A strong team determines business survival chances

Tran Qui Thanh and his family are on a fulfilling mission to make a name in beverages

Tran Qui Thanh, founder and CEO of Tan Hiep Phat Beverage Group (THP Group) believes that human resources are one of the critical factors determining the longevity of a business.

Since the group’s establishment in 1994, Tan Hiep Phat has set itself the mission of contributing to Vietnam’s prosperity by creating the nation's leading beverage brands. Becoming a pioneer in the country’s food and beverage sector, while serving consumers on a global scale is the aspiration of the founder of the group. Thanh hopes that Vietnamese beverage brands will be able to secure a more powerful position in the international market.

In order for a business to survive, it is important to focus on building a succession that is strong enough, capable to satisfy clients and continue to fulfil the founder’s ambitions to set the business on a growing path. This is especially crucial nowadays, amid threatening crises and brain drains.

The business environment is ever so uncertain and things can change within merely a blink. The larger the business expands, more issues will come to life – which means efficient management is always necessary to minimise possible hindrances. At Tan Hiep Phat, properly nourishing human resources today means an everlasting enterprise tomorrow.

“We have a consistent and concise business philosophy: the right people for the right job,” said Thanh. “However, it will only be right when the individual’s capacity can meet the company’s core values. Any employee will be evaluated transparently based on core values.”

For him, with the rapidly changing and doubtful business world today, the most essential core value that a person or an enterprise should mark in their mind is integrity. If there is no righteousness in a person, he or she could not stand face-to-face in front of anyone or any organisation, and will not be able to improve – not to mention lifting up the society.

Tan Hiep Phat has been fighting for 25 years in the ups and downs of the business battlefield to develop his company to be one of the largest family businesses in the Vietnam’s fast-moving consumer goods market. Perhaps, it is not without a hand of the group’s deputy general director Tran Uyen Phuong, the beloved daughter to Thanh.

Joining Tan Hiep Phat in 2004 and learning many lessons from her father’s journey, Phuong now holds the responsibility for the company’s marketing, of public relations and corporate social responsibility programmes across Vietnam’s 63 cities and provinces, while also leading the group’s international marketing programmes across 16 global markets.

With the lifetime aspiration of building an efficient succession team that can continue our mission, the group has co-operated with Development Dimensions International to come up with a roadmap for building a succession team with high capacity of leadership.

The CEO emphasised, “A business wishing to develop sustainably must clearly identify its goals and visions. We must focus on improving ourselves, constantly innovating in many aspects, such as revenue, profits, people, markets, organisation management - and most importantly, more and more dedication to the society.”