Sustainable Leadership at Thai President Foods

This paper adopts Avery's sustainable leadership practices as a framework to examine the business practices, as informed by the philosophy of Sufficiency Economy, at one of the world's largest instant noodle manufacturers, Thai President Foods (TF). Avery's principles were grouped into six categories for analysis: long-term perspective, investing in people, organizational culture, innovation, social and environmental responsibility, and behaving ethically. Adopting a multi-data collection approach, research teams supplemented case study data with non-participant observations made during visits to the conglomerate and training sessions, and reference to documentation and information supplied by, or published about, the conglomerate. Semi-structured interviews were held with multiple stakeholders. Six core sets of practices consistent with the 19 sustainable leadership practices were identified: a focus on a long-term perspective, staff development, a strong organizational culture, innovation, social and environmental responsibility and ethical behavior, sharply contrasting with the prevailing business model of short-term maximization of profitability.