7 PMVENUE Taylor’s Lakeside University Campus

GROUP MEMBERS TUTORIAL GROUPAdele Lu Wednesday Chloe Teh Thursday Dana Kan ThursdayDanica Gan ThursdayPhares Phung ThursdayOng Von Wan ThursdayShum Li Sze Wednesday

No. ACTIVITY ACTIONS TAKEN BY1. Finalization of artistic cover. All members2. Compilation of the each sub parts of the research

report.All members

3. Finalization of the compiled research report. All members4. Finalization of edited interview videos for both

home based business and also commercial based business.

All members

5. Preparation of presentation slides. All members6. Finalization of presentation slides. All members

ENGLISH II (ELG 30605) | ASSIGNMENT 2: RESEARCH REPORT | pg. 25

References

Cohen, W. (2005). The Marketing Plan (5th ed., p. 37). John Wiley & Sons.

EatingAsia. (2009, June 29). Retrieved January 9, 2016, from http://eatingasia.typepad.com/eatingasia/2009/06/kwongtuck-sundries.html

Kumar, S.A. (2008). Entrepreneurship Development (p. 26). New Age International

Personal Interview

Structure: Phares Phung (2th January 2016) Personal Interview

Personal Interview

Structure: Shum Li Sze (6th January 2016) Personal Interview

ENGLISH II (ELG 30605) | ASSIGNMENT 2: RESEARCH REPORT | pg. 26