At the age of 71, Adirek Sripratak shows no signs of slowing down. The former president and CEO of Charoen Pokphand Foods Plc (CPF) officially became chairman in March, but he is still travelling far and wide in search of new markets and merger and acquisition (M&A) opportunities for one of the world's leading protein food companies.
Photo: Somchai Poomlard
When Asia Focus caught up with Mr Adirek at CPF's Bangkok headquarters last week, the veteran food executive had just returned from a visit to Japan and was about to leave for India and Bangladesh.
"It's still fun and challenging every day when I see new work waiting for me to deal with, together with the changes happening around me," he says.
Chaoroen Pokphand (CP) is the only company Mr Adirek has worked for since he quit the Bank of Thailand at age 20. His first job at CP, founded and majority-owned by Thailand's richest man, Dhanin Chearavanont, was as a clerk at a feed mill in Bangkok, dealing with finance and accounting.
When the CP Group consolidated its agribusiness operations under CPF in 1999, Mr Adirek was appointed chief operating officer of CPF, and became president in 2003.
"I always enjoy taking on new work experiences. I feel bored doing things that are stable. I like new things," he says, explaining one of the reasons why he felt a career in central banking was not for him.
"I felt bored when working at the bank. Then I joined CP and found that I really enjoyed it. What I like the most about my work is investing overseas. Most of my working experience is about pioneering in overseas markets and I like it."
His first overseas assignment involved managing a small feed mill in mainland China for a Hong Kong affiliate of CP.
"CP got a licence to operate a feed mill in the Shenzhen Economic Zone. The project was the first of its kind and CP applied for the project there by joining with a US partner, a relationship that continues today," he says.
"It was tough at first because it was something new but I learned a lot from experience and bit by bit learned how to expand the business to other countries.
"In reality, when we tried new things, I couldn't see anything that would be easy. Everything is difficult. But despite the difficulties, if we studied and gradually got into a market, then things would become easier the third, fourth and fifth times."
One of his most memorable overseas trips with CPF was to Russia. While many people were sceptical about investing there about a decade ago, Mr Adirek's view was that every market has risks, and where the risks are high, there are high returns.
"When I went to Russia for the first time, many people didn't think I should go and they wondered why I was going there," he recalls. "Two years prior than that, 10 people from our company had gone there with each of us having one security guard walking alongside for fear of being kidnapped. They walked us to the hotel room at night and waited at the door in the morning.
"But I thought there were opportunities. I asked Khun Dhanin to invest there, explaining that the country was a good choice because there was a supply shortage of both pork and chicken. Meanwhile, CP technology was considered more advanced than that of other players in Russia at that time. That was why I thought we would be able to compete with them."
How easy, or hard, was it to persuade the boss to commit?
"I spent about 10 minutes attempting to convince the chairman and then he said yes, because we shared the same view about this market," replies Mr Adirek.
"There are many times when I and Khun Dhanin have different opinions on certain issues so we exchange views, but mostly we agree with each other as we have a similar way of thinking."
CPF today has a presence in 16 countries, including Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, India, Taiwan, Turkey, China, Russia, Tanzania, the Philippines, Belgium and England. Many of the businesses abroad were acquisitions of existing operations. The company exports to 40 countries on five continents, covering markets containing 3 billion people.
"There were several proposed deals that we turned down but many agreed deals made me happy and there were no complaints from the board," he says, chuckling. "Instead, we received compliments as almost all of [the businesses] we bought turned to be the right ones."
THE BIGGER THE EASIER?
As CPF continues to expand, Mr Adirek has realised that one thing has clearly become easier.
"As we grow, recruiting capable talent gets easier," he says. "Ten years ago, we found it was not easy for the company to recruit the world's top talents but it has become easier these days. Because we are now bigger in size, we have the capability to attract capable people to work with us."
Currently, CPF employs about 120,000 people worldwide, out of CP Group's total of 350,000. When combined with its privately owned parent, CPF is the world leader in animal feed in terms of production volume, and also in shrimp farming. It ranks second in pork business and among the top five chicken manufacturers.
"At the same time, we have to maintain the current capable staff. If our business does not grow, how can we keep the existing talents? It's impossible. To grow the company, it means you have to attract capable and good people to work with you. That's the driving force for the company to move forward in the long run."
But challenges remain as the business now spans so many countries.
"The company is a mix of people from different cultures because we have businesses in many markets. To blend them into the same culture is vital," he says. "How to build a single culture for all employees to make it easier for us to work is still a challenge."
The right kind of leadership is critical, and Mr Adirek can speak from hands-on experience about what works and what doesn't.
"I didn't have a high educational background," he explains. "When I became a factory manager, I did not have a background in manufacturing. Later, I learned about farming, raising animals, exports and investing overseas as part of my on-the-job training.
"I think the fact that I don't have a high educational background makes me understand how to manage people. When I became a factory manager, I realised what the staff really wanted, what they were thinking and what they wanted to do. Once we understand such things, we know how to respond to their needs in a way that allows us to lead them.
"To complete tasks, it requires teamwork and support from the staff. We have to make our staff understand the targets we are trying to achieve and communicate to make them understand and be willing to do it together.
"Finding a way to make them understand and work hard to accomplish goals is important. I've kept this concept in mind for 40 years. I have also kept in mind that anytime I deal with other people, I need to persuade them to be willing and ready to work with me, and I have to take care of them and help them grow and earn more income and higher positions at the same time.
"For them to get more income, they have to help the company to grow and earn more revenue. Then we can grow together and they can get better income in return. It is very important to build teamwork, with mutual understanding, and to work together for the sake of both sides -- the company and themselves. Eventually, we will all get the benefits. We do not think of our own benefits first but look at how the company and staff would benefit."
Most of the management at CPF are promoted from inside. For example, Sooksunt Jiumjaiswanglerg, who succeeded Mr Adirek as the CEO, was head of CPF's Vietnam operations for 12 years.
"But if we get qualified people in the first place, it will be a good foundation. But it doesn't always mean that those who graduated from good schools with good grades will be good at work. Many of them are not quite successful at work," he notes.
"To be successful at work, you have to get along well in the environment and with co-workers and be willing to sacrifice and cooperate, with an understanding about working together to achieve the goal we are aiming for.
"The most important thing is that I have to build trust and have credibility among both the people above me and my staff, so that we can achieve our targets."
Certainly, the company has minimum requirements. Even for those applying for jobs at animal farms have to have at least a bachelor's degree.
"Bachelor's degree graduates can easily be trained to be leaders or managers but it doesn't mean those graduates from top universities will always be the best leaders," says Mr Adirek. "I have observed that at some leading universities, they focus only on the theoretical side but those students who take part in more activities tend to be successful leaders more than the first group that focuses purely on academics.
"We have proved that in our company, where those at the management level normally have a background in other activities. When working with a number of people, it's difficult if you have experience only on the academic side."
RISK TAKER
In his new role as chairman of CPF, Mr Adirek will oversee strategy and has vowed to remain on the front lines in exploring business opportunities.
"What is stable, not risky, I personally don't like it. I should be the one taking the risk while he shouldn't," says Mr Adirek, referring to his successor in the CEO's chair.
"Risk, let me take it. This is what I am, really."
One big bet CPF has placed involves the US market, where it experienced a couple of failures in its early days. The company in December last year acquired Minneapolis-based Bellisio Foods Inc for nearly US$1.08 billion (40 billion baht).
Bellisio manufactures and distributes single-serve frozen entrees under several brands including Michelina's, Atkins, Boston Market, Chili's, EatingWell, and Eat! It also manufactures private-label and food-service products.
"We cannot avoid investing in the US," says Mr Adirek. "We invest in Russia and China. Why not the US, which is the largest food market in the world with the population of nearly 350 million, and accounts for 22% of the world economy?"
In the past, CPF tried to enter the US market by building new food-processing plants but the attempt failed. "This time, we bought assets and allowed the management to continue their job, without using Thai personnel. This is another big challenge we decided to take.
"It's a careful approach because we know this market is quite tough. This market needs to have strong brands and capable management. We are giving it another try. If possible, we will look for more (M&A) with careful consideration," he adds.
Mr Adirek acknowledges that CPF invests abroad mainly to serve the domestic markets of those countries. At present, 94% of the company's revenue is generated from the markets where it has manufacturing facilities for the domestic market, with just 6% coming from exports, mainly from the Thai base to Europe, the US and Japan.
"I do not like exports. There are many trade barriers and with every shipment we have to deal with import taxes, quotas, traceability, animal welfare, labour, environmental and many other requirements," he says.
"If we have manufacturing bases in those countries and make ourselves a local player, it will be easier. This is what we do -- establish manufacturing to serve the domestic market where we produce."
Given that conditions in every country are different and senior executives in Bangkok cannot always be expected to know what's best, Mr Adirek believes staff in the field should be empowered to make decisions.
"If you are on the front lines and you have to make a decision, make the decision right away and I won't blame you if a mistake occurs," he says.
"Then, your staff will not be afraid about making decisions. They are on the pitch and dealing with what is really happening. Let them make the decision, it will be faster. We have to support them. If we did something wrong, I am the first one to blame, not the others."
With no intention to retire any time soon, Mr Adirek finally says he is willing to deal with the "happy headaches" he encounters at work.
"I am working happily every day because we have good teamwork. We work and help each other," he says.
"In our life, we have two things -- work and family. We spend more time at work than with the family. If we work with sadness and headaches, how can life be happy? We have headaches every day at work but they are happy headaches. Work with happiness, work with friends, and be happy to get problems solved. That's enough for me."