King International Pvt. Ltd

King International Pvt. Ltd

Overview of Firm and Product

King International Pvt. Ltd is an Australian Soy Food manufacturer producing the labels Kingland, Pureland, Soystar and 'Zesto'. Established in 1987, King International Pvt. Ltd today employs between 40 and 50 full- and part time staff and is based in Brisbane, Queensland. Most products are certified Halal and Kosher and all of them contain Australian grown organic, non-GM soybeans as the main ingredient.

Country Study- Malaysia

Malaysia's environment

No matter where a company operates, external forces have an indirect impact on the organization (Shilbury, Shayne & Westerbeek, 2003, p. 22). Infrastructure is critical in determining the suitability of expanding a business into a foreign country. Infrastructure refers to all the services and facilities that are vital to the efficient functioning of the economy; these include energy supplies, transport, and communications as well as commercial and financial services (Fletcher & Brown 2005).

Current Political Environment

The political environment in Malaysia provides a stable and safe country in which to operate a business internationally. Malaysia is a parliamentary democracy in which Abdullah Badawi is the Prime Minister, who took over from Mahathir Mohammad after 22 years in office on the 21st of March (Austrade, 2006). The next general election is scheduled for 2009.

Economic performance

For years Malaysia was an ideal developing country. The climate for investors had been very stable with an average annual growth rate of almost 9 percent and basically full employment (Tan, 2003). But the Asian crisis damaged this picture. The consequence was a deep cut into the GPN of 7,4 percent in 1998. The Malaysian government worked against this crisis with an expansive economic policy and was able to stabilize the economy relatively quickly (Tan, 2003). Ever since Malaysia has consistently maintained its position of 18th largest global exporter, with economic growth averaged at 5.5% in the four-year period between December 2001 and January 2006 (WTO report, December 2005).

Financial performance

The high annual growth rate in the nineties was connected to a very low inflation rate. Even the Asian crisis didn't increase the prices in an enormous way. The Malaysian government used a very uncommon way to get out of the crisis: Instead of using the help of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), it chose to limit its flows of capital dramatically which was not appreciated by most international investors. After the crisis was handled successfully, the limitations were loosened up again (Tan, 2003).

The increased terrorism development in recent years has had significant impacts on Malaysia's economical and financial performance. Especially declines of foreign investments , and less tourism has caused a slower economical growth in the mid term (IMF report, Article IV 2005).

Competitive environment

Next to the external environmental forces, the competition in which the company competes has to be considered. This is done from two perspectives: In macro- (overseas industry's competitive structure) and micro- point of view (firms) (Grigoriou, 2004). King International's competitors are both domestic producers and distributors in Malaysia and international companies. (Shilbury, Quick & Westerbeek, 2003, ...