Companies In Thailand Research Articles

Managing international business communication problems at work: a pilot study in foreign companies in Thailand

PurposeTo provide information regarding international/intercultural communication problems, along with management tactics for coping and handling such problems occurring in the international business work setting in foreign companies operating in Thailand.Design/methodology/approachExclusive 14 in‐depth interviews with expatriate executives and Thai senior employees were conducted in four Japanese, two German, and two multinational companies in Thailand. Both expatriates and Thai employees were asked to identify communication problems and describe how they managed such problems with international/intercultural partners, supervisors, or subordinates.Research limitations/implicationsThe sample was quite small. The subjects reacted to the interview protocol based upon their own personal experience working in eight foreign companies in Thailand, which might not represent the entire intercultural/international viewpoints.Practical implicationsThis study provides guidelines for prospective expatriates who will be assigned to work in the Thai host country and for Thai newcomers who are interested in working in foreign companies and must prepare to cope with the problems they may have in working with foreign managers.Originality/valueIt is hoped to be beneficial for both expatriates and Thai employees to perceive and learn each other's understandings, needs, and expectations. Also, it is hoped that information presented in this paper can trigger more thoughts and generate further discussions in international/intercultural business communication classrooms. The study also provides a framework for further investigation of commonalities and differences in tactics for dealing with international/intercultural communication problems at work in other countries compared with those found in Thailand.

Finite Capacity Material Requirement Planning System for a Multi-stage Automotive-Part Assembly Factory

This paper aimed to develop a practical finite capacity material requirement planning (FCMRP) system based on the needs of an automotive-part manufacturing company in Thailand. The approach includes a linear programming model to determine the optimal start time of each operation to minimize the weighted average of total earliness, total tardiness, and average flow-time considering the finite capacity of all work centers and precedence of operations. Important factors of the proposed FCMRP system were objective function weights and dispatching rules. Effects of these factors on the performance measures were statistically analyzed based on a real situation of an auto-part factory. Statistical results showed that the dispatching rules and objective function weights had significant effects on the performance measures of the proposed FCMRP system. The proposed FCMRP system offered a good trade-off between conflicting performance measures and resulted in the best weighted average performance measure when compared with conventional forward and forward-backward finite capacity scheduling systems.

Improving quality through software process improvement in Thailand

For almost 10 years there have been attempts in Thailand to improve software quality by adopting western software process improvement models. Only 17 of the 380 companies in Thailand were able to implement software process models that we see here in the US. 14 out of the 17 companies were not able to improve their process to a higher level. Why were companies not successful in implementing these software process models? Did they find other ways to improve quality? The objective of this paper is to analyze the experiences of software developers, project managers and executive managers in implementing these software process models in Thailand. The results will show that cultural differences are a key factor to this problem. Thai people have different cultural values. which we will explore further in this paper.

Coping with hypercompetition in the financial services industry in Thailand: environmental scanning practices of leaders and followers

The research on medium‐sized finance companies in Thailand shows that companies with well‐organized and managed environmental scanning practices are recovering from the impact of the 1997 financial crisis and are able to respond to the hypercompetitive market context. The industry leaders and followers show two distinct approaches in responding to business environment. The industry leaders focus on short‐ and long‐term horizons, look at a broader set of factors, are able to influence and better foresee changes in the environment and respond towards these movements more pragmatically. The industry followers are slow in capturing changes in the business environment, do not influence industry regulations and can only comply once the policies are handed out by the regulators. The leaders have managed to overcome the debt burden and are looking forward. The followers have to devote attention to cleaning up the past.

Pyrolysis of API separator sludge

Typically, API separator sludge can be handled via combustion and/or recycling into reusable oils. However, it has been found that such methods cause secondary pollutants. Recently, pyrolysis has been proven to be an alternative for disposal of this sludge. In this study, we investigated the API separator sludge obtained from an oil company in Thailand. Experiments were carried out by means of thermogravimetric analysis at different heating rates of 5, 10 and 20 °C min −1. The weight loss data were then scrutinized for kinetic analysis. Results showed that typical derivative curves of the sludge consist of two major peaks. The first peak was found between 230 and 270 °C while the other was found between 415 and 400 °C. The former was resulted from the volatilization of free light volatile compounds existing in the sludge and the latter was attributed to the volatilization and main pyrolysis. The pyrolyzed products were confirmed by the mass spectroscopy results. Hydrogen and acetylene were found to be the main species in the pyrolysis products. The pseudo bi-component model shows a good fit with the experimental data.

Respiratory health and silica exposure of stone carvers in Thailand.

A cross-sectional study of dust exposures and health outcomes was conducted in a stone-carving company in Thailand. 147 respirable dust samples were collected and 97 subjects participated. Exposure indices were constructed and health outcomes, including respiratory symptoms, pulmonary functions, and chest radiographs, were assessed. Severities of employees' current exposures to quartz were 0.5-8.8 times the ACGIH-TLV, depending on job and site. Durations of exposures ranged from 4 months to 30 years. The prevalence of silicosis (profusion grade > or = 1/0) was 2%. Pulmonary tuberculosis was also detected in 4%. Linear regression analyses revealed decreased lung function in workers with longer work durations (p < 0.05), regardless of age, sex, height, and smoking status. No clear association was seen between cumulative exposure metrics and indicators of silicosis. Elevated silica exposure levels indicate an ongoing risk of silicosis in this industry. Exposures were increased by the use of grinding tools with no ventilation and by proximity to other workers. However, because the number of workers with dust-exposure histories was limited, exposure measurements were confined to current conditions.

Factors and procedures used in matching project managers to construction projects in Bangkok

A number of factors and associated sub-factors influencing the matching of project managers to construction projects were identified after a thorough review of related literature and interviews of management personnel involved in the selection of project managers. There appears to be a consensus among the construction industry management in Bangkok on the factors, which influence the selection of construction project managers. A detailed survey of the top 100 construction companies in Thailand was conducted, to determine what factors are used in the industry to assign project managers to projects. A total of 73 completed questionnaires were received from 36 companies. It was established that influencing factors attract some degree of relative importance irrespective of the construction project category. The data showed no statistical difference between the three project categories in the weights given to the various factors considered for project manager assignment. Personal characteristics are considered least important for effective project management. It is argued that, at least in the Thai context, contractors are careful in assigning Project Managers that are capable of meeting external customers' needs. A matching model was developed based on the identified influencing factors and the relative importance they attached in the process of selecting the construction project managers. The model requires input in terms of the project requirements and evaluation of candidates' characteristics with respect to the influencing factors.

SA 8000: a tool to improve quality of life

This case study aims to present how SA 8000 was successfully implemented in Thailand. At present, Beauty Essential Co., Ltd is one of very few companies in Thailand who obtained this certificate. As an exporter, the company found that international customers place increasing pressure on producers to demonstrate their commitment to basic human values in the workplace. The president of Beauty Essential views the standard as a way to strengthen and differentiate Thai companies from other cheap labour countries as well as a tool to improve the quality of employees’ lives. However, according to Thai law, working up to 84 hours a week is allowed. In order to comply with SA 8000 practice, Beauty Essential has to cut down overtime by 28.57 percent. The challenging question is how to do it. On one hand, working conditions have to be improved in order to achieve a higher productivity rate and at the same time the employees will work less hours with less tiredness.

Data Envelopment Analysis for the performance evaluation of air conditioning and refrigeration companies in Thailand

Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) has been applied to evaluate the efficiency of the Thai air conditioning and refrigeration industries. Eight input and output factors based on the five dimensions of manufacturing performance have been selected for DEA analysis. These factors have been determined by applying factor analysis on the data collected from a survey of the air conditioning and refrigeration industries in Thailand. The actual data for the inputs and outputs, as collected from the industries, have been used in DEA models. Detailed analysis of the results has been carried out to see the effect of each factor on the efficiency scores. Targets for the inefficient industries have been set at a level which would make them efficient. Finally, recommendations which will assist future researchers and the industry have been activated.

Management of environmental scanning processes in large companies in Thailand

A study of ABB, Shell and CP Group of companies in Thailand found that the scope and management of environmental scanning activities within organizations evolve continuously as a result of volatility of the environment and the diverse nature of businesses. In the case of ABB and Shell the respective regional head office along with global head quarter participate actively in the process of environmental scanning in order to make strategic choices and grant approvals for operating budgets and new investments. The regional head quarter, in the case of ABB and Shell, plays the intervening role as information and capital resource provider whereas the country offices collect specific information at the industry and market levels and use it for implementing specific programs. In the case the of CP Group, the president and several vice presidents at the head office in Thailand play the bulk of the role in environmental scanning. All companies use business performance indicators to review the scope and the management of their environmental scanning practices.

Sino—Thai Corporate Profligacy and the Financial Turmoil of 1997

This paper seeks to examine the 1997 financial crisis in Thailand through an analysis of the structure and performance of Sino–Thai companies in banking, finance, and property. It argues that the crisis exposed structural weaknesses which had long been evident in Chinese corporations in South East Asia, and that, although many institutions – for example the Bangkok Bank – were able to survive by restructuring, a large number simply collapsed. The paper, which has a strong historical dimension, examines the relationships between Sino–Thai banks and business groups, the growth of finance companies in Thailand during the boom of the 1980s and early 1990s, the heavy inflows of foreign capital into the kingdom during the boom, the behaviour of the stock market and the property market, and the failure of Thai financial regulators to impose discipline on the Thai financial sector in the years leading to the crisis.

Study about Decentralization Strategy and Locational Tendency of Manufacturing Companies in Thailand

In this paper, decentralization strategies based on national plans and reflecting locational trend of manufacturing companies in Thailand will be demonstrated in detail. Regardless of the aim to disperse manufacturing locations toward rural regions held by national plans, most of actual development projects and manufacturing locations occurred in or near Bangkok Metropolitan Region. The locations in suburbs are strongly affected by major infrastructure like trunk roads, and Extended Metropolitan region (EMR) is going to be formulated, centralized by CBD of Bangkok.

Using Financial Information to Differentiate Failed vs. Surviving Finance Companies in Thailand: An Implication for Emerging Economies

This article combines qualitative and quantitative information from financial statements and auditors' reports with logistic models to differentiate failed from surviving finance companies in Thailand. Failed companies are those that were forced to suspend their operations in mid-1997. The results indicate that auditors' reports from the 1996 financial statements did not differentiate failed from surviving finance companies. On the other hand, the logistic regression models indicate that failed finance companies had lower profitability, lower foreign borrowing possibly due to their poorer credit rating, lower management quality, and smaller size. These models have relatively high predictive ability for failed finance companies and low expected costs of misclassification

Patterns of organizational and technological development in the Thai manufacturing industry

This paper is an extension of research on patterns of organizational and technological development in the Thai manufacturing industry. A survey of 53 manufacturing companies in Thailand was conducted and analyzed by the organizational–technological (O–T) map which helps identify the relationship between organization, technology and performance. The findings reveal: (1) the general path which most Thai industries are leading, (2) the appropriateness of the path or direction, (3) the direction which the Thai industry should take, and (4) the impacts of TQM and ISO 9000 on the pattern of organizational and technological development in the Thai manufacturing industry.

THE EXPERT’S OPINION

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9000 series is a popular quality standard for the telecommunication equipment companies in Thailand. The Thai government decided to adopt the ISO 9000 standards to be a national standard named Thai Industrial Standards (TIS) 9000. Companies can apply for either national or international registration as necessary.