Case-study - Singapore Made

http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/transport/motorbike-made-in-spore-hits-the-roads#xtor=CS1-10

Alife Air Automobiles' customisable A bike has LTA nod; some units already being used. A home-grown company has launched a made-in-Singapore scooter, the only one in the market now to be assembled here.

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The Alife Air Automobiles' A bike, which comes in 125cc and 150cc variants and in four designs, is put together at the company's plant in Bukit Batok Street 23.
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It is the first product to roll off the assembly line for the firm, which is the brainchild of entrepreneur Devan Nair, 55.
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About 80 per cent of parts are imported from China, Korea and Japan, with the rest sourced from local suppliers. The engine is designed and made in the US.
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The scooter was approved for use by the Land Transport Authority earlier this year, said Mr Nair, Alife Air Automobiles' president and group chief executive officer.
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He defied naysayers, who questioned the firm's viability in an established industry dominated by the likes of Honda and Yamaha, when he started the business two years ago.
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He said such big players satisfy a global market and have "set parameters in their designs". The A bike's design is simple and can be customised to individual needs, he said.
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Its biggest customer so far is SH Cycle, which has ordered 200 bikes, which it will, in turn, supply to clients such as Pizza Hut.
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The first 20 machines were delivered on Saturday.
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SH Cycle director Royston Ho said: "My business associates and staff have test-ridden the bike and find it good and economical."
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Mr Nair said that for corporate dealers, which need to regularly service motorcycles they lease to clients, the advantage of buying a locally assembled machine is clear.
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"We keep ample stock of parts. They can come to our factory for a one-to-one exchange," he said.
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As part of the firm's contribution to SG50, he said the A bike will be sold at a "big discount" of $4,988 - excluding the Certificate of Entitlement - to Singaporeans and permanent residents. The retail price is over $8,000 for other buyers.
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The prices may raise an eyebrow or two, said industry observers, considering that an Indonesian- or Chinese-made scooter can cost under $3,000.
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Asked about this, Mr Nair said: "We cannot and will not compromise on the quality of parts and safety in our design. So we do not compete as such... Our price is benchmarked against established European and Japanese brands."
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There are over 20 orders from the public, and some are already on the road, he added.
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Asked if he would buy one, research assistant Larry Liew, 34, said: "The bike seems a little pricey, but it appears to have a fast pick-up speed. I'm not so familiar with US-made engines as Japanese ones are more common, so I'll be eager to see if it is fuel-efficient."
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Alife Air Automobiles is the second firm to make motorcycles in Singapore. Tiger Motors, a now-defunct Singapore firm, had set up an assembly plant in Kallang in 2000.
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Mr Tony Yeo, president of the Singapore Motor Cycle Trade Association, said it is hard to make and sell bikes in Singapore as labour costs are high and the market is small.
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Mr Nair said the A bike is just the start. The firm is now working to get a rotary engine certified in the US. This will be used in motorcycles sold there and in Singapore. This is a departure from the piston design found in nearly all motorcycles. "The biggest cause of accidents for motorcycles is engine vibration. The higher the engine capacity, the more the vibration. At high speeds, it's a very dangerous element. "We are designing a rotary engine that can give you zero vibration," said Mr Nair.

TQM

http://tutor2u.net/business/gcse/downloads/production_quality_management.pdf

EOQ

http://www.inc.com/encyclopedia/economic-order-quantity-EOQ.html

The Economic Order Quantity (EOQ) is the number of units that a company should add to inventory with each order to minimize the total costs of inventory—such as holding costs, order costs, and shortage costs. The EOQ is used as part of a continuous review inventory system in which the level of inventory is monitored at all times and a fixed quantity is ordered each time the inventory level reaches a specific reorder point. The EOQ provides a model for calculating the appropriate reorder point and the optimal reorder quantity to ensure the instantaneous replenishment of inventory with no shortages. It can be a valuable tool for small business owners who need to make decisions about how much inventory to keep on hand, how many items to order each time, and how often to reorder to incur the lowest possible costs.

CPA

https://www.mindtools.com/critpath.html

The essential concept behind Critical Path Analysis is that you cannot start some activities until others are finished. These activities need to be completed in a sequence, with each stage being more-or-less completed before the next stage can begin. These are 'sequential' activities.

Other activities are not dependent on completion of any other tasks. You can do these at any time before or after a particular stage is reached. These are non-dependent or 'parallel' tasks.

Porter's 5 Forces

http://beta.tutor2u.net/business/reference/porters-model-of-industry-rivalry-five-forces

Why do airlines make so little profit (and such big losses)? There are several factors, including:

Very intensive competitor rivalry – mainly on price
Low barriers to entry – lots of new airlines who want to set up
Suppliers of aircraft & equipment are powerful – can charge high margins
Customers have lots of substitute options – e.g. rail, car
High fixed costs – airline losses rise significantly if revenues fall only slightly since it costs roughly the same to fly half-empty planes as full ones

By contrast, why are profits so high in the soft drinks market? The answer is mainly that:

Customers and suppliers have little power – Pepsi has many millions of individual consumers, and thousands of retail distributors none of whom has much influence over the business
There is high brand awareness & loyalty = less consumer desire for substitutes
High barriers to entry – how do you enter a market dominated by Coca-Cola and Pepsi?

You coffee and cakes shop will like to merge with Cotton On.

Make a quick statement to your share holders about the merger.

Paper 2 Section B

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There are three measures of average, the mean, median and mode, all of which perform the function of estimating the value that represents where the majority of observations fall in a set of data. However, depending on what is being measured and indeed, how it is distributed, each of these three measures may produce very different estimates of the average.

These are essentials of Marketing Research. 

Mode, mean, Range and Median are all fundamentals of Data Analysis. 

They are a set of methods and techniques used to obtain information and insights from data, They helps avoid erroneous judgements and conclusions. They can constructively influence the research objectives and the research design. 

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LMC:

May have very active shareholders
Larger gearing
Greater risk-takers
More competitive
More aggressive in getting talent

9a)
Unable to reach targets
High turnover
Poor customers service
Poor performance
Slow communication

9b)
Give recognition
Offer prizes
Develop new skills
Get to know the employees better
Explain the activity well


DEFINITION of 'Market Segmentation'
A marketing term referring to the aggregating of prospective buyers into groups (segments) that have common needs and will respond similarly to a marketing action. Market segmentation enables companies to target different categories of consumers who perceive the full value of certain products and services differently from one another. Generally three criteria can be used to identify different market segments:

1ob)
Customers In a mer needs

Different parts could lead  Real b)
Minimise warehousing cost
Large - reailer (friends from the Art )
Spare capacity
Calculate warehousing requiremennCulture

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Is it urgent
In terms of training  Standardised
Quality control occurs during training
External of Internal trainers? Inhouse of Outsource?
Space contraints
He can take on a hnads off approacch

N

1a) The Exporter Development Programme (EDP) has an initial funding of $6 million. Via partnership with trade associations and chambers, the Programme hopes to benefit more than 1000 SME exporters in the next three years. The Programme is a timely boost for Singapore SMEs who are involved in exporting activity. 1

1b) To ensure that there is price stability

New competitors can enter into market

2a) 

- control decentralised, ensuring better monitoring of all aspects of a job

- many opportunities for vertical or horizontal career decisions

2b)

Insufficient Knowledge of the Subject.  If the sender lacks specific information about something, the receiver will likely receive an unclear or mixed message.  

Information Overload.  If you receive a message with too much information, you may tend to put up a barrier because the amount of information is coming so fast that you may have difficulty comfortably interpreting that information.

3a)

Two-factor theory distinguishes between:

Motivators (e.g. challenging work, recognition for one's achievement, responsibility, opportunity to do something meaningful, involvement in decision making, sense of importance to an organization) that give positive satisfaction, arising from intrinsic conditions of the job itself, such as recognition, achievement, or personal growth,and

Hygiene factors (e.g. status, job security, salary, fringe benefits, work conditions, good pay, paid insurance, vacations) that do not give positive satisfaction or lead to higher motivation, though dissatisfaction results from their absence. The term "hygiene" is used in the sense that these are maintenance factors. These are extrinsic to the work itself, and include aspects such as company policies, supervisory practices, or wages/salary. Herzberg often referred to hygiene factors as "KITA" factors, which is an acronym for "kick in the ass", the process of providing incentives or threat of punishment to make someone do something.

3b)

The tertiary industry is split into two main categories. The first is made up of companies that are in the business of making money, such as those in the financial industry. The second comprises the non-profit segment, which includes services such as state education. 

- Help gather customer feedback

- Trainers

4a)

· Interest on capital invested in the stocks;

· Storage charges ( rent, lighting, heating, refrigeration, air-conditioning and others);

· Warehouse manpower, equipment maintenance and running costs;

· Handling costs;

· Audit, stocktaking or perpetual inventory costs;

· Insurance, security and others;

· Deterioration and obsolescence and

· Pilferage, vermin damage and others

4b)
Hard to predict stock
Not to customise stock

5a)
FDI
R&D
Employment

5b)
Currency

6a)
Cash flow / Budgeting
b) Different packages / Price discrimination

7a)
Since Singapore exports are assumed to be priced in SGD, thus a depreciation will make sg exports cheaper.
b)
The net gearing ratio is calculated by dividing the total debt, including long- and short-term liabilities and bank overdrafts, by the total shareholder equity. Expressed as a percentage, this ratio reflects the amount of existing equity that would be required to pay off all outstanding debts. A low-geared company with a ratio of 10% would be able to pay off debt several times over and would be considered low-risk by both investors and lenders. Companies with higher ratios, upwards of 50% for example, represent a greater risk, because even a brief period of reduced profits or a sudden increase in interest rates could mean bankruptcy and loan default.

essay

Quiz

1. Use the SWOT Analysis to describe the decision of your company to create a food truck selling gourmet food. (8 marks)

2. Using Product Life-Cycle, explain why would Subway want to have all the outlets within 7-11. (4 marks)

BMC - Diagram