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Future-Proofing The Business
Future-Proofing The Business
- Organisational Culture Consulting
- Business Strategy Development
- Customer Strategy
- Process Management
- Knowledge Management
Hua Cheng Hang Native Produce started producing dragon’s blood since 1920 and became the first dragon blood manufacturer in Singapore in 1985. Now run by the 5th generation, Hua Cheng Hang continues to emphasise on its product quality. Their main clients from China’s pharmaceutical industry use dragon’s blood to create traditional Chinese medicine.
The absence of a Mission, Vision, Values and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) meant a lack of strategic direction and alignment between employees and the company’s objectives. Besides that, another area which was neglected was market and customer research. There was also no proper documentation of work processes to facilitate knowledge retention and transfer. Witnessing a sharp decline in revenue attributed to price war and increasing competition, Hua Cheng Hang Native Produce decided to seek assistance to tackle all existing issues and look into future growth strategies.
Organisational Culture Consulting
We facilitated a Visioning Workshop to help hand-hold the management team of Hua Cheng Hang to take the step-by-step journey of developing the company’s Mission, Vision and Value (MVV) statements. A compelling set of MVV statements were developed and accepted by the management team at the end of the brainstorming session. These statements were also translated into Mandarin. With MVV in place, they are able to better develop their short and long term plans based on their Mission and Vision, as well as inculcate company Values in their employees.
Business Strategy Development
While analysing the reasons for Hua Cheng Hang’s decline in revenue, we discovered their heavy reliance on a middleman for their export to China and the lack of marketing activities. Therefore, we proposed to kick-start their digitalisation journey. Specifically, we wanted to improve the ways in which Hua Cheng Hang could reach out to their customers through digital marketing across a wide variety of platforms and channels.
Some of the initiatives they have accepted include:
1. The creation of a user-friendly and engaging website.
2. Subscription to an online B2B marketplace platform (“TradeKey”) which aims to expand the Hua Cheng Hang’s global presence. It provides their company a platform to advertise their products online. This allows them to network with other companies and conduct business. In addition, they are able to target a large number of buyers and sellers across various industries quickly and easily.
3. Adopting content and/or education-led marketing strategies by creating and sharing valuable knowledge with its target audiences E.g. a wide-range of subjects relating to dragon’s blood resin.
4. Adopting social media marketing such as WeChat Marketing, which is dominant in China.
Another issue we identified was the lack of a future growth strategy. Hua Cheng Hang only offers a single product and it is primarily used in the creation of traditional Chinese medicine by pharmaceutical companies.
Thus, we advised them to evaluate their existing product line and look for ways to ensure that it is up to date and in line with customer demands. Continuous decisions could be made about whether a series of new products could be added over time if they want to maintain a constant stream of sales or grow sales over time. This can serve as a catalyst that drives the business to higher levels of success.
To help expand the product portfolio, we also proposed some new product ideas that leverage dragon’s blood healing properties:
1. Dragon’s blood Hyaluronic Mask – a type of moisturising and firming gel
2. Dragon’s blood ointment which can be applied to the skin
3. Consumable Dragon’s blood pill or capsule
Customer Strategy
To study the state of dragon’s blood market, we conducted market research and consolidated our findings in a report. The strategic opportunities identified in the Market Research Report (MRR) include:
1. To expand product portfolio by shifting to complementary timber and non-timber forest products.
2. To undertake digital transformation to connect with buyers and sellers from across the globe by leveraging Singapore government’s initiatives such as Wholesale Trade Industry Digital Plan (IDP) and Industry Transformation Map (ITM).
Afterwards, strategic opportunities were prioritised for implementation using an ‘Action Priority Matrix’ by considering both the efforts and impact.
Process Management
In order to create a universal standard that employees can actively engage in and improve the comprehension and retention of procedural information, a Standard Work Instruction sheet was developed for Hua Cheng Hang’s adaptation and use.
Knowledge Management
A preliminary set of key financial KPIs (key performance indicators) is recommended to the management of Hua Cheng Hang. Integrating these KPIs into their business strategies could help the management evaluate their business performance and set the company up for growth.
- New digital marketing efforts are estimated to increase revenue by up to 20%.
- Product expansion is expected to bring in approximately 10% more revenue.