EWC661 ENGLISH FOR REPORT WRITING

Academy of Language Studies

UiTM Shah Alam

CHALLENGES FACED BY SMALL COMMERCIALS IN

SECTION 7, SHAH ALAM

BY
Baba Harris Azariel bin Baba Haizal 2017806748

Muhammd Khairulamireen bin Khir Johari 2017806596

Wan Muhammad Fakhrulrazi bin Wan Zohairi 2017665748

FACULTY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

FOR
Dr. Hjh. Siti Akmar bt. Abu Samah
EWC661 Lecturer

21st May 2018

 ABSTRACT

The inception of Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) in Shah Alam has fuelled the
development boom at nearby areas in Shah Alam, particularly in Section 7. The development
mostly consists of small and medium enterprises setting up shops in the area. Over the years,
the university has grown to accommodate large number of students. This has also indirectly
promoted the growth of the commercial sector in this area. Due to this development, it has led
to several issues faced by certain categories of small commercials today, namely competition
for space, customer volume and inappropriate layout for certain businesses. The study aims to
identify problems faced by stalls and restaurants in Section 7 Shah Alam. This is done by
observation and by providing questionnaire to the target group. From these findings, several
suggestions will be presented to eliminate or reduce the severity of the problem.

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We would like to express our deepest and honest appreciation to everyone who have
contributed to this report. We would like to honour a special thanks to our lecturer, Hjh Siti
Akmar bt. Abu Samah who contributed in terms of many guidance in organizing the report,
giving out guidelines as a support material and various helpful suggestions in completing the
project.

Much deep appreciation also goes to all the helpful respondents for their cooperation in
data contribution to the report. Lastly, special thanks to our family member and friends for
moral and financial contributing for the duration of the report preparation. All of these enabled
us to succeed in completing this report in a timely manner. Thank you very much.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................... i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .......................................................................................................ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS ...................................................................................................... iii

TABLE OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................ iv

1.0 INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................... 1

1.1 Background Information ............................................................................................. 1

1.2 Problem Statement ...................................................................................................... 2

1.3 Purpose of Study ......................................................................................................... 2

1.4 Previous Study............................................................................................................. 3

2.0 METHODOLOGY ....................................................................................................... 4

2.1 Respondents of the study............................................................................................. 4

2.2 Instrument of studies ................................................................................................... 4

2.3 Data Collection Procedure .......................................................................................... 5

2.4 Data Analysis Method ................................................................................................. 5

3.0 FINDINGS ..................................................................................................................... 6

3.1 Demographic Information ........................................................................................... 6

3.2 Issue 1: Competition for Space ................................................................................... 8

3.3 Issue 2: Customer Volume ........................................................................................ 10

3.4 Issue 3: Inappropriate Layout for Certain Businesses ............................................... 12

4.0 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION ........................................................ 14

4.1 Conclusion................................................................................................................. 14

4.2 Recommendation....................................................................................................... 15

REFERENCES ....................................................................................................................... 16

APPENDIX A: SAMPLE QUESTIONNAIRE…………………………………………...…...17

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 TABLE OF FIGURES

Figure 1 Age pie chart................................................................................................................ 6

Figure 2 Gender pie chart .......................................................................................................... 6
Figure 3 Occupation pie chart .................................................................................................... 7
Figure 4 Pie chart for adequacy of parking space ...................................................................... 8
Figure 5 Pie chart for premise availability in an area ................................................................ 8
Figure 6 Pie chart of overcoming traffic congestion suggestion ............................................... 9
Figure 7 Pie chart for premise visit frequency ......................................................................... 10
Figure 8 Pie chart for time expenditure at a premise ............................................................... 10
Figure 9 Pie chart for time taken to reach premises................................................................. 11
Figure 10 Pie chart for reasons why it takes too long to reach premise .................................. 11
Figure 11 Pie chart for quality of service................................................................................. 12
Figure 12 Pie chart for comfort while being at premise .......................................................... 12
Figure 13 Pie chart for premise layout suitability .................................................................... 13

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1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background Information

Dense and packed urban spaces are a common sighting these days especially in places
where universities and businesses are present. Students and working people will cover most of
the daytime population hence contributing to a crowded area. Though universities are built in
certain areas by the government to spur development, rapid growth of an urban area can trigger
issues along the way. Traffic congestion is one of the problems that arise when an urban area
is rapidly developed, though factors that contribute to it are preventable if proper planning was
made. These factors though are problems faced by small and medium enterprises in the area.
One of it is competition for space, where businesses are competing in expanding their business
area within a small compound which then turn into a very crowded place. Other factors that
also trigger this are the surge of customer volume in these businesses especially when
universities are present nearby. Increase student intake into these institutions increases demand
for more business in the area hence leading to a serious crowded environment in the urban area.
Additionally, inappropriate business layout makes matters worse. Imagine a restaurant that can
accommodate 100 people at a time but failed to provide sufficient parking space for its
customers. This will lead to even more congestion.

The problems above can be related to the issues faced by small and medium enterprises
in Section 7 of Shah Alam where two universities are nearby the area which then contribute to
it. Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) and Universiti Selangor (UNISEL) both contribute to
the congestion issues in Section 7 of Shah Alam.

Thus, this study aims to highlight all these issues and voice out possible suggestions by
the students and people who live and go through their daily routine in Section 7 of Shah Alam
to at least put this issue in a more manageable way to provide comfort for all.

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 1.2 Problem Statement

An effective business entity has its layout well-established from the beginning. The
business should provide appropriate parking space that matches with the number of customers
they want to accommodate. Moreover, it will be better if the business is built away from the
congested area. This area should not be too packed with other businesses. In addition, the
distance among these businesses should be more apart from each other to avoid problems like
congestions and insufficient spaces.

The harsh reality for small and medium enterprises in Section 7 of Shah Alam are that
they are lacking capability in handling high customer volume especially for stalls and
restaurants. Apart from that, serious competition for space make matters worse when it can
lead to traffic congestion in the area. Finally, inappropriate layout in certain businesses make
it hard for customers to go through their routine when visiting the business. A business that can
accommodate up to 100 people at a time should provide appropriate parking space. Overtime,
it will cause severe traffic problems hence causing serious traffic congestion.

For this matter, there is a need for us to investigate to highlight these issues. This
investigation can help us to find resolutions to properly handle the situation in an appropriate
way.

1.3 Purpose of Study

To investigate problem faced by small and medium enterprises in section 7, Shah Alam.

This study suggests several research objectivities to be attained as follows:

1. To provide solution about serious traffic congestion in the area.

2. To suggest an appropriate layout for small and medium enterprises in the area
3. To resolve issues like high competition for space among stalls and restaurants by
gathering suggestions given by our respondents through our questionnaires.

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 1.4 Previous Study

For inappropriate layout issue, a business should provide adequate information to

facilitate its customers in spending their time in the premise. Layout can somehow influence
people on their decision making when spending their time in shops and business related to it.
An optimal layout gives the ability to facilitate the access to information and aids the shopper
in decision-making which correlate with how the business perform (Aghazadeh 2005) proves
that it can subconsciously influence customers in their decision making.

For customer volume issue, businesses should know how many customers they are
expecting and if they can afford to accommodate such number of customers. This can greatly
affect how their business will perform in the future. For this issue, we relate it to the study
where Levis and Papageorgiou (2005) considers customer demand is the agreement of
competitive strategy, benefit sharing and risk sharing between buyers and sellers. Tsai and
Chen (2010) believes customer demand is that for the same objective different customers
invest related resources which are mainly time and money, to make efforts to reach product
objective quality and quantity stetted by themselves.

For competition for space issue, it is understood that space problems had been a
great issue ever since the world population soar and technology advancement boom. We
relate it to the study where according to research done by Mingtiandi (2015) for its retail real
estate white paper, China Mall 2020, malls in China set aside 30-40% of their gross floor area
for food and beverage, up from 10-15% before 2007 which concludes that overtime, space
consumption by malls and other businesses soar in the future.

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2.0 METHODOLOGY

2.1 Respondents of the study

Our respondents will be students who study in UiTM Shah Alam, specifically for those
who rent or live in Section 7 of Shah Alam whom will run their daily routine in section 7 such
as getting their meal.

2.2 Instrument of studies

For our study, a questionnaire will be used to collect data from our respondents. This
method is better than interviewing individual respondents because it will make the process
much faster and data can be collected with ease. Our questionnaire will consist of 3 sections.
The first part will be a section where respondents will be asked on how often they visit these
premises as part of their daily routine. This will help us determine the number of people visiting
the premises hence mapping a way out for the crowded environment.

The second section will consist of questions that can help us determine how our
respondents feel about the premises in the area in terms of its quality and how it affects the
area. Our last section of the questionnaire will be focused on suggestions by our respondents
to improve the current matter by giving them objective questions where they can choose certain
improvements they might want to see in the future. Options will be given in this section to
make it easier for our respondents to pick the best suggestion in improving the inconveniences
present among the small and medium enterprises in Section 7 of Shah Alam.

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 2.3 Data Collection Procedure

Our questionnaire will be distributed at bus stops in UiTM Shah Alam to try our best
in targeting students whose status are Non-Resident, meaning that they live in Section 7
because these people will give the best feedback about the premises present in the area.
Questionnaires will be distributed during lunch hours where most students have some free time
to answer it and chances of dealing with those who spend more time in Section 7 are high. 10
minutes will be given for each respondent to answer the questionnaire.

2.4 Data Analysis Method

Data collected throughout our study will be analysed in charts to show how frequent
people visit premises in the area, how they feel about the businesses there and gathering their
suggestions which then will be synthesized to highlight the best possible solution.

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3.0 FINDINGS

3.1 Demographic Information

The details recorded for the respondents’ demographic are gender, age and occupation.

Age

Figure 1 Age pie chart

Gender

Figure 2 Gender pie chart

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 Occupation

Figure 3 Occupation pie chart

Based on the respondent’s data, the age ranges are as follow. Most respondents are aged
18-25 (84.4%) followed by aged 26-32 (12.5%) and under 18 years old (3.1%). There are no
respondents aged 33-40. For gender, the majority are males which is 81.3% while the rest
(18.8%) are females. Finally, the respondents are mostly university students (93.8%), and
government servant and other both sit at 3.1% each.

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 3.2 Issue 1: Competition for Space

Do you think the premise provide adequate parking space for its customers?

Figure 4 Pie chart for adequacy of parking space

Based on the data obtained, it is shown that the respondents mostly agree that the
parking spaces provided by the premises are inadequate. 71.9% responded with a “No” while
28.1% gave “Yes” as a respond.

How many premises should be available in a small residential area?

Figure 5 Pie chart for premise availability in an area

Based on the data obtained, 56.3% of the respondents agreed that there should be more
than five premises available in a small residential area while the rest (43.6) agreed that there
should be less than five premises in a small residential area.

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 What possible improvements can be made to overcome traffic congestion in the
area?

Figure 6 Pie chart of overcoming traffic congestion suggestion

After sorting out the data from respondents, out of three suggestions that has been given
out, 65.6& chose “Making a multi-level parking space” as the most popular suggestion to
improve and overcome traffic congestion in the area. Next, 28.1% chose “Reduction of traffic
lights” as the suggestion to improve and overcome traffic congestion in the area. The remainder
of the respondents (6.3%) chose “Extension of roads” as their suggestion to overcome traffic
congestion in the area.

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 3.3 Issue 2: Customer Volume

How often do you visit the premise?

Figure 7 Pie chart for premise visit frequency

The pie chart shows that the respondents majorly visit the premises twice a day. 68.8%
of the respondents visit the premise twice a day while the rest of the respondents (31.3%) visit
the premise once a day. There are no records on respondents visiting the premise more than
twice a day.

How long do you spend time at the premise?

Figure 8 Pie chart for time expenditure at a premise

The pie chart shows that the respondents usually spend more than hour at the premise.
62.5% of the respondents spent more than half an hour at the premise while the rest (37.5%)
spent less than half an hour at the premise.

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 Do you take a lot of time trying to reach the premise?

Figure 9 Pie chart for time taken to reach premises

Asking whether the respondents take a lot of time trying to reach the premise, 75% of
the respondents said “Yes” while the rest (25%) said “No”.

Why do you take too long to reach the premise?

Figure 10 Pie chart for reasons why it takes too long to reach premise

In this question, respondents are asked the reason why it takes too long to reach the
premise, 84% of the respondents responded with “Traffic congestion” while the rest (16%)
responded with “Navigational problems (having a hard time finding the premise).

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 3.4 Issue 3: Inappropriate Layout for Certain Businesses

What do you think of the quality of service provided by the premise?

Figure 11 Pie chart for quality of service

Evaluating the data obtained from the respondents regarding the quality of service
provided by the premise, it is found out that 53.1% of the respondents gave “Average” while
31.3% of the respondents responded with “Good”. The rest (15.6%) responded with “Bad”.
There are no respondents giving out “Very Good” as a response.

Do you feel comfortable while being in the premise?

Figure 12 Pie chart for comfort while being at premise

Based on the data obtained from the respondents, it is found out that 56.3% responded
with “No” when asked if the respondents feel comfortable while being at the premise. The rest
(43.8%) however, responded with “Yes” when asked if the respondents feel comfortable while
being at the premise.

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 Do you think the premise’s layout is suitable in handling long queue?

Figure 13 Pie chart for premise layout suitability

The respondents are asked whether the premise’s layout is suitable in handling long
queue. 83.3% of the respondents replied with a “No” while the rest (16.7%) responded with a
“Yes”.

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4.0 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

4.1 Conclusion

Based on our findings, we find that competition for space in Section 7 of Shah Alam is real
based on our respondent’s response which indicate that the majority of our respondents agree
that premises in Section 7 fail in providing adequate parking space for their customers.
Furthermore, most of our respondents want each residential area to have atleast five premises
which shows us that demand for more premises is high hence leading to this issue. Apparently,
most of our respondents agree that making a multi-level parking space in the area can help in
reducing the serious congestions in Section 7 of Shah Alam.

Next, we can conclude that customer volume is also a serious issue in Section 7 of Shah Alam
indicated by the response from our respondents that the majority of them took too long to reach
the premises in the area because of traffic congestion. Furthermore, we find that most of our
respondents spend more than half an hour at the premises which shows that a large number of
people are there at one time that contributes to the high customer volume in the area.

Finally, we find that certain premises in Section 7 of Shah Alam do not have an appropriate
layout. This can be indicated by our respondents where the majority of them said that the
premise’s layout are not suitable in handling long queue during peak hours. This can also be
indicated by the majority of our respondents that said they are not comfortable while being in
the premise.

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 4.2 Recommendation

Based on our conclusion, We recommend:

1. Making a multi-level parking space available for certain premises where necessary
especially premises that tend to have high customer volume at a certain time like
restaurant and foodcourt where customer volume will peak during lunch hours. This
will reduce traffic congestion and leaving more space for cars to pass nearby. The town
management should be responsible for this matter and research should be done to study
on people’s demand and how the parking space should be developed.

2. Taking public transport and encourage the society to carpool to reach their destination
which can reduce traffic congestion and prevent congested parking lots. The
government plays a big role in this part as they can encourage society to do so by
hosting an awareness campaign and promoting it through the internet and television.

3. Avoid peak hours when visiting the premises especially when it comes to meal time
and monthly grocery shopping. For this matter, every individual plays a big role.
Everyone should plan their visit wisely and over-crowded situations in premises can be
avoided.

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 REFERENCES

1. Seyed-Mahmoud Mirzamani. Layout strategies for retail operations: A case study.

Management Research News. Retrieved from
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/238326610_Layout_strategies_for_retail_op
erations_A_case_study

2. Geetha Mohan (SSN School of Management and Computer Applications, Chennai,

India. Impact of store environment on impulse buying behaviour. Retrieved from
https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/EJM-03-2011-
0110?mbSc=1&fullSc=1&journalCode=ejm
3. Shun Yin Lam, City University of Hong Kong. The Effects of store environment on
shopping behaviours: a Critical review. Retrieved from
http://acrwebsite.org/volumes/8468/volumes/v28/NA-28

4. Meyer, C. and Schwager, a. . Understanding Customer Experience. Harvard Business

Review. Available at: https://hbr.org/2007/02/understanding-customer-experience

5. Xu, W., Zhang, Q. and Ma, J. .The relationship among customer demand, competitive
strategy and manufacturing system functional objectives. [online] Jiem.org. Available
at: http://www.jiem.org/index.php/jiem/article/view/802/555

6. Xu, W. and Ma, J. .Effect of customer demand and competitive strategy on decision-
making of manufacturing system functional objectives. Available at:
https://www.bing.com/cr?IG=B3DF9801A07F4B7F9087661D28D8FB0B&CID=295
58F7DF9F167AD1878848BF80C664B&rd=1&h=c3CecLj-
1mN3GCEGKQ7NF9jli6Ebvlg138oUEUP-

7. Kokemuller, N. (2018). What Happens When a Business Does Not Meet the Demand
of Consumers?. Yourbusiness.azcentral.com. Available at:
https://yourbusiness.azcentral.com/happens-business-not-meet-demand-consumers-
13978.html

8. Ann, K.. Balancing priorities and customer demands. Available at:

http://www.leadershipchallenge.com/resource/balancing-priorities-and-customer-
demands.aspx

9. Anon, (2000). Identifying problems in forecasting consumer demand in the fast

moving consumer goods sector. Available at:
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asting_consumer_demand_in_the_fast_moving_consumer_goods_sector

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 APPENDIX A: SAMPLE QUESTIONNAIRE

CHALLENGES FACED BY SMALL COMMERCIALS IN SECTION 7, SHAH

ALAM
PERSONAL INFORMATION
Please tick (/) in the appropriate space:
Age: Gender : Occupation:
Under 18 Male University Student
18 – 25 Female Government Servant
26 – 32 Other
33 – 40

Types of premises

1. What kind of premises do you visit often in Section 7 of Shah Alam?

Food Court
Grocery Store
Electronic Store

Issue 1: Competition for space

2. Do you think the premise provide adequate parking space for its customers?

Yes
No

3. How many premises should be available in a small residential area?

Less than five
More than five

4. What possible improvements can be made to overcome traffic congestion in the area?

Extension of roads
Making a multi-level parking space
Reduction of traffic lights

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 Issue 2: Customer Volume

5. How often do you visit the premise?

Once a day
Twice a day
More than twice a day

6. How long do you spend time at the premise?

Less than half an hour

More than half an hour

7. Do you take a lot of time trying to reach the premise?

Yes Proceed to Question 8 if the answer is YES

No

8. Why do you take too long to reach the premise?

Traffic congestion
Navigational problems (having a hard time finding the premise)

Issue 3: Inappropriate layout for certain businesses

9. What do you think of the quality of service provided by the premise?

Very Good
Good
Average
Bad

10. Do you feel comfortable while being in the premise?

Yes
No
11. Do you think the premise's layout is suitable in handling long queue?

Yes
No

Thank you for your cooperation

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