Varanit Athijaratroj, HP Inc Thailand's first female managing director, has outlined her three-year plan to make the computer giant more resilient and prepared for the future to overcome challenges in the PC market and drive long-term profit growth.
"My priority is to create a future-ready and resilient company," she told the Bangkok Post.
Ms Varanit, who has worked at HP for 23 years, said the plan stands on three "future-ready" pillars: portfolio, operations and people.
A future-ready portfolio refers to the company's work in three areas to solve the complexities of hybrid work, protect customers from security threats, and deliver the most sustainable solutions.
Under future-ready operations, she said the company's core businesses will be simplified and strengthened, with a focus on three areas. First, HP intends to enhance operational excellence by delivering products on time, at an appropriate cost and quality by implementing disciplined sales processes.
Second, the company wants to advance digital transformation by simplifying and accelerating process improvements that increase velocity, strengthen the supply chain, and enable business models to capture more value, said Ms Varanit.
The third plank involves driving cost efficiencies to free up resources and create the capacity to invest in growth areas.
In terms of future-ready people, she said staff and culture will continue to be the foundation of HP's 10-year strategy.
The company's leadership team will continue to evolve the company's culture for the future, while stretching forward to create an environment where people can be energised and effective, said Ms Varanit.
She said the company will optimise its portfolio, investing in key growth areas while reducing complexity.
One goal is to drive digital transformation within HP by simplifying and automating working processes, creating new customer value propositions and reducing structural costs, said Ms Varanit.
"The new future-ready strategy we introduced this quarter will enable us to better serve our customers and drive long-term value creation by reducing our costs and reinvesting in key growth initiatives to position our business for the future," she said.
WOMEN AND DIVERSITY
As HP Thailand's first female leader, Ms Varanit believes promoting a culture of diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace is one of her top priorities, in addition to her business ambitions.
Since its establishment, HP has embraced the power of diversity to fuel innovation while recognising progress starts from the top, where it has one of the most diverse board of directors in the technology sector, with women making up 46% of the members.
"I strive to create an inclusive, empowering culture that facilitates gender equity by encouraging HP global initiative programmes, including the Women in Leadership Lab [WILL], the Women Impact Network [WIN] and more," she said.
WILL is a programme that aims to increase female leadership and advance core leadership skills such as change management, financial and business acumen, influencing, coaching and analytical thinking.
In 2021, HP Thailand established the WIN programme, which tries to empower women to be the best at work.
CHASING OPPORTUNITIES
Ms Varanit said global trends include a shift to hybrid work, the convergence of the digital and physical worlds, the rise of a subscription economy, and the digitisation of manufacturing and mass personalisation.
"Our business strategy is designed to capitalise on these trends and drive long-term profitable growth by building a stronger core and advancing our leadership through innovations in personal systems and printing," she said.
The company is also investing in key growth businesses, ranging from gaming and industrial graphics to 3D printing solutions.
Ms Varanit said among these growing trends, the gaming market has been on a remarkable growth trajectory over the past decade.
She cited Newzoo's Global Games Market Report 2022, which indicated the global market value was US$184 billion in 2022.
SUSTAINABILITY PRODUCTS
Ms Varanit said sustainability would continue to be at the top of the company's agenda for brands and print businesses alike.
"At HP we believe products designed for sustainability should be accessible to everyone," she said.
"In addition to developing the world's most sustainable PC portfolio, HP has used more than a billion pounds of recycled materials since 2019."
