From a company worth a few hundred million baht with 80 employees back in 1991, AP (Thailand) PLC is today a real estate empire with revenue over ten billion baht, around 2,000 staff and over 100 real estate projects under development all around Bangkok. Mr Anuphong Assavabhokhin, Chief Executive Officer, has led his real estate empire to face the greater challenges of the digital disruptive era with his outstanding vision and belief that the company will not just sit and wait until the disruption hits the business, but will act and disrupt first.
“If we don’t change the way we do business right now, one day our growth will hit a ceiling and stall,” Anuphong stated. “Although the so-called disruption doesn’t affect AP that much at the moment, we must admit that the real estate sector, in general, has seen a slowdown for four consecutive years, with the same revenue figures for all operators across the board. All these negative signs once worried and stressed me to the point that I thought of quitting altogether. In that moment, I lost my passion to work and each day at the office seemed like a chore, which adversely affected my business partners and my teams.”
“Fortunately, not long after that let-down, I met Dr C. Terry Warner, an American professor of psychology and founder of the Arbinger Institute. He introduced me to his ‘Outward Mindset’ practice that heavily focuses on adjusting our vision towards the world, ourselves and others in order to recover harmony, work/life balance, and happiness. After several personal coaching sessions with Dr Warner for a full whole year in 2017, I have passed what I learnt along to my staff at all levels. The practice not only brings to AP people out-of-the-box thinking, but also happiness in the workplace.”
Anuphong added, “Now we look beyond ourselves. We see the real person we are inside and truly understand that no one in our organisation is superior to another. The real key to AP’s success is open-mindedness which makes everyone’s voice heard and counted.”
All this marks a new beginning for AP with a corporate culture overhaul led by Anuphong who aims to turn his promising new-gen officers into “Independence Responsibility Leaders” by providing them with opportunities to make critical business decisions that steadily instil a sense of ownership into them. AP’s new direction is passed along to all segments of its operation, including the teams working on detached houses, townhouses and condominiums. All the leading young executives in the respective fields are given freedom and decision-making power while at the same time cultivating a responsible leadership mindset and adhering to the ultimate corporate goal of delivering top-notch housing solutions that foster good quality of life for urban dwellers.
Anuphong further commented that, “Our initial success indicators right after adopting Outward Mindset practice recorded far less quarrelling among us. Besides the said practice, to prepare our people to better handle disruptive changes, we partnered with Professor from Stanford University and adopted its ‘Stanford Design Thinking’ methodology in our product and service innovation and development processes.”
“In this regard, we place high emphasis on the ‘Empathy’ step that deeply explores, observes and collects all relevant data to fully understand customers’ real needs. Since adopting the Stanford Design Thinking methods, there have been several occasions where we have found customers’ hidden or unmet needs that have spurred breakthrough innovations that truly satisfy our customers across all segments. Moreover, the Stanford’s Design Thinking methodology has proven effective across all functions. Even our finance department has adopted the methods to improve its workload and win the hearts of all our suppliers.”
Four years of change and organisational reform have brought AP great success in 2018, with the solid proof of record-breaking accumulated sales across all segments amounting to over 42 billion baht. Q3 2018 revenue alone amounted to over 27 billion baht, accounting for 50% growth year-on-year.
Other strategies contributing to AP’s success include: managing product and service portfolios based on customers’ real demands and buying power; diversifying vertical and horizontal development projects in promising urban landscapes based on customers’ living preferences, and; designing interior elements across all development projects with form and function in mind, incorporating the latest technologies that serve new generation lifestyles.
“For 27 years in this industry, I have always upheld the principles of lifelong learning, working hard and respecting others. Since founding AP, my unwavering goal has been to create housing solutions that foster quality of life and perfect living experiences in every dimension, thereby serving and contributing towards the country’s development. With our resolute goals and on-point strategies, AP (Thailand) has reaped eminent success and continues along the path of consistent real estate R&D, delivering impactful innovations that lead to the ultimate goal of fostering sustainable quality of life.”
