The retail market can be considered as one of the most competitive and highly potential sectors in the current time. The main reason was that of the large numbers of retail brands that are foraying in this sector along with offering huge diversity of products. On the other hand, the retail sector was also witnessing massive inflow of customers across different price level. However, it should also be noted that different countries are having different sets of the business scenario and situations in regards tothe retail sector (Kumia et al., 2015). For instance, the retail sector of Singapore was facing a substantial amount of issues and challenges due to various reasons. It was reported that the significant problems with the retail industry in Singapore were raising the operational cost, reduction in sales revenue and onslaught by the online marketplace (Ivanauskiene, Neringa, & Justina Volungenaite, 2015). Thus, leading to the closure of several global retail brands such as GAP and Carrefour in the Singapore market. It was reported that online sales were rapidly increasing in Singapore with being reported that Singaporeans were the topmost online shoppers in the South East Asian region (Lee & Boom, 2013).
There was a couple of brands already operating in the Singapore market by having different sets of strategies. However, determination of the common approaches initiated by the entire Singapore retail industry would help to identify their suitability of global integration and the degree of responsiveness (Roll & Martin 2015). In this case, integrative and protective-defensive techniques by Luthans and Doh would be used. The following section will graphically represent the industry approaches of the Singapore retail industry.
Fig 1. Industrial Approach for Singapore Retail Industry
Source: Done by the author
Thus, from the above representation, it was identified that Singapore retail industry was the more responsive in nature. The reason was due to that of the dynamic high technology element was more inclined towards integrative techniques. This denotes that integration was highly evident in the Singapore retail industry to have access to the latest technology. This was also denoting the greater extent of global integration of the industry.
Determination of the industry lifecycle stages was important because the attractiveness of the industry would get determined by their lifecycle stages. According to the information identified, Singapore retail industry was currently standing in the maturity stage (Wang et al., 2014). This was due to the reason that Singapore is a small country with having limited market potentiality. This potentiality was further getting limited with the entrance of the number of more retail firms in the market. It was noted that Singapore is one of the most developed countries in the South East Asian region and was having a globalized retail scenario from their initial stage (Tavassoli& Sam, 2015). Thus, they have completed the growth stage and going through the maturity stage. According to the current reports, Singapore retail market was showing a reduction in customers demand, which was the impact of maturity stage and incoming of decline stage.
Fig 2. Perceptual Map
Source: Done by the author
According to the above perceptual map of National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) FairPrice, it was identified that the positioning of them was based on their lower price points and higher-level product assortments. The price point of NTUC FairPrice was their primary unique value proposition, and this has in turn help to attract more customers over their competitors through cost leadership (Sirianni et al., 2013). The above map has shown the unique positioning of NTUC FairPrice was helping them to have a lower range of competition in the market.
NTUC FairPrice is one of the leading retailers in the Singapore market. It was reported that they were having more than 100 supermarkets across the country. Therefore, making them the largest retailer in Singapore (Fairprice.com.sg, 2018). Recently, they have ventured in Vietnam and Chinese market further increasing their foothold in the Asian market. The National Trades Union Congress is running NTUC FairPrice and thus they are being operated as a cooperative rather than a single private entity.
Business type of NTUC FairPrice could be considered as a retailer. This was due to thesimilarities in comparison to other retail brands; they were also reselling the manufactured products to the end customers. The branded manufacturers were manufacturing all the commodities offering by them and NTUC FairPrice was reselling them just like any other retail marketers. On the other hand, it was also identified that NTUC FairPrice had their house brands under which they were offering private label products to the customers (Dawes et al., 2013). These products were manufactured by them and sold through their stores across the country. Thus, they could also be considered as manufacturers of the consumer goods. In the case of NTUC FairPrice, the house products were manufactured by them but with the collaboration of third-party vendors (Koschate-Fischer et al., 2014). The manufacturing process was being outsourced to these third-party vendors, and end products were selling under the brand name of NTUC FairPrice. However, this also denotes that NTUC FairPrice is a manufacturer as well as a retailer.
The legal structure of NTUC FairPrice can be termed as cooperative due to the reason that the national trade union congress founded it and there was neither a single proprietor for them nor were they having partnerships. NTUC FairPrice is incorporated under the companies act, and they were considered as a separate legal entity other than of their founders. The corporation or cooperative legal structure of NTUC FairPrice was having multiple advantages for both the internal as well as external stakeholders (Perlmutter & Howard, 2017). One of the significant benefits to be gained by the management from the legal structure of cooperative was the limited liability. This was due to the reason that cooperative or corporation was considered a separate legal entity and management was not responsible for its entire value. On the other hand, corporation structure is also helping the external stakeholders including customers to have the right quality in the right price (Eisenberg & Melvin Aron, 2017). It was due to the reason that corporate business structure was highly regulated in nature with more number of legal formalities. Thus, the interest of all the stakeholders was taken into consideration.
NTUC FairPrice was founded in Singapore in 1973 with the major mission of mitigating the rising price of the necessary items due to the continuous phenomenon of inflation. In the initial stage, they had one of a kind concepts in the form of a supermarket. It was reported that in 1983, NTUC and Singapore Employees Cooperative got merged to form the present day NTUC FairPrice. They wereestablished not just for maximization of profit instead they were set up to check the rising cost of the commodities and maintain the cost of living in Singapore. In 2003, NTUC FairPrice partnered with ExxonMobil in having their convenience stores in the fuel stations. Currently, they are positioned as the largest retailer in Singapore with multiple brands to cater to the needs of different customers by offering them a variety of products.
The mission statement of NTUC FairPrice is to provide the best quality products with right value to the customers along with providing the best possible services. Besides, their mission statement also states that they target to be the most preferred employer in Singapore. It could be concluded that the mission statement of NTUC FairPrice depicting their social orientation over the profit maximization (David et al., 2014). This also helped them in positioning themselves as a socially responsible brand in the market. The mission statement of NTUC FairPrice also include stating about fulfilling the needs of their members. This denotes that they were considerable towards managing the interests of the stakeholders and paying their value.
Primary objective of NTUC FairPrice is to become the leading world-class retailer by having social approach. Thestrategic business intent of maximizing their profit without involving the community or society. They also aim to become a global retailer by entering in more potential countries and maximizing their market presence (Aier& Stephan, 2014). These represent their long-term business goals and strategic intent. Thus, it could be concluded that the business objectives of NTUC FairPrice were targeted towards becoming a more socially responsible retail brand in the world.
According to the information available on the official website of NTUC FairPrice, there was a few values based on which, they were operating. One of their major principle was being customer orientated. This helped them to design their business strategies in accordance to the need and requirements of the target customers. Also,helping them to enhance the satisfaction level of the customers. Another major principle for NTUC FairPrice is teamwork which applies to their internal stakeholders and indicates the level of coordination and cooperation was maintained in the workplace. This aided NTUC FairPrice to have more effective strategic tool of resolving the issues with the employees and maximize their productivity.
NTUC FairPrice is a publicly traded company with having 51 percent shares with National Trade Union Congress and NTUC Enterprise Co-operative Limited. The rest of the shares were traded in the stock market, leading to multiple ownerships. This was evident in the presence of directors in the board from different entities for NTUC FairPrice.
NTUC FairPrice believes in providing their customers with the best value quality products and excellent service to consumers. Providing high-quality products, exceptional service standards and maintaining a customer-centric approach has been deemed to be the best brand identity for NTUC FairPrice.
According to Nielsen Emerging Market Insights Survey 2014, Myanmar’s “Fast Moving Consumer Goods” (FMCG) sector had experienced an increase of 15% in the past few years and 47% of the consumer’s monthly expenditure was largely based on necessities such as food and groceries, household products and personal care products (Figure 1). With this rising demand, potential investors were optimistic about future opportunities in the supermarket industry in Myanmar.
Myanmar’s middle-class population has shown a growing increase in their spending power and the ability and willingness to purchase non-locally produced products. Currently, the majority of FMCG imports are from Thailand and China. These opportunities assisted NTUC FairPrice in entering the Myanmar market.
Over the last ten years, the income of the middle-class population in Myanmar has been rapidly increasing. According to McKinsey Global Institute’s report from June 2013, Myanmar’s middle class would reach 19 million people, and their spending power could grow to US$100 billion by 2030. Naturally, this would have an impact on consumers’ preference towards purchasing international products, especially if NTUC FairPrice decides to venture into Myanmar’s domestic market.
Although households still go to traditional markets to buy fresh meat and vegetables, changes to lifestyles and trends had change rapidly resulting in consumers visiting supermarkets and convenience stores more often.
However, Myanmar consumers were still familiarizing themselves with the abundance of international brands flooding into the market. Hence foreign companies need to devote resources to ensure the marketing of their products to be reliable and trustworthy.
Yangon is the capital city of Myanmar with a population of 3,874,000. The other portion of Myanmar was divided into four topographic regions that are mainly mountainous area.
Myanmar is located in a prime geographic location between China and India. With the new enactment of a new Foreign Investment Law (FIL) along with other economic reforms, many foreign companies have seen Myanmar as an opportunity to venture into. It means that NTUC FairPrice’s consideration ofentering into the Myanmar market would be welcomed.
Myanmar has been distanced from the world for five decades. Hence consumers are looking forward to the exposure of international products and services.
Labor in Myanmar is still relatively low, which provides the investor a great advantage to hire more employees and keep their quality of service.
According to the United Nations, Myanmar has a population of about 5.5 million of which 5% of the population is over 65 years old and 29% below 15 years old. Myanmar has a large youth population with an average age of 27, and about 55% are under the age of 30. They are fairly educated which is an opportunity for international markets to enter into Myanmar.
When NTUC FairPrice is considering to enter the Myanmar market, they will need to understand this growing segment of youth and their needs. Currently, Myanmar already has a local brand supermarket called City Mart. NTUC FairPrice needs to think of a differentiator from the existing local supermarkets. They will need to conduct an in-depth market and consumer research before venturing into Myanmar.
The growing middle-class population have the spending power and ability to purchase goods that are from the international market. Being able to buy non-local products, people will view these consumers differently. Currently, consumers are open to purchasing products from the United States (US) and this is due to the economic relationship with the US.
In summary, the potential of NTUC FairPrice venturing into Myanmar is bigger than the previous attempt. With higher spending powers and the portrayed image of purchasing international goods.
Host Country Business Climate
Myanmar was the most impoverished country in Asia and investors hesitated to start up the business as they thought there would not be any profit. Therefore, investors choose neighboring countries to expand their business. Myanmar’s development has been increasing since its economic liberalization which happened a few years ago. The government is encouraging a business-friendly environment and allow people to be aware of the Singapore brand. Myanmar’s government is eager to collaborate with Singapore Partners because they are efficient and trustworthy. There is a spread of Burmese population in Singapore.Therefore, the Myanmar people will welcome Singapore firms due to cultural similarities. Singapore has been a top foreign investor for over five years from Food and Beverage (F&B) industry to Infrastructure. There are a lot of Singapore companies doing business in Myanmar (Enterprise Singapore, 2018).
Myanmar’s government has plans to stimulate the economy and attract foreign investments. Recently, The Foreign Investment Law 2012 was replaced by the Myanmar Investment Law (MIL) of 2016, which was set to make investing in Myanmar easier (Tan, 2018). The investment will increase in job opportunity and an increase in income (Shafeeq, 2017).
Myanmar’s largest supermarket, City Mart had a food fair in 2016. The food fair with Singapore food companies and the products were well received, and some companies were discussing to have it for long-term. This shows that venturing in Myanmar will not be an issue. There are some misconceptions in having business in Myanmar. Companies often only see Yangon as a point to do business as it is the largest city. But Myanmar has a massive population of 53 million citizens in seven states n seven regions. The areas are different in terms of population, wages and consumer preference. There are more opportunities beyond Yangon. So, companies need to cater accordingly to the requirements of each state to succeed (Tan, 2018).
There are fewer competitors as most of the investors hesitated as mentioned earlier. Therefore, it is easier to gain purchasing power from the consumers and dominate the Myanmar market before other foreign investors do so. Hence, Myanmar is a perfect country to expand the business as the country is rich in natural resources, low costs and few competitors.
The economic freedom score is 53.9, 135th freest in 2018 index as compared to Singapore where it is ranked 2. This shows that when business is being started up in Myanmar, there might be issues or barriers in the process of setting up the business (The Heritage Foundation, 2018).
Strengths: Branding
NTUC FairPrice was established in 1973. NTUC has been the largest retailer and has good distribution network by serving over 600,000 shoppers daily with about 200 outlets and offering an online shopping experience with delivery services to customers home are providing the customers with the ease of shopping. This shows, that NTUC FairPrice had created a reputation for providing the best quality and reliable services for customers (NTUC Fairprice, 2018).
NTUC FairPrice has over 200 outlets island-wide, comprising of FairPrice supermarkets, FairPrice Finest and FairPrice Xtra and UNITY Pharmacies, providing excellent accessibility to Singaporeans. NTUC enabled a store at Lengkok Bahru which has features that would allow senior citizens and people with disabilities to shop for groceries better and has features, such as, call buttons at the entrance and store aisles for assistance and magnifying glasses to help customers read labels. This gives NTUC FairPrice an advantage, by allowing the company to reach out to new consumers while maintaining its current customer base (Channel News Asia, 2015).
FairPrice Housebrand was introduced in 1985. The purpose of it was to offer products at a better value and allow cost savings for the customers. The items were 10 to 15 per cent lower in price than the original products (FairPrice, 2018)
NTUC provides management trainee program and job rotation for the employees so that they have a better understanding of the operations.
Most products other than the Housebrand items are available at the supermarkets such Giant, Cold Storage and ShengShiong. These items were sold at the same prices at all the shops.Hence, it was difficult to attain customer loyalty.
Singaporeans are more conscious of their health and being aware of the types of food they eat. The number of people trying to spend money on the healthier choice of foods is increasing. Foods such as organic foods are bought in replacement of unhealthy foods and they are more expensive. Therefore, people can cook their own meals
In today’s global marketplace, a brand lives beyond the products graced with its logo. There is a potential for NTUC to venture out and expand its business into a worldwide brand such as the ASEAN countries.
NTUC FairPrice has an online shopping facility, and it carries more premium and organic products which can be found in the stores. NTUC’s competitor ShengShiong has an online site which provides items cheaper than NTUC. A comparison of price was done which resulted in not much of difference. Customers gave feedback that ShengShiong’s products were not as fresh as it claimed to be. NTUC gives more fresh and organic products (Poh, 2018).
As said earlier, people were keen on a healthier lifestyle. But there was another food outlet like Saladstop, and there were other stalls that could also sell healthier or organic food. Therefore, people will not try to do their own home cooked food and instead will find the more comfortable option to go to these shops to buy their meal.
CookEasy is a box of local dishes that are easy to cook. Just by adding rice, water and cook it. The barrier is lower as other supermarkets can replicate these products easily and sells at a lower or same price which results in competition (Maureen, 2018). There were other supermarket outlets in Singapore such as, Giant, Cold Storage and Sheng Shiong and competition were already high in the home country. In Myanmar, they would have their local supermarkets. It will be a fierce competition.
With the current security trending, cybersecurity had been a constant threat to most organizations.Even though having online sales as another platform which will significantly boost the profits, it is critical for security issues to be sorted out. These helped not only to increase the trust of the consumers but also the reliability of the platform for the company to further enhance its sales.
Setting up a company in Myanmar is time-consuming and complexed. There are some rules that have been established to make the process easier and to increase in business. Entrepreneurs must be prepared for the regulations, challenges and delays that would be faced. Clients would be suggested to setup a joint venture with a Myanmar shareholder. (Healy Consultants Group PLC, 2018)
To start a company in Myanmar with foreign investments need to get approval from Myanmar Investment Commission (MIC), and a foreign investment permit under the Foreign Investment Law (FIL), the shareholder does not have to reside in Myanmar. The minimum capital for companies with foreign shareholders in the service industry is US$50,000.
With the permit under FIL, there are a few benefits which are:
The company will have to provide a business plan that includes the amount of capital, details of operations and the number of jobs that will be created in Myanmar. After the incorporation, an annual return, quarterly provision tax payments and annual financial statement have will to be submitted (Healy Consultants Group PLC, 2018).
The company consists of one foreigner and local shareholder. Foreign ownership cannot take higher than 80 per cent of the stake, only allowed if the capital investment was at least $3 million, otherwise, for smaller stakes, the requirement is $700,000. The size of the store should not be less than 929 square meters, to avoid competition with the local businesses in Myanmar. A joint venture company would be beneficial because of the local knowledge from the local partner, and it would also boost the economy in Myanmar.
A transparent legal framework to be used by the government to support the companies. MIC verifies and approves the investment proposals. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) oversees the safety and quality of food and regulate the import and exports and distribution of sale of food to ensure efficient control as it is a booming business. City Development Committees (CDC) have licensing authorities for food safety. Food safety works are:
Food safety is a very concerned problem of consumers in Myanmar due to bad practice in producing food. Lack of knowledge is the reason. Packed or imported food must be FDA approved. Even though, many food items are being sold in leading supermarkets in Myanmar which are not FDA approved because the process to get the approval is rather long.
The President of the Myanmar chamber of commerce, U Zaw Min Win mentioned that foreign retailers and wholesaler are good as the consumer will have more choices and enjoy the competitive prices. They will be able to choose good quality products. The government should encourage foreign investment in areas that require a substantial capital commitment that cannot be satisfied by local investors (Chern& Shine, 2018).
Our team has decided to go ahead with a global strategy to bring NTUC into Myanmar. The first destination for opening will be in the city of Yangon with the population number being the highest there in Myanmar. The global strategy involves having a higher need for integration and lesser product differentiation. NTUC can alter its products offerings’ a little, but the leading contenders would be in its services.
NTUC will enter Myanmar with competitive pricing strategies. As the products sold were mostly groceries, they should be priced in general similarity with our competitors in Myanmar. As many foreign companies had started entering or already entered Myanmar, they already have an established reputation and presence there; unless the products offered are tremendously different in nature or has other unique characteristics, it would be a safer bet to price groceries at a reasonable cost range.
As mentioned earlier, AEON has also entered Myanmar and is also very successful. NTUC does not have to rely on grocery pricing to attract consumers, instead applying the methods of subsidies and discounts for target markets to attract consumers.
Myanmar has a wealth of local agriculture farming. Most of the products that would be potentially stocked in NTUC, in Myanmar may be supplied from local farmers and plantations. This would save international shipping costs, as well as appeal to a targeted market of clients for NTUC.
So far, we view City Mart in Myanmar as our biggest and most worrying competitor. AEON group from Japan, has announced that they would be entering Myanmar on a joint venture at the end of the year of 2018.
Instead, our group will rely on the fact that NTUC already has an established network of suppliers that provide a wide range of groceries from many parts of the world. There will also be an option to import groceries from countries like Japan, Korea and Scandinavian countries- all these likely to target the international expatriate community in Myanmar
However, it is important to note that getting most of the groceries from the local markets would be essential for catering to the local community and build positive relationships with them to understand them even better for long-term impacts.
As per regards to advertising in Myanmar, Mango, a famous advertising company in Myanmar, suggests sticking to traditional methods of advertising such as television. Digital technology such as mobile phones and advanced applications is still in its infancy stage in Myanmar; hence the population are instead more receiving with television and radio advertisements.
As NTUC is a brand which was 100% catered to the local people’s needs and tastes in Singapore, advertisements and promotions should also likewise, be significantly tailored to the community in Myanmar. A distinctive characteristic that sets NTUC aside from Cold Storage was the generous discounts and subsidies for the elderly in Singapore. Insurance companies and charity organizations like the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) usually partner with NTUC and with the right advertising strategy, reaching out to different aspects of Myanmar might prove fruitful.
Everything is about technology and providing convenience to the current customer market. For service-based ideas and strategies, NTUC may consider installing a locker system for groceries.
Due to this beginning of a new venture, NTUC will enforced service strategies to find out the reception of the supermarket. Surveyors will be stationed at some counterpoints to inquire about the customer’s shopping experience.
In order to be ahead of competition, NTUC will market itself as a technologically advanced supermarket. There should be interactive stations of interest stationed sparsely throughout the supermarket to receive feedback on customers’ satisfaction levels.
Cost Analysis/ Funding/ Cash Flow
Regarding the NTUC FairPrice Annual Report showing the year 2016 and 2017 statement of cash flow in Appendix 1. It indicates that the company had made more investment in the year 2017 as compared to 2016 and thus for the company to start exploring a joint venture in Myanmar would be advisable to only commence within the next five years after their current cashflow has stabilized. There are three types of cost anaylsis models; Cost Allocation, Cost – Effectiveness Analysis& Cost – Benefit Analysis. The model that the company would use for the venture in Myanmar would be the Cost–Effectiveness Analysis as the population is much higher compared to Singapore. With the capital that NTUC FairPrice to provide the local company in Myanmar, the analysis should be done by reaching out the mass population and accomplish not just creating awareness to its people but also understand the market trending.
With reference to the data shown in Appendix 2, we can see that there was a substantial increase in 2017 profits and this data would be implied the operating processes were stable. This would build a strong portfolio when they explore their venture into Myanmar as to the main players in Myanmar, NTUC FairPrice would be a credible company to work with for partnership.
As for the second set of data shown in Appendix 3, it indicates the projected profits when venturing into Myanmar. During the first year of the venture, the returns would be relatively low since the joint venture had only just begun. The leap concering profit would be seen on the second year of partnership as it is assumed that the credibility of the business had increased among the consumers who would eventually lead to an increase in revenue. The data shown on the third year showed that the profits had slowed down as it was meant to indicate that the company is going on a sustainability approach to ensure that the business is not going at a too hasty pace forward.
NTUC FairPrice would be expecting an increase in its operating expenses once it commences its venture into Myanmar due to the need of increasing its workforce to manage the new business in Myanmar.
The entry into Myanmar as a joint venture would still post a specific challenge as the country still lacks transparency in the business environment, especially when dealing with new entrants on its regulations as well as legal standards.
Detailed market research and planning is required before committing to this new market as the demands of the consumers may change, the trend may change, and the regulatory standards may vary along the way. This could be accomplished by ensuring the company keeps a close linkage with FDA and CDC in Myanmar.
The management also needs to consider having the flexibility to change their business model since the culture and environment of the consumers are different. The timeline needed to stabilize their business in the new environment may not be as optimistic as the company might have projected. Hence, the company should ensure that they have a stable cash flow and a secure management system to allow the company to remain sustainable for a more extended period as well as receptive to changes.
The business set up should have a local Deputy Director (DD) which reports to a Regional Director. The DD would be responsible for Profit & Loss Statements, Cash-Flow Statements and he would be the linkage between government agencies of both local and overseas. The subunits should be broken down to mainly five components; Operations, Sales/ Marketing, Finance/ Accounting, Development and Human Resource. The Operations Manager would be responsible for all ground operations and the management of all the outlets. The Sales/ Marketing Manager would be responsible for all collaborations with suppliers as well as work out marketing strategies to stay ahead of their competitors.
The Finance/ Accounting Manager would be responsible for all ledgers and manages all transactions both locally and overseas. The Development Manager would be responsible for all expansion plans of the business and the outlook of the outlets. Last, the Human Resource Manager would be responsible for the selection of employees for hire, manage employees’ salaries, training for employees as well as scouting local talents to aid the company in adapting to the local culture and incorporate local ways of doing business.
8.2 Business Advisers
NTUC FairPrice recently reinforced with new advisors who are from the ministerial level of the Singapore Government, both Minister Josephine Teo and Minister Grace Fu. These advisors would be able to able to lend their experience in both manpower and logistic aspects (Subbaraman, 2018) which would help to strengthen the company in Singapore and allow the company to spend more time in concentrating on their joint venture in Myanmar. These two advisors would also be able to value-add on any political matters which surfaced during the start of the joint venture.
Another set of an advisor which NTUC FairPrice has is the board of directors who had a vast amount of experience dealing with Singapore as well as overseas business units. The new business venture would have to submit monthly reports to their board of directors to evaluate their current progress with the new business and determine if the company requires changes to their strategies in this new market.
There is a need for NTUC FairPrice to cater for contingency plans while venturing in Myanmar, even though join ventures may consist of a lower risk of failure as compared to an independent business venture. Myanmar is moving up from a third world country and working towards modernization. This progression would also mean that the regulations, as well as trending of its consumers, may change as times goes by. The following proposed contingency plans are aimed to help the company mitigate their losses and may even allow the business to remain sustainable.
If the business model did not manage to achieve the desired outcome, the company may wish to take a less aggressive approach to this new market but going into the import and export sector. This way, they could remain connected to the market and allow the company to continue with their market analysis to under better on the growth as well as the changes in market trending from time to time. It would also allow them to re-strategize before attempting to enter the competition again soon.
To remain sustainable in the market even though they did not succeed in the current market, NTUC FairPrice could consider diversifying its venture into other sectors such as F&B market. If the company steps into the F&B business, the exiting of the supermarket business would take lesser impact as the resources could be used in these new F&B businesses.
Conclusions
The current research had shown that Myanmar is currently in a better condition to accept more investors and business ventures into the country. The supply may be high in Myanmar, but the demand is on a constant rising which provides opportunities for new entrants or even joint ventures.
For NTUC FairPrice to enter the market as a joint venture would succeed based on the large variety of products that NTUC FairPrice offers to the locals and going on a competitive approach in terms of product pricing. Therefore,it is recommended for NTUC FairPrice to go forward with its joint venture.
The challenges that NTUC FairPrice would face subsequently would be the evolution in trends as well as the increased in new entrants. For NTUC FairPrice to stay competitive, there is a need to expand its businesses gradually and build a strong foundation of trust and service quality for its branding among the locals. This could be achieved by conducting periodic market analysis, public surveys conducted to evaluate the service and product quality, also a constant comparison on the pricing of the products with other companies to ensure that NTUC FairPrice has a competitive advantage above other companies.
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