Thailand
Thailand: Delivering the goods in the age of coronavirus
With extensive experience in family businesses, politics and regulation, Korkij Danchaivichit has a strong will to shore up Thailand Post as it weathers fierce competition from other courier services.
Mr Korkij started work as chief executive of the postal service on March 2, becoming the first outsider in the top job of the 18-year-old state enterprise, which employs 40,000 people.
Thailand Post’s board chose him for the job in February after his predecessor, Smorn Terdthampiboon, completed her working term this year.
Mr Korkij was among seven candidates who took part in the recruitment process in late 2019. He and one other applicant were chosen to present their vision to the board in the final round of the selection process. Now the 52-year-old executive hopes to start a new chapter for the organisation during the four years of his employment contract.
VIRUS CHALLENGE
In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, Thailand Post has had to stiffen hygienic measures and calibrate its operations to cater to skyrocketing demand for postal and logistics services, especially as more people work from home.
Mr Korkij, a former deputy secretary-general of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), says he’s been keeping abreast of the outbreak situation since December.
“I planned in my mind what measures should be deployed for both the NBTC and Thailand Post,” he says.
He was named CEO of Thailand Post several months after the coronavirus crisis started and had time to plan what to do with the company’s operations in the face of the outbreak.
Among the measures he adopted were providing hand sanitiser for post offices across the country and spraying disinfectant on all parcels coming from abroad, particularly at the four major postal depots: Suvarnabhumi Postal Center, Laksi Postal Center, Express Mail Center and Bangkok Center.
On the customer service front, masks are given to all staff working near customers. Cleaning is frequently carried out at all touch points throughout postal operations every 20 minutes.
Mr Korkij with employees of Thailand Post.
If any worker or customer is found to be infected, the post office in question will temporarily close for intensive sanitising.
Thailand Post also helps distribute alcohol-based gel through its network of over 10,000 branches. The Excise Department is selling alcohol-based cleaning gel at post offices nationwide, giving the public easy access at a reasonable price.
Thailand Post is providing parcel delivery services for hospitals without charge during the outbreak, starting from late March to the end of April.
“As of April 6, none of our 40,000 staff nationwide has been reported infected,” Mr Korkij said.
CHANGING ROLES
Mr Korkij started his career at his family’s property, hotel and theme park business in Ayutthaya.
He then moved to the political arena on persuasion by his older brother, Kuerkul Danchaivichit, a key figure in the Bhumjaithai Party and deputy transport minister in the government of Abhisit Vejjajiva.
Mr Korkij served as assistant secretary to the agriculture and cooperatives minister from 2007 to 2008 and adviser to the Tourism and Sports Ministry from 2009 to 2010.
He was then persuaded by NBTC secretary-general Takorn Tantasith to serve as deputy in charge of the telecom sector, a position he held for eight years until February 2020.
His duties in the position mainly concerned promoting telecom services and fostering transparency in the sector.
Despite earning law and management degrees, Mr Korkij favours technology and always follows trends and developments in the IT and telecom sectors.
“I always face a turning point for my life or my job every six or seven years,” Mr Korkij says. If he’d continued to serve as the deputy secretary-general of the NBTC, the odds were slim of facing any new momentous challenges.
From 2012 to 2020, he went through several major events at the NBTC, including the 3G, 4G and 5G spectrum auctions, plus crucial tasks related to the regulatory framework for innovation adoption.
At the NBTC, Mr Korkij headed several working committees to deal with the regulatory framework, including security/privacy issues, data arrangement structure and data interoperability.
His tasks included drawing a clear line between general data that can be leveraged for optimum public benefit and data that should be regarded as personal.
He was also involved with several major NBTC campaigns, such as promotion of prepaid SIM card registration for the public.
DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
Thailand Post was one of two organisations established under the transformation of the Communications Authority of Thailand in 2003 (along with CAT Telecom).
Thailand Post has 1,700 post offices nationwide. Local branches have a close connection with communities after 136 years of state postal services.
Even so, Thailand Post’s weakness lies in an unwieldy, bureaucratic structure, creating an unsuitable atmosphere for digitally driven management.
The enterprise has five core management structures: operations, human resources and finance, digital, business, and strategy. The operations department is the largest unit with 18,000 workers.
Mr Korkij says he begins work at 7am and goes to bed around midnight every day. Upon arriving at the office, he calls a morning briefing of all senior executive vice-presidents of core departments to report on operations, especially during the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.
“From my driver’s seat, I want to see the organisation lean with cost reduction, increasing agility and digital transformation,” Mr Korkij says.
He makes clear that his management style is to pursue goals vigorously to the end. He wants to tackle unnecessary operations to get the organisation ready for the competition.
His management idols include the late Jack Welch, former chairman and chief executive of GE, and former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Another is Mr Takorn, who accomplished a series of tough tasks in the NBTC’s tob job through seamless cooperation with outsiders, including other agencies and political figures, Mr Korkij says.
He says Mr Takorn does not wait for 100% support or a full chance of success, since he dares to move forward with decisions.
With the bureaucratic culture of Thailand Post, there is room for improvement via a digitisation plan and new S-curve drive, according to Mr Korkij.
Thailand Post reported 25 billion baht in revenue last year and 590 million baht in net profit. The board expects 31 billion baht in revenue this year.
At present, the enterprise is indisputably a key player in courier service, though several foreign players are gaining market share year by year.
More than half of Thailand Post’s revenue is from parcel delivery, while mail service generates less than 20% of revenue.
NEW AVENUES
One new role of Thailand Post is to help local communities access e-commerce to expand sales of their products. Vendors have a point-of-sale system where they can sell their items via Thailandpostmart.com, the e-marketplace website created by Thailand Post.
Under the system, products can be listed in the central database and e-catalogue system for buyers to look through.
Rural merchants are also subject to assistance, including inventory management, sales reports, e-payment services and Thailand Post’s e-wallet system.
Mr Korkij says he wants to see another new business that would leverage the Postal Act. Thailand Post is the only authorised agency by law that deals with mail, postcards and money orders.
The postal service is looking forward to serving as an authorised agency to guarantee the authenticity of digital mail and documents, Mr Korkij says.
The board has approved the move in principle and is in the process of hiring a consultancy to study the feasibility of the project.
The offering could become one of the future digital services. Digital services currently contribute less than 1% of Thailand Post’s revenue.
Emails and digital documents are common in daily operations among corporations, private companies and individuals, but their authenticity and origins are sometimes questionable, leading to legal disputes.
Thailand Post serves as the sole authorised agency under the Postal Act to guarantee the authenticity of these digital documents and emails.
“We don’t expect this service to reap huge revenue, but this is one of our strengths and reflects our DNA in the communication field,” Mr Korkij says, adding that the service is due to be launched this year.
BIO DATA
Korkij Danchaivichit
Age: 52
EDUCATION
– Bachelor’s degree, Faculty of Law, Thammasat University
– Master’s degree, business management, University of New Haven
CAREER
– 2020-present: Chief executive, Thailand Post
– 2012-20: Deputy secretary-general, NBTC Oce
– 2009-10: Adviser, Tourism and Sports Ministry
– 2007-08: Assistant secretary to the agriculture and cooperatives minister
FAMILY
– Married with two children
HOBBIES
– Outdoors, exercise, reading
Source: https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/1897695/delivering-the-goods-in-the-age-of-coronavirus