Creative thinking drives best outcomes in tough times

For AP employees, it is a way to ignite their creative thinking, to allow them to “think different” to create, develop and differentiate residential innovations while keeping in mind AP’s three core values of space utilisation, life’s conveniences, and product quality.
If you ask me what the difference is between real-estate business trends from this day forward and the one that took shape 25 years ago, the one thing that remains unchanged is that the real-estate business then and now depends on consumers’ trust in the country’s overall economy. 
Therefore, if the overall economy is doing well, the real-estate sector will do well, too.
Meanwhile, market competition has definitely changed. 
People used to say that real estate is a market where big players devour smaller ones; however, the competition from now on will be between big tycoons who are equally equipped with the same readiness. 
Project concept or marketing activities will become even more intense.
An interesting question is: what is the future challenge for the real-estate business?
Our aim is to create product and service differences in order to drive the business forward, but more important and challenging, is getting everyone to be prepared in terms of “People”. 
Having precise visions will not be enough to reach our goal. People – an important component in any organisation – is the key weapon for business in a situation like this when there are not so many experts in the field. 
We see recruitment wars happen from time to time, so a challenge for AP from this day forward is to produce people of quality – AP’s style – and systematically nurture different thinking methods by combining theoretical and practical knowledge, giving people new propositions that challenge their ideas as well as provide thought-sharing opportunities, so employees can have fun at work.
Apart from getting prepared in terms of people, the other important thing that needs to be ready at the same time is “Process and Template”. 
Even if people are prepared and ready, if the internal working system is not dedicated to work standards, then it will be difficult to reach the main goal. Process and Template can contribute in controlling the work standard in an organisation, be it construction-standard control or aftersales service. 
But the word ‘standard’ can have a different meaning for each individual. For instance, the word ‘clean’ has a different meaning from a maid’s perspective compared to that of an AP staff member. 
As such, Template must clearly indicate what exactly is ‘clean’ for AP. This should be followed by a checklist that oversees the work itself. 
Systematically creating process and template will help us cross-check each step of the work proficiently.
Finally, if you ask me what difficulties the real-estate industry will be facing next year, I can tell you that nothing will be easy.
In general, everything will be difficult. Land plots will definitely be more difficult to find, while the marketing mechanism will be more complicated. 
Consumer behaviour will change and remain divided into small segments, while consumers will continue to enjoy the Internet and social media to freely express their perspectives, preferences, distastes, requirements, opinions, complaints, as well as emotions and feelings. 
In addition, with the fierce competition between big tycoons who are well equipped with capital and business experience, People – Process – Template hold the keys to driving an organisation in 2017.