Blue Ocean Strategy Talk : Transforming Business Through Innovation And Creativity

Conference Hall, Level 41, PETRONAS Twin Towers, KLCC
26 April 2017

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim,

Assalamu’alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh,

Salam Sejahtera

dan Salam 1Malaysia

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Alhamdulillah, let me express our utmost gratitude to Allah, The Almighty, for it is with his Grace that all of us are gathered here today to listen and learn on “Blue Ocean Strategy: Transforming Business through Creativity and Innovation”. It truly gives me great pleasure to be with all of you this morning. I am also pleased to see so many of Blue Ocean Strategy enthusiasts despite your busy schedule.

2. I would like to congratulate Corporate Strategy and Planner Connect of PETRONAS for taking this pro-active initiative to collaborate with the National Strategy Unit (NSU) of Ministry of Finance and Malaysia Blue Ocean Strategy Institute (MBOSI) to introduce and explore this subject further in PETRONAS. I would certainly welcome for more future collaborations.

Ladies & Gentlemen,

3. The Blue Ocean Strategy is a subject that is very dear to my heart. I was very fortunate to be personally involved to pioneer the implementation of National Blue Ocean Strategy or also known as NBOS for the Government in 2009 during my tenure as Chief Secretary to the Government. Under the leadership of our Prime Minister, YAB Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak, NBOS’s many initiatives and programmes have benefited the Malaysian economy and people from all walks of life such as the Urban Transformation Centres (UTC) and Rural Transformation Centres (RTC) as well as the strategic partnership between the Royal Malaysian Police and Malaysian Armed Forces that resulted in collaborative sharing of assets. In both instances, they were executed with the Blue Ocean Strategy principles of high impact, low cost and rapid execution that have transformed and still transforming our Country today. On this note, I am sure Datuk Dr. Aminuddin Hassim of NSU can attest to this and has plenty to talk about. On the other hand, Dr. Park, whom I have personally known for a long time, will share his extensive knowledge and experience on Blue Ocean Strategy methodology, framework as well as sharing of real examples of global companies and industries, which can serve as lessons for us.

4. For us in PETRONAS, I believe this talk on Blue Ocean Strategy is timely and will greatly benefit us in terms of knowledge sharing on best practices and lessons learnt. I am very encouraged by today’s talk as it was just last year that we opened our doors to listen to very diverse yet different topics, other than typical oil and gas subjects, during the PETRONAS 2nd Lecture Series organised by Corporate Strategy. Despite being the only Global Fortune 500 in Malaysia, we have demonstrated our openness and humility, to listen and more importantly to learn, from others. And this, we must do more, in the spirit of “Tell Me”.

5. Allow me to expand on this point further. Today, as we all know, the oil and gas industry players, including PETRONAS, are sailing through a perfect storm of highly challenging and fast changing external environment, and prevailing uncertainties. As we continuously transform ourselves, strive to compete and look for new avenues for future sustainable growth, the Blue Ocean Strategy shall force us to go beyond our normal understanding about the rules of competition, and it defies our traditional thinking about strategy. Putting this into context, it is also about re-writing the rules of competition and creating our own blue oceans by leveraging on Innovation and Creativity. We must do this through aggressive collaboration, with high sense of urgency and being ahead of the digital revolution.

6. In order for Innovation and Creativity to flourish, we must first embrace an attitude that: we do not know everything, and we do not have to do everything ourselves. If we collectively continue on with the mindset of Business As Usual, it won’t be long before a torpedo would wreck our ship! Worst is if we do not even realise a disruptive torpedo is 3 seconds away! Conversations such as “we have been doing this way all the while, so why should we change now” must stop.

7. We will go far, wether as individuals, organisations or even as a Country if we always challenge the status quo. We must dream big. Think of how we can bring 27th century to today. Always find better, faster solutions. Of course, these must be done without compromising Integrity. Do not wait for perfect conditions to do anything. If you do that, I can almost assure you that nothing will ever get done. We must have a progressive and continuously learning mind. Great innovators of the world have never allow the setbacks to turn them into failures. They rebound and learn from it and this is an iterative loop, so they get to learn faster! Can you imagine if Thomas Edison is working in our organisation today – would our organisation allow him to achieve the creation of first commercially practical incandescent light? He aptly concluded that “I haven’t failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work”. Every wrong attempt is often a step forward.

8. Therefore, for Innovation and Creativity to flourish, we must actively encourage curiosities, questions, debates and conversations with candour. A heathy debate or discussion can only push the organisation to a Greater Common Good. This is the kind of organisational ecosystem that will spur on behaviours and actions such as voicing out ideas and opinions that shall lead PETRONAS towards sustainable desired results. In my mind, it is always “Hierarchy of Ideas, NEVER Hierarchy of Positions”.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

9. PETRONAS has been directly involved in the Government-led NBOS for the past two years where some of its key initiatives such as the Cost Reduction Alliance or CORAL 2.0 programme and the Sea Base projects, amongst others have delivered the intended value in tandem with the Government’s NBOS initiatives. CORAL 2.0, for instance has successfully achieved a substantial cost reduction in upstream operation to the tune of RM 5 billion as at January 2017. In addition, PETRONAS has also been maintaining close collaboration with key external stakeholders such as the Royal Malaysian Police to implement the “Go-To-Safety-Points” programme, of which the public can go to any PETRONAS petrol station to seek help during emergencies. These are some of the PETRONAS NBOS activities that have been implemented and aligned with our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy. These include the Planting Tomorrow and Food Basket programmes in Sabah launched earlier this year, that truly reflects the strong collaboration between PETRONAS, the State Government of Sabah and Federal Government in fulfilling our own PETRONAS Mission as well as our National Agenda – very symbolic of PETRONAS’ Cultural Beliefs of “Shared Success”.

10. In closing, I would like to express my appreciation to Corporate Strategy and Planner Connect for organising this talk. A special acknowledgement is due to both our speakers this morning, Datuk Dr. Aminuddin Hassim and Dr. Park Jae Won for making their time to be here and share their experiences and insights with all of us.

11. I am confident you will emerge from today’s learning journey enriched with ideas on how we can grow PETRONAS and our Nation to greater heights.

Thank you.

Wabillahi taufik walhidayah Wassalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh.