Business News
Stay abreast of the ever-changing Business News in Thailand through our comprehensive coverage of local and international business events, market trends, and economic updates. We provide reliable analysis, in-depth features, and expert insights on the most relevant business stories, including issues affecting Thailand’s stock market, foreign investment, and entrepreneurship. Track the business world’s pulse as we inform you of crucial developments shaping Thailand’s economic landscape.
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Phuket Smart City emblem revealed
PHUKET: The Phuket Chamber of Commerce launched Phuket’s official ‘Smart City’ logo at an awards ceremony late last month. The colorful contemporary design of a Sino-Portuguese style archway was designed by Ekkachai Jingjai, who was handed the award of 10,000 baht by Chamber President Surachai Chaiwat. The intricately thought out design symbolizes Phuket’s past, present and future. Mr Ekkachai’s logo…
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New venture fills luxury travel niche
PHUKET: Getting from the airport to a hotel in Phuket is probably one of the biggest headaches facing any visitor fresh off a plane. Public transport is limited to just about nothing and taxis have long been notorious to do business with here, so there has been a gap in the market just waiting to be filled – offering tourists…
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Finance: Bullish biotech breaks previous highs
PHUKET: As of early June, the US S&P 500, Nasdaq and the Dow are all at critical turning points because after a two-year long correction, the market is tightly compressed and sitting only a few points from a new all-time high – or making new highs such as with the Dow and S&P500. The big picture is this: The last…
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Local vendors cash in on Pokemon trend
PHUKET: Local vendors at popular Pokemon catching spots in Phuket have experienced a boost in income since the launch of Pokemon GO in Thailand. However, some vendors expect this spike to be short lived. For those who are wondering what Pokemon GO is, it is Nintendo Company’s mobile phone game which marries a classic 20-year-old franchise with augmented reality, and…
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New e-payment service aims to ease fund transfers
PHUKET: A new payment method designed to ease bank transfers, backed by the central bank of Thailand, was announced at a press conference held in Phuket last week. Saowapa Limsila, chief of the Phuket Office of the Comptroller General, and Jongrak Angtanya, vice president of the ‘Phuket Bankers Club’, jointly chaired the meeting held at Phuket Provincial Hall. The new…
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Biz Chat: The significance of ‘price’ in marketing
PHUKET: The second element of the ‘4 Ps’ of marketing is price. Price is what your customer pays you in exchange for goods and services received by them. There are many aspects to this deceptively simple element. In setting your price, you must first decide what is the value of the product or service to the buyer. If you set…
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Finance: Alibaba proves naysayers wrong
PHUKET: It’s not been an easy market for many individual stocks over the last few years. Take the case of Chinese internet and e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE: BABA) – a stock I have been watching closely since its debut, when a client wanted to buy some shares. Many western investors do not appreciate just how big of…
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Business: Local store wars intensify
PHUKET: Phuket Grocery Ltd Partnership opened its flagship store in Phuket Town on August 9 with the aim of penetrating the low-cost retail market currently dominated by the Phuket-based Super Cheap franchise. Chairman of the new retail outlet, Pornchai Chanchuwanichkul, said he hoped reasonable prices, air-conditioned comfort and a range of customer services in a convenient location would also attract…
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Business Buzz: Market it right and they will follow
PHUKET: As an avid fan of marketing, I’m always interested to see the next big global trend emerge and to watch it evolve into a successful operation on a macro and micro scale. Right now, here in Phuket, we are witnessing one of those global phenomena. Have you recently seen mature adults chasing invisible objects, using strange terminology and just…
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Finance: Hold on to stocks, more rallies are coming
PHUKET: The past one and a half years have been anything but a smooth ride for investors, given that the market’s seen two rapid 10 to 15 per cent pullbacks, and we’ve seen entire sectors (such as biotech, oil, industrials) and so on take some hard knocks. For investors exposed to unlucky sectors, it’s been difficult to keep pace with…
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Finance: Hedging your way through Brexit
PHUKET: There has already been a lot written in this paper – and many others – about Brexit, but I’m getting lots of questions from both sides of the investment coin, so I thought it a good idea to highlight some of the things to think about before doing anything drastic. Are there any opportunities to exploit now that British…
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Businesses look to exploit halal potential
PHUKET: Phuket-based businesses are being encouraged to join a drive to promote the plethora of halal products made in the province to benefit from the billion-baht Islamic product export industry. Speaking at the Phuket Andaman Halal Tourism 2016 seminar at the Phuket Graceland Resort on July 21, Komol Dumlak, Chairman of the Phuket Islamic Council, said the province has huge…
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Business Buzz: Keeping up with tech trends
PHUKET: If you’ve been following this column regularly, then you will be aware of the statistics on the soaring increases in use of the Internet and Social Media in recent years. Coupled with this is the substantial increase in the use of smart phones. Many platforms such as YouTube and Facebook have now specifically set up self-filling forms to assist…
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Finance: A formula for prosperity
PHUKET: There is a fantastic equation that can be used in almost any decision you make in life. I learned this from the supplement company that I work with but it also applies to financial planning, life planning, and many other areas in life. The equation is simply X=Y. In the equation we can substitute any action for X so…
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Biz Chat: The four Ps of marketing
PHUKET: The dictionary definition of marketing is ‘the action or business of promoting and selling products or services, including market research and advertising’. Through the next series of articles, we will discuss the concept of ‘marketing mix’ and the ‘4 Ps’, particularly as they apply to small businesses. These are product, price, place and promotion. Any freshman marketing student will…
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Analyzing the luxury car industry in Phuket
PHUKET: Behind the closed doors of the glitz and glamor of the luxury car business in Phuket, are a host of complicated market forces at play. Let’s take a closer look at the factors that come together in the day-to-day running of this business. Millennium Auto, located on the Bypass Road, sells some of the most renowned luxury brands in…
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Implications of Phuket’s aging population
PHUKET: Financial constraints and dramatic changes in employment numbers are expected to hit Phuket over the next 15 years, as an increasing percentage of the province’s population grows old. The Phuket Statistical Office estimates about 34,000 out of the 379,000 registered residents across the province are aged 60 years or older. That’s 9.2 per cent of the island’s population, and…
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Finance: Anyone can play the market
PHUKET: You don’t need a brokerage account or a financial adviser to get involved in the market. Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) are index funds that can be accessed through a low-cost online platform and give an almost identical return as those of the underlying market they represent. However, you can still lose a fortune very quickly if you don’t know…
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Tai Ping comes to town
PHUKET: Bangkok based fabric designer and manufacturer Thailand Carpet Manufacturing Plc opened its first satellite store in Phuket on June 25 to cater to growing demand in the province for high-quality custom- design flooring. Targeting Phuket’s hospitality industry, the company, under the brand name Tai Ping, expects to earn about 20 million baht in revenue in their first year. Located…
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Finance: Keep calm and let’s talk Brexit
PHUKET: The results of the Brexit vote have shocked markets almost as much as it has shocked the global and Brussels’ elites, with plenty of talk of impending doom and gloom for the UK and the markets. For example, the Morgan Stanley strategy team was quick to proclaim they expect European stocks to fall 15 to 20 per cent from…
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A closer look at the luxury car market
PHUKET: The exponential increase in the number of cars – particularly high-end ones – in Phuket in the last decade alone, warrants a closer look at some of the factors that make this multi-billion-baht business tick. Millennium Auto, one of the newest luxury car outlets to open on the island, gave an exclusive account of the ins and outs of…
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Finance: Defining a financial adviser
PHUKET: If you haven’t yet seen it, there’s a great episode of John Oliver’s ‘Last Week Tonight’ that covers the financial services industry in America. While it is a different beast in Southeast Asia, there were many points he brought up that are very relevant to expats in the region. Go onto YouTube and search for it if you haven’t…
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Biz Chat: Tips for establishing a start-up (part 3)
PHUKET: When it comes to starting your own business, it’s easy to get lost in the details. However, there are a few necessary steps you can’t let fall between the cracks. These are the last three crucial steps (see part 1 here and part 2 here). As a business owner (or prospective owner), you have to obtain the appropriate licences…
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Business Buzz: The power of groups and forums
PHUKET: One of the biggest business benefits of social media is creating a database of your perfect customers. Just imagine it: people asking to join your customer list, at no cost to you. While most people know all about Facebook fan pages, the ‘groups’ option remains a lesser-known factor. People have also probably heard of forums, but again they are…
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Future of Brexit and British pensions
PHUKET: The possibility of the UK leaving the European Union is a subject of hot debate among the British. Most of the debate revolves around the implications for the future within the UK itself but not much is said of what kind of implications this could have on expats. For the most part, things will change very little either way…
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Key sectors to watch out for in the stock market
PHUKET: May to October is often a season of choppy sideways action. The old adage, ‘Sell in May and go away,’ already appears to be holding true as over the last three weeks, US markets and global markets have pulled back from overhead resistance levels on their technical charts. The Nasdaq index in particular is looking bad as tech, semiconductor…
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Krabi man grows cash crop in backyard
KRABI: The growing nationwide demand for jasmine has led one man to set up his own backyard cottage industry. Vichan Tongsanay, 40, who works as a deckhand at the Krabi Marine Office, said he earns around 300 baht per day by selling the flowering plant. “I’ve been growing jasmine in the heart of my village for 5-6 months,” Mr Vichan…
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The financial and legal steps involved in starting a small business
PHUKET: To pick up from where I left off last time, let’s discuss the financial and legal steps involved in starting a small business. Plan your financials: Whether you are putting in a couple of months’ salary, or your entire life savings, finances need to be properly laid out. Many of us make the mistake of putting in too much…
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Finance: Service your clients the right way
PHUKET: I often run across clients of other firms who complain that they receive absolutely no service on their policies. I understand how they feel, but having been in the industry a long time, I also understand why. It is simply a misalignment of interests and is inherent in the way many of the insurance companies allow the introducing and…
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Finance: Where are the markets now?
PHUKET: On April 11, Alcoa Inc (NYSE:AA) started the first quarter earnings season by reporting a lower quarterly profit (US$16 million or zero cents per share versus US$195 million or 14 cents per share a year earlier) on lower revenue (down 15 per cent) as results were hurt by low commodity prices, the strong US dollar and plant closures. Alcoa’s…
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