Artistry Station

ARTISTRY STATION
1.0
THE FOUNDATIONS OF ENTREPRENUERSHIP
From our prescribed text for the Small business and entrepreneurship course the definition of an entrepreneur is somebody who creates new business faces risk & uncertainty for the purpose of achieving profit & growth by identifying significant opportunities & assembling the necessary resources to capitalize on them . Some of the characteristics of an entrepreneur that were identified include; desire for responsibility, preference for moderate risk, confidence in their ability to succeed, desire for immediate feedback, high level of energy, future orientation, skill at organizing, value of achievement over money, high degree of commitment, tolerance for ambiguity and flexibility. For this case study our group was faced with the challenge of identifying an entrepreneur in the community and discovering what their secret for success was, the challenges they face and what keeps them motivated. Our task is also to assess the things they are doing right and how they can do them even better, we also have to be able to see the things they may be missing out on and give our advice according to what we have learned in the chapters from the course. The entrepreneur we decided to interview is Mr. Syed Ismail who owns Artiste Stationary in Seri Iskandar, Perak - he is also embarking on running a gym and futsal court, so he is a man of many talents and a visionary. His shop specializes in selling stationary, printing and specialized art supplies. The benefits Mr. Syed Ismail enjoys from being the owner of a small business is that he gets to create his own destiny, he makes a difference in the lives of his family and also the members of the surrounding community and he is doing what he enjoys and has fun doing it, this is something he has passion for. However, the drawbacks of his owning his business is that he cannot always be certain that there will be sufficient income to cover all his costs, he spends long hours at work and works very hard, he is the sole proprietor of the business so he has full responsibility for all aspects of the business.
SMALL BUSINESS AND ENTREPRENUERSHIP (SBE) (MAY 2011)
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ARTISTRY STATION 2.0 Personal Background Mr. Syed Ismail grew up in a family where small business was a way of life. His father is already an established business man and has been Mr. Syed Imails main mentor in the opening of his businesses. Mr. Syed Ismail studied Graphic Design at UiTM Shah Alam before embarking on his small business. He informed us that he has always been interested in business and making money for himself, since he grew up in a family that instilled such values. While he was still in school he showed some initiative and talent for business by selling Ais Malaysia which he would make at home and sell at school to make some extra pocket money. It was only a matter of time before he had his own business and his case businesses. Mr. Syed Ismail has a passion for the arts and is a very creative person himself hence why he studied Graphic Design. This is what draws the passion for his business he does most of what he does for Artiste Stationary merely from the love of it more than the profits it may produce. Mr. Syed Ismail is married and has three children of which he plans to pass on his business to. He instills the same sort of values his parents gave to him into his own children. They too have a value for business and what it means to own your own business, although their father works long hours.
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ARTISTRY STATION 3.0 Business Background
Artistry Station which is located in Seri Iskandar as aforementioned was started by Mr. Syed Ismail and his brother-in-law in 2004. The business opportunity was realized due to the forecast that Seri Iskandar would have a booming business industry because of the planned construction of an Airport. Mr. Syed Ismail approached his father with his idea and why he wanted to do this kind of business and asked him to be his financial backer. His father who has a lot of business savvy listened to his sons proposal, advised him how to go about it and approved the financing for the business. At the conception of the business Mr. Syed Ismail worked with his brother-in-law but after a while his brother-in-law had to leave the business because he was not contributing to the running of the business thus he was more of a liability than an asset. Mr. Syed Ismail felt that he was shouldering all the responsibility for the business but not getting equivalent rewards for it so they went their separate ways and now Mr. Syed Ismail is the sole proprietor of Artistry Station and he has never looked back since. When one walks into the stationary store they can see that it is well taken care of the presentation is impeccable. For somebody interested in the arts once they enter the store they already feel like they can find whatever supplies they are looking for in the store. The store is not just geared towards art lovers though but sells stationary and a major source of income is the printing portion of the business. They print posters for mainly students. Many UTP students actually use Artistry Station to print out their posters for their Engineering Team Projects and Final Year Projects. The main target for the business is students mostly the ones from UiTM and UTP itself. Initially Mr. Syed Ismail had a normal job where he was working somebody else. He said that it was okay but that owning your own business gives more satisfaction to him.
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ARTISTRY STATION 4.0 BUILDING A SOLID STRATEGIC PLAN
According to Scarborough few activities in the field of business are as important or underappreciated as that of developing a solid strategy for success. He says that more often than not, entrepreneurs while overtaken by excitement and enthusiasm will start a new business that is destined for failure because the founders did not stop to define a workable strategy that sets them apart from the competition. Without a plan of action for the business, the business may survive for a while but once there is more competition then the business might fold. Strategic management is defined as a process whereby a game plan is developed to guide a company as it strives to accomplish its vision, mission, goals, and objectives and to keep it on its desired course and is crucial to building a successful business. Developing a strategic plan is vital to creating a competitive advantage, which is the accumulation of factors that sets a company apart from its competitors and gives it a distinct position in the market. Structuring a solely is not enough though, the key to success is finding a way to make a sustainable competitive advantage. This is obtained through the ability to develop a set of core competencies, these are unique set of capabilities a company develops in key areas, such as superior quality, customer service, innovation, team-building, flexibility, responsiveness, and others that allow it to vault past competitors. When interviewing Mr. Syed Ismail about how he builds a competitive advantage over his competitors he said that he sets himself standards for service to his customers, these include: Quality of merchandise Friendly customer service Efficiency and delivery of services i.e the printing
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ARTISTRY STATION He says that a good business strategy should address real customer needs according to the business. In his case he is a specialty stationary store, therefore he must provide his customers with what they require he only deals with the best, and his customers can see this. He also says that since he has such a passion for the business and customers, his prices are relatively low compared to his competitors he states that his prices are as low as he can possibly make them. Strategic Management Process Mr. Syed Ismail has no official vision and mission for his business. From the interview, we deduced that his vision for Artistry Station to become the best stationary and art supply store in Seri Iskandar. His mission is to improve quality and to provide impeccable services to his customers. To gauge how a business is doing and where it stands doing a S.W.O.T analysis can be very helpful. Internal component Recognizing and building on the strengths of the entrepreneur and his business. Recognizing and resolving the identified weaknesses External component Identifying opportunities the in the industry and exploiting them. Identifying possible threats and avoiding them.
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ARTISTRY STATION Key Success Factors We asked Mr. Syed Ismail to evaluate his business so that he can identify his key success factors these are the keys to unlocking the secrets of competing successfully in a particular market segment. He rated his business according to the table below. He was asked to rate his business from 1-10, 1 being the lowest rating and 10 being the highest. Key Success Factors Trained, trusted dependable employees Strategic Location Operating hours suited customers preference Cleanliness Facilities Services Tight Cost Control Rating and 8 7 to 9 10 10 9 8
When analyzing the table we can see that he focuses a lot on the image of his business when he comes into contact with customers. Having a small business such as this gives him the opportunity to make contact with his customers and have relationships with them this way he can also personalize his services according to individual customer needs. Next in the strategic management process was to analyze his competitors and compare their services to Artiste Stationary. The Kedai Stationary and Printing, which is in very close proximity to Artiste Stationary it is just on the corner of the same street provides similar services and products except the specialized art supplies. According to Mr. Syed Ismail his was the first business of his kind on that street but competition arrived with Kedai Stationary and Printing which has an advantage over Artiste Stationary in terms of visibility. When we were driving to give him the interview the other shop was seen first because of its open doors. Mr. Syed Ismail store is very quiet, no open doors therefore you cannot see what is inside until you step inside but you can clearly tell what the business is about from the outside.
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ARTISTRY STATION We did a competitor analysis comparing the two stores according to what we perceived from both. The calculations are displayed on the table below Competitor Analysis is shown on the competitive profile matrix in the table below: Key Success Factor Weight Market Share Pricing strategy Financial Strategy Quality Service Quality Infrastruct ure Customer Loyalty Total 0.20 1.00 2 0.4 2.5 2 0.4 2.0 Rating 2 3 2 3.5 2.5 Score 0.2 0.6 0.2 0.7 0.5 Artiste Stationary Competitor 1 Kedai Stationary and Printing Rating 3 2.5 2 2 1 Score 0.3 0.5 0.2 0.4 0.2
0.10 0.20 0.10 0.20 0.20
From the table we can see that the two businesses are slightly different in their approaches to business. Mr. Syed Ismail places high emphasis on quality, the other store has more focus on making profit so they did not invest a lot in presentation. Mr. Syed Ismail has a higher rating, but not by much so this puts him at risk for losing customers and that is why he should focus on obtaining a loyal customer base who will convince others to use his services. Competitive Strategy
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ARTISTRY STATION The strategy that Mr. Syed Ismail uses to give his business competitive advantage over his competitors is discussed in this section. Using a competitive strategy does not always ensure that you will gain a competitive advantage over your competitors, but it does increases your chances. There are three different kinds of competitive strategies that he could implement; their differences will be discussed further below. According to M. Porter, competitive advantage is anything that gives one organization an edge over its rivals in the products it sells and the services it offers. A business should formulate a competitive strategy to secure a competitive advantage. There are three basic competitive strategies: 1. Cost leadership being the lowest cost producer in the industry as a whole; 2. Differentiation is the exploitation of a product or service which the industry as a whole believes to be unique; 3. Focus involves a restriction of activities to only a part of the market (a segment) through; a. Providing goods and/ or services at lower cost to that segment (cost-focus) b. Providing a differentiated product or service to that segment (differentiationfocus)
They are graphically illustrated in figure below:
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ARTISTRY STATION
Mr. Syed Ismail fuses two competitive strategies for his business. He uses a Cost-focus and Differentiation. For the cost focus strategy he ensures that he provides the lowest cost on all his products in his store and for the products and services that his rivals in the same area also offer he has lower prices as well. For the differentiation portion of his strategy he specializes in art supplies not just stationary. The art supplies he provides for his customers are of top quality and their biggest appeal is that most of the supplies are imported supplies from surrounding countries like Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia thus he can be sure, and his customers can be sure that they are getting a unique product. Mr. Syed Ismail has no formal documentation of his business strategy and did not really think of formulating one before this may be because he has no formal education in business of any kind his background is graphic design. We informed him that his business may see more success if he planned a particular strategy and documented it. This would give him more focus on how to go about improving his products and services. The document can be a reference point for him when he is not sure what to do next and formulating the formal strategy may help him generate more ideas on how gain more competitive advantage over his competitors. We advised him that once he has formally made his strategic plans he must implement them in order to improve his business, then once he has done this he must establish the necessary accurate control to ensure that he is on track. He must identify and track key performance indicators and take corrective action. 5.0 The Marketing Strategy
According to Scarborough marketing is the process of creating and delivering desired goods and services to customers and comprises of all the activities that are connected with getting and keeping loyal customers. An effective marketing campaign does not necessarily require that an entrepreneur spend large sums of money in order for them to work. An entrepreneur can use guerrilla marketing strategies which are affordable, creative marketing techniques that allow a small business to get more reaction from their marketing money than do lager companies who have more resources and capital at their disposal.
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ARTISTRY STATION
Successful entrepreneur Janet Beckers - who was named Australian Marketer of the Year by the association of Marketing Communications Executive International says that an entrepreneur should know what problem they are solving. "As business owners what we are really about is solving problems. Its that simple really. If people have a problem they are willing to pay for someone to solve and you have that solution - then you have a business. She says that unfortunately a lot of business owners dont take the time to seriously analyze and understand the problems and frustrations of their potential customers. During the interview with Mr. Syed Ismail we discovered that he does not do any form of marketing for his store he relies solely on word-of-mouth and referrals from satisfied customers. We decided to propose a possible marketing strategy he could implement to improve his business and gain access to his target market.
Target market Mr. Syed Ismail says that he observed that most of the people who come into his store are university students. The nearest universities to his business are; Universiti of Teknologi Mara, and Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS. Hence, this is his target market and he needs to aim his products and services to their needs in order to maximize on his profits by gaining loyal customers. Artistry Station is a quaint little shop that is located near the Hotel Putra Iskandar making it easy to find as the hotel the hotel is the only one of its kind in the area so far.
SMALL BUSINESS AND ENTREPRENUERSHIP (SBE) (MAY 2011) Page 1
ARTISTRY STATION The numbers of students in the area approximate to about 15000 students. This is a large target market and if he can just reach 10% of this target market and establish a loyal customer base he could see increase in his profits. The Marketing Mix Place The location for Artistry Station as already mentioned is Seri Iskandar, near Hotel Putra Iskandar. Its location is good because it between the two most saturated customer bases for the shop which are Universiti Teknolgi MARA and Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS. The place itself is good hence why a lot of competitors are showing up at Artiste Stationarys doorstep, thus making it more difficult to make a profit. Mr. Syed is not discouraged though even though he says that in the beginning he was one of only a few of his kind of business in that area so it was easier to get to customers. Since the place is ideal and easy to find as well what he must do now is find ways to market his business to his target by standing out from the competition. Price The prices of his products and services are reasonable; actually he says that his prices are as low as possible since he is all about customer satisfaction. The prices of his products sometimes do not reflect their real value. For instance, his imported products are not priced as they should be people appreciate quality and will be willing to pay for it, compromise can only go so far. The pricing he uses will be looked at more in depth in the Pricing Strategies section. As for the marketing aspect of pricing he can find ways to make sure his prices are affordable to his customers which are mainly students. Promotion The promotion of his products and services has been completely overlooked by Mr. Syed Ismail as is the case for most business owners who believe that any form of promotion will deduct from their profits. According to the Guerrilla marketing techniques mentioned earlier there are other ways to promote his products which will not cost him large sums of money. The suggestion is that since his markets are students he should
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ARTISTRY STATION invest in posters that can be placed on the campus with the permission of the administrators of the universities. Another idea is to work together with representatives that are students on the respective campuses. These students would act his channel to reach other students using their social networks. How this would work is that during peak periods of stationary purchases such as the beginning of the semester or just before the exams he creates an add promoting certain products in his store and he asks them to place this advert on their walls e.g. for facebook, Google groups and twitter. The advantage of the facebook post is that they can tag their friends and this will promote his business to a wider market. During peak periods of poster printing which is near the end of the semester he should do the same thing again. All these things are basically free and all he might have to do is pay the respective students a small fee for their services. Another popular way to promote his products that is free and can spread like wildfire is to create a blog promoting sales and products. He can use the students to promote the blog as well. To be more visible in the community he should sponsor events where his name will be in the list of sponsors and perhaps sell his stationary during fairs and expos at the respective universities. Mr. Syed should also consider launching a loyalty program. This program will provide students with a card which will get stamped every time they purchase an item or use a service in his store. Once they reach a certain number they get something free, it doesnt have to be anything expensive, even something with the value of RM1 will do and his customers will appreciate it. Product/Services unique selling proposition Artistry Station as the name implies is a stationary store mainly specializing in art supplies. The products and services offered by Mr. Syeds business are: Art stationary and equipment School/office stationary
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ARTISTRY STATION Printing services
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ARTISTRY STATION 6.0 FINANCIAL PLAN
One of the most important tasks for an entrepreneur launching a new enterprise is to determine the amount of funding required to begin operation as well as the amount required to keep the company going through its initial growth period until it can generate positive cash flow. The amount of money needed to begin a business depends on the type of operation, its location, inventory requirements, sales volume, and many other factors. However, every new firm must have enough capital to cover all start-up costs, including funds to rent as well as pay for advertising, wages, licenses, utilities, and other expenses. In addition, entrepreneur must maintain a reserve of capital to carry the company until it begins to generate positive cash flow. In this case, Mr. Syed Ismail, the owner has been fortunate that he comes from a business oriented family where most of his family current in business field. Being the youngest son of six siblings, he was very close to his late father who was a retired army that venture into small business since early 1960s. He was lucky to get financial assistance from his family, although its not easy at first when his cousin; his partner at that time, was pulled out of the business due to financial constraint. During start-up of the business, Mr. Syed Ismail deals the companys financial plan himself and his patience paid off by gain break-even only six months after opening the business. Now after eight years of business, Mr. Syed Ismail can afford to hire his nephew, as official companys accountant. The following sections will outline the important financial details of the company.
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ARTISTRY STATION Table 5.1: Major Capital Requirements and Expenditure for Start-up Requirements START- UP REQUIREMENTS Start-up Expenses Legal and Marketing Stationary products and Printing equipment Rent & Utilities (12 months) Total Start-up Expenses Start-up Assets Cash Required Long-term Assets Total Assets Total Requirements RM 1,000 RM 50,000 RM 2,500 RM 53.500 RM 30,000 RM 10,000 RM 40,000 RM 93,500
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ARTISTRY STATION
Table 5.2: Major Capital Requirements and Expenditure for Start-up Funding
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ARTISTRY STATION
START-UP FUNDING Start-up Expenses to Fund Start-up Assets to Fund Total Funding Required Assets Non-cash Assets from Start-up Cash Requirements from Start-up Additional Cash Raised (Family assistance) Cash Balance on Starting Date Total Assets Capital Planned Investment Investor 1 Additional Investment Requirement Total Planned Investment Loss at Start-up (Start-up Expenses) Total Capital Total Funding RM 10,000 RM 40,000 RM 50,000
RM 10,000 RM 30,000 RM 40,000 RM 30,000 RM 80,000
RM 20,000 RM0 RM 20,000 (RM 10,000) RM 40,000 RM 50,000
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ARTISTRY STATION
In the attempt of making any new investment, Mr. Syed Ismail is very particular in seeing the potential growth of each investment. Any amount of money that comes out from the company need to provide a good return. The investment that has been proposed will be carefully analyzed by him, assisted by his nephew to make some adjustments that will make to ensure that they invest brilliantly. In the near future, he is looking sports development in Sri Iskandar, such as potential of futsal court and private gymnasium for local residence and students.
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ARTISTRY STATION 7.0 CRAFTING A WINNING BUSINESS STRATEGY
Artistry Station business strategy was developed focusing on one main idea which is customer oriented services and its owners vast experience in art. Focusing on their key competency to deliver the best product to their customers, they foresee that their business could be a success and could possibly be the dominant in that business area. They also targeting on maximizing profit by minimizing expenses in product/service marketing and labor cost. They took location advantage; nearby to government higher institutions (UITM Sri Iskandar and Universiti Teknologi Petronas) to minimize the cost of marketing and also by not fully dependent on service company to reduce the maintenance cost while retaining their competitive advantages in the market. In addition, the company hired local residence and occasionally part-timer as labor to reduce labor cost. Based on that strategy, Mr. Syed Ismail said that they manage to keep their profits and cost in balance at the starting point of their business. So far, the company has been established well and using the same business strategy, they are making profits and highly reduce their cost of operation. Nowadays, they focus their business plan on going global. They are planning on utilizing government agencies to get support in exporting their product especially artworks to overseas. In their planning now, they are aiming to get support from Malaysia Export Agent (MEA) that support small business enterprise in exporting their products globally. Artistry Station Sdn Bhd Strengths
They are well known among UiTMs lecturers, student and also local in the area; positive public image because of quality provided and good attitude or the workers
The owner has personal connections within the UiTm, himself is one of the alumni, which is major impact in marketing the products and services. They are
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ARTISTRY STATION leading in term of offering affordable price, discounts and providing a superior customer services that different from any of its competitors. Mr Syed Ismail also looking into customized printing styles and consultation on presentation materials service. He consults students on getting the best for their presentation material. Artistry Station Sdn Bhd Weaknesses Sri Iskandar will be swamp with new shopping malls and possible of more and more printing companies will emerged. The company needs to increase its own good reputation to avoid losing customers. Artistry Station Sdn Bhd Opportunities The increasing population of people in Sri Iskandar. The place is now equipped with more value towards the society which will be benefit to people. The company needs to be aware that the potential of more people come to their store. This current situation should be sees by the company as opportunity to improve and increase its own products and services. The signal of the company needed to attract customers from the Ipoh-Lumut highway. Artistry Station Sdn Bhd Threats Competitors that will emerge after the opening of a big shopping mall nearby. Problems occurred due seasonal type of customers. The company needs to do something on its seasonal customers which is mostly related to the academic structure of UiTM. Even the company didnt suffer as much, it is vital to the growth and the survival rate of the company.
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ARTISTRY STATION 8.0 PRICING STRATEGIES
Other then the attempt of providing a good promotions strategy, the pricing strategies also plays an important part in a business. The price of the product is the element that are able to track whether the product able to gain profit or the other way around. In order to set an attractive price for their customer which mainly students and lecturers, Mr. Syed Ismail has done the analysis on their competitors. This analysis provides them on what range of prices are the customer willing to pay for the product. This is crucial as if they set a higher price, the customer will not choose to buy their product. Otherwise, if they put the price lower than the price that the customer willing to pay, they have lost the profit making opportunities. Hence, the competitor itself has put the view on the price that need to be set by Artistry Station. Mr. Syed Ismail is convinced that his companys products are amongst the lowest around Sri Iskandar Township and also he committed to Islamic way of doing business that to be moderate in making profit. He chooses to use cost-plus pricing approach. When new stock arrived, the overall cost of the product is record. Then, he will calculate the cost per items. After some research on the potential market of the product, he puts each products desired profit percentage which is around 3% to 5% depending on product. Then, the cost per item will be added with desired profit in order to get the price for each product. The development of his business depends on the number of customers that his shop receives every month. Hence, he mentioned that changing pricing on products constantly can actually cause lost to his business because he believe that consistent pricing can convince the customers that his business sells products at reasonable price and does not raise the price without any necessity.
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ARTISTRY STATION Some of the pricing techniques applied by Artistry Station Sdn Bhd owner in the business are: Price Lining It is a technique that greatly simplifies the pricing function by pricing different products in a product line at different price points, depending on their quality, features, and cost. For example there are three services provided in Artistry Station Sdn Bhd, presentation material consultation, designing and printing. Customers can choose if they want all the service available or just one of the services. These techniques assist customers in selecting which products is much better as well as selecting products based on their budget. Multiple-unit pricing A technique that offers customers discounts if they purchase in quantity. Artistry Station Sdn Bhd offers the customers on the discount if they want presentation material consultation, designing and printing.
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ARTISTRY STATION
9.0
LOCATION AND LAYOUT OF BUSINESS
Mr Syed Ismail is staying in Seri Iskandar. Initially before he opens a stationary shop in Seri Iskandar, he found out that Seri Iskandar is actually a city that has high potential to become a developing city. Furthermore, there are two universities are located nearby Seri Iskandar which are Universiti Teknologi Petronas and UiTM Seri Iskandar. He carried out a survey among UTP and UiTM students about their course and what are their important needs that can help them to complete their assignments and projects. From the survey, he found out that most of the students from UiTM Seri Iskandar are doing course that is related to graphic and design while most of UTP students are pursuing their studies in engineering field. My Syed Ismail also interviewed some of the UTP and UiTM Seri Iskandar students about facilities provided in universities and stationary shops in Seri Iskandar in order to assist them to complete their project finalization such as printing and binding. During the interview, most of these students complained that it is very hard for them to find complete package of stationary shop in Seri Iskandar which serves printing service for A3, A1, A2 size posters and graphic designs. Most of the stationary shops also serve printing service for A4 size printing papers. UTP students complained that they need to travel to Ipoh in order to print out their Engineering Team Project poster and Final Year Project poster in Ipoh. This consumes their car petrol money and their precious time since travelling to Ipoh from UTP will take around 45 minutes. Roughly, those who own their own transport will have to spend RM20 to go and back from UTP to Ipoh. Students who travel to Ipoh by using public transport such as bus will need to pay around RM8.00 to go and come back from Ipoh. Travelling by bus to Ipoh will consume time for one hour. After UTP students reach any stationary shops UiTM Seri Iskandar students complained that it is very hard for them to find stationary shops which provide them drawing equipment which can assist them
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ARTISTRY STATION in designing. Hence, these students also need to travel all the way to Ipoh to get their full set of drawing equipment. However when these students reached Ipoh to get their poster and assignment printed out, they will have to wait for their turn because in Ipoh students from all over cities around Ipoh will also goes to these stationeries shops to get their printing job done. After Mr Syed Ismail carried out the survey and interview, he found out that it is a very big opportunity for him to open a stationery shop in Seri Iskandar itself which is nearby to UTP and UiTM Seri Iskandar. By knowing exactly what UTP and UiTM Seri Iskandar student needs, Mr Syed Ismail decided to have printing services for posters and graphic designs. Besides that, his stationeries shop also serves varieties of drawing and graphic design equipments which will be very useful for UiTM Seri Iskandar students. Mr Syed Ismail arranged the products grid form of layout in the shop so that it looks organized and its easier for students to choose and buy things from Mr. Syed Ismails shop. In significance of selling stationery product, Mr Syed Ismail decided to name his shop as Artistry Station. The shop is located strategically in Dataran Iskandar shop lots where there are some mini companies are located nearby. This results some of customers besides UTP and UiTM students also will go to Artistry Station shop to get their printing job done. Besides that, customers who goes to Artistry Station do not have to worry about parking lots because there are adequate parking lots provided for customers in front of the Artistry shop itself. Mr Syed makes the entrance door of ArtistryStation visible so that people who walk through the corridor in front of his shop so that the customers can view latest stationery product that is in market currently. In order to attract more customers, Mr Syed displays some examples of graphic and poster printings at the window so that people can know that these printing services are provided in Artistry Station. The size of the Artistry Station is very big enough to fit in and arrange well most of the stationery sets and drawing equipment.
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ARTISTRY STATION
10.0
LEADING GROWING COMPANY AND PLANNING FOR MANAGEMENT SUCCESSION
Mr Syed Ismail potrays a very good leadership qualities because he respects and being friendly to his employees. Below him there are two employees. Before hiring employees, Mr Syed Ismail carried out a structured interview for the employees so that he can analyze their thinking skills and capability in doing their work. Early when the employees starts to work in his shop, Mr Syed Ismail taught them how the printing service is being carried out, introduce them the varieties of designing and graphic products so that the employees can learn how to handle and explain about the products towards the customers. The employees feel comfortable with his working and management skills which are flexible and do not pressurize them. Now that Artistry Station has been developed into a big shop, Mr Syed Ismail has planning to expand his business into other states in Malaysia. He find that there is a very high potential to expand the business into a higher level because less stationeries shops in Malaysia that provides printing services for various sizes of papers or posters and graphic designs. Mr Syed Ismail said that he is running a family based business because he got financial assist from his family. Mr Syed Ismail mentioned that last time he usually help his father to sell ice cream for school students. He grow up in a business environment as during schooling time he will do part time job in supermarkets and in local companies. Mr Syed Ismail has been collecting a lot of business experience since he was in primary school. Mr Syed Ismail always believe that experience is very important in developing a business because with experience, we are able to ensure our business will be on track and able to create a good strategy to run a business. Besides that, through experience also we are able to develop our skills and think creatively on how to develop further our business. Mr Syed Ismail mentioned that he already plan for to pass down the business to his nephew when he decided to retire. He also said that he always bring along his
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ARTISTRY STATION nephew to the shop and show him what situation is the business is facing so that his nephew knows the flow of business and able to adapt himself in a business environment. He is planning to send his nephew to business courses as well so that his nephew will get a formal education on businesses. Mr Syed Ismail has planning on combining his business with his siblings business to create a large family business which serves variety of products. Mr Syed Ismail believes that when he opens the Artistry station he is able to influence and inspire his siblings and cousins to open a business as well and enjoy life without being controlled by anyone. Mr Syed Ismail also mentioned that sometimes when he is not around, his employees are able to handle his business very well. The employees are able to take responsibility to carry out their work in their own way. Mr Syed Ismail is able to give the empowerment to his both employees after he is convinced that he has created a climate of trust between him and his employees. Mr Syed Ismail also shared on his business secret on how to develop a business into a higher level by listening to ideas or suggestions that is given by customers and employees. This is because through ideas and suggestions we are able to innovate our product or modify the appearance of our business in order to attract more customers. Mr Syed Ismail will keep a record on his employees performance working in his business. This is to ensure that his employees can work well in the business and works to reach the business objectives. Sometimes he will have meeting with his both employees to discuss on their strength and weakness and give solutions to them on how to increase their performance. By looking into the way he handles his business and manage his employees he is actually applying the trust building behavior concepts where he communicates openly and honestly to his customers and employees without any hidden information, show confidences in his staff abilities by treating them as skilled person, listen to what others want to say about the business and practices on what he preached. He believes that by treating everyone in the business well can help to create a positive working environment for him and his employees.
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ARTISTRY STATION
11.0
CONCLUSION
Mr Syed Ismail is definitely a successful entrepreneur as he managed to open a stationary shop, a futsal court and a gymnasium. As a creative and energetic person, he always looks forward on how to improvise his business to attract more customers and the same time maintaining a good customer and business relationship. Mr Syed Ismail is a very good example of entrepreneur which can inspire and influence many young people to who have intention to open a business as he believes that only experience and hardwork can lead a successful life. His business secret is by charging his products with a cheap and reasonable price; because he believes that price war with other competitors will only lead his business to failure and lastly end up bankrupt. Planning the price of the products and applying it is very crucial as it can affect a business. Mr Syed also emphasize that employees who are working in a business should be treated in a good way and respected so that they can perform their job very well and able to increase the business sales. As a leader in his business, Mr Syed Ismail has a lot of planning on how to expand his business in whole over Malaysia and soon into overseas as well with the help of trade intermediaries. Mr Syed Ismails advice for the upcoming entrepreneurs and young businessman is that they should be strong in facing any challenges that might come disrupt their business and always willing to be a mild risk taker in exploring new things and products. He also advised that young entrepreneurs should always think positively in anything they do in order to develop and expand a good business because it can help to create a good and positive working environment as well.
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ARTISTRY STATION 11.0 REFERENCES
1. Retrieved on 18 August 2011 from www.smallbusiness-marketing-plans.com 2. Retrieved on 18 August 2011 from http://blogs.smh.com.au/small-business 3. N.M Scarborough. (2011). Essentials of Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management. Prentice Hall
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ARTISTRY STATION 12.0 APPENDICES
Interview Questions: These are the basic set of questions we asked and other questions were more specifically about the different sections in our course. 1. How did you get started in this business? 2. Did you found the company? 3. Is this your first business? (If not, ask what the others were, and what happened to them.) 4. Were you exposed to entrepreneurship as a child (say, from family members or friends)? 5. How did you finance your business? What have been your most effective sources of financing over the years? 6. What are the revenues of the business? (They may or may not answer this.) 7. How many employees do you have? Full- or part-time? (This gives you some idea of the company size in case they didn't answer the revenue question.) 8. What is an average workday like for you? 9. Who are your customers? What are your most significant products or services? 10. How has your market changed in the past few years? How has your business changed to keep pace? 11. How have sales grown in the last few years? (gives you an idea of how successful the business is.) 12. Is the business profitable? What kind of profit margin does it have? Is that pre-tax or after-tax? 13. What are the most crucial things you have done to grow your business? 14. What plans do you have now to expand your business further? 15. What systems have you used to automate your business to give you more time for business planning and development? 16. What outsiders have been most important to your business success? (e.g. bankers, accountants, investors, customers, suppliers, mentors, etc.)
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ARTISTRY STATION 17. Do you have a business plan? A marketing plan? When was it last updated? (gives you some idea of how sophisticated their planning process is) 18. How do you market your products or services? 19. What has been your most effective marketing tactic or technique? 20. Whats the worst business advice youve ever received? 21. What three pieces of advice would you offer entrepreneurs starting out today? (asking for three is a lot, but it forces your subject to dig deeper than just saying , Just do it, or Hire good people. 22. How long do you plan to keep operating this business? Do you have an exit strategy for getting out of the company? 23. If you were to start another business, what might it be? 24. Do you believe business has any obligation to make the world a better place? 25. How does your business give back to the community or to society?
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ARTISTRY STATION PICTURES
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THE FOUNDATIONS OF ENTREPRENUERSHIP

SMALL BUSINESS AND ENTREPRENUERSHIP (SBE) (MAY 2011)

SMALL BUSINESS AND ENTREPRENUERSHIP (SBE) (MAY 2011)