Nine Paper Dragons Case Questions

1) How does Mrs. Cheung think? What does she believe in when it comes to building her business?

It is interesting to read how NPD gained its’ success through the waste or trash of the United States and Europe. I think this is right in line with how Mrs. Cheung thinks; she wants to be ahead of all her competitors and gain every competitive advantage possible. By utilizing the paper waste of higher quality products in the US and Europe, she was able to bring this quality back to China where it was nonexistent. As you can see in the reading as well, Mrs. Cheung believes in rapid expansion to maximize revenue opportunity and that long term profits will come from taking on a lot of debt. But even as she said when speaking about the economic crisis: “Now the waves are so big, even some rocks are being washed away.” The economic crisis of 2008 did not only affect the small companies, but also the large and profitable ones like Nine Paper Dragons.

2) How would you summarize the company’s financial status? How does it reflect the business development goals and strategies employed by Mrs. Cheung?

I would summarize the company’s financial status as struggling at the point this article was written. The company’s unsecured notes were rated as BBB- in April, 2008 and downgraded even lower to BB+ in October of 2008. On top of that, even though the company had a successful IPO in March of 2006, the debt accumulated after this IPO really hurt the company when the financial crisis hit in 2008. This demonstrates Mrs. Cheung’s vision to take chances and be the market trend setter for her industry. It appeared though that she spread herself too thin through expansion and also through the large amount of debt she accumulated.

3) Is NDP in trouble? How would you answer differ if you were an existing shareholder, potential investor,