Asst. Prof. Dr Wilert Puriwat, dean of Chulalongkorn Business School, said that since its launch in 1984, the school has kept the MMP up to date. The MMP responds to the need for executives to have the proper business management skills and knowledge to develop brands, organisations, and eventually the country. Today, successful executives must learn the specific management skills that fit the changing context of business practices.

“This year, Chulalongkorn Business School improved our MMP in terms of the content, speakers, practitioners, and overseas study trip programmes. The improvements enable learners to apply knowledge in practical applications, create new ideas, and gain digital management perspectives through online and offline platforms. The objective of the MMP improvement is not just to bring modern executives on par with international standards, but to go beyond,” said Wilert.

Wilert added that the MMP distinguishes itself from other executive education programmes by having a significantly higher proportion of managerial content. The MMP consists of 60 per cent practical knowledge and 40 per cent networking and relationship-building activities, which are also important.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Supol Durongwatana, head of the MMP, said that this year, the school has advanced the MMP to fulfil the strategic requirements in the age of digital transformation. This means leaders of organisations must revamp their vision and mindset to prepare for the new challenges posed by digital disruption.

“Today, companies conduct integrated business operations in a much more dynamic environment. The new MMP has been developed around the concept ‘Unwrap the Unknown’,” said Supol.

He said the programme offers new topics such as transformational leadership, because corporate executives must be ready to change constantly. Disruptive marketing, digital marketing, rejuvenating marketing, and design thinking are the key topics of the MMP.

The programme also incorporates effective methods that help strengthen organisations facing rising costs and increasing competition. Many tools learned from the MMP will allow executives to crack the problems at hand and grow their businesses by lowering costs, improving efficiency and effectiveness, increasing profit, and through people development.

In addition to business management, wellness management is considered a critical issue for today’s executives. In the past, many executives followed a Western leadership style that focused heavily on profits and resulted in health problems and stress. Executives must therefore learn to be health conscious and consider ways of monitoring their health. Modern executives can learn how to improve performance through maintaining their well-being, thus allowing them to develop business with a healthy, long-term view.

Supol adds that besides the reorganisation of the MMP, the school has selected speakers and practitioners who are highly experienced in each topic, and who have the ability to transfer content that can be immediately executed by participants. The speakers for the 2019 class included Harald Link, chairman of B. Grimm Group;. Somchai Lertsutiwong, CEO of AIS;. Dolchai Bookyaratavet, chairman of Densu One (Bangkok); Vorakpak Tanyawong, an adviser at McKinsey and Co., Ajarn Paothong Thongchua, a well-known archeologist; and the school’s lecturers Assist. Prof. Wilert Puriwat, Dr Ake Pattaratanakun, and Dr Kritinee Pongtanalert.

Foreigners, institutions and individual investors bought Bt57.5 million, Bt36.11 million and Bt361.42 million worth of shares respectively.

Meanwhile, markets in Asia appeared to be generally suffering, with Singapore’s FTSE Straits Times Index closing at 3,368.44, down 4.69 points; Bursa Malaysia KLC Index at 1,652.41, down by 3.26 points; and the Philippines PSEi Index closing at 8,161.49, down by 89.97 points.

The Taiwan Capitalisation Weighted Stock Index also closed 10,935.76, down 11.50 points from Tuesday.

However, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index closed at 28,524.04, up 57.56 points, while Japan’s Nikkei closed at 21,709.57, up 88.69 points.

Chinakit Viphavakit, general manager of ICVeX, told The Nation that the events would play a critical role in the expansion of its business in Myanmar, as the firm is seeking opportunities to widen its reach. With free admission, both events will be held all day from August 15 to 17 at Tatmadaw Hall in Yangon.

“We see high growth in Myanmar as we have new exhibitors joining our shows every year,” he said. “The increasing number can be more stable with the clear policy from the government.”

According to Chinakit, ICVeX is working to provide a one-stop service platform for organising fairs and trade exhibitions in Myanmar, with the support of its parent company. The firm plans to hold Myanmar Build & Décor in October.

“Currently, we are having three shows, and plan to have more profiles by organising events in other cities including Mandalay,” Chinakit said.

Last year, the fairs received around 4,000 visitors each. Chinakit hopes to welcome more visitors this year.

“We hope to get as many visitors as we can. Through these fairs, we create a platform for the food, beverage, restaurants and retail industries in Myanmar to meet with international suppliers,” he said.

“Both events will ensure benefits to visitors, as they can see new products and have a chance to attend a seminar and activities to catch up with the current trends in food and retail industries.”

This year the expos will stress the importance of connecting global manufacturers and retail technology with local businesses to open doors for new business opportunities, strengthen the competitive advantages for the existing businesses as well as create a networking platform for international and local players.

“Exhibitors from Thailand, Korea and Saudi Arabia will also showcase their latest products there so the exhibitions offer the latest of food and beverage supplies as well as fittings, decorations, retail solutions, technologies and retail sourcing products,” Chinakit said.

“We hope our exhibitions will serve the local businesses in terms of providing more product varieties and creating a competitive advantage by offering new F&B products and international standard retail technology and a platform to network with global partners amid the new retail law.”

With the rising middle-class population, Chinakit foresees a stronger growth in Myanmar’s food and beverage and retail industries in the next few years.

Myanmar’s middle class will reach 19 million by 2030, from 2.5 million in 2010. Consumer spending could triple from US$35 billion to $100 billion by 2030, which will generate soaring demand for high-quality groceries, including imported premium meat, seafood, dairy products, alcoholic beverages, even organic items, according to an analysis from Kasikornbank.

“Consumers seem to be looking for new varieties of food. The food and beverage and retail industries need to grow fast by offering new products and services to their clients,” Chinakit said.

“In the next few years, we will see healthy products in this market more and more, as consumer demand for quality food is on the rise and they are all looking for new choices.”

Nay Lin, chairman of the Myanmar Restaurants Association, shares this view.

“Now is the time for entrepreneurs to prepare for the future. By attending these expos, entrepreneurs can benefit from their discussions with international companies, and are able to find more partners and opportunities for their future plans,” he said.

Highlights of the exhibition include new product launches and a special seminar on waste management in the restaurant business by the Myanmar Restaurant Association and a panel discussion on franchising by the Myanmar Retailers Association (MMRA).

Thurein Nyein, secretary general of the MMRA, said Myanmar needs to educate the public on franchising.

“We have chosen this topic because franchising is a new business opportunity in this market. We hope the public will gain more awareness on franchising, as those who are interested can learn from experts about extensive opportunities,” he said.

However, economists question the government’s budget capabilities to fund these projects and suggest that it should prioritise policies that directly boost consumer spending.

The economy is this year projected to grow at a mere 3.1 per cent, the Bank of Thailand said earlier this month, compared to the 4.1 per cent growth witnessed in 2018, .

The key factor dragging down growth has been declining exports, which makes up for more than 75 per cent of the Kingdom’s GDP.

With the new government established, the ministers have announced their immediate economic policies to stimulate growth in the second half of 2019.

First, Finance Minister Uttama Savanayana said that he plans to expand the benefits offered under the welfare card scheme for low-income earners. He also announced that state welfare will also cover pregnant women and firstborns.

Uttama said that in the long term, the government will reform the tax structure in order to address the issue of income inequality in the country.

Mana Nimitvanich, first vice president of the Krungthai Bank’s global business development and strategy group, said: “Through the welfare card policies, the incoming government should be injecting at least Bt4 billion per month into the economy.”

This amounts to around Bt20 billion injection in total by the end of the year from this measure alone.

Transport Minister Saksayam Chidchob stated earlier this week that the government has plans to cut train and bus fares, as well as to propose a flat rate for electric trains at Bt15 for all rides.

This, he said, will be part of the government’s efforts to reduce the cost of living by lowering transport costs.

Energy Minister Sontirat Sontijirawong said that he plans to cap the price of natural gas for vehicles (NGV) at Bt13.62 per kilogram for the next two months. PTT Plc will be tasked with pegging the price in order to ease the pressure from transportation costs and lower the cost of living for the public.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Ministry aims to focus on the agricultural sector. Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanawisit revealed plans to implement a revenue guarantee plan for crop farmers, including those producing rice, rubber, tapioca, palm oil and corn.

“The farmers’ revenue guarantee programme has been one of the most successful campaigns of the previous government and is therefore expected to continue following the existing procedures and regulations which have proved to be working,” he said.

Phacharaphot Nuntramas, senior vice-president for global business development and strategy at Krungthai Macro Research, said: “We also expect the incoming government to relieve the drought problem by providing compensation for farmers who have fallen victim to this year’s dry season.”

He estimated that in the past three months the lost income resulting from the drought amounts to Bt10 billion.

Despite all these policy promises, economists and private-sector representatives are questioning whether the government will have sufficient funds in the budget to finance these economic measures.

The policies promised by the new government suggest that around Bt100 billion will be injected into the economy by the year’s end, said Mana. However, it may be difficult for the stimulus injection to reach this value, given the budgetary issues which the government is facing.

Mana, along with other economists throughout the country, have predicted that the level of public spending and investment will fall off in the fourth quarter of this year as the fiscal budget for 2020 will be delayed by two to three months due to the slow formation of the government.

Even so, Mana said, the government should be able to inject at least Bt60 billion into the economy by the year-end from the current budget.

“Ideally, the government should be spending around Bt100 billion to boost economic growth in the second half of this year. However, it is unclear how the government will fund their policy promises given their budget issues,” said Kriengkrai Thiennukul, vice chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries.

Phacharaphot said: “We expect the incoming government to focus on policies which directly target consumer spending, such as increasing the benefits of the welfare cards and providing compensation for drought-stricken farmers.”

Tim Leelahaphan, an economist at Standard Chartered Bank, said that expanding welfare card benefits is the most likely measure which the incoming government will implement in order to promote consumer spending and stimulate the economy in the second half of this year.

Tim stated that if these policies are implemented effectively, it could cushion the slowdown of the economy, stimulate economic growth in the second half of this year and prevent GDP growth from falling below 3 per cent in 2019.

Piyasvasti Amranand, ERS chairman and former Energy Minister, said the letter his group would be sending contained various proposals, notably that the price of energy be restructured to reflect actual cost.

Others included that competition in the sector be improved, state intervention be reduced, conflicts of interest among state officials be prevented and renewable energy be promoted.

Piyasvasti added that the new government had to ensure transparency and good governance.

If, for example, it granted permission for a private firm to build a power plant without allowing any of its competitors to also bid, it should make public how much of the benefits would accrue to the state and the public in general.

He said that the current policy of cross-subsidising parts of the energy sector was unfair to some groups of consumers.

About 200 people attending a business forum were told that an estimated Bt200 billion could be generated through logistics alone, an amount described by one speaker as “an easy but largely overlooked income”.

Kettivit Sittisoontornwong, president of the Thai International Freight Forwarders Association (TIFF), said the term “free trade” coined by leaders of the countries involved meant little in relation to the actual implementation of imports and exports by Thai customs officials.

He said they were scarcely uninterested in promoting exports because their experience was that the country gained little in tax and tariffs through such trades.

Kettivit also called on the government to do more to make modern technology available, especially in relation to updating databases in the import-export sector. He said many private businesses had already updated their own systems and these were ready to be implemented, pending changes in the law.

Narongchai Akrasanee, of the Mekong Institute, said businesspeople and regional travellers had suffered many administrative and legal setbacks, especially those involved in cross-border trades.

For the first half of the year, rice exports came to 4.36 million tonnes, down 19.6 per cent from the same period of last year, when 5.42 million tonnes were shipped, he said.

He said orders for rice in the global market had dropped in the first half of this year, although orders in the second half should be higher than in the first six months. The effects of the drought will directly impact the production capacity in the market.

“If the drought still persists into August, that would further impact rice production and may result in the year’s exports being lower than our estimate of 9 million tonnes. We may to revise the figure again,” Charoen said.

The latest survey in 2018 indicated that 40 per cent of the surveyed fraud cases were detected by tips.

Globally, governments and regulatory bodies recognise the importance of whistleblowing. For example, in the US, the Sarbanes Oxley Act (section 301) mandates companies trading on the US Stock Exchange to provide a mechanism for employees to anonymously report concerns about accounting or audit irregularities. In the US, the whistleblower can make a report about fraud and white collar crime to the Department of Justice, while in the UK, the whistleblower can make a report about fraud including bribery and corruption to the Serious Fraud Office.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reports that the Commission’s receipt of whistleblower tips reflects an upward trajectory. Total tips received in 2018 were 5,200 while only 6 tips were reported from Thailand.

Recently, the Thai National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) proposed that organisations introduce a reporting channel as 1 of the 8 principles of the bribery control system. In addition, Thai authorities such as NACC and SEC provide channels for whistleblowers to directly report any misconduct.

With an increasing demand for whistleblowing from authorities and its effectiveness as indicated by ACFE’s survey, has the time come for all organisations to consider internal reporting channels putting in place?

Whistleblowing in the wind?

Companies understand that employees see and hear everything that goes on within, including inappropriate behaviour and who is involved. Whistleblowing is, perhaps, the only tool that comes close to pointing out fraud in its nascent stages. It is thus important to build, monitor and continuously nurture this channel. Data from the whistleblower needs to be continuously monitored and integrated into fraud risk management for early detection.

Managing whistleblower complaints effectively

The whistleblower and the complaint are the two main components of every whistleblowing report. Dealing the two with maturity and sensitivity can help the mechanism be successful.

Ongoing support to the whistleblower is important to ensure his/her comfort and that he/she does not face any adverse treatment as a result of his/her actions. Policies should ensure that any detrimental action taken against the whistleblower is treated as a serious matter and that appropriate action is taken.

A clear and well-documented process for managing complaints can give greater confidence to the whistleblower. Usually, an appropriate senior staff member is assigned to deal with the matter. If the allegation is against that or other senior staff members this scenario can run the risk of allegations being ignored or investigations becoming compromised. Employees need to be made aware of the detailed processes around how their complaints will be handled, so that they can gain trust in the system.

Opening wide enough?

Effective whistleblowing must have an “open wide” concept.

– Service hours and channel

Most companies provide a phone number that employees can call during business hours. The calls may be received by dedicated team. Whistleblowers may be reluctant to make hotline calls from the workplace where they could easily be overheard, have their name show up on caller ID, and tracked in telephone call logs. Thus, enabling access to a 24/7 reporting channel can increase the reporting rate. Offering multiple methods of reporting can also help to generate more tips than just a hotline.

– Language:

Whistleblower reports are sensitive and tricky things to communicate, so not being able to use local language can deter whistleblowing or adversely impact a report’s completeness and accuracy.

– Constituencies:

A significant number of tips may come from external sources such as customers, vendors, shareholders or competitors. Encouraging these stakeholders to use your system could generate better tips.

Other characteristics that can encourage whistleblowers to use a hotline include providing anonymity and confidentiality, communicating the independence and transparency in the process, and offering protection to the whistleblower.

Effective communication

A successful whistleblower system requires effective communication to create and maintain awareness of its existence, build employees’ willingness to report, as well as develop employees’ ability to identify potential wrongdoing.

Companies need to focus their communication on assuring employees that their tips will remain confidential and be properly treated. Once employees trust the whistleblowing and are confident to report, they should be educated about red flags, risks and schemes related to unethical activities. This awareness can be part of a fraud risk management and ethical awareness programme. It is important to communicate that every employee has a role in preventing and detecting fraud and the hotline is a key tool to use for that purpose. Armed with this knowledge, employees will be in a better position to act if they experience/witness suspicious behaviour.

Surasak Suthamcharu is a partner in the Forensic Service of Deloitte Thailand. He can be contacted at ssuthamcharu@deloitte.com

Panyarat Chutiratmanee is associate director of the Forensic Service of Deloitte Thailand. He can be contacted at pchutiratmanee@deloitte.com.