Leave SABAI-SABAI till later! April/May 1999

Over the past two years, the Thai government has tried very hard to promote campaigns around the themes "Eating Thai food, Using Thai Products, Travel in Thailand, and United for Saving." These were designed to try to promote local consumption and reduce the imbalance in the trade deficit. Its seems that the campaign was successful to some extent. Most Thais were aware of it. We did practice and change the "Thai Way". It could be said that the campaign has helped in the Thailand recovery. There are many indicators that point to economic recovery in the Kingdom. It is a good news. If this is the case, what will be the trend for Thai people? Here are some anticipations from my personal judgement of the Thai personality and their implications. Thais find it easy to forget Based on this characteristic, what will be the implication? We will easily forget about the pain of the economic crisis. For example, on April 1999 during the Songkran festival (which is considered a long weekend for Thais with business closing for 5 days), lots of local Thai travellers went overseas for their holidays. It was a big jump when compared to 1998. There was a big drop on 1998 compared to 1997. It is anticipated that during the other up-coming festival, we will start to spend the money as we did during the bubble economy! Now, no more nationalism campaigns! Thais will eat foreign food, use foreign products, travel overseas and start spending money instead. Thais are SABAI SABAI Thais love easy living with comfort. Living in a country rich with resources in the past, we do not like working hard and saving money. Temporarily, we can! Permanently? ...Well that is another story! The past 2 years experience was just too much pain. When the situation seems to be back to normal, we will come back to SABAI SABAI again. We might explode our pocket again to compensate the grief. Job Security is not an issue any more During the crisis, lots of people were laid-off from work. Many still have jobs. Those who remained employed, had to work very hard with less complaints and grievances about the working conditions. Every one was concerned about the job security. But now, if the economic situation contines to look promising, there will be a complaints again employees. We may not work as hard as during the crisis period. Many of us will say "Give me a break boss, I worked hard for 2 years!" Saving in the work place is more relaxed During the crisis, all companies, were campaigning for cost saving. Every aspect of expenses were controlled and monitored. Guess what? With the MAI PEN RAI attitude, we will become more relaxed in that control. The expenses will climb up again. Watch out for your corporate expenses! To be on a safe side, I propose the following actions that might minimize the problems arising. Communication: We should communicate that the recovery is just starting. It will take time. For a while, do not give into the temptation to spend all you have now or to relax. One more thing that we should communicate to the people is that even if the country is in recovery, it does not guarantee that it will recover to the same level as the bubble time. So, we should not expecte the same level of comfort and earning to be as in the past. Reinforcement: You may start to reinforce to your people that lot of actions we used to during the crisis are good habits that we should continue to practice, regardless of the state of the economy. In the long run, it will help the country, the company, and the family, to become more comfortable. We will SABAI SABAI in the future, not now. We learned the lesson with the expenses of the nation. So don’t waste the lesson. Advice: The Thai personality that caused the problem to the nation should be minimized or avoided. We have to be smart in spending, and living in appropriate conditions, not as it was in the bubble time. Look to the future: Even the country is in recovery, we can survive only by focusing on productivity. It is imperative that cost efficiency becomes one of the critical success factors in every organization (Private or Government). Efficiency means doing more with less. There will be continuous lay-off's in the work place. It is a fact of life. Those who are not able to cope with the new environment and learning a new set of skills will be left out. I hope that I am not too pessimistic. That what I say here is wrong. But one thing for sure is that "Uncertainty is certain". Those who learn to adapt will survive. It is natural law. Kriengsak Niratpattanasai DBS Thai Danu Bank, Bangkok, Thailand

...from Kriengsak Niratappanasai's Thailand Tales

Kriengsak Niratpattanasai Thai Danu Bank Bangkok Thailand

Kriengsak was one of the Asian Business Strategy & Street Intelligence Ezine's earliest columnists and continues to provide some of the most savvy advice on the Net on working in Thailand. His down to earth advice from years of working with falang and locals mixed with local folkstories continues to delight and inform. Click on Kriengsak's picture to learn more about our great friend and colleague.

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