Most popular minister of the Samak Sundaravej cabinet?
By Jon Fernquest |
The Bangkok Post recently ran an profile on the most popular minister of the Samak Sundaravej cabinet, Commerce Minister Mingkwan Sangsuwan.
Mr. Mingkwan began work in the private sector at age 21 as a salesperson for Toyota Motor Thailand.
He worked his way up the corporate ladder until he reached the position of vice-president of public affairs at Toyota.
At age 49 he moved to the public sector and spearheaded the privatisation of MCOT (Mass Communication Organisation of Thailand) and modernized channel 9, working as a government official in the Thaksin administration.
As head of MCOT Mr. Mingkwan aired the state of emergency address by former prime minister Thaksin hours before the 2006 coup and later had to resign from his position as a result.
Joining up with the PPP and the Samak administration, he has been active in goverment efforts to rein in inflation and has big plans for Thai industry during his tenure as Commerce Minister outlined in this article.
Here is the article in full:
Marketing Man
In spite of how the public views him, the Commerce Minister sees himself more as a strategist.By Phusadee Arunmas
Tuesday April 08, 2008
Jewellery, textiles and garments, entertainment, IT and animation, and Thai fruit are among the key elements underlying the vision the salesman-turned-minister has for Thailand.
He scored the highest in the latest Bangkok University opinion survey of public confidence in the Samak Sundaravej cabinet, outpacing even Mr Samak himself.
He's probably the most active and certainly the most frequently quoted minister in the Samak cabinet, holding forth daily for the media on rising consumer prices, higher product costs, and his mission to revive the economy.
Seeking the media limelight might be part of Mingkwan Sangsuwan's marketing instinct, but he says he is in a race against time to live up to the high expectations people have placed in him.
"My ultimate goal is to grow the country's economy and make all walks of life happy," says the commerce minister and deputy prime minister in charge of economic policy.
"I'm a guy with no [political] costs, so I have nothing to retrieve. There's no question at all about any vested interests behind whatever policies I have."
Mr Mingkwan is a relative newcomer to politics, having made headlines earlier in corporate life. His first career experience with the government sector was at the Mass Communication Organisation of Thailand (MCOT), where played a key role in the privatisation and rebranding of the broadcaster.
Mr Mingkwan left Toyota (Thailand) in 2002 to take the top position at the state-run organisation, where he proceeded to make dramatic and successful changes.
In Mr Mingkwan's first four-year term (2002-05), he successfully privatised MCOT, listing it on the stock exchange in late 2004. He also transformed Channel 9 into Modern 9 TV, as well as adopting a niche market strategy for a knowledge-based society.
However, Mr Mingkwan and the former MCOT board members later resigned in September 2006 to accept responsibility for the airing of a state of emergency declaration by former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra on Channel 9, hours before he was ousted by the military on Sept 19.
Suddenly unemployed, Mr Mingkwan was pondering whether he should get back into the business world as a marketing guru or move on to something else. But the People Power Party (PPP), formed from the ashes of Mr Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai, finally talked him into politics as it prepared for the post-coup election last December.
When the PPP formed the government, it soon became clear that Mr Mingkwan was going to have a very high profile in the Samak cabinet.
"I had worked in the private sector from age 21 to 49, starting as a salesperson with Toyota Motor Thailand and eventually becoming vice-president of its public affairs department. That gave me more than enough to live the rest of my life," he says. "What I want to do from now is just to dedicate myself to the country and leave my performance to be remembered by the next generations."
Drawing on his strengths as a strategic thinker, Mr Mingkwan is selling a big-picture approach to public service. He pledges not only to raise the incomes of the farmers but also augment the revenue of the country both through the promotion of strong existing industries and new ones with potential.
He is determined to see the country's gems and jewellery industry earn 250 billion baht in export revenue this year, up from 180 billion in 2007.
He's also set a target of 500 billion baht for textiles and garments, and 300 billion for entertainment, information technology and computer graphics and animation.
Mr Mingkwan also pledges to maximise the country's revenue, mainly through the promotion of foreign investment in the real sector, increased tourism, export growth and value-added entertainment businesses such as music and movies.
Foreign market expansion would also focus on all ranges of Thai products from agricultural to industrial goods.
Sourcing of raw materials, funding sources and upgrading Thai skills, education and design as well as exploring new markets would also be beefed up.
"Special promotion will be given particularly to indigenous and unique Thai fruits such as durian, mangosteen, longan, longong, and rambutan. These Thai tropical fruits have uniqueness. For instance, whenever we eat durian, we can identify immediately that the durian we are eating is from Thailand. Thai fruit offers huge potential for growth with the right marketing, logistics and support."
Mr Mingkwan is also committed to raising the prices of fruits such as longan, mangosteen, and durian to increase more than double this year from a year earlier.
"Most people see me as a marketer. But in fact I'm a strategist who sets a clear target and clearly understands how to achieve the target through strategies that cover marketing, administration, advertising, public relations and sales ability," he says.
"My working style is not like certain ministers who appoint a group of several doctors as consultants to help design policies. For me, if I have issues that need a final decision, I will listen to comments of all related parties both from the public and private sector and apply a consensus process to measure the decision."
(Source: Bangkok Post, business, page B1, 08-04-08, Phusadee Arunmas, temp-link)
Vocabulary:
air on TV - be shown on TV
a profile of a person - a description of
the private sector - business, privately owned companies
the public sector - government
work his way up the corporate ladder - rise from a low to a high position in a corporation
spearheaded - lead an effort to do something (See glossary)
privatisation - turning a government owned company into a privately owned company
rein in inflation - control inflation
during his tenure - during the time he spends in public office
In spite of X, Y - X is true and therefore you would not expect Y, but Y is true
strategy - a general plan of how to achieve something over a long period of time
a strategist - a person who makes strategy for an organisation
garments - clothes
key elements - important parts
a vision - a dream about how things could be different in the future
key elements underlying the vision - important parts of the dream of the future
hold forth - talk at great length
holding forth daily for the media - everyday talk a lot to reporters from the TV and newspapers
in the limelight - have become famous or well-known, people are paying attention to them
Seeking the media limelight - trying to become famous
instinct - deep feelings about the right way to do something, intuitions, gut feelings (versus logic and well-reasoned plans)
marketing instinct - deep feelings about the right way to go about marketing
race against time - have limited time to do it
high expectations - when you are expected you to achieve a lot
live up to the high expectations - achieve as much as people expect you to achieve
ultimate goal - the final goal you hope to get to in the end
all walks of life - people with all different incomes and occupations
retrieve - get
vested interests - people with a strong personal reason for their actions, because they have money invested in specific industries, for instance
made headlines - was an important news stories
Mass Communication Organisation of Thailand (MCOT) -
privatisation - turning a government owned company into a privately owned company
rebranding - present a product to the public in a different way (by changing its appearance or name, for instance)
a niche - a very small specialised area
a niche market - a small market of customers with special needs
adopting a niche market strategy -
airing - showing on TV
ousted - removed from his position forcefully
pondering - thinking about doing
a marketing guru - a marketing expert
a profile - a public image, the way the public views you (See glossary)
a high profile - well-known, very visible to the public
dedicated to - use most of your resources for one specific purpose
dedicate myself to the country - spend most of this time and energy servign the country
next generations - people far in the future
the big-picture - the overall view of a situation or issue
augment the revenue - add to income
pledges Y - promises to achieve Y
the real sector - the sector of an economy with production of goods and services, the private sector, not the government or public sector or the financial sector
value-added entertainment businesses - creating and marketing a product that contains a movie or music, such as a CD, DVD, presentation in a theatre or concert, or over the internet or pay-per-view TV
source a raw material - find someone who can supply the raw material
upgrading Thai skills - improving the skills of Thai people
beefed up - strengthened
indigenous - from the this country, not foreign, native to a country
Public Relations (PR) - actions to gain public approval for what you do
a consensus - general agreement among a group of people
