Client Experiences
What owners and directors say about working with us
Advisory relationships are difficult to describe from the outside. These accounts, in clients' own terms, may give a clearer sense of what working with Setia Advisory is like in practice.
Back to HomeClient Accounts
From those who have engaged with us directly
Tan Kok Wai
Managing Director, Selangor
"We were preparing to bring a second person into the ownership structure and had no clear view of what that meant for how decisions would be made afterward. The Strategic Direction Review gave us a written brief that we could both read independently before we sat down together. That changed the quality of those conversations considerably."
Strategic Direction Review · April 2025
Siti Rahayu bt. Ismail
Founder, Kuala Lumpur
"I had been running the Quarterly Advisory arrangement for two quarters when we hit a supplier problem that needed a quick decision. The availability by phone that week was exactly what it was supposed to be — a brief call, a clear way of thinking about it, and then I made the decision. It was not dramatic, which was the point."
Quarterly Advisory Companion · March 2025
Yeoh Lian Hock
Director, Johor Bahru
"The Operational Diagnostic was twenty-two pages. It named four issues, two of which I knew about and two of which I had not quite articulated before. Each one had the operating data next to it. I passed it to my operations manager and we spent three weeks working through it. Good investment."
Operational Diagnostic Brief · February 2025
Rohani bt. Ahmad
CEO, Shah Alam
"What I valued most was that Razlan told us something we did not expect to hear — that our pricing model was creating the margin pressure, not our cost structure. It was not comfortable to read, but it was right. The Strategic Review paid for itself in the first quarter after we adjusted the pricing."
Strategic Direction Review · January 2025
Faizal Noh
Owner-Director, Petaling Jaya
"I had been to a few consultants before and always walked away with a thick deck and a vague feeling that we had not quite discussed my actual problem. The diagnostic brief was different — shorter, more specific, and written in a way my co-director could read without needing a translator for the jargon."
Operational Diagnostic Brief · March 2025
Loh Chin Siong
Managing Director, Penang
"Three quarters into the Quarterly Companion arrangement and I can say it has changed how I prepare for decisions. Having to explain my reasoning to someone who has no stake in the outcome forces a discipline I did not have before. The quarterly summaries are also useful for board conversations."
Quarterly Advisory Companion · April 2025
In More Depth
Three engagements examined more fully
Details have been altered to protect confidentiality. Clients have reviewed and approved the accounts below.
Finding the margin loss in a firm that believed its costs were the problem
The challenge
A light manufacturing firm with twelve staff had seen margin fall from fourteen percent to eight percent over twenty months. Management assumed raw material costs were the cause and were considering supplier renegotiations.
What we found
The diagnostic identified that pricing had remained flat while the product mix had shifted toward lower-margin items. Raw material costs had risen moderately but were not the primary driver. The brief named three specific product lines where pricing had become structurally misaligned.
The outcome
Pricing adjustments on two product lines were implemented within six weeks of the brief. Margin recovered to eleven percent in the following quarter, without any supplier renegotiation.
Preparing a second-generation transfer of a professional services firm
The challenge
A professional services firm founded twenty-two years prior by two partners was approaching a point where one partner intended to reduce involvement. The incoming generation was in place but there was no agreed framework for the commercial and governance transition.
What we examined
The review examined the firm's client concentration, revenue dependency on the exiting partner, governance structure, and three possible transition timelines. The written brief laid out four options with the commercial consequences of each outlined plainly.
The outcome
The partners selected one of the four options and used the brief as the basis for a formal transition agreement with their solicitors. The brief was described by the firm's lawyer as more useful than most commercial summaries they receive from clients.
A trading firm navigating a period of rapid, uneven growth
The situation
A trading firm had seen revenue grow by thirty percent in eighteen months, largely from a single new customer relationship. The managing director recognised the concentration risk but was uncertain how aggressively to pursue diversification without damaging the relationship that was driving growth.
How the arrangement has worked
Across four quarters, the half-day on-site sessions have focused on the diversification question from different angles as the commercial situation has developed. The arrangement has functioned as a regular stress-test of the director's assumptions before commitments are made.
Where things stand
Two additional customer relationships now account for seventeen percent of revenue, a shift the director attributes partly to the clarity the advisory sessions provided about the tolerable pace of diversification. The primary relationship remains intact.
In Numbers
Fourteen years in figures
130+
Engagements completed
92%
Return engagement rate
8
Industries engaged
14
Years in practice
Reach us directly
Telephone
+60 3-2148 7639
Address
23, Jalan Bukit Bintang
55100 Kuala Lumpur
Office Hours
Monday – Friday: 9:00 am – 5:30 pm
Professional standing
IMCM Registered Practice
Institute of Management Consultants Malaysia — registered since 2012.
SME Corp. Advisory Contributor
Invited panel contributor on SME operational efficiency, 2021–2023.
Malaysian Business Review Feature
Featured in 2023 special report on advisory services for family-owned Malaysian enterprises.
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