Board Advisory in Thailand, Asia and the West
HundredEast, an independent advisory firm in Bangkok, advises boards of listed, private equity-owned and international companies in Asia and the West.
Where this usually starts
A listing, a private equity investment, succession, growth, or a parent group's reporting requirements can expose a gap between a company's governance arrangements and how it actually operates. Decisions still depend on the founder, the main shareholder, or headquarters. Management carries responsibilities without clear authority. The board receives reports but cannot determine whether its decisions are being carried out.
HundredEast works with owners, investors and boards to define the responsibilities of the board and executive management, establish the information required for oversight, and put agreed changes into practice. Depending on the mandate, the work produces a schedule of matters reserved for board approval, a delegation-of-authority framework, board-reporting requirements and an implementation plan with named responsibilities. These arrangements must give management the authority to run the business and the board a clear basis for holding it accountable. For a listed company, the work takes account of the governance requirements of Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), with local legal advice.
Board seats are held by the founder in his own name, not through HundredEast.
What gets decided
- Matters reserved for board approval and the authority delegated to management
- The board pack and reporting cadence, with the financial and operating information required for board oversight
- Strategic priorities, major investment proposals and the assumptions supporting them
- Risk limits, internal controls and the issues requiring board intervention
- Management accountability for implementing board decisions and reporting progress
- Executive succession priorities and readiness for key leadership transitions
One engagement
HundredEast's founder was managing director and a registered director of a multinational group's company in Thailand, a local entity with its own board and statutory accounts. When he took the role, it did not meet the group's governance requirements.
Within 12 months it was in full group governance compliance, signed off by corporate. He set the approval limits and segregation of duties, took responsibility for the statutory accounts and the control environment, and owned the corrective action after the group's internal audits.
As both director and managing director, he was accountable for the information reaching the board and for the authority used inside the business. Owners, investors and group boards face the same problem when authority and reporting no longer match how the company runs.
How an engagement runs
- 01
A first conversation carries no fee and no obligation.
- 02
What follows is an independent review, a health check of the board, its reporting and its controls, scoped in working days against a fixed fee agreed before it starts, ending in a written report that carries the diagnosis and the proposal for a mandate.
- 03
Mandate fees are then structured around the number of entities, countries, sites and people the work has to cover.
Hourly rates are excluded.
Coordinated specialists
Legal and intellectual property, audit and tax, customs, data protection, product registration and executive search. Each is handled by a specialist you engage directly, so you see their fees and contract with the people carrying the professional liability.
Where board questions lead
Market Entry & International Expansion
For companies entering Thailand, and Thai and Asian companies expanding into Europe and North America, from the commercial case to route to market.
Setting Up in Thailand
For foreign companies setting up in Thailand, with premises, staffing, permits and capital planned together and the licensed specialists coordinated.
China Plus One
Advisory for manufacturers adding a second source in Thailand, from the business case and site choice to customer approval and the transfer.
Is the board seeing the business as it actually runs?
Most engagements start with somebody describing a situation that looks a lot like the one above.
References are available on request. Introductions can be arranged, in advance.