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Published on September 14, 2007

The first generation creates it, the second inherits it and the third squanders it away: so goes the saying about family fortunes.

By enrolling scions of business empires at the Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration, however, the chances are that some of the clans may retain their clout beyond the third generation.

At least, that is what a recent gathering of Sasin alumni was determined to prove, as the members organised a gala event to celebrate Sasin's 25th anniversary. The gala is being held tomorrow.

"We would like to say that the programme has proven invaluable to shaping our careers," says Navanat Sukhamongkhon, an executive director of Vichitra Property, the real estate arm of Patco, a trading and machinery conglomerate.

The enterprises were forged by Navanat's mother Vichitra, who still heads the operations.

Navanat is one of 3,000 students that have earned degrees at the prestigious institution. She says Sasin graduates now hold several top positions at banks, large companies and in government. They form a tight-knit network ready to assist classmates.

"Sasin did not just provide us with skills, it forged bonds between students after they leave the programme," Navanat says.

There are numerous alumni members now heading real-estate units, including the heirs and heiresses to various business empires. Sasin has taught them to be responsible in planning any business, they say.

"Any endeavour is risky without number-crunching," says Navanat.

Vijchu Chatatab, vice president of SCB Asset management, agrees and stresses the need to employ professionals. "Sasin teaches us teamwork, which is vital when a company expands."

Ruengchai Rujirapat, a top consultant to Amata Industrial Estate and Samsung, says he enrolled in 1992 when Sasin was still quite new. "In those days the fees for an MBA programme were about Bt300,000," he recalls.

By the time Navanat took her executive MBA programme, the fees had jumped threefold.

Today a two-year MBA course costs more than Bt1 million, while executive courses - for people with at least seven years' experience at management level - cost even more.

"It is still one of the more reasonably charged courses in the Asian region," says another alumni member Rattawadee Bualert, who is president of Lebua Hotels.

Her family owns State Tower on Silom Road, while she runs its hospitality arms that include restaurants like Sirocco and The Dome.

"Before completing the course at Sasin. I was not as confident as I am now," says the executive, who spent her early school years in the United Kingdom.

Rattawadee says she enrolled in 1998 after returning home to join the family business. It was an auspicious year as it marked the Kingdom's most spectacular financial crash, which had started in mid-1997.

"We had the biggest class ever in Sasin's history: 150 students!"

The baht fell by half against the greenback, tumbling to Bt50 from Bt25. The foreign-exchange crisis made it impossible for many students to study abroad.

As a result, many opted for Sasin. Rattawadee says she enjoyed the bigger classes as the variety of students made the learning experience  more interesting. But since then, the campus has limited enrolment to avoid overcrowding.

The 1997 crash was a good lesson for everyone, says Ruengchai, who recalls how Telecom Asia - now renamed True Corp - recruited him to fix its massive Bt1.7-billion debt as a result of the currency debacle.

"Sasin had taught me the financial skills to cope with the task."

In retrospect, alumni say Thailand is lucky today to be spared much of the global fallout from the US sub-prime woes, which have battered almost all global markets.

Thailand's hard landing in 1997/1998 ushered in a five-year recession. The alumni saw the collapse of many family businesses. Among them were failed banks like Laem Thong and Bangkok Bank of Commerce, which employed cronies and conducted business in a less than professional manner. Likewise 70 per cent of Thailand's real-estate firms went bankrupt.

The alumni say one of Sasin's key lessons is ethics. "Ethics ranks high for business, as we have come to learn from the 1997 crisis, as well as what we are seeing today in the US," says Panpimol Krishnamra, another outspoken alumni member.

The lack of transparency, so acute among family-run outfits during the pre-1997 years, has proved costly for the private sector. And though the tendency to conduct secretive deals still prevails at some firms today, stronger

companies tend to hire higher-calibre management to run their operations.

Sasin was established by Chulalongkorn University in 1982 in collaboration with US business schools Kellogg and Wharton.

His Majesty the King bestowed the name Sasin in 1987 after Professor Toemsakdi Krishnamra sought his advice on the matter.

Itthi C Tan

The Nation