Global player Serba Dinamik founder reveals secret to his company’s success
KUCHING: How does one succeed in a foreign competitive market?
Serba Dinamik Holdings Berhad (SDHB) group managing director Datuk Dr Mohd Abdul Karim Abdullah has the answer: “Act locally.”
Explained Mohd Abdul Karim: “When it comes to venturing into a foreign business market, the concept of ‘act locally’ should be applied to facilitate activities and reduce costs.
“Different countries have their respective entrepreneurs. What ‘act locally’ means is to subcontract work to the locals.”
He revealed that about 25 to 40 per cent of contracts secured by SDHB are subcontracted to locals.
“Through this concept they feel they are part of the development and contracts that we secure,” he told New Sarawak Tribune in an exclusive interview here.
Mohd Abdul Karim, who doubles as SDHB chief executive officer, described this as a ‘win-win situation’ as mobilisation and operational costs can be greatly reduced.
“At the same time, the local enterprises are also happy because they have gained a certain part of those localisations,” he remarked.
He said the concept is in line with the global player SDHB’s slogan ‘Think Globally, Act Locally’.
The SDHB founder said many people have the tendency to overlook the importance of support from local enterprises, stressing that this was the reason why some companies faced difficulties when tackling an overseas market.
SDHB has a good track record of sustaining strong business ventures in Middle Eastern countries.
It is a Malaysian group with international operation providing total engineering and maintenance package solutions to various industries including power, steel, oil and gas, petrochemical and related industries.
Mohd Abdul Karim said approximately 30 per cent of SDHB’s performance stems from the domestic market. Of the 70 per cent coming from the international market, about 45 per cent is from Middle Eastern countries.
“In some of these, we have also transferred technology like involving them in our training programmes and upgrading their knowledge,” he added.
He pointed out our that some people may opine that this is not a smart business model, but he countered this by saying that SDHB has a philosophy which is, “Do not be afraid that other people will overtake you if they know about your business tricks and technology”.
“I always tell these people that unity is strength; you cannot work on your own. The locality aspect is very important — we need their support,” said Mohd Abdul Karim.
Click link for interview: Dream a lot and never give up
