After six years at Pasir Panjang, Ling was seconded
to work in BP London from 1971 to 1973. On his
return, he was given a new title of “Management
Services Adviser” with a broad mandate to “talk”
to the department heads of BP in Singapore
and Malaysia as well as to help solve their work
problems.
Ling travelled frequently to Indonesia, Thailand
and the Philippines, made new friends, developed
ideas, and uncovered a large untapped demand
in the region for BP’s lubricants and fuels.
“Within two years, the surplus was gone. The
production from our two lubricant plants could not
keep pace with demand,” he said.
It was either a ground breaking career move or a
ticket into the wilderness as Ling soon found out
that the department heads did not see the need to
explain their jobs or, worse, share their problems
with a newly created adviser who reported directly
to the boss.
More importantly, the humble lubricant deals gave
Ling access to senior people as well as the future
leaders in the state energy firms of Indonesia,
Thailand and the Philippines.
“Many of their officials and business people had
never heard of us, and asked if BP was a ship
chandler or an agent for the other majors!” Ling
said.
However, someone did open up and it led Ling
into the overlooked and under-appreciated niche
world of lubricants marketing. The marketing
director confided that there was spare production
capacity at the company’s lubricants plants
in Jurong and Malaysia’s Port Klang, and asked
Ling to help develop new markets, which
meant looking for buyers outside BP’s traditional
base in Singapore and Malaysia. It became
a learning opportunity for Ling as he had
to learn to market and develop contacts
and relationships
of people.
with
a
different
Far from feeling disadvantaged, Ling turned
the officials’ lack of knowledge of BP into
an opportunity to introduce the company
and its product and services, by promoting
the BP brand and sowing the seeds for
long-term relationships. By broadening their
scope of international relations, BP helped
Singapore in enhancing its global image as a
major business hub.
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