Singer Thailand: A Renewed Strategy

Abstract

Singer Thailand, the sole distributor for Singer USA in Thailand since 1889, had been successful in selling home electrical appliances for household outside the metropolitan area of Thailand.  Through its strong customer base and installment purchase plan, Singer maintained market share of more than 80% at certain period of time.  However, after the financial crisis in 1997, Singer needed to grow its business by expanding its product line due to higher competition from both domestic and foreign retailers.  At first, Singer’s diversification into motorcycle seemed to be the right strategy as Singer’s sale grew at the highest level.  As the number of defaulted motorcycle accounts increased a year later, Singer reported a loss of 1,300 million Baht.  Singer appointed a new CEO, Boonyong Tansakul, to handle the motorcycle debacle and made a turnaround for Singer.  Through related diversifications, Boonyong was able to return Singer to profit in a few years.  Nevertheless, the drop in operating profit from ThB 320 million in 2013 to only ThB 241 million in 2014 suggested that the future was not assured to be a smooth path.  Students were put into the shoes of Boonyong to make an informed decision about how to respond strategically to new competitive realities.