SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGNFOUNDATION IN NATURAL BUILD ENVIRONMENT

PRESENTATION TITLE: HERBALS AND MEDICINE

GROUP MEMBERS:

Names Presentation Roles

TAN JOLYNN STRATEGIES USED

ENG SHI YI BACKGROUND INFORMATION OF HERBAL

INDUSTRY

TAN WEI ZHEN ANALYSIS OF NATURE OF BUSINESS

RUBEN HOO INTRODUCTION & CONCLUSION

KHAIRUL JEFRI BACKGROUND OF 2 SHOP AND COMPETITORS

TAN YINCY RECOMMENDATION

LAI TZE XIAUN ANALYSIS OF OBSTACLES AND CHALLENGES

ENGLISH 2 (ELG 30605)

LECTURER: CASSANDRA WIJESURIA

SUBMISSION & PRESENTATION DATE: WEDNESDAY 8AM

CONTENT

1. RESEARCH PROPOSAL 1.1. INTRODUCTION

2. KEY SUMMARY 2.1. LOCATION 2.2. THE GROUP 2.3. THE TOPIC2.4. RESEARCH QUESTION2.5. METHODOLOGY

3. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE BUSINESSES3.1. HERBAL INDUSTRY3.2. ZHONG HUA HERBAL SHOP3.3. BAO JIAN HERBAL SHOP

4. TRANSCRIPT4.1. ZHONG HUA HERBAL SHOP4.2. KH HERBAL SHOP

5. RECOMMENDATIONS5.1. ZHONG HUA HERBAL SHOP5.2. KH HERBAL SHOP

6. COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS6.1. COMPARATIVE ESSAY6.2. COMPARATIVE TABLE

7. APPENDICES7.1. MEETING MINUTES7.2. SHOP DETAILS

8. BIBLIOGRAPHY

9. REFERENCES

INTRODUCTION

The report we will study, compare and analysis 2 businesses of the same industry

but located in different regions of Malaysia.

The industry chosen for this research is herbal industry. We chose this industry of

all possible option because we as human found ourselves have to be concern of our health

in order to have subsequent achievement in our life. We eventually limited our research

to 2 herbal shop in Malaysia, first is the Zhong Hua Shop which is located at Taman Ros,

Teluk Intan, while the other one is Bao Jian herbal shop which located at OUG, Kuala

Lumpur. Going through the 2 businesses, we found that the shop that is run at Teluk Intan

is more stable than the other shop in Kuala Lumpur, most probably because of its worker

attitude and technique in running the business.

KEY SUMMARY

2.1 Location

We carry out our research at 2 different states. The first research was carried out in Teluk

Intan. This state consist of many industry such as food, palm oil industry etc. But the

food industry is probably by far the most famous industry here but the herbal industry

stood strong in Teluk Intan through centuries as it focuses on customers’ needs. The 2nd

research was carry out in Klang valley. OUG, Kuala Lumpur is the home for most of us

and it is highly populated by the Chinese.

2.2 The Group

Our group consists of seven members

- Eng Shi Yi

- Tan Jo Lynn

- Tan Yincy

- Tan Wei Zhen

- Lai Tze Xiuan

- Khairul Jefri

- Ruben Hoo

2.3 The Topic

The 2 businesses that we decided to do comparison on are the Zhong Hua herbal shop in

Teluk Intan and Bao Jian herbal shop in Kuala Lumpur. This 2 shop have been in the

herbal industry for more than 20 years. But they both are very different in term of the

employee attitude and services, advertisement method, etc.

2.4 Research Questions

1. What is your name?

2. Who is the founder of this business?

3. When did you start you business?

4. What inspire you to start the business / what is your history of your business?

5. What are the main products being sold here?

6. How many branches do you have?

7. How many workers do you have?

8. What is estimation number of customer that visited your shop daily?

9. What is the obstacles phase when you first started your business?

10. How did you overcome those obstacles?

11. What is the strength of your business?

12. What is the weakness of your business (if any)?

13. What are you biggest trait or competition?

14. What strategy do you use to compete with your competitor?  

15. Who is your main target market?

16. Where do you see your business in ten years?

17. Do you wish to extend your business maybe to the international market?

18. What are you hope for this business?

2.5 Methodology

2.5.1 The Interview

The interview was carried out during our trip to Teluk Intan. We were given time to carry

out our time interview for 2 days 1 night staying there. We visited the Zhong Hua Herbal

shop at Taman Ros, Teluk Intan and met the owner, Mr. Phoon Kam Yao. We started off

by asking him general question about the shop while taping the interview. He then gave

us a tour and introduced us variety of herb and briefly description of his shop. He also

gave us his name card. The second interview was carried out during the next day. We

went to Bao Jian herbal shop in OUG, Kuala Lumpur. The employee at the shop was not

friendly and did not seem to welcome us. Thus, we were not allowed to take picture and

interview the founder of the shop.

2.5.2 References

Beside on site interview, we also look up on the Internet for references. Both the herbal

shops do not have proper website. Hence, we had to get information from residence

around the area.

2.5.3 Meetings

We have conducted a few meeting before going for interviews. This is to ensure that all

task were distributed fairly to all group members. We also kept in touch through

Whatapps, Facebook and face-to-face meeting to make sure everyone was on track.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INDUSTRY

3.1 Description of the herbal industry

In the herbal industry of Malaysia, herbs are usually traded through entre port but

Malaysia also involves in the supply of herbal raw materials or herbal product businesses.

For the herbal entre port trade, the herbal raw materials or herbal products that are

imported from other countries are repacked into new products for sale in local or in third

world countries. There are many local suppliers of herbal raw materials or herbal

products export their merchandise on order. Malaysia has an estimate of about 1300 plant

species that can be used in medicine, there are about 200 plant species are used as herbal

remedies and about 50 plant species are mostly used in traditional medicine preparations.

Malaysia usually supplies its’ herbal products to some countries such as, the United

States, Europe, Japan, China and the Middle East countries. There are low-cost suppliers

such as China and India pose serious problem of profitability to the Malaysian herbal

traders when trading internationally due to competitive pricing. Most Europe countries

constitute a large segment of the herbal industry market while Japan and the United

States are trailing behind the Europe countries. Eastern Europe countries and China may

influence the supply demand of herbal materials in the industry market due to their

pursuit for hard currency.

3.1 Zhong Hua Herbal and Medicine

Zhong Hua Herbal and Medicine was founded by Mr. Phoon Kam Yao in year

1986. The business is about twenty-eight years until today and it is located at Teluk Intan,

Perak. The main income of the business is by selling herbs and giving health

consultancies. The current owner of the business is still Mr. Phoon Kam Yao, he was

graduated as a medical practitioner and he was interested in the herbs and medicines,

therefore he planned to start an herbal business. According to Mr. Phoon, there are two

other herbal shops nearby which are the biggest competitors for his business.

Mr. Phoon was inspired by the interest towards the herbs and medicine. He began

with a plan of locating his store at a row of shop lots in front of a housing area; this is to

provide a convenient environment to the residences and eventually increases his rate of

customers. The business currently only has a store and the owner does not plan to open

branches and extend the business to other countries as he is still searching for a suitable

employee to inherit his business.

3.2 Bao Jian Herbal Shop

Bao Jian Herbal Shop was founded by Mr. Liu Shi Rong in year 1984. It is

located at the Overseas Union Garden (OUG), Kuala Lumpur. The business was started

thirty years ago and it is still operating and giving services to the customers today. The

business earned its highest income by selling the herbs and groceries. Mr. Liu is a

businessman, so he planned to start this business only for business purpose. There are few

herbal shops together with a new herbal shop might be the potential competitors for Bao

Jian Herbal shop.

Mr. Liu began the business all by himself and today the business had evolved and

he had employed few employees to look after the shop. The shop is located in a row of

shop lots opposite a food court due to the activity of the crowd near the food court that

acts as an advertisement for his store. The business also has few branches around the

peninsular Malaysia but Mr. Liu does not plan to extend his business to other countries.

TRANSCRIPT

4.1 Zhong Hua Herbal and Medicine S hop

1. What’s your name?Phoon Kam Yau

2. Who is the founder of this business? I am the founder of this shop.

3. When did you start the business?I started off this business around 22 years ago. Either 1986 or 1987, I can’t really remember.

4. What inspired you to start the business? I am interested in Chinese traditional medical since young age. Thus, I started this business after graduation. And of course, I didn’t have enough money at that time, my parents help me financially.

5. What are the main products or services being sold here?We selling Chinese medicines, Chinese herbs and also my medical skill.

6. How many branches do you have?I don’t have any other branches.

7. How many workers do you have?2 workers

8. What is the estimation number of customers that visit your shop daily?I am not very sure, but I think around 100.

9. What is the obstacle phase when you first started your business?When I first started my business, I do not have enough confident, low self-esteem. The main obstacle is I do not have regular customers.

10. How did you overcome these obstacles?I treated my customer with honesty. I don’t lie to my customers. It takes time to let your customers trust you too.

11. What is the strength of your business?My medical skill.

12. What is the weakness of your business (if any)?No

13. What is your biggest trait or competitor?Other Chinese medicine shops in this district.

14. What strategy do you use to compete with your competitors?Don’t have any special strategy. As long as your pricing is reasonable, but most important you have to treat you customers with honesty, do not lie to them.

15. Who is your main target market?Everyone

16. Where do you see your business in ten years?I hope that my children willing to overtake my business, and extend the business.

17. Do you wish to extend your business to the international market?It is very hard to do so in Malaysia.

18. What you hope for this business?I hope that all my patients who visited could feel better and recover as soon as possible and the feeling of satisfy.

4.2 KH Herbal S hop

1. What’s your name?-

2. Who is the founder of this business? My employer, Liu Shi Rong

3. When did he start the business?He started off his business around 20 years ago.

4. What inspired him to start the business? The main purpose of starting off a business is to earn money, so if the business is profitable, then it is good.

5. What are the main products or services being sold here?The main products are all the medicines and herbs.

6. How many branches do you have?No, but other partners have their own shops and branches.

7. How many workers do you have?10 workers

8. What is the estimation number of customers that visit your shop daily?I am not very sure, but I think around 100.

9. What is the obstacle phase when you first started your business?Customer. Customer is the biggest problem.

10. How did you overcome these obstacles?Promotion.

11. What is the strength of your business?Nothing special, but maybe our service is better.

12. What is the weakness of your business (if any)?No

13. What is your biggest trait or competitor?Chinese medicine shop, for example Hua Lian and Bao Jian.

14. What strategy do you use to compete with your competitors?Good service, reasonable pricing and provide a wider range of product.

15. Who is your main target market?Housewives.

16. Where do you see your business in ten years?He doesn’t have any plan.

17. Do you wish to extend your business to the international market?No.

18. What is his hope for this business?To extend his business.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Based on the analysis of the interview we have conducted previously, we conclude that

Zhong Hua herbal shop has a higher amount of customers compared to xxx herbal shop.

Although xxx herbal shop is located in a more populated area and had a reputable rating

among the residence nearby, the amount of their customers are constrained due to the

limited amount of space in their shop to enable the customers to move around. Besides

that, their workers’ attitudes also degraded their quality of customer services. Therefore,

below are some recommendations for both the herbal shops to improve their business.

5.1 Zhong Hua Herbal Shop

Still standing strong at 50 years old, Zhong Hua herbal shop had braced itself against

modern medical competitors and stand strong among them. To further enhance the

business, Zhong Hua should consider strengthening their brand. Tactics should include

advertise through face-to-face communication around Teluk Intan. This is to allow locals

and tourists to be aware of then significance of their herbal shop. Furthermore, they

should also improve and market the advantages of their varieties of herbals. The next step

is to consider opening their second and third branch on the southern side of the state and

slowly across Malaysia.

5.2 KH Herbal Shop

As KH herbal shop is located in the heart of population spot, they should seize the

opportunity to market xxx herbal shop as a trustworthy and reliable traditional herbal

shop in Kuala Lumpur. But first and foremost, they should improve the attitudes of the

workers in the shop. They did not seem to be passionate about their work and they do not

show appreciation to the customers. As a visitor to the shop, I felt unwelcomed by them

and I definitely would not like to visit the shop again due to their manners. Beside that,

they should improve the arrangement of the units in the shop. There is a very limited

amount of space to allow the customers to move around.

COMPARAITVE ANALYSIS

6.1 Comparative Analysis of The Two Businesses

As already been said, my group members and I interviewed two businesses

from different locations of Malaysia. The first businesses, which had already been

here for 22 years, is the Zhong Hua herbal shop in Taman Ros, Teluk Intan and our

interviewee was Phoon Kam Yau, who was the founder of Zhong Hua herbal shop.

The second businesses, which started 20 years ago, is xxxx herbal shop in Overseas

Union Garden (OUG), Kuala Lumpur and our interviewee was a employee of the

shop. He did not want to tell us his name but we knew that the founder of this shop

is Mr. Liu Shi Rong. Studying these two businesses, similarities as well as differences

were observed.

Both businesses main products are medicine, treat patient and herbal.

However, their main targets of consumers are different. The main targets of Zhong

Hua herbal shop is people from all ages while the main targets of xxx herbal shop

father and daughter. This is the reason why there are differences in numbers of

consumers between these 2 businesses. More than 100 consumers visited Zhong

Hua herbal shop daily while there are only 50 to100 consumers visited xxxx herbal

shops daily.

The two businesses started for different purpose. For the Zhong Hua herbal

shop the business was started to apply his study and treat people away from

disease. According to Mr. Phoon, he travels a lot of place to help people in trouble

and give them treatment after he finished his education. He began his businesses

with a intention of helping others and wish them live healthily. On the other hand

the owner of the xxx herbal shop are realistic. He started this business just want to

earn money.

Like any other businesses, these two also faced some challenging obstacles

that prevent that from being on the required track. However it is not as bad for

Zhong hua herbal shop in Taman Ros, Teluk Intan. Zhong Hua herbal shop has some

difficulties of having regular customer. This causes the owner to lose confident of his

business. Even though there are difficulties, the owner himself believes that this is a

part of the success. So he decided to take it slowly and treat every consumer

honestly and friendly. He just hopes there is someone to take over the business. On

the other hand, xxx herbal shop in Overseas Union Garden (OUG), Kuala Lumpur

also having difficulties but mainly is because of the consumers. Consumers do not

like the attitude of the employee even though they gave attentive and quick service.

The employee does not smile and treat the consumers’ friendly, and this cause all

the consumers does not want to come again.

Along with the challenges come the competitors, Zhong Hua herbal shop has

one main competitor, which is the Ren An herbal shop. Ren An herbal shop have

been around for 20-30 years and the owner himself knew a lot of people around

that district. On the onther hand, xxx herbal shop is located in business area, so

there are a lot of competitors. The main competitors are Hua Lian herbal shop and

Bao Jian herbal shop. Both of the shop are way bigger than xxx herbal shop so it

hard to get business.

To conclude based on our observation of the two businesses, Zhong Hua

herbal shop at Teluk Intan is more commercially stable than the xxx herbal shop

that is located in Overseas Union Garden (OUG), Kuala Lumpur. Mostly because they

have provide better quality of services and people attract to it. Unlikely xxx herbal

shop, they are more realistic. All they care is profit not the consumers

6.2 Comparative Table

ITEM ZHONG HUA HERBAL SHOP

BAO JIAN HERBAL SHOP

NUMBER OF COMPETITORS

There is one main competitor, who is Ren An herbal shop.

There are two main competitors, who are Hua Lian herbal shop and Bao Jian herbal shop.

BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF COMPETITORS

Ren An herbal shop- Another traditional herbal

shop around the same area- Sell almost same variety

of herbal- Also sell other daily need

product

Hua Lian herbal shop- Another traditional herbal

shop around the same area- Sell almost same variety

of herbal

STRATEGIES TO COMPETE WITH COMPETITORS

PricingReasonable and affordable Reasonable and affordable

Advertisement

Face-to-face Communication Face-to-face Communication

Quality of service

Friendly and attentive, always serving with smiles.

Attentive and quick service but the attitude of the employee to the customer is terrible

Atmosphere

Good ventilation and space is not limited.

Crowded, hot and humid due to limited space and poor ventilation

WHAT ARE THE OBSTACLES FACED BY NEW BUSINESS?

One of the obstacles faced by the new business that wishes to enter the markets today is human resources. As for now, it is hard for a new business to build up a string human resource management in a short phase, as a lengthy time is needed to train the new workers. Besides that, the current market is quite subjugated, as there is quite an amount of similar business in the society. Thus, make it more challenging to start off a new business in this industry. Nevertheless, these difficulties can be

overcome if the newcomers are willing to work hard and think innovatively.

NATURE OF MARKET Both herbal shops are in Perfectly Competitive market.- The shops are selling same products, which is variety of herbal, both has relatively small market share that could not set any significant changes in the market price and that consumers could not get a exact data about the product and prices offered by the workers as all data are considered business secret.

ZHONG HUA HERBAL SHOP

SIMILARITIES HERBAL SHOP

Herbal and chinese medicine Main products sold Herbal and chinese medicine

Local Workers Local

No intention to expand to international market

Future plan No intention to expand to international market

Provide services with honesty

Strategy Provide services

Zhong Hua Herbal Shop Differences Bao Jian Herbal Shop

Mr. Phoon Kam Yau established Zhong Hua in the year of 1986. He started off this business 22 years ago supported by his parents.

Founder and history Established in the year of 1984 by Mr. Liu Shi Rong. He

started off this business just wanted to earn money.

Zhong Hua herbal shop is located in a double storey

building at Taman Ros,Teluk Intan right next to the oldest

shop,Seng Huat.

Location Is located at Overseas Union Garden (OUG), Kuala

Lumpur.

Only one main branch Number of branches 5 around Kuala Lumpur

Medicine, treatment, and groceries

Types of product sold Medicine and herbal

9AM -8.30PM Business hour 9AM-10.30PM

Handle by the owner himself only, hoping for someone to

take over the business

Business operation Handle by the owner himself and other employee.

Around 100 customers daily Number of customer Around 50 to 100 customers daily

People from all ages Targeted market Father and daughter

APPENDICES

Appendix 1: Minutes Meeting

Date: 14th November 2014 Time: 1300hr-1500hr Venue: Taylor’s Lakeside Campus

MEETING CALLED BY: Eng Shi Yi

NOTE TAKER: Tan Wei Zhen

TIMEKEEPER: Lai Tze Xiuan

ATTENDANCE:Eng Shi Yi, Tan Wei Zhen, Lai Tze Xiuan, Tan Jo Lynn, Khairul Jefri, Tan Yincy

2-HOUR CHOICE OF BUSINESS

Discussion:

1. Discussed about the types of business that we would like to do research on.

2. Searched the Internet to find more about the business, which has been operating for

10 to 15 years in Klang Valley and out of Klang Valley.

Conclussions:

1. Traditional herbal shops were chosen because both areas, Teluk Intan and Kuala

Lumpur, are highly populated with Chinese people who usually head for herbal shops

when they feel uncomfortable or feel sick.

Appendix 2: Minutes Meeting

Date: 21st November 2014 Time: 1300hr-1400hr Venue: Taylor’s Lakeside Campus

MEETING CALLED BY: Tan Jo Lynn

NOTE TAKEN: Khairul Jefri

TIMEKEEPER: Tan Yincy

ATTENDANCE:Tan Jo Lynn, Khairul Jefri, Tan Yincy, Eng Shi Yi, Tan Wei Zhen, Lai Tze Xiuan

1-HOUR DISCUSSION OF QUESTIONAIRES

Discussion:

1. Discussed about the interview questions about the business in Teluk Intan and

Klang Valley.

Conclusion:

1. Questions on history, founder, marketing strategies, branches of business,

challenges of business, scale of business and future plans of the shops.

2. Based on the sample questions provided by Miss Cassie, we further developed a

few more questions in order to have a more holistic approach about the business.

3.

Appendix 3: Minutes Meeting

Date: 25th November 2014 Time: 1200hr-1500hr Venue: Taylor’s Lakeside Campus

MEETING CALED BY: Eng Shi Yi

NOTE TAKEN: Tan Wei Zhen

TIMEKEEPER: Khairul Jefri

ATTENDANCE:Eng Shi Yi, Tan Wei Zhen, Khairul Jefri, Tan Jo Lynn, Lai Tze Xiuan, Tan Yincy, Ruben Hoo

2-HOURS DISTRIBUTION OF TASKS AND COMPILATION

Discussion:

1. Sort, analyze and interpret all the information, videos, photos and notes.

2. Distribute the teaks among members and compile the works via email after

completion of individual work.

Conclusion:

1. Tasks are divided equally to each member and compiled the report.

Appendix 4

REFERENCES:

Globinmed. Malaysian Herbal Export Market Overview. Retrieved 2nd December 2014

from,

http://www.globinmed.com/index.php?

option=com_content&view=article&id=81081:malaysian-herbal-export-market-

overview&catid=45&Itemid=137