Charoen Pokphand

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Charoen Pokphand Group
เครือ เจริญ โภคภัณฑ์
legal form Private
founding 1921
Seat Bangkok , ThailandThailandThailand 
management
  • Chairman of the Supervisory Board:
    Sumet Jiaravanon
Number of employees 280,000
sales $ 13 billion (2002)
Branch * Agriculture and Food
  • Retail, wholesale and foreign trade
  • Automotive industry
  • telecommunications
Website www.cpthailand.com

The Charoen Pokphand (CP) group ( Thai เครือ เจริญ โภคภัณฑ์ , RTGS : Khruea Charoen Phokphan , pronunciation: [kʰrɯa t͡ɕàrɤːn pʰôːkpʰan] ) is a multinational company based in Thailand . The core businesses of the conglomerate are the agro-food industry, sales and trading, and the telecommunications industry. The CP Group was founded in 1921 and today employs 280,000 people in locations around the world.

history

In 1921 the brothers Ek Chor and Siew Whooy, who immigrated to Thailand (then Siam ) from China, founded a seed shop in Bangkok's Chinatown . They imported seeds and vegetables from the Republic of China and exported poultry, pigs, and eggs to Hong Kong . In 1946 the company was renamed Charoen Pokphand (CP). By the 1970s, CP had almost complete control of the Thai chicken and egg market.

The company became famous for its horizontal integration of different business areas: animal breeding, slaughterhouses, industrial processing of food and later with its own chain of restaurants. CP also expanded abroad. In 1972 a flour mill was founded in Indonesia, from 1973 chickens were exported to Japan and in 1976 a subsidiary was founded in Singapore.

When China opened up to foreign companies in the 1980s, CP was able to establish itself as the first foreign company in the newly created special economic zone of Shenzhen , where the subsidiary Chia Tai was founded, thanks to good connections to the fatherland of China . CP became a preferred partner for international companies such as Honda , Walmart and Tesco . By the early 1990s, CP had established around 200 subsidiaries in China.

1989 CP, together with the Belgian chemical company Solvay , the company Vinythai established that PVC manufactures. In the next year, CP entered into a partnership with the US telecommunications company NYNEX to set up the subsidiary TelecomAsia , which set up its own fiber optic network.

From 1993 onwards, many subsidiaries were floated on the stock exchange. TelecomAsia, Charoen Pokphand Feedmill, Siam Makro and Vinythai were listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand , a subsidiary from Hong Kong on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange , the group for pet food and poultry from Shanghai on the Shanghai Stock Exchange , the real estate developer Hong Kong Fortune on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and Ek Chor China Motorcycle on the New York Stock Exchange .

After the Asian crisis of 1997, CP consolidated the three businesses of food (CP Foods), retail (CP-ALL as the Thai franchisee of 7-Eleven ) and telecommunications (True). 2001 launched CP as a joint venture with the French Orange mobile operator TA Orange , 2004 Orange drew back, now is the brand TrueMove . In 2003, under the contingency plan, the company sold its stake in Tesco Lotus, a joint venture with Tesco, to focus on 7-Eleven, in which CP held a majority stake. However, CP retained the shares in the Tesco Lotus markets in China. Overall, CP came out of the Asian crisis better than it went in.

Links with politics

Like no other large corporation, CP is interwoven with the Thai government. When Foreign Minister Siddhi Savetsila and Army General Chavalit Yongchaiyudh wanted to persuade the People's Republic of China to support and deliver weapons to the Khmer Rouge after the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia in 1979 , but they did not have reliable contacts to Beijing, they resorted to mediation through CP and Dhanin . Through such mediations, CP earned the trust of both the Thai and Chinese governments. After General Chavalit was promoted to commander in chief of the army in 1986 and initiated development projects for the backward northeast ("Green Isan ") and southern provinces ("New Hope"), he awarded CP with lucrative state contracts. In return, the CP group supported Chavalit in his move into politics and the founding of his party of New Hope in 1990.

The 1991/92 ruling military junta under Sunthorn Kongsompong and Suchinda Kraprayoon , which called itself the National Peace Keeping Council (NPKC), is described by political scientist Chai-anan Samudavanija as “a coalition of 5th grade graduates from the military academy and large corporate groups, especially Charoen Pokphand ”because it mainly acted in their interest. As one of his first acts, the civil prime minister, Anand Panyarachun , appointed by the junta checked the contracts prepared by the previous government, Chatichai Choonhavan , to expand the telephone network (3 million telephone connections) and then awarded the contract to the CP group. Sombat Uthaisang, member of the New Hope party and deputy minister for communications in the Banharn Silpa-archas government (1995-96), approved the CP subsidiary Telecom Asia (predecessor of today's TRUE ) 600,000 new connections and the use of the new mobile communications standard Handyphone System (known as PCT in Thailand).

CP employees and managers worked as consultants in various ministries. Conversely, a number of important government officials resigned from civil service in order to move to highly paid positions in the CP group. This is illustrated by the joke circulating in Bangkok government circles that the highest level in the pay scale for civil servants (which actually ranges from C-1 to C-11) is "CP". The ex-general Prem Tinsulanonda , Prime Minister from 1980 to 1988 and then a member of the Privy Council and closest political confidante of King Bhumibol Adulyadej , was appointed Chairman of the Advisory Board of the CP Group in April 1996. The long-standing ban on cockfighting and the associated betting was suddenly lifted in April 1997 without any prior debate. As a justification, the then Interior Minister Sanoh Thienthong (also a member of the New Hope Party) stated frankly that the CP group had asked for money to be made from breeding fighting cocks.

After the Asian crisis , in which Chavalit Yongchaiyudh's government failed, CP turned away from his New Hope party and instead turned to Thaksin Shinawatra and his Thai-Rak-Thai Party (TRT). Thaksin was himself an entrepreneur and founder of the IT and telecommunications group Shin Corporation , which partly competed with CP, but also cooperated with the group in some areas: for example with the cable television provider UBC (now TrueVisions), which was started in 1998 and which resulted from the merger of the cable services of CP and Shin Corp emerged. A son-in-law of Dhanin was among the founding members of the TRT. However, there were still connections to other parties: For example, Apirak Kosayodhin was chief executive officer of the CP mobile phone subsidiary TA Orange from 2002 to 2004 and immediately afterwards became governor of the Democratic Party of Bangkok from 2004 to 2008 .

Subsidiaries

Charoen Pokphand Foods

Charoen Pokphand Foods Plc. (CPF) was founded in 1978 and is active in the areas of pet food, animal breeding, food processing and trading. CPF is now the world's largest manufacturer of pet food.

True Corporation

The telecommunications group True Corporation Plc (True) was founded in 1990, it was initially called TelecomAsia and offered landline telephone services. The most important subsidiaries today are the wireless operator True Move (formerly TA Orange ), the Internet provider True Online and the cable and pay-TV provider True Visions (formerly United Broadcasting Corporation - UBC).

CP All

CP All Plc. is the Thai licensee of 7-Eleven and operates 6,479 hypermarkets of this brand in Thailand (as of January 1, 2012).

literature

  • Paul Handley: De-mythologizing Charoen Pokphand: An interpretative picture of the CP Group's growth and diversification. In: Ethnic Business. Chinese capitalism in Southeast Asia. Routledge Shorton, Abingdon (Oxon) / New York 2003.
  • Yadong Luo: Strategy, Structure, and Performance of MNCs in China. Greenwood, Westport CT 2001, Appendix D "Case 4: Charoen Pokphand Group", pp. 241-253.
  • Pavida Pananond: The Making of Thai Multinationals. A Comparative Study of the Growth and Internationalization Process of Thailand's Charoen Pokphand and Siam Cement Group. In: Journal of Asian Business , Volume 17, No. 3, 2001, pp. 41-70.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Phasuk Phongpaichit, Chris Baker: Thailands Boom and Bust . Silkworm Books, Thailand 1998, ISBN 974-7100-57-6 .
  2. ^ A b c St. James Press: International Directory of Company Histories, Vol. 62: Charoen Pokphand Group . 2004. Retrieved May 1, 2012.
  3. ^ Thomas White Global Investing: Emerging Leaders: Dhanin Chearavanont . November 8, 2011. Retrieved May 1, 2012.
  4. ↑ solvayplastics.com: Vinythai Company Profile . April 5, 2012. Retrieved May 1, 2012.
  5. ^ Tom Wingfield: Democratization and economic crisis in Thailand. Political business and the changing dynamic of the Thai state. In: Edmund Terence Gomez: Political Business in East Asia. Routledge, London / New York 2002, pp. 250-300, at p. 281.
  6. ↑ Duncan McCargo , Ukrist Pathamanand: The Thaksinization of Thailand. NIAS Press, Copenhagen 2005, p. 33.
  7. ↑ Chai-anan Samudavanija: Old soldiers never die, they are just bypassed. The military, bureaucracy and globalization. In: Kevin Hewison: Political Change in Thailand. Democracy and participation. Routledge, London / New York 1997, pp. 42-57, at p. 53.
  8. ↑ Duncan McCargo, Ukrist Pathamanand: The Thaksinization of Thailand. NIAS Press, Copenhagen 2005, pp. 30, 34.
  9. ^ A b Paul Handley: De-mythologizing Charoen Pokphand: An interpretative picture of the CP Group's growth and diversification. 2003, p. 153.
  10. ↑ Chai-anan Samudavanija: Old soldiers never die, they are just bypassed. The military, bureaucracy and globalization. In: Kevin Hewison: Political Change in Thailand. Democracy and participation. Routledge, London / New York 1997, pp. 42-57, at p. 56.
  11. ↑ Duncan McCargo, Ukrist Pathamanand: The Thaksinization of Thailand. NIAS Press, Copenhagen 2005, p. 40.
  12. ↑ Karl Shmavonian: Forbes Asia's 2011 Businessman of the Year: dhanin chearavanont . November 23, 2011. Retrieved May 1, 2012.
  13. ↑ 7-Eleven: About 7-Eleven . January 1, 2012. Retrieved May 1, 2012.

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