PRODUCT OF CERAMIC

White Horse Ceramic Berhad offers three types of product which are
ceramic wall tiles, ceramic floor tiles and porcelain tiles. There are several
sizes of ceramic that included in these different types of ceramic.
Ceramic wall tiles (contain 5 different sizes)

200 MM x 250 MM

250 MM x 330 MM

250 MM x 500 MM

250 MM x750 MM

300 MM x 600 MM

Each of these sizes contain many types of ceramic wall. Below are
the examples of each size of ceramic walls tiles.

 Ceramic Floor Tiles (contains 6 different sizes)

200 MM x 200 MM

250 MM x 250 MM

300 MM x 300 MM

300 MM x 600 MM

400 MM x 400 MM

500 MM x 500 MM

Each of these sizes contains many types of ceramic floor. Below are
some of the examples of each size of ceramic floor tiles.

 Porcelain tile can be divided into three types that are double
loading, glazed porcelain and polished porcelain. Each types of
porcelain also has many sizes.
Double loading (contains 3 different sizes)

600 MM x 600 MM

800 MM x 800 MM

600 MM x 1200 MM

Each of these sizes contains many types of double loading.

Below are the examples of each size of double loading.

 Glazed Porcelain Tiles (contains 4 different sizes)

300 MM x 300 MM

300 MM x 600 MM

300 MM x 900 MM

600 MM x 600 MM

Each of these sizes contains many types of glazed porcelain

tiles. Below are some of the examples of each size of glazed
porcelain tiles.

 Polished Porcelain Tiles (contains 3 different sizes)

600 MM x 600 MM

800 MM x 800 MM

Each of these sizes contains many types of polished porcelain

tiles. Below are some of the examples of each size of polished
porcelain tiles.

INTERNAL FORCES
All organizations have strengths and weaknesses in the functional areas of
business. Internal strengths and weaknesses, coupled with external
opportunities and threats. A clear statement of mission provide the basis
for establishing objectives and strategies. There are several internal forces
that contribute to the strengths and weaknesses of the White Horse
Ceramic Berhad such as human resource, production, marketing and
financial.
Strength of Human Resource

White Horse Ceramic involve the combination of technical expertise

and creative excellence employees in creating the tile designs
(Okfalisa, 2007)

White Horse Berhad provides an education and training programs to

help their employees upgrade their skills, knowledge and
experience to reach their full potential and increase their
performance.

Weaknesses of Human Resource

White Horse Berhad is facing the increasing of monthly expenses

due to GST. Thus, to balance it out, the firm is reducing workers
compensation in order to maintain its profit.

White Horse Berhad does not have job enrichment (job multitasking)
as the worker did the same job every day. Thus the worker will be
bored and this affects the productivity of the company. These also
may lead to absenteeism of the worker.

Strength of Production

White Horse Berhad is certified by SIRIM and MS ISO: 13006 for

consistent, superior quality and reliability (eBuild, 2006).

The White Horse Berhad utilizes high end, imported Italian machines
and technologies in their ceramic tiles manufacturing. This
technology helps to improve the quality and quantity of ceramic
tiles produced in period of time.

White Horse Berhad implement water capture and recycling

procedures which collects more than enough water for all purposes.
Eco -friendly products instead of volatile toxic chemicals are used for

machinery cleaning to reduce their negative impact on the

environment (Okfalisa, 2007).

Weaknesses of Production

High cost of production arises from the monthly maintenance and

inspection. This situation will affect the price of tiles in markets.

White Horse Ceramic uses raw material which exports clay from
Hong Kong such as white clay, kaolin clay, feldspar, profilit glazed
porcelain stone, and feldspar diopsid. This imported raw material
gives high impact in production costs (Okfalisa, 2007).

Strength of Marketing

White Horse use different promotion tools to promote their product.

Example advertising, exhibition and seminar. For exhibition and
seminar, their representative give a presentation and provide the
information about the brand (Mohamad Hasan, 2013)

White Horse distributes the product through its dealers in different

cities. Each dealer given target sales and high commission will be
offered if they achieve target (Durry.S, 2013).

They supply products with reasonable prices and highly penetrate in

world market. They market their product to Australia, Brunei,
Cambodia, Fiji and Hong Kong

Weaknesses of Marketing

Strong presence of tile industry and ceramic in the international

market induce to price war prices (G.Prasanthi, 2011).

The sales & marketing department of White Horse have a problem in

understand their customers. Taste and preferences of customer
always change through time. They give lots of importance on the
customers view (Nitesh.S, 2010).

White Horses product does not follow the latest design to meet
customer demand.

Strength of Financial

Debt ratio for White Horse Berhad has increased. It shows that the
company assets are still able to cover the companys long term
obligations.

The time interest earned ratio increase and this indicate that the
company have enough income to pay for the total interest.

The gross profit margin has increased indicates company is efficient

in the manufacturing and distribution processes.

A high ratio of fixed assets turnover indicates that the company

doing an effective job of generating sales.

Weaknesses of Financial

Low current ratio shows the company has problems with inventory
management,
ineffective
or
lack
standards
for
collecting receivables.

Decreasing quick ratios shows the company is over leveraged,

struggling to maintain or grow sales, paying bills too quickly or
collecting receivables too slowly.

High debt-to-equity ratio indicates that a company may not be able

to generate enough cash to satisfy its debt obligations.

A lower net profit means that the company is weak to control the
cost.

Decreased in net operating margin shows that the company not

making enough money from its operation.

Decrease annual percentage return on investment shows that the

company is ineffectively utilizes an investment and produce losses.

Low turnover rate indicate overstocking of inventory, inefficiencies

in the product line and marketing effort.

Based on the White Horse internal forces above, a summary of the

strengths and weaknesses are selected and it is applied in conducting
internal factor evaluation (IFE) matrix. Internal factor evaluation (IFE)
matrix is a strategic management tool for auditing or evaluating major
strengths and weaknesses. The IFE matrix is used in strategy formulation
because it can be utilized to evaluate how the company is performing
based on the internal strengths and weaknesses of the company.

Table IFE matrix

STRENGTH

WEIG
HT

RATI
NG

WEIGHT
ED
SCORE

1. Involvement of the combination of

technical expertise and creative
excellence in designees.
2. White Horse provides an education
and training programs to help
employees.
3. White Horse is certified by SIRIM and
MS ISO: 13006
4. White Horse utilizes high end,
imported Italian machines and
technologies.
5. Usage of different promotion tools to
promote their product.
6. They supply products with reasonable
prices and highly penetrate in world
market.
7. Company assets are still able to cover
the companys long term obligations.
8. The company has enough income to
pay for the total interest.
9. The company is efficient in the
manufacturing and distribution
processes.
10.
The company doing an effective
job of generating sales.

WEAKNESSES

0.04

0.16

0.03

0.12

0.03

3
3

0.09
0.12

0.24

3
4

0.09
0.32

0.20

4
4

0.32
0.32

0.04
0.06
0.03
0.08
0.05
0.08
0.08

WEIG
HT

RATI
NG

WEIGHT
ED
SCORE

1. High cost of production arises

0.04

0.12

0.04

0.12

0.03

0.09

0.04

0.12

0.05

0.15

0.05

0.15

0.05

0.15

sales, paying bills too quickly or

0.05

0.20

collecting receivables too slowly.

0.05

0.15

0.04

0.12

0.04

0.12

from the monthly maintenance

and inspection
2. Imported raw material gives high
impact in production costs
3. Taste and preferences of customer
always change through time
4. White Horses product does not
follow the latest design to meet
customer demand.
5. The company have problems
with inventory management,
ineffective or lack standards for
collecting receivables.
6. The company is over leveraged,
struggling to maintain or grow

7. The company may not be able to

generate enough cash to satisfy
its debt obligations.
8. The company are weak to control
the cost.
9. The company not making enough
money from its operation
10. The company are ineffectively
utilizes an investment
11. The company overstocking of
inventory, inefficiencies in the
product line and marketing effort.
TOTAL

3.47

COMPETITIVE PROFILE MATRIX

Competitive Profile Matrix (CPM) is a tool that compares the firm and its
rival and reveals their relative strengths and weaknesses. In order to
better understanding the external environment and the competition in a
particular industry, firms often use CPM. The matrix identifies a firms key
competitor and compares them using industrys critical success factors.
The analysis also reveals companys relative strengths and weaknesses
against its competitors, so a company would know which areas it should
improve and which areas to protect.
Every business in this world has its own competitor, including White Horse
Berhad. The top two of White Horses competitor are Yi-Lai Industry
Berhad or known as ALPHA and SEACERA Tiles Berhad.
Yi-Lai Industry Berhad (ALPHA)
Yi-Lai Industry Berhad was founded in 1990 and registered as the
proprietor of the Alpha Tiles trademark in November 1991. In November
the
same
year,
Alpha
Tiles
began
production of a single Italian tile line in it factory at Kulai Johor. Yi-Lai
Berhad
was
listed
on
Bursa Malaysia in year 2002 (The holding company of Yi-Lai Industry
Berhad)
and
over
the
years it has grown to become one of the most established companies in
the
Asia
Pacific
region.
To stay ahead in the tile production industry, Alpha Tiles has adopted
forward
thinking
strategies and policies based on Italian business models. Italy is the global
leader
in
tile
expertise and production technology, and Alpha has incorporated both
into
its
own
business. Alpha Tiles began production of its first Italian tile series in
November
1991,
with
the products well received and quickly adopted by a fast-changing
Malaysia
construction
industry demanding novel, practical and adaptable tiling solutions.

The company continues to command a high percentage of the Malaysia

tile
market.
As of 2006 the factory had about 700 employees and currently has seven
production
lines
2
with production capacity of about 13,000,000m of ceramic, homogeneous
and
porcelain
tiles annually.
Yi-Lai Industry Berhad also has been successfully certified to MS ISO
9001:2008 Quality Management System and MS ISO 13006:2003 for
Product Quality Certification.

SEACERA Tiles Berhad

The SEACERA Tiles Berhad is one of the pioneer companies in
Malaysian ceramic industry, starting with bricks and refractory bricks
production before venturing into fully vitrified homogenous porcelain tiles
manufacturing in 1987 using European technology and machinery.
Sirim QAS International Sdn. Bhd. has certifies that Seacera Group Berhad
has implemented a Quality Management Systems complying with ISO
9001 : 2008 (Quality Management Systems - Requirements)

Table Competitive Prove Matrix

Yi-Lai
Critical Success Factors

Weig
ht

Ratin
g

Scor
e

White Horse
Ratin
g

Scor
e

Seacera
Ratin
g

Scor
e

STRENGTH
1. Involvement of the
combination
of
technical
expertise
and
creative
excellence
in
designees.

0.10

0.40

0.40

0.30

2. Certified by SIRIM and

MS ISO:13006.

0.07

0.21

0.21

0.21

0.40

0.30

0.30

0.27

0.27

0.18

0.42

0.56

0.56

0.40

0.30

0.30

0.27

0.27

0.27

0.36

0.27

0.27

3. Provide an education
and training programs
to help employee.
0.10
4. Utilize
high
imported
machines
technologies.

end,
Italian
and

5. Usage
of
different
promotion tools to
promote their product.
6. They supply products
with reasonable prices
and highly penetrate
in world market.

0.09

0.14

7. Company assets are

still able to cover the
companys long term
obligations.
8. The
company
has
enough income to pay
for the total interest.

0.10

9. The
company
is
efficient
in
the
manufacturing
and
distribution process.
10.The company doing an
effective
job
of

0.09

generating sales.
4

0.48

0.48

0.48

0.40

0.40

0.40

0.09

0.12

0.10

TOTAL

3.61

3.46

3.27

CPM
3.61
3.46
3.27

Seacera

White Horse

Yi-Lai

CPM

Figure Competitive Profile Matrix

SPACE MATRIX
Strategic Position and Action Evaluation of known as Space matrix is a
management tool used to analyze a company. It is to determine what type
of a strategy a company should undertake. Space matrix is a four
quadrant framework which indicates whether aggressive, conservative,
defensive or competitive strategies are most appropriate for a given
organization. Based on the calculation of financial position (FP),
competitive position (CP), stability position (SP) and industry position (IP),
White Horse Berhad is competitive company. Below is the calculation for
space matrix:
INTERNAL STRATEGIC POSITION

EXTERNAL STRATEGIC POSITION

FINANCIAL POSITION (FP)

STABILITY POSITION (SP)

COMPETITIVE POSITION (CP)

INDUSTRY POSITION (IP)

SWOT ANALYSIS
SWOT analysis is a simple framework for generating strategic alternative
from a situation analysis. It is a strategic planning method used to
evaluate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats involved in
a business venture. It involves specifying the objective of the business
venture and identifying the internal and external factors that are favorable
and unfavorable to achieving that objective.

SWOT MATRIX

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

1.
2.
3.
4.

5.
6.

OPPORTUNITIES
High profit in ceramic industry due to increase
in demand
Help improving the quality and create unique
ceramic for specific differentiated market
Implementing PR1MA and PPA1M increase
demand in ceramic industry
Existence of imported products increase the
propensity of customers to switch to
alternatives
Buyers can also demand higher quality of
services or products
Price negotiation with the seller

1.

2.

STRENGTHS
Utilize high end, imported
Italian
machines
and
technologies
Usage
of
different
promotion
tools
to
promote their product
They supply products with
reasonable
prices
and
highly penetrate in world
market
Company assets are still
able
to
cover
the
companys
long
term
obligations.
Company is efficient in the
manufacturing
and
distribution processes.
Company
has
enough
income to pay for the total
interest.
SO STRATEGIES
Using
experience
company to improve
efficiency, quality and
variety of products to
compete
in
market
abroad (S5,O2)
Use of specialized skilled
personnel in innovation of
manufacturing
and
marketing
products
(S2,O3)

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

WEAKNESSES
High cost of production arises from the
monthly maintenance and inspection
Imported raw material gives high impact
in production costs
White Horse Berhad produces only one
significant product
Taste and preferences of customer
always change through time
The company always sells their product
only by their dealers
Low
turnover
rate
may
indicate
overstocking of inventory, inefficiencies
in the product line and marketing effort.

WO STRATEGIES
1. Provide distinctive and unique products to
dominate certain sectors and markets
with high profitability (W3,O4)
2. Instituonalize a culture of customer
orientations and teamwork to succeed in
domestic and foreign markets. (W4,O2)

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

THREATS
Fluctuation in economy.
Malaysian currency drops down.
Hi-tech machine needs high maintenance.
GST increase the cost of ceramic manufacturing
processes
House prices are too expensive
Facing an intense competition with low priced
goods
Inflation may cause increase in cost of raw
material

ST STRATEGIES
1. Support
innovations
in
order to response identify
and respond to the diverse
and changing needs of
customer (S1,T3)
2. Development
of
interaction with external
and professional sellers
international
marketing
(S3,T6)

WT STRATEGIES
1. Collaboration
with
suppliers
and
benchmarking of competitors to reduce
the problems of technology, reduce cost
and enhance quality (W2,T1)
2. Continuous in improvements of quality
and cost structure to increase in
international market (W1,T7)