The GP Group is a global trading and shipping company based in Bangkok.

It is a family firm, which was established 125

years ago in Burma. It now has a turnover in excess of US$2 billion and comprises over 20 companies world- wide,
specialising in commodity trad- ing, ship chartering, ship management, rice production, seed research and production,
manufacturing and export- ing rubber products, chemicals, phar- maceuticals, jewellery and soya bean. It provides services
such as property development, tour operations, plastic security cards, port management and project management.

Kirit Shah is the chairman and owner of the Group, and he explained his role in the diversified business.

Source: Aspectra/Maurine Traffic

I am no longer personally involved in running any of my companies directly. All the companies have managing directors
and they run the business on their own. I have good people. For the past 25 years I have been recruiting graduates from
business schools. My typical day would involve meeting some of the directors and talking about what they are doing or
working on a problem that they might have. I would meet a lot of their customers, their suppliers and their buyers, and I
would typically host a lunch or dinner and meet them face-to-face to help them in their work.

The way I try to strengthen our business relationships is to have face-to-face meetings with people. I know this is very much
against the trend, which is about global communications, mobile telephones and instant communication. But just think about
it: if I can sit face-to-face with someone I can see their reaction, which on a fax or e-mail I cannot. As a buyer today you
have a choice, the whole world wants to sell to you. So why me? Because you know me, because we had a meeting, had a
drink, maybe our families know each other. It is the personal touch that I think is important in today’s faceless world. We
are all trying to get to a faceless situation but I don’t think there is an effective substitute for personal interaction. And it’s
surprisingly easy to do, it’s like an illusion. If you were in London and I was in London and I asked you for a meeting,
chances are you would tell me, ‘OK, let’s meet next month’, or you might not even accept my call. On the other hand, if I
call you from Bangkok, chances are you will take my call as a priority over something else that you were doing. So if I said I
was com- ing from Bangkok and I can meet you the day after tomorrow, chances are that you will see me faster than you
would see a guy who is next door or in the next street. It’s the perception that he is always there but the guy from Bangkok is
not, so I must see him at a time convenient to him, not at a time convenient to me.

The downside is that we have to travel a lot more than we ever did. Now it’s more intense than ever. Before, when I went on
a trip it was for one week; now, because of frequency of flights, I go somewhere for one day. Even when I go to London I
land at 6.00 in the morning and I take a flight back at 10.00 in the evening, having spent the day there. With more direct
flights we are all burning ourselves trying to get to the farthest point on the globe in the shortest possible time and get back.