Breakthrough Decisions

Cheng Ping Keat, Group CEO, Khind Holdings Bhd

To cope with the ever-changing business landscape, PK Cheng is happy that Vistage has helped him with constructive feedback to make breakthrough decisions.

P.K.Cheng, CEO of Khind Holdings, is a great believer in seeking feedback from consultants when it comes to making significant business decisions. In his book, Khind – From Local to Global, he outlined solutions he obtained from several consultants on company management issues. It is thus not surprising that PK finds great value in his 11-year membership in Vistage.

‘The quality of your decisions goes back to the quality of your thinking and the quality of your thinking goes back to who influenced you,’ is how PK explains the benefit of consulting knowledgeable third parties. In the process of seeking different viewpoints and presenting his case, P.K. says that very often, he is able to ‘see’ the solutions himself. ’You have a clear mindset on what you want to do,’ he adds.

Khind is home-grown electrical and electronics company listed on Bursa Malaysia. It was started by PK’s father 48 years ago. Today, it has a wide range of consumer electronics that are sold in over 50 countries around the world. Turnover reached the RM185m mark in 2008.

Through the years, P.K. acknowledges that Vistage has helped him to obtain a lot of ideas and feedback to cope with the ever-changing business landscape. He recalls that a talk organized by a Vistage selected tax consultant opened his eyes to capital allowances. His company eventually saved RM2m in taxes after he engaged the consultant.

P.K. appreciates the constructive feedback he got from his Vistage group when he brought up the issue of acquiring Australian brand, Mistral in 2001. His group members advised him on matters such as pricing, what to look for in the acquisition and how to go about it. Mistral is now under Khind’s stable of brands.

Three years ago, he was undecided on whether to hire a ‘right hand man’, the Chief Operating Officer, to assist him. He processed the issue in his one-to-one session and realized that it was the right decision to make. P.K. revealed that he was previously overwhelmed with managing many General Managers in the company and that his ‘follow-up’ was not efficient. He is happy that his workload is now reduced after getting the right candidate. On top of this, company performance has improved.

This significant move has also rewarded P.K. in other ways. “It has given me more free time to do thinking and explore new business opportunities,’ he reveals. Thinking out of the box, P.K. is now putting his company on a consolidation phase so that it can improve competitiveness in the near future. His emphasis is away from aggressive sales growth to strengthening three core areas, namely, human resource, branding and using Internet for business.

Displaying the Vistage value of a CEO with a balanced lifestyle, PK says he is not overly ambitious in his future plans. ‘There are eight areas of life – health, family, spiritual, recreation, social, learning, financial and career that need time and attention too,’ he points out.