BANGKOK, Thailand – Charoen Pokphand (CP) Group senior chairman Dhanin Chearavanont says the conglomerate is exploring a new business focused on “food as medicine”, with the ambition of helping people live to 120 years, alongside plans for a modern Chinese medicine hospital for employees and their families.
In an interview with Prachachat Business marking the newspaper’s 50th anniversary, Dhanin outlined CP’s future direction, lessons from his decades in business and the challenges posed by rapidly advancing artificial intelligence (AI).
CP Group, one of Thailand’s oldest conglomerates, operates across agriculture, retail, telecommunications and other industries. The group supports more than 450,000 jobs, according to the interview.
Food at the heart of CP’s future
Dhanin said CP’s long-term growth stemmed from choosing businesses closely linked to fundamental human needs, beginning with agriculture and food.
His father started with plant seeds, his elder brother expanded into animal feed, and Dhanin developed the business further into food production for human consumption. He said the group’s integrated approach was intended to improve productivity, reduce costs and maintain quality throughout the supply chain, from crop and livestock breeding to finished food products.
Technology has played a central role in this development, including improvements in plant varieties, animal feed, farming conditions and livestock management. Dhanin said sustainable growth required continuous innovation rather than relying on past achievements.
Lessons from pig farming and the 1997 crisis
Dhanin recalled that expanding from poultry into pig farming proved far more difficult than he had expected. Despite using imported breeding stock and expert advice, the business initially suffered losses. The experience taught him that success in one field did not guarantee success in another, and that businesses had to keep learning and adapting rather than giving up when problems emerged.
He described the 1997 Asian financial crisis as the most difficult lesson of his business career. CP had to sell several valuable assets to protect its parent company from debt, including Lotus and investments in satellite and electronic component businesses.
Dhanin also recalled the collapse of a major submarine cable investment. He said the project’s value had risen substantially before technological change undermined the business, teaching him that high-tech investments could carry serious risks when companies failed to adapt quickly enough.
He contrasted the speed of change in technology with agriculture, which can develop more gradually, while stressing that agricultural businesses must also use innovations such as robotics and drones to remain competitive.
Expansion to retain talented employees
Dhanin said CP needed to keep expanding to provide ambitious employees with opportunities to advance. Without new businesses and larger responsibilities, talented workers could leave for organizations offering better prospects. He argued that leadership positions should not be reserved for family members, but should be filled by capable people from within the company or recruited internationally.
He also emphasized giving talented employees the freedom to make decisions, build their own teams and try new ideas. Mistakes could be part of the learning process, he said, provided employees understood what went wrong and did not repeat the same errors.
Plans for a Chinese medicine hospital
Dhanin said he was exploring the development of a Chinese medicine hospital that would combine traditional approaches with modern medical technology. The proposal is not intended primarily as a competitor to established private hospitals, but as a way to combine what he sees as the strengths of both medical systems.
The planned facility would serve approximately 200,000 to 300,000 CP employees and their families. He also discussed working with Chulalongkorn Hospital on a highly controlled, hygienic hospital environment using advanced air filtration and other technologies.
Dhanin said the hospital itself was not the group’s main new business opportunity. Instead, he identified health-focused food designed to complement medical care and support human health as CP’s next major direction.
He said the group intended to study research into longevity and develop food products that could help support the body’s overall balance. His stated ambition is to explore how people might live to 120 years or even longer, although this remains a goal rather than an established medical outcome.
AI reshapes business and recruitment
Dhanin said artificial intelligence was changing operations throughout the supply chain, from delivery-route planning and automated production to global supplier price comparisons and administrative work. He described the business environment as moving beyond the “golden minute” or “golden second” into a “golden fraction of a second”, reflecting how quickly companies must respond to changing conditions. He believes AI and automation will eventually create substantial new employment opportunities, but said companies must prepare their workforces for the transition.
CP’s recruitment strategy, he said, should focus on people who can manage AI systems and robots, rather than only perform routine tasks that technology can increasingly handle.
The group is also reviewing leadership training, including plans to work with leading international universities on three- and six-month courses to help executives and business partners adapt to the AI era.
Dhanin concluded that business has no permanent finish line. Companies must keep finding ways to do better tomorrow than they did today, he said, because believing they have reached the top can leave them vulnerable to competitors. (Photo, Story: Prachachat Business)
