CEO Monthly November 2017

26 CEO MONTHLY / NOVEMBER 2017 , Supreme Components International (SCI) Pte Ltd is a leading distributor of franchised high technology electronic components & LED lighting solutions. Vick Aggarwala gives us an in- depth interview, discussing the inner workings of the firm. Customers First, Services Foremost Established in Singapore since 2001, SCI meets the enormous and endlessly expanding role played by technology by providing a comprehensive portfolio of high-tech electronic components, consisting of semiconductor/active, passive, electromechanical and LED Luminaries total solution. The firm’s customer base of over a thousand customers includes sectors ranging from medical, automotive to energy, with a global reach, serving more than 40 countries from Europe, North America, Oceania and South- East Asia. SCI has branch offices in India, Thailand, Canada & Australia. Currently, SCI engages in business with various overseas customers and suppliers across China, ASEAN - Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, OCEANIA (Australia & New Zealand), India, South Korea, Europe (Germany, France, Italy), Canada and the United States, serving over 1400 clients including multinational giants like Samsung, Foxconn, Schneider, BEL, Gerard Lighting and more. Vick starts off by telling us how it feels to have been selected as part of the CEO of the Year 2017, and what key attributes he possesses which make him an award-winning business leader. He tells us what advice he would give someone looking to make a success similar to his. “To win this award, it is a great honour and I humbly accept the recognition. Some of the main attributes which I possess include being focused, numbers driven, humble and honest, along with maintaining high energy levels and setting high bars. With regard to others, they should never give up, be determined, monitor numbers on a daily basis, keep cash flow in line and look to always generate profitable sales.” Describing his responsibilities as CEO, Vick outlines what he has to do keep the company ticking over and ensuring it is successful. “When running the company efficiently, my key responsibilities include formulating mid to long term business strategies and making sure that these strategies are executed in entirety. I am responsible for top line and bottom line services and realigning the business model regularly to ensure continual growth with the market. Lastly, I am a hands-on leader who leads by example.” Essentially, the biggest evidence that a company can have to show, on whether they have successfully communicated their key values, is in their actions. SCI’s acts on their vision, mission and strategic objectives, and constantly upholds them. As a small enterprise, it is important to create value out of every individual in the company; hence managing its human resources is 1711CE10 a key factor to the success of the organization. Important aspects of being a CEO in charge of a successful company is the treatment of staff, and guaranteeing that they are all working towards achieving the same goal. He talks about the management strategy of handling staff, implementing management by objectives, and utilising SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time- related) goals in order to set realistic targets for staff. “Staff are allocated markets based on their spoken language for ease in monitoring individual performances and sales targets. As sales targets vary with economic factors and consumption patterns, goals are set through a discussion between manager and each individual employee. Adopting a consultative rather than a directive approach ensures realistic and achievable targets, and gives employees a greater sense of ownership. “On top of their base salary, employees are also rewarded with sales commissions, which motivate employees to exceed expectations. As with regular companies, the base salary increases together with the level of seniority, thus recognising the staff’s loyalty. Furthermore, quarterly bonuses are awarded to employees who meet their KPI targets.” Having set staff realistic goals in which they need to reach, the team at SCI also has to set the company realistic targets. The company holds a vision to be a global franchised distributor and be physically present throughout all the major continents. Alongside this is SCI’s mission of providing exemplary service to all customers through superior product marketing, field application engineering, and finally, professional sales with differentiated value-added services. The company exists because the team are obsessed about adding value at the speed of though for its customers and suppliers, something Vick comments on, describing the strategy of SCI-QE. “Sales staffs are expected to comply with service excellence standards on every business