CASE STUDY – BLITZ

 PROTAGONIST- HEMA
 Educational background – Diploma in early childhood education from UTM Johor.
 Work experience- Teacher in a private school
 No prior experience with family business

CASE FACTS
1) BLLITZ-
INTRODUCTION
 set up in 2005 with a dream to be one of the biggest Malaysian Indian treats producers in
Malaysia
 Blitz was a homemade Indian cookies manufacturing company located in Permas Jaya,
Johor Bahru.
 pioneer organization in Johor Bahru producing local Indian homemade cookies, sweets
and cakes
 used natural ingredients , recipes used in the making of the delicacies were either passed
down in the family or from relatives.
 Started with 1 emloyee in 2005, had 6 actively working employees in 2012
ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

THE TABLE ABOVE SHOWS THE MAIN GOODS AND PRODUCTS SOLD BY BLITZ.
2 DIRECTORS - Rani Sittumalai
-Her husband, Sittumalai
6 EMPLOYEES (Malaysian), in-charge of production.
Keeping in mind the expenses , Rani and her husband did the rest of the work involving
 scouting for raw materials
 creating their own designs
 packaging and delivering the goods.
 free door-to-door delivery within 20 km where the journey was within 30 min.

GROWTH
1. In 5 years, Blitz became one of the top homemade Indian cookie sellers in the Johor
Bahru area where they supplied their products to the five main Indian Restaurants.
 2. Started receiving multiple orders for homemade cakes for different types of occasion
such as Indian weddings, bangle ceremonies, birthday celebrations , etc.
3. Customers also started to order Blitz’s cookies to exchange as gifts and goody bags

MARKETING STRATERGY-
1. Rani had learnt to make her own unique design of cakes such as peacock and floral
from a baking course she attended.
2. Products offered were of a wide range and different flavors so that customization
would be easier.
3. Items were home-made and organic
4. The goody bags could be personalized according to the needs of the customer.
5. Promotion of the products during special festivities to increase sales . Special
discounts were given during such events.
6. Home delivery of products within 20 kilometers of distance for customer satisfaction.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE –
1. A company named MANGGALAM( owned by Encik Ravi) , used to produce
traditional Indian cookies and was one of Blitz’s competitors.
2. started the business in 2007, they also marketed laddu, halwa, murukku, etc. and had
their own building (plant) in Pasir Gudang.
3. MANGGALAM also had its own marketing team which was responsible for
promoting the product nationally and internationally.
4. The marketing team often advertised on the regional radio station which was
minna.fm and THR Raaga and also online advertisements.
5. exported cookies to Singapore’s Indian restaurants and small shops and covered seven
main Indian restaurants in Johor Bahru.
The table below shows the competitive matrix between the two companies-
THE TABLE BELOW SHOWS THE PRICE COMPARISON BETWEEN THE
PRODUCTS OF THE TWO COMPANIES –

FAILURE AND CONCERNS OF BLITZ-

1. Sugar was one of the major ingredients for Blitz’s bakery items. The rising cost of
sugar was one of the challenges faced by the company.
2. Blitz’s products were quite specialized, the prices were quite high.
3. In the event of extreme inflation or a recession, foods such as cookies and cakes and
decadent desserts became a luxury to a lot of people and became something that could
be avoided.
4. Because of that Blitz would face the issue of losing customers in the future.
5. Fear of losing customers because the products produced by Blitz were not staple food
products.

2) RANI SITTUMALAI (SUBSEQUENTLY KNOWN AS RANI)

EARLY LIFE-
 Rani was born in a big family. She was the eldest among six siblings.
 She lost her mother in her early adulthood. Her father worked as a rubber taper in R.R.I
Estate, Kuala Lumpur.
 because of the difficult financial situation, she was unable to continue her high school
studies after year 6 examination
 Because Rani was young, she used to bake cakes and cookies for occasions such as
Deepavali for her sisters. A few years later, she realized that she had a passion in that
field.
 In 1973, she met Sittumalai, who was 7 years her senior, at a family function and became
his wife 2 years later.
 Years later, Rani took up courses on entrepreneurship and sweet and cookie making and
in the year 2010, she managed to promote her cookies to the five main Indian restaurants
and some other small stalls around the town.
 In 2008, Rani managed to buy a four-wheel drive, small lorry, with the purpose of
expanding the business and providing home delivery of her products.

PROBLEMS FACED-
 1. In early March 2012, the company was hit by a disaster when Rani was diagnosed
with terminal colon cancer
2. The family business came to a standstill with no proper management system for
about six months.
3. Rani could not trust anyone other than her only daughter, Hema to run the family
business.
4. workers’ salaries had not been paid for the last two months ,after Rani fell sick, the
management of the family business collapsed.
5. Sometimes, employees had to work more than 8 h without any pay for their over-
time. As a result, two out of six employees quit their job because of dissatisfaction
and the extra work load.
6. the company lost two of the major customers due to the late delivery of orders.
7. the workload increased which led Sittumalai( Rani’s husband) , who used to deliver
customer orders, to work harder. Because of his poor health and the extra work load,
he could not deliver the orders on time to the restaurants. As a result, two customers
finally decided to terminate their contract with Blitz.
8. The company also lost a good opportunity to market their bakery items to one of the
largest and most famous Indian restaurants, as they could not commit to the
agreement to supply a constant large amount of cookies for a particular period of
time.
9. they were not capable of selling their products to hypermarkets, as production costs
had increased.

3) HEMA –
After Rani’s sickness was diagnosed , Hema didn’t have any other option than sacrificing her
own ambition to fulfil her mom’s to see the happiness in her mom’s ailing pale face.
PROBLEMS FACED BY HEMA –
1) When she got to know about her mother’s cancer, Hema was shocked and went into a
deep depression, she found herself contained in sorrow. It took her family to help her
through and bring her to her senses.
2) when Hema came to her senses, the company was barely surviving.
3) At the beginning, she thought that she could handle her teaching job along with managing
the business. However, after 1 month she started to realize the pressure of managing both
jobs together
4) she had to sacrifice her teaching career for the time being to fully commit to her mom’s
business. She resigned from her teaching job and took over her mom’s position in Blitz in
November 2012.
5) More problems were arising like insufficient workers to handle the business, loss of
customers, sales decline and lack of sufficient capital.
6) Hema faced the challenge of getting a loan from the bank because Blitz was an enterprise
company and the banks preferred to provide loans to Sendirian Berhad companies.
7) Blitz did not make any significant profit after 2012, which made it difficult for Blitz to
apply for bank loans, as they failed to show a growth in profit.
8) the company struggled to have sufficient money to purchase raw materials, other supplies
and equipment. The increased price of raw materials (i.e. sugar and fuel) made it more
difficult for Blitz to offer items at a lower price.
9) This situation compelled Blitz to increase the price of the products to cover the high
expenses of raw materials
PROBLEM STATEMENT –
What measures should Hema take to successfully bring back Blitz on the right track and back
into business again withing the next six months ?
ANALYSIS AND CRITERIA-
 In Johor Bahru, there were few bakeries that offered homemade breads, cookies and
traditional sweets. Such bakeries were situated in shopping centres and were well known
for their attractive layout to attract customers.
 Blitz already lost a lot of clients because of Rani’s illness , Hema’s emotional position
and less workers
 without the cooperation of the employees, the management of the company could not be
stabilized.
 major portion of profits used to come from five main customers in Johor Bahru. Since
two customers decided to discontinue , focus should be on the three other and the
improvement of the quality of services to them.
 What should be done about the loan from the bank?

DECISION-
CONTINGENCY PLAN-
The following steps should be taken by Hema to improve the business and bring it to a stable
position in the market.
1) Because of his poor health and the extra work load, Sittumalai could not deliver the
orders on time to the restaurants. As a result, two customers finally decided to terminate
their contract with Blitz. Therefore first of all , Hema should start with hiring a delivery
boy , young enough who could run all the errands faster and deliver the products to the
restaurants on time.
2) they also lost a good opportunity to market their bakery items to one of the largest and
most famous Indian restaurants, as they could not commit to the agreement to supply a
constant large amount of cookies for a particular period of time. Therefore next Hema
should focus on the production of large number of products , especially cookies and other
delicacies and it should be sent to that restaurant at a lower price as a compensation offer .
She should request the restaurant officials to be given another opportunity to prove that
Blitz could deliver what it promised and become one of their most trusted suppliers in the
near future.
3) they were not capable of selling their products to hypermarkets, as production costs had
increased.
4) Hema should get a knowledge about marketing strategies to improve the popularity of
Blitz. MANGGLAM used to promote their product through advertisements in the local
radio station and online advertisements .
Hema should open a social media page for Blitz and promote their page by sending few
goody bags for free to their already existing customers and relatives and asking them to
post the unboxing videos on their own social media accounts thus letting more people
know about the company.
5) Hema should undertake baking lessons from online courses or nearby areas to gather
expertise in this matter since it requires her complete focus for the business to flourish .
6) Otherwise they have to hire a professional baker for the next 6 months , doesn’t seem as
the most practical choice given that expense is already constrained.
7) Newspaper advertisements , if possible should be included
8) they failed to show a noticeable growth in profit after 2012, which made it difficult for
Blitz to apply for bank loans. Hema should focus on the strategic growth of the company .
Within the next 6 months , if the company can show proper success rate, then the bank
loan request would be approved even after being an enterprise company.