* Kuok is media shy and discreet; most of his businesses are privately held by him or his family. Apart from a multitude of businesses in Malaysia, his companies have investments in many countries throughout Asia. His business interests range from sugarcane plantations (Perlis Plantations Bhd), sugar refineries, flour milling, animal feed, oil, mining, finance, hotels, properties, trading, freight and publishing. He was a student from the prestigious school Raffles Institution.
* Kuok and his two brothers founded Kuok Brothers Sdn Bhd in 1949, trading agricultural commodities. Under the new post-colonial government, Kuok started in the sugar business alongside the government. In 1961, he made a coup by buying cheap sugar from India before the prices shot up. He continued to invest heavily in sugar refineries, controlled 80% of the Malaysian sugar market with production of 1.5 million tonnes, equivalent to 10% of world production, and so earned his nickname "Sugar King of Asia".
* Kuok's notes on business - very good points - link
* "To be a successful businessman, I think you really need to brush all your senses every morning, just as you brush your teeth. I coined the phrase “honing your senses” in business: your vision, hearing, sense of smell, touch and taste. All these senses come in very useful."
* "When I hire staff I look for honest, hardworking, intelligent people. When I look candidates in the eye, they must appear very honest to me. I do not look for MBAs or exceptional students. You may hire a brilliant man, summa cum laude, first-class honours, but if his mind is not a fair one or if he has a warped attitude in life, does brilliance really matter?"
* "The way forward for this world is through capitalism. Even China has come to realise it. But it’s equally true that capitalism, if allowed to snowball along unchecked, can in many ways become destructive. Capitalism needs to be inspected under a magnifying glass once a day, a super-magnifying glass once a week, and put through the cleaning machine once a month."
* And what was the secret of successful business leadership? "Like Genghis Khan in his best days, you have to share the spoils of victory," he replied. - link
* "A nimble businessman gets very wealthy when there are political developments," he says. "In every crisis, big fortunes are made."
"Back in the early 1980s," says Mulcahy, "when other overseas Chinese businessmen were currying favour with Beijing by setting up foundations building hospitals and schools in their home towns, Kuok was already making real investments." And when foreign entrepreneurs and visitors steered clear in the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen massacre, Kuok continued to finance his $480-million investment in Beijing's World Trade Center, even though rooms in his luxury Shangri-La hotel at the Center's hub were going begging for $30 a night. "The Chinese remember that," says Robert Hutchinson, director of marketing for Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts. "Obviously, it gives him a competitive advantage."
So it's unsurprising that nobody gets better locations in China for his buildings than Kuok.
* His father, an immigrant to the British colony from southern China's Fujian province, was a comfortably-off commodities trader who sent all three of his sons to private, British-run schools. At Raffles College in Singapore, one of Kuok's fellow students was Lee Kuan Yew, the future prime minister of Singapore.
* Robert Kuok Hock Nien's education was curtailed by Japan's invasion of Singapore in 1942, but he turned the occupation to his advantage by getting a job with a Mitsubishi trading company and learning fluent Japanese. After the war, Kuok remained aloof from the Malayan independence movement. When his younger brother, a prominent Communist guerrilla, was ambushed by British colonial forces in 1952 and fatally wounded, Kuok moved to London to master the intricacies of commodities trading.
It was as a commodities broker that Kuok first gained prominence. By the early 1970s he was known as the Sugar King because from time to time he controlled up to 10% of the world sugar market. His commercial skills took him into new ventures, including sugar plantations and refineries in Malaysia, where he enjoyed a virtual monopoly in the domestic market. He then diversified into palm oil, chemicals, shipping, real estate, and hotels throughout south-east Asia.
* After founding the Kuok Brothers Sdn Bhd, Kuok first started investing in the sugar refinery business. In 1957, Malaya achieved independence from its English colonial master. Kuok immediately seized the opportunity to swiftly establish his business network throughout Malaysia, based on an end-to-end (raw materials Ú processing Ú distribution) business model. He also mastered the intricacies of commodities trading in London in the 50s. By the 70s, he was known as the "Sugar King" as he controlled up to 10percent of the global sugar market.
* Since the 60s, Robert Kuok Hock Nien has relied heavily on his gentlemanly way of doing business to become a mover and shaker in industry. He was fast in spotting
opportunities from at home and abroad, and used his excellent connections
with government and industry to rapidly scale up his empire. In this way, he forged many strategic alliances with other parties. With the government, he joint hands to form a shipping company, and later built hotels, office buildings and convention centres. With partners, he founded banks. Thus, through business savvy, open-mindedness and his links, he has diversified into almost everything under the sun.
* Secret of His Success - When asked this, Kuoks aides will invariably say: Mr Kuok is a true gentleman. He has the power to make his opponents yield willingly, and is a genuinely amicable man. And he makes it a personal effort to ensure that all his employees embrace this gentlemanly way of conducting business. Kuok s gentlemanly ways are also well-recognised among his peers. He has many a time bailed out his contemporaries in distress, and furthermore, he does not seek the limelight, preferring to live a life of thrift and simplicity, winning him accolades and admiration near and far.
Highlights
* In 1961, he made a coup by buying cheap sugar from India before the prices shot up.
* "To be a successful businessman, I think you really need to brush all your senses every morning, just as you brush your teeth. I coined the phrase “honing your senses” in business: your vision, hearing, sense of smell, touch and taste. All these senses come in very useful."
* And what was the secret of successful business leadership? "Like Genghis Khan in his best days, you have to share the spoils of victory,"
* "A nimble businessman gets very wealthy when there are political developments," he says. "In every crisis, big fortunes are made."
* When foreign entrepreneurs and visitors steered clear in the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen massacre, Kuok continued to finance his $480-million investment in Beijing's World Trade Center. "The Chinese remember that," says Robert Hutchinson, director of marketing for Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts. "Obviously, it gives him a competitive advantage." So it's unsurprising that nobody gets better locations in China for his buildings than Kuok.
* At Raffles College in Singapore, one of Kuok's fellow students was Lee Kuan Yew, the future prime minister of Singapore.
* In 1957, Malaya achieved independence from its English colonial master. Kuok immediately seized the opportunity to swiftly establish his business network throughout Malaysia, based on an end-to-end (raw materials Ú processing Ú distribution) business model.
* Since the 60s, Robert Kuok Hock Nien has relied heavily on his gentlemanly way of doing business to become a mover and shaker in industry.
* He was fast in spotting opportunities from at home and abroad, and used his excellent connections with government and industry to rapidly scale up his empire.
* Mr Kuok is a true gentleman. He has the power to make his opponents yield willingly, and is a genuinely amicable man.
* And he makes it a personal effort to ensure that all his employees embrace this gentlemanly way of conducting business. Kuok s gentlemanly ways are also well-recognised among his peers. He has many a time bailed out his contemporaries in distress
==BIG GAINS BY EXPLOITING SHORT TERM PRICE / ARBITRAGE OPPORTUNITIES==
==INVESTING HEAVILY IN A MASS MARKET PRODUCT SEGMENT AND CAPTURING HUGE MARKET SHARE==
==BRUSHING ALL YOUR SENSES EVERYDAY AND KEEPING THEM ABSOLUTELY ACTIVE==
==SHARING SPOILS WITH COLLEAGUES==
==NIMBLE BUSINESSMAN GETS VERY WEALTHY WHEN THERE ARE BIG POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS==
==MAKING BIG FORTUNES FROM CRISES==
==INVESTING IN A COUNTRY WHEN THE OTHERS ARE RUNNING AWAY FROM IT==
==HAVING BIG POLITICAL CONNECTIONS==
==GENTLEMANLY WAY OF DOING BUSINESS==
==HELPS OTHERS, EVEN COMPETITORS IN A PERSONAL WAY==
==SPOTTING OPPORTUNITIES EARLY AND MOVING IN==
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