Packing and Unpacking

It took me a week to edit the posts and unpack my luggage. Catching up with work and adjusting back to non-holiday mode will take longer. 

Special Thanks to Johnny, Annie, LeeMei and LingFeng for all the photos and a wonderful trip.  

Grown ups are certainly very strange

 

"On my planet I had a flower; she always was the first to speak."

"But my rose, all on her own, is more important than all of you together, since she's the one I've watered. Since she's the one I put under the glass globe, since she's the one for whom I killed the caterpillars. Since she's the one I listened to when she complained, or when she boasted, or even sometimes when she said nothing at all. Because she's my rose."

"The fact is that I did not know how to understand anything! I ought to have judged by deeds and not by words. She cast her fragrance and her radiance over me. I ought never to have run away from her... I ought to have realized the tenderness underlying her silly pretentions. Flowers are so contradictory! But I was too young to know how to love her."

"If you love a flower that lives on a star, it is sweet to look at the sky at night."

Employee Retention or How to Motivate Staff without a Pay Rise.

Throughout the trip, the topic of employee retention was repeatedly brought up. I guess our sector is truly feeling the woes of a tight labour market. 

Since I was unable to incorporate the discussion of employee retention in the previous posts, I thought it may be fun to collate the thoughts and devices employed by different companies under this post.

Here goes:

L'elan Enterprise: Showcasing the Passion for Business

Outside the course itinerary, I was inspired by the passion for entrepreneurship among Taiwanese as experienced walking around Taipei.

 
Budding businesses founded by young people sprawl the night markets. Indie cafes showcasing the personality of their owners hide at every turn on the streets. 

It may be befitting to end our journey in Taiwan with the founder of L'elan Enterprise. A self made man, he started his business on the internet with a motto to service the aging population and grasping the opportunity that opens up with an aging society.

During our hour with him, he passionately demonstrated every single item in his store and highlighted how elders can benefit from his products. 

He is a reminder of the persistent spirit and the eagerness to grasp every opportunity that transform entrepreneurs to businessmen. A winners' attitude that is abundant in Taiwan growing numbers of entrepreneurs. 

Many similarities can be observed between Singapore and Taiwan society. Yet as i look beyond the similar outlooks, I find the spirit of its people vastly different. Perhaps it is true that anything essential is truly invisible.

Expanding the Scope for Value Proposition through Technology

Customize footwear used to be a luxury that was reserved for competitive athletes. However, as technology becomes more accessible, a new market emerges for companies that can harness technology to find niche markets. La New demonstrated such ability.

The visit to La New ‘s base for research and production delighted the tinker in me. The technicians paraded humming machines and beeping devices working in real time as we jostled for a good spot in wide-eyed amazement.

The range of machinery and IT capabilities allowed La New to provide services and products that the existing market cannot cater for. Technology enabled La New to create new needs for the mass consumer market and service a niche market that requires high level of customization.

Takeaway:
Creating products that create values for customers open up new customers base.

Next step:

How to transform wants to needs?

Targeting: How Vigor Kobo Bakery spur Taiwan Tourism

Preface

I am editing this post way behind deadline. It is so hard to write about Vigor Kobo Bakery because their experience from a bakery retail store to a brand simply echoes.

Vigor Kobo began as a small retail bakery shop in TamShui 20 years ago. Today, Vigor Kobo and its pineapple tart are the faces of Taiwan produce. There are many aspects of their success that we can reflect on. The psychological engagement of the consumers in their flagship store, the experience in brand building, their supply-chain management style, the precise targeting of Chinese tourists and the list goes on.

As I have mentioned in the group discussion, I am a cat person who gets distracted too easily. Hence, I lose the theme for a literary montage.

The Background

The F&B landscape is very competitive with low barrier of entry and highly similar products. Vigor Kobo faced the same issues. Competitors from Japan were copying their business model and small local bakeries ate into their market share. New products attracted the attention of consumers away from Vigor Kobo. This story echoes the experience of many companies in Singapore.

The Search for a Place in the World

Hence, Vigor Kobo undertook a transformation process to define itself and find a market position. Vigor Kobo’s signature product is their Pineapple Tarts. However, their pineapple tarts are not unique enough to create a selling point.

Fortunately, pineapple tarts are already a staple in the list of Taiwanese tourism souvenir and the tourism market is expanding.

Vigor Kobo must now undertake steps to pursue this market.

Question to self: What are my signature product and my USP? Where is my market?

Transformation Strategy

Lacking USP in their product, Vigor Kobo decided to sell an experience instead. This tourism experience will be unique to Vigor Kobo and hard for competitors to replicate.

A flagship store was built where people can see, touch, smell and feel the pineapple tart through multimedia and make pineapple tarts with their own hands. This personalized experience differentiated Vigor Kobo from all other bakery stores that sells a product. The memories from the experience made the pineapple tarts a memorabilia.

Question to self: How can my product create value?

Tilling the Land you Grow

Vigor Kobo identified that they can best benefit as a market leader by expanding the market. If more visits Taiwan, Vigor Kobo can sell more. Therefore, leveraging on its R&D capabilities, Vigor Kobo began to collaborate with the government to create products to push Taiwan Tourism.

The Epilogue

Now, every Chinese visitor to Taipei will make a trip to Vigor Kobo. They are expanding to China, reminding the Chinese of the taste of Taiwan.

This is a story of how a bakery can spur a country’s tourism.

Now, will anyone like to have a Singapore Sling Frosty with Curry Chicken and Kaya Toast?

Building Infrastructure to help SME : Reveries from ASIT

Picture Credit: http://www.asit.org.tw/

From the visit to Association of Service Industry, Taiwan (ASIT), I glimpsed how government can cultivate Small and Medium Entreprise (SME) by making infrastructure accessible and affordable.

ASIT is a government organization which aims to cultivate SME in Taiwan. It creates synergy between SME and the government.


Two projects were presented by associates from ASIT that day.
The first forecast that contract and project-based hiring will become the mainstream in 5 years.
The second illustrated Taipei’s engagement of SME to develop cloud based IT business solutions.


External Hiring and Engaging Consultants: Enhancing the platform
The first project highlighted the gap between the current labour market and business needs. Skills like experience in restructuring, Brand building, and Business model change are scarce. Time-based projects like setting up IT infrastructure and marketing plans may require people with specific skills that are relevant to the company only for a period. The speaker used these examples to highlight the benefits of engaging external partners and consultants.

Having the opportunity to work with consultants, I take a cautious stance despite fully agreeing with the speaker’s analysis. His presentation reminds me of the setbacks Singapore’s Productivity and Innovation Credit faced when dealing with consultants. (Learn more about PIC here: http://www.iras.gov.sg/irashome/picredit.aspx). The range of services provided by different consultant companies is varied. The consultants engaged can come with a myriad of experience. Looking through their profiles is like wandering into an apothecary and seeing labels on jars that simply make no sense. How can we ensure that we are hiring the right guy? From personal experience, a mismatch will not only fail to deliver the desired results, but also gravely frustrate business owners. A little humour:

Picture Credit: http://www.despair.com/consulting.html

Enhancing the platform to match businesses to consultants may help.
Taking inspiration from TED, a video sharing platform for ideas, it may be beneficial to construct a similar platform for consultants to demonstrate their capabilities through short video lectures targeted at business managers. Some topics of interest may be: 10 types of must-have automation for F&B, How to deal with negativity during restructuring, ERP, SAP, Oracle: Which should I choose... And the list can be infinite.

Learn more about TED here: http://www.ted.com/.

This platform will not only remind SME of the possibilities in the market, but also allow us to learn about the specialization and capabilities of consultants and how the business can benefit from these services. The consultants will also gain a stage to attract customers by appealing to pain points.

Cloud Technology: Affordability, Communication and Competitiveness
The second presentation offered affordable ways for SME to improve their business through technology. Leveraging on the emergent of cloud technology, Taiwan government wants to match business needs to IT solutions developers and provide a platform for the transaction. Having experienced difficulties in customising and upgrading our HR and POS system, I am excited by the opportunities available through this project.

Pain points I have seen, with my limited understanding, are:
1. Justifying the high initial investment and licensing fees when the current system are managable.
2. Limited developed products in the market, or the lack of faith in new products, especially when the investment and cost of change is high.
3. Adapting the business needs to the products with little customization. Sometime, more data-entry jobs may be created from automation.
4. High barrier to changing systems.

As Mr Chang (Farmosa Chang) repeatedly emphasized, setting up the infrastructure is the basis for expansion. A cloud base portal, with its promise of lowering cost, facilitating communications between users and developer and establishing a marketplace for free competition may just be the solution.

No Surprises from Ding Tai Fung and Why that is Good...

During our dinner in Ding Tai Fung, I was amused to hear some of the friends complain, "This feels exactly like Ding Tai Fung in Singapore. What's so special?".

Just yesterday, Mr Chang was explaining why Formosa Chang had chosen to close down their franchise operations and focus on slowly expanding their DOS in order to ensure consistency. Today, a successful example exhibits itself in Ding Tai Fung.

Everywhere I went, be it in Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand or Hong Kong, Ding Tai Fung practiced consistency to perfection. The menu, the uniforms, the restaurant decorations, the service and the food quality is a replica of the first outlet in Xinyi District. A fact that is illustrated perfectly in my friends' complaint. 

When I see a waitress from Ding Tai Fung, with her standard smile, in that black and white uniform, serving up a basket of all too familiar xiao long bao, my mind wonders. How much effort had been poured into building SOP, training, sourcing and the strength of mind that insists on 18-folds to deliver a consistent bite of xiao long bao - every time, everywhere.

Just how do they do it?

Relocating the Battlefield : How Formosa Chang tackle Rising Food Cost

Formosa Chang is a homegrown Taiwanese brand with humble beginning. They serviced blue collar workers as a roadside stall selling cheap and good food. Braised meat rice, a simple meal-in-a-bowl that promises to fill the stomach, is Formosa Chang’s star product. Mr Chang revealed that the texture of the meat in the famous braised meat rice is so good because they only use the best cuts, which inevitably, will cost more. 

It was reported that food cost in Taiwan rose by 28% last year. (http://www.chinanews.com/tw/2014/03-04/5905475.shtml) Formosa Chang would have faced the same pressure. Mr Chang, the CEO of Formosa Chang, has an uncompromising attitude towards quality, passed on from his father. Facing the challenge of rising food cost, I observe that Mr Chang strategically target the tourist market. The strategy seems simple: Product mix to include products with lower COGS, Branding to appeal to tourists who have more spending power. Maintain the price of signature products with minimal adjustments to retain loyal customers.

How did Formosa Chang Pursue Tourists?

Ending Thoughts:

What is the next steps for Formosa Chang?

Perhaps taking inspiration from Vigor Kobo : Building Taiwan Tourism is the Road to Building Vigor Kobo.

Or in the words of Mr Chang himself : Cultivating Partnerships with Competitors; Creating Alliances with Industries.

Creating Luxury in Wang Steak

What is a brand? Is it merely a name as the video suggest? 

Wang Steak is a part of a premium restaurant group in Taiwan, famous for offering affordable fine dining experience. 

I feel that although Wang portrays itself as a classy restaurant, its target market is not the elite and exclusive. Instead, Wang Steak is targeting the mid to high income level. By creating a luxurious brand image, Wang Steak convinces the customers to pay a premium for the experience of fine dining. 

The Brand
Brand Benefits	Luxurious fine dining experience at affordable price (NT 1350)
Brand Personality	The rose. Beauty and Elegance. Signature of romance in the west. A token for a loved one links to slogan: “Only for the most important person in life”
Brand Experience	Set Menu for a full fine dining experience. Online guide to communicate the etiquette of fine dining Slogan associates the dining experience with the act of pleasuring a valued person. This emotional association imbues priceless value to the product, justifying the premium pricing. Service focus creating special moments for the guest through personalized services and surprise moments.
Brand Promise	Good Food. Enjoyable dining experience.

The Experience
Senses	Triggers	Impression
Sight	Warm lights; Wood panels	Cosy
	Red embellishments	Sensual
	Reflective metal embellishments; Sparkling ceramic surfaces	Expensive
Hear	Light instrumental music	Western
	Low chattering	Conscious
	Soft mellow introductions from waitress	Personalized
Smell	neutral	Clean
Touch	Stepping on soft padded floor	Comfort
	Smooth satin tablecloth	Sensual, luxurious
	Cold cutleries and plates	Clean, classy
Taste	Food served course by course	Need to savor
Feel	Constant asking “Do you like this dish?”	Important
	Waitress paid attention to my preference	Special

In the end, I do not remember what food I had. I remembered that I had a good time in Wang Steak. 

A Pre-Trip Musing

This is the last day before our trip to Taipei and I can't wait to hop on that plane.

However, at the back of my mind, a nudging voice, "the proposal is incomplete, the report needs updating and have you got the weeklies covered?".

Times like this makes me grateful for a perfect iced latte. Robust top notes that hits the olfactory backed by earthen scent of milk that slides down your throat.

An unconventional coupling?



My breakfast:

Bread, with ikan billis and sambal, wrapped in pandan leaf.
Savoury and spicy with soft bread that tastes slightly sweet. Somehow, the pandan leaf infused the bread with an aroma that screams Singapore.

Breakfast with a view?

We sometimes refer to this as the canary. The green seems to lure unwary small birds. A live display.

This is why I look forward to coming in office every morning.
Now let's get to work and bye bye BreadTalk. See you next week.

Hello. Taipei.

Tribute to The Little Prince

"All men have the stars," he answered, "but they are not the same things for different people. For some, who are travelers, the stars are guides. For others they are no more than little lights in the sky. For others, who are scholars, they are problems. For my businessman they were wealth. But all these stars are silent.

You—you alone—will have the stars as no one else has them—"

"What are you trying to say?"

"In one of the stars I shall be living. In one of them I shall be laughing. And so it will be as if all the stars were laughing, when you look at the sky at night... you—only you—will have stars that can laugh! And when time soothes your sorrows, you will be content that you have known me... And your friends will be properly astonished to see you laughing as you look up at the sky! And they will think you are crazy. It will be a very shabby trick that I shall have played on you...”
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