A case study on Sin Kowa Pte Ltd.

Abstract

This report presents the case study and analysis of a local SME, Sin Kowa Pte. Ltd.

Sin Kowa is a ship chandler that supplies a wide range of products including food, hardware and equipment to ships. With intense competition in the ship chandling industry exerting strong pressures on cost management, we turn to examine Sin Kowa’s internal processes in order to propose improvements to help the company to maintain its profitability and achieve organic growth.

A consulting model with 6 phases was adopted to guide our consulting approach.

Productivity issues were identified and it was determined that the lack of a dedicated HR function (especially productivity measurements) was the root of the problem. Subsequently, literature reviews on productivity measures and the importance of HR were conducted. Coupled with interviews with certain Sin Kowa’s employees and work observations, we recognize that designing productivity measurements is crucial in solving the productivity issues in Sin Kowa as they optimize the use of resources so as to ultimately achieve cost efficiency. Hence, our deliverables seek to aid Sin Kowa in measuring the productivity of their employees.