This is not Allen Ma’s first experience of India. He was based here for nine months in 2004 and had a wonderful time. He dived into Indian culture with a vengeance, visiting various museums, reading books on India, and making lots of Indian friends.
“I soon realised that there is so much history linking China to India in the past 800 years,” says Ma. “China’s Buddhism originated in India ?? that is well known.
What’s less well known is that the founder of India’s mighty Mughal dynasty can be traced to the same Mongolian family that ruled China during the Yuan dynasty period from 1271 to 1368. I found all this fascinating.”
When, therefore, Ma was asked to lead BT Asia Pacific’s operations in the region last year, he accepted because he liked India and he liked BT’s service-oriented business model. “I think it is the only sustainable model in the industry,” he says.
Ma has 20 years’ experience in the telecom industry and much of it has been in the region. Prior to his current role, he worked for Motorola’s Global Telecom Solutions Sector as vice-president and general manager of Asia, responsible for coaching a team to win contracts.
“We won customer contracts worth hundreds of million dollars by riding on the growth in demand for cellular services in the emerging South and Southeast Asian markets,” he says.
Prior to this, he worked with Cable & Wireless Hong Kong Telecom as executive director. Here, he was responsible for the multimedia arm, rolling out city-wide broadband internet services and e-commerce applications. He also worked in other roles, such as managing director for CSL mobile services, and achieving market leadership in Hong Kong through strong service differentiations and innovative branding.
Ma’s central challenge at present is to help his customers thrive in the changing market environment, particularly those who are affected one way or another by globalisation. Naturally, he thinks that BT is well placed in this game.
“We have a global IP network that is more resilient and covers more countries than any other international player. At the same time, we can provide networked IT services far broader and better than other industry players. I’m confident our team in the Asia-Pacific will be a leader in this field and will contribute increasingly to the success of BT outside the UK.”
In terms of trends, Ma is clear. He says the “mega” trend is convergence ?? fixed, mobile, voice, data, network, IT, handheld computers, mobile devices. “It’s all about a different lifestyle for consumers and a different way of conducting business for executives. It doesn’t just mean more fun and enjoyment. It means faster decisionmaking. Everything can be digitised and everything works over IP. Everything is available at your fingertips, any place, anywhere, any device, and any time. I find that hugely exciting,” says Ma.
As the man who runs BT’s operations in the Asia-Pacific, his hands are full. The geography stretches from Japan to India, and from China to Australia. “We serve only multi-site corporate customers, a unique set of the enterprise solutions sector as commonly called by industry players. I also represent BT in dealing with the government, regulators and partners.”
Ma says that BT’s strengths lie in its financial health and technology leadership. “I believe we were the first industry player to have spotted the arrival of the digital networked economy (DNE) and successfully implemented a transformation strategy to capture new business opportunities made available by DNE. In addition, we have a bold leadership team that has successfully executed the strategy. Our financial results in the past 16 quarters speak for themselves,” he notes.
On BT’s weaknesses, he refuses to comment ?? his competitors would dearly love to know what they are, he says, and he will not oblige them. He says that he knows what they are and the company is working hard to address them.
His own style of working is to keep his eye firmly on the customer. “I’ll do anything to win business from a customer that I have chosen to win. I call this a `choose to be chosen’ strategy. To give you an example, in 2002, I moved to Bangkok for two years because I had just won a $200 million infrastructure contract in Thailand and was negotiating for another one valued at $300 million. I wanted to be there with the team to win and execute these contracts to the complete satisfaction of our customers.The very fact that I moved with the family to Bangkok won the trust of the customer and my team,” he says.
Ma is also a great believer in coaching people to unleash their full potential.That means being firm but soft-spoken, a style that not only works but tends to sit comfortably in the cultures of most parts of the Asia-Pacific region.
He does not follow any specific “management” style because he says that the methods that need to be used are contingent on the particular set of circumstances he finds himself in and on the kind of people he is dealing with.
“In a crisis situation, a leader needs to jump in and get his hands dirty. In normal situations, you need to delegate to ride on the collective work power and brain power of the team. I think this is critical for a leader operating in a multi-cultural environment regionally.”
Ma says that if he had to describe one personal weakness, it would be that he is not “sporty”. “Most industry leaders say they are `sporty’ and that they are able to `work hard and play hard’. I play hard and achieve relaxation in a different way,” he says. Ma enjoys hiking, lots of reading, musicals, cruises, and good food.
Given the pressures on him, he counts himself lucky to have a supportive partner and children. “You have to share the joy and fun of business success with them so that they feel a part of your team.Women are very good at the sixth sense.Pick their brains when you’re stuck in generating ideas or decision-making. Ask for their gut feeling when you are in doubt,” he observes.
He also has his own underlying principle that has guided him through his career.This is “set your career goal early and then steer the course with new information”.He explains: “The key is never to give up too easily once you have set out to achieve a goal. There will be disruptions from time to time. But the winner will ultimately be the one who continued to do what he’s passionate about. Perseverance is the key to success for businessmen or salesmen in a tough situation.”
When he was 15, Ma wanted to be a professional accountant because it was fashionable at that time in Hong Kong. In those days, he says, you became an accountant, a doctor or an architect ?? these were the professions that brought in the big money.
He studied accountancy at the Hong Kong Polytechnic. He is a fellow member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants in the UK. He also has an MBA from the University of Toronto.
But after working in the finance area for more than 10 years, Ma realised that finance and accounting were just business analytical tools to help management.They provide good foundations for career growth for most successful business executives. So the next natural step for Ma was to run a business or a corporation.
“The only problem was that I was not a risk-lover. So I decided to work in corporations instead of running my own business. I was very fortunate to be able to move into marketing, sales, customer services and ultimately general business management with full profit and loss responsibility,” he says.
One area where he did not have a great deal of experience was technology.”People see telecom as a technology business but I have a different view. I see telecom as a service business, and technology as an enabler. Having said that, I think one of the most important attributes of a senior executive is to be able to see the disruptive forces of a technology ahead of other people and to be able to see the commercial applications coming from a technology, again ahead of other people but not too much ahead of the curve,” he points out.
Asked to describe what is on his mind during a typical work day, the answer is “customers, customers and customers.And the rest is to support customer activities.”
So what really motivated him in his childhood years? Tough times, he answers.”Hunger drove ambition and discipline to get to the goals.”
Luckily for Ma, he happened to meet three outstanding coaches who changed his life. With them, he learnt English, business ethics, and decision-making.”That’s why three is always my magic number,” he smiles.
