Recipes for success

Marketing lecturer Bhuminan Piyatas-sanan, who led a Thammasat Business School (TBS) team to visit MK's operations and interview its executives recently, said MK's practices matched the "ATP+HODTREN" concept that TBS had found as a formula for the success of more than 50 companies listed on US stock markets.

Bhuminan was speaking at a TBS forum to present the results of his team's "Corporation of Design" research.

ATP is an acronym for aesthetic, technology and process. HODTREN stands for human-centered; observation in context; design, research and development; terms of integration; rapid prototyping; and external networking.

"Aesthetic?" Bhuminan asked. "How can eating suki have an aesthetic? MK has tried to create the aesthetic (atmosphere) all the time, from (interior) design of its restaurants to give warmest feeling to applying appropriate technologies to solve, rather than create, new problems. When we think of restaurants where we can sit for a long time and which offer healthy foods, MK suki will come to mind," he said.

With regard to the "human-centered" ingredient, he said MK had realised that before it could successfully create happiness among customers, its employees had to be happy first. It has come up with basic skills training and service attitude training, as well as a customer relationship programme.

Although MK has been managed along Western lines, with a focus on a systematic approach, it has also adopted an Asian-style culture of living as a family.

"Staff call him [MD Rit Thirakomen] 'Uncle Rit', and not Khun Rit. This culture helps management to interact faster with problems," he said.

Observing customers' behaviour and gaining feedback are central to MK's growth strategies. The company has consistently used input from customers to improve its services and processes.

The researchers also pointed to MK's "QCQS" principle: Quality of food, Cleanliness, Quick service, and Speed of service. These are beyond expectation, Bhuminan said.