Dahlia Furniture Private Limited Essay

I. Time Context: Last 5 months of 1984 II. Viewpoint: Mr. Chua Boon Kang, co-owner of Dahlia Furniture Private Limited III. Major Policy Statement: Dahlia Furniture Private Limited is a local furniture manufacturer of standard and custom-made furniture known for their high quality and elegant wall units, kitchen cabinets, bedroom sets, and dining set. And aims to be one of the largest furniture manufacturer in Singapore by 1990. IV. Statement of the Problem: What can the company do to maximize profit to improve the company’s position? V. Objectives Long Range Objectives: To expand our business operation after 2 years To be the leading furniture manufacturer by 1987 Short Range Objectives: To maximize profit and minimize cost To increase sales To cater furniture for the mass market VI. SWOT Analysis Strengths a. The company is known for high quality and elegant image of their furniture b. Dahlia Furniture is a known seller of imported furniture Weaknesses a. Dahlia Furniture has a small market; only middle and upper income families could afford their furniture b. Limited product line; composes only of wall units, kitchen cabinets, bedroom sets, and dining sets Opportunities a. Growing number of families who can afford and are willing to pay higher price for a high quality furniture b. Growing demand for imported furniture Threats a. Other companies that offer furniture for a lower price b. Foreign manufacturers and retailers that are entering the Singapore market VII. Alternative Courses of Action ACA #1: Continuous importation of some furniture and start to produce quality furniture that could be sold for a lower price to expand our market in serving the mass market of low income generating families. ACA #2: Remove locally made furniture in our product line and import all our furniture to uphold the image of high quality and elegant furniture for middle and upper income families. ACA #3: Expand our product line by producing and importing other high quality and elegant furniture other than wall units, kitchen cabinets, bedroom sets and dining sets for middle and upper income families. VIII. Analysis of Alternatives ACA #1: Continuous importation of some furniture and start to produce quality furniture that could be sold for a lower price to expand our market in serving the mass market of low income generating families. Advantages: a. Expanding our market is also a means of expanding the sources of our income b. The life of the company is not solely dependent on the purchase of our small market for middle and upper income families Disadvantages: a. Great risk whether the new target market of low generating families would purchase our furniture b. Costly as we would be starting from scratch to develop, produce and sell our new affordable furniture c. Additional Labor is needed d. The image of elegance and exclusivity of our furniture might be lost ACA #2: Remove locally made furniture in our product line and import all our furniture to uphold the image of high quality and elegant furniture for middle and upper income families. Advantages: a. No overhead expense for us b. The image of the company for catering high quality, elegant and exclusive furniture would be preserved c. We could focus more on the imported products that bring us income d. No need to hire additional workers e. Less attention required by the importation of furniture for we would not be the one to create them Disadvantages: a. Costly to import furniture id it would not be sold right away b. The operations of the company is solely dependent on our foreign suppliers c. Small market only for middle and upper income families that could afford to purchase imported furniture d. In violation of the anti-foreign labor regulation of the government e. Slow rate of repurchase because we offer the same furniture ACA #3: Expand our product line by producing and importing other high quality and elegant furniture other than wall units, kitchen cabinets, bedroom sets and dining sets for middle and upper income families. Advantages: a. Creating new line of furniture is also creating a new source of income for the company b. We can maintain the image of the company as producer of high quality, elegant and exclusive furniture Disadvantages: a. Costly to develop, produce and sell new furniture line b. Requires additional workers c. Still dependent on the purchase of our small market of middle and upper income families d. Risk whether the new furniture would be bought by the market e. The company could be subjected to government observation since we are importing more furniture IX. Decision Statement After closely analysing all the alternatives, the best alternative for the company is ACA #1: Continuous importation of some furniture and start to produce quality furniture that could be sold for a lower price to expand our market in serving the mass market of low income generating families. The imported furniture is still in the growth stage and the demand for them is still high. The continuing the importation of furniture could still bring us income and can be used as capital in our plan of targeting a new market. The company is known for catering high quality, elegant, and exclusive furniture; extending this to the mass market could bring drastic increase in our sales for the company already has a prestige name in the furniture industry. The company would be catering both high-end furniture and affordable furniture but of good quality. Expanding our market is extending the coverage of our company and also the source of our income. ACA #2 and ACA #3 still focuses on serving a limi ted market only for middle and upper income families making the sources of our income also limited to them. Furniture is a durable product and repurchase of it is not made in a short span of time. If the each of these middle and upper income families has their own wall units, kitchen cabinets, bedroom sets and dining sets then they would not repurchase again and so the company might be in danger. ACA # 1 would find us another source of income as we extend our market to the lower income generating families but at the same time retaining the service for middle and upper income families. And having the prestige of high quality and elegant furniture, the new target market would be eager to purchase our furniture. X. Implementation Plan Long Range Implementation Plan a. Continuous improvement of the quality, operations, management of the company and continuous search on how we could minimize the cost of our operations Short Range Implementation Plan a. Research about the new target market The price range that they can and willing to pay for a furniture. Designs, specifications and quality of a furniture that would draw them to purchase it. b. Canvass materials of good quality but of lower price to be used in the production of the furniture c. Create a plan on how we could minimize the cost of our importation, production and operation d. Make the furniture, specially the affordable furniture, known to the market by advertisement through publication at least once a week in a local newspaper of general circulation