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Azad Products (Pvt.) Ltd: The Challenges Ahead

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Case Study

Azad Products (Pvt.) Ltd: The Business Perspectives

and Research
Challenges Ahead 5(1) 100–109
© 2017 K.J. Somaiya Institute of
Management Studies and Research
SAGE Publications
sagepub.in/home.nav
DOI: 10.1177/2278533716671634
http://bpr.sagepub.com

Jashim Uddin Ahmed1

Anwar Sadat Shimul2
Shahid Hossain1

Abstract
This case study investigates key competitive advantages, opportunities, and challenges faced by Azad
Products (Pvt.) Ltd (hereinafter referred to as APPL)—a pioneer in printing service company of
Bangladesh. Over the last three decades, the company has gone through the dynamics of ever-changing
consumer tastes and preferences embraced with technological shifts. The company develops diverse
products consisting of greeting cards, calendars, view cards, posters and so on. APPL is the first ever
company in Bangladesh to bring forth a complete printing solution encompassing such a broad product
categories. Its impressive list of products entails a myriad of strategic issues regarding supply chain
activities, future expansion plan, and current challenges faced. After 35 years of its successful operation,
now, APPL is considering a strategic plan for sustainable growth and market leadership in the com-
ing years. This case is an effort to probe further into this promising company’s strategic elements and
future potential.

Keywords
Bangladesh, greeting card, printing and publishing, Azad Products

Introduction
Mr Abul Kalam Azad, chairman and managing director of Azad Products (Pvt.) Ltd, feels the slow pace
wind that blows off the 15th floor of Azad Center, as he looks down his empire from the top that he has
built with his heart and soul. After years of hard work, precise planning and motivational agenda are the
key ingredients of his success. Despite the hard fact that in this tight market every firm has “profit maxi-
mization” scheme as the core of their business model, he proves himself a successful entrepreneur who
is committed to ensure the equity of all stakeholders through an efficient business model. However, the
1
Department of Management, School of Business & Economics, North South University, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
2
Department of Marketing & International Business, School of Business & Economics, North South University, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Corresponding author:
Jashim Uddin Ahmed, Professor, Department of Management, School of Business & Economics, North South University, Bashundhara,
Dhaka 1229, Bangladesh.
E-mails: jashim.ahmed@northsouth.edu; jashimahmed@hotmail.com
Ahmed et al. 101

question arises regarding the sustainability of the model in a transitional period of leadership change is
also embraced with technological advancement and competition. Moreover, over the years, business
strategies have evolved into a change to ground for fierce competition. Mr Azad has also been concerned
about the direction and future leadership of the company since he will be contemplating retirement in a
few years. For this, he is taking care of the future owner and managing director of APPL, his son Mr
Ziaur Rahman Azad and smiles as he holds the belief that this emerging, young, and energetic talent will
be able to manage the business; not necessarily in the traditional way but in the most efficient and above
all in the right way. He feels a great deal of comfort and solace with the thought of being able to train his
offspring to look after the family business and teach him the tricks of the trade so that he acquires the
skills to cope with the pressures and challenges of the market. Mr Ziaur Rahman Azad also believes that
the challenges in the coming years can be efficiently dealt with a new plan that must ensure a sustainable
business growth and leadership in the market1.

The Printing Sector in Bangladesh

The printing sector in Bangladesh started its journey in 1940 with only one letterpress, which has now
turned to a market worth of Bangladeshi Taka (BDT) 3 billion. According to the Bangladesh Mudran
Shilpa Samity (BMSS, 2014;2 Printing Industries Association of Bangladesh), currently, there are almost
3,000 existing printing presses in the capital city (Dhaka) and 2,500 presses in other cities. These presses
are contributing to the national employment by creating jobs for over 2 million people. Another 1 million
people have been employed in the supporting industries including binding and laminating factories that
go along with the activities of these presses. Moreover, every year, on an average, around 100 presses
are entering into the sector as creating new job opportunities for the labor market.
Nearly 1,000–1,500 presses in Dhaka are actively supplying supportive printing materials (e.g., the hand
tags, inlay boards, levels of garment product and so on) for garment manufacturers in the ready-made gar-
ments industry of Bangladesh while some other 1,000 presses focus their business orientation in printing
government textbooks (primary, secondary, and higher secondary education), higher study books and non-
fiction books. The rest of the presses are solely based on printing and selling the calendars, diaries, and
greeting cards to both public and business clients. According to the BMSS, the printing presses in
Bangladesh produce calendars, diaries, and leaflets worth of BDT 3 billion and posters, leaflets, brochures,
and voter identification worth of BDT2 billion annually. On the same line, 270 million textbooks are
printed by local printing firms in 2014. This sector is also escalating the export of calendar, diary, books,
and print materials for clothes, medicine, and frozen shrimp to generate BDT1.56 billion (USD20 mil-
lions). That is why the printing sector is considered one of the potential source of foreign exchange earn-
ings, after ready-made garments industry in Bangladesh. However, high dependency on importing paper
and equipment leads to the question of efficiency for the whole sector. Alongside, the government is invit-
ing international tender to print the textbooks. As a result, local firms are losing the market share to foreign
competitors. For example, during the period of 2014, out of total 300 million textbooks, 30 million were
produced by three foreign firms. The chairman of BMSS stresses that there is no need for any international
tender as the capacity of local firms are sufficient to satisfy the domestic demand on time (Hasnat, 2014).
The sector’s exposure and investments will be enhanced further if all the textbooks are printed locally.
Printing is capital intensive and private investors are less likely to be interested in making huge investment
for a small market like Bangladesh (Rahman, 2011). In spite of this scenario, investment in this sector has
been accelerating tremendously from the fiscal year 2005–2006 (BDT3,120.82 millions) to 2012–2013
(BDT5,156.90 millions) (As shown in Table 1). The growth rate of local investment in the printing and
102 Business Perspectives and Research 5(1)

publication sector is reported to be about 0.78 percent. In the meantime, foreign and joint venture invest-
ment accounts for 0.02 percent of the total investment (As shown in Table 2).
Table 1. Local Investment in the Printing and Publishing Sector (BDT in millions)

2005– 2006– 2007– 2008– 2009– 2010– 2011– 2012–

Sector
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Printing
and
3,120.82 5,786.50 3,668.34 1,801.37 2,739.02 2,556.02 4,151.38 5,156.90
Publishing
Industry
Source: Ministry of Finance, Government of Bangladesh (2014).
Table 2. Foreign and Joint Venture Investment in Printing and Publishing Sector (USD in millions)

2005– 2006– 2007– 2008– 2009– 2010– 2011– 2012–

Sector
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Printing
and
0.147 4.428 0 0 2.697 0 0.558 00
Publishing
Industry
Source: Ministry of Finance, Government of Bangladesh (2014).
Printing sector experts demonstrate their optimistic view about the future opportunity of the sector. Sales
of greeting cards, calendars, and diaries are estimated to grow by 50 percent in the coming year. Extensive and
expanded education programs throughout the country also invoke increasing demand of printing textbooks.
So, it requires raising the capital investment along with government initiatives to devise a world-class printing
house in Bangladesh. The government should come forward to this prospect and the capacity of the sector
should be expanded on an urgent basis (Rahman, 2011). In this regard, an initiative has been taken by The
Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC),3 along with the support of the BMSS and
Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) to develop an industrial estate of about
50 acres of land at a cost of around BDT1,400 millions. Of course, this is a part of uplifting measures to host
over 400 printing companies in “BSCIC Printing Industrial Estate.” However, under the provision of public–
private partnership fund, the government only supports 10 percent of the total cost of the project, where most
of the financial burden goes on the shoulder of printing companies.

Background of the Azad Products (Pvt.) Ltd

Mr Abul Kalam Azad is a leading entrepreneur in Bangladesh who dreams of self-prospect and progress
through hard work. Currently, he is holding the status of chairman and managing director of Azad Products
(Pvt.) Ltd which is a key player in the printing sector of Bangladesh. But, he did not achieve the fame of a
successful entrepreneur overnight. It takes a bold determination and realistic planning to sort out the way
of reaching a destination for his company. He has been following his entrepreneurial pursuit since child-
hood when he engaged in trading coconuts from one village to another at Chandpur district of Bangladesh.
He spent his early life in a remote village where he completed higher secondary education. However, the
critical turning point of his life was when he came to the capital city Dhaka in 1970 with a vision of becom-
ing a business person to succeed in life. With limited knowledge of how to form a business and scarcity of
Ahmed et al. 103

initial investment, he survived in the city life as a lodging tutor initially. Soon after, he would visit famous
business spots in the Dhaka city to gather the business idea. In the meantime, he noticed some hawkers
selling posters in the street. Instantly, he considered selling posters a profitable business and buys some
posters from the hawkers to resell them. That’s how his new journey to be a successful entrepreneur begun
from the bottom. In 1978, he inaugurated his first selling store of posters in front of the north gate, com-
monly known as the Mohammedan gate of the Dhaka stadium. These posters were portraits of popular TV
serials characters like Lee Majors, The Incredible Hulk, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman
and many more. He formulated a selling strategy of one poster for BDT25 and three posters for BDT50.
But unfortunately, his shop was vandalized by other poster sellers and their local goons out of vindictive-
ness. So, he had to give up his business for a while to prepare and gather robust experience and knowledge
for a fresh start again. One day, he approached a popular film magazine of that time Tarokalok and asked
for copies of Bangladeshi media star photos that used to appear during star previews. As he came up with
an idea of printing those photos in a form of posters and view cards to sell them in the market, he offered
Tarokalok to joint hand in exchange for sharing a part of the revenue. Mostly, revenue was generated from
selling posters and cards of famous media persons in Bangladesh. Constant sales growth triggered to shift
the gear of his business in the next step.
Finally, he officially established his first shop by the name of APPL in 1988 at Chawkbazar, heart of
the old Dhaka. With his commendable zeal, strategic view, and hard-work, gradually and slowly, he
established his own printing house from where different types of diaries, calendars, view cards, wedding
cards, greeting cards, and posters were manufactured and sold to both business and individual customers.
Today, the customer base for APPL ranges from banks to insurance companies, MNCs to NGOs and so
on for its sophistication in producing and delivering printing goods and services. It creates employment
for almost 200 employees and maintains a total number of 13 sales outlets (as shown in Figure 1 and 2)
throughout Bangladesh. Among them, four are established in Dhaka, two are in the port city Chittagong
and one each in Khulna, Barisal, Sylhet, Mymensingh, Bogra and so on. Along with a successful busi-
ness operation, APPL also involves in social responsibilities by arranging Ratna Garva Maa award every
year since 2001. This award is given to those 25 mothers every year who have given birth to at least 3
children who have tremendous academic achievement and have become renowned citizens through their
own intellectualism and are well established in the society. He also develops “Azad Foundation” to give
a scholarship to the poor but meritorious students.

Management Structure of APPL

APPL is regarded as a small sized business with 200 employees to work under a simple chain of com-
mand. The Chairman and Managing Director Mr Abul Kalam Azad holds the supreme authority (as
shown in Figure 3) to make any business decisions of his own. However, among all three members of
the board of directors, only Ziaur Rahman Azad is taking the responsibility of overseeing all the opera-
tional activities of the business to support his father. Overall there are eight departments in the organiza-
tion; those are: purchase department, procurement department, accounts department, store and
distribution department, graphic design department, production department, human resources depart-
ment, and audit department as far as the organizational functions are concerned. According to the orga-
nizational hierarchy, all the department staffs are required to report directly to Ziaur Rahman Azad, who
further discusses with Mr Abul Kalam Azad to delineate solution of any crucial business problem. The
levels of leadership, authority, and responsibility within the company are clearly defined so the employ-
ees know to whom they are obliged to report. Thus, the delegation of authority is very simple and
104 Business Perspectives and Research 5(1)

straightforward to avoid any ambiguity in the structure of the organization. Strategic direction of the
company is mostly determined by Mr Abul Kalam Azad and Mr Ziaur Rahman Azad, but subordinates
are well encouraged to share their experiences and ideas with the top management. The company struc-
ture inhibits employee involvement and participative management that results in more efficient decision-
making from a centralized structure which allows it to take more timely decisions.

Figure 1. An exterior view of Azad Products (Pvt.) Ltd. sales outlet in Dhaka
Source: Azad Products (Pvt.) Ltd (2016).

Figure 2. An interior design of Azad Products (Pvt.) Ltd. sales outlet in Dhaka
Source: Azad Products (Pvt.) Ltd (2016).
Ahmed et al. 105

Chairman & Managing Director

Abul Kalam Azad

Member (Board of Directors) Member (Board of Directors) Member (Board of Directors)

Tanzina Azad Ziaur Rahman Azad Anamika Azad

Purchase Department Procurement Accounts Department Store & Distribution

Department Department

Graphic Design Production Human Resource Audit Department

Department Department Department

Figure 3. Organgram of Azad Products (Pvt.) Ltd, Source: Azad Products (Pvt.) Ltd.

Printing and Production Process of APPL

APPL has two printing presses; one is in Purana Paltan, Dhaka, in the ground floor of its head office and
another one is in Chittagong. Most of the showrooms are also located nearby Azad Center. So, it reduces
transportation and transaction cost and also saves time for their clients and employees. As the printing
press and head office are in one building, so the flow of information is also uninterrupted. APPL has
imported four printing machines from Germany, three from Taiwan, and one from China to be used in
its production operation. These printing machines are technologically advanced to conform with the lat-
est in printing technology. Different kinds of raw materials like art paper, glossy paper, and card paper
are also imported from China, Taiwan, and Thailand. It indicates a high reliance of the company to the
imported inputs in the production process. Among several printing processes, APPL deliberately stan-
dardizes the offset printing process in its production system. Offset printing is also acknowledged as
offset lithography that can produce the final product through a process where the ink remains completely
flat on the paper with a matte finish for printing greeting and wedding cards, posters, view cards, and
calendars. It also incorporates screen printing as a method of printing. Screen printing is the printing on
tracing paper where invitations, the purpose of the invitation, date, venue and so on are mainly written
down to stay inside the main card. Whenever any order is placed, strict flexibility in designing the card
is maintained by APPL to accolade with customer preferences and occasional purposes. Initially, cus-
tomer requirements are recorded by a sales representative in the showroom and then the order is
106 Business Perspectives and Research 5(1)

transferred to the head office in Azad Center. Several computer operators and graphic designers then
format the card according to cultural factors like religion and language as prescribed by the customer.
Thus, a negative copy of the designed image of the card is developed in a printing plate. Once the plates
are made, graphic designers make a positive of the ordered card and print one or two copies for customer
proofing. After getting the customer approval, the printing plate is attached to the press and printing
starts according to the customer’s quantity ordered. Then, the printing cards are sent to the store where
workers add the finishing touch by applying stones or ribbon or special type of glitters as per order and
eventually fully decorated cards are kept in the showroom. It takes two to three days to complete the
whole process of a customer order.

The Nature of Competition

There are approximately 50 greeting cards and gift items companies operating in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Among them Azad Products (Pvt.) Ltd, Abbas Printers, Orchid Printers, Archie’s Gallery, Creation (Pvt.)
Ltd, Diamond Products, Hallmark Card Shops, Ideal Products Ltd, and New Cartoon Products are well
known. Low barriers of entry and easy availability of digital software and digital card printers with latest
technologies increase the number of printing organizations and intensify the competition. In Bangladesh,
the business of manufacturing and selling posters, calendars, greeting cards, and view cards flourished
since 1980s, when APPL and Ideal Products Ltd entered into the market. High demand of local and foreign
celebrity posters, view cards, and calendar among young generation help these two organizations to create
a strong position in the market. Ideal Products don’t produce anything other than wedding and invitation
cards whereas APPL give the complete paper printing solution. APPL and Ideal are still playing pioneering
role in the field of printing sector in Bangladesh primarily because of their product quality and brand image
in the market. However, Ideal Products Ltd aggressively follows the strategic path of APPL and is regarded
as the main competitor of APPL. Nonetheless, APPL is the market leader that serves at least 500 business
clients while Ideal Products Ltd is a market follower which provides digital solutions and specialized cre-
ative services. But, it is an alarming issue for existing counterparts that some new small sized company like
Abaran Printers reports for 33 percent more production during the year 2014. Along with Ideal Products
Ltd, these small newcomers can very well bring a bit competitive threat to APPL.

Sources of Competitive Advantages for APPL

As a pioneer in the printing sector of Bangladesh, APPL gains significant competitive advantage for its
unique product having appealing attributes over other competitors. APPL assures best quality paper
which is usually imported from abroad (mainly from Malaysia and Indonesia) for manufacturing its
products. A superior quality product enables APPL to capture more market share compared to its com-
petitors. It has a diverse portfolio of over 1,000 product categories (only the selected items are shown on
the web site of the company) including a vast collection of wedding cards (as shown in Table 3) and Eid4
cards as a main source of revenue. The designs of these cards are also distinct from competitors. APPL
is always looking for the latest customer taste and preference for cards and trying to craft new design and
ideas for the wedding cards. So, a wide collection of gorgeous, innovative, and eye catching wedding
cards bring about extra edge for APPL. Because of the dazzling design and brand name, many Bangladeshi
expatriates (mainly Canada, the USA, and the UK) often order the wedding cards from the company.
Ahmed et al. 107

Table 3. Product Category of Azad Products

Product Categories Product Types Number of Products

Cards Royal Invitation 23
Wedding Card 176
Sparkles 2
Scroll Invitation Farman Style 5
Azad Diary Diary 9
Calendar Azad Calendar 12
Season’s Greetings Merry Christmas and New Year 7
Eid Cards Eid Greetings and Ramadan 41
Desk Calendar Desk Calendar 3
Source: Azad Products (Pvt.) Ltd (2016).

Moreover, recently, the company has introduced its online portal in which consumers can com-
pare and select the design and colors of the card and also can place the order online, open up their
own account, and follow up the progress of the order. This online platform has also opened the
option of sending printed cards to friends and relatives. It has been a major shift in the business
model of APPL to achieve sustainable competitive advantages over its competitors. Though the
demand for calendar, greeting cards, and other items has been declining in an era of telecommunica-
tion on the personal level, it surprisingly has been amplified on the corporate level. As a result,
APPL assumes corporate clients as a part of its publicity and marketing strategy. In trapping the big
market segment of business clients; at present, it is handling 70 percent of corporate card printing
in Bangladesh (Rahman, 2010b). In 2009, it received an order for 110 thousand units of calendars
from Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited and for 60,000 units of calendars from Southeast Bank
Limited and Social Islami Bank Limited (Rahman, 2010a). The company is also preparing 40 to 50
new designs of calendars to meet up the ongoing demand.

Changes, Setbacks and Challenges for APPL

The government has thrown us into an uneven competition with foreign firms by giving them duty-free status.
We seek cooperation from the government into this issue.

Shahid Serneabat
Chairman, BMSS
Azad Products (Pvt.) Ltd is assumed to face multidimensional challenges in the upcoming years. The
raw materials used in the printing process are going to be the major concern for the company. The quality
of locally manufactured papers does not confirm minimum standard that increases the dependency on
imported components. Alongside, as per the government policy, APPL requires to pay over 25 percent
effective duties on imported papers. So, it is also suffering from differential treatment as the foreign
firms do not have to pay any duty fees at all. It certainly increases the price of finished goods for an
endeavor like APPL to remain competitive in local as well as global platform. Due to the low barriers of
entry and profit potential, many small and medium sized companies are entering to operate in the local
108 Business Perspectives and Research 5(1)

market. So, buyers have lots of options to switch to other printers if their preferences do not match with
APPL’s. These companies are cost efficient in operation for using low priced raw materials to attract
price sensitive customer groups. Because of importing best quality raw materials, unit production cost as
well as the price of Azad’s cards or other items are little bit higher than some competitors. For similar
card, if Azad offers BDT12 per card, other companies would ask BDT7 only. Generally, wedding cards
are only used for invitation purposes and most people have the intention to scrap them after use rather
than to store them. For this nature of “one time use”, customers prefer inexpensive, but eye catching
wedding cards. Previously on occasions of Eid; children, teenagers, and young people preferred to buy
Eid greeting cards. However, demand for posters, view cards, greeting cards like Eid cards or other fes-
tival cards, and friendship day cards have reduced because of a new trend of e-cards or short message
service (SMS) through mobile phones or other social networks. Text messaging is very cost effective; as
people can greet many people by selecting them at once with text messaging. Many websites also offer
e-card or online cards for different purposes. These are real threats of substitution not only for APPL but
also for other greeting card businesses. Digital software and digital card printers with latest technologies
are also increasing the competition and market size at a rapid pace. But, APPL falls lag behind in expand-
ing its market share at the same rate. There are many software for creating customized cards like—Print
Master, Print Shop Deluxe, Hallmark Card Studio, Greeting Cards Studio, Virtual Bangladesh and so on.
This greeting card software can create customized cards which people can find in stores. Now, people
can make their own greeting cards by simply using digital software and can print their own card through
color printer.

Opportunities for APPL

At present, APPL’s main strategy is evolving around providing the best quality product to its customers
through effective and efficient supply chain. However, as a business entity, it is now reaching to its maturity
level to diversify the business for further expansion and growth. It can well expand the number of showrooms
in semi-urban areas throughout Bangladesh, where the demand for greeting cards are relatively higher than
Dhaka. It can also open up its showroom in the USA, the UK, and Middle East countries considering the popu-
larity of its cards among Bangladesh expatriates and South Asian citizens living in those countries. Alongside,
it can offer different innovative gift items to its corporate clients along with providing traditional calendars,
cards, and diaries. These different stationery items can range from pen stand to coffee mugs, card holder, and
party goods such as festoons, floggers, balloons, customized gift for corporate and social meetings and
parties.

Going Forward
Various festivals and holidays explore the opportunity for people to express emotions and eventually shape
the traditions in exchanging greeting cards. Giving gifts can be altruistic out of self-love or agonistic where
a person achieves self-gratification. For that reason, technological innovations and advancements cannot
fade the appeal of paper cards to invite people for ceremonies like weddings, even at a time when people
prefer SMS over letters and greeting cards (Akter, 2011). Many people still believe that these modern tech-
nologies have lack of emotional touch and therefore inspire to exchange paper Eid greeting cards. For
instance, during the time of Ramadan (before Eid), sales of greeting cards at Azad outlets are observed to
increase significantly (Rashid, 2010b). People tend to buy more cards in a flourished economy. In spite of
 Ahmed et al. 109

the state of a developing economy, however, the demand for greeting card is soaring in the domestic market
in Bangladesh. When most of the companies are obliterated in limiting to a business scenario facing con-
stant change in technology, APPL has demonstrated its well adaptation and absorptive capacity with chang-
ing business environment. The dynamic approach, which is developed and implemented by APPL, enables
it to become the market leader in the sector. Though APPL starts its journey by selling posters only, now it
is backed by a great array of products through innovation in new product development strategy. Thus, sus-
taining from the inception of the market and sector, APPL earns abundance of goodwill and a long-standing
supply chain to execute the client’s requirements.

Acknowledgments
Thanks to Mr Abul Kalam Azad (chairman and managing director of Azad Products Pvt. Ltd) and Mr Ziaur Rahman
Azad (director of Azad Products Pvt. Ltd) for their cooperation with remarks, insights, inputs, and thoughts during
the preparation of this case.

Notes
1. Interested authors may approach the corresponding author for case analysis.
2. B MSS was established in 1976 and soon obtained the Trade Organization License under Section 3 of the
Trade Organization Ordinance, 1961. BMSS was also registered and incorporated as an association with
the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. BMSS was
considered an important platform and national organization of the entrepreneurs of printing and packaging
sector with proper recognition of its past history in the Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and
Industry (FBCCI).
3. ECNEC approved the project of BSCIC Printing Industrial Estate on March 29, 2016.
4. Eid al-Fitr “Festival of Breaking the Fast” marks the end of the month of Ramadan. Eid al-Adha “Festival of
the Sacrifice” is an Islamic festival to commemorate the willingness of Ibrahim (also known as Abraham) to
follow Allah’s command to sacrifice his son Ishmael. Muslims around the world observe these two events.

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