English research report

SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND
DESIGN
FOUNDATION IN NATURAL BUILT ENVIRONMENT
MODULE : PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMICS [ECN30205]
ASSIGNMENT : A Comparative Analysis of 2 Businesses of Similar Industry
in Different Geographical Locations
LECTURER : MS TAY SHIR MEN
SUBMISSION DATE : 25TH
NOVEMBER 2015
Group Members :
Name Student ID
Chloe Sim Tiing Ern 0322932
Rachel Yeo Chi Xuan 0323005
Karen Choo Qiao Ying 0322480
Melvyn Poh Ern Meng 0322653
Lee Zhi Ang 0322061

FNBE JANUARY 2015 | English Research Assignment 2 | Taylor’s University 2
Key Summary
In this research assignment, we, as a group of 5, are required
to write a report regarding the comparison of 2 different companies
of the same business industry. We are to compare the businesses’
competitive behaviours, to research and analyse the results. We
chose to compare two tyres & auto services workshops, one in
Malacca and the other one in Subang Jaya. Through our researches,
we found out that the workshop we interviewed in Malacca differ
from the workshop in Subang Jaya in the sense that the one in
Malacca is of a family business, whereas the one in Subang Jaya is
an organisation with a few branches in Klang Valley.

Methodology
To begin with, we chose tyre and car care workshops for our research
assignment because of its popularity in Malaysia and they can be found almost
everywhere, anytime. We planned a trip to Melaka as required in our brief.
Coincidentally, one of our group mates have a family friend who owns a car tyre
and battery workshop, which makes work a lot easier for us. He contacted the
owner of the shop and later on we went on with the interview session straight
away. We planned beforehand the things we have to do when we visit the shop,
to prevent wasting time and work inefficiency.
We chose Yuen Chuen Huat in Melaka and HupShun Tyres in Kuala
Lumpur as our interviewees. For the HupShun in Kuala Lumpur, we sent an
email to the company and received a quick reply by the sales manager. He was
very willing to help us for this assignment and therefore we appointed a time to
meetup in their workshop for an interview session. We recorded the whole
process for the both interview sessions, took down some notes and also took
pictures of the shop.
Eventually, we as a group, compile all our information collected and
combine them into a report.

History of Tyre Business & Its Development In
Malaysia
The modern tyre that we took for granted nowadays is very different from
where it all started during the 1800s. Going back in history, the earliest tires
were bands of leather, then iron, later steel, placed on wooden wheels, used on
carts and wagons. The tire would be heated in a forge fire, placed over the
wheel and quenched, causing the metal to contract and fit tightly on a wheel. A
skilled worker, known as wheelright, carried out this work.
The materials of modern pneumatic tires are synthetic rubber, natural
rubber, fabric and wire, along with carbon black and other chemical compunds.
Today, the majority of tires and pneumatic inflatable structures, comprising a
doughnut-shaped body of cords and wires encased in rubber and generally
filled with compressed air to form an inflatable cushion. Pneumatic tires are used
on many types of vehicles, including cars, bicycles, motorcycles, buses, trucks,
heavy equipment, and aircraft.
Tires are classified into several standard types, based on the type of
vehicle they serve. Since the manufacturing process, raw materials, and
equipment vary according to the tire type, it is common for tire factories to
specialize in one or more tire types. There are many leading tyre brands such as
Continental, Bridgestone, Goodyear and Michelin. However, other companies
such as Pirelli, Yokohoma, and Sumitomo are expected to give a stiff
competition to these brands that are more dominant in Malaysia. Malaysia,
being the third largest rubber manufacturing country in the world, provides
immense growth opportunities to tyre manufacturers, which are planning to
establish tyre production facilities in the country.
With easy availability of rubber and other resources, the market for
retread tyre in Malaysia is also expected to register consistent growth in the next
five years. The commercial vehicle tire segment dominates tyre-retreading

business in Malaysia, with retread tyres being used commonly in trucks and
buses. Western Malaysia, comprising Kelantan, Pahang, Selangor, Perak and
Negeri Sembilan provinces, accounted for around 90 per cent share, in volume
terms, in the country’s tyre market in 2013.
Having enhanced capacity and capabilities in producing tires of quality,
coupled with aggressive marketing and brand development, Malaysia is
amongst the leading global producer of tires with a wide variety of offerings for
all industries.

Brief Description of Yuen Chuan Huat Tyres &
Batteries Sdn Bhd
Yuen Chuan Huat Tyres & Batteries Sdn Bhd is an incorporated company
founded by Yuen Chuan Huat in the year 1992. The company is located at Jalan
Semabok in Melaka. The business’ activities include Tyre recapping, retreading
and also repairing.
Besides all these, Yuen Chuan Huat also offers a wide range of tyres and
rims from the popular brand such as Silverstone. The company serves both
products as well as providing services to customers. There were around 5-8
workers in the workshop, which include the owner’s wife, working as the
manager managing the business’ performances, monitoring the workers and
helpers who are in charge of repairing tires etc.
Yuen Chuan Huat started this business as he used to learn about tires
and how to operate them, his interest was there which brought him to start up
his own business in this industry. There is no other branch for this company, this
is the only company that he is running. The estimated current number of
customers per day that visit his shop is around 10-20, depending on the day.
Their estimated revenue per day is approximately RM 4000.

Brief Description of Hup Shun Tyres Auto Car Care
Sdn Bhd
The company that we interviewed was Hup Shun Tyres Auto Car care
Sdn Bhd. The interviewee was Ivan Tea, the current sales director of Hup Shun
Tyres. They are currently located at PJS 11 and SS3. They have expanded their
business by branching out the second outlet which is the one in SS3. There are
11 employees including 10 locals and 1 foreigner.
Hup Shun’s main products are tyres, sports rims, big brake kits and
wheels. They provide services which include car care services such as
suspension performance, brake performance and exhaust systems. The average
amount of estimated customers per day is 20 with majority amount of adults
which usually are businessmen.
The business was officially started in the year 1995 by the father of Ivan
Tea, Mr Tea. There is no specific reason to start the business back then. Mr Tea
used to work for his brother in a tyre shop and decided to start his own
business after a few years. They have successfully developed the shop by
extending from just 1 unit of the shop to 3 units.
To start up a business, around 300 thousand ringgit of capital is needed
which includes stocks and basic machinery. In addition, the owner needs to be

specialized in knowledge to run this kind of business such as knowing the size
of tyres, price range of tyres, materials of rims and tyres.
Even though they have great business, they are dealing with a lot of
competitors in that area because of the strategic location. Their competitors are
big companies like APEX, Kim Heng car Care Sdn Bhd and Michelin. To
compete, Hup Shun Tyres advertise, sell their products at reasonable prices,
make sure they always have ready stock as customers do not like to wait.
Besides, they provide good customer services.
There are also some difficulties they face in running the business.
According to Ivan, it is never easy finding a strategic location while strategic
locations have very limited parking which leads to traffic issues, and therefore
get complaints from the police. It is hard to find local workers as more foreigners
are willing to work instead. He stated that business is getting tougher and
tougher every year and having strong competitors are one of the reasons.
Hup Shun Tyres make the business better by advertising though different
sources such as the media – newspapers, magazines and facebook. They too
have an official website for advertisement. For every 3 years, the supplier
releases new designs of tyres and rims.

Strategies Employed by Yuen Chuan Huat Tyres & Batteries
Sdn Bhd
Strategy Description
Pricing The prices of the products sold in Yuen Chuan Huat
Tyres are reasonable and standardized as it depends on
the type of products and services the customers want.
The prices are mostly the same as compared to the
competitors around.
Service and Product The main products and services sold in Yuen Chuan
Huat Tyres are tyres, rims, car batteries, tyres recapping,
retreading and also repairing services. They have large
variety of tyres and sports rims of different brands for
their customer to choose from. They obtain new types or
tyres and designs of rims every 3 years once their
suppliers release to them.
Customer Service Yuen Chuan Huat Tyres provides good and quality
service to their customer. The owner and his wife help
out in the shop too to supervise their workers to ensure
they provide the best services and quality to their
customers. The workers they employed are local so that
they can communicate well with their customers since
most of their customers are local.
Advertising Yuen Chuan Huat Company is often being complimented
by the customers and are spreaded around the city
through close friends, family and acquaintances. The
name itself is making it popular and more demanded.

Strategies Employed by Hup Shun Tyres Auto Car Care Sdn
Bhd
Comparative Analysis of the Businesses’ Competitive Traits
Strategy Description
Pricing The prices of the tyres are reasonable compared to other tyres
shop. Their pricing are also negotiable depends of the types
and rims their customers want.
Product and services Hup Shun Tyre’s main products and services are tyres, sports
rims, big brake kits, wheels and car care services. They have
variety of tyres and sport rims for their customer to choose
from. They restock their products every day, especially tires, to
make sure they have sufficient stock and never run out of stock
so that their customers do not need to wait. They will release
new products and design every three months to attract
customers.
Customer Services Most of the workers Hup Shun Tyres employed are local to
make sure they can communicate better in different language
with their customers. Hup Shun Tyres also provides excellent
quality service to their customers. The owner and workers treat
their customers with full respect and interact well with all the
customers, besides having a good relationship with usual
customers.
Advertising Hup Shun Tyres promote their business through Google to
attract customers. Hup Shun Tyres also promote their business
through Facebook page and having an official website. Besides
updating their latest product on Facebook, they also use
Facebook to interact with their followers and show what service
they provide. Occasionally, Hup Shun Tyres also appear on
magazines and newspapers.

Business 1 : Yuen Chuan Huat Tyres & Batteries Sdn Bhd
Yuen Chuan Huat was established in Melaka, a small city whereby many
people start up their own businesses to make a living. Unlike most people, Mr.
Yuen Chuan Huat, the owner of this company developed an interest in tires and
car care during his younger age. He ventured into learning tires and the business
industry eventually started up his own company. He opened up his company at
the Semabok Area where there are several similar companies that are selling the
same products and services as well. That area is quite popular for the demand
of tyres and batteries. Residents in Melaka would know where to visit for tyres
and batteries. There are around 3-5 of the similar companies in that area within
the radius of 3km.
Competitor 1 : Sinwufu Enterprise Sdn Bhd

Competitor 2 : Chin Thye Tyre Trading Co.
Competitor 3 : Soon Hoe Tyre Service Centre
Sinwufu Enterprise is a company selling
tyres and providing tyre services located
just a few shops away from Yuen Chuan
Huat. It provides services similar to Yuen
Chuan Huat’s, therefore creating a very
competitive situation. Sinwufu Enterprise
not only serves as a reseller for the brand
Bridgestone, but also for Silverstone in a
different branch.

Chin Thye Tyres Trading Co. is located 500 metres
away from Yuen Chuan Huat. This shop sells tyres,
provides tyre repairing service and also car
maintenance services. It is a much smaller shop

Soon Hoe Tyre Service Centre is a very old
shop which provides tyre servicing and also
a reseller for silverstone tyres. It is located
just another lane away

Strategies Employed by Yuen Chuan Huat to Compete With
Competitors
1 – Product Variety
2 - Advertising
The products of tyres and sports rims are always available in stock. Also, there are many
varieties to be chosen from, this attracts customers as they have lots of choices to choose from,
not having only limited choices.
Different types of tyres, ranging from different sizes to different prices, different designs of sports
rims are all available in the shop.
The shop also provides car batteries, different car accessories and excess parts that customers
usually demand for their car.
The awards and certifications received by the company are displayed in
the shop where they are visible to the customers. Customers tend to
get attracted to the shop as it shows high credibility, being awarded by
the international brand, Silverstone as one of their best resellers in town.
Those awards prove that the company is a trustable one.

3 – Pricing
The prices for the tyres are reasonable prices. The prices are standard and are always
comfortable for any buyers to afford, making it affordable for everyone. The company
does not raise up the price just to earn extra profit, but to keep it standard for
customers to buy.

Business 2 : Hup Shun Tyres Auto Car Care Sdn Bhd
Hup Shun Tyres Auto Car Care was set up at PJS 11 in Subang Jaya in the
middle of a bustling city of Kuala Lumpur. Mr. T used to work for his brother
when he was younger and finally decided to start up his own business after
several years of working. He opened up his first workshop in PJS 11, where
there are a quite a number of similar workshops around as well. There are many
car care workshops and also tyres resellers near the area, resulting in severe
perfect competition. Under perfect competition, customers have a vast variety of
choices to choose from, making the tyre shops competing against one another
for more profit.

Competitor 1 : Kim Heng Tyre Services & Car Care Sdn Bhd
Competitor 2 : Sibujaya Auto Car Care Plt
Competitor 3 : Hoe Hing Tyres
Kim Heng Tyre is a certified tyre reseller
and a car care center located just less
than 1 km away from Hup Shun. It is its
main competitor as told by Mr. Ivan during
the interview, most of their customers are
similar and they would compare the prices
and services quality between the two
companies. Kim Heng has large variety of
tyres but less sports rims compared to
Hup Shun.
Sibujaya Auto Car Care centre is the reseller
mainly for LingLong Tires and is located just a
few shoplots away from Hup Shun. Sibujaya
often advertises its company through social
medias such as Facebook. Sibujaya provides
top to toe car care services in the automotive
line.
Hoe Hing Tyres is a small tyre shop located
right next to Hup Shun. It is operating on
small number of products that are similar to
Hup Shun’s. Besides selling tyres, Hoe Hing
also sells sports rims.

Strategies Employed By Hup Shun Tyres Auto Car Care
Sdn Bhd to Compete with Competitors
1 – Products Variety
Hup Shun Tyres is becoming one of Malaysia’s biggest market in wheels and tyres
retailing centres with a “One Stop Car Service Centre” concept. Not many tyres and
car care workshops in Malaysia have manifested this concept in their companies yet.
Hup Shun does not only provide a large variety of sports rims and tyres, it also sells
performance big brake kits, car body parts, suspension and exhaust systems and
other car accessories. The price of the products and services are always reasonable
and standardized.
Besides that, Hup Shun also serves as an official sole distributor for the official Vossen
Wheels and BC Forged Wheels in Malaysia.

2 – High Performance Car Repair & Services
3 – Advertising
Hup Shun provides car care services with superb quality. Together with the 10 workers, 9 of them
are from local which really helps in communicating with the local people who often pay visit to the
workshop. Hup Shun is also an official Meisterchaft Exhaust authorized dealer in Malaysia.
Moreover, it also provides the best service and maintenance for its customers such as tyre
recapping etc. Its highly trained team members consisting of 10 workers provide compromising
services to all of their customers.
Hup Shun promotes its company through facebook pages, customer’s recommendations
and having its own public website. Occasionally, Hup Shun Tyres would also appear on
medias such as the magazines, newspapers and articles.

Obstacles Faced By New Businesses
Obstacles Reasons
Lack of capital to start business Starting up a workshop business that sells
tires, batteries and services require huge
sum of money as tires are quite pricey.
Tyres servicing also require machineries
that are expensive. There are no
alternatives for tyres. Also, a workshop
requires a more spacious shop which is
more expensive than a small regular shop
lot.
It is hard to overcome as a sole trader
because it is not easy to appeal loan from
bank to have enough capital to start up a
business.
Competitors It is competitive to have a tyre and car care
workshop in Malaysia as this type of shops
are abundant in Malaysia and can be found
anywhere. Furthermore, they are usually
placed at the same area, serving the same
purpose.
It is hard to stand out among so many
shops and be the best one because there
are too many competitors out there.
Location and Usage of Space It is important to choose a strategic place
for a workshop because people tend to go
to the nearest workshop available to fix their
tyre or get a new tyre. There must be ample
space for the servicing to be done and also
for the products to be stored.
It is easy to overcome compared to the
other obstacles as finding a good strategic
place only requires some research and
findings, not something very hard to do.

Nature of Their Markets
Both tyres and car care services shops are of perfect competition. There
are a lot of tyres and car care services shop in Malaysia that sell products that
are mostly similar but not identical. For instance, there are many different types
of tyres but the products are still standardized. Different types of tyres may differ
from the sizes, shapes, designs, price and brand. There are many tyre
workshops in Malaysia mainly because the barriers to entry are relatively weak,
which means that new firms can enter and exit the markey easily. Since there
are many tyre workshops in the market, the competition is rather intense.
Therefore, the firms cannot charge a high price for its products or else
customers will buy from its rivals. In other words, tyres and car care workshops
generally have a weak pricing power.. For example, some workshops sell
batteries, some sell bottled-petrol, some sell car accessories and so o Product
differentiation results in customers developing attachment for their products. If
customers have strong attachment, then it is harder for competitors to steal
away the firm’s customer and profits.

Summary Table to Compare The Differences Between The 2
Businesses
Yuen Chuan Huat Differences HupShun
1992 Year Founded 1995
Yuen Chuan Huat Founder Mr T
4940, Jalan Semabok, 75050,
Malaka, Malaysia
Location No.11,JLN PJS 11/7 Bandar
Sunway 46150 Petaling Jaya
Selangor
Around RM 3 to 4 thousand Daily Revenue Around RM 5 to 10 thousand
0 Branch 1
2 Units of shops 3
Less than 10 Number of employees 11
Around 15 a day Number of customers Around 20 a day
3-5 Number of
competitors
More than 5
7am-7pm Business Hour 9am-6:30pm
Through recommendation of
customers and friends; Awards
received
Advertising Through media, magazine and
newspapers
More improve services and
quality of products
Future plans Extend the business and improve
service and quality of products
Sports rims, different brands of
tyres, car batteries, tyre services
Type of products and
services
Different brands of tyres, car sports
rims, exhaust systems, suspensions,
tyre services
Lead by owner and his wife Leaders Lead by the owner and his son

Summary Table to Compare The Similarities Between The 2
Businesses
Yang Chuan Huat Similarities Hupshun
1 Number of founders 1
Family influence What prompted to
start this business
Family influence
tyres Main products tyres
Businessman Main customers Businessman
Provide good services and
quality products
Strategy Provide good services and
quality products
Home base Business operation Home base
Around 300k including
machinery
Capital is required to
start this business
Around 300k including
machinery
Depends on the season Best seller Depends on the season

Conclusion of Analysis
Based on our analysis and research on both tyres’ business in Melaka
and Klang Valley, the business that is more commercially successful is Hup
Shun Tyres Auto Car Care Sdb Bhd. Although Yuen Chuan Huat Tyres and
Batteries sdb bhd has been established earlier than Hup Shun Tyres Auto Car
Care Sdn Bhd, however Hup Shun Tyres provides more professional, consistent
and quality services at affordable prices to their customers. Other than that, Hup
Shun have more variety of tyres and sport rims compared to Yuen Chuan Huat.
This shows a strong advantage in order to attract more customers.
Other than that, Hup Shun has 3 units of shops compared to Yuen
Chuan Huat only has 2 units of shops. On the other hand, Hup Shun has official
website on the internet and Facebook page to advertise their latest products to
attract customers. The services provided by Hup Shun are more quality and
faster because they have more workers and all their workers are well trained.
Most importantly, Hup Shun makes certain that the stocks are always sufficient,
as customer do not like to wait.
Therefore, Hup Shun is more commercially successful than Yuen Chuan
Huat.

Recommendations
Business 1: Yuen Chuan Huat Tyres & Batteries Sdn Bhd
Although Yuen Chuan Huat Tyres & Batteries’ business is doing fine, they have
rooms for improvement to make the business better. Not being in city area, their
business might be small but rich of history.
Area of Improvement Recommendations
Not active in promoting They should distribute flyers or brochures
around to nearby housing areas or shop
lots, places with lots of people to promote
the shop and for more people to discover
the existence of the shop. Besides that,
investing in a newspaper advertisement is
also an ideal way to increase its publicity.
Regular customers To make sure the company does not only
receive business from its regular
customers but also from first-timers, a
recommended way to improve this
problem is to expand their business by
branching out to more than 1 shop lot in a
different area to gain more customers.
Size of Shop The size of the shop lot limits the number
of vehicles and customers that can fit in
the shop. There is also insufficient space
for customers to park their cars. It is
recommended to extend the size of the
shop lot so that more people are willing to
visit the shop if it is more spacious.
Waiting Area Facilities There is no air-conditioned waiting area for
the customers and also very limited seats
for them to wait for their car services. This
will cause the customers to feel impatient.
It is recommended to install an air-cond in
the waiting area and also put a few more
seats for the waiting customers.

Although Hup Shun Tyres Auto Car Care is in a good business performance and
is located at a strategic place, there are still some improvements that can be
made to further improve the business performance.
Area of Improvement Recommendations
Waiting Duration Keeping customers waiting in line to get
their vehicles fixed can be tiring if it takes a
long time. To increase efficiency, Hup
Shun should hire more workers to help
speed up the work and also to ensure
customers are satisfied with the quality of
services. Of course, a faster service will
attract more customers compared to a
slow-paced one.
Location Hup Shun is indeed located at a very
strategic place with lots of competitors but
that also means parking becomes a big
problem. Customers often complain there
is no space for them to park their vehicles.
In order to solve this, Hup Shun should
make a specific land of space mainly for
their customers to park their car so that
they do not have to search for parking in
such a hard way.
Employees’ Performance Hup Shun should train their employees to
a much qualified and better standard in
order to compete with the others. Having
trained workers can improve efficiency in
their work and also gaining more trust
from customers who send their cars in.

Appendix 2 :
Yuen Chuan Huat Tyres and Batteries Sdb Bhd
Date: 31th October 2015
Time: 3:30pm-4:00pm
Location: 4940, Jalan Semabok, 75050, Malaka, Malaysia
Interviewed Person: Owner’s Wife, Tay Siew Ling
Job position: Manager
Office Phone Number: +60 6-283 8617
Q: When was the business founded?
A: It was founded in 1992.
Q: Who are the key founders?
A: The key founder of this shop is Yuen Chuan Huat.
Q: What prompted the founders to start this business?
A: Last time the owner was working with his brother and learn about changing
tyres and rims. So he later started this business on his own after working for a
few years with his brother.
Q: What are your main products?
A: Our main products are car tyres, rims and car batteries. We do provide
services such as recapping, retreading and also repairing services for tyre.
Q: Who are you customers?
A: Our customers are mostly businessmen.
Q: How many branch offices do you have?
A: We don’t have any branch office.
Q: Can you provide us a brief history of your business and its most recent
developments?
A: As I mention before, the owner was working with his brother for a few years.
He later starts this business on his own.
Q: Do you have many competitors? Who are they? Who are your top 3
competitor?
A: We have quite a lot of competitors as there are lot bigger and popular shops
in this market. The top 3 competitors are Soon Hoe Tyres, Chin Thye Tyres
Trading Co and SinWuFu Enterprise Sdn Bhd. Those 3 competitors I mention
just now are the competitors around this area as there are a lot more in this
area.

Q: Is the business constantly facing strong competition from other competitors?
What strategies have they used to compete with you?
A: Yes. The strategies used by other competitors are mostly the same that is
lower the price of the products to attract customers. Customers always want
something cheap for the products so our competitors keep on lowering down
the prices which affected the market price.
Q: How much capital is required to start this business? What, if any, specialized
field of knowledge do you need to run this business?
A: Around 300k including stocks and machines. The knowledge to run this
business is how to operate about tyres, rims and batteries.
Q: Generally, do you feel it is easy or hard to enter this market? Why?
A: It becomes harder as there are a lot of competitors around this area. The
capital required to enter this market is quite expensive. The machines are very
expensive. There are a lot of competitors in this area.
Q: How do you compete with your competitors? What strategies do you employ
to divert customers away from your competitors?
A: The strategies we used are customer service and pricing. We provide a good
customer services to our customer so that they will return. We want customers
who return so that our business will be consistent. The second strategy is price
of our products. We keep our pricing same as the market so that it will not be
too expensive and too cheap which will influence the market price.
Q: How much is the business annual revenue figure?
A: I am not sure about the annual revenue figure but I can say that it was
depends on the number of the customer. We could earn at least RM 4000 per
day.
Q: How often do you release a new product?
A: It depends on the factory. When the factory has released new products, we
will release it after we get the stock.
Q: Are your pricing decisions strongly affected by your competitors?
A: Yes. It is to ensure that our price of our products and services are not too
expensive in the market.

Hup Shun Tyres Auto Car Care Sdn Bhd
Date: 17 November 2015
Time: 12:30pm – 1:30pm
Location: 11, Jalan PJS 11/7, Bandar Sunway, 47500 Subang Jaya,
Selangor, Malaysia
Interviewed Person: Mr. Ivan
Job position: Sales Managing Director
Office Phone Number: +60 3-5632 9926
Q: When was the business founded?
A: It was founded in 1995.
Q: Who are the key founders?
A: The key founder of this shop is Mr. T.
Q: What prompted the founders to start this business?
A: The owner used to work for his brother when he was younger and learnt
about changing tyres and rims. So he later started this business on his own after
working for a few years with his brother.
Q: What are your main products?
A: Our main products are car tyres, sports rims. We also have some car
accessories, bottled petrols, and also provide services such as tyre fixing and
car care services.
Q: Who are you customers?
A: Our customers are mostly businessmen.
Q: How many branch offices do you have?
A: 1 branch.
Q: Can you provide us a brief history of your business and its most recent
developments?
A: The shop was started by my father, as mentioned and it used to be a small
business with one unit of shoplot. Slowly, we extended our business to 3 units
and there is also another branch in SS2.
Q: Do you have many competitors? Who are they? Who are your top 3
competitor?
A: We have a lot of competitors especially in this area where most of them are
selling the same products. Main competitors are Kim Heng, Sibujaya and Hoe
Hing Tyres. All these shops are just located around the area.
Q: Is the business constantly facing strong competition from other competitors?
What strategies have they used to compete with you?
A: Yes. The competition here is rather intense. We only try our best to keep our
own regular customers to provide them the best and also some walk-in

customers. I’m not so sure what strategies they used but they usually lower
down the price when the customers bargain.
Q: How much capital is required to start this business? What, if any, specialized
field of knowledge do you need to run this business?
A: We used around 300 thousand ringgit, that includes our stocks and
machines. Knowledge such as price of tyres, size and types of tyres are all basic
knowledge to run this business.
Q: Generally, do you feel it is easy or hard to enter this market? Why?
A: It is indeed harder to enter this market right now since the capital to start up
this business is not a small number. It is definitely getting harder year by year. It
is also harder for us because we hire local workers and now it is hard to hire
local workers that are interested in these kind of jobs.
Q: How do you compete with your competitors? What strategies do you employ
to divert customers away from your competitors?
A: We always keep our products in stock, to ensure customers always get what
they want and we provide quality services such as one stop service concept.
We have large variety of tyres to choose from.
Q: How much is the business annual revenue figure?
A: I’m really not sure about the annual revenue but there are around 20
customers per day that visit us.
Q: How often do you release a new product?
A: Oh, we do not release any new products but we receive newly designed
products from our prompt suppliers every 3 years.
Q: Are your pricing decisions strongly affected by your competitors?
A: Yes, definitely. Most of us here have the same products and we sell for the
same price range. It does not go beyond or below that range of price.

Appendix 3 : Comparative Analysis Summary Table
Competitive Traits Business A (Yuen Chuan
Huat Tyres in Melaka)
Business B (Hup Shun
Tyres in Klang Valley)
1. Number of Competitors 3 to 5 5 to 10
2. Barriers to Entry Weak barriers to entry.
The firm can enter and exit the
market easily.
Weak barriers to entry.
There is 0 barrier. Business
can enter and exit the market
anytime.
3. Differentiated or
Standardized Products
Standardized products.
The business sells tyres and
car batteries.
Standardized products.
The business sells tyres,
sports rims, bottled petrols
and several car accessories.
4. Pricing Power Price taker. The business
cannot charge a higher price
for its products as most of the
price are standardized and
fixed. If the business charges a
higher price for its products,
customers will buy from
another firm. Customers will
only buy at the lowest price.
Price taker. The business
cannot charge a higher price
for its products as most of the
price are standardized and
fixed. If the business charges a
higher price for its products,
customers will buy from
another firm. Customers will
only buy at the lowest price.
5. Other Characteristics Mutual dependence.
The business depends on
family and friends to spread
the word about the business.
The business promotes its
business through friends’
recommendations and such.
Constant advertising.
The business uses media to
promote its business such as
newspapers, magazines and
even on Facebook.
6. Verdict Perfect competition. Perfect competition.

Appendix 4 :
Minutes of the Meeting of Business 1 :
DATE : 31 October 2015
TIME : 3:30pm – 4pm
VENUE :
Yuen Chuan Huat Tyres
4940, Jalan Semabok, 75050, Malaka,
Malaysia
Minutes of the Meeting of Business 2 :
DATE : 17 November 2015
TIME : 12:30pm – 1:30pm
VENUE :
Hup Shun Tyres
11, Jalan PJS 11/7, Bandar Sunway,
47500 Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia!!
Names of Group Members Tutorial Group Role
Chloe Sim Tiing Ern Wednesday Group Leader
Rachel Yeo Chi Xuan Wednesday Group Member
Karen Choo Qiao Ying Friday Group Member
Melvyn Poh Ern Meng Wednesday Group Member
Lee Zhi Ang Monday Group Member

No. Activity Action taken by
1. Tyre shop selection in Melaka
- Arranging appointment time with the
owner
Lee Zhi Ang
2. Assigning of Tasks
- Interview Questionaire
- Videographer
- Taking down notes
- Photographer
Chloe Sim
Rachel Yeo, Melvyn
Poh
Karen Choo
Lee Zhi Ang
3. Report
- Artistic Cover
- Comparative Analysis of Competitive
Traits
- Summary table of the Differences of 2
Businesses
- Brief Description of Business A
- References
Melvyn Poh
4. Report
- Group coordinator
- Overall grammatical structure correction
- Appendices
- Minutes of the meeting
- Nature of their markets
- Compilation
Chloe Sim
5. Report
- Brief Description of Business B
- Recommendations
- Obstacles faced by new businesses
- Analysis of Businesses
Rachel Yeo
6. Report
- Strategies employed by 2 businesses
- Conclusion of Analysis
- Interview Questionaires
- Summary tables of comparison of 2
businesses
Karen Choo
7. Report
- Compiling photos
- Business’ Competitors description
- Strategies employed by businesses
- Strategies employed by competitors
Lee Zhi Ang

Appendix 5 : Name Cards
Business 1 : Yuen Chuan Huat Tyres & Batteries Sdn Bhd

Appendix 6 : Photos
Business 1: Yuen Chuan Huat Tyres & Batteries Sdn Bhd

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