Executive Summary

Small to Medium Enterprise (SME) has contributed tremendous advantages to

the market in creating jobs, generating income, and reducing poverty in society. SMEs
can be considered as the backbone of the economic growth in Malaysia. Data from
the Malaysia Statistical Business Register, Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM)
shows that SMEs present 97.4% of the business establishment in 2021.

Covid 19 pandemic has caused devastating economic and social disruption

throughout the world from the school closure to devastated industries and millions of
jobs lost in the years 2020 and 2021. Covid 19 pandemic has transformed businesses
into a new form and become a huge challenge for many organizations from small and
medium businesses to top business organizations. The pandemic has changed the
way people buy things and plan their expenses thus has put SMEs at risk and
experiencing a strong decline in revenue, including Bestari Food Industries, one of the
top brands in the retail and food sector SME.

This paper will discuss the analysis of the target market, current marketing
analysis and recommended new marketing strategies for Bestari Food Industries to
gain competitive advantages over other competitor companies.

Bestari Food Industries target market can be divided into three categories which
are households, HORECA and retailers. Market segmentation of the Bestari Food
products can be divided into four segments namely geographic segmentation,
demographic segmentation, psychological segmentation as well as behavioural
segmentation.

This paper use SWOT analysis to analyze the current marketing analysis of
Bestari Food product and proposing a specific marketing objective for Bestari Food
products which is to help them to acquire a bigger current market through a marketing
mix approach.

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 Content

Introduction………………………………………………………………... 1

Small and Medium Enterprise…………………………………... 1

Covid 19…………………………………………………………… 3

Bestari Food Industries………………………………………….. 3

Situational/SWOT Analysis……………………………………………… 5

Strength….……………………………………………………….. 5

Weakness……………………………………………………... 6

Opportunity……………………………………………………….. 6

Threat……………………………………………………………… 7

Analysis of Target Market……………………………………………….. 8

Marketing objective………………………………………………………. 9

Marketing Strategy……………………………………………………….. 9

Product…………………………………………………………….. 10

Place……………………………………………………………….. 12

Price………………………………………………………………... 13

Promotion………………………………………………………….. 14

Projected Financial Plan…………………………………………………. 15

References………………………………………………………………… 16

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1. Introduction

1.1 Small and Medium Enterprise

Small to Medium Enterprise (SME) has contributed tremendous advantages to

the market in creating jobs, generating income, and reducing poverty in society. The
report of the Committee of Inquiry on Small Firms chaired by J.E. Bolton or well known
as the Bolton Report 1971 is one of the frequently cited sources in understanding and
defining the SME. It is one of the important reports in the study of small and medium
businesses because it made the business community and government aware of the
importance of SMEs. Bolton Report 1971 suggested that the SME can be defined
based on these criteria:

a. The business's proportionate size to the market.

b. The owner or a co-owner personally oversees the management of the

company. This means that the owner is actively involved in business
management as a manager or CEO as well as the employees.

c. The business is independent in the sense that it is not a part of a bigger

organisation, and the owner should not be subject to outside influence when
making decisions.

The National SME Development Council of Malaysia adopted the first definition
of SME for implementation on June 9th, 2005. At the 14th National SME Development
Council in July 2013, the latest amendment to SME was approved, and it went into
effect on 1st January 2014.

Based on the Guideline for new SME Definition issued by SME Corp. Malaysia,
the Secretariat to the National SME Development Council in October 2013 define that
SMEs can be simplified into two categories which are Manufacturing and Services and
other sectors. A business can be qualified as an SME if it meets either one of two
specified criteria which is namely sales turnover or full-time employees whichever is
lower.

For a manufacturing business to be qualified as a small enterprise, the annual

sales turnover must be between RM 300,000 to RM 15 million and the number of
employees between 5 to 75 employees. For services or other sectors to be qualified

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as a small enterprise, the annual sales turnover must be between RM 300,000 to RM
3 million and the number of employees between 5 to 30 employees.

For a manufacturing business to be qualified as a medium enterprise, the

annual sales turnover must be between RM 15 million to RM 50 million and the number
of employees between 75 to 200 employees. For services or other sectors to be
qualified as a medium enterprise, the annual sales turnover must be between RM 3
million to RM 20 million and the number of employees between 30 to 75 employees.
Figure 1.1 below shows the simplified criteria for a business to be qualified as SME.

Figure 1.1 Criteria For a Business to be Qualified As SME

SMEs can be considered as the backbone of the economic growth in Malaysia.

Data from the Malaysia Statistical Business Register, Department of Statistics
Malaysia (DOSM) shows that SMEs present 97.4% of the business establishment in
2021. Figure 1.2 shows the percentage of SMEs by size and sector until February
2022.

Figure 1.2 Percentage of SMEs by Size and Sectors

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1.2 Covid 19

In December 2019, a cluster of pneumonia illnesses was reported in the city of

Wuhan, China. Some of the first cases mentioned visiting or working at Wuhan's
seafood and animal markets. According to the investigation, the condition was
discovered to be caused by a newly discovered coronavirus. The disease was
subsequently named Covid 19 and it rapidly spread throughout China and the rest of
the world. On 30th January 2020, World Health Organization (WHO) declared the
outbreak of public health emergency of international concern.

Covid 19 pandemic has caused devastating economic and social disruption

throughout the world from the school closure to devastated industries and millions of
jobs lost in the years 2020 and 2021. In the economic aspect, Covid 19 pandemic has
transformed businesses into a new form and become a huge challenge for many
organizations from small and medium businesses to top business organizations. The
pandemic has changed the way people buy things and plan their expenses thus has
put SMEs at risk and experiencing a strong decline in revenue. More than half of SMEs
do not have the reserves to survive more than three months without additional help.

1.3 Bestari Food Industries

Bestari Food Industries is one of the top brands in the retail and food sector
SME under Synerchem Group. Bestari Food Industries was founded in Kota
Kemuning, with the first product of Crispy Fried Chicken Coating Mix in 2004.
Associated with the tagline “Mudah dan Sedap “motto, Bestari now has a wide range
of simple and ready-to-cook premium quality food cooking ingredient products with
JAKIM Halal Certification and ISO 22000 Certification.

Apart from Crispy Fried Chicken Coating Mix, among other, the top products of
Bestari are Golden Salted Egg Seasoning Mix, Instant Mashed Potato Mix, Tempura
Batter, Banana Fritter Batter and various cooking products. Bestari wants its
customers to enjoy cooking at home with pre-mixed ingredients because it reduces
unnecessary costs of dining out and strengthens family bonds. Bestari has made an
effort to make sure its product is fast, simple, easy and creative. Figure 1.3 shows the
list of Bestari cooking ingredient mix in the market.

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 Figure 1.3 List of Bestari Cooking Ingredient Mix in The Market

Bestari food mainly targets its product in the household market, in addition to
that, Bestari also targets the hotel, restaurant and catering (HORECA) market and as
a result of this strategy, it has taken 40% of the Malaysian market.

After 18 years in the cooking ingredient market, Bestari has achieved numerous
awards recognitions and certificates including:

a. ISO 22000 Food Safety Management.

b. HACCP Food Safety Management.

c. JAKIM Halal Certification.

d. MESTI Award.

e. Top 3 in SME 100 Fastest Moving Companies Award 2019.

f. SUPERBRAND 2020.

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2. Situational/SWOT Analysis

Similar to the other SMEs, pandemic Covid 19 has extremely affected the
Bestari Food Industries market in Malaysia. After the implementation of the Movement
Control Order (MCO) in March 2020, Bestari products experienced a decline in
demand for the HORECA market but a slight increase in demand for the household
market. The decline in demand for the HORECA market was mainly due to the
restriction of the movement that leads to the closure of the hotel and restaurant. The
increasing demand for the household market because the movement was restricted,
and people were stuck in their homes, so they had ample time to explore many cooking
recipes.

After the government has removed the movement restriction and the country
started to transition into Covid 19 endemic phase effectively on Apr 22, many SMEs
are seeking new business opportunities, diversification of their businesses and
products as well as penetrating new market segments, including Bestari Food
Industries. The reopening of the international border also has given chances for SMEs
to broaden their target marketing segmentations.

This study has concluded the analysis based on SWOT analysis to determine
the strength, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of Bestari Food Industries.

2.1 Strength

Simple and delicious. Bestari Food Industries has a crystal clear motto,
“mudah dan sedap” which is translated as simple and delicious that produces the
simple yet tasty and delicious, ready to cook premium quality.

High Standard and Quality. Bestari Food Industries has put an effort to
ensure that its products have a very high standard and quality compared to the other
competitors. The products have passed Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points
(HACCP), an international standard defining the requirements for effective control of
food safety and also have been approved by the Food Safety and Quality Division of
the Ministry of Health. Bestari Food Industries has put an effort into ensuring certify
their product of JAKIM Halal and ISO 22000 certification.

A Broad Range of Regular and Loyal Customers. Bestari Food Industries

has its marketing strategy and has become one of the famous and leading food

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ingredients product companies in Malaysia with many regular loyal customers ranging
from household customers and also HORECA customers. Bestari Food product has
become the first choice of the customers because their products can ease cooking,
save time and healthy products. Their product is suitable for all range of ages and its
unique taste of products is the main key of their success.

2.2 Weakness

Less Promotion. One of the main weaknesses of Bestari Food products is they
are lacking promotion for both online and offline promotion. It is affected their product
engagement with the targeted customer since advertising and promotion are the
essential components of a successful business. Bestari Food’s official website can be
considered as a poor marketing presentation as compared to the other competitors.

Poor Sales in Online Platform. Bestari Food products are being sold mostly
at the bigger supermarkets and hypermarkets and rarely see its product on the online
shopping platform. There are still target markets that do not know the Bestari Food
product because of the lack of promotion and sales ooon thenline platform.

Limited Product’s Nett Weight and Poor Packaging Illustration. Bestari

Food products were produced in a limited nett weight such as its chicken powder only
produced in 1kg and 150g packaging. The product’s packaging illustrations also are
uninteresting and unable to attract customers.

2.3 Opportunity

Demand for the Ready to Cook Premix Product. Ready to cook ingredient
demand was skyrocketing during pandemic Covid 19 and is expected to increase
shortly. This is because the product has combined all the ingredients due to the easy
and simple work done that saves the time for the customers instead of the need to add
all the ingredients for the cooking.

Halal Export Market. The evolving halal export market in the current situation
in Malaysia has given a bigger chance for Bestari Food products that have JAKIM
Halal Certification to broaden their market segment into Muslim countries. For
instance, Bestari Food products are only exported to the three countries namely
Singapore, Brunei and Sri Lanka.

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 Branding on Social Media Platforms. During the Covid 19 pandemic and after
the movement control order (MCO) was activated, many SMEs started to embark on
the online platform and social media to sustain their business operation. The role of
social media in business marketing is undeniable. Social media can be defined as an
internet-based type of communication that allows people to interact, share information,
and generate content for websites. Media sharing networks such as Instagram and
Snapchat, social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, photo sharing sites,
podcasts, discussion forums and many more are all examples of social media. Social
media become a cornerstone of digital marketing and branding strategy for business
owners that provides a wide range of advantages including a part of the convenient
buying process, referral system from friends and family and can create the brand’s
awareness.

2.4 Threat

Competitor Companies. Several competitor companies provide the customer

in a similar target market in Malaysia such as Adabi Consumer Sdn Bhd, Rempah Mak
Siti and Babas. Bestari Food Industries need to compete with other competitor’s
companies to ensure that its products have competitive advantages that can attract
customers.

Dependency of Imported Raw Material. 70% of the raw material used for
Bestari Food premix ingredients processing such as chillies, tapioca and corn are
imported from other countries. This made the processing and production of Bestari
Food products mostly dependent on the current price fluctuation of the raw material
due to currency fluctuation and the productivity of the raw material itself.

High Labour Cost. With the announcement of the rise in the minimum wage
from RM 1,200 to RM 1,500 effective on 1st May 2022 affected the operational cost of
the Bestari Food Industries. As an alternative way to make up the company’s profit
margin, Bestari Food Industries may increase the price of the product hence this will
give a competitive disadvantage to them. In the worst-case scenario, Bestari Food
Industries might need to downsize to reduce the labour cost, and this will lead into
decreasing in productivity.

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 Figure 2.1 SWOT Analysis of Bestari Food Industries

3. Analysis of the Target Market

Bestari Food Industries target market can be divided into three categories
which are households, HORECA and retailers. Households are the main target market
of the products because of its convenience and is ready to cook saves the time
consumed to prepare the dishes for the whole family. In addition, Bestari Food
Industries also target the market in the HORECA sector because of its broad range of
variety in term of taste and flavour of the product and can ease the bulk dishes
preparation. Besides that, Bestari Food Industries also target the market to the retailer,
the middleman between the company and the end customer.

Market segmentation of the Bestari Food products can be divided into four
segments namely geographic segmentation, demographic segmentation,
psychological segmentation as well as behavioural segmentation.

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3.1 Geographic Segmentation

Market segmentation based on the geographic is one appropriate approach for

Bestari Food because Malaysia is a multicultural country and Malaysian loves to eat
a variety set of food that used a lot of mixed ingredients such as Malay dishes, Chinese
dishes, and Indian dishes as well as Western dishes.

3.2 Demographic Segmentation

Demographic segmentation is appropriate for all ranges of ages and incomes

because its product’s price is competitively reasonable.

3.3 Psychographic Segmentation

As Bestari Food products are JAKIM Halal certified, it can be the sales point for
them to be marketed in Muslim countries such as Malaysia.

3.4 Behavioural Segmentation

Market segmentation based on behavioural is appropriate for those customers

that need to shorten their time consumed preparing dishes because the Bestari Food
products have the best solution through its premix ingredients.

4. Marketing Objective

This paper is proposing a specific marketing objective for Bestari Food products
which is to help them to acquire a bigger current market through a marketing mix
approach.

5. Marketing Strategies

Marketing strategy through the marketing mix approach is one of the

undeniable tools to foster and promote Bestari Food products. This marketing strategy
comprises four key elements including product, price, place and promotion or 4 P’s.
This modern 4 P’s approach was firstly proposed by Jerome McCarthy in his textbook,
Basic Marketing: A Managerial Approach in 1960. These four key elements have
provided a successful standard method for marketing strategy for over 50 years.

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5.1 Product

Based on the study and research conducted, one of the weaknesses of Bestari
Food products is the limited nett weight of packaging for its products. For example,
there are only two nett weights size for fried chicken powder which are 1kg and 150g.
It is recommended to have a variety of sizes of nett weights packaging since the need
of Bestari Food products target market are different. For example, a small family of
four only need a small amount of chicken powder flour for the whole month compared
to a bigger family. This variety size of nett weights packaging will provide a variety of
choices for the customer buying decision. As for the HORECA market, it is
recommended to have a bulk size of packaging because of the higher usage of the
Bestari Food products. Table 5.1 shows the product mix of Bestari Food products and
Table 5.2 shows recommended nett weights packaging for Bestari Food products.

FRIED
HIMALAYAN PREMIX
CHICKEN BATTER INSTANT SPICES STARCHES
ROCK SALT SEASONING
COATING

Mashed Chicken
Original Cucur Potato Crystal Black Pepper
Potatoes Stock

Fritter Turmeric
Hot & Spicy Custard Tapioca Refined Tom Yam
Banana Powder

Cumin
Garlic Tempura Wheat
Powder

Fennel
Tom Yam Corn
Powder

Coriander
Mamak
Powder

Chilli
Mexicana
Powder

Cajun
Italiano

Black
Pepper

Table 5.1 The Products Mix Of Bestari Food Products

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 RECOMMENDED NETT
PRODUCTS
WEIGHTS

Fried Chicken Coating Original 5kg,3kg,1.5kg,500g,300g,150g

Fried Chicken Coating Hot and Spicy 5kg,3kg,1.5kg,500g,300g,150g

Fried Chicken Coating Garlic 5kg,3kg,1.5kg,500g,300g,150g

Fried Chicken Coating Tom Yam 5kg,3kg,1.5kg,500g,300g,150g

Fried Chicken Coating Mamak 5kg,3kg,1.5kg,500g,300g,150g

Fried Chicken Coating Mexicana 1.5kg,500g,300g,150g

Fried Chicken Coating Cajun 1.5kg,500g,300g,150g

Fried Chicken Coating Italiano 1.5kg,500g,300g,150g

Fried Chicken Coating Black Paper 1.5kg,500g,300g,150g

Instant Curry Powder 3kg,1kg,500g,250g,100g

Salted Egg Seasoning Powder 3kg,1kg,500g,250g,100g

Tempura 3kg,1kg,500g,250g,100g

Chicken Stock 500g,250g,100g

Banana Fritter Batter 5kg,3kg,1.5kg,500g,300g,150g

Instant Mash Potatoes 5kg,3kg,1.5kg,500g,300g,150g

Cucur 5kg,3kg,1.5kg,500g,300g,150g

Custard 500g,250g,100g

Starches 500g,250g,100g

Spices 500g,250g,100g,50g

Himalayan Rock Salt 500g,250g,100g,50g

Table 5.2 List of Bestari Food Products Recommended Nett Weights

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 In addition, it is recommended to enhance the packaging illustration of the
products. Colour, size, design and content are among the key elements that play a
very significant role to attract customer attention and buying decisions and differentiate
Bestari Food products from other competitors.

5.2 Place

Another improvement in marketing strategies for Bestari Food Industries is by

adopting the dropship concept to engage their products to the end customers.
Dropship concept is an order fulfilment method that does not require a retailer to keep
their products in stock. In addition to the current traditional retail marketing channel
carried out by Bestari Food Industries, the dropship concept can multiply the marketing
of its products since the marketing process will be handled by a wide range of dropship
agents. This can reduce Bestari Food Industries marketing effort and costs and thus
can increase the profit margin.

Another benefit of the dropship concept is that it can expand the target market and the
products can reach more customers since the dropship agent can be at any place both
in Malaysia as well as in other countries, offline and online platform. Figure 5.2 shows
the dropship concept.

Figure 5.2 Model of Dropship Concept

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5.3 Price

Pricing strategy is the most important element in the marketing mix because
this is only the marketing strategy that provides revenue to the company while the
other three strategies will incur costs for the company.

Based on the study, Bestari Food Industries need to ensure that its products
are almost relatively to the other competitor companies. For example, Adabi Fried
Chicken Flour’s 100g package price is around RM1.98 and Bestari Fried Chicken
Coating’s 150g package price is slightly higher around RM 2.60.

Figure 5.3 Adabi Fried Chicken Flour

Figure 5.4 Bestari Fried Chicken Coating

In addition, Bestari Food Industries can offer discount prices for its products,
especially during the festive season. According to the study, discount is a great way
to boost new customers and attract the current customers to buy the products because
discounts will create a sense of urgency to purchase the product instantly hence will
distract customers from looking at other competitor companies products.

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5.4 Promotion

Based on the study conducted, Bestari Food products were not well promoted
through the e-commerce platform hence it is recommended for the company to start
embarking on the promotion of its product on an online shopping platform.

An online shopping platform is also known as an e-commerce platform can be

defined as the process the customer goes through to purchase products over internet
applications such as Shopee, Lazada and Facebook Marketplace.

The E-commerce market becomes one of the leading marketing channels

nowadays especially after the pandemic Covid 19 when the movement restriction was
enacted by the government. For example, according to a Tech in Asia official website
report, Shopee's gross merchandise volume (GMV) in Malaysia has increased by 19%
in 2020, showing a significant increase over the previous quarter. Figure 5.5 shows
the increase in GMV of Shopee from 2016 until 2020.

Figure 5.5 The Increase in GMV of Shopee From 2016 Until 2020.

As mentioned above, the increasing Shopee’s GMV in 2020 significantly shows

that the online shopping platform has given a positive impact on SME during the Covid
29 pandemic. As reported by J.P.Morgan’s official website, Malaysia had growth in its
e-commerce experience in 2020 after Covid 19 pandemic and is projected to continue
growing until 2023. Figure 5.6 shows the forecast of e-commerce trends in Malaysia.

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 Figure 5.6 2020 E-Commerce Trend Report in Malaysia

6. Projected Financial Plan

Marketing financial plan or marketing budget is important in developing the

marketing strategy for a company because it will outline all the costs needed for
marketing purposes. Table 6 shows projected financial budget for the recommended
marketing strategies of Bestari Food Industries.

NO MARKETING STRATEGY BUDGET

1. New Packaging Size & Illustration RM 15,000

2. Mobile Application Development for Dropship Agent RM 10,000

3. Promotion on Online Platform RM 5,000

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 References

1. Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Definition. Retrieved from

https://www.smecorp.gov.my.

2. Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Weekly Epidemiological Update and Weekly

Operational Update. Retrieved from https://www.who.int.

3. Bestari Food Industries History And Product. Retrieved from

https://www.bestarifood.com/about-us/.

4. K.Mike (2017).Find Your Customer With Target Market Analysis. Forbes

Website. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com.

5. Evolve Business Intelligence.(2022).Feed Premix Market Overview, Demand,

New Opportunity and SWOT Analysis. Retrieved from
https://www.designerwomen.co.uk

6. L.Rebecca. (2021, June 3). How Shopee is Helping These Businesses Scale
in Southeast Asia Competitive Online Space. Retrieved from
https://www.techinasia.com.

7. J.P. Morgan 2020 E-commerce Payments Trends Report. Retrieved from

https://www.jpmorgan.com.

8. Shopee Malaysia Sales & Growth in 2021 (infographics). Retrieved from

https://www.yellowbees.com.my.

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