Investment Opportunities For Small Business In Malaysia Essay.

Investment Opportunities

Identify  three Investment Opportunities for a Small Business that would be a profitable venture in Malaysia at the current scenerio. Justify your reasons.

In every industry and market, there are many investment opportunities in the market. Investment opportunity can be described as the understanding and knowing about the possibilities and types of the markets which will grow in future. There are various kinds of opportunities related to the investments in every market i.e. stocks, mutual funds, real states, commodities, cash investments, tourists, debt securities etc. This report focuses on the investment opportunities for the small business in the country Malaysia. The report focuses on the three major investment opportunities in the country. Based on the identified opportunities, the report selects a small business for the further analysis. Based on the information, report focuses on the consumer profile, target market and the marketing strategy for the chosen business in Malaysia. The marketing plan for the business will be helpful in gaining higher customer base in the country (Armstrong & Cunningham, 2012).

For any investor, it is important to understand the most profitable market so that they can gain maximum profit in the business. Malaysia is the hub of various businesses and in the country; investors can get many opportunities to earn maximum profit by investing in those businesses. The country Malaysia has a unique position in the South East Asia. The country is setting new growth targets and it is expected that the economy of the country will be double by 2020. The government of the country is putting the various measures to encourage the investors to explore various business opportunities available in the country.

The people of the country Malaysia love fashion. They show high level of concern for what they wear. Although there are many fashion outlets in all over the country so, there are enough opportunities for the new investors to earn profit. If someone wants to start a fashion business in Malaysia then it should be noted that local fashion sells best. So, investors have many opportunities in the fashion business to invest their money.

This is highly attractive business in the Malaysia as the country is the popular tourism destination. Malaysia hosts many tourists every year and by this investors earn lots of profit in the tourism sector of the country. If the investors have big budget, then they can build a hotel and resort in the country Malaysia and provide the services to the tourists that visit the country on vacations. Small business of the hotel or resort can earn huge amount of profit by offering products and services to the tourists. So, in the tourism sector of Malaysia, investors can always make money with the small budget.

Fashion

Food business is very profitable in all over the world. In every country, investors earn huge amount of profit by investing in the food and beverage business. In case of the country Malaysia, people are fond of fast food and snacks. So, there is the huge opportunity for the investors and businesses to invest in the packaging and selling the fast foods and snacks such as ice-cream and yoghurt. Starting a food business in the country is very easy and requires little capital. Investors in this business can quickly make money from the business of food.

So, based on the above analysis of the above investment opportunities, it is analyzed that the tourism business will be appropriate in the Malaysia. It is analyzed that investors can start the business of hotel or resort with the small budget also under the tourism sector. So, the small business of hotel will be taken for the analysis in this report (Godsmark & Godsmark, 2010). For the discussion, the existing hotel Cameron Highlands has taken in this report. This hotel is operating in the country Malaysia and trying to improve the performance in the tourism industry.

To get success in any kind of business, it is important for the investors to understand about the consumer market and the marketing strategy so that they can earn maximum profit by the business. Tourism sector is highly attractive business and it has big consumer base. So, to understand about the consumer profile, it is necessary to do the market analysis of the country Malaysia.

Cameron Highlands Resort understands the needs of the travelers who come in the country every year. To get higher profit, it is important to understand the types of the customers who want to stay in hotel. Analysis of the customer profile is an important step in the marketing of tourism business. In the customer profile, the hotel will focus on the demands and needs of the customers, and their motives to avail the services. The determinants will be focused by the hotel and general information about the customers will be gathered (Lovelock, 2011).

The hotel Cameron Highlands Resort in Malaysia has aim to target huge customer base in terms of travelers. So it is important for the hotel to divide the consumer market into various segments based on their needs and requirements. For the hotel business, the segmenting and targeting strategy is as follows.

Tourism

Market segmentation can be described as defining the geographical segmentations, demographic segmentation, psychographic segmentation and behavioral segmentation as per their needs and requirements. For the hotel business, the following market segmentation can be done in the country Malaysia (Peck et al, 2013).

From the point of view of geographic segmentation, the hotel will provide worldwide services by hospitalizing people from various countries. It will successfully segment its customers according to their country, hobbies, culture, taste and preferences, food habits and interest. This will be helpful in retaining the customers coming from various countries.

In the demographic segment, the hotel will divide its customer groups on the basis of size of family, age, gender, life cycle of families and income. The hotel will provide some services which will favored by men, some services which will suited to women, some according to the preferences of young people and some according to retired people. By this kind of segment, hotel will be able to attract the customers for long term basis (Daniels, 2002).

This is the most important segmentation as the business is always successful upon the perception and the thinking of the customers towards the business. If the Cameron Highlands Resort will provide best services then the customers would like to visit the hotel again and again. The hotel will also divide its customers on the basis of social class, lifestyle, and their personality. It will enable its customers to choose their services according to their economic level. To the rich customers, the hotel will provide royal services and to the middle class customers, the hotel will provide luxury services (Assaf et al, 2015). 

By using this element, the hotel will be able to divide its customers on the basis of their attitude, knowledge and responses to a product. Some customers prefer to travel around metropolis for shopping while some customers prefer to travel around countryside, the hotel will able to project travel routes according to customer’s preferences.

The Cameron Highlands will mainly target on wealthier customers however it doesn’t mean that it will not focus on middle class customers. The company is planning to provide more holidays with exclusive add-ones using innovation. Target market is the important aspect for the success of the business. The hotel will mainly focus on the tourists and travelers who come from the different countries. The aim of the attracting these customers is that they come for the long time and once they are satisfied with the services, they will come again and again. The hotel will seek to provide the services within luxurious and relaxed environment. The hotel will always develop mutual relationship with the customers in terms of money, efficiency, and dependability by providing them required support (Bickhoff, Hollensenn & Opresnik, 2014).

Food

It is well known that Malaysian tourism market is well, established and there are many other hotels who are providing same services to customers. In such case, it is important for the hotel start up to set some effective strategies to deal with the competitors. To get strong position in the market, the hotel will use penetration and skimming pricing strategy. By keeping the prices low, hotel will be able to attract more customer base as the customers always want quality services with the affordable prices. So, by this strategy, hotel will be able to get effective position in the market (Chakravarthy & Coughlan, 2011).

In case of customer benefit, they will get quality hospitality services at the affordable prices. Hotel will provide luxury experience and other benefits with the technical advantages to the customers. Customers will get more benefits with the help of new technology. Targeting strategies of the hotel will include business hotel segment which will provide maximum benefit to the customers.

Marketing mix

To establish the business successfully in the market, it is important to develop effective marketing strategy. For establishing the hotel business in Australia, the strategy of marketing mix is necessary. The identification of marketing for the hotel business is described below:

Product:

For the Cameron Highlands, the core products are the services provided by the hotel to the potential customers. The product for the hotel will be hotel rooms in which the customer will stay for a specific period of time. Hotel will provide a set of some facilities such as bars, restaurants, online reservation facilities and other customer services. There will also be the range of supporting products i.e. 24/7 room services, free magazines and newspapers etc. Along with this, the hotel will also offer luxurious rooms, membership discounts, and relaxed hotel environment.

Place:

The hotel business can be as a leading retailer in tourism by providing easiest routes to travel in both local routes and international routes. They can also locate their branches outside Malaysia. They can also provide online booking services to customers as internet is used worldwide by the people. The company can also put up small agents in every town for ease of access of local people (Cavusgil, 2012).

Price:

As price is the important factor to be considered in deciding the marketing plan of any industry, price should be decided keeping in mind price of the competitors for the similar product or service. In case of pricing strategy, the hotel will use low pricing strategy where there the demand is low and will use high pricing strategy where demand is high. Prices will be kept same whether booking is made online or offline to avoid the costing issues (Ellickson, & Misra, 2008).

Market Analysis

Promotion:

Impact of creating awareness about the product always leads to success of any organization. The hotel will use various components of promotion so that it will able to increase the number of habitual users. Various methods will be included such as advertisement, direct marketing and public relation. The Cameron Highlands will communicate with its customers through radio, television, newspapers and social networks which is most popular now days (Peñaloza, Toulouse & Visconti, 2013).

People:

People refer to employees, customers, management and other people who are interested in operations of the hotel. The authority of the hotel will have to keep in mind that customers are the valuable asset for their hotel so they will have to take care of their customers.  Employee of any organization is like the blood and therefore the company will provide them proper training, job rotation, job enrichment and motivation.

Process:

The process of any organization helps it develop an effective market value. The company can use internet services to provide services to its customers. Good process strategy also helps in improving the relation between employers and employees as employees have already know about the method of providing services (Fifield, 2012).

Physical evidence:

Physical evidence of any hotel is an important part. The Cameron Highlands can include air conditioned as well as will furnished rooms, banquet halls, restaurants, swimming pool etc. It will help in attracting customers as first impression is always the last impression.

Justification

The identified marketing strategies will be beneficial for the Cameron Highlands in the Malaysia. The hotel will be able to get competitive advantage by adopting these strategies. To establish in the Malaysian market, positioning strategy for the hotel will include unique service proposition effective design and infrastructure based on the needs and the requirements of the customers (Roger, 2013). This would be helpful for the hotel to gain the trust of the customers and high level of profit for the investors. So, it is clear that by investing in the tourism, investors can earn high level of profit with the small budget.

References

Armstrong, G., & Cunningham, M. H., (2012). Principles of marketing. Australia: Pearson publication

Assaf, G. A., Josiassen, A., Knez?evic?, C. L., & Woo, L., (2015). The effects of customer voice on hotel performance: International Journal of Hospitality Management. 44. 77-83

Bickhoff, N., Hollensen, S., & Opresnik, M., (2014). The Quintessence of Marketing: Strategic and Operative Marketing Planning—Segmenting, Targeting, Positioning. pp. 47-11

Cavusgil, S. T., (2012). International Business: The New Realities. Australia: Pearson Education

Chakravarthy, B., & Coughlan, S., (2011). Emerging market strategy: innovating both products and delivery systems. 40(1). 27-32

Daniels, P. (2002). Restaurant business start-up guide: A complete guide to establishing your business. Chino Hills, Calif: Venture Marketing

Ellickson, P. B., &Misra, S., (2008). Supermarket Pricing Strategies: Marketing Science, 27(5), 811-825

Fifield, P. (2012). Marketing strategy (2^nd edition), Berlin: Reed educational & publishing Pvt Ltd

Godsmark, C., & Godsmark, C., (2010). Start and run a restaurant. Oxford: How To Books

Lovelock, C., (2011). Services Marketing. (7^th edition). India: Pearson Education

Peck, H., Christopher, M., Clark, M., & Payne, A., (2013). Relationship Marketing, Burlington: Linacre house, Jordon hill

Peñaloza, L., Toulouse, N., & Visconti, L. M., (2013). Marketing management: A cultural perspective. USA: Routledge

Roger, A.K., (2013). Marketing In Asia. (2^nd). Columbus, OH: McGraw-Hill Education