SunCity: Beyond the Green Marking

Sunway City Berhad (also known as SunCity) is a well-known Malaysian company focusing on premium property development and investment. It began operation in 1986, and had since continued to integrate various innovations in its property offerings. In mid-2008, the global economic crisis had affected the overall performance of the Malaysian property development sector. In the midst of the crisis, SunCity realized that it needed to take a preemptive action to face the crisis. At the end of the year, SunCity applied for the Green Mark certification by the Singapore’s Building and Construction Authority (BCA) for two of its most recently launched projects. Although SunCity had consistently integrated green features in its projects to meet customer’s demands for the last several years, it had yet to obtain a proper evaluation of such efforts. Obtaining the certification was a way of demonstrating SunCity’s commitments toward creating values for its customers. By April 2009, while SunCity had the BCA Green Mark certifications in hand, the company’s top management team was aware that the construction industry was not doing well, and that getting the certification was expensive. As such, proper strategies were urgently needed to help avoid further decline in the company’s profitability. This case study aimed to analyze SunCity’s green initiatives and to stimulate discussion on the appropriate ‘green’ strategies that the company can implement in the future.