Business News
Thailand business news, market trends, foreign investment, and economic updates—stay informed on stock market movements, entrepreneurship, and key developments shaping the economy. Get the latest from The Thaiger, your trusted source for business news in Thailand.
-
Sponsored 9 most common health issues covered by insurance for expats in Thailand
Thailand is a popular destination for expats due to its affordable lifestyle and excellent healthcare system. However, settling in a new country often brings health concerns. To ensure you’re covered for the most common medical needs, understanding what expat health...
-
Finance: Fancy a punt in the semiconductor market?
PHUKET: The semiconductor industry helps drive technological progress and yet many semiconductor stocks have lagged the performance of the broader technology sector recently. However, small cap MaxLinear, Inc (NYSE: MXL) is an exception as shares are up 134 per cent from the start of 2015 to November, plus shares rallied close to 28 per cent after the company reported third…
-
Lee Marine brings big names to Thailand Yacht Show
PHUKET: Lee Marine International Marine Brokerage’s re-investments continue in Phuket with the main focus being to better serve the many yacht enthusiasts who see their future on board any of the yachts represented by our firm, explained Josh Lee, founder and CEO of the company. The strength of their business success combines a wide product range with an experienced, dependable…
-
Finance: Rethinking the Big Mac Index for baht
PHUKET: The Big Mac Index has just been released for the year. The index was invented by The Economist as a lighthearted guide to whether currencies were currently undervalued or overvalued. Since I am always being asked my opinion on the baht, I thought this might be a good time to address the issue. The index is meant to be…
-
Phuket Lighthouse Market back by popular demand
PHUKET: Building on its success last year, the Boat Lagoon Lighthouse Market is preparing to launch a redesigned layout at its venue as it continue to provide island exposure for local vendors and big-name luxury goods dealers. “We want to create an outdoor theater concept. Something similar to ‘theater in the park’ or ‘cinema in the park’, which are both…
-
Business Buzz: How much is a “like’ worth?
PHUKET: A ‘like’ is a measure on Facebook of how popular a page or a post is with other Facebook users. Someone recently asked me what a ‘like’ on Facebook was worth to a business. It started me thinking, could an actual value be placed on a ‘like’? The answer of course is yes, but for each business this value…
-
Finance: The ‘not so sexy’ New Year’s resolution
PHUKET: Many people like to make New Year’s resolutions, and the most common ones tend to deal with health. Sadly, most people do not stick with their resolutions for very long, and I will get to one of the main reasons for this in a bit, as well as how to avoid falling into this trap. But let’s consider a…
-
Business Buzz: Get off to an online start
PHUKET: Welcome to Business Buzz 2016! This year we have moved to a monthly format so that we can cover the topics we want in more depth and provide you with more useful information. By now you will have made (and hopefully not broken) your new year’s resolutions. It is generally a pretty safe assumption that people with an entrepreneurial…
-
Finance: Keep calm, and invest on
PHUKET: Stock market corrections don’t come often, but when they do, they tend to come on fast and cause investors (along with the media) to panic. After all, it’s not uncommon to experience a double digit portfolio loss in a matter of weeks, or even over the course of just a few trading days. However, taking the following things into…
-
Quattro Design showroom to reach AEC market
PHUKET: The dynamic duo behind Quattro Design, one of Thailand’s top importers and designers of exclusive furniture, have high hopes for the New Year as they open a showroom at Phuket’s Boat Avenue in Cherngtalay early next month. “Now is the time for us to open the showroom in Phuket, as the Asian Economic Community takes effect next year, which…
-
Finance: Never too old for insurance
PHUKET: If you read my articles regularly, you have probably noticed I don’t spend much time writing about health insurance. It is not the most exciting topic, and for many of Phuket’s aging expat population getting covered at all is not really an option once they reach a certain age. Also, the cost of local international hospitals used to be…
-
Hospitality insider Bill Barnett launches ‘Slave to the Bean’
PHUKET: One of Asia’s leading hospitality experts, Bill Barnett, shines a light on the good, bad and ugly of luxury hotels and travel in his acerbic new collection of twisted travel tales, Slave to the Bean: Random Dispatches from the Inferno, which was launched on December 18 at the Bangkok boutique hotel, Ad Lib. Bill Barnett launched his new book…
-
Community at the core of success for Natthakanya ‘Apple’ Saengpho
PHUKET: It’s been a stellar year – and then some – for Natthakanya ‘Apple’ Saengpho, CEO of the Paradise Group. Andara Signature – the latest project from Andamandara Development, the company she runs with Dr Allan Zeman – won best Phuket villa development, best Thailand villa development, best residential architectural design and best landscape architectural design at the Thailand Property…
-
Finance: Market crash or merely correction?
PHUKET: The recent market volatility and media hype surrounding it may have you panicking that another stock market crash (or bear market) is coming. After all, there are serious geopolitical and economic concerns ranging from a migrant crisis in Europe, to Putin on the march in Eastern Europe and Syria, to concerns about the overall health of the Chinese economy…
-
China base rakes in FIT market for Phuket
PHUKET: It is easy to get caught up with how the hospitality industry in Phuket should adjust to a shift in source markets toward a dependency on China. But what is forgotten is that it’s not just Phuket – it’s a worldwide phenomenon that requires the industry to adopt new marketing strategies and platforms. “Chinese outbound travel is a key…
-
Business Buzz: Local customers key to successful business
PHUKET: One of the common mistakes a business can make in a location like Phuket is to forget who is really important. In a holiday location it is very easy to focus on the tourist market, because the perception is they are the ones who are here spending without a care in the world and that there is an endless…
-
Finance: Reduce risks while playing market
PHUKET: I am asked all the time, by those who know I am patiently waiting for the next crash to re-enter equity markets, if there is some way they can participate now while reducing downside risk. If we are talking about funds that will need to be liquidated any time within the next five or ten years, I would say…
-
Finance: Is Priceline right for your portfolio?
PHUKET: Growth stocks can power your portfolio to new highs, with one such stock being the Priceline Group Inc (NASDAQ: PCLN), which can also double as your one-stop online destination to serve all of your travel needs. Priceline.com is the Priceline Group’s flagship hotel and airline travel site, with the company’s other brands including Agoda.com, Booking.com, Kayak.com, Rentalcars.com and OpenTable.com…
-
Staying afloat in a niche market
PHUKET: Business that are called ‘labors of love’ are referred to this way because the profit margins, if any, don’t justify the investment. Nonetheless, these business – often small retailers – are the building blocks of unique communities. So is the case with Longtail Paddlesurf Co Ltd. Though the sport of standup paddleboarding (SUP) is still in its infancy in…
-
Business Buzz: Cash in on high season
PHUKET: We are coming into the high season and the tourists will be coming, so no matter what their numbers, this is the time to take advantage. There are a couple of things that we can do as business owners to protect our profits and position ourselves for the coming year. The first is to try to avoid the price…
-
Finance: Going back to basics
PHUKET: This is something I often write about but so often find ignored by what is done in practice. When it comes to planning your financial future, there are only a few basic principles that you really need to follow. As long as you stay within these guidelines, you can make the odd mistake and still easily recover. The first…
-
Business Buzz: Just Google it
PHUKET: All business people tend to have a lot of questions each day about how to do this, what is the best way to do that, where can I find this and so on. More often than not, these questions go unanswered and so the problems remain unresolved and our business is no better off. But what if we could…
-
Finance: Growth or value stocks, that is the question
PHUKET: Many investors do not understand the differences between growth stocks and value stocks, with the latter often being synonymous with Warren Buffett, the disciple of Benjamin Graham, who’s classic 1949 book The Intelligent Investor is considered the value stock investing bible. GROWTH STOCKS Growth stocks tend to be high-quality stocks of successful companies whose earnings are expected to continue…
-
Phuket RevPAR takes hit with source market transition
PHUKET: Differences in source markets and government spending have forced Bali and Phuket to take dramatically different approaches to adjusting to the recent tourism climate with regards to balancing occupancy and rates. Hotels and resorts in Bali have taken a mostly unified approach by holding rates and allowing occupancy to dip. In Phuket, however, even within market segments, a number…
-
Business Buzz: Learning from industry leaders
PHUKET: While recently I talked about focusing on your customer, not your competitor, it is also a very good idea to see what the leaders in your industry are doing and get creative ideas and inspiration from the best. If you are a small to medium enterprise, then there is a very high chance that you do not have a…
-
Hyperlocal taxi situation to grab market
PHUKET: Myteksi, an on-demand taxi booking service in Malaysia, quickly diversified its branding and services offered by successfully expanding throughout Southeast Asia. MyTeksi remains the leading taxi-booking application in Malaysia, but is better known in Phuket, and much of the rest of the region, as GrabTaxi. The company continues to work hand-in-hand with local government offices, after garnering the support…
-
Business Buzz: Earn extra income with affiliate marketing
PHUKET: Affiliate Marketing is where people earn commissions by marketing and promoting other people’s products. This has become very popular in the online world, as people who have the expertise at creating products often do not possess the desire or the marketing skills or, often, the budget required to market them properly. Depending on the platform or organization, the commission…
-
Finance: Growth stocks to beat market
PHUKET: Growth stocks are always popular with Wall Street and retail investors alike because they are companies with sustainable positive cash flows along with revenues and earnings that are expected to grow at an above-average rate relative to the stock market. Here are a couple of individual growth stocks that could be a good fit for your portfolio: Gilead Sciences,…
-
Banyan Tree, Angsana Laguna Phuket announces new director of marketing and communications
PHUKET: Nampetch ‘Nikki’ Tipaxsorn has taken up the position of director of marketing and communications for Banyan Tree and Angsana Laguna Phuket. In her new role, Ms Nampetch will manage all marketing and public relations activities, including marketing strategies to generate revenue and brand awareness for both properties. Ms Nampetch has more than 15 years of experience in both sales…
-
Business Buzz: Target your customer, not your competitor
PHUKET: We see it all the time in marketing, company X trying to prove they are better than company Y, engaging in tit-for-tat marketing and social media battles trying to out-compete the competition. Now, while there is the theory that any publicity is still beneficial, I would argue it is far better to engage your potential customers directly and build…
-
Finance: Neil Woodford, financial genius?
PHUKET: I know this has been written about in other media already, but as this fund and its manager have a great track record and I believe we are nearing a sale in stocks, it is a good discussion to review. For those of you who don’t know the fund or manager, Neil Woodford ran the Invesco Perpetual Income Fund…
Don't forget to check out some other things to do in Thailand - get help starting a business or finding a job in Thailand, buy Thailand property, rent a yacht or book a medical procedure worldwide.