BEN2014- INTRODUCTION TO
CYBERPRENEURSHIP
TRIMESTER 3: 2004/2005
GROUP MEMBERS:
PRASHANT A/L VASUDAVAN 1031130701 NISHA MUKESH KUMAR 1021138015 MOHD. ISSAMUDDIN MOHTAR 1991115472 LAU KOK TIONG 1041101840 HISWADI ANUAR 1041101537 HAIRIE 1031122929 GOLBARG KHAJAVI 1041109497 AREFEH VERDINEJAD 1041110149 AZUAN EMAN 1031112685
AHMAD KHAIRUL ANNAS MOHAMMAD 1031134418
LECTURER: MS. SHARMILA
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First of all, we would like to thank our beloved Introduction to Cyberpreneurship lecturer Ms. Sharmila as she guided us through this assignment. Her guidance has made our task of completing this interview with the entrepreneur a success. Even though we had minor difficulties during the process of finishing this assignment, we managed to overcome the problems without disturbing the flow of our project.
The main reason we chose Skyline Entertainment as our case study is because the owner, Mr. Raj, not only has his own business but he is also a postgraduate student of Multimedia University. We were captivated by the young entrepreneur’s talent and capabilities of pursuing his education whilst running his company.
We wanted to know more about this company and gain knowledge on the entertainment industry. Our interest was one of the supporting reasons of how we managed to complete this case study. Furthermore, we also wanted to know the entrepreneur’s recipe to success.
Mohan Raj, the entrepreneur of our case study, and also the adored son of Mr. Parameswaran and Mrs. Ranjithmalar was gifted to this family by Almighty on July 24th 1982. The entrepreneur was the youngest child in the family as he has an older brother and an older sister. Raj, as he is known among his family and friends, is a very cheerful and approachable person. This has been the young entrepreneur’s personality since his childhood which has been a plus point for him in his business as he has to communicate with his clients.
As all ordinary parents would want to provide their children with the best facilities, Mr. and Mrs. Parameswaran were not left behind from this category. They wanted their dear child to receive the best education with the hope that their ideology would be paid off as Raj would grow up to be a successful person. To fulfill their dreams they sent Raj to Sekolah Menengah Jalan Cochrane, Kuala Lumpur which happens to be among the best all-boys secondary education institution. Sekolah Menengah Jalan Cochrane has a history of producing some very successful people in this country.
In school, the entrepreneur was the favorite among friends and also teachers. He was not only excellent in his studies but was also very active in sports. He was also very active in non-academic society. He was a top scorer in his school for board exams such as PMR and also SPM. He was associated with the school’s football team and also an avid
member of the swimming club. He started gaining a lot of interest in music after his involvement with the school’s music band. In his upper secondary level he led the school band.
During his free time, he enjoys swimming. For Raj, swimming keeps him stay fit and healthy always. He also has a passion for traveling. He has traveled to various places, inside and outside Malaysia. Traveling makes him learn new things and which inspires him. Traveling also makes him gain new experience and taught him a lot about life.
The person who was his biggest inspiration was non-other than his uncle, Mr. K. Subramaniam. For Raj, he was not only an uncle, but also a friend and a respected mentor. His uncle is just like a father to him. Mr. K. Subramaniam meant everything to Raj. Raj learned a lot from his uncle. Raj and his uncle are inseparable.
Since Raj was a little child, his ambition is always to be a successful businessman. He always wanted to be the ruler of his own empire. Music has always been his passion and interest. By god’s grace, the entrepreneur has not only achieved his childhood dream of being a businessman but he was lucky enough to accomplish it in the field that he loves more than anything.
His advice is to always listen to ones heart. He practiced what he preached when he took the decision to venture into this business. He was confident that he could succeed in that business as he was very passionate about it. Using the experience he possessed from various companies and events, he quickly gained a chain of customers within Kuala Lumpur. After a while, the demand came from various places and people, from the corporate sector to local celebrities. His company has organized huge events like concerts, exhibitions and corporate functions. In ten years time, Raj wants to see himself as a successful businessman compared to what he is today. He also wants his company to be listed in the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE). He has intentions to expand his business offshore. The revenue for year 2004 was RM400, 000, which is a good indicator that he should expand his business abroad.
Mohan Raj or better known as Raj not only among his family members and friends but also among his working environment, has started a business of his own in year 2001 which not only provides the audio and visual equipment for concert, but it also manages events for shows of any nature be it concert, dinner or others. Back in his schooling days, the entrepreneur starting gaining his interest in music and also DJ. He started loving everything that is related to music which gradually made him gain interest to learn to play instruments such as the guitar, drum and also playing disc. This interest didn’t just stop here.
In year 2000, Raj took a few big decisions in his life. It was not only academically but also in full filling his interest. In this year he joined a well-known university, Multimedia University for his foundation course in Alpha Information Technology. Another big move for Raj or what we could also say as a milestone in his career was joining a company called Skronic Entertainment as a crew of the company. In this company, Raj was in charge of the technical division where he learned a lot more of the entertainment world and slowly started collecting the useful experiences that he gained for himself as one day he will be an owner of a company as he himself was not aware of future. For Raj, nothing is an easy job and one shall always start from bottom because you will always know what is needed even when you have reached to the top most level. So he did his technical job with a full heart and strong determination in it.
As the years passed, Raj moved from Melaka campus to Cyberjaya campus to continue now in his degree in B. IT (Hons) Information Systems Engineering .It was also another memorable year for him because he started a business of his own in the same year which is year 2001. Before he actually started his business which is now known as Skyline Entertainment, all he had in his hand was experience which he continued gaining from Skronic Entertainment. As he was just a newcomer with no strong hands behind his back, he decided to make himself secured by still being a part of Skronic Entertainment not only for the experience but also the network that he could build from there.
Humans need to move on in life to gain more knowledge and experience, so in year 2002, Raj decided to give up his job in Skronic Entertainment as a technical crew to join Proforce Audio as he intended to improve more on his hands-on skills and also ability as a businessman. Joining Proforce was an excellent move for his career because he not only gained his boss’s respect but also bagged himself a huge deal. In end of year 2002, Proforce Audio’s owner proposed to Raj to have a joint business venture. This means the owner of Proforce Audio wanted to collaborate both Proforce Audio and Skyline Entertainment and this joint venture was a great advantage to Raj because his company, which was still very much unknown and was also not stable in the market, was mainly in charge of event management where it mainly deals with just the planning of the event but not to carry out the event. They will require to get the equipment from other sources or companies which will cost them more expenses and lest profit. However, by joining Proforce Audio that was no longer a problem mainly as Proforce Audio can supply Skyline Entertainment with all the equipments needed to run a successful event with less cost and better profits. Until this date, the company is still working hand-to-hand towards big shows and huge profits. Raj is still is a partner of Proforce Audio and he is also an employee too.
Skyline Entertainment is based at Puchong, Selangor. Now, Skyline Entertainment is a well–known company and has organized big events and concerts for celebrities like Siti Nurhaliza. To name local artists’ shows, the list is endless for Skyline Entertainment but the level of show organization does not end here. Skyline Entertainment has also taken charge for events by foreign artist in Malaysia such as Alicia Keys, Blue and few others.
In Skyline Entertainment, we have different departments to handle different aspects of the business such as the Marketing Department, Human Resource Department, Management Department, Technical Department and a few other departments. Since Skyline Entertainment is in hand-to-hand with Proforce Audio, this company also deals with sales of music equipment in large quantities. They have a good set of music facilities such as guitars, drums, keyboards, violins, beehive lightings, Big Dipper Two lightings, and amplifiers.
Raj always believes in providing his customers the best services because by providing good services, relationship between the clients with his company will not only be short-term but it may also be long-term. In the future, clients will keep coming back to Skyline Entertainment for their event managing services. Skyline Entertainment is very much in particular about their customers’ needs and satisfaction as they follow the concept `Your Satisfaction Is Our Objective`.
Today, when the level of competition is very high, it is vitally important for entrepreneurs know what helps company to be successful. There are many factors, which can lead to be success of the business. The entrepreneurs that our groups had interviewed, said he always focus on the critical success factors to ensure his business success.
Firstly, he has identified that external factors, such as political and social environment, technological development, and some demographic factors may influence his business’s growth. For example, if there is economical recession in the country, for business it will be difficult to gain any profit, because people will not have enough money to pay for the products and services, and as a result company will be unsuccessful.
Secondly, he mentioned about the importance of company’s strategy, its brand image and working environment. Since all that depends on the manager’s ability to effectively run the business, so he always makes sure company’s management are in the best level all the time. Company without good management will fail. He continuously emphasized his workers to provide services that satisfy and fulfill customers need. He also believes that luck plays big role in the company’s success. Without any luck, business will not be successful even at presence of good external conditions and good company’s managements.
Next factor that lead to his success in business is by ensuring his company’s having enough capital to effectively run the business. When starting up his business, financial resource is the number one concern and a critical issue for him. He said the initial capital is important to cover the start-up cost and operational cost for at least the first three months for his new business in order to survive in a competitive and unpredictable environment.
His non supportive parents are the major factors that lead to the success of his business. Even though his father did not directly support his decision, he always said that success is within the mind of the individual. And since he was a little boy, his mother was always telling him to work hard because striving for success without hard work is like trying to harvest where you haven’t planted. Both his parents’ motivational words had not only inspired him but it has also encouraged him to run this business.
“The true measure of a man is not how he behaves in moments of comfort and convenience but how he stands at times of controversy and challenges”, said Martin Luther King Jr. In this entertainment business, our entrepreneur, Mr. Raj had to overcome many challenges and obstacles. To commence with, he had the most basic and vital problem of all which is a small capital. Raj did not have sufficient funds to initiate his own business. Although the money he had was not enough to start his business, Raj did not seek help from any financial organization. He did not want to be bonded to any organization. He started getting his money by working for other companies. He was working for a few years until he started his own company. Through the companies that he worked for, Raj managed to gain his clients’ trusts. He worked harder, hung on to whatever he had and slowly made his way up.
As he was still a student, our entrepreneur had many difficulties managing time between both his studies and his work. It was not easy for him as he was still young and unable to balance his effort. He would either spend too much time working or studying. He had had many sleepless and stressful nights because he had to meet strict deadlines for his business deals and also for his assignments in the university. In the beginning, he messed up a lot, both in his studies and business. Raj faced many failures in his education as well as his business. He even had to extend a few semesters of education. His failures were never a letdown to him. Nothing stopped him from trying. As time passed, he learned a lot from his breakdown and finally learned to manage his time between studies and business efficiently. Raj had prepared himself physically, mentally and emotionally.
When Raj decided to venture into this business, his parents were not very supportive. This was because Raj was still a young student, and the parents were worried that he would not be able to concentrate in his studies. Plus, since his venture into this business was basically based on interest, his parents did not think that Raj would take the business seriously and investing a large amount of money did not seem like a good idea. The discouragement from his parents and other family members did bring down his spirit at first but Raj knew that he had to prove himself to his family. He took their critics with a positive manner and in the end he managed to gain trust and support from them after he succeeded in his studies and business.
Throughout his business, he also had difficulties in getting clients. But thanks to Raj’s experience from the former companies that he worked for, he managed to find ways to overcome this problem. Clients who knew Raj did not hesitate to appoint him to do the job. Raj is a person who provides customer satisfaction and the word spread around to other people. He then managed to get a network of clients.
Currently, Raj’s biggest challenge is his competitors. Nowadays, there are a lot of newcomers in this field. Occasionally, a competitor begins to create significant problems for his company and the market. Some of them offer extremely low prices to the customers. Clients do not mind hiring them because they are cheap. But sadly the work is not satisfactory. Skyline Entertainment is a professional level company and they cannot reduce their prices compared to the new companies. In order to overcome this problem, Mr. Raj had come out with a good solution. He emphasized his workers to provide services that satisfy and fulfill customers need. For him, it is really crucial to satisfy the need of customers, only throughout this way he could have regular customers who help him to make profit for his company. He also upgrades his services, which means customers could see improvement on the services provided by his company. “Customer is always right” is his principle is running his business.
Unlike other entertainment companies, Skyline Entertainment offers a wide range of services. Some companies only offer event managing where else other companies may offer only audio visual (AV) services. However, Skyline Entertainment offers more than one of the services that has been stated. This company is well known for its efficiency and the work that has been done so far is 100% satisfactory.
Skyline Entertainment, which is owned by Mr. Raj, mainly provides the service of event managing. Mr. Raj and his team of employees create and design the event for their clients. They come up with thorough details and plans on how an event will be conducted. This does not include organizing the event itself. They are recognized for managing events of any nature such as concerts, dinners, and exhibitions. A few examples of events that have been done by Skyline Entertainment are concerts by local artists such as Siti Nurhaliza. Raj has also done event management for concerts by foreign artists in Malaysia such as Alicia Keys and Blue.
Some clients do not require all the services provided by Skyline Entertainment. Some may only need one or perhaps two of the services offered. For example, there have been clients that have come to Skyline Entertainment just for event co-ordination. Some may not need event co-ordination but they need to hire the technical equipments such as audio visuals, lightings and so on. Since Skyline Entertainment has a joint venture with Proforce Audio, they do not hire equipments from other companies as Proforce Audio provides them with it. The variety of services offered by Skyline Entertainment does not end here. They even do decorations for events, for example backdrops on stage. Not many entertainment companies offer this service as they do not see it as an important factor of any event.
The pricing that is charged by Skyline Entertainment depends on their customers’ budget and also their needs. But it is exceptionally reasonable compared to other entertainment companies that have been around for as long as Skyline Entertainment. Raj has a policy of not accepting any contract from clients if he thinks he is unable to fulfill their needs.
In this business, Skyline Entertainment has a set of loyal customers. Their multinational company clients are Exon Mobile and Body Shop. They even have local clients such as ASTRO and not forgetting Multimedia University. Raj has organized a lot of student shows in our university. His services were well known among the Indian Cultural Society where he had provided audio and lightings for events such as Deepavali Night and Bollywood Night. The directors of those events had good comments on Mr. Raj’s services. Our young entrepreneur said that he learnt a lot by organizing those shows as it helped him gain more experience.
Business of any nature be it a food business or clothes or even books, it incomplete without having people competing or better known as competitors. This goes for Skyline Entertainment as well. This business in the entertainment line has not escaped from competitors as this is such a colossal line where the list of competitors is so long that it is barely unable to be listed.
But a case study will also not be complete without this factor so our entrepreneur has listed a few huge threats to his company to fulfill the requirement of this case study. As we mention earlier the list is never ending and it’s also never permanent as it is the entertainment world, nothing is permanent here and same goes to the competitors.
Mr. Raj has informed us that 24-7 Event Managing Sdn. Bhd., which is basically in charge of exactly the same thing as Skyline Entertainment is one of the strongest competitors for Skyline Entertainment. A few other competitors to be named are Fly Event and Sounds and Electronics Services (SES).
As what we have learnt in Introduction to Cyberpreneurship, it has come to our knowledge that every company or business has its advantages against their competitors which is known as competitor’s advantage in business term. Skyline Entertainment too is not left behind from these advantages.
To begin with, Skyline’s biggest advantage is its joint venture with Proforce Audio. The competitors mentioned above are either just an event managing company or a company with the equipments needed to run a show with no event management. Here, Skyline wins the round as it has both, event managing side as well as the equipments to run a show be it lights or sounds systems or event the backdrops and decorations. In another words we can say everything is in-house.
Another advantage which is linked to the earlier advantage is the network of their clients, which is larger compared to the competitors because Skyline Entertainment and Proforce Audio are not only a joint venture company but they are also an independent company with their own set of clients. What we are trying to say here is we know Skyline Entertainment is in joint venture but why are we still saying they are an independent company? Yes, they are in joint venture when it comes to shows where they need to work hand-to-hand. Not all clients want everything for their show. Some clients might just acquire services to just manage a show where they do not want sounds systems or lighting. This particular client falls under Skyline Entertainment’s company only where Proforce Audio’s services are not required. Same goes for another client who might just want the equipments and does not want his event to be managed, so this is a job for Proforce Audio only. But when the client of Proforce Audio needs event managing of course it will be directed straight to Skyline Entertainment by Proforce Audio and vice versa. This is what we meant by larger network of clients.
The next advantage against Skyline Entertainment’s competitor is their pricing in the market. Clients will not have to worry about the price charged to them as it will be very much cheaper compared to any other companies. Allow me to explain more on this point. Like the network of clients, this point too is related to the first advantage mentioned earlier. Since everything is in-house, definitely the pricing will be cheaper due to cheaper costs. Competitors, for example, 24-7 Event Managing Sdn. Bhd. as we know is just an event managing company so when it gets a client who wants them not only to manage the event but also to provide the show with all the equipments required, this particular company has to maybe rent it from another company which will increase their cost and to cover the cost, they have to increase the sales so the final price that a client has to pay may cost him a lot, but this will not happen if this client acquires the service of Skyline Entertainment.
As mentioned earlier, Raj is very particular about his customers’ needs and also the quality of his job as it has be full satisfaction for his clients. He will not take a project if he believes he can’t give the client his best. This is another competitor’s advantage for Skyline Entertainment. As a consumer ourselves, we may not require services from the entertainment industry but we will certainly keep going to a company which provides us good services even for a little big extra money. But in Skyline Entertainment, not only the services are 100% satisfactory, but the pricing is also among the cheapest. What else can a customer ask for?
Every businessman has future prospects about their business or every single human to be more general wants to be more successful in the future than what they are today. Is our entrepreneur, Mr Raj in this category of people? Yes, of course he is because he too is a businessman. He has certain prospects he would want to accomplish in future. Among the prospects are:-
- Expand globally
The young and dashing entrepreneur of ours wants to expand his business internationally which means the list will not be Malaysia only but other countries to will be a part of their loyal customers.
- Wide chain of clients
As the business expand it will automatically expand the network of clients too, and that is exactly what our entrepreneur wants as another future prospect of his business. He just hopes that his chain of clients will grow longer or in term of network it will grow larger and larger which will easily makes him the best entrepreneur in his line.
- KLSE
Shares? Stocks? Does anyone play them? Of course there are so many people that do that and the ultimate dream of a businessman is to see his company’s name listed for share market business. Mr. Raj’s long-term dream is to see his company being listed in the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE).
- Best services
He wants to be best among everyone that is involved in this particular business. He would love to provide the best services to his customers and also will love to keep up with the trend and flavor of the market.
- Donald Trump
Do you know who this guy is? He is among the richest businessmen in the world. “This might sound stupid to you, but I have a dream to be someone like Donald Trump one day”, that were the words uttered by our entrepreneur as he told us his last prospect. Do you think this is stupid? Not in our opinion because everyone wants to be successful and rich. As for Raj wanting to be like Donald Trump, there is a quote by Orison Swett Marden that states “All men who have achieved great things have been great dreamers”.
It seems that Mohan Raj is a futuristic entrepreneur, our words to him is “Failing to plan is planning to fail”. By looking to his business he has worked very hard to ensure his company runs smoothly. Looking at his company’s turnover from year 2002 which reached a figure of RM 160, 000 to RM 250, 000 in year 2003 and RM 400, 000 in year 2004, the entrepreneur hopes that the turnover for his company in year 2005 will reach RM 1 million. We have several suggestions on how to fully utilize the future prospects for his company:-
- Upgrading creativity
The entrepreneur can upgrade more on his creativity by using trendier and eye-captivating designs. The creativity part can also be enhanced by adding more colors to his backdrops. His shows should also improve more on their special effects.
- Competitive advantages
He should be more efficient in dealing with customers and understand needs of every single client as every human have different nature.
- Affiliate marketing
By developing wide network with other companies, he would able to exchange ideas as well as sharing experiences and opinions.
- Personalization and customization
Treat customers friendly and focus more on products. He should also have catalogs of every products and services that is offered. This will help the clients to understand his vision for their event. It is important to create this to convince the customer to use their services.
- Introduce Research and Development
It is crucial to identify new material using in event management. From this, owner can create Total Quality Management (TQM). R&D and TQM must be parallel in order to gain new style approach applied in company.
- Sponsorship
This can generate publicity, attracts customer as well as perceived positive thinking of customer toward his company.
- E-Commerce
Develop more security in his website. Establish online application, online booking, and online customers support.
Road Shows for Sinar Fm
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