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Case Study

Sabina: Adapting proactively to change

By Balaji S. Chakravarthy and Pallivathukkal Cherian Abraham

20 pages

July 2013

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Reference: IMD-3-2365

This case is about Sabina, one of the leaders in the Thai lingerie market, and its proactive adaptation to changes in its business environment over two decades. The firm first took advantage of the depreciation of the Thai baht in the late 1990s to ramp up its export business and become a trusted OEM supplier to major European and US brands. The OEM business accounted for 60% of the firm’s turnover by 2006. Bunchai Punturaumporn was appointed the firm’s managing director in 2007. The Thai baht had started to appreciate, so the firm de-emphasized the OEM business and built a successful Thai branded business. This required innovating in the marketing area, broadening distribution, achieving excellence in production, and adapting the firm’s organization structure over time. In 2012, the OEM business accounted for only 9% of sales. Sabina also coped successfully with other challenges, including rising labor costs in Thailand, and cheap imports from China. Bunchai was preparing the company in 2013 to go regional and take advantage of the opportunities arising from the launch of the ASEAN Economic Community in 2015.

Learning Objective

Show how SMEs can successfully adapt to drastic changes in their business environment through proactive shifts in their strategy and organization.

Keywords

Change, Transformation, Small and Medium-sized Enterprise, General Management, Strategy

Settings

Asia, Thailand
Sabina Public Company Limited, Consumer Goods, Apparel and Fashion
1995-2013

Type

Field Research

Available Languages

English

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