An Interview with Jere Tala
Country Manager, Qatar Airways
Location: South Korea
Graduated from HSE EE in 2006
Tell us more about your role in Qatar Airways.
I've been Country Manager for Korea with Qatar Airways since October 2008. Before that I was Area Manager for Central China based in Shanghai for the same company.
My role is to oversee all Qatar Airways activities in Korea, such as strategies, P&L responsibility as well as day-to-day management of our operations here. We currently have staff of around 20 both at the airport and town office. We fly daily from Seoul to Doha, Qatar and plan to increase our capacity from Korea soon. This will also mean that we'll increase number of staff. I am the only non-Korean working in our organization here.
You were formerly the Country Manager for Finnair in Singapore and also Area Manager for Shanghai, tell us how the South Korean market is different from the other Asian markets in your opinion?
South-Korean market is very unique compared to my previous postings which have all been more or less Chinese-speaking markets (Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore). Korean market is very developed and competition is tough, especially for foreign companies. Korean market is very much domestic-oriented and one will not find as many multinational companies' products and services here as one does rest of the Asia. Koreans expect high quality and are not as price sensitive as for example Chinese are. It definitely helps if you are selling premium quality products or services, like we are.
What have you gained from the HSE EE program that has made a difference to how you strategize, act and lead?
I think the biggest gains from HSE EE have been the overall knowledge on how economics work in the bigger picture. This can be seen in today's economical climate when market after market enters the recession despite how their domestic situation previous was. We are truly living and working in the global markets now and everything affects everything at some level.
Naturally all the leadership and management courses by the HSE EE have also been extremely useful in my work and the knowledge gained from the professors and fellow students has been truly valuable to me. All in all, I am grateful and very satisfied that I took the HSE EE Executive MBA in Singapore a couple of years ago.
What are some of the critical survival tools you feel an airline company needs to possess for today's environment?
I would say that the biggest survival tool in the airline industry is the willingness, capability and adaptability to change. Our industry is going thru the biggest changes ever and one must be fit and ready to abandon the old ways of doing business. The world has changed and airline industry must change with it. Governments and airline owners should not hold on their old thinking that every country must have their own national airline or "flag carriers", but to realise that airline industry needs mergers and those airlines not able be profitable should not be there. More "open skies" agreements are needed, especially in Asia. This all will mean that only the most economically fit companies survive
What's the future for you like?
Having spent over 15 years in Asia already I feel that this is my home and I believe that I will continue to live and work here. But in which country I'm not sure yet. I wouldn't mind moving back to Singapore at some point, provided that challenging and matching job will merge. Asia is full of opportunities and one only has to take the advantage of those opportunities.