Investment opportunities opening for Thai SMEs as AEC approaches

Asia In-Depth

Investment opportunities opening for Thai SMEs as AEC approaches

Published: 7 Jan 2013 at 10.33
Newspaper section: Asia focus

Despite more challenges from both international and domestic factors, in particular the increase of the minimum wage to 300 baht, Thai small and medium enterprises should not only prepare to handle the challenges, but they also need to look beyond their current horizons.

Specifically, they need to take advantage of liberalisation as the formation of the Asean Economic Community (AEC) in late 2015 draws near. By expanding trade and investment in nearby countries with abundant resources and lower manufacturing costs, Thai businesses can help increase their competitiveness.

The best trade and investment opportunities for Thai SMEs are Indonesia and the CLMV (Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar) group. However, to determine which markets they should target for investment, SMEs need to determine which advantages their business want to build on.

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boons
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Discussion 2 : 07 Jan 2013 at 19.562
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If anyone thinks this "integration" is going to work, they are clearly mathematically challenged. SME's are already suffering massive margin-compression from the requirements of the minimum-wage hike and decreasing global demand. The proposed "solutions" of shifting manufacturing offshore to cheaper ASEAN nations will result in a massive spike in domestic unemployment as millions of Thai workers suddenly see their employers moving off-shore. No doubt the banking system will be there to "save" everyone by burdening them with new debt. This has all the makings of a very dangerous bubble. Look to Europe to see how this will end.
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flooding
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Discussion 1 : 07 Jan 2013 at 11.271
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We know we need to shift our business from Thailand. We invested in India with a very good start. We want to invest into Cambodia. Does the Government have money to loan us. We need this loan very fast as our business in Thailand is crashing and we need to reduce labour cost fast and we need labour as Thailand labour is too short to get any new orders. So let us get money loaned long term from Thailand government. Let us not only talk about it alone let see action from Thai government. We already bought land in Cambodia. We need money to construct building. Let us see real action from Thai Government for this move.
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Investment opportunities opening for Thai SMEs as AEC approaches | Bangkok Post: business