Q.B. Food Trading PTE LTD: An Overview of Operations and Challenges

This article provides an overview of the operations and challenges faced by Q.B. Food Trading PTE LTD, an online food trading organization based in Singapore. It discusses the essential components of effective business management, the diverse range of food products offered, and the use of technology in the organization. The article also highlights potential challenges such as maintaining customer loyalty, handling product returns and refunds, and competing with other online merchants. Additionally, it emphasizes the importance of data security for online customers.

Q.B Food Trading PTE LTD 1
Q.B. FOOD TRADING PTE LTD
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Q.B. FOOD TRADING PTE LTD
Introduction
Q.B. Food Trading Pte Ltd is an organisation based in Singapore. It operate online and it
majors on food products such as beverages, chilled beef, cheeses, chilled seafood, chilled lamb,
dry goods, desserts, frozen beef, frozen lamb, breads/pizzas, frozen pork, frozen
vegetables/potatoes, frozen seafood, frozen poultry, pastas, further processed meat,
condiments/seasonings and snacks. Since it was founded in 1979, this company has grown
tremendously and now it has become one their major companies in Singapore majoring on food
processing and distribution. It is among the organisation that has highly impact on the economy
of Singapore; they play a significant role in the revenue collection (Laudon, and Laudon, 2015).
Important components for business management
There are various essential components that enhance effective business operation
management in Q.B. Food Trading Pte Ltd. For instance, the leadership is highly committed to
customers and has established effective measures to ensure that they offer quality products that
meet the desires and expectations of their customers. They have am effective team on the ground
whose role is engage with the customers on what they feel organisations should do serve them
better. Such views are quite important because they guide the management on the changes that
need to be done in the company to satisfy their customers. The research team is highly focused
on the aspects that causes complain among the customers because that is what can create
challenges if it is not handled effectively. Therefore, if there is anything that causes complain
among the customers, the management moves with urgency to look for its remedy and maintain
the good relationship they have with the customers.

Q.B Food Trading PTE LTD 3
The company also offers diverse range of products to the customers. There are many
types of food products offered here according to demand in the market and different taste of all
the customers. The management maintains the high food product by looking for the finest brand
as well as quality food from across the globe. The core components of the food product offered
in this company include cheeses and meats. They get cheeses from quality producers in countries
such as Australia, UK, Italy and Denmark. On the other hand, meat is sourced directly from
Brazil, US, Spain and Australia. The food products in this organisation are certified by Hazard
Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP), which is an international standard for the food
safety. Moreover, in the bid to ensure the customers’ needs are met effectively, there is
production of Halal products in this plant. All the food products are rich in nutrient which is one
of the reasons why the organisation has been admired by many customers. In this regard, Q.B.
Food Trading Pte Ltd has stood out in the market (Sia, Soh, and Weill, 2016.). Due to
management’s effort and diligence is production of quality products, this company has been able
to stand a stiff competition on the ground. Besides, if it keeps this pace, its future is very
promising, it will able to join the rest of the world class organisations that are renown across the
globe based on the production of quality product.
Another important business operation management in this organisation is the use of
technology. In this era when the technology is advancing at a very fast rate, every organisation
that wants to enhance the value of its customers must find a way of incorporating it in the
productions of its goods and services. This applies to Q.B. Food Trading Pte Ltd, there is
extensive use of technology and this has played an important role in the production of quality
products as well as creating a friend environment and serene atmosphere for the visitors to feel
safe and welcome within the organisation. For instance, the management has commissioned a

Q.B Food Trading PTE LTD 4
customized multiple Unit of Measure (UOM) system that helps in the integration of Great Plain
software to enhance effective management of business processes. Besides, it helps in supporting
the operation processes such as accounting, sales, order processing, and inventory as well as
customer service. The UOM system was established on the foundation of Microsoft Server
System. it also help in the storage of inventory, customers and company’s information. It enable
the staff members in performing the inventory related tasks as well as the customers services
without opening many programs as it used to happens in the past, hence saving time and
resources. This being a company that engages the customers online, it has been making effective
use of social media to reach out to its customers, not only in Singapore but also in the rest part of
the world. It has created different pages in social media platforms such as Facebook, and twitter,
where the marketing department has been using to reach out to the customers on the ground. This
has become an effective means of communication because many people these days are constant
users of social media. The company has grown extensively in the last few years because it has
constantly been using the social media enhance its advertisement. Therefore, the use of online
has been of great help in the growth and development of this organisation.
There are various issues that Q.B. Food Trading Pte Ltd might face if the management
decide to introduce the hybrid facilities and operation to allow their customers to continue
ordering goods and online as well as having these goods to the door while providing the physical
store fronts for walk in customers (Rosemann, and vomBrocke, 2015 pp. 105-122). Some of
these challenges include;
Maintaining customers loyalty

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Regardless of how fancy and attractive the organisation website looks, if the management
is not able to establish customer’s loyalty and trust, the business will always struggle. Moreover,
if the company fails to come up with a strategy that will enable to handle both the online and
walk in customers, it tends to focus more on of these types of customers while neglecting others.
Therefore, if Q.B. Food Trading Pte Ltd on this area, it might neglect some of these customers,
which might not augur well with its future. It takes a lot of effort for organisation to make and
maintain new customers for a long time. Another reason why Q.B. Food Trading Pte Ltd might
find it hard to establish trust and loyalty especially to the customers it is serving online is
because the buyers and sellers are strangers to each other and also they do not see one another
while they are making the transactions. The failure for a physical meeting does not provide the
customers with confidence and therefore they might have doubt about the authenticity of the
products. Since there is no one to convince him or her about how the product is genuine, they
might lose their trust and move on to other organisation. Therefore, the Q.B. Food Trading Pte
Ltd needs to establish an effective mechanism that will enable the marketing team to engage the
online customers on the authenticity of the products and also answer any other questions they
might have concerning the product or company at large (Täuscher, and Laudien, 2018 pp. 319-
329).
Challenges of product return and refund
It has been established that majority of consumers check the return policy before they can
buy a product. This is demonstration that conscious consumers support the return and refund
policy. When such a thing happens, it will be too expensive to the organisation because of the
cost associated. For instance, already there was a cost involved in delivering the product to the
online customers and when the customers want to return those products the management has to

Q.B Food Trading PTE LTD 6
find a way to collect them from them from the customers (Falkner, and Hiebl, 2015 pp. 122-
144). This is an exercise that will end up wasting time as well as the financial resources. It will
be hard for the walk in customers to be served effectively because most of the attention is given
to the online customers retuning the goods to the company. The management would want to meet
the expectations of the online customers more at the expense of the walk in customers, it the
process, it might end up losing both. When a customer decided to return the product for whatever
reason, it demonstrate that the product might be damaged or the customers is dissatisfied, which
might cause the business to suffer loss due to reputation as well as a heavy loss of shipment. The
cost of shipping and logistics have been scary to most organisation service both walk in and
online customers especially where the goods are delivered for free as in the case of Q.B. Food
Trading Pte Ltd. To avoid this challenge, the management of this company should understand
that return and refund is part of the customer’s services, therefore, it is important to have a strong
return policy that will avoid great loss. Moreover, this should be done at the expense of the walk
in customers; they are also important in the business and therefore should not be neglect as the
management tends to focus more on online customers. This organisation should establish a
mechanism that will enable them give attention to each of these customers and satisfy their needs
and wants effectively (Qrunfleh, and Tarafdar, 2015 pp. 364-389)
Effect of competitors
By Q.B. Food Trading Pte Ltd deciding to serve both walk in and online customers, it
will face stiff competitors that will require it to have a strong strategy so that it can stand it. in
most cases, the online merchants will compete on price. There are many sellers that list equal
products on their websites to target the more customers on the ground. Different
organisationsmay list same products but with different prices. Normally, the customers will go

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for the product that is cheap. Incases Q.B. Food Trading Pte Ltd have its products on the higher
price, it will end up losing the customers to the competitors. In most cases, the price competition
ends up having adverse effects on the e-commerce business. Due to the worry such a scenario
causes to the organisation, the management might spend more time trying to establish effective
measures for maintaining the online customers such that it forget to focus more on the walk in
customer. In the process, it might end up losing all of them. To handle this situation, Q.B. Food
Trading Pte Ltd should need to find unique products so that it can minimize the problems.
Moreover, it should strive to become an extremely resourceful shipper because the online
customers only expect free and fast shipping. It should also use the same effort and measure to
provide for the needs of the walk in customers. They should also be maintained and protected by
meeting their expectation (Hong, and Lu, 2016 pp 45-60).
Challenges of data security to online customers
At this era when the technology has highly advanced, more hackers have come up
causing security issues on the web, which is a great risk to organisations with online services.
There have been some cases where the fraudster post spam contents and also attack the web
hosts serve and end up infecting the websites with some viruses. Worse still, the fraudster can
access the confidential data such as the customers’ number, cards and other details. This can be
the biggest drawback if it can happen in this organisation. The management can lose a lot of
financial resources as it battle the court cases and also refunding the loss to the customers.
Therefore, it is important for the company to learn how to management its owner servers and
avoid using a common file transfer protocol (FTP) as it transfer the files. In most cases, the FTP
is risk and very prone to theft. In case the developer copies a file in the Wi-Fi network that is
open. It is possible to lose passwords as well as other confidential data to the thief. Learning to

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constantly update the shopping cart, one can find it easier to minimize the risk of the stolen data.
The Q.B. Food Trading Pte Ltd should establish an effective way of storing their data in the
database. Moreover, the organisations should have developers taking backups at regular intervals
in the bid to retrieve the stolen data. In regard the organisation will find it able to survive the e-
commerce competitions and also establish effective measures to protect the walk in customers by
providing them with a friendly environment to keep being loyal in the organisation. Besides, it is
important for this organisation to be fully prepared for challenges and growth in every stage so
that it can have a better chance for blooming.
CATWOE Analysis
Every leader in business understands how challenging it can be to solve the problems that
happen most frequent in the business. It is important to have skills in solving problems
associated with the business for the best outcome. Ignoring such problems can lead a business to
lose customers to the competitors. The CATWOE Analysis can be applied by this organisation
since it provides an effective method for problem solving. It is an in-depth approach, which
requires one to think concerning any challenge in various ways to be able to have an effective
understanding on how to handle it. The management of Q.B. Food Trading Pte Ltd should
consider six elements in this analysis, the elements are: customers, actors, transformation
process, world view, owner as well as the environmental constraints. In order to have an efficient
skills in solving problems regard these six elements, the management of this organisation have
established different model to help them meet their objectives.
AS IS and TO BE analysis

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The most effective techniques that is applied by many organisations in transforming
visions into results is to develop AS IS and TO BE diagrams. AS IS process illustrate the current
state of the business process, capabilities and cultures. On the other hand, TO BE diagram gives
a description of the future state of the business such as the way in which the business process,
capabilities and cultures will appear in the future. Therefore, Q.B. Food Trading Pte Ltd can use
these diagrams to show where improvement is required and initiate the process of change.
Besides, the management will be able to be creative in solving problems as well as designing
process to achieve the set goals of the business.
The diagram below show the AS IS process of this organisation. It begins where the sales
representatives receives a buy order from the client and go on to check the level of stock. If the
stock is enough to meet the order, the sales representatives will go ahead in packing them. The
end of the process is where the order will be shipped together with the invoice. If the stock is
insufficient, the sale representatives will advice the customer to amend the order. The diagram
below shows AS IS process of this organisation

Q.B Food Trading PTE LTD 10
Model used in Q.B. Food Trading Pte Ltd
There are different models used in this company to enhance its operations as well as the
services to the farmers. Some of these models have been quite effective and has played a role in
the growth of this organisation while others are wanting and therefore require some adjustment
to enable the company meet its long and short term goals (Lim, 2017 pp. 182-183). Some of
these models include;
Drop shipping
Drop shipping is the simplest form of ecommerce and is used in many companies selling
goods and services online. Through this model, the management of Q.B. Food Trading Pte Ltd
sets up a storefront where they takes the customer’s and then decide the most appropriate time to
deliver the goods to the clients. However, there are challenges associated with this model
because most customers upon receiving their products they order, they end up complaining
saying that those products are not the one they order. They cite lower quality and other reasons
and therefore they can claim for a refund. Therefore, this method has been inconveniencing the
management of this organisation and also causing deep loses to be experienced (Zhu, Zhao,
Tang, and Zhang, 2015 pp. 679-691).

Q.B Food Trading PTE LTD 11
Figure 1: a rich photo showing drop shipping process
Warehousing and wholesaling
This is another model that is commonly used by Q.B. Food Trading Pte Ltd on selling its
products only. In most cases, this model requires a lot investment at the beginning because the
management has to manage the stock and inventory and also keep track of customers’ shipping
and order information. Moreover, it also has to invest in the warehouse space as well. This
method is quite effective for this organisation compared to drop shipping and therefore it is
mostly used. It enables the management to use a massive product catalog with all the products
offered where they can be found. Hence, they employ an important strategy for the retailers
where they offer piece price and case prices as well. Besides, they sell to the retailers and general
public as well. In regard, they are able to have a higher profit margin compared to wholesale
model. Therefore, it is important for Q.B. Food Trading Pte Ltd to adopt the warehousing and

Q.B Food Trading PTE LTD 12
wholesaling model as opposed to drop shipping model to be able to achieve their goals within the
stipulated time.
Figure 2: a photo showing the process of warehousing and wholesaling
Solutions
It is important for this organisation to carry out a thorough and comprehensive research to
come up with more models, which will provide them with an opportunity to serve their
customers with excellence. They should adopt the best models such as warehousing and
wholesaling because they provide them with an opportunity to serve their customers effectively.
Besides, it is important to know the different taste and perspective of the customers so that they
can come up with right measures to win them. Different customers need to be handled in

Q.B Food Trading PTE LTD 13
different ways to remain loyal to an organisation. Failure to understand the nature of their
customers, it might be a problem maintaining them because they will not be meeting their needs
effectively. Hence, the research team should go out of its ways to study the nature of all their
customers, which will enable the organisation to establish the appropriate approach to handle and
maintain them for a long time.
Besides, it is important to invest more on technology, in this era technology is advancing
at a very rate and the organisation that will not take the advantage will be left behind. Different
customers expect to be served in a certain way, which can only be possible through incorporation
of technology in the business process. In this regard, Q.B. Food Trading Pte Ltd should be in the
habit of updating its technology to find new ways to satisfying its customers. In the process, it
will establish new models that will play a role in enabling the company serve their customers
better meet their different needs in the markets. Therefore, for growth to happen in any business,
application of technology is inevitable.
Turning performance objectives into operation priorities
Turning performance objectives into operation priorities is a very important exercise in every
organisation. It allows the management to focus on its short and long term plans and implement
it in the order of priority. It helps in providing an important platform that helps in solving
problems and ensure there is an effective progress within the organisation. Therefore, it is
essential for the managers and the leadership of Q.B. Food Trading Pte Ltd to enact some
measures that will enable them carries out this exercise. There are various ways which can be
used by the managers in the process of turning the performance objective into operation
priorities.

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One of the ways is to ensure the challenges and threat that are facing the company. Some of
these threats and challenges are too risky such that if an urgent solution fails to be sought, they
can lead to collapsing of the business in the long run. For instance, the challenge of data security
is a very sensitive issue that will need to be addressed with agency. Q.B. Food Trading Pte Ltd
being a company that operate only, should prioritize on the safety of customers because any
small mistake can cause loss of data, which can cause loss of customers where they are absorbed
by the competitors. Therefore, seeking for a better remedy to the problems of data security
should be prioritized. The management should ensure there are effective measures that should be
used by technicians and other experts in looking for solution to this problem.
Another technique that should be used by the manager in this company to turn the performance
objectives into operation priorities is by coming up with effective ways to serve the customers.
For every business to survive and pass the test of time, it should ensure the best services to the
customers are a priority. Every actions should be geared towards ensuring customers are fully
satisfied for the product and services they are getting as well as the manner in which they are
treated within the company. There have been some problems in the models used in Q.B. Food
Trading Pte Ltd. Customers have been complaining, which should not happen in any
organisation. Therefore, the organisation should prioritize on good communication and better
model used in taking the products to the customers. It is important to makes sure that the
problems encountered by the customers are solved. Otherwise, the customer will lose trust with
the management, which can cause them to be absorbed by the competitor; this can cause a
massive loss to Q.B. Food Trading Pte Ltd.
Implementation of the process will required a lot of financial resources. For instance, devising a
mechanism that will ensure there is effective data security in the organisation will require the

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help of professionals and experts with advanced knowledge and skills in the field of information
technology. Incorporation of such experts and professionals will require the management to look
for ways to get money because they have to be paid for their services. Moreover, there are new
machines and devices that might be required to fully secure the customers and protect their data
from being hacked. Some of these machines are quite expensive and therefore, having several of
them will require the management to look for new ways to get money for carrying out these
tasks. However, as much as a lot of money is required, the management should not be worried so
long as a lasting solution to the existing problem is found. In regard, the future of the
organisation will be very promising and all the customers will be provided with a serene
atmosphere to keep engaging with the organisation.
The balance score card
The management of this organisation has established an effective balance scorecard,
which they will use to communicate to customers and other stakeholders what they are trying to
accomplish, ensure the day to day work carried out by employees is aligned with organisation
goals, and prioritize on the products as well as the projects being implemented by the
organisation. It also help in monitoring and measuring the progress towards the strategic targets.
The idea of Q.B. Food Trading Pte Ltd to establish a score card has been quite effective and will
play a significant role in enabling this company achieve its short and long terms goals. The
following is the balance scorecard for this organisation

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Objectives Goals Indicators Initiatives
Financial
perspectives
Reduce costs and
increase number
of sales
10% decrease in
operating cost
and 15%
increased in the
net sales
Financial
statements
Negotiate
frequently with
suppliers
Customers
perspectives
To act as a
reference for
various products
Increment in the
launch of new
products by 15%
in every three
months
Number the new
products
launched after
three months
Form a
development and
innovation
committee.
Internal process
perspective
To be able and
consistent in
development of
new products
Starts with
minimum of five
product
development
projects on a
monthly basis
Project
innovation
reports
Come up with an
effective
software for
managing the
development of
projects

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Learning and
growth
Have skilled and
knowledgeable
employees in
product
development
There should be
at least 5
professionals
with master
degrees in
product
development
Number of
professional with
master degrees in
product
development
Choose specific
workers with
master training
and hire others
with master
degrees
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