Heirs to four of Thailand’s most prominent family-run businesses share a common goal: ensuring their businesses secure a foothold in Asean over the next 10 years

Business scions share insights

Sucheera Pinijparakarn
The Nation June 3, 2013 1:00 am

From right: Suphachai Chearavanont, CEO of True Corporation, Thapana Sirivadhanabhakdi, CEO of Thai Beverage, Tos Chirathivat, executive director of the Central Group of Companies and CEO of Central Retail Corporation (CRC), and Puttipong Prasarttong-Osot

Sons of four big families give an insight into their thinking, plans

Heirs to four of the Kingdom’s most prominent family-run businesses share a common goal: ensuring their businesses secure a foothold in Asean over the next 10 years.

Thai Beverage is building a clear footprint for its non-alcoholic-beverage business, after acquiring Singapore-based Fraser and Neave (F&N). ThaiBev wants to be a regional powerhouse. In preparation for this, it is restructuring its organisation, working processes and human resources to ensure it is equipped for the step into Asean, according to Thapana Sirivadhanabhakdi, ThaiBev chief executive officer and president.Thapana, the first son of billionaire and ThaiBev founder Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, said that as a member of the second generation, he placed most importance on the sustainability of the business.

ThaiBev was founded on the strength of an alcohol concession – a sector in which sustainability is an issue. Therefore, the company decided to go outside this field to build a non-alcohol portfolio.

“The listing on the Singapore stock market in 2006 indicates the direction of ThaiBev: We want to change our management path from a one-man show to [corporate] governance and look for opportunities to expand to non-alcoholic products in the region,” Thapana said.

Referring to the recent F&N deal, Thapana said that after listing on the Singapore market, ThaiBev began to study and learn about the business movements of F&N.

He said F&N had a clearer business direction than ThaiBev, especially in terms of cost management. The acquisition will help strengthen ThaiBev’s position in terms of costs to ensure competitiveness in Asean, he said.

“We are building both brand awareness and distribution networks along with cost management to ensure leadership in the non-alcoholic beverage sector in Asean.” 

Speaking at a seminar on business success and sustainability organised for customers of Bangkok Bank last week, Tos Chirathivat, executive director of the Central Group of Companies and chief executive of Central Retail Corporation (CRC), said that while not all the details of Central’s strategy for the next decade were clear, Central Group’s business strategy would never be far from Asean because of the region’s potential in terms of trade and investment.

“We will pioneer our retail business in the Asean region. In five years the group will go beyond this to areas including China, Europe and America. This is a turning point for Central Group to move ahead and go abroad,” he said. 

Tos, a member of the third generation of Central Group management, said that for the first generation, doing business was about taking risks and patiently trying to accelerate growth. It was most important for succeeding generations to think about how to invest to reinforce the speed of annual revenue growth, which Central Group targets at no less than 15 per cent, Tos said.

Family businesses must have professional financial staff to help make decisions on investment. Good investments will support further growth, he said.

The third and subsequent generations of family businesses must not be too strict about excluding non-family members, he said, noting that professional executives should be brought in to help run businesses, and Central was thinking about this issue now.

Puttipong Prasarttong-Osoth, chief executive officer of Bangkok Airways, said the economic integration of Asean was an opportunity for airlines. Travel in the Asean region shows strong growth compared with Europe and the United States. Bangkok Airways believes that both business travel and tourism will drive the growth of airlines.

He said that for members of the second generations in family businesses, of which he is one, the most important thing was to show to employees and executives from the first generation that they have ambition and intent in running the business. Trust and respect must be built among co-workers in making the business succeed, he said. 

Suphachai Chearavanont, CEO of True Corporation, the tele-communications arm of conglomerate Charoen Pokphand Group, said CP Group was now a global player in the agricultural and food business. 

As head of telecommunications business, he wants to build True Corp to be the leading player in Asean in the next 10 years.

True Corp expects to have 10 per cent of the global e-commerce and online-content markets within the next decade, he said.

Suphachai, the son of Dhanin Chearavanont, the country’s richest man and founder of the CP Group, said he did not limit himself to the agricultural and food business, as his father had expressed his desire that his children initiate their own businesses.

He said he had learned from his father that a crisis could be an opportunity, and that opportunities could lead to change. Leaders must be visionary, pioneering and adaptable. With these three elements, a business can be sustained from generation to generation, he said.