Lessons from Selling Fake Rolex in Singapore NTU
An Incredible Entrepreneurship Case Study
I first met Tah-Nan (not his real
name) before 2010; a young Singaporean of mixed ethnic origins. I had spotted him in some of my lectures but could
not recall seeing him in any tutorial class. A couple of years later, at the
end of an MBA session where he had participated actively, he approached
me. Tall with black bushy hair and a
perennial smile on his face, he communicates firmly and inspires his listeners
easily to persuasion. He said he was interested in my watch and asked to have a
closer look. He examined my watch, seems surprised, and handed it back to me,
with a wry smile, saying “omg, it’s a genuine Rolex!” I was amazed by his remarks and told him: “It’s
a vintage Rolex with a Roman numeral face. I bought it about 20 years ago in Bern,
Switzerland. Why are you so surprised?” We proceeded to The Coffee Club to
continue the conversations, which led to the astonishing discovery of the
existence of the most lucrative business enterprise operating openly in secret on
NTU Campus – the sale of Replica Rolex watches.
In his early 30’s, Tah-Nan graduated from
the prestigious NTU Nanyang Business School (NBS) with business and finance
degrees before entering the Technopreneurship program at the Nanyang
Technopreneurship Centre (NTC).
Excerpts of our conversations:
Tah-Nan: I was already trading in leather
bags, electronics and wine from my suppliers in China, Thailand, Malaysia and
Indonesia. I don’t like the word “fake” since
the products are very real. Some are
really replicas or imitation of better known or famous brands. Others are
genuine factory surplus production. During the NTC Program, I began to develop
a unique Replica Business that would be exceptional in their marketing and
distribution impact. In just 6 years,
the business has grown to $9 million annually and nothing is slowing the
momentum.
Me:
So why are you still
in NTU? Surely, it’s time to leave the
nest and internationalise or globalize?
Tah-Nan: Actually, I work in NTU in the
President’s Office responsible for market development and students mentoring.
No fanciful job title. Just maintaining a low profile, and provide my bosses with
good optics and credits from my performance impact. I am nobody, and nobody will look for me there,
here or anywhere on campus.
Me: I see, the hiding-in-plain-sight
strategy?
Tah-Nan: Well, I am certainly not hiding. I
manage my supply and value chains through the internet and co-ordinate my sales
teams using social media and mobile apps.
Drop boxes facilitate convenient pickup for delivery to customers.
Singapore Posts is used for express and home delivery with no shipping
charge. This is a cash-only business and
therefore has no receivable issues.
Inventory is distributed at strategic locations known only to me. Sale team-leaders receive their goods via a 3rd
party logistic network.
Me: Why and how is your business
sustainable? What are the key
sustainability factors?
Tah-Nan: The key lies in brand correspondence.
Me: Brand correspondence? That’s not in any marketing literature.
Tah-Nan: It’s my perversion of brand mapping. That is, creating a trust and reliable brand
in the buyers’ mind by projecting a profound sense of brand layers. A good
example would be, say, a “Kobe Ham” sandwich wrapped in Gardenia bread and
packed in a MacDonald box. The sandwich
is called The McKobe, of course! And it will start its product life as a
credible trusted product when sold at MacDonald’s or from the shelves of
Fairprice, Sheng Siong and 7-Eleven! No one would even know that Kobe only
produces beef
and not ham (or pork).
Me: Interesting. Tell me your inspirational sources and case
studies, of any.
Tah-Nan: NTU
is my main inspiration, seriously!
I was working in NTU in 2008 when NTU’s fall from greatness, fully 29
places from 2003, was reported. NTU in 2003 was ranked 48 by a major University
Rankings Standard. In 2006, NTU “slides” to 61 and by 2008 has “plunged” to 77!
Panic and pandemonium broke out in the President’s Office that morning, enjoined
later by NTU senior Professors, Managers and student leaders.
Me: I remember that day too. I am still baffled why none of the esteemed
Professors in our Universities had bothered to examine the validity
and reliability of the presumptuous “World Rankings Standard”. Many
higher education experts, Professors
and research scientists by that time had already questioned and
condemned the dubious
nature of the Standards and the spurious relationships of its various
measurements. Anyway, what
happened next?
Tah-Nan: It was obvious to many NTU
Professors and graduates that the relegation of NTU to pariah status made no
sense at all, especially when we saw the many Universities who were ranked
higher and supposedly better than us!
The Rankings were as bogus and fake as my replica Rolex. However, my
products are replicas of the real Rolex, which is a genuine brand. The
World University Rankings standards are essentially fake, fraudulent,
unreliable and a scam. Their
criteria have no validity. They are simply
empty nothingness, really!
Me: Yes, the World University Ranking
standards have since been condemned by the United
Nations, UK
Government and the EU
Nations, in addition to several distinguished
Professors who are eminent authorities on Higher Education.
Tah-Nan: In the days and weeks immediately
following, meetings and brainstorming sessions were held on how
to “game” the fraudulent World University Rankings. NTU needed more
foreign Professors and many, many more
foreign students in order to rank ahead. Strangely, teaching and
learning were immaterial and irrelevant for a better University ranking!
Me: Yes, by 2014, NTU was ranked as the Top Youngest University in the World
by QS Ranker, and ranking just 39th Worldwide. Indeed, what a
“climb” from 77th in 2008! So
what are the lessons for your business?
Tah-Nan: To me, the main
critical lesson from NTU is that a fake and bogus brand is better than no
brand at all. We became a replica of
fake, bogus quality excellence!
Me: I believe NTU was already arguably among
the top best Universities in the region before we encountered the bogus
fraudsters calling themselves University Rankers. By April 2001, NTU's research had resulted in
20 spin-off companies, many of whom funded by venture firms, and 150
disclosures, 76 patents filed and 30 patents granted. The research papers of
its staff and students in refereed international journals also won numerous
awards in international competitions and conferences.
Tah-Nan: Sure, we had some impact, but no
branding! Most of the senior Professors
had no confidence and very low self-esteem since their boast of having high
journal and research paper outputs belied the underlying practice of false
authorship. Subordinate and junior
Professors are “persuaded” to include their supervisory seniors as main authors
on journal papers which they did not contribute to. Other than fake
publications, they had no other impact evidenced by consulting with industry
players or innovations or startup ventures.
Me: Sounds like Harvey Weinstein’s
sexual demands to budding actresses before he cast them in his movies!
Tah-Nam: Essentially the same, I think. Perhaps
that’s why we did not dare to denounce the results of the World University
Rankers. Our NTU leaders and senior Professors probably were afraid that the
Rankers were correct, and that they knew most of our research papers and their
authorships were fraudulent.
Me: I see now! Brand Correspondence! Brand Mapping! Use a fake and bogus Brand to
wrap our excellence, and pack it into an authentic Singapore box! What a brilliant idea, indeed!
Tah-Nan: Before they came to Singapore, the
World University Rankings were already suffering from real serious validity and
reliability issues to render them impotent and as meaningless as beauty
contests. Their acceptance by the only 2 premier excellent Singapore
Universities, NTU and NUS, gave them a much needed credibility
boost.
"We confer credibility and legitimacy to the World University Rankers so that they in turn would provide us a “World” Brand of Quality albeit a questionable, meaningless one without validity. Awesome!"
Me: So you concluded that having NTU as
your business base together with the Rolex box, logo and name would provide a
greater sense of “credibility” to your Replica Rolex watches, in a similar way
that we confer credibility and
legitimacy to the World University Rankers so that they in turn would provide us
a “World” Brand of Quality albeit a questionable, meaningless one without
validity. Really superb! Simply awesome!
Tah-Nan: Now you understand why I use NTU as
my base for the Replica Rolex business. It
provides a great façade and cover for credibility. I have students, staff and Professors as Sales
point facilitators. They are rewarded and incentivized by quarterly cash and
Original Rolex watches. Many of my Sales
people wear Original Rolex watches even as they persuade others to buy the
cheaper Replica versions. The conflation of Original and Replica Rolex watches
in marketing completes my understanding of brand correspondence using brand layers.
If discovered, NTU
is unlikely do anything to me since I am simply learning and imitating her
strategy!
Me: That’s quite original, man!
Tah-Nan: Let me tell you a bit more about
Replica Rolex buyers. They are responsible for some 30% of internet searches on
watches. Some years ago, a consortium of high-end Swiss watch brands known as
the Fondation
de la Haute Horlogerie (FHH) mounted a public relations campaign with
the message that "Fake Watches Are For Fake People" to educate
people into buying the real thing, with little impact. Fact is that replica or
imitation watches exist to satisfy the desires of people who cannot afford
"the real thing" but want to portray the same status symbols as those
who can. It’s stupidly ironic. The
notion behind the desire to wear a status symbol that you know is not authentic
but would appear authentic to ill-informed people and those of low self-esteem.
That’s why I only reward my top sales people with Original Rolex watches.
Me: Do you think NTU needs to stop
participating in the annual fake and bogus World University Rankings standards?
Tah-Nan: Of course! It is disgusting! A bogus
brand is worn to impress plastic minds. The
only objective to use a bogus brand is to fool others. It is dishonest. A fake is and will always be
a fake, and so is the person or the organisation who owns one. And those who persist in wearing a bogus brand
cannot be taken seriously and so their reputation will suffer in the long run. No
wonder ever since NTU began to pursue the Rankings, she had also ceased having new
ideas to patent, or creating innovations and spinoff ventures with her students.
If NTU seriously care that the
world should think positively and highly about us, NTU should stop
brandishing and flaunting the fake and bogus World University Rankings brand as
our quality standard. Take this advice
from one NTU-trained entrepreneur with a successful replica Rolex business!
Me: I think you would qualify to be the Most
Distinguished Young NTU Alumni! Your nomination and citation may however be
quite controversial and contentious though.
Tah-Nan: Thank you. Would you want to invest in me?
All of a sudden, I found myself in a familiar place – on my bed. It was a
strange dream, or was it a real journey to the future in the past, I wonder? What is Tah-Nan doing now? Is he genuine and for real, I wonder? Would he become the Jack
Ma of Singapore? Time will tell,
I am sure, by my Original Rolex.
.
6 comments:
Actually image or form, rather than substance, is very important or even critical to success and the good things in life, or even a matter between life and death.
What's the difference between a pig and a panda?
Why does the pig get slaughtered for food while the panda is pampered and even given VIP status and care? It all boils down to image.
So perhaps NTU is so interested in University rankings, or even bogus ones, for reasons of survival?
If so, then we should not blame NTU because they have good reasons for doing so.
In the eyes of PAP, Tan Cheng Bock has a poor image, whereas Halimah has a good image to be President.
Tan Cheng Bock's substance, even though may be much better than Halimah, is of lesser importance or even useless.
In the eyes of the 70%, the opposition has a worse image than PAP to be govt, even though PAP image may be bad. A case of relativity.
Selling Fake Rolex.
If someone keeps quoting LKY, do you think he is also like a fake Rolex?
There are many airlines which claim to be tge best in services, safety and price, in their inflight magazines.
Then there are those who claim to be rated as best and the number one by their customers. And yet there are others who engage airlines rating agencies to make spurious claims?
The bogus ranking organisations made the stupid in NTU to hire more foreigners and recruit more foreign students. At the same time Sinkie lecturers and even administrators were sacked and Sinkie children lost their places in the uni.
That is not all. The stupid then conned the stupid in the garment to pay for these foreign lecturers and students, some even fake lecturers with the taxpayers money. And all the stupids in NTU and in garment are happy and so were the bogus ranking organisations and foreign lecturers and foreign students.
The really unhappys are the Sinkie lecturers and students. These were made to become the real stupid, the real losers. And the parents of these students, the taxpayers too became the paymasters for the stupidity without knowing why.
The Party is made of Fake talents as Leeders; NTU key bootlicking bureaucrats are just following examples of Fake Leeders at the expense of Sinkie lecturers and students. Its always about the interests of a few top dogs when it comes to the bottomline in SinkingPore.
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