Dhamma in Business : Buddha's Teachings apply brake to greed

The Nation, 17 June 2009

Doing businesses is like swimming: you can never stop or you may drown. So says Chuleeporn Chompatana, managing director of Smart Vision, Thailand.

However, she believes managers must learn that moving too fast or being too greedy can bring disaster to a business, so Chuleeporn uses Dhamma "like a circuit breaker" to keep on a balanced course.

"Dhamma can be applied to business. Everyone can become greedy when doing business, but Dhamma will 'brake' us with consciousness," she said in a recent interview. "Sometimes, when you feel no fun in doing something, you will know it's time to stop."

Smart Vision is a provider of glasses, contact lenses and related products and services. In its 11 years of operations, Smart Vision has never made a loss. It posted record sales revenue of about Bt50 million last year.

Chuleeporn, 37, said she began studying Dhamma four or five years ago by reading the books of revered monk Phra Maha Wudhijaya Vajiramedhi - better known by his pen name, W Vajiramedhi. Since then she has joined retreats and practised meditation.

She said she had become more relaxed with her staff as a consequence and was not moody when staff failed to perform according to expectations. One direct effect of Dhamma on Smart Vision's business came when Chuleeporn learned to give. That launched the company's annual programme of donating glasses to communities.

"It is like [the donations] have an automatic return. In the communities where our company is located, word gets around. We never have any problems. Our staff has to arrive at the office at 5am so they can get to the health check-up location by 7am. If the villagers cannot see us well enough, [they will complain] we're making too much noise," she said.

Unlike traditional shops, Smart Vision offers its products through a fleet of 10 vans that follow hospitals and health centres as they provided on-site health check-ups. Smart Vision has no retail stores but recently opened outlets in two Bangkok hospitals, near their ophthalmology departments.

Chuleeporn said normally, a factory or office she visited would have 300-1,000 staff and that 15-20 per cent of them would order glasses or other products from Smart Vision. Although the company has hundreds of competitors, only four or five are considered major rivals, she said.

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