Competitive Strategic Management

Term Paper (20%)

Berjaya Media Berhad

Name: Deeban Manierajoo Matrix Number:M181111029

Description of Company

Company Name : Berjaya Media Berhad (The Sun Newspaper)

Berjaya Media Berhad founded by Dato’ Sri Robin Tan Yeong Ching, who is also the company’s Chairman

and Non-Independent Non-Executive Director. . While Chan Kien Sing is the Non-Independent Executive

Director. The independent non- executive directors of the company are Datuk Seri Azman Bin Ujang and

Datuk Robert Yong Kuen Loke. Its main office is registered under the address Lot 13-01A, Level 13 (East

Wing) in Berjaya Times Square building Kuala Lumpur.

The company is engaged in publishing is the leading newspaper is The Sun. This newspaper is the

Malaysia’s urban paper; distributed in cities like Klang Valley, Penang, Johor Bahru and also to some other

important towns and cities in Peninsular Malaysia.

The company’s mission is to change the opinion that the Malaysian journalists are only reporting the facts

and evidence, when they are actually the newspapers’ heart. The goal is to persuade excellent journalism,

with the slogan “telling it as it is”. This newspaper has a weekday distribution of about 307,519 copies. The

company revenue fell about -22.88% which is from MYR33.27 million to MYR 25.66 million, while the

net income in MYR is -17.28million.

Identification and Elaboration of Company Problems

o in the fourth financial quarter which ended in 30TH April 2019, the company lost by 38% along

with the absence of a RM1.96 million impairment loss. It was on the investments quoted which

was in the record from the quarter year ago

o compare to the fourth financial quarter in the year 2018, the company loss in the fourth financial

quarter in the year 2019 was slightly lesser. The net loss in fourth financial quarter 2019 was

RM3.71 million while in 2018 was RM6.03 million. Even the loss per share from 2.56 cent in 2018

dropped to 1.58 cent in the year 2019.

o due to the very low advertising income as in the report, quarterly revenue from RM6.5 million on

fourth financial quarter year 2018 dropped to RM4.81 million in fourth financial quarter in 2019,

which means the quarter revenue dropped 25.9%.

o in the financial year 2019, net loss of the group extended to RM17 million comparing to the last

year which is RM12.5 million.

o for two legal suits, the total of compensation provision was up to RM5.912 million

o comparing to financial year 2018, revenue of the company dropped up to 22.9%, which is about

from RM33.27 million to RM 25.66 million

o The board of directors has been discovering other alternatives with expanding into other firms out

of the media division, to standardize its Practice Note 17 (PN17) rules.

o stockholders’ shares on a joined basis dropped to fewer than RM40 million, which is about 25%

or fewer of its allotted capital Bursa Securities’ right to ensue to block the BMedia’s securities

listed trading and to remove the company name from the list, if in case the company unable to

present the proposal and acquire the essential supervisory sanction by Dec 20

o Due to its inability to enroll into a conclusive dealing with a advocate by October 2020, BMedia

had been alerted by Bursa Securities regarding the de-listing and suspension of its securities or

guarantees
 o Request by BMedia to extend the time to present the plan of regularization is also denied by Bursa

Malaysia

o Based on the exchange filing view, The Sun paper will be as well removed from the stock exchange

list starting from 5th November 2019 onwards, or else BMedia apply the request opposing the de-

listing is sent to propose to Bursa Malaysia by 4th November 2019

30 Apr 2017 30 Apr 2018 30 Apr 2019

RM'000 RM'000 RM'000

INCOME STATEMENT

Net Turnover/Net Sales 42,753 33,267 25,655

EBITDA -4,787 - -

EBIT -5,458 - -

Net Profit -21,128 -12,500 -16,996

BALANCE SHEET

Intangibles - - -

Fixed Assets 2,469 2,088 2,300

Long Term Investment 19,797 16,552 11,950

Stocks/Inventories 5,409 4,644 2,845

Cash 3,807 2,724 1,002

Current Liabilities 10,563 14,687 22,649

Long Term Debt - - -

Provisions - - -

Minorities - - -
 Total Shareholders Equity 32,000 18,324 -235

KEY RATIOS

Operating Margin(%) -48.02 -36.68 -64.56

Return on Equity Capital(%) -49.79 - -

Net Profit Margin -49.42 -37.57 -66.25

Current Ratio 1.92 0.98 0.36

Debt to Capital at Book 0.07 - -

Internal Analysis

SWOT Analysis of The Sun

Through the SWOT Analysis we can identify the company’s (The Sun)

 Strength

 Weakness

 Opportunities

 Threats

In this analysis, we can divide these analyses into two factors which ‘internal factors’ and ‘external factors’.

The company strengths and weaknesses fall into internal factors while opportunities and threats can be

categorized under external factors.

By using the SWOT Analysis, we can scale the company’s performance in comparison with the other

industrial competitors. The table below shows the brand analysis of The Sun
 Brand Analysis of The Sun

Parent / original Company Berjaya Media Group

Classification English Tabloid Newspaper

Division Entertainment and Media

Tagline Telling It As It Is

Unique Selling Proposition biggest newspaper circulation

The strengths of The Sun Newspaper

i. The Sun have a very appealing picture display, thus making it remarkable and attractive

ii. The Sun is the tenth biggest newspaper distribution in the world. As of September 2019, The Sun

had the average daily number of circulations of about 306,249 copies.

iii. Having two regionalized editions, The Sun is published in both Ireland and United Kingdom

iv. The major percentage of the readers of The Sun newspapers are women. Women are considered a

good reader. So, it shows that this newspaper will always have a loyal reader.

The weaknesses of The Sun Newspaper

Mainly two major weaknesses are identified in The Sun. They are as follows:

i. The Sun have a strong competition from other companies who are also producing the newspapers

in this market. So, it can lead to the condition where their market share will always remain

restricted.

ii. The Sun Malaysia was criticized for utilizing our country flag in the banner for advertisement

reasons. It had during the newspaper revamp in the year 1994.

iii. It was strictly criticized until our Ministry of Home mentioned that none of the party should utilize

our country flag without the proper approval. After the incident, The Sun recommenced the

newspaper publication on 1st of August, 1994.

 iv. The Sun is also involved in few numbers of controversies. For example, is the coverage that it did

about the disaster of the Hillsborough football stadium in the year 1989.

The opportunities in the SWOT Analysis of The Sun

i. Trying to improve the company sales by increasing or widening the marketing scales via internet

and other medias

ii. They are putting in effort to establish groundbreaking elements that can attract prospects or

opportunities with less or minimal criticism and condemnation.

iii. The Sun is looking to do joint venture with many fast food companies to establish their business.

It is one of the strategies to try to enter into contracts with companies such as McDonalds. Via this

approach they can reach out to people or customers in a faster route where the more customers were

approach in faster time of period.

The Threads in the SWOT Analysis of The Sun

i. There is a high chance that the United Kingdom government may want to start regulating free press

in the country. So, it may lead to loss of business. And it may over all lead to business loss in our

country too.

ii. When the press faces so much of criticism, it can lead to create the situation to law suits against it

iii. Risen up in the amount of competitions that The Sun faces in tabloids

So, following the SWOT analysis of The Sun newspaper :

o We can find out the techniques or method to develop the business

o We can decide on whether the competitor product is worth taken into consideration

o We can access the relevant prospects or openings on the specific products

o We can understand The Sun’s role in the market

o We can evaluate the latest strategy we have planned, and the opportunity found out from the

SWOT analysis to develop the business to another higher level.

External Analysis (Porter’s Five Forces Analysis)

Porter’s five forces analysis is also known as the Industry Analysis. This analysis is a very good

implement for strategists of businesses. The Porter’s Five Forces Analysis is used to ascertain the plus

point of the business or industry. The Five Forces Analysis consists of following forces:

i. Industry rivalry

a. it explains on the how much the level of competition with the other available competitors

b. when there is a strong competition in the specific field, it can lead to restricted profit for

all the companies

c. the competition in the industry rivalry will be higher if there only few businesses who

selling similar services. However, when the industry with many similar service providing

companies established customers can certainly shift to competitors service with lower

price

d. when there is a high rivalry competition, price wars or competition and also

advertisement campaigns will be at the peak too. Anyhow, it can eventually damage the

basement of the business.

ii. Threat of substitutes

a. when there is a competitor product exist, it will be difficult for the company to increase

the product price, because there will be a high chance that the customer will jump to

another similar product which has the lower price with the same service

b. It can be said that this force analyzes on how straight forward it is for customers to shift

from one service provider or business to another one concerning the price, quality and

few other factors

iii. Bargaining power of buyers

 a. when there is a competitor product available in the market, customers have the high

chance to bargain to obtain the product with cheaper price. It shows that substantial

impact on a product prices can be made possible by a powerful buyer

b. as a customer they always have the control to shift from one service to another one when

they are ample of service options.

c. However, a customer’s buying power become lesser when the products that they

purchase is in a smaller amount and also when the company’s service or product is

unique compare to the other competitors.

iv. Suppliers’ power or bargaining – suppliers of the raw materials have the right and opportunity to

bargain their supplier price and restrict the profit of the company.

v. Entry barriers – barriers for entry applicable to the new competitors or entrants who come up with

similar products with better and attractive service and cheaper price solution

Competitor Matrix Table and Summary

Berjaya Media
Media Prima - RM Star Media Group
BHD
'000 BHD
RM'000 - The
New Straits Times RM'000 - The Star
Sun

Annual Revenue MYR 25,714.00 MYR 1,185,737.00 MYR 392,680.00

(RM)

Year Founded 1993 1845 1971

Company
Number of 3897 5000
Specific
Employees 3000

Number of Share 1,109,199 738,564

('000) 235,085
 Market Capital MYR 394,000.00 MYR 351,000.00

(RM) MYR 21,000.00

Market growth 15% 16.30%

rate (%) 4.50%

National and Bots, JOM!, Business StarBytz,

international Times, Life & Times, StarEducate, Star

news. They are School Times, Car Fit4Life, Life

also news Bikes & Trucks, Inspired, Dots, F1F4,

Feature of
regarding sports, Comics, Politics and Star Metro, R.AGE,
product
property, media & Sports CarSifu

marketing and

lifestyle &

entertainment

Focuses on the Business

Product
consumer market, developments, market

travel-related news trends, financial

SunSpots (such as
and features attract reports, updates in the
office buildings,
travelers, stock market,
Target condominiums,
Businessman, lifestyle,
Customers LRT stations, fast
Youths, Students and entertainment, health,
food outlets. Eg
many more parenting, social
7eleven)
etiquette, science,

environment, fashion,

food.
 Print - Tabloid Daily Newspaper and Daily Newspaper and
Product Type
and Digital format Digital Formats Digital Formats

RM 1.60

Pricing Free RM 1.50 Weekdays/RM 1.80

Weekends

Why Convenience: User able to reach on their way to work or delivered to home for Rm 0.30

Customer Cents.

should Consistency: This ties in with trust and reputation.

choose A Cause: This ties into culture and values, but this is more about giving back and

Berjaya community involvement.

Media

BHD

When we look at the above competitor matrix table and summary, we can clearly said that Berjaya Media

Berhad’s revenue which distribute The Sun is way lesser compare to Media Prima which distribute New

Straits Time and Star Media Group Berhad that distribute The Star. The revenue of Media Prima is

RM1,185 737.00 and the revenue for Star Media Group Berhad is RM392,680 where as for Berjaya Media

Berhad is only RM25,714.00 which is very much lesser compare to its two other competitor companies.

Total number of shares of Berjaya Media Berhad share is only 235,085,000 while Media Prima and Star

Media Group Berhad have obviously higher number of shares which are 1,109,199,000 and 738,564,000

shares respectively. Market Capital for Berjaya Media Berhad is RM21,000 while Market Capital for Media

Prima and Star Media Group Berhad is RM394,000 and RM351,000 respectively. In terms of percentage

of market rate growth Media Prima and Star Media Group Berhad have higher rate which are 15% and

16.3% respectively. Where as Berjaya Media Berhad only had the percentage of 4.5.
The Sun newspaper basically cover all sector in its publications that includes international updates, national

updates, sports updates, property updates, media and marketing updates, lifestyle and entertainment updates

and so on. However, the New Straits Times and The Star focuses more travel, automobile, sports and

businesses.

The Sun newspaper is distributed nationwide for free of charge with mainly focusing the distribution ship

is housing area such as condominiums, apartments while The New Straits Times focuses consumer market,

travelers, businessmen, students, youths and many more group of people. Meanwhile, The Star targeting its

customers from Business Development area, entertainment, health, parenting, food, lifestyle, social

etiquette and so on.

It shows that all these while the profit for the Berjaya Media Berhad had been very poor compare to its

competitor company.

Recommendation

Below are some of the recommendations or suggestions to overcome the problems faced by the company

as discussed in the content number two.

i. The company come up with a deliberate vision and mission

ii. The company should come up with a strategical objective

iii. Creating a tactic to attain the goals of the company

iv. The company or management should apply and accomplish its strategy

v. Assessing the staff and company development pattern and performance ; implement corrective

measures
Come up with a deliberate vision and mission

o When there is a deliberate vision, it can indicate the exact direction the company aims to follow in

improving and boosting the company business

o It will set out the company’s plan in arranging for its prospects

o We can say that, company vision determines a company’s future prospects

o It is an goal about which a planner may possibly seek out to emphasis the awareness and strengths

of company staffs.

o A proper vision for a company is the one what makes each and every company unique.

o A deliberate and right vision can enlighten the guiding direction

o It also can clearly guide the managerial team with the proper way in the process of further

developing the company business

o An efficiently structured vision should have certain criteria such as focused, directed or directional,

graphical, advantageous, flexible.

o There are few characteristics of wordings that can create an inappropriate vision for a company. As

such characteristics are incomplete, non forward looking, uninspiring, non distinctive and few

more.

o Mission can be defined as organization’s goal, where it is in position with the standards and

anticipations of key shareholders and involved together with the capacity and limits of the

association.

o Vision versus mission : A vision is the organization’s scope of business for future (eg. where is

the company heading to), while a mission explains its current objective and idea (eg what kind of

service we are providing)

 o Then the deliberate vision and mission should be clearly explained to the entire staff of The Sun so

that everybody will have the clear picture on their role in the company in order to bring the company

profit to the next higher level

Come up with a strategical objective

o Setting up a strategy can help to make sure that the deliberate vision and mission created for the

company achieved with some workable performance or actions

o Strategical objectives and financial objectives are two types of objectives that can be worked out

for the benefit of the company.

o Financial strategy needed to increase the company profit while strategical objective needed to

strengthen the company’s marketing strategy.

Creating a tactic to attain goals of the company

o For Berjaya Media Berhad to rise back in this industry, they need to come up with innovative tactics

that can develop the business. They might need to revise the business development strategy that

had been used all this while. There might be any lacks may found out and can be corrected. The

company marketing team should come up with a better marketing strategy that will help promote

the business in the better way. Promotion campaigns would be improvised so that the awareness

on the company existence will reach out all group of people. If charging certain minimal amount

for the newspaper would benefit the company, then that idea may implement too.

The company or management should apply and accomplish its strategy

All the rules, vision, mission, objectives and strategies should be strictly followed by all the staffs no matter

what their position in the hierarchy is. When everyone starts to follow the rules and regulations properly

and strictly then all the responsibilities will be perfectly accomplished by everyone. When the person in the

highest position in the hierarchy starts to properly do the work, then others below that person too will do
the work properly. Thus it can lead to an efficient working environment which in return will give a benefit

to company further improving its achievement and status.

Assessing the staff and company development pattern and performance; implement corrective

measures

It is also important to always evaluate the staff performance to make sure the responsibility given to them

always be done with the maximum effort. At the same time, it is important for the staffs that they were

given a good working environment so that they can give a better performance in their work given.

Conclusion

Berjaya Media Berhad are quite essential publications. They are valuable not just in education, as well as

in the media form in which news is spread. They're providing information. The integrity and prestige of a

media depends on the basis of their loyalty to the facts and courageous journalism. It's our free and most

effective tool in the last review. In the end, there is a best solution that exist and believe that this strategy

could recover the financial crisis of Berjaya Media Berhad, which are by SWOT analysis and Porter’s Five

Forces Analysis.
References

1. https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/berjaya-media-narrows-4q-losses-warns-

challenging-year-ahead

2. https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/berjaya-media-gets-until-dec-20-submit-

regularisation-plan

3. https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2019/10/29/berjaya-media-tumbles-

after-bursa-rejects-extension-plan

4. https://www.nst.com.my/business/2019/10/534138/bursa-malaysia-rejects-berjaya-

medias-application-extend-regularisation-plan

5. https://www.thestar.com.my/business/marketwatch/stocks/?qcounter=BJMEDIA

6. https://www.nst.com.my/business/2019/10/534138/bursa-malaysia-rejects-berjaya-

medias-application-extend-regularisation-plan

7. https://www.klsescreener.com/v2/announcements/view/28916964

8. https://markets.ft.com/data/equities/tearsheet/profile?s=BJMEDIA:KLS

9. https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2017/06/22/berjaya-media-slips-

into-pn17-status

10. http://disclosure.bursamalaysia.com/FileAccess/apbursaweb/download?id=80325&name=

EA_GA_ATTACHMENTS