December 3, 2018, The Edge Malaysia - Creating A Love Culture In The Workplace
The organisation, which employs 45 people, leverages its size as an SME to ensure that its employees have a strong bond and relationship with each other. For example, the leaders of the company make an effort to talk to the employees during work travel to understand them better while their families are invited to some of the corporate events to create stronger connections within the organisation.
December 3, 2018, The Edge Malaysia - AIA Lives Its Brand Promise
"As an employer, we play an active role vein encouraging healthy habits among our people. We provide them with the tools, the knowledge and the motivation to be able to bring the best ofthemselves to work. We are fully committed to embedding our mission and brand promise among our people first," Wong tells The Edge. This is why the company set up its own gym in 2014, with space for about 50 people at a time. The HR department also organises variety of fitness programmes, some in collaboration with AIA Vitality partners, for its employees.
November 5, 2018, The Edge Malaysia - Weathering The Challenges
As for June this year, the group has about 9,600 acres of undeveloped land in Malaysia with an estimated gross development value of RM155.94 billion, which, Khor says, will keep it busy for many years. However, it will add to its land bank if "there is a deal we cannot refuse". Overall, the group has held steady despite the soft local market, the surprise additional buyer's stamp duty (ABSD) in Singapore and Brexit.
November 5, 2018, The Edge Malaysia - Staying Relevant by Meeting Market Needs
How is Kong able to stay so grounded and bide his time when the typical inclination is to rush everything in the hope of hastening earnings? He reveals that his steady approach was born out of his sobering observation of how other businessmen went bankrupt because they tried to grow their businesses too quickly. In the current soft market, it is to be expected that some of the company's projects have slower-than-expected sales. But, overall group performance has remained good, due to the company's diverse portfolio of products.
November 5, 2018, The Edge Malaysia - Right Combination of Location, Product and Pricing is Essential
"We must be flexible in our development process and always have our ear to the ground to know the heartbeat of the buyers and what they want, because there are demands. You need to know exactly what they are looking for. It is not only about pricing ... but it is with that pricing, what property type are they looking for," he says. The right balance is key, he says, adding that it is important for one to be positive as the property development industry is cyclical. It is like choosing to see a glass half full or half empty.
November 5, 2018, The Edge Malaysia - Embracing Sustainability in Community Building
"We have been looking for opportunities but the pricing is not right. We would rather be careful about how we expand, and the fact is that the group has done well in this soft market with our diversified business. With recurring income, we do not have to keep launching just to maintain the numbers and it does not add to the overhang situation," she says. "The fact that we utilise the 'build, own, operate' model has helped us to not drive sales for the sake of the numbers. In a soft market, it allows us to focus on building the community."
November 5, 2018, The Edge Malaysia - Living by Integrity, Hard Work and Discipline
MKH is not just in property. It is also involved in oil palm cultivation, furniture manufacturing and trading. Commenting on the company's plans for its property division, Chen says, "We want to move further up the food chain. We would want to improve in terms of delivering quantity but also delivering quality homes."MKH will look at starter homes, have a platform for the young to build equity. The young should start building equity to beat (general) inflation, that's very important. General inflation may be 3% but property inflation is probably 7.5% to 8%. When they build equity, that is enough for their next stage in life, which is building a family; they will need a bigger home. They can sell whatever they had bought, which would have appreciated, and put it in the next property."
November 5, 2018, The Edge Malaysia - Laying Strong foundations
His greatest achievement, he says, is putting customers first, even during the planning stage. He says focus groups are conducted at the start of each planning process to identify what customers want. The company is also working towards settling defect claims as soon as possible. "The customer-centric experience is not perfect yet but there is a desire to be so," he explains. "The second achievement is doing things together ... there are more collaborations between departments and everyone sits down to settle issues together." While Johor remains a challenge,Anwar SYa_hrin still believes in the state's potential. UEM Sunrise will continue to develop its land bank there, but it will be done selectively, he says. For now, the focus will be on areas like Iskandar puteri, Puteri Harbour and Gerbang Nusajaya.
November 5, 2018, The Edge Malaysia - Building Holistic Townships is His Forte
Planning the township was both from lessons learnt from previous townships as well as understanding trends. "I was lucky I did some travelling and understood the trends in developed countries. For instance, in Bandar Utama, instead of building a monolithic housing scheme with many crossroads, as seen in SS2, we decided to build neighbourhoods. I read somewhere that the best neighbourhood has about 500 residences. So what we did with Bandar Utama was to carve different neighbourhoods, each with 500 to 600 units. Then, we put in the main roads, and the neighbourhood roads became residential streets. So, you won't need to go into a residential street if you're not going to a particular neighbourhood. That took away all the crossroads," Teo explains.
November 5, 2018, The Edge Malaysia - Advancing With a Strong Tested Formula
The plan appears to be working as the developer has secured a place in the top ranks of The Edge Malaysia Top Property Developers Awards 2018. "We find that demand is still firm for affordably priced products, especially landed properties in strategic locations," adds Amrin, who took on his current role in September last year. In FY2018, SDP registered revenue of RM2.353 billion and profit before interest and tax (PBIT) of RM682.5 million. "Our total sales stood at 3,045 units, with a net sales value of RM2.249 billion," he says.