Siam Cement CEO as Businessman of the Year

Some even revealed takeover deals days after the floods left Bangkok, to show the continued growth path. And because of the floods, more see the importance of business sustainability after realising that a company cannot succeed when stakeholders are in a miserable condition.
Our Businessman of the Year, Kan Trakulhoon, president and chief executive officer of Siam Cement Group (SCG), stood out on all fronts.
One candidate for this year was Pailin Chuchottaworn, the former president of IRPC who recently won the CNBC Asia award for the company’s turnaround.
Others included the late Thai Chamber of Commerce chairman Dusit Nontanakorn, whose anti-corruption commitment still inspires others; Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul, chairwoman of Toshiba Thailand, who dutifully fought floods and corruption; and Mai Tan beverage company CEO Tan Passakornnatee, who inspired everyone towards positive thinking even though his plant was submerged.
SCG was outstanding in the way that it experienced minimal disruption in operations, even though the floods at one point or another covered one-fourth of the country. Thanks go to its business-continuity plan, conceived in the aftermath of the political upheaval in 2010.
To ensure smooth operations of the group, which consists of more than 200 companies in the petrochemical, cement, paper and distribution businesses, the plan was drawn up. And besides political eruptions, the plan is designed with help from Accenture to smooth operations during unprecedented situations such as natural disasters.
The plan was first activated during the flooding, allowing SCG to maintain normal contact with customers and suppliers.
When the run-off reached Pathum Thani and threatened to invade inner Bangkok, including Bang Sue, where the company’s head office is located, employees in the distribution, sales and service operations were the first to move to the Critical Centre in Chon Buri on October 19. Others followed until the centre was manned by 420 employees.
About 1,000 hotel rooms in Chon Buri and Rayong were turned into temporary accommodations for the staff working there and those affected by floods. Kan also stationed himself in both provinces.
Under his guidance, SCG has extended assistance at length to flood victims, including its employees. The 6,000 employees at the head office were told to work from home on October 20. A team was dispatched to help employees whose houses were flooded and hotel rooms in Chon Buri and Rayong were booked for their families.
“If their houses are flooded, how can they come to work? Some had to move out of their homes and rent apartments. I’m glad that when everything settled down, our employees turned themselves into volunteers to help other flood victims,” he said.
SCG is among the enterprises inside and outside the Kingdom that reached out to flood victims. It distributed more than 20,000 relief kits, boats, water tanks, life jackets and specially designed mobile toilets, which were valued at more than Bt200 million. It supplied flood-protection materials to the government and to Bangkok, including a million sandbags.
The company also looked forward to post-flood rehabilitation. It distributed manuals offering house-repair tips. A repair clinic, staffed by a team of engineers and architects, was opened to provide advice on how to repair houses and roads. It will also offer discounts on construction materials and will work for the rehabilitation of 300 schools and |nurseries through volunteer employees.
Rather than ruining the company’s morale, the disaster inspired the group to invent products that could help cushion the impact.
“We will seriously explore housing innovation to cope with flood disasters and help disseminate preventive measures to the general public,” Kan said.
Invention fits another of Kan’s missions – to turn SCG into an innovative company whose revenue is driven by environment-friendly but value-added products. It was his predecessor, Chumpol NaLamlieng, who initiated the project, but Kan played a pivotal role in making it happen. Taking the helm of the industrial conglomerate in 2006, he has set aside bigger budgets for research and development, which this year exceeded Bt1 billion.
By 2015, it aims to transform itself from a commodity-based domestic player concentrating on cost leadership into an Asean business leader focusing on high-value-added (HVA) products and services, brands, technology and green initiatives. The HVA proportion is expected to expand rapidly to 50 per cent in that year from 29 per cent in 2010, 25 per cent in 2009 and 19 per cent in 2008.
Supporting this is the tens of billions of baht it gained from divesting a stake in PTT Chemical. To confirm the management team’s plan to spend all that amount within two years to expand its regional prowess, SCG this month disclosed the Bt6.2-billion takeover of Thai Plastic and Chemicals.
SCG’s solid corporate development is reflected through its topping the Dow Jones Sustainability Index building-materials and fixture sector for the first time this year, after four straight years at the gold-class level. DJSI is a benchmark indicating the sustainability of a business based on regulatory framework, investors’ benefits, balance of benefits among other stakeholders, and environmental impact.
Mirroring the success was the posting of a nine-month net profit of Bt24 billion this year, the same amount it enjoyed for last year. The benefits are shared. Besides aid to flood victims, each year the group is committed to investing Bt1 billion to address environmental issues.
Kan, 55, knows full well that SCG cannot perform well without support from everyone. For two years in a row, it has hosted the Thailand Sustainable Development Symposium to share its knowledge with local companies, in the belief that sustainable development is a must as environmental changes take a heavy toll on the planet. The events were attended by media from Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines.
“We aim to be the leader in spreading this awareness in the region,” said Kan, who is more than committed to achieving his mission.