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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.
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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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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 amajor 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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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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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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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 Rating
Trained, trusted and
dependable employees
8
Strategic Location 7
Operating hours suited to
customers preference
9
Cleanliness 10
Facilities 10
Services 9
Tight Cost Control 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 withKedai 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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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
Artiste Stationary Competitor 1
Kedai Stationary and
Printing
Weight Rating Score Rating Score
Market
Share
0.10 2 0.2 3 0.3
Pricing
strategy
0.20 3 0.6 2.5 0.5
Financial
Strategy
0.10 2 0.2 2 0.2
Quality
Service
0.20 3.5 0.7 2 0.4
Quality
Infrastruct
ure
0.20 2.5 0.5 1 0.2
Customer
Loyalty
0.20 2 0.4 2 0.4
Total 1.00 2.5 2.0
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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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 (differentiation-
focus)
They are graphically illustrated in figure below:
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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 notnecessarily 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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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.
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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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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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Printing services
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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 hispatience 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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Table 5.1: Major Capital Requirements and Expenditure for Start-up Requirements
START- UP REQUIREMENTS
Start-up Expenses
Legal and Marketing RM 1,000
Stationary products and Printing equipment RM 50,000Rent & Utilities (12 months) RM 2,500
Total Start-up Expenses RM 53.500
Start-up Assets
Cash Required RM 30,000
Long-term Assets RM 10,000
Total Assets RM 40,000
Total Requirements RM 93,500
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Table 5.2: Major Capital Requirements and Expenditure for Start-up Funding
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START-UP FUNDING
Start-up Expenses to Fund RM 10,000
Start-up Assets to Fund RM 40,000
Total Funding Required RM 50,000
Assets
Non-cash Assets from Start-up RM 10,000
Cash Requirements from Start-up RM 30,000
Additional Cash Raised (Family assistance) RM 40,000
Cash Balance on Starting Date RM 30,000
Total Assets RM 80,000
CapitalPlanned Investment
Investor 1 RM 20,000
Additional Investment Requirement RM0
Total Planned Investment RM 20,000
Loss at Start-up (Start-up Expenses) (RM 10,000)
Total Capital RM 40,000
Total Funding RM 50,000
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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 keycompetency 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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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 dosomething 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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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 percentagewhich 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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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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9.0 LOCATION AND LAYOUT OF BUSINESS
Mr Syed Ismail is staying in Seri Iskandar. Initially before he opens a stationary shop inSeri 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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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. Besidesthat, 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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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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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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11.0 CONCLUSION
Mr Syed Ismail is definitely a successful entrepreneur as he managed to open astationary 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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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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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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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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PICTURES
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