With the case as backdrop, answer the following questions.

Dutch Colony Coffee Company is a large company in the coffee business and operates with headquarters in Singapore. It produces and markets several well-known packaged roasted coffee products. It also sells roasted coffee that are sold to the food service/hospitality industry.

The new regional manager, John Wong, analysed the company's sales record and discovered that while roasted coffee sales to the consumer market were second in market share, sales to the food service industry ranked about seventh in South-east-Asia. As a result of this analysis, he made some sales calls with several salesperson and determined that the reason sales were so poor was that the salesperson did not know how to sell. What they did was a "data dump." That is, they listed all the attributes of the product, without relating those attributes back to the customer's needs and benefits.

Wong called two other regional sales managers, Dianne Seah and Joseph Arokiam, into his office and the conversation went something like this: Wong: Lady and gentleman, we do not know how to sell coffee. Last year we sold a little over 100,000 kilograms in a market that is growing at an incredible rate. If we were only third in market share, our sales would be a lot more. What are your recommendations? Seah: What do you mean we do not know how to sell? Wong: That is what the statistics show. All I have observed is salespeople sounding like a product brochure, and that is not getting many new customers. Arokiam: How should coffee be sold? Wong: Well, I do not think a restaurant owner who has just opened a business, or one who has been around a while, is impressed with the fact we have been in business for seventy-five years, or that we're the second biggest coffee roasters in South-east-Asia, or that we can supply his coffee in three blends, two roasts, and five different package sizes, or that our truck stops every week. Seah: How should we sell then? Wong: I do not know, but we have got to find out! Dianne, who are the big potential customers in your area? A discussion followed and it was determined there were several potential customers who bought around 20,000 kilograms per year. One of these was Chili Api Food Catering, an enterprise with five managers, and a general manager, Alif Amshar based at the main office in Ang Mo Kio. Chili Api operate 50 industrial commissaries and cafeterias. Wong: Dianne, please call Alif Amshar and ask for thirty minutes of his time for you and I. Tell him I want to meet him and ask his advice. Alif Amshar was a man in his early forties, very polite, extremely well dressed, very distinguished looking, and soft-spoken. He showed the two visitors to chairs in his comfortable office.

Amshar: How can I help you gentlemen? Wong: Mr. Amshar, my name is John Wong. I am the new regional manager for Dutch Colony Coffee Company South-east-Asia. Amshar: I saw the announcement of your appointment in Linkedin. Congratulations. A few minutes of small talk, including a brief discussion about the rapid growth of the coffee service industry, Chili Api's similar growth pattern, and Dutch Colony Coffee Company' success in general, ensued, at the end of which Wong got down to business. Wong: We appreciate your setting aside time for us. Alif, we have got a problem. We do not know how to sell coffee and I have come today to ask for your advice. Perhaps I could start by asking you this question: If you had a magic wand and could conjure up the perfect coffee supplier, what would you expect that supplier to do for you? Amshar: That is an interesting question. I have never been asked one like it before. Well ... you know, a cup of coffee is the last thing most of our customers taste just before leaving one of our cafeterias. It would be a big accomplishment if the vast majority left with a good taste in their mouths! Now, most customers, I am afraid, do not. In fact, we get many complaints about the inconsistency of quality from many food outlets. So, I guess my first wish would be to have suppliers who would work with us to establish a taste that will satisfy most of our customers and to develop a way to consistently produce that taste. Wong: Please explain how you work with your suppliers now. Amshar: Each outlet is responsible for purchasing its requirements. Currently we buy from three and sometimes four coffee companies. The product is treated much like a commodity. Our buyers get quotes on the various sizes used in each facility and make a decision. Some cafeteria managers personally approve the product and supplier, and others delegate those decisions to buyers. The delivery is generally once a week, but in high-volume units it can be more frequent. Wong: What happens once the coffee is received? I mean, how is it stored, brewed, served? Are there standards that are applied to these activities? Amshar: We do not have a centralized food purchasing procedure. Each store determines how products are stored, and how finished goods are produced and served. Production people tend to be very opinionated as to which methods work best, so we have let them do it their own way. For example, some units store coffee in the refrigerator while others place it on shelves in the regular storeroom. Some believe their way of brewing is the best, so we have various methods and types of equipment being used. Depending on the type of environment in which the cafeteria is located, a cup of coffee might be served in a paper, foam, or plastic cup. Wong: Alif, if your goal is to have customers leave every cafeteria with "a good taste in their mouths," what steps do you see need to be taken? Amshar: Well, we probably should select the "right taste" first. Our experience shows that there are very different taste preferences in Singapore. That is why we have encouraged management to take a hands-on approach to menus and food preparation. That would mean taste testing in at least each outlet to select a preferred taste. Once that is done, we would want to fix the formula and brewing method and implement quality control procedure. Wong: Our experience shows that different equipment produces different qualities and tastes of finished product. Would that mean that there would have to be a standardization of equipment? Amshar: I would think so since we have a real mixture now. Wong: How about your managers? Do they have the skills and the time to supervise a quality control operation? Amshar: I think those are the things we would like the ideal supplier to look after for us. Wong: So, to summarize: the goal is to consistently serve a cup of coffee in every cafeteria with a taste that is specific to the preferences of that location and one that is preferred by a majority of customers. This would probably mean developing standards of handling, storage, brewing, equipment specifications, and serving. It might also include staff training and quality control supervision. Would your expectation of the ideal supplier be that they work with you to achieve this, then continue to work with your people to assure that the standards are consistently met? Amshar: That sounds right. The supplier's work would ideally include helping us determine the right tastes, set up the standards, train staff, supervise the quality control function, help us standardize equipment, and deliver directly to every unit in a timely way at a reasonable price. Wong: Alif, our time is just about up. I really appreciate the discussion we have just had. Thank you. What I would like to do now is go back to our office, confer with some of our experts in several areas, and over the next week put together a plan that includes as many of your expectations as we can possibly meet. Once I have a proposal developed, I would like to review it with you. If you believe the proposed plan is something that will substantially help you reach the goal of serving your customers a consistently good cup of coffee, we had then set up a meeting to present the program to your managers. Does that make sense to you? Amshar: Yes, it does.

Wong: I expect to have the outline of a presentation ready in ten days. Can I call you a week from Friday to set up a brief meeting to go over the proposal with you? At that time, we will be able to set a date for the full presentation if you wish to proceed. Amshar: I will look forward to your call.

Question 1 The five main business concepts are: 1. Selling orientation 2. Production orientation 3. Product orientation 4. Marketing orientation 5. Service orientation From the conversation in the case, analyze the existing business concept that Dutch Colony Coffee Company (DCCC) is practicing with two (2) relevant examples from the case. Examine two (2) reasons why sales have been slow due to poor choice of business orientation.

Question 2 Select and discuss a recommended business concept that Mr Wong will be embarking after this customer meeting. Support your answers with two (2) proposals that are relevant to the case. (50 marks)