In this section, we summarise our conclusion regarding the following analyses:

PEST Analysis

Industry Analysis

Competition Analysis

Market Analysis

The future of Diary Supplies

SWOT analysis

Our analysis will focus on the situation in Singapore, even though our vision is ultimately to market to the Asia Pacific region. We need to build a strong customer base locally first as this is an industry in which growth potential is very dependent on having strong logistic support

On the political front, we believe that Singapore will continue to enjoy political stability with very low risk to business.

Economically, Singapore is well on the road to recovery following the recent regional SARS and Bird Flu incidents. Most of the broad economic indicators are looking healthy with projected GDP growth of 3.5 to 5.5% in 2004.

In the realm of corporate gift and diaries, it is a traditional practice of Financial Institutions and Multi-National Companies (MNCs) here to give out corporate gifts in order to maintain their relationship with their business partners in Singapore.

When business is good, companies, in general, will increase spending on corporate gifts compared to the last financial year. On the downside, some companies may cut down their budget for corporate gifts due to lower profit margins.

Electronic products such as PDAs will continue to exert pressure on the growth of paper-based diary products. However, at present the prices of such devices are still at levels which deters companies from using them as corporate gifts.

In the current business condition, price is the dominant factor that dictates the behaviour of both buyers and sellers. Both sides will strive to seek the best returns from their respective positions.

Suppliers can be manufacturers (both local and foreign), sales offices, sole agents, wholesalers, distributors and retailers. The huge demand for corporate gifts has resulted in a large number of suppliers competing for this business.

Generally, suppliers who can handle larger volumes are in a better position to obtain economies of scale in their operations. We assess that the threat of manufacturers integrating forward to become wholesalers and retailers to be slim.

Buyers here refer mainly to business customers and retailers.

For our purpose, business customers can be classified into three categories.

High volume business customers - Government, Government linked companies (GLCs) and MNCs. wholesalers and distributors. These companies tend to order through tender.

Moderate volume business customers – Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), retailers and companies with total staff strength above 100 or more. Typically, they will order their supplies through comparison of competitive quotations.

Light volume business customers – smaller firms with total staff of 50 or less. Their stationery and gift purchases are usually left to the boss’s secretary or someone in similar position.

Retail buyers will obtain their supplies from different suppliers in order to offer variety to their customers. Minimal sales volume is generated via this channel, mainly on consignment basis.

Buyers, regardless of their size, incur low switching cost in changing suppliers. Because of this fact, it is also highly unlikely that buyers will want to integrate backwards.

Presently, diaries are manufactured in Singapore, Malaysia, North Korea and China.

Just like any other business, the traditional selling price is generally determined by purchasing price plus profit margin. Our business model "MaxSALES" will have the price advantage over the traditional method.

MaxSALES will help to lower entry barriers to the local market for participating manufacturers through lower set-up and operating costs. Over time, our new business model will prove to be superior to the existing model.