Government-Linked Companies (GLC) in Singapore seem to bounce their Chairpersons and Directors from one company to another. For example, today’s front page Business Times article indicates Koh Boon Hwee will be the next Chairman of Singapore International Airlines. He is currently Chairman of Singapore Telecommunications. If you are surprised to see a telecommunications expert moving on to run an airline, you’re in for a bigger surprise... Mr. Koh is not exactly a telecom expert and also acts as a director for the following diverse list of companies:
SingTel
Broadvision
Hongkong.com
QAD Inc
MediaRing.com
AceFusion.com
Aims Lab
Animasia Hldgs
Ezyhealth
Ascent Logistics
Centre for Effective Leadership
Chateray
Omni Industries
Cortelco Asia
Delteq Systems (M) Sdn Bhd
Digicom
Singapore Post
Digital Typhoon
Dr World
Finesse Alliance Int’l
SPH AsiaOne
Pacific Plastics
Kairos Associates
Kenrich Partners
Temasek Holdings
First Spring
Four Soft
Huifeng Investments
Raffles Medical Gp
I.C. Equipment
Inquisitive Mind
Int’l Telecom Asia
Microcircuit Technology
Live-e.com
Zhihui Investments
Wuthelam Industries
Sinohome.com
Singapore Int’l Foundation
Sanctuary Asset Mgt
Porchester
Pacific Plastics
The Institute of Policy Studies
Nipsea Hldgs
Nipsea China
Wuthelam Hldgs
Delteq SA Controls
Animasia Int’l
Delteq Pte Ltd
Mr. Koh is also past Director of a list of companies nearly three times longer than this list. Koh Boon Hwee is obviously a very intelligent man, with a Harvard MBA and a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering (First Class Honors) from Imperial College of Science and Technology, University of London. Mr Koh was a founder of Omni Industries, where he gained not only financial freedom, but wide notoriety and respect as a businessman.
In recent years, Koh Boon Hwee has been an active venture capital investor. During much of 1999 and early 2000, when Mr Koh placed his name on the prospectus of even the most questionable business models-- the likes of Hongkong.com, MediaRing.com, Ezyhealth.com, and Internet Technology Group, they were somehow able to pull together a prospectus, receive SGX listing approval, achieved full-subscription...and then promptly lost 80% of their value.
Koh Boon Hwee’s most visible assignment in recent years, since 1992 actually, has been as Chairman of SingTel. Last week SingTel stock hit an all time low since listing on the SGX, a victim of eroding monopoly powers at home, and intensifying global competition as they expand abroad. Mr Koh is a very experienced businessman, but took the helm of the largest market capitalization business in the country with little previous telecommunications experience. Along the way, Mr Koh also took the helm of MediaRing.com, an Internet telephony company whose shares have suffered a dramatic fall in value with increasing net losses since listing.
Now Mr Koh is ready to become the leader of Singapore’s strongest brand-- Singapore International Airlines (SIA). This turn of events may raise some questions in the minds of investors, not the least of which is should publicly-listed Government-linked companies in dramatically different industry sectors continue to circulate their Chairmen and Directors?
Koh Boon Hwee is a Director of Temasek Holdings. Temasek controls most GLCs, including SIA, SingTel and NatSteel. Who will fill Mr Koh’s shoes when he leaves SingTel for SIA-- BT reports it will be Ang Kong Hua, Chairman of NatSteel. Mr Koh sits on some 40-50 Boards today, which means he is able to dedicate about 6 days per year to each company, assuming he places equal emphasis on each one. That would seem quite a challenge for even Superheros.
From a minority investor perspective, it is more comforting and inspiring to see a Chairman of a company completely dedicated to driving just that one business to be everything it can be, as successful and profitable and society enriching as possible. The Chairman should also be the most qualified person available with extensive industry experience, not just a good businessperson. Why should investors settle for anything less? As GLCs continue to divest government shares for public funds...this should be a strong demand from new public investors.
Some will argue the Chairman doesn’t run the business, the CEO or MD runs the show, but in reality the Chairman is the ultimate boss who hires and fires, approves and disapproves, and provides overall guidance for the CEO. The Chairman provides the vision and inspiration for the entire enterprise. Even Bill Gates has moved on from founder and CEO to become Chairman of Microsoft. Does anyone believe Bill Gates is still not in charge, or that he provides the leadership and drive that allows Microsoft to achieve and maintain global dominance in a fast-changing technology market... so dominant that even the US Government worries about their success.
Others may argue that extensive industry experience is not necessary to be a great Chairman, only the ability to lead and be a skillful businessperson. Historical evidence indicates otherwise. In their 1994 classic book Built to Last, James Collins and Jerry Porras describe the attributes of 20 of the most successful businesses in history. These companies include global names like 3M, American Express, Boeing, Citicorp, General Electric, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Sony, Walt Disney, Motorola and Merck. One aspect that stood out clearly was the quality of management and the companies’ ability through history to internally develop successive leaders.
The visionary companies analyzed by Collins & Porras consistently develop, promote, and carefully select managerial talent grown from inside the company. In this way they preserve their core. In fact, across seventeen hundred years of combined history of the 20 companies studied, they found only four individual cases of an outsider coming directly into the role of Chief Executive or Chairman. What Collins & Porras noticed was that it wasn’t just the quality of management that separated these great businesses from their comparison companies, but the continuity of quality leadership that mattered most--continuity that preserves the core.
This continuity of quality management only came from intensive internal succession planning by these great companies. General Electric, whose internal management dates back to Thomas Alva Edison, inventor of the electric light bulb, demonstrates how succession planning takes a central role... From now on choosing my successor is the most important decision I’ll make. It occupies a considerable amount of thought almost every day. This quote was from GE CEO Jack Welch in 1991, 10 years before his actual retirement was planned. A next great leader doesn’t just appear, they are groomed internally by visionary companies, sometimes for decades.
As GLCs choose their Chairpersons they should keep in mind their companies were built on the backs of tax-paying citizens, and as they privatize, they again collect public funds in return for ownership shares. The public shareholders deserve a committed and experienced Chairperson, one who has been groomed internally for years to take the company to a new level of success while preserving the company’s core... not a Chairperson for Hire.
SingTel
Broadvision
Hongkong.com
QAD Inc
MediaRing.com
AceFusion.com
Aims Lab
Animasia Hldgs
Ezyhealth
Ascent Logistics
Centre for Effective Leadership
Chateray
Omni Industries
Cortelco Asia
Delteq Systems (M) Sdn Bhd
Digicom
Singapore Post
Digital Typhoon
Dr World
Finesse Alliance Int’l
SPH AsiaOne
Pacific Plastics
Kairos Associates
Kenrich Partners
Temasek Holdings
First Spring
Four Soft
Huifeng Investments
Raffles Medical Gp
I.C. Equipment
Inquisitive Mind
Int’l Telecom Asia
Microcircuit Technology
Live-e.com
Zhihui Investments
Wuthelam Industries
Sinohome.com
Singapore Int’l Foundation
Sanctuary Asset Mgt
Porchester
Pacific Plastics
The Institute of Policy Studies
Nipsea Hldgs
Nipsea China
Wuthelam Hldgs
Delteq SA Controls
Animasia Int’l
Delteq Pte Ltd
Mr. Koh is also past Director of a list of companies nearly three times longer than this list. Koh Boon Hwee is obviously a very intelligent man, with a Harvard MBA and a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering (First Class Honors) from Imperial College of Science and Technology, University of London. Mr Koh was a founder of Omni Industries, where he gained not only financial freedom, but wide notoriety and respect as a businessman.
In recent years, Koh Boon Hwee has been an active venture capital investor. During much of 1999 and early 2000, when Mr Koh placed his name on the prospectus of even the most questionable business models-- the likes of Hongkong.com, MediaRing.com, Ezyhealth.com, and Internet Technology Group, they were somehow able to pull together a prospectus, receive SGX listing approval, achieved full-subscription...and then promptly lost 80% of their value.
Koh Boon Hwee’s most visible assignment in recent years, since 1992 actually, has been as Chairman of SingTel. Last week SingTel stock hit an all time low since listing on the SGX, a victim of eroding monopoly powers at home, and intensifying global competition as they expand abroad. Mr Koh is a very experienced businessman, but took the helm of the largest market capitalization business in the country with little previous telecommunications experience. Along the way, Mr Koh also took the helm of MediaRing.com, an Internet telephony company whose shares have suffered a dramatic fall in value with increasing net losses since listing.
Now Mr Koh is ready to become the leader of Singapore’s strongest brand-- Singapore International Airlines (SIA). This turn of events may raise some questions in the minds of investors, not the least of which is should publicly-listed Government-linked companies in dramatically different industry sectors continue to circulate their Chairmen and Directors?
Koh Boon Hwee is a Director of Temasek Holdings. Temasek controls most GLCs, including SIA, SingTel and NatSteel. Who will fill Mr Koh’s shoes when he leaves SingTel for SIA-- BT reports it will be Ang Kong Hua, Chairman of NatSteel. Mr Koh sits on some 40-50 Boards today, which means he is able to dedicate about 6 days per year to each company, assuming he places equal emphasis on each one. That would seem quite a challenge for even Superheros.
From a minority investor perspective, it is more comforting and inspiring to see a Chairman of a company completely dedicated to driving just that one business to be everything it can be, as successful and profitable and society enriching as possible. The Chairman should also be the most qualified person available with extensive industry experience, not just a good businessperson. Why should investors settle for anything less? As GLCs continue to divest government shares for public funds...this should be a strong demand from new public investors.
Some will argue the Chairman doesn’t run the business, the CEO or MD runs the show, but in reality the Chairman is the ultimate boss who hires and fires, approves and disapproves, and provides overall guidance for the CEO. The Chairman provides the vision and inspiration for the entire enterprise. Even Bill Gates has moved on from founder and CEO to become Chairman of Microsoft. Does anyone believe Bill Gates is still not in charge, or that he provides the leadership and drive that allows Microsoft to achieve and maintain global dominance in a fast-changing technology market... so dominant that even the US Government worries about their success.
Others may argue that extensive industry experience is not necessary to be a great Chairman, only the ability to lead and be a skillful businessperson. Historical evidence indicates otherwise. In their 1994 classic book Built to Last, James Collins and Jerry Porras describe the attributes of 20 of the most successful businesses in history. These companies include global names like 3M, American Express, Boeing, Citicorp, General Electric, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Sony, Walt Disney, Motorola and Merck. One aspect that stood out clearly was the quality of management and the companies’ ability through history to internally develop successive leaders.
The visionary companies analyzed by Collins & Porras consistently develop, promote, and carefully select managerial talent grown from inside the company. In this way they preserve their core. In fact, across seventeen hundred years of combined history of the 20 companies studied, they found only four individual cases of an outsider coming directly into the role of Chief Executive or Chairman. What Collins & Porras noticed was that it wasn’t just the quality of management that separated these great businesses from their comparison companies, but the continuity of quality leadership that mattered most--continuity that preserves the core.
This continuity of quality management only came from intensive internal succession planning by these great companies. General Electric, whose internal management dates back to Thomas Alva Edison, inventor of the electric light bulb, demonstrates how succession planning takes a central role... From now on choosing my successor is the most important decision I’ll make. It occupies a considerable amount of thought almost every day. This quote was from GE CEO Jack Welch in 1991, 10 years before his actual retirement was planned. A next great leader doesn’t just appear, they are groomed internally by visionary companies, sometimes for decades.
As GLCs choose their Chairpersons they should keep in mind their companies were built on the backs of tax-paying citizens, and as they privatize, they again collect public funds in return for ownership shares. The public shareholders deserve a committed and experienced Chairperson, one who has been groomed internally for years to take the company to a new level of success while preserving the company’s core... not a Chairperson for Hire.
Do you have something to say about him? We all know that most publications are edited many times before being released and so may not be a useful guage for a person's integrity, character e.t.c. This site seeks to uncover the REAL persona behind the facade, be it good or bad so that, Number 1, we hold them accountable. Number 2, the public can make informed decisions before investing money in their organisations. Having a good Management team is important in investing. Number 3, to know that there is still a side of them we may not know....
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