TASK 1（Part B）BIOGRAPHY OF ENTREPRENEUR

First of all, our group has chosen Tan Sri Robert Kuok as our entrepreneur in this project. The full name of Robert Kuok is Robert Kuok Hock Nien. Tan Sri Robert Kuok has been the richest man in South East Asia since 2002. He is in the sugar business. Robert Kuok's father arrived in Malaya from Fujian, China at the beginning of the 20th century, and Robert was the youngest of three brothers, born on 6 October 1923, in Johor Bahru. He grew up speaking his parents' Chinese Fuzhou dialect, English and Japanese during Japan's wartime occupation of Malaya.

      Today, Tan Sri Robert Kuok owns multiple enterprises across Malaysia and has investments across the countries like Australia, Fiji, Singapore, Philippines, Mainland, Thailand, Indonesia and China include 10 bottling companies for Coca Cola, and ownership of the Beijing World Trade Centre. Tan Sri Robert Kuok’s diverse business interests include the fields of sugar refineries, sugarcane plantation, oil, mining, finance, trading, properties, freight, and publishing. He owns Transmile Group, for transporting freight between India and China by air, and stakes in Malaysia International Shipping Corporation.

       Tan Sri Robert Kuok completed school education from Raffles Institution in Singapore. After completing his graduation, he started his career as a merchant of Sugar, wheat flour and rice. However, he claims that the first job he took up was working as an office boy.

        Between 1942 and 1945, Tan Sri Robert Kuok served in Japanese industrial conglomerate Mitsubishi, a grain department and in 1949, he founded the Kuok Brothers Sdn Bhd to invest in sugar refineries. In 1957, Malaysia became independent and he started expanding his business across the country. In 1961, he began buying cheap sugar from India and selling it to Malaysia. Soon, he controlled 80% of sugar market of the country with 1.5 million tones productions. He achieved the title of ‘The Sugar King of Asia’.

       In 1971, Tan Sri Robert Kuok established the first Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore. He founded his second hotel the Kowloon Shangri-La at the Tsim Sha Tsui East waterfront in 1977. In the year 1993, his company the Kerry Group purchased a 34.9% stake in the South China Morning Post from Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation and the same year on April 1, 1993, he officially retired from the company and started living in Hong Kong. He has also been chosen as one of the representatives of the Hong Kong sovereignty. Kuok Group has sold two of its sugar industries in Malaysia for $365 million. According to Forbes Magazine 2011, he is the world’s 61st richest person with $12.5 billion fortune.

TASK 1 – PART B (COMPANY PROFILE OF ENTREPRENEUR)

        The Kuok group of companies (the "Kuok Group") began business as Kuok Brothers Limited in 1949 in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, trading rice, sugar and wheat flour. Business activities expanded and in 1952, a Singapore branch was established. The business of the Singapore branch was subsequently taken over by a Singapore company which Kuok Brothers Limited acquired in 1960 and which changed its name to Kuok (Singapore) Limited in 1965. From its humble beginnings, the Kuok Group has grown to become one of Asia's most diversified and dynamic multinational conglomerates.

From its established trading bases in Malaysia and Singapore, the Kuok Group expanded its operations in the 1950s and 1960s to Thailand and Indonesia. It focused on complementary and related activities for growth, and also pursued new businesses and trading opportunities, especially in commodities, that resulted in trading links with companies in Paris, London, New York, Moscow and China. Hong Kong and China became the focus of further regional expansion in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1974, Kerry Holdings Limited was established in Hong Kong. The name "Kerry" has since become identified with the Kuok Group's extensive operations in Hong Kong and China.

Today, the Kuok Group operates through three main holding companies. Kuok (Singapore) Limited is the holding company for the Kuok Group's operations in Singapore. The other two holding companies are Kuok Brothers Sdn Bhd in Malaysia and Kerry Holdings Limited in Hong Kong.

Kerry Group is one of the largest and most technologically advanced ingredients companies in the world, producing thousands of application specific ingredients for the world’s leading food manufacturers and foodservice companies. With the world class manufacturing facilities and dedicated sales offices, Kerry Group have a strong presence in Asia. The product development teams specialize in application specific ingredients designed to meet the needs of our customers.

Kerry Group Limited operates in hotels, real estate, and industrial manufacturing businesses. The company also operates in producing edible and palm oil; logistics and warehousing; sugar plantations and refineries; bottling plants; and publishing newspapers. Kerry Group Limited is based in Central, Hong Kong. The company has operations in Singapore, China, and Southeast Asia.

TASK 1 – PART B (FIVE TRAITS OF ENTREPRENEUR)

Our chosen entrepreneur, Tan Sri Robert Kuok is having five entrepreneurial traits which highlighted in the Part A. The five entrepreneurial traits are as stated below:

1.    Visionary

Every entrepreneur need have traits of visionary. Entrepreneurs who have the visionary to make the best decision and consider the challenges, threats and opportunities that will be encountered.

For example, Tan Sri Robert Kuok able to invest all the money into sugar business which take such high risk and at that time no one is into this business in Malaysia. Tan Sri Robert Kuok have long visionary and think sugar is basic food necessity besides rice and wheat, thus it is very important. That's why he invest in sugar business because see the potential about it.

2.    Failure is an option

Failure is a word that, understandably it also carries a negative connotation. Nobody wants to fail, really. But failure, if are doing anything worthwhile, is inevitable. What's important is to plan for failure, learn from it, try to avoid damage and do your best to recover gracefully.

Tan Sri Robert Kuok have face some roadblock in his sugar business. In 1963, Tan Sri Robert Kuok is too brave and overconfident to keep 200 thousands tones of stock because of anticipating the sugar market price will go up at that time. This can allow to earn plenty of money. But who knows the market not only just stagnant but it went down. It almost caused Tan Sri Robert Kuok to bankrupt but luckily the typhoon hit in Cuba saved he. The incident caused tremendous damage to the sugar cane farm in Cuba at that time sugar is major production in the world which eventually caused the sugar market price went up. After that incident, Tan Sri Robert Kuok must think twice before do any decision.

3.    Proactive

Proactive is most important for every entrepreneur. Being a proactive entrepreneur need includes a proactive analysis of the current situation, a quality prognosis of future outcomes and solving problems which might appear in the future. Being proactive demands responsibility, additional motivation, understanding the situation, clearly communicating with your superiors, subordinates and colleagues regarding future goals, communicating with clients about their needs and predicting their needs.

Formerly, many competitors at that time, Tan Sri Robert Kuok can win all of them the one of the reason is he can speak English well. At that time, not many people can speak English and this impressed those business men from western countries and that's why it was easier to approach them. In the morning and at night, Tan Sri Robert Kuok visited their office and treated one of them for dinner. During the dinner, he basically try to learn and capture whatever ideas that they had in their mind. After that, Tan Sri Robert Kuok took those ideas and send back to Singapore for research. Tan Sri Robert Kuok will be successful because of hardworking, commitment and determination by himself.

4.    Networked

The ability to network is one of the most crucial skills any entrepreneur can have. Be a good networker should be sincere, friendly, supportive, a good listener or someone who follows up and stays in touch. Networking helps entrepreneur become more interconnected within industry, opens the door for new partnerships and creates visibility the company.

China requested Tan Sri Robert Kuok help to buy 300 thousand tons of sugar, but Tan Sri Robert Kuok not take this opportunity to earn from it because he think this is not royal to China. Because of this, Tan Sri Robert Kuok have been respected by others and also increased his own company popularity. Other companies is more comfortable with do business with him.

5.    Open culture 

Open Culture is a concept according to which knowledge should be spread freely and its growth should come from developing, altering or enriching already existing works on the basis of sharing and collaboration, without being restricted by rules linked to the legal protection of intellectual property.

Tan Sri Robert Kuok is not focus on Sugar business only. In business, entrepreneur should always involve in few types of business because they are inter-related. After achieved the title of ‘The Sugar King of Asia’, Tan Sri Robert Kuok also call ‘Hotel King’. Hotel is not like the other businesses that he have. It is a service industry where the most important element in this industry is employees. Every business has own risk, we need to be brave enough the grab the opportunities. However, if every time were run away, will never be rich and successful.

GEORGE DAVIES : VISIONARY

GEORGE DAVIES : VISIONARY

George, the man behind Next, George at ASDA and Per Una at Marks & Spencer, has now created FG4 and he is keen to lend his unique selling flair to its arrival on the retail scene.

George left university because he ‘caught the retailing bug’ working during his summer holiday. This situation happened is because of his visionary. The visionary he has makes ‘mental leaps’ which take ‘what is now’ into ‘what could or should be’. The visionary also draws from a deep understanding of what already is – he had very experienced in the industry in which his new approach is to prove successful. He had observed the situations and listens to gain key insights into how things might be effectively rearranged. And because of the visionary he has, by the early eighties he had amassed massive experience with a range of retailer organizations and started to develop his ‘affordable exclusivity’ vision.

VISIONARY

A visionary entrepreneur is one who is able to see what others are not able to see. In other words this class of entrepreneurs have the right kind of picture in their mind that lets them know what will be the outcome of their business venture.

ADVANTAGES OF VISIONARY

You see the big picture

Visionary people are big picture people. They do not get stuck with unnecessary details. Unlike ordinary leaders, visionary leaders can easily zoom out and see the big picture. They are like a proficient painter who once in a while zooms out and look at his creation from distance to see how perfect it is and how close his creation is to the picture in his mind.

As a visionary leader, by looking at the big picture you become detached from what is going on. As a result you will be able to link various events with one another and take proactive actions before problems show up. You are always ahead of game because in the big picture you can also see your final destination. As a leader who sees the big picture, you take ultimate responsibility for what happens along the way.

Your ultimate goal is clear to yourself and others

Visionary leaders have a definite and clear vision. When the vision is clear, the ultimate goal is also clear not only to you but also to those whom you lead. Having a clear and powerful ultimate goal is crucial in motivating people to strive for achieving that goal. This is a great benefit that by being visionary you can possess.

You become more focused

Another benefit of being visionary is the ability to focus on the worthy. When you focus your energy on what matters, you do not become distracted by external forces. As a result, you always have your vision and your ultimate goal in mind and you remind it to others as well no matter how difficult the situation is.

You are not disappointed with temporary setbacks

Since visionary leaders constantly have their vision in mind and focus on the ultimate goal for their organization, they do not become disappointed with temporary setbacks. Visionary leaders never give up. They learn valuable lessons from failures and never make a mistake twice.

Every one may fail. But failing forward is a benefit. As a visionary leader, you may fall but you stand up right away and move forward because you have a clear vision in front of you. The attitude of not becoming disappointed with temporary setbacks gives the visionary leader the courage to take risks, transform those risks to opportunities, and eventually earn the rewards.

You become a searchlight for others to follow

Visionary leaders are the ones who take the road less travelled. They are even the ones who may discover the paths untraveled. Once they discover an untraveled path, they become searchlights by highlighting the path for others to follow.As a visionary leader, you say no to following the crowd and as a result you become worthy of being followed by the crowd.

CINDY GALLOP : FAILURE IS AN OPTION

CINDY GALLOP : FAILURE IS AN OPTION

She prone to saying that every situation in business and in life can be summed up by a quote from Macbeth, and in this case she with Lady Macbeth: “We fail? But screw your courage to the sticking post, and we'll not fail.” So she has looked failure in the eye, and just kept right on going. She also learned from each failure. “Though you need to make room for failure, you shouldn’t just fail. You need to fail intelligently.” She means each failure has taught her something. Don’t just fail and get nothing out of it. Learn something from each failure that makes better and better over time.

Because of her thinking that failure is an option, she become  an English advertising consultant, she also a founder and former chair of the US branch of advertising firm Bartle Bogle Hegarty, and founder of the “If We Ran The World” and “Make Love Not Porn” companies. According to the TED blog, Gallop's TED Talk "Make Love Not Porn" was one of the "most talked about presentations" at the 2009 TED conference. 

FAILURE IS AN OPTION

Nobody wants to fail, but failing is inevitable on your way to success. So if you never fail then it probably means that you do nothing. Failure shows that you actually do something instead of just sitting in your comfort zone.

ADVANTAGES OF FAILURE

Learning from Failing

When looked at correctly, failure can teach us where we went wrong in the first place, and how we can learn to pick ourselves up again in a pursuit to succeed. There are valuable lessons in failing. Too often people keep trying the same solution and keep getting the same result. Failure can teach us that it is not that we are bad at something, just that we have to try a different method to find success.

Failure reveals our ability.

You'll never know how much weight you can lift until you reach an amount you can't. Trainers often refer to this as "lifting to failure." Pushing yourself as far as you can lets you know what's possible. By avoiding limits, you'll never reach your peak. The fear of failure stops us a lot shorter than failure itself. So keep going until nothing more is possible. Then celebrate what you've accomplished.

Failure makes us stronger.

Those same weight lifters who lift to failure also have learned that is the way they build muscle. At first the tissue is damaged, but it'll heal bigger and stronger than before. Soon the athlete will be able to lift more weight. The same is true for our pursuits. Failure strengthens our character. We humans bounce higher than we fall. Know that with each effort, you grow a little stronger.

Failure inspires us.

When we don't let discouragement hold us back, failure makes our desire burn hotter. Often this inspiration is a wish to avoid another failure. Many people don't know that Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team. "It was good because it made me know what disappointment felt like," he told the Chicago Tribune. "And I knew that I didn't want to have that feeling ever again." This led to a work ethic that would elevate him to legendary status. If failure makes you work harder or focus more, it's an experience with tremendous value.

DATUK WIRA DR. MAZNAH HAMID : OUTCOME ORIENTED

Outcome oriented is a concept of an individual or organization to work with a significant achievement to the desired outcome. Setting an outcome is great, however it can be disappointing experience if you don’t reach the end of goal. Outcome oriented similarly with goals oriented which the elaboration primarily on the benefits associated with attaining goal, or the desirability of the goals is expected to be more significant than the feasibility goals.

The main purpose of outcome oriented person usually they are tend to focus on the goal or desired state during any activities or techniques involved. the person might think a method that can be more valuable to the what outcome they try to reached at the end of the activities.

Outcome oriented also benefit to an entrepreneur where in the outcome frame, it involves the evaluation of activity and information with respect to its relevance to the desired goal.

Other than that, an entrepreneur with outcome oriented threat, they have the primarily responsibility to design the future that they want it to be. Every action they took will dramatically increases the probability that the expectation of the goal are aligned with what they imagined.

These threat are more likely emphasizes a person in business area to think like a winner because a successful people think about what they want and how to get it most of the time. The more optimistic and positive of that person, the more creative they will be coming up with great ideas and recognizing new possibilities in order tom make him move faster to the desired outcome. Lastly, the most important key that attributes to achieve is to thinking ahead into the future because from that we can see how wise the entrepreneur think to make him as what achievement that they get today.

The best entrepreneur that possess these characters is Datuk Wira Dr. Maznah Hamid a very well-known entrepreneur as well as a famous motivational autrhor and speaker. Known as the Iron Lady of Malaysia, Datuk Maznah Hamid can be categorized as an outcome oriented entrepreneur, which she has turned up the Securiforce Company, an unwell-known company that now became a great well-known securities company in Malaysia, with a many of them were established with up to millions of capital.

Previously, Datuk Maznah decided to buy an almost bankrupt unknown security company. She employed a few guars, with herself being jack of all trades including clerk, secretary, manager and sometime as the guard herself. Maznah and her husband willingly to sold their own house and moved to a new smaller place in order to expand their business.

She has success and what she has been cling into is her principle that ‘we must be willing to work more than the salary paid, then eventually we will get more of what we do '. These proven that Maznah is an outcome oriented person where she thinking ahead for what she want it to be. She is an open-minded person where she believes that opportunity doesn’t come directly if we don’t work on what we set to achieved.

LARRY PAGE AND SERGEY BRIN : OPEN CULTURE

Open culture can be best define as a concept of knowledge should be spread freely and its growth should come from developing, altering and enriching already existing works on the basis of sharing and collaboration, without being restricted by rules linked to the legal protection of intellectual property. In other words, open culture is some knowledge that value to be shared to others beyond limits such as rules or regulation. An individual has the characteristic of open culture person must be someone who are open minded and accept any of criticism either bad or good towards him/herself.

Being an ‘open culture’ person may give advantages because it show that person are able to accept the diversity and differences in their surroundings. It proves that individual morale of that person is high. A high morale is a key success because from there it is closely connected to trust, purpose, team loyalty, pride and faith especially in develops the culture within organization. 

Google founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Both met at Stanford University and had built a search engine that used links to determine the importance of individual webpages. By seeing into Google company, the company strive to maintain the open culture, in which everyone is a hands-on contributor and feels comfortable sharing ideas and opinions.

Google has grown and expanded and spread out, keeping a uniform culture has proven difficult between headquarters and satellite offices. In Google, they found that the larger the company becomes, the more that culture to reinvest itself to accommodate more employees and the need for management.

Therefore, from here we can see, what has been adopted in Google Company has make the, the most successful company culture that leads to successful business because their employees does not having stress in dealing with their daily jobs and responsibility. 

FREDERICK W. SMITH : TEAM-ORIENTED

Team orientation can be define as members work together on projects and prefer to not work as individuals.

            The advantages of team-oriented is high effieciently. This is because when we have team-oriented,we can cooperate with our team member to finish our job. Competition and growth also is the advantages of team-oriented. Team-oriented allows team member learn how other member do their jobs, and can be a source of education and inspiration. Less experienced team member can learn and grow from their interactions with senior-level team members. Opportunities to learn from each others' strengths can also lead to a healthy sense of competition that motivates the team to produce greater quantity or quality of product or service.

Frederick W. Smith is one of the entrepreneur who is fulfilling the trait of team-oriented. Smith was born to a well-to-do family in 1944 in a small suburb outside Memphis, Tennessee. His father, who died when Smith was only 4, became a self-made millionaire after founding the Dixie Greyhound Bus Lines and a chain of restaurants called the Toddle House.

In 1971,Smith began his operation Federal Express (FedEx) with 14 Falcon jets servicing 25 cities. The company began offering service to 25 cities, and it began with small packages and documents and a fleet of 14 Falcon 20 (DA-20) jets in 1973. Smith focus was on developing an integrated air-ground system, which had never been done before. In the 1990s, FedEx Ground planned, but later abandoned, a joint service with British Airways to have BA fly a Concorde SST to Shannon, Ireland with FedEx packages on board, and then FedEx would have flown the packages subsonically to their delivery points in Europe. Ron Ponder, a vice president at the time, was in charge of this proposed venture. Hence, , it can be concluded as Frederick W. Smith was taking team-oriented to extending his business around the world.