The spread of the new coronavirus or COVID-19 has greatly affected economies and businesses around the world. Most importantly, it is impossible to determine when the situation will be resolved and businesses will return to the same level before the pandemic.
However, from the perspective of “Mr. Roongrote Rangsiyopash,” SCG President and CEO, he has iterated that, “in every crisis, there is a new opportunity” including the challenges relating to driving business growth. Therefore, SCG has announced that the “direction” for its business in 2021 is aimed at ensuring its readiness to transform itself during the New Normal.
“The COVID-19 crisis has been severe both in Thailand and in countries around the world. We have evaluated that for now, the most critical point of the crisis has passed. Moreover, in February, over 150 million people around the world have received the COVID-19 vaccine, more than the number of COVID-19 cases worldwide which stands at more than 100 million cases. We are also on the way to achieving the target of vaccinating 15% of the world population,” said the SCG President.
From the evaluation of the current situation, SCG aims to immediately seize this opportunity for its business operation by urgently drive the development of digital technology and innovation in order to develop products, services, and total solutions to cater to the interest of consumers around the world who are now much more aware of issues such as hygiene, cleanliness, touchless tools, as well as better quality of life and delivery services. SCG has adopted digital technology in three aspects to improve its business operations and cater to customers better which are 1.) Developing an online trading platform to drive its e-commerce business, 2.) Developing its supply chain to ensure that it can deliver products to customers at the lowest cost within the agreed timeframe, and 3.) Developing digital tools related to the manufacturing process to ensure that its manufacturing process is the most efficient, the most accurate, and is managed within the lowest costs.
Meanwhile, another world trend is the interest in the ESG concept or the Environmental, Social, and Governance principle which SCG has already been focused on under its mission to drive sustainable development. However, SCG aims to drive further ESG integration in all its business strategies, as investors around the world, especially institutional investors and private investors believe that businesses that have applied the ESG principle to its operations can ensure that their business is sustainable and can survive any unexpected crisis, including the COVID-19 crisis.
The SCG President added that this business strategy will be integrated into all its three business groups: for SCG Cement-Building Materials, more importance will be placed on the development of innovative products to promote the wellbeing of consumers in line with the trend that focuses on health and the fact that consumers work at home at a higher rate, meaning that they are more likely to renovate their homes rather than build new houses, and at the same time, it will promote e-commerce by adopting technology that can cater to the needs of customers; for SCG Chemicals, more importance will be placed on chemical recycling innovation which is in line with circular economy; while SCG Packaging will focus on developing environmentally-friendly packaging.
“In 2021, SCG has allocated as much as 20-30% of its investment budget on promoting growth in line with this strategy. While another 15% is allocated towards developing circular economy, the remaining 60% will go towards the petrochemical complex project in Vietnam which is an ongoing project.”
Under the New Normal, businesses will require another three strategies to create opportunities for growth, from observing and understanding the behaviors of consumers that have shifted in order to determine a business direction that matches their needs, adapting itself to keep up with changes, to quickly adapting itself to seize the opportunity which has been the “heart” of creating long-term business growth and sustainability for SCG throughout the years.
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