Working Paper Series

2019/16/EFE

Sustainability in Asia: Family Business at the Forefront

Stephen J. Mezias
INSEAD, stephen.mezias@insead.edu
Corresponding author

Indira Pant
National University of Singapore, bizip@nus.edu.sg

Rikki Abzug,
Ramapo College of New Jersey, rabzug@ramapo.edu

We interview the leaders of six successful family firms based in SE Asia about their efforts to
make their organizations more sustainable. Although the sectors, histories, and locations of
these firms differ, they share visions of sustainability rooted in continuing success for the family
and the community. In reviewing these cases, we were struck by similarities in the sources that
pushed these firms towards sustainability initiatives, the challenges of implementing them, and
the winning strategies that helped the leaders of these firms overcome these challenges. After
presenting the six cases, we develop these themes in more detail to suggest implications and
consider the relevance of these efforts to global sustainability efforts.

Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=3370819

This work is collaborative. This is a very preliminary draft; please do not quote or circulate without the permission of the
authors. The authors thank Prof. Philip Anderson, INSEAD, and Caroline Seow, Head, Sustainability, Family Business Network
International, and B Lab Market Builder, Singapore/Malaysia, for assistance, comments, and support.

A Working Paper is the author’s intellectual property. It is intended as a means to promote research to interested readers.
Its content should not be copied or hosted on any server without written permission from publications.fb@insead.edu
Find more INSEAD papers at https://www.insead.edu/faculty-research/research
Asia and the Global Sustainability Movement
The business view of sustainability has been dominated by the experience of large firms from developed
economies, which has been shaped in important ways by the environmental movement. Increasing numbers
and types of companies have committed to environmental sustainability, often with board level support.
People and resources have flowed into formal positions, departments, and structures to execute a variety of
sustainability strategies focused on protection and preservation of the physical environment. 1 In the
emerging economies of Asia, however, there is often a lingering perception that environmentalism is a cost
to businesses with little upside. Several factors may contribute to this mindset, including a relative lack of
development, resources, and awareness, sometimes coupled with a sense that environmentalism is an
imposition of Western hegemony. The negative impact of these perceptions on related activities has been
exacerbated by the many challenges of measuring activity and impact, particularly in emerging markets.
With regard to environmental regulation, many Asian countries operate under a weak legislative regime
that is poorly enforced due to inadequate resources, flawed data, and corruption. In light of this, it may
come as no surprise that Asian business seems to lag behind on environmental sustainability. For example,
in 2018 only 12 of the 100 most sustainable corporations in the world had their headquarters in Asia.2 This
relatively poor performance seems to hold across most industries: only four of twenty-four industry groups
had an Asian company top the list of most sustainable companies.3

Recent years have seen a broadening of business views of sustainability,4 particularly after the adoption of
the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by the member states of the United Nations in 2015. This
agenda specifies important roles for business, not just in climate action and providing for clean water and
sanitation, but also in reducing inequality and engendering human and community development.5 This
more holistic view of sustainability has promulgated rapidly, as evidenced by a recent article in Forbes
Magazine,6 which characterized environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues as sources of “…
material financial risks and opportunities that can have a significant impact on the bottom line.” According
to Investopedia, 7 ESG sustainability considers three criteria: “Environmental criteria look at how a
company performs as a steward of nature. Social criteria examine how a company manages relationships
with its employees, suppliers, customers and the communities where it operates. Governance deals with a
company’s leadership, executive pay, audits, internal controls and shareholder rights.” The purpose of this
paper is to reconsider sustainability efforts in Asia in terms of this broader view, incorporating not just
environmental, but also social and governance sustainability actions. Perhaps the sustainability challenges
and successes related to operating in Asia may become clearer in the context of these broader metrics of
impact.

According to The Business Times of Singapore,8 concern in Southeast Asia about building a sustainable
legacy and having a positive impact on society has increased as family heads hand over their business
empires to the next generation. Intergenerational thinking frames the understanding of sustainability among
both founding and inheriting family members, shifting approaches to ESG sustainability. From the campus
of INSEAD business school in Singapore, we reached out to sustainability leaders from this group and
introduce six in the pages that follow. As we listened to the stories of these leaders and their companies,

1
https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/sustainability/our-insights/sustainabilitys-deepening-imprint
2
https://www.corporateknights.com/magazines/2018-global-100-issue/2018-global-100-results-15166618/
3
https://www.sustainability-indices.com/media/f/e/3/fe34ea6b4b3e0a1348e51afda6f87569_170907-djsi-review-2017-en-vdef_tcm10-13245.pdf
4
http://www.un-documents.net/our-common-future.pdf
5
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/21252030%20Agenda%20for%20Sustainable%20Development%20web.pdf
6
https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikescott/2019/02/17/what-do-investors-want-to-know-about-your-sustainability-strategy-now-companies-have-a-guide/
7
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/environmental-social-and-governance-esg-criteria.asp
8
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/magazines/wealth-june-2018/helping-a-new-generation-of-asian-investors-build-sustainable-legacies
we came to a clearer understanding of what has motivated their sustainability efforts, the challenges they
have faced in these efforts, and strategies that have helped them succeed. Their stories emanate from very
different sectors, histories, and locations; yet they are linked together by visions of sustainability rooted in
continuing success for the family and the community. Our review of these cases suggests several themes
that we develop in the concluding section of the report; we preview them here to frame the cases that follow.

The first theme relates to sources of sustainable innovation in these family businesses. We were struck by
the explicitly intergenerational thinking among the representatives of these firms; for them, stewardship
was a defining part of the role. The enduring mission and tradition functioned as the key tools for
understanding the history of the firm and the family; delivering quality was a starting point for all of their
narratives and enduring theme. These firms were also born highly attuned to external context; many of the
founders were outsiders in some meaningful sense, and all scanned broadly to react to discover
opportunities and react to potential threats. Indeed, virtually every story has a moment of shock and pivot,
where the firm encounters an existential threat and answer with an explicitly sustainable solution.

The second theme arises from the human dynamics of discovering and implementing these sustainable
solutions. Of course, resistance to change is well researched, and many of the mechanisms that produce it
here are familiar. To avoid treading a well-worn path, we focus on some elements that are a bit more
idiosyncratic to family business and perhaps also Asia. For example, these sustainability narratives often
include a sustainable prodigal, a family scion reluctant to join the business without a pivot to more positive
social impact. This role of the next generation in these sustainability pivots changes the dynamics of
resistance from within, as the family unites around the change. Even as they wrest with these internal
challenges, the scions often face challenges related to their entry and control from external constituencies.
Having the imprimatur of family succession does not necessarily mitigate the challenges of managing
resistance from external constituencies face by any new leader.

Our final theme integrates the prior two by describing winning strategies that helped the leaders of these
firms move in the direction of greater sustainability. Frequently, the firms used the reasoning of double (or
triple or quadruple) bottom line, appealing to the reality that they were accountable for more than just
performance. Related to this, they often defined sustainability inclusively by committing to communities
and providing education and training. These actions were important signals that the firm understood the
broader obligations of running a business. Often, they worked with communities to enact more effective
public and private cooperation; for example, by bringing in appropriate third party certification of
sustainability initiatives. After presenting the six cases, we return to and develop these themes in more
detail to suggest implications for family businesses broadly and consider the relevance of these efforts in
Asia to global sustainability efforts.

Singbee, Lina Wang, and Winson Yeung

In 1989 Wang Yuan Cheng founded Singbee,9 a relatively early Chinese private company. Located in
Pujiang County in the south-eastern province of Zhejiang, Singbee soon became a successful manufacturer
of decorative crystal. Rapid growth of early entrants like Singbee, together with the industry’s low entry
barriers, attracted many competitors; by 2003, over 22,000 crystal factories had sprung up in Pujiang alone.
While this proliferation created cutthroat competition, Wang was more troubled by another concern.
Pujiang’s crystal manufacturers dumped manufacturing waste into the many rivers that crisscrossed the

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https://bcorporation.net/directory/singbee

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county. Over time, most of its 400 rivers, once clear, turned milky - a few even flowed black. Wang’s
concern for the environment was as unusual as it was deep. He began a systematic search for a more
sustainable business and discovered a new lighting technology that used light emitting diodes (LED). This
technology not only saved energy but, being mercury-free, was also cleaner than traditional lighting
technologies.

Following three years of research, Singbee developed China’s first LED streetlight in 2006. Unfortunately,
LED lighting was virtually unknown in China; consumer interest remained low largely because widely-
used fluorescent lights cost a fraction of their LED equivalents. Unable to gain a foothold in China, Singbee
turned to overseas markets in Europe but met with little success. The company could not build an effective
distributor network because of language barriers and unfamiliarity with the European marketplace.
Convinced of the benefits of LED lights, Wang did not allow these early setbacks to deter him. His
persistence paid off and by 2013, Singbee had a comprehensive LED product line that it sold successfully
in China, the US and Europe. A major factor in Singbee’s success was Wang’s daughter Lina Wang and
her husband Winson Yeung.

Winson Yeung: A turbulent start

Winson and Lina met as students at London’s Imperial College; their shared passion for sustainability drew
them together, they resolved to pursue careers aligned to their beliefs. This meant that Lina was reluctant
to join her father’s environmentally-disastrous crystal business. However, in 2007, when Wang steered
Singbee into LED products that were clean to produce, use and dispose, Lina joined the family business
and persuaded Winson to join six months later. From a rented garage in Bristol, Lina and Winson made a
second attempt to sell Singbee’s LED lights in Europe. Although they were proficient in English and
understood the European market better than Wang, they struggled to make headway. Winson described the
challenge they faced: “Nobody understood LED. In April 2008, at a trade show in Frankfurt, only 1% of
the over 1000 exhibitors were LED. We were one of them. Several people came up to us and were curious,
so I spent a lot of time explaining the technology rather than selling the product. LED was very new - even
for Germany, which was a leader in advanced technologies and sustainability.”

Despite disappointing sales, Lina, her father, and Winson remained optimistic and decided to tackle the
challenge on multiple fronts. They educated their markets about the benefits of LED lighting. The company
also took over most of its supply chain because there were insufficient component manufacturers. Finally,
Singbee’s technology team devised its own quality control systems as there were no established protocols
for this emerging technology. These investments paid off handsomely and Singbee rolled out a range of
exciting new products, including one of the first high-wattage LED lamps for warehousing and street
lighting applications. Orders poured in and Singbee’s plans for Europe finally got off the ground, but within
six months new cracks appeared. While Winson and Lina were successfully bringing in sales orders, quality
lapses plagued the manufacturing operations based in China; the quality standards devised by the
technology team were not having the intended effect.

By 2009 Singbee’s LED business was in shambles. The Chief Technology Officer left the company in early
2010, and Lina returned to China as General Manager with Winson as the newly appointed Vice President.
Despite these leadership changes, the company suffered major upheaval. Winson described one episode in
this stormy period: “The company was in chaos. There was a leadership vacuum because the predominantly
male senior management saw Lina and me as young and inexperienced. We were in Hong Kong when we
got wind of news that the entire R&D and production team were about to leave. We rushed back to salvage

2
the situation. We focused on retaining those who understood our vision for the company - a few of them
left, but the core stayed.”

Following this shake-out, Winson and Lina built on Singbee’s leadership core by bringing in people who
shared their commitment to quality and sustainability. With admirable foresight, they also decided to
correct the gender imbalance at senior management levels. Although the new technology and production
heads were men, they appointed women to several other key leadership positions. Winson described the
value of this move: “The new heads of purchase and LED were women who supported our vision. They
told us that a female CEO made them feel more secure and committed. I believe Singbee’s gender balance
was a hidden and undervalued source of its success.”

Stabilizing the ship

Having weathered the initial turbulence and built a core of capable and committed talent, Lina and Winson
focused their attention on stabilizing operations. Singbee’s success in global markets hinged on its ability
to deliver high-quality, innovative products. Once again, Winson’s passion for sustainability shaped the
company’s actions: “For sustained success we needed to create our own products, not just market those
designed by others. These products must be sustainable in every sense – higher lumen efficiency and longer
lasting. To minimize our carbon footprint, they would also need to be manufactured locally in our key
markets.”

At the end of 2011, following a year of intensive design, Singbee launched the hugely successful 360 series
– a range of illumination products for public spaces that met all their sustainability criteria. To avoid the
quality problems of the past, Singbee instituted a 21-step quality check system together with rigorous third-
party testing. The products were assembled in China as well as in Singbee’s key overseas markets – the US
and Europe. Localizing production in this way not only reduced the company’s carbon footprint but was
also economical - transport efficiencies and lower import duties on components offset the higher labor costs
of these overseas markets.

Singbee’s innovative, energy-efficient designs were sustainable in other ways too. Their modular design
cut consumer costs and waste. If a lamp was damaged or failed, only the faulty or damaged component had
to be replaced, significantly increasing its lifespan over that of conventional lamps. By 2015 Singbee
established itself as a high-quality, innovative company in the premium lighting market in China, the US
and Europe.

Embracing sustainability

A firm foothold in global markets increased the company’s ability to withstand setbacks in the home
market. Winson and Lina were keen to consolidate this hard-won stability by imbuing every aspect of the
business with sustainability. Winson was quick to credit the Wangs for being among China’s sustainability
pioneers: “Today most people understand the importance of sustainability, but 10 years ago it was different.
When Singbee entered the LED business, my father-in-law was called crazy and my wife called stupid.
They could have just taken their thriving crystal business and built on its success. Why start at 0 when
you’re at 100?”

Singbee’s commitment to sustainability went beyond making environmentally-friendly products. Wang and
Lina strenuously urged local authorities to clean up Pujiang’s polluted rivers. Their advocacy energized

3
local businesses who joined forces with them, and this persistence paid off: in 2015 the government initiated
a massive community-based clean-up. Pujiang’s rivers flowed clear again, and the region became a major
ecotourism attraction.

Faced with many other similar pollution-related challenges, the Chinese government introduced a host of
environmental protection regulations, some of which directly affected crystal manufacturers. Singbee was
unscathed thanks to Wang’s foresight in switching to LED products, but several crystal manufacturers went
bankrupt as they could no longer operate profitably. This experience strengthened Winson’s determination
to ensure that Singbee would weather future challenges.

Making Singbee ‘future-proof’

The 2008 financial crisis as well as Brexit and the US presidential election - both in 2016, led to
unprecedented levels of turbulence and uncertainty. Winson believed that the only way forward was to
embrace sustainability in its broadest sense: “It gets harder to maintain momentum and adhere to our
principles in an ever-shifting world. The US is our biggest market and President Trump is a wild card. He
is very anti-China on trade issues and could pass laws that make it difficult for us. Unless we focus on the
sustainability of our company - make it future-proof - we will not have a company to pass onto the next
generation.”

LED was already a mature technology, so Singbee needed a strong pipeline of innovative products. To
minimize its carbon footprint and insulate it from trade policy changes, the company would have to
assemble these new products in its key markets. Winson’s focus on sustainability now proved invaluable:
“Since sustainability was so important to us, we were comfortable going into the unknown to protect it.
Our people constantly ask, ‘How can I make something sustainable?’ With such a mind-set, great things
happen – you drive innovation.”

To build the culture, Singbee needed to attract more people who shared the vision and values. Winson
explained why this was a challenge: “Even today many in China don’t understand the broader value of
sustainability. Businesses pursue sustainability not because it’s good for the world but because it’s
profitable. So, they don’t focus on the long-term goal of creating impact.”

This was true even within Singbee as many employees did not share the commitment to sustainability.
Winson observed that changing mindsets was a slow process: “In Pujiang our people understood and
supported our move from crystal to LED because water pollution was a highly visible local problem. But
for a global issue like climate change they tell me ‘I’m only a dot, I can’t make a difference.’ I explain to
them that a picture is made up many tiny dots, but it takes time for mind-sets to shift. So, we educate and
remain patient.” Winson’s clear convictions and patience slowly bore fruit; one important milestone
happened in October 2016 when Singbee was certified as a BCorp, a globally recognized certification that
meets rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. There
were encouraging instances of employees voluntarily pursuing sustainability - the company’s Human
Resource head took it upon herself to encourage employees to reduce personal consumption of water and
electricity, and recruiting new talent was facilitated by the company’s sustainability reputation. The
company also made progress in building a global team of employees that was technologically competent
and nimble. Several exciting products were on the horizon including smart lighting that could be
manipulated remotely; a bio light capable of mimicking sunlight that would speed up post-operative
recovery in hospitals; and streetlights that absorbed air pollution. By ensuring that sustainability pervaded

4
every aspect of the company, Winson was optimistic that Singbee would ride out the inevitable volatility.
He described what such a company would mean to him: “I want to wake up every morning knowing that
I’m part of a business that’s making a profit while being good to our people, our customers and the
environment. That’s the kind of company I want to leave for my daughter.”

EKKI Group and Kanishka Arumugam

Growing up in an agrarian community in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, P. Arumugam saw
farmers struggle to eke out a living. Hampered by primitive technology and an unpredictable monsoon
season, water management was one of their most acute concerns. The Green Revolution that swept the
country in the 1980s did little to alleviate these water woes, so Arumugam and his uncle decided to tackle
the challenge themselves. In 1981 they joined hands with a friend, and each invested US$500 to set up a
facility to manufacture high quality agricultural pumps in Coimbatore, a major city in Tamil Nadu. Starting
from a small rented workshop, the EKKI Group (EKKI)10 grew to become one of India’s leading providers
of pumping technologies for agriculture, public utilities, building services, and industrial markets.

EKKI’s remarkable growth journey was fueled by its deep commitment to quality – the very first
submersible pumps were manufactured to high reliability standards. The company also established itself
as an innovator when it successfully developed and manufactured vertical open-well submersible pumps
for agricultural markets. This was a significant engineering achievement as the submersibles market was
dominated by a few European players whose products were not suited to conditions in rural India. In 1996,
the company began manufacturing pumps for buildings; once again, they quickly developed capabilities in
production of these pumps at global standards but with products better suited to conditions in India. With
a range of products to serve both rural and urban customers, the company continued to grow over the next
decades. In 2013, with the passing of the other two founders, Arumugam became the sole owner of the
EKKI Group which included EKKI Pumps and Deccan Pumps. By 2017, with double-digit growth in every
year of its 37-year history, this well-respected family business employed 550 people; had 4 world-class
production centers; it sold its products under the EKKI and Deccan brands through 10 sales companies,
500 exclusive distributors, and over 2000 retailers all over India.

Kanishka Arumugam: ‘Water is a mega opportunity’

In 2015 Arumugam’s son, Kanishka Arumugam, joined EKKI. After completing a master’s program from
the University of Warwick and an undergraduate program from the Universities of Sheffield and Leeds in
the UK, Kanishka spent 12 months preparing to join the family business. He picked up valuable industry
knowledge as an intern at the UK office of Xylem Inc., one of the world’s largest pump manufacturers. He
then worked at Forbes Marshall, a family-owned steam engineering solutions leader in Pune, India, where
he acquired an understanding of the complexities of running a successful family business. He also attended
Stanford University’s Summer Institute for General Management, which exposed him to the high
technology world of Silicon Valley. Armed with this education and experience, Kanishka might have
worked anywhere in the world, yet he chose to return home and join his father’s business. He explained
why: “After my studies I had many lucrative opportunities to work overseas in consulting or investment
banking, but it’s never been about money. At home, dining table conversations were always about EKKI
and pumps, so it was natural for me to become interested. I also saw access to clean and safe water as a
mega opportunity. I believe family businesses can make money and be a force for good.”

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https://www.ekkigroup.com/ekki-group/about-ekki/

5
Becoming a force for good

Beyond having a product line that was directly related to sustainability, EKKI’s efforts to be a force for
good targeted the local community. Kanishka described why this was typical of Indian industrial houses –
many of whom built the country’s schools, hospitals and roads: “My father started EKKI in Coimbatore -
a city built by entrepreneurs who gave back to the community once they became successful. A staunch
philanthropist, he believed that if EKKI made good products and was good to all its stakeholders, good
things would follow. This philosophy is now a part of EKKI’s DNA”

Most of EKKI’s philanthropic work was channeled through two foundations focused on the local
community. The first started in 2003 to run a not-for-profit elder’s home in Coimbatore; the focus
customers were parents of Indians settled abroad who did not wish to uproot themselves to live with their
children in a foreign land. By providing a mid-priced retirement facility, the home allowed the elderly
parents of the Indian diaspora to remain in the country of their birth. A second community contribution
was a not-for-profit engineering college and business school. Kanishka explained why his father chose to
invest in an institution of higher learning: “My father came from a humble, rural background and was the
first in his family to get a college education. Having experienced the value of a good education, he wanted
other young people to benefit as well. Most of our students are first-generation college-educated, so when
they graduate with good jobs, it’s life-changing. There was also a de-risking rationale for the college. My
father worried about the future – he’d seen many industrial houses fail due to mismanagement or technology
change. He hoped that the college would endure and benefit the community even if the business failed.”

Kanishka’s mother was behind a third key initiative within the company, housing and food for low level
workers, driven by her belief that EKKI had a responsibility to take care of its most vulnerable employees.
Kanishka knew the rationale from an early age: “Most of our people are from rural areas - they need decent
food and accommodation in Coimbatore. We provide these for our shop floor and mid-level employees.
This isn’t anything to brag about – we have to do this, because ultimately the quality of your people is the
quality of your organization.”

EKKI’s product-line also evolved to reflect its mission to create impact. Its pumps were already viewed as
reliable and easy-to-use, so the company focused on making them more energy-efficient, including
pumping systems that ran on solar energy. Kanishka conceded they were just beginning, but he was certain
that this was the right way forward - for India and the world.

Water is the next oil

Kanishka reeled off alarming statistics about the dire prognosis for water availability: “For the last 500
years we have exploited the earth’s resources. Global warming and population growth have led to massive
increases in the use of water, while pollution has strained water supplies. Nearly 1.2 billion people on the
planet don’t have access to potable water and an estimated 2 million people die each year due to unsafe
drinking water, inadequate sanitation or insufficient water for hygiene - water is going to be the next oil.”

Apart from the survival and environmental need for better water management, Kanishka made a strong
business case for it as well: “We estimate that nearly half the world’s population will face severe water
crisis by 2035, unless new technologies are deployed. Despite this, water is one of the least technologically
influenced industries, so it holds big opportunities. From office towers to factories to homes, the need for
clean water has never been greater. This water must be transported to where it’s needed or removed from

6
where there is excess. The global water pumps industry is worth $45 billion annually - if I capture just 1%
of it, we have a really good business.”

Kanishka worried that the threat of water shortages was especially acute in a fresh-water dependent country
like India. On track to become the world’s most populous country by 2024, an estimated 54% of India’s
population is at risk of being water-stressed. Rapid urbanization and industrialization have driven
exponential growth in water requirements, while most Indian farms, industries and rural communities rely
on fresh water drawn from bore wells. With ground water levels falling precipitously, India has to find
alternative sources of fresh water. Kanishka believes that waste water recycling is the answer: “Waste water
can be treated and used instead of using fresh water. This will not only save water but also tackle a health
issue. In India we discharge untreated waste water into lakes and rivers causing disease and death, so
recycling water will save lives.”

Anticipating that waste water management would be a lucrative opportunity, EKKI took the first steps to
enter this business. In 2013, during his university days in the UK, Kanishka met Dr. Klaus Hoffmann,
Chief Executive of HOMA Pumps, a world-leading German maker of waste water pumps. HOMA’s
expertise so impressed Kanishka, he invited this family-owned business to visit EKKI. The visit was a
resounding success and in 2018, a 50-50 joint venture was established between EKKI and HOMA.
Kanishka felt particularly proud that “two successful family businesses from different parts of the world
came together for a common sustainability purpose.”

The Indian challenge…

Creating an infrastructure to permit recycled waste water to meet the country’s water needs required huge
investment and wide-spread change; entrenched practices and cultural norms threatened this
transformation. Kanishka described how resistance came from every quarter: “Sustainability is a new
concept for us in India. You can’t just order people to stop littering, conserve energy or recycle – these
habits develop slowly. Farmers won’t stop drilling wells on their land – they see water as a fundamental
right; consumers view it as a free resource; and industries won’t manage their waste better or reduce
pollution – it’s expensive and the government doesn’t regulate it.”

Based on personal experience, he described how EKKI leadership’s commitment to sustainability had not
diffused all the way down into the organization: “My shop floor guys don’t care – they’re fine with leaving
industrial effluent in the street. They say, ‘This is all fancy, expensive stuff – at the end of the day we have
to get the job done economically.’ But sustainability can’t be just about me sitting at the top. Everybody
down the line - the HR people, the shop floor - must recognize its importance.”

So EKKI embarked on a structured process of change although resources were a constraint given their
relatively small size. The company obtained international certifications that established quality credentials;
it developed a continuous process of educating, training, and rewarding employees in order to meet
sustainability goals. As the company explored the possibility of being certified as a sustainable
manufacturer, Kanishka had misgivings about whether any meaningful change could be made without
government support. In the pumps industry itself, Kanishka identified several steps the government could
take: “The Indian government must ensure that water is used sustainably by builders, farmers and industry.
This requires education, infrastructure and regulation. The government has made some progress but must
go further. For example, every building should be required to have a waste-water treatment plant.
Additionally, farmers must be assured of stable electricity. They are major consumers of electricity - mostly

7
to operate water pumps. Currently our pumps are designed to withstand wide power fluctuations which
lowers their energy efficiency. With standardized power supply, farmers could use energy-efficient pumps,
which EKKI also makes, and India could save billions.”

…and opportunity

Kanishka’s commitment to sustainability was intertwined with a keenness to see India prosper. If India
pursued the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, it had the potential to create US$ 1 trillion in
economic value and 72 million jobs by 2030. Considering the goal to ensure access to water and sanitation
for all, Kanishka believed that the Indian pump industry could play a vital role in achieving this goal and
thereby create a name for itself on the global stage: “The future wave is sustainability, and we have to be a
part of it. But we can’t limit our sights to being pan-India - we have a golden opportunity to create a global
brand. The ‘Made in Germany’ and ‘Made in Japan’ brands flourished after the industrial revolution – now
it’s time for the ‘Made in India’ brand. The pump industry presents an opportunity and I would like to make
my small contribution. EKKI’s goal is to ‘provide access to Clean Water with Less Energy’ using the best
technologies possible. We may not be the largest, but I’d like us to be one of the most respected.”

Eu Yan Sang International and Richard Eu

In 1873, a young man named Eu Kong left his home in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong and
found work in the tin mines of Perak in Malaya. A tin miner’s life was harsh and dangerous with little to
alleviate the hardship. Medical care was virtually non-existent, so workers turned to opium to relieve their
suffering. In fact, colonial authorities coupled opium distribution licenses with tin mining licenses since
most miners were addicted to opium.

Troubled by the plight of his fellow miners, Eu Kong believed he could alleviate their suffering by
importing traditional medicines from China. A small shop (aptly named “Yan Sang” meaning “caring for
mankind” in Chinese) that he opened in 1879 eventually became Eu Yan Sang International (EYSI), a
leading producer and distributor of traditional Chinese medicines (TCM) in SE Asia.11 Reinvesting returns
from the importing and distribution business allowed Eu Kong’s son, Eu Tong Sen bought tin mines and
rubber plantations in British Malaya and Singapore. Following his father’s tradition, Eu Tong Seng set up
medical shops in Hong Kong, Singapore and the Malay peninsula to take care of his plantation workers and
broaden the customer base; the Eu Yan Sang brand was born when he added the family name to his medical
shop business.

Eu Yan Sang’s commitment to quality and product innovation facilitated international expansion to China,
Australia and the US, opening TCM clinics and medical centers. By 2017, EYSI had become a globally
integrated healthcare and wellness company; together with its associate company Healthy Life Group
Private Limited, it owned two factories in Hong Kong and Malaysia that supplied 243 retail outlets, 33
TCM clinics and two medical centers across China, Southeast Asia, and Australia.

Richard Eu: Differentiating through sustainable sourcing

In 1989, Eu Kong’s great grandson, Richard Eu joined the family business, having worked elsewhere for
18 years. Richard explained why his entry was delayed: “In 1971 my father ran the banking part of the
business – I didn’t want to do commercial banking, so I didn’t join at that time. Later, as conflict between
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https://www.euyansang.com.sg/en/about-us/eyscorporate1.html

8
family members grew, my entry became difficult. In 1973, when the company was listed, my father and
uncle tried to consolidate their shareholding to gain control – it would have paved the way for me to join
the business. Unfortunately, they failed, and I had to wait another 16 years before the opportunity came my
way.”

Richard’s entry was contentious - a few disgruntled members of the family got together and engineered the
sale of the business to Lum Chang, a construction company. Richard worked for Lum Chang until 1993
when he got an opportunity to buy them out. Richard explained why this was so significant to him: “This
was the first time we had total control of the business so, in a roundabout way, my father’s vision was
realized. I was now determined to ensure that my great grandfather’s vision also remained alive. We had
to be sustainable.”

The sustainability imperative

With a range of over 1000 herbs and 300 products, the Eu Yan Sang shops were among the best stocked
TCM retailers in the region. They were also very successful, and Richard attributed this to the safe and
authentic ingredients they used. Securing the raw material supply chain was therefore one of Richard’s
earliest challenges. He described the difficult situation he faced in those initial years: “Initially I worked
for Lum Chang who ran the Malaysia and Singapore operations. I had no control over manufacturing which
was run by my uncles in Hong Kong. Since we had disputes with them we could not be sure of supply. To
make matters worse, Malaysia introduced import duties on herbal medicine making them more expensive.”

Matters came to a head when the Malaysian government imposed strict manufacturing regulations for the
pharmaceutical industry. Richard was no longer able to import herbal medicines from Hong Kong where
manufacturing standards were less stringent. To make the company more sustainable, Richard set up a
manufacturing facility in Kuala Lumpur in 1995.

Richard’s next priority was to ensure his new factory was never short of quality raw materials. Initially
most ingredients, which were natural products, came from wholesalers in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong
Kong. However, Richard soon realized that EYSI’s growth required greater control over the supply chain:
“When our requirements were small, we could just pick up a phone and place an order with the local
wholesaler. We were fairly down the value chain and we did not have to worry about what was going on
upstream. But as revenues grew, the supply chain could not remain the same. There was a lot of talk about
sustainability in the 80s and 90s and I saw its relevance to the business – I knew we had to think about
sustainability at the very source of our supply chain.”

Securing the supply chain

Almost 99% of EYSI’s raw materials came from China, with a few high value items coming from other
countries including edible ginseng (America and Korea), edible birds’ nest (Southeast Asia) and Manuka
honey (New Zealand). Despite being one of the most integrated players in terms of geography and product
range, EYSI was small compared to its competitors in China. Most Chinese TCM sellers either sold a small
number of products across a large geography, or they had a wide product range that they sold in one or two
provinces. Both approaches yielded big markets so EYSI faced intense competition for raw materials.

9
Competition for markets was also heated. Most TCM products were distributed through small mom and
pop stores called medical halls, which relied on a common network of wholesalers and local importers for
supplies. Richard explained how EYSI was able to differentiate itself in order to grow:
“We decided to set ourselves apart from the pack through better quality and competitive prices - so we had
to use different suppliers. I also wanted to make sure that these new suppliers were socially responsible.
We could do this because we were one of the bigger groups by that time.”

Quality assessment and procurement of animal and plant-based raw materials was regulated in China.
However, these regulations were not strictly enforced making it very difficult for the company to develop
a reliable and sustainable supply chain. To tackle this challenge EYSI put a complete stop to using products
from endangered species, going above and beyond the regulations laid down by the Convention for the
International trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Richard described the extraordinary lengths they went
to in order to do this: “We destroyed all our stocks of rhino horns, even those acquired decades before
rhinos were declared endangered. We stopped selling shark fin altogether. We sponsored conferences to
protect bears that were being killed for bear bile. In this manner we replaced endangered animal products
with plant-based alternatives wherever we could, and where we couldn’t, we used sustainable sources –
farmed animals.”

For plant-based raw materials, EYSI followed a similar strategy. Where possible, they substituted wild-
sourced products with farmed ones. This not only protected valuable flora, it also improved availability and
gave EYSI access to high quality, sustainably-grown ingredients. Richard explained how EYSI
implemented this strategy: “We didn’t grow the raw materials ourselves. However, being big we could deal
directly with the farmers. This made it possible to have raw material traceability. We visited farms to make
sure the produce was farmed sustainably. For example, we helped them ensure that their land didn’t
deteriorate, which would affect the quality of herbs grown on it. We also ensured that wild-sourced
products were harvested correctly taking care to minimize negative impact.”

Not an NGO or a charity

EYSI was successful in differentiating itself as a provider of high quality, sustainably-sourced products but
the process was not without serious challenges at both ends of the value chain – the suppliers of raw
materials and the final consumer. For its plant-based raw materials, EYSI dealt with multiple small farmers,
many of whom were set in their ways. Getting them to embrace sustainable farming practices was a slow
and difficult process. For wild-picked ingredients, the supply chain was even harder to manage. Most
pickers did not have the volumes to sell directly to EYSI, so they sold their produce to intermediaries who
consolidated, cleaned and graded it for sale to EYSI. Being farther down the value chain, EYSI had limited
influence on the pickers. Often, EYSI simply did not have the expertise to help them and, when they could
help, other challenges arose. Richard described their experience with one of EYSI’s most successful wild-
picked products - cordyceps, a mushroom that grew inside a caterpillar found in the high reaches of the
Tibetan plateau: “Cordyceps is our most expensive herb - it’s worth more than gold. For 2 weeks in the
year, pickers camp out in the mountains to carefully hunt for these little shoots in the grass. Since they live
off what they earn for the whole year, we wanted to help them get a fair price. We gave them trucks to
make it more efficient for them to bring their produce to the grading center, but local gangs got involved.
We realized we couldn’t do this ourselves - we had to work with NGOs or the local government.”

EYSI also faced a challenge at the consumer end of its business. Its commitment to quality and
sustainability came at a price – one that most of its competitors chose not to bear. Richard described how

10
this affected their operations: “We developed a quality certification system called iGATES that was audited
by the Singapore government. This raised our production costs. Our competitors didn’t use it because they
saw it as a luxury they couldn’t afford. Also, the herbs we used come in various grades - higher-grade
products could cost ten times as much as lower grade ones. Since we never adulterated our ingredients, our
prices were higher than our competitors. Customers complained, but we have to charge more -we’re not a
charity.”

Keeping Eu Kong’s social mission alive

Despite consumer resistance, Richard believed that EYSI’s differentiating strategy would reap dividends
in the long term: “Increasingly, consumers were willing to pay for sustainably and ethically sourced
products. With the right packaging and marketing, we could reach out to them and tell them the story behind
our products. Millennials were especially drawn to such stories, so the time was right.”

Richard recognized that EYSI would need to broaden its sustainability focus to cover every aspect of the
product, from raw materials to packaging. In 2013, the company undertook an internal study to reduce its
carbon footprint. It also invested in research projects relating to sustainable farming practices. It was a win-
win situation for all. Farmers that embraced sustainable practices would earn better returns. EYSI would
have an assured supply of quality ingredients; and the consumer would get access to superior products.

The company had made a beginning by getting some farmers to accept its more stringent quality standards.
For wild-picked raw materials, the company was working with international conservation groups like WWF
and Birdlife to explore responsible sourcing practices. For more complex supply chains, EYSI planned to
focus on educating those closest to them in the chain. Packaging would also be designed to meet consumer
preferences with environmentally-friendly choices.

While progress was slow and expensive, Richard believed that EYSI had a moral obligation to persist with
its strategy of sustainable sourcing. As he explained: “Although we’re not the biggest players, I like to think
that we take the quality of our products and the sustainability of our sourcing more seriously than any of
them. We do this because we believe we must – not because we have to. It goes back to the original mission
of the business - to help people. There are no opium addicts to help, so it must be our farmers. We cannot
have a business that’s growing fast without also improving the farmer’s life. Business cannot be purely for
profit.”

B. P. de Silva Group and Navin Amarsuriya

In 1869 a young trader set sail from Sri Lanka with a pocketful of gems. Balage Porolis de Silva’s travels
brought him to Singapore where, recognizing the island’s trading potential, he decided to settle down.
Three years later, he founded the B.P. de Silva Group (BPD)12 to manufacture and sell jewelry. From the
outset, BPD’s pieces were of exceptional quality and soon found their way into the collections of royalty,
politicians as well as business and military leaders in Europe and Asia. In 1928, BPD was appointed as a
distributor for Swiss luxury watchmaker Omega and became its largest distributor in the 1950s. As the
company acquired more brands it grew to become one of Asia’s largest and most respected luxury watch
distributors. Having successfully distributed western brands for almost a century, the group decided in the
year 2000 to focus on building Asian brands to bring to the world. It acquired Risis from the Singapore
government - a small company known for its gold plated, orchid-inspired products. Over 145 years this
12
http://www.bpdesilva.com/story.html

11
niche jewelry company evolved into a diversified group with businesses in luxury goods such as watches
and jewelry, tea, water purification systems, and micro-hydroelectric power generation.

Navin Amarsuriya: Is money the only form of generational wealth?

Navin Amarsuriya, a fifth-generation family member, joined the group as a management trainee at Risis.
He shared why he believed strongly that sustainability was both a moral imperative and an enormous
challenge for any family business: “My company has been around for 145 years. When we think of the
long-term future of the company, it’s always in the context of this intergenerational theme. Social and
environmental sustainability is a no-brainer – but it’s a constant battle. How do we balance short-term
interests that drive financial performance with the world that we will leave for the generations yet unborn?”

By the 1960s, BPD had over 140 family and non-family shareholders. Disputes arose over the distribution
of the group’s assets and board meetings often ended with unresolved disagreements. In the 1970s, Navin’s
grandfather bought out the other shareholders and appointed several independent directors to the board.
According to Navin, this separation of control and ownership injected a measure of stability and resilience
that enabled the company to survive and thrive: “I’m very proud that our Board is unusual in the sense that
we have more independent directors than family directors. There is a tacit understanding that the family
has certain limitations and our primary duty is to find people with the right values to join the team. We
want our managers to be accountable to a high level of external talent.”

Sustainability is more than just surviving

Navin was keen to broaden the sustainability vision from merely surviving to creating positive impact for
employees, customers, supply chain and the broader community. This would require the BPD brand to be
recognized for its commitment to sustainably-made products; this would not only help the group meet
growing global regulatory pressures to be sustainable, but would also enable it to capitalize on the surging
demand for such products. Navin described the nature of this demand: “While some customers of
sustainable products are motivated by a desire to be seen as socially progressive, a growing number are
truly committed to the view that we all need to live lighter. They want to know the story behind the product
and are willing to pay more when the story aligns with their personal mission.”

By 2018 several high-end brands had successfully responded to this trend by ensuring that their missions
resonated with sustainability-conscious customers. Transforming the BPD brand in the same way would
require every aspect of the group’s business to be aligned with sustainability. As Navin explained, the
company had made a promising start: “At a very micro level we have environmental KPIs for senior
management. We’ve started with simple things like tracking waste, believing that increased awareness will
change behavior in other domains as well. At a higher level, I'm working towards more transparent supply
chains and ethical sourcing. At Risis, the company that I’m directly responsible for, I’ve begun the process
of being certified as a BCorp and hope to complete it in 2018. But it has been a huge challenge.”

An uphill task

Navin’s push for sustainability faced an immediate and grave challenge. While the global market for
sustainable products was growing rapidly, the BPD group’s own customer pool did not reflect this trend.
Its most lucrative businesses were in the Asian luxury goods market, and these customers were relatively
less concerned about issues of sustainability. Navin explained: “For most of our customers, price and

12
quality are paramount. Sustainability is merely a “side-dish” – it’s nice but they’re not going to buy because
of it. As a result, in most high growth markets like Myanmar, Vietnam and Cambodia, demand is limited.
In China, where consumption is primarily driven by a desire for social status, sustainable products are a
tiny fraction of the enormous luxury market.”

Nevertheless, Navin was optimistic that the market for sustainable products would grow as consumers
became better educated, more connected and well-travelled. Moreover, China’s massive consumer base
meant that even the “tiny fraction” that sought sustainable products represented a sizeable market. As
Navin made moves to tap this segment’s potential, he was confronted with his second, equally formidable
challenge – resistance from within the group itself. Faced with bottom-line pressures, the top management
of the company was focused on boosting revenue-generating activities. Navin described how sustainability
was simply not a priority: “I’m part of the senior leadership of the B.P. de Silva Group, but my passion is
not widely shared. Most agree with my ideas, but they see me as an idealist. As self-defined pragmatists,
they’re not keen to transform the group. They see it as risky, it takes a lot of work, and they have other
priorities. This is changing, and I hope the blending of our priorities will become the optimal path.”

In the interim, these differing priorities meant that sustainability was not integrated into the group’s
business strategy and processes. As a consequence, employees down the line were also less committed to
Navin’s vision. Knowing his interest in sustainability, they often came to him with ideas and proposals, but
he expressed doubts that they actually shared his beliefs: “Every industry is undergoing massive change -
unlike anything we’ve seen before. This means that people aren’t sure if they have a job tomorrow. Since
sustainability does not currently contribute significantly to our turnover, many see it as a superfluous
exercise, unrelated to the challenges they face every day.”

A balancing act

Navin knew that the BPD brand would have to undergo a significant overhaul in order for his vision to see
fruition. Unfortunately, consumer perceptions around the group’s current stable of luxury brands were so
far removed from notions of impact and sustainability, that Navin feared rebranding would be unsuccessful:
“A significant portion of our top line is contributed by customers who don’t see much value in
sustainability. We will have to bring them slowly from this negative mind-set to zero before making real
progress. Fortunately, younger generations give me hope that this will get easier as time passes.”

Until then, Navin argued, it made more sense to acquire new brands that already appealed to consumers
who valued sustainability and were willing to pay for it. These product lines would make the process of
transforming the BPD brand quicker, simpler, and more cost-effective. As he explained:
“It’s like having an old house. Do you tear it down and build a new one or do you renovate the old one?
Renovation of a very old house is unpredictable in terms of cost – that said, there may be intangible benefits
in doing so”

Rebuilding BPD would inevitably impact revenue and stability in the near term, and Navin described the
challenge this would create for the group’s senior management: “We would have to straddle two tensions:
Upholding sustainability values while generating enough return for shareholders. We may choose to pursue
sustainability because of an ideological belief that it is necessary, but we have to find a way for the business
to make sense while pursuing this goal.”

13
This would be necessary, not merely to appease shareholders, but also as a source of funds to finance the
sustainability strategy. This meant that the group faced a delicate balancing act: generating investment
funds by continuing to maximize revenues from traditional products while developing an integrated strategy
to replace them with sustainable ones. Acquiring brands that were imbued with sustainability would bring
more than a ready customer base. With the right product lines, a significant proportion of group revenues
would flow from customers who requested sustainable practices. This would have a significant impact on
attitudes towards sustainability within BPD, which Navin believed was critical for long-term success:
“Sustainability cannot just be a flight of fancy of the business’ owner. The push to create a sustainable
organization won’t last long without buy-in at every level in the organization. A sustainable product line
will help me get that buy-in. I’m hoping it will help my people find the logic in it for themselves - that
ultimately sustainability is about them and their families.”

Navin believed that the new brand managers accompanying the acquired brands would act as change agents
who would accelerate attitudinal change in the BPD. As he explained: “If a sustainable brand is doing its
job it means that the people behind the brand really understand their customers’ need for sustainability. So,
what I’m really buying are people who are committed to sustainability These people will influence those
they work with and as I win more people over to my way of thinking, the culture will change naturally.”

Despite his optimism, Navin was realistic about how long and arduous this road would be. For the present,
BPD’s priority would be to unlock the value of existing operations. However, he was absolutely clear about
the long-term direction for the group: “I don’t believe that a family business should last forever unless it
represents some larger value. The largest and most profitable companies come and go, but the ones that
matter will be those who do their utmost to create the conditions for wider definitions of success. It may
take a lifetime, but sometimes the journey matters more than the destination.”

The RIGht People and Robin Pho

In 1972 Robby Pho Wan Hok left Europe where he was studying and returned to his home town in West
Papua, Indonesia to start a business. Looking for an Indonesian name for the new company, he consulted a
local government official who suggested the name PONCO that sounded similar to the Pho family name.
PONCO became a supplier for all the manpower requirements of its oil and gas (O&G) industry clients -
from supplying mechanics, welders and crane operators to chefs and laundry men. They also provided a
comprehensive range of personnel services including payroll, taxation, training and travel.

As Indonesia’s O&G sector grew, local regulations multiplied, and it became increasingly difficult for
foreign companies to find and manage adequate numbers of trained personnel. The support of an
organization like PONCO relieved them of these responsibilities, allowing them to focus on drilling.
PONCO’s grateful clients were happy to pay for their services and by the early 2000s, PONCO was widely
recognized as the Indonesia specialist for O&G manpower. The 2008 global recession hit the O&G sector
particularly hard and PONCO struggled to collect payment from clients. Instead of paying within 30 days,
clients often paid in 60-90 days. In the same year, the company was dealt another devastating blow - Robby
Pho suffered a serious health setback and needed emergency heart surgery. In the midst of this grave
uncertainty and turmoil, Robby Pho’s son, Robin Pho, left the comforts of his professional banking career
and entered the family business.

Robin Pho: Hug trees and save dolphins

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With a promising career in private banking, Robin never intended to join his father’s business: “In 2008,
I’d been in banking for almost 5 years and had recently been headhunted to join UBS - the #1 bank in the
world. Then Dad needed emergency heart surgery with a 20% chance of survival. Just before he went into
the operating theatre, I promised him I’d join PONCO. That reassured him because PONCO was his first
baby. Fortunately, the surgery went well, however I was now stuck in a family business that was fighting
to survive!”

PONCO’s crew, 95% of whom were located in Indonesia, were not on the company’s direct payroll. They
were hired on back-to-back contracts, which were plentiful in the boom years of the early 2000s. Everything
changed when oil prices collapsed in 2014, and many drilling companies stopped drilling as it no longer
made commercial sense. Initially, clients sent their idle rigs to shipyards for maintenance and upgrading,
so PONCO was still able to find work for its crew. However, as the crisis deepened, work virtually dried
up and many players in the industry, both clients and competitors, were forced to close. PONCO survived
the carnage but the future looked bleak, so Robin decided to pivot his business: “The crews kept asking us
for work, but there was nothing in oil and gas. PONCO had to find a new way forward and I knew it’s
future lay in renewable energy.”

Robin’s interest in sustainability started early. In a secondary school class magazine, he was quoted as
saying “I want to save the world, hug trees and save dolphins.” Later, as a student of the Singapore
Management University, Robin was required to spend a minimum of 80 hours in a community service
project – he spent almost 80 days. Robin described this project that gave him a deep appreciation of the
environment: “I volunteered for a reef check project in Sabah Malaysia where local fisherman engaged in
cyanide and dynamite fishing. They detonated a bomb and then scooped up the fish that floated up.
Unfortunately, this practice caused long-term harm to the reef. We explained to the fishermen that soon
there would be neither a reef nor any fish left. We persuaded them to protect the coral instead and earn a
livelihood by charging visitors an entry fee for snorkeling and scuba diving. It was a success because that
whole marine area is now an official marine park.”

Robin readily acknowledged that his beliefs and values were molded by his father. Robby was born on
Doom Island, a speck of land just off the coast near Sorong in West Papua. Growing up without running
water or electricity, Robby Pho understood the struggle of living in an environment that lacked basic
infrastructure and it had a profound influence on what he did: “My father was always keen to do the right
thing. In the 1990s, while in the oil and gas business, he also dabbled in a fish export business. He procured
fish from remote islands in the Indonesian archipelago and exported them to Hong Kong. Far removed
from urban communities, the fisherman didn’t know what to do with money, so they asked us to barter their
fish for basic necessities such as clothes, generators, tents and fuel. One of the most coveted items were
polaroid pictures of their families which they thought were simply magical! But we didn’t stop at giving
them what they wanted - we also educated them. We persuaded them to stop the cruel practice of shark
finning and instead, encouraged them to fish for other higher value fish like grouper or red snapper. It was
the right thing to do – for everyone.”

Becoming The RIGht People

Despite this shared concern for creating impact, Robin was reluctant to work at PONCO. Coming from a
big, global bank, he acknowledged feeling embarrassed to say he worked in a small family business.
However, when circumstances forced him to join, he was delighted to discover the true extent of PONCO’s
positive impact: “We have operations in remote and backward areas. During site visits I saw the positive

15
contribution we made by providing employment and infrastructure such as roads, jetties and lighting to the
local community. We also introduced safety consciousness. Some of the crew worked without proper safety
training or gear. Many had lost fingers in the course of their work, even showing it off as a badge of honor
to their friends in the industry. My father chose to invest in their well-being and put an end to lax safety
practices. We want the offshore crew to return to their families even healthier than when they left. I met
many crews whose children were now working for us. I realized that our family business wasn’t just about
dollars and cents but also about creating a better life for its people and their community.”

The leadership also introduced core values to guide day-to-day work - Safety, Teamwork, Education and
Professionalism, easily remembered with the acronym STEP. Step by step, PONCO would become a more
professional family business. Sadly, on 26 April 2014, Robby passed away from colon cancer. At the time,
the O&G industry was suffering from one of its worst downturns and jobs were scarce. Unwilling to
abandon his people, Robin saw the renewable energy sector as a possible solution. He explained why this
move received support from within PONCO as well as from his Uncle Simon who had worked alongside
Robby for many decades: “My uncle supported the transition to renewables because it meant jobs for the
old crew - something my father would have approved of. The move also resonated with the crew - not
merely because it meant jobs for them - but also because they believed renewables would be good for the
country. Indonesians are very patriotic people.”

The transition to a completely new industry was a daunting task and many were skeptical that it would be
successful. In late 2016, taking advantage of the lull in the O&G sector, Robin decided to juggle work and
school and enrolled in the Executive MBA program at INSEAD. Every project and module he did in the
program was applied to ensuring PONCO was successful in its pivot from O&G to renewable energy. One
of Robin’s earliest steps in the transition process was to change the company’s name. Although attached
to the name PONCO, Robin did not think that it was a good name with which to grow the renewable energy
business. It held no meaning in the renewable energy industry and was hard to pronounce and remember.
While exploring alternative names, Robin was drawn to a company slogan that his father had created - “The
RIGht People” with a pun on the word RIG. It reflected a guiding aspiration - to always be the right people,
to hire the right people, and to work for the right people. Coincidentally, “RP” were also the family initials!
Robin’s father, mother, sister and brother were called Robby, Rucinda, Rosalind and Roger respectively.
Robin felt at peace changing the business’ name because he had got father’s approval, and in 2017, the
Right People Group of Companies (RPG) was formed.

RPG owned the oil and gas business and three other business: a small publishing business; a family office
company, and a non-profit charity called Singapore Obituaries. The renewable energy business,13 which
was launched as yet another arm of RPG, will be the focus of our remaining discussion of that firm.

Bringing renewable energy to Indonesia

By 2017 many companies in Europe and the US had successfully ventured into renewable energy, but this
technologically sophisticated industry was still in its infancy in Asia. Gaining traction was especially
difficult in Indonesia, with its wide regional variations; as a recognized Indonesia specialist, RPG was
perfectly positioned to cover most of the renewables supply chain: “We marry competence in the hard
science of renewables with an understanding of Indonesian business and culture. Except for manufacturing,
we covered the entire value chain - Distribution; Engineering; Procurement and Construction; and
Operations and Maintenance. Handling distributorship and procurement was straight forward as we already
13
https://www.rpreasia.com/

16
had a presence in Indonesia and we merely had to apply for the right import licenses to bring in renewable
energy equipment. Also, we already had crew to handle the construction stage and we spent a lot of time
with our suppliers to catch up on all the engineering aspects of the industry. I was certain that there would
be a bright future in renewables.”

RPG worked with manufacturers and distributors from the region to develop technological capability.
Having a legal and operational presence in both Singapore and Indonesia was a big advantage: the
engineering, research and finance functions were located in Singapore to support clients, despite the
location of the projects in Indonesia. The key business opportunity that the renewables business would
pursue would be helping off-grid companies in Indonesia transition to solar energy: “Companies on the
grid got cheap, subsidized electricity from the Indonesian government, so switching to clean energy did not
make financial sense for them. However, there were many companies with operations in remote locations,
far away from grid-tied energy. They relied on conventional diesel generators and diesel fuel had to be
trucked in from afar. Loading was slow; maintenance was difficult and time consuming; water and air were
being polluted; and the energy generation process was fraught with safety issues. Due to the high cost of
energy generation in these off-grid locations, our solar solutions had very short payback periods, usually 3
to 5 years, after which the system generated free energy from the sun for the next 20 years and more. Clients
felt comforted by the system’s very long 25-year warranty - so it was a no-brainer for them to switch to
solar.”

Mastering a triple bottom line

The company’s entry into renewables was part of a comprehensive bid to be more sustainable. In 2016,
RPG, a member of Family Business Network completed the Polaris Impact Assessment, a version of the B
Corp assessment customized for family businesses.14 This gave Robin the chance to be a facilitator at the
Polaris Training for other next generation family business leaders; he trained in Geneva with under former
US Vice-President Al Gore, a global leader on change and sustainability. These experiences were a key
milestone in Robin’s mission to steer RPG towards a triple bottom line: People, Planet and Profits.

To master the first P (people) in the triple bottom line, Robin introduced personality profiles to understand
his people better: “Sitting in front of a computer, churning numbers on a spreadsheet, I didn’t see the people
side of our business. However, as I interacted with our crew I realized that when we executed a project
well, not only did we provide them a livelihood, we also benefited the broader community. Over time, my
banker-like profit maximization perspective changed - work became more meaningful when I focused on
People.” Based on these profiles, the company invested in education and training and worked with
corporate coaches for team building and leadership training. Only after engaging people internally, did he
turn to education and outreach to external stakeholders, such as suppliers and clients.

Planet, the second component of the triple bottom line was a natural fit with the business’ transition to
renewable energy. RPG took steps to reduce pollution and practiced conservation by reducing the
consumption of paper, water and energy. However, as Robin explained, RPG’s greatest impact on the planet
was via the solution it provided its clients: “The diesel generators most of our clients used not only polluted
the environment but were expensive as well. Their money was literally going up in smoke. One client spent
over $1 million on diesel every year – that’s a lot of money being burnt and also a lot of carbon emissions.
Switching to clean solar energy had a big positive impact on the flora and fauna. It was nice to know that
despite being a small family business, we could have such positive impact on people and the planet.”

14
http://www.fbn-i.org/polaris-impact-assessment/

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Profit, the final P, was Robin’s sole focus when he first joined the business in 2008: “As a banker, one of
the first things I did was ask to see the management accounts. To my dismay, I discovered that my dad
merely managed cash flow, paying little attention to profitability. He would not push clients to pay, even
when payments were overdue for 9 months, for fear of upsetting them. Meanwhile our profits were being
eroded because we had to pay interest on the bank loans we took to operate the business. I often joked that
I worked for a non-profit because there was a period of time where we didn’t make any profit!”

The education imperative

Robin was realistic that the transition to renewables would be a slow and difficult journey. He attributed
most of the difficulties he encountered to a lack of awareness among his employees, clients, and financers.
To correct this Robin worked hard at strengthening internal communications. The company organized site
visits for its employees, many of whom had never seen a working solar photo voltaic system, let alone a
solar panel manufacturing factory. The company organized movie screenings such as Al Gore’s An
Inconvenient Truth to draw attention to climate change, and Deepwater Horizon to highlight safety issues
onboard oil rigs. Select employees were also sent for governance, risk and compliance training. Despite
this, Robin described how he struggled to change the mind-sets of some of the older employees: “Older
workers from my dad’s era found it difficult to adapt. Accustomed to Indonesia’s rampant corruption, they
asked, ‘What’s the harm in paying a $5 bribe if it saved time and eliminated a few processes and
procedures?’ I explained that such short cuts compromised safety, but they found it hard to understand that
a successful business was not just about making and saving money. Instead it had to look at long-term
sustainability - of the business, it’s people, and the community.”

Unable to keep up with technological and digital advancements, some older workers asked to retire, and
the company paid them their severance package. This shifted the culture towards younger people who were
attuned to sustainability when they joined the company. Many were also motivated by RPG’s mission of
saving the planet by helping clients transition to clean energy. Determining which clients would be right
for RPG was also a challenge. Robin had initially hoped to work with the Indonesian government on key
projects. However, regulations were unclear and large government tenders that appeared attractive and
lucrative, were plagued with uncertainty and frequent flip-flopping. Instead he decided to focus on private
companies who were still using diesel, believing renewable energy would be the most beneficial to them.

Unfortunately, these clients knew very little about renewables and the sales cycle took much longer than
expected. Robin explained how he addressed this challenge: “The B to G sector looked lucrative in the
beginning, but we decided to focus on the B to B segment in Indonesia. As we were dealing with companies
in the private sector, they had to be credit worthy so we focused on clients with operations in Indonesia but
whose headquarters were in Singapore. Listed Singapore companies were required to do sustainability
reporting and we could help them with that. Most companies want to go green, but they’re unsure of what
to do or whether the technology will work. So, we started with small projects, demonstrated success and
then did the full roll-out. We also educated them - for example, many clients knew their total spending on
energy but did not know the price of energy. We had clients paying $0.50/kwh using diesel whereas solar
would cost them $0.10/kwh! With time, persistence and education, clients felt more confident about
switching over to renewable energy, and we were there to help them with that journey.”

Even where Robin was able persuade his clients to adopt clean energy, funding was still a big issue. Clients,
used to paying a small amount monthly for their fuel cost, were unable to make the large upfront capital

18
investment that solar energy required. They requested financing for the solar equipment which, as Robin
explained, was not always readily available: “We could finance projects in the $1-3 million range with our
own balance sheet, but for larger projects above $10 million, we had to go to banks for loans. Many turned
us down because solar energy projects were new to banks in Singapore and Indonesia. They directed us to
the Asian Development Bank or the World Bank, who were only willing to invest in infrastructure projects
that were in the $100-200 million range.”

RPG addressed these financing issues by offering monthly installment plans to select clients. While such
plans were warmly welcomed by clients, they exposed RPG to severe credit risk if a client defaulted on its
monthly payments. It was therefore imperative for RPG to undertake proper due diligence and offer the
installment plans only to credit worthy clients. As Robin worked his way through the challenges before
him, he knew many more hurdles and road blocks awaited him. Having become a first-time father of twin
boys in 2017, he drew strength from a clear conviction that the company was heading in the correct
direction: “Even if I focus only on Indonesia where we have our roots, and help it switch from diesel to
renewable energy, that’s a huge market and we can achieve great success. More importantly, I think about
the kind of planet I want to leave for my kids. Running a business that my dad would have been proud of,
one that would make my children proud that ‘Daddy is saving the world’ – that gives me renewable energy!”

HDI and Brandon Chia

Armed with a double degree in mathematics, Peter Chia tried selling a range of products from property to
mainframe computers, but these experiences left him feeling dissatisfied. In the mid-80s he chanced upon
an article in TIME magazine that changed his life; it described US President Ronald Reagan’s liking for a
lunch that contained bee pollen, thought to have several health benefits. Sensing an engaging opportunity,
Peter imported a carton of the same bee products to Singapore. To his dismay, local medical halls refused
to sell them - being new in the market, they were not popular; worse still, they deteriorated rapidly in
Singapore’s hot, humid climate. In 1986, with no budget for advertising or marketing and an urgent need
to sell his highly perishable merchandise quickly, Peter founded a network marketing firm, which he named
High Desert to highlight the natural habitat of the bees in high plateaus of the American west. Using his
exceptional math skills, he devised a business model that put a twist on traditional network marketing
schemes; it became a roaring success.
A write-up on the company’s website described that heady period: “A simple commission plan was drawn
up giving bonuses on sales and recruitment. The first business opportunity meeting was conducted in the
living room of a small house back in Singapore. Twenty attendees responded to a small advertisement
placed in the local newspapers and four signed up immediately; soon, the word started to spread. Six
months later, High-Desert held its first large-scale business opportunity meeting in a hotel ballroom in
Orchard Road Singapore. Thousands attended and traffic ground to a halt.”

As High-Desert prospered, several companies adopted its network marketing approach, and it became a
victim of its own success. Due to the unethical practices followed by some of these companies, the
Singapore government put restrictions on all such schemes, and High-Desert was forced to pare down its
entirely legitimate Singapore operations. Retaining Singapore as a distribution hub, the firm sought new
markets; after initial success in Malaysia, the company subsequently expanded into the Philippines, Hong
Kong and Indonesia. A key driver of this remarkable growth was a new name, identity, and mission in
2012: High-Desert transformed from a traditional network marketing firm to a business with
entrepreneurship education at its core. The person behind this radical change was Peter’s son, Brandon

19
Chia, who signaled the new mission with a name change: High Desert became HDI.15 This core of this
shift in the mission revolved around deepening the relationship with enterprisers; it yielded considerable
success: by 2015, the firm had well over 130,000 distributors all over Asia.

Brandon Chia

At a very early age, it was apparent that the younger Chia had inherited his father’s entrepreneurial drive.
He described his first foray into business: “After finishing school, I signed up to sell subscriptions for an
economics magazine in schools while waiting for military enlistment. I soon learnt that it was more
important to understand why students would buy the magazine - some wanted to impress their parents or
be part of the in-crowd; others were only interested in the free gifts, still others hoped that a subscription
would get them better grades. Clearly it wasn’t just about the content of the magazine. I became the top
rookie with record breaking sales. More importantly, I learnt salesmanship - how to approach strangers and
quickly understand their emotions, needs and desires.”

After finishing school Brandon pursued a law degree. Even with a grueling workload, he and a few friends
undertook several successful business projects – an IT company specializing in websites and applications;
an online credit card comparison site, and selling thermometers during SARS. Despite these early
successes, Brandon stayed away from his father’s business, largely because of the controversy surrounding
network marketing. With no one to take over from him, Peter considered selling his company. At that time,
flush with success and cash from the thermometer business, Brandon and a partner set up an equity firm,
which invested in High Desert; this investment finally brought Brandon into the family business.

He described the trying initial years: “My first 6 years in the business were extremely challenging. Dad and
I had very different styles and ideas, so we fought all the time. Like most young men, I was egotistical and
thought I knew best. I remember one heated conversation over the dinner table. I told Dad, ‘If you weren’t
my father I’d have quit a long time ago.’ He replied, ‘If you weren’t my son, I’d have fired you a long time
ago!’”

Partly to end the daily bickering, Peter dispatched Brandon to the Philippines where business had suffered
significantly. Brandon described how this baptism by fire shaped him as a leader: “It was the school of
hard knocks – I got scammed and cheated but I learned a lot. Being ‘banished’ allowed me the freedom to
make mistakes and learn. I learnt very quickly from the various companies I was tasked to run. However,
I always stayed away from the network marketing business. As a lawyer, I grew up hearing network
marketing was a scam, and now here I was expected to operate one. I tried to figure out a way so that
everyone could earn from our business, but it was impossible. Was there some other intangible benefit I
wasn’t seeing? I had to figure out the kind of business I wanted to be in and the kind of leader I wanted to
be.”

Brandon’s vision: Sustainability at a spiritual level

In 2012, following months of soul-searching, Brandon realized that the issue was not the network marketing
business itself, but how these companies recruited. With appeals to easy wealth, the company attracted
people wanting to make fast money with no effort. Exploiting this greed created a race to the bottom to
relax standards and promise large returns. With barriers to entry low, many companies entered the fray,
accelerating the race to the bottom. Their inevitable failures gave the industry a bad reputation. At the

15
https://www.hdi.com

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same time, Brandon recognized the inherent advantages of marketing through word of mouth and real-life
experiences - it gave the company direct access to its customers enabling them to cultivate strong brand
loyalty. At the aggregate level, a business with the right people, structures, and processes to share
information effectively could create a very powerful mass marketing and distribution platform. He decided
to shape this platform, which he called Social Network Marketing, to support micro-entrepreneurship -
teaching people the basics of business through mastering practical skills of selling, management, leadership
and coaching. This was a business Brandon could be passionate about! As Brandon explored these ideas
he was confronted with an even deeper set of existential questions. How could he win over the hearts and
minds of his people who were used to doing things the old way? Would his suppliers support him? Brandon
also pondered what sustainability meant to him - would the business thrive or flame out? So many were
putting their dreams, hopes and aspirations in the business. How could he ensure the business would be
around for their children?

Brandon found answers that appealed to him in a version of tribal law with metaphoric roots in the animal
kingdom. In his words: “The animal kingdom has a natural order. For example, lions have an optimal pride
size. Exceed it and rival lions will fight, and the loser will start another pride. Humans are the same. Our
natural environment is a village where a headman rules over 3-4 families using tribal law; where there is
continuity in the way cultures and values are passed down from generation to generation with great
reverence and respect. But we’ve forgotten this. Our skyscrapers pack thousands into small spaces where
we’re expected to be efficient and productive. Laws govern our behavior and there is little tolerance for
deviation. Morality and acceptance of differences have been eroded. In the relentless pursuit of capitalism,
we are losing what it means to be human, to have genuine relationships with others. If we can bring back
the sense of belonging found in smaller communities, it may address the spiritual need and sense of purpose
that so many people are starting to explore.”

Brandon believed that in today’s urban communities, companies could take on the role of the village,
inculcate the right values in their members, and shape responsible behavior. He chose to do this with a
decentralized model that allowed entrepreneurs in different cities to adapt company values to create a sense
of belonging and purpose. Brandon articulated how this system served the needs of individuals: “As our
basic needs are met, we naturally aspire to explore our spiritual side and purpose. I do a lot of soul searching
myself and others are going through a similar journey. We all want to be better versions of ourselves so
why not support each other in that journey? HDI would become an ecosystem that embraced learning and
growth at a spiritual level, allowing us the freedom to be tolerant and understanding of one another and to
benefit from peer to peer sharing. We crafted what we felt were universal values that could inspire us and
also allow for personal ‘inteRPGtation.’ We adopted “Live, Learn, Love” as our values.”

Live, Learn, Love

With a strong emphasis on individual development authentic to his own values, Brandon began the process
of rebranding - adopting a new corporate identity and building a cohesive culture around the new values -
which was needed to drive the business forward. The “Live” component was straight-forward as it was
derived from HDI’s principle product line - health supplements. It also encompassed a determination to
live each day to the fullest in a meaningful, less materialistic way.

“Learn” was personally very important to Brandon. Just as his father had allowed him the freedom to
experiment and learn from his mistakes, Brandon wanted to give the same opportunity to his people.
Traditional network marketing companies appointed distributors who sold their products and recruited

21
others to do the same. HDI adapted this approach but with strong protections against the practices that had
undermined the industry in Singapore; to emphasize that this was a different, more empowering approach,
they replaced the role of distributor with the role of enterpriser. This signaled that these persons operated
their own businesses, designed to help them learn within the HDI framework. Brandon described one of
the most important aspects of this pro-learning philosophy:
“Most organizations are intolerant of failure, but they forget that the greatest learnings come from failure.
We encourage failure by framing it as an opportunity to improve, and we share those experiences willingly.
What’s more, we encourage our enterprisers to use the skills they learnt with us to start their own businesses
outside of network marketing. We are not so arrogant to demand that they only work with HDI. If they
want to benefit their communities, we support their initiatives. Bit by bit, they start to see us as an enabler.”

Brandon’s father, Peter, inspired the last and most unique of HDI’s three core values - “Love.” He believed
that most people come to realize that love and relationships are the only things that matter. Despite other
differences with his father, Brandon saw value in this philosophy. For HDI to be truly sustainable it needed
to create a community that appealed to human social needs, requiring effective management of the
emotional side of enterprise. To surface this level of interaction, he replicated an extraordinary practice
started by his father in 2003 – hugging everyone he met! Brandon described the transformative power of
this ritual: “Hugging is a manifestation of affection; it can’t be faked; it also means I’m not threatening. I
use it to gauge how my employees feel about me. If I get an “air” hug, I know our relationship is not close.
But if I get a bear hug, I know the guy loves me. Obviously, you have to be consistent – you can’t scream
at people and then hug them. In the beginning, a few may feel uncomfortable, but you keep at it and bring
them around. And you get tremendous affection back. Like any change process it starts with one person
but, as people see the positive outcome, it ripples out. It’s crazy but it works.”

To accelerate the process of culture change, Brandon turned again to his vision of bottom up change driven
by employee teams. The change he was seeking could not be mandated by the leadership – it had to be
self-initiated in small groups. Based on his belief that there should be no more than nine members to ensure
flexible, self-governance, Brandon created teams throughout the organization to create the ‘Inside-out’
program. These teams met in their respective departments first thing every morning for 45 minutes to share
how they felt, their energy levels, and the challenges they were facing at work or in their personal lives.
The day would end with the teams reassembling for ‘Outside-In,’ a recap on the day’s happenings and their
greatest takeaways. The program was tested by one of the company’s human resource departments for a
year before it was rolled out across the entire organization. It was a resounding success - at a time when
the network marketing industry was experiencing a slump, HDI’s revenues grew by 17.4%. In 2014, the
launch of a skincare business headed by Brandon’s sister Su-Mae, who shared his vision, enhanced the
value of these changes as they worked together to improve the culture and work flow as they developed the
new business.

To reinforce and accelerate the value of these teams, HDI worked hard to deepen trust with significant
investments in the business, including a nine-story building in Indonesia for its headquarters in 2013. Three
years later, after extensive renovation, the building had its grand opening with 14,000 square feet of space
for its enterprisers, including a 250-seat auditorium and an HDI kids club. The firm also instituted a
transparent compensation structure: salary bands were shared openly, allowing individuals to understand
the tiered system. To build this alignment, HDI instituted Franklin Covey’s 4DX program as an
experiment in Indonesia. Targets were articulated clearly, measures defined, and staff empowered, with
regular assessments of each individual as a decision maker, a thinker, an innovator, and a doer. Instead of
individual bonuses, team bonuses were awarded; within the teams there was free interchange of roles

22
depending on the task at hand and actual experience rather than seniority. Clear career paths provided a
structure for skill and competence development over the longer term. As this program was shared with key
enterprisers through training sessions, they learned to drive the productivity of their networks.

By creating a culture of accountability across the organization, staff now felt that they could make a
difference to the bottom line of the company, and sales began to climb. Different platforms - gatherings,
meetings, focus groups and social media channels, allowed enterprisers share their thoughts, experiences,
and recommendations. By proactively responding to this feedback, the company harnessed this information
to give enterprisers a rich and unforgettable experience, improving the performance of the company. To
do this, Brandon adopted a data-driven approach to identify operational challenges and ran simulations to
analyze consumer buying habits in light of macro trends. He revamped the product portfolio, creating
brands for product lines that appealed to different target markets, culled products that were not selling well,
and introduced replacements that would cement HDI’s reputation as a source of effective, well-designed,
and unique bee products.

Suppliers were also critical to HDI’s success, Brandon worked hard for their endorsement of HDI’s
transformation process. Being upfront about the new business model ensured that they understood the costs
involved and how both could profit from the change. The results were remarkable - suppliers became
partners, working towards common goals and helping the company with order cycles and product
development. By 2016, these relationships had deepened beyond the mere formalities of business; all of
the suppliers were included in the 30th anniversary celebrations of the firm with plaques and a handwritten
note to thank them for their years of being part of the HDI family.

For everyone to feel a sense of belonging, their interests had to be aligned with those of HDI. Brandon
described their approach to tackling this difficult task: “Traditionally, interests across the value chain are
in conflict – each link in the chain wants the highest possible price, but the product has to be affordable for
the customers. When we rebranded, we engaged with our suppliers and enterprisers to find out what their
needs were. I even asked them how much they wanted their revenues and incomes to grow. Many were
very ambitious, so I said, ‘Great! Since we depend on one another to do well, what can we do to make sure
that you can achieve your targets?’ We had open discussions about how the best way to fulfil their needs.
Now our interests were aligned.”

Making the new HDI sustainable

Despite the initial success in transforming HDI’s culture, Brandon remained concerned about HDI’s
sustainability, particularly the company’s relevance and its ability to withstand competition, disruptions,
and uncertainty: “I worry about many things. Will my suppliers still be around? Will interest in our business
be sustained? Will we get disrupted? One of my leaders told me we’re no longer competing with other
network marketing companies – we’re competing against companies in the gig economy because they also
offer potential enterprisers a means to make a living. This level of competition needs a completely different
mind-set. We have to craft a better experience journey for our people so we’re constantly thinking of what
we can do beyond just the money to create a strong sense of purpose and belonging.”

During a recent informal discussion, one young enterpriser said that he had friends working in large
corporations with what seemed to be dream jobs, but they found no purpose in their work. They too wanted
an arrangement that offered flexibility and control over time and life choices: HDI was a platform where
enterprisers could explore their own passion without being bound by the demands of a typical job. Hearing

23
this, Brandon knew that HDI was on the path of sustainability and community building: “The model is
changing. We’re used to having to pay to learn but I want to build an organization that will pay people to
learn and grow; will support them; and celebrate their successes. I want to build HDI as an enabler, a
psychologically safe ecosystem where our enterprisers, staff and suppliers can live, learn and love beyond
themselves. That’s why we now say that HDI stands for “How Do I?” To be a platform to help others
achieve their dreams - that to me is a noble cause and I am certain we are just at the cusp of what we can
do.”

Key Lessons from These Cases

The cases reveal a variety of actions that can be place in the category of sustainability, broadly defined.
Although these actions were motivated by diverse causes, in every case the role of a long-term orientation
was clear and a key factor in how the six businesses survived and became successful in difficult business
environments. The kind of flexibility and adaptability that permitted survival required that choices in the
short-term were oriented to long term survival. It also required that these firms provide many of the services
and infrastructure, both physical and institutional, that firms in developed economies could take for
granted. The founders of these firms found that much of what needed to be done to reconstruct in post-
colonial and post-conflict environments would fall to them: the public sector could not do enough to meet
the basic needs of the population and the environment. Furthermore, many family businesses operated
under cultural and religious norms that required them to give back to their communities. Consequently, the
dominant factor that emerges from the stories of these firms is that when confronted with difficult external
environments and circumstances, family businesses think in generations, not quarters.16 To understand
how this long-term orientation enables sustainability leadership, we have abstracted from the specifics of
the six cases to derive some aspects of commonality across them. Indeed, the stories provide many lessons
(and benchmark practices) for family-owned (and other small and medium) enterprises hoping and planning
to make their businesses and the world more sustainable. In the next sections, we divide these lessons
learned into three broad themes: Sources of Sustainable Innovation; Resistance to Sustainable Change; and
Winning Sustainability Strategies. These themes and the subthemes that we explore under each are
summarized in Table 1; in the next sections, we review these with specific examples from the cases.

Insert Table 1 about here.

Sources of Sustainable Innovation

For these family firms, becoming sustainable could only happen when fused with the ongoing mission of
the business. In all these cases, increases in environmental, social, and governance accountability began
with an understanding that the change was necessary to protect the mission of the organization. The role
of the family in serving a broad community of stakeholders repeatedly came to the fore; investing in quality
and building the capabilities of employees emerged as robust responses to difficult and uncertain business
environments.

The Role of an Enduring Mission

The ability of each generation to embrace (at least the spirit of) the founding vision and enduring mission
of the firm was also key to the success of these firms. Richard Eu from EYSI was very explicit on this

16
http://www.fbn-i.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/FBN2017.pdf accessed 10 February 2019.

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point: “It goes back to the original mission of the business - to help people. There are no opium addicts to
help, so it must be our farmers. We cannot have a business that’s growing fast without also improving the
farmer’s life. Business cannot be purely for profit.” Similar themes emerged from all the cases: Robin at
RPG, had grown up with his father’s tales of remote New Guinea with no running water or electricity. The
founding mission of economic development and energy access in rural Indonesia guided his understanding
of the needs of businesses based in less developed rural areas. Although HDI was founded in very
developed Singapore, Brandon’s orientation to traditional forms of organization was strong; he tried to
create an informal structure with open lines of communication based on a view of the company as a tribe
and the CEO as their chief responsible for inculcating the right values in employees. As such, he continued
the family mission to promote well-being with effective strategies for human resource development. At
EKKI, the family foundations were an early manifestation of the founding vision to fulfill a social as well
as economic mission; this overarching purpose guided the view of pumps as the engine of access to water
even as the business moved beyond merely pumping water from existing sources to retreatment of waste
water. As a private enterprise in China, Singbee’s mission from day one was to demonstrate viability by
growing and providing employment. When the founder came to believe that the pollution created by the
crystal industry threatened that mission, he shifted the company to high efficiency lighting products;
ultimately, the leaders of Singbee led the effort to clean the pollution from the crystal industry they once
dominated. Finally, BPD’s continued focus on the customer experience over generations led to their newest
strategy of acquiring businesses already successful with sustainable luxury goods in order to transfer the
learning to existing lines. In all cases, the vision and values that guided the founders at the start were
respected, if often retooled, fostering a belief in the continuity of leadership across generations.

Starting with Quality

The quality of inputs and outputs was a central part of the stories of these firms, although they differed in
how they approached the issue. Richard Eu of EYSI was quite explicit on how this was central to his
actions after becoming a leader of the firm: “We decided to set ourselves apart from the pack through better
quality and competitive prices - so we had to use different suppliers. I also wanted to make sure that these
new suppliers were socially responsible.” In describing the struggles that Singbee faced ensuring the
quality of their manufacturing and logistics, Wilson showed a clear understanding that goals for positive
impact would not be achieved without high quality products, delivered on time, and in good working
order. By becoming known for delivering European quality at local prices, EKKI established a reputation
for quality, which they leveraged to facilitate the move into products related to waste water collection,
treatment, and reuse. The stellar reputation of BPD as a supplier of luxury accessories created the
understanding of their clients that led them to acquire sustainable luxury products rather than develop them
in house. At RPG, success in delivering logistics and other services for the oil and gas industry was
premised on providing skilled staff who understood how to operate in rural Indonesia. Recognition of the
value of these human resources and a consequent desire to find the business that could keep them employed
after the oil price crash was key to the search for alternatives that led them to launching a solar energy
business. The emphasis on quality bee products that had motivated the founding of the firm was
instrumental to Brandon Chia’s efforts to ensure that suppliers supported the shift in the company business
model towards greater sustainability.

Intergenerational Thinking

All of these family business cases emphasize intergenerational thinking as they framed their responses to
pressing concerns related to both the business and sustainability, broadly defined. Robin Pho of RPG

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described what motivated him to develop a business model based on providing solar energy to off-grid
firms: “Running a business that my dad would have been proud of, one that would make my children proud
that ‘Daddy is saving the world’ – that gives me renewable energy!” BPD’s Amarsuriya seemingly spoke
for all of these businesses when he explicitly described the thinking at the company as fundamentally
intergenerational. For EKKI, a new generation ushered in a new business model built around waste water
management and treatment. The EYSI case also introduced a new business model coming from a new
generation: differentiation through sustainable sourcing. At HDI, the pattern was similar: a new generation
meant a new business model to develop entrepreneurial skills instead of running a traditional network
marketing business. The motivation was expressed clearly by Brandon Chia, who wanted the business to
prosper and remain in his family for the long term. Indeed, a recurring theme of the cases was preserving
and extending pride in the good works of the previous generations to create a better future. We see this in
the hope of Winson Yeung of Singbee to make the company ‘future-proof’ and leave his daughter a
company that makes a profit while being good to people, customers, and the environment. Thinking about
succession motivated sustainability initiatives at these firms: ensuring that the business survived required
considering long-term consequences, not just for costs and revenues, but also for the family, environment,
and society at large. This intergenerational thinking provided a unique motivation for sustainability driven
by the way family relationships tie the present to the future.

Global scanning capabilities

Inspiration for sustainability also has been cultivated through exposure to learning from outside their home
countries; often, but not always, this involved education at universities or experience working in in more
developed economies. Both Winson and Lina of Singbee studied at London’s Imperial College where their
shared passion for sustainability was nursed and brought them together. They worked together from the
UK to help launch the LED business, using this presence to validate this opportunity for Singbee: “In April
2008, at a trade show in Frankfurt, only 1% of the over 1000 exhibitors were LED. We were one of them.
Several people came up to us and were curious, so I spent a lot of time explaining the technology rather
than selling the product. LED was very new - even for Germany, which was a leader in advanced
technologies and sustainability.” EKKI’s Kanishka studied at both the undergraduate and graduate levels
in the United Kingdom, attended a Summer Institute at Stanford University, and was able to leverage his
networking with a German company to form a joint venture based on shared concern for sustainability.
EYSI was able to leverage experiences in early international expansion, and BPD gained insight from
decades as Swiss giant Omega’s largest distributor. HDI was originally inspired by the United States
President Ronald Reagan and home market restrictions forced international expansion and learning. Robin
from RPG was able to parlay his early experiences in reef checking and more recent experiences in the
Executive MBA program at INSEAD to help pivot his company towards its sustainability path.

Boost Economic Development

Access to institutions that allowed global scanning was only part of the equation as these family business
scions came of age. More recent generations of leaders took charge of their businesses just as many
emerging economies were coming into their own on the global economic stage: thus, many of them saw
growing their businesses as patriotic - a means to help their country prosper. Kanishka of EKKI was quite
explicit on this point: “The ‘Made in Germany’ and ‘Made in Japan’ brands flourished after the industrial
revolution – now it’s time for the ‘Made in India’ brand. The pump industry presents an opportunity and I
would like to make my small contribution.” For Singbee, manufacturing high wattage LED warehouse and
street lighting lamps for the key export markets of the US and Europe was an avenue to disseminate the

26
word about Chinese innovation in green lighting. Richard from EYSI talked about the importance of
helping small hold farmers in Malaysia and China develop the quality of their produce and their business
knowledge. HDI invested heavily to promote Indonesia as a hub for Southeast Asian operations, both to
demonstrate commitment to enterprisers and develop the local market. BPD acquired Singapore’s Orchid
Jewelry, a well-regarded maker of jewelry modeled after the profusion of orchids at the local botanical
garden, to promote the brand. Finally, RPG’s transformation to renewables appealed to Robin, at least in
part, because they were good for the country.

The Role of External Shocks and Pivoting

Of course, not all of the motivators for sustainability were of the ‘pull’ or ‘lure’ variety; in many cases,
following a sustainability path came from an abrupt push or external shock to the system. Again, the
solutions adopted in these cases emphasized the need to adapt for the long term. For RPG, the collapse of
oil prices in 2014 was a key event, not least because they faced the possible loss of their very valuable
workers. Robin described the situation: “The crews kept asking us for work, but there was nothing in oil
and gas. PONCO had to find a new way forward and I knew it’s future lay in renewable energy.”
Singapore’s crackdown on traditional network marketing business models, similarly, left HDI’s business
model in tatters. For Brandon Chia, this offered an opportunity to build a business model focused on skill
development to replace the traditional network marketing model. In the cases of Singbee and EKKI the
external shocks to the system were environmental emergencies of such a magnitude that they demanded a
response: respectively, the realities of rivers running black and the uncertainty of water management in a
monsoon-threatened land. Navin at BPD acted proactively to augment the product line as he watched the
sustainability segment of the global market for luxury goods like those of his firm grow faster and faster. At
EYSI, the ban of imported Chinese medicines by the Malaysian government allowed the firm to internalize
production and work to create a supply chain where they could ensure sustainability.

Overcoming Resistance to Sustainable Change

Despite both pulls and pushes to pivot to, enhance, or otherwise follow a sustainability path, these family
firms still had to overcome obstacles, both internal and external. The next sections lay out some of the
common challenges these firms faced on the road to sustainable practices.

Playing the Succession Card

The ability to find responses that allowed sustainability initiatives to move forward in the face of many
challenges stemmed at least in part from the fact that the scions of family firms were reluctant to join the
businesses as they were, either refusing to join until the business moved in a more sustainable direction or
promoting that vision aggressively after they joined. Brandon was only able to overcome his distaste for
network marketing by transforming the relationship between HDI and the marketers that made their
business model work: “The model is changing. We’re used to having to pay to learn but I want to build an
organization that will pay people to learn and grow; will support them; and celebrate their successes. I
want to build HDI as an enabler, a psychologically safe ecosystem where our enterprisers, staff and
suppliers can live, learn and love beyond themselves.” Robin had a promising career as a banker that he
did not want to give up; RPG’s transformation to renewables was part of his solution for resolving his
doubts about joining the firm. At Singbee, Lina and Winson wanted no part of polluting crystal business;
the transformation to LED lighting was a critical pre-condition to joining the business. At EKKI, Kanishka
premised his return to the family firm on the opportunity to leverage his talents and the resources of the

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firm to play a role in supplying clean and safe water across India and the developing world. For Richard
Eu, avoiding family conflict meant distancing himself from the firm until a buyout allowed him to pursue
his vision of sustainable sourcing. At BPD, Navin Amarsuriya returned to the family for the opportunity
to build a luxury brand centered on environmental sustainability at the Risis subsidiary.

Overcoming Resistance From Within

Visions of sustainability, broadly defined, were key factors in bringing these leaders back to their families’
firms; nonetheless, enacting these visions to succeed and adapt their businesses to the needs of increasingly
competitive, integrated Asian markets was fraught with challenges. Most critically, a new sustainability
direction could only succeed if it was integrated into the strategy formulation and day-to-day operations of
the firms. Often, other senior leaders were skeptical, not convinced of the value of sustainability, or had
differing priorities. This was exacerbated by the fact that sustainability and attendant positive social
impacts were hard to measure, leading many to see it as a cost, not a source of value. At Singbee, where
the move to LED from crystal was a radical change, Winson discussed internal resistance: “There was a
leadership vacuum because the predominantly male senior management saw Lina and me as young and
inexperienced. We were in Hong Kong when we got wind of news that the entire R&D and production team
were about to leave. We rushed back to salvage the situation. We focused on retaining those who
understood our vision for the company - a few of them left, but the core stayed.” Navin at BPD faced
pressures from other top managers to continue with existing products, which he did not view as sustainable,
but this resistance was not confined to the top. Following the 2008 financial crisis, employees were
completely focused on keeping their jobs in the turbulence; obviously, future sustainable products were not
currently important to their jobs. At EKKI, Kanishka faced resistance based on the view that waste water
management was ‘fancy, expensive’ stuff. At EYSI, Richard moved into management just as a dispute
over control led to the firm being acquired by Lum Chang; as head of a subsidiary, he had to channel all
major strategic decisions through headquarters. Additionally, the move to sustainable sourcing could not
happen as long as production continued in Hong Kong where leadership did not value sustainability. At
RPG, older workers asked to retire when they could no longer keep up with the technological and digital
advancements that Robin had put into place. At HDI, Brandon was forced into ‘exile’ by uncertainties about
his sustainability direction from his father and others; he overcame this with success at the subsidiary in
the Philippines.

Overcoming Resistance from Without

It was not just internal constituencies and individuals who resisted sustainability initiatives; in many of the
cases we see instances where external actors, such as customers, suppliers, or financers, did not support or
actively resisted attempts to make the business models of these firms more sustainable. Navin found that
BPD’s customers were motivated more by the price and perceived status of a product than its implications
for sustainability: “A significant portion of our top line is contributed by customers who don’t see much
value in sustainability. We will have to bring them slowly from this negative mind-set to zero before making
real progress.” At RPG, Robin discovered that most small businesses were unaware of renewables or how
their use could benefit them. Richard found that EYSI’s customers balked at the higher price tags of
sustainably-sourced products and found great resistance to change among the famers and pickers who were
their principal suppliers of raw materials. Similarly, although governments and NGOs professed support
for sustainable business, the reality was sometimes quite different. At EKKI, Kanishka found that basic
infrastructure services, particularly electricity, were unreliable; regulators were also quite inconsistent in
how they formulated and enforced rules for business, including sustainability regulation. Richard felt that

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some of the problems faced by EYSI’s suppliers were beyond the ability of the firm to fix; the required
support from government and NGOs was not often forthcoming. Winson’s ability to crack the US market
and help to recoup Singbee’s investment in lighting research was put into question by world events and
trade policy changes that could impact imports from China.

Winning Sustainability Strategies

The cases reveal several strategies that the leaders of these businesses used to achieve strategies to
overcome these sources of resistance and deliver on the vision of sustainability that had engaged them.

Emphasizing the double bottom line

A key part of the responses these firms made to resistance from various stakeholders was to emphasize that
profitability and sustainability, broadly defined, were both necessary conditions for business success.
Navin of BPD made it clear that success involved more than merely getting through day-to-day business
challenges: “I don’t believe that a family business should last forever unless it represents some larger value.
The largest and most profitable companies come and go, but the ones that matter will be those who do their
utmost to create the conditions for wider definitions of success. It may take a lifetime, but sometimes the
journey matters more than the destination.” Robin worked hard to prove that RPG’s move from oil and
gas to renewables was profitable as well as good for the planet, articulating this change in terms of people,
planet, and profits. Kanishka believed that pumps and related products for waste water treatment
represented an enormous opportunity; these sustainable products could mean big business even if they
represented a tiny share of the global market. Once the environment damage wrought by a race to the
bottom in crystal manufacturing became clear, Singbee moved into high efficiency LED lighting products
so that it would no longer be part of the problem. The leaders of the firm also helped to galvanize the local
movement to clean up the rivers of Pujiang. Another important area of emphasis for convincing skeptics
was demonstrating that sustainability initiatives could mitigate supply chain risks. At EYSI, Richard
sought out customer segments that would pay more for sustainably sourced products took advantage of the
ban on importing medicines to Malaysia to build a geographically diverse sustainable suppliers of quality
ingredients, rendering their supply chains more robust. He also found that sustainable sourcing was also a
means of mitigating competition: high-quality, sustainably sourced ingredients were a source of
differentiation. HDI forged its own version of the double bottom line rationale line through live, learn, and
love, which was consistent with their emphasis human development in building a business model to replace
traditional network marketing.

Defining sustainability inclusively

The actions of these six firms reveal broad views of sustainability, paralleling recent definitions that go
beyond the physical environment to include social issues and governance. The sustainability changes at
HDI were clearly focused on creating value across the supply chain irrespective of organizational
boundaries; as Brandon put it: “Traditionally, interests across the value chain are in conflict – each link in
the chain wants the highest possible price, but the product has to be affordable for the customers. When we
rebranded, we engaged with our suppliers and enterprisers to find out what their needs were.” For
example, at BPD, Navin was convinced that the new sustainable brands he hoped to acquire would make it
more likely to recruit like-minded people, who would become agents of change within the organization,
contributing to awareness among all employees. Robin spent an inordinate amount of his time educating
RPG’s customers, clients and finances by screening movies, holding talks, and arranging site visits. At

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EYSI, Richard worked hard to educate farmers about sustainable practices. Similarly, he believed part of
his job was to tell customers the story behind products and educate them about the value of sustainably-
sourced ingredients. Singbee made the top management team more diverse, bringing in differing
experiences and points of view to help make the organization ‘future proof.’ EKKI channeled much of
their local philanthropic efforts—including establishing an elder’s home and engineering college and
business school—through two corporate foundations that pursued human development in the local
communities where it operated. These deep roots in the community helped them to understand a variety of
local contingencies that affected the ability to collect, treat, and reuse waste water.

Investment in human development

Another sustainability strategy seen across many of these firms involved investment in people and
communities, often including the education and training of employees, to facilitate the move to greater
sustainability of the business. This was not simply to ensure that employees obtained new skills or
knowledge related to the transition, but also to deepen the link between the firm and its members. Brandon
was very explicit about this point in discussing HDE: “We’re competing against companies in the gig
economy because they also offer potential enterprisers a means to make a living. This level of competition
needs a completely different mind-set. We have to craft a better experience journey for our people so we’re
constantly thinking of what we can do beyond just the money to create a strong sense of purpose and
belonging.” A good part of the reason why Robin was motivated to move to renewables in the first instance
was to find employment for RPG’s crews that were left without work after the oil and gas shake-out
following the global recession; his efforts to prepare them for the new business model were extensive.
EKKI also invested in educating, training, and rewarding employees about sustainability and ran programs
to assist seniors and students in the broader community. Like many other firms in emerging markets, many
of their employees were migrants from the poorest, least developed rural areas, providing food and
accommodation for them was a priority. At Singbee, the values that motivated the move to modern LED
lighting were also reflected in Winson and Lina’s appointment of women to top leadership positions. This
gender balance was a big draw for women who joined the firm and remained loyal to them. The integration
of sustainability into employee evaluation was also critical. At BPD, Navin ensured that senior managers
had measures of sustainability build into their key performance indicators. Finally, EYSI disseminated their
quality standards through their supply chain, training small hold farmers and pickers about sustainable
practices and how to be more effective and efficient.

Taking Control of the Supply Chain

Defining sustainability inclusively as well as committing to educating employees and stakeholders were
often linked with taking control of their supply and value chains. RPG realized that it could leverage its
knowledge, competence, and connections in oil and gas to create the supply chain to support its new
business in renewables: “Except for manufacturing, we covered the entire value chain - Distribution;
Engineering; Procurement and Construction; and Operations and Maintenance. Handling distributorship
and procurement was straight forward as we already had a presence in Indonesia and we merely had to
apply for the right import licenses to bring in renewable energy equipment.” The challenges in moving to
more sustainable products put similar pressures on EYSA to focus on sourcing: the firm worked hard to
ensure that no products from endangered species were used, support the move from wild sourcing to
agriculture where possible, and ensure that wild sourcing was done in a sustainable way where this was not
possible. To succeed in moving into high efficiency lighting products, Singbee took over most of its supply
chain due to the shortage of high quality components for their new products. It became increasingly clear

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to EKKI that building a business in waste water management required downstream activities to gather waste
water, treat it, and then redistribute it. BPD embarked on a strategy of acquiring sustainable luxury brands
to learn how they managed their supply and value chains; the intention was to transfer this learning back to
their longer standing products. Finally, HDI shared their business model and information in a very
transparent manner with suppliers as a way to spread their sustainability reach. Of course, one of the
hallmark differences between their business model and traditional network markets was the heavy
investment in the development of enterprisers.

Greater Public Private Coordination

As is often the case in emerging markets, these firms took on sustainability missions that are often seen as
the province of the state in the more developed economies. These private initiatives often revealed the
limits of what could be done and the need to obtain support from public authorities and local non-
governmental organizations. As EKKI worked to build its business around waste water management,
Kanishka identified several steps the government could take: “The Indian government must ensure that
water is used sustainably by builders, farmers and industry. This requires education, infrastructure and
regulation. The government has made some progress but must go further. For example, every building
should be required to have a waste-water treatment plant.” The need for government involvement was
also obvious to Singbee, as it led the massive community-based clean-up of rivers in Pujiang. EYSI worked
successfully with local government to support its suppliers of farmed and wild ingredients and protect them
from unfair competition and gangs. BPD acquired Risis from the Singapore government to leverage the
value created by the unique orchid plating process the firm had developed. At HDI, the government
crackdown on the illicit practices of their competitors forced them to reinvent themselves with a business
model focused on the development of enterprisers, avoiding the exploitation tendencies of traditional
networking models. After contemplating working with the Indonesian government to promote sustainable
energy, RPG ultimately realized this would not be effective. Nonetheless, the experience did point RPG in
the direction of working with off-grid firms since public policies to promote growth granted subsidies on
electricity that made moving to solar less attractive for firms on the grid.

Third Party Legitimation

Along their way to becoming more sustainable, the leaders at these family firms often found value in using
third parties to certify their new activities; while often this involved relying on existing systems of
certifications, it was also the case that some of the leaders proactively developed their own standards.
Richard described how EYSI worked with the government of Singapore to certify the quality of their
medicines and differentiate themselves from competitors: “We developed a quality certification system
called iGATES that was audited by the Singapore government. This raised our production costs. Our
competitors didn’t use it because they saw it as a luxury they couldn’t afford. Also, the herbs we used come
in various grades - higher-grade products could cost ten times as much as lower grade ones. Since we
never adulterated our ingredients, our prices were higher than our competitors.” In 2016, Singbee earned
certification as a BCorp, one of the very few in China, and continues to search for ways to beyond what is
required for that certification in terms of carbon imprint; they are even doing research to develop an LED
lamp that removes carbon from the air! BPD is in the process of converting Risis to a BCorp, with the
intention of disseminating the learning from that process across the entire organization. B Corp certification
is also the underlying rationale for the Polaris Impact Assessment Process, which was completed by Robin
from RPG and others from these firms. Several of our informants attended training with former US vice-
president Al Gore, an acknowledged global leader on sustainability, organized by the Family Business

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Network. To help demonstrate the quality of its pumps, EKKI obtained ISO 9000 certification. At HDI,
Brandon initiated Franklin Covey’s 4DX as part of the strategy of developing and enabling enterprisers to
improve goal clarity and improve execution. Indeed, difficulties with measuring and reporting impact were
widespread. The response was to adopt existing standards where possible and develop and propagate
locally developed standards where they were lacking. It also became clear from many of these narratives
that the organizations that provided certifications also provided opportunities for peer discussions and
dissemination of best practice that provided a lot of value.

Concluding Remarks
Interviewing the next generation of leadership in six Asian family businesses committed to sustainability
we have been able to identify some of the top motivators for following such a path, key challenges, and a
host of strategies that proved successful in overcoming barriers. Leveraging the inherent intergenerational
focus of family business and combining that with an enduring mission, focus on quality, global scanning
capabilities, appeals to patriotic attempts at country development, and sometimes pushed rather than pulled,
family firms in Asia have been able to turn sustainability dreams into realities. Overcoming initial
reluctance of new generations and then both internal and external resistance, these same firms were able to
introduce triple bottom line thinking to dynastic firms. By also defining sustainability inclusively,
committing to communities, educating and retraining their workforces, taking control of their supply
chains, working with local governments where possible, and pursuing legitimacy through third-party
certifications. The fact that these firms hailed from such different countries, operate in very different
sectors, and vary considerably along dimensions like size and age, suggest that generality of these
mechanisms, particularly for family firms, both in Asia and elsewhere. At the same time, these differences
make it difficult to suggest that various sustainability issues we have discussed occur in a specific sequence
or respond to the variety of contingencies faced by these firms in a systematic way. Discussing this in more
detail is beyond the scope of this initial report, but an issue that we will develop in more detail in future
research.

Relatedly, while these strategies are of obvious relevance to other family firms, their relevance to other
firms in Asia, other small and medium enterprises that want to be more sustainable, and achieving
sustainability, broadly defined, remains an open question. Some, such as playing the succession card, seem
obviously much easier in a family business. It is not impossible to imagine an experienced internal or
external executive demanding leeway to amend business models as a condition of accepting an offer to
enter a top management team become an executive. Nonetheless, a family member like Lina can use refusal
to join the firm in a way that seems foreclosed to those lacking a family relationship. At HDI, father and
son made clear in the context of disputes that if it were not for that family tie, they would not have put up
with the situation that eventually yielded a more sustainable business model. Similarly, paying for family
members to get an education abroad is a much more likely investment when it is a child, and they are much
more likely to bring those knowledge and skills back to the firm, even it may sometimes take a while. Once
again, we regard these issues as interesting and important for future research, but beyond the scope of the
current report. Beyond that, we will let the cases speak for themselves: these are six family businesses who
have dedicated important resources to sustainability. There can be little doubt that they are at the fore of
sustainability as a result.

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 Table 1: Sustainable Family Business
Themes
Theme 1: The Enduring Mission


Starting with Quality


Sources of Intergenerational Thinking


Sustainable Global Scanning



Developing the Country


Innovation Shock and Pivot


Theme 2:  Playing the Succession Card

 Resistance from Within
Resistance to  Resistance from Without
Sustainability
Theme 3:  The Double Bottom Line
 Investment in Human
Winning Development
Sustainability  Defining Sustainability
Inclusively
Strategies  Taking Control of Value Chain
 Public/Private Cooperation
 Third Party Legitimation

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