Farewell Bangkok

The course has come to an end. And what an end. The students final presentation of their marketing plan for a Danish company entering Thailand took place in the auditorium at RMUTK on the 10th floor. The room was packed with students and professors (not to mention photographers and videorecorders) building up a slight stagefear among the groups and it was with beating hearts that the first group of students started presenting their plan. But the blood, sweat and tears (or close to…..) put into the preparations proved to be well invested. All four presentations were excellent and the students impressed the instructors with the professionalism and quality of the presentations given the very few days they had to prepare it. The audience learned about the market opportunities and potential strategies for BoConcept, Jysk, Skagen Ure and Jack & Jones in Thailand. It will be interesting to see if one or more of the companies presented see the same posibilities in the Thai market as the students in the coming years .

After the last presentations RMUTK had prepared a closing ceremony with participation of the President of the university as well as faculty members and students. Certificates were handed out, speeches  and presents given and photos taken. This was a very nice closing of two comprehensive weeks of lectures, company visits, group work and not to forget….fun.

The Business Academy Copenhagen North would like to thank the university, RMUTK, for organising this course. It has been not only an academically valuable learning process for the students but also a cultural and social experience none of us attending the course will ever forget. Thank you to the instructors, the staff at the International College, the directors and last but not least the Thai students for all your hospitality and all the memories we now share with you. We hope to come back some day!

Now only last minute shopping is left before flight TG 950 takes us back to (cold!) Denmark but also back to missed family and friends.

Bangkok, over and out.

“Pump” and circumstance

Monday we had the opportunity to visit Grundfos Thailand. Grundfos is a Danish manufacturer of a wide range of centrifugal pumps and systems for water applications in industry, irrigation, heating and wastewater treatment with an annual turnover of app. 17 billion dkk. Business development manager Jens Ole Frederiksen and sales director Suthee Jongserechoke were kind enough to spend more than 2½ hours with us presenting the company as well as giving us a tour of the facilities.

As marketing students the corporate branding strategy of Grundfos was of particular interest, expressed by the three values:  Be – Think – Innovate  (Being responsible is our foudation, Thinking ahead makes it possible, Innovation makes it possible). It is clear from the presentation that Be-Think-Innovate is the core essence of the Grundfos brand and this is reflected in everything Grundfos does – from sales to HRM, production, product development etc. We also had a very interesting introduction to the Business Excellence Model used by the company, as well as an introduction to Grundfos sales strategy and challenges of doing business in Thailand as experienced by the sales director. We are very greatful to Grundfos for not only giving us the opportunity to visit the company but also for all the efforts they had put into our visit.

On Tuesday we had a lecture on international trade conditions with focus on trade system, tariff and non tariff barriers, free-trade agreements etc. by Dr. Wanno. The students had the possibility of acting as EU and Thai counterparts in the ongoing bilateral negotiations of a free trade agreement after the failure of such an agreement between ASEAN as a whole and EU. It is not to say who won the negotiation……

The final day of lectures was devoted to case studies of succesful multi-national firms in Thailand by Aj. Khomson. Companies such as 7-Eleven, McDonalds, Tesco and KFC was presented and interesting to the Danish students was the fact that Thai buying haviour and media consumption among young people is not that different from their own. Perhaps the Danish and the Thai students will keep in contact after the course on various social media platforms!

The remaining days the students will prepare and present a marketing plan for a Danish company entering Thailand. Presentations the teachers are looking very much forward to!

Amazing Bangkok

After a week with interesting lectures, company visit and networking meeting at the Danish-Thai Chamber of Commerce the weekend gave us the opportunity to see Bangkok from a tourist perspective rather than a business perspective (although shopping was at the top of the list with some students……). Starting Friday night the Thai students attending the course took the Danish students to a tour of the nightlife of Bangkok (and repeated that Saturday night….). Saturday, Bangkoks most famous tourist attraction, Wat Phra Kaew and the Grand Palace, was visited. The complex is the spiritual core of Thai Buddism and the monarchy and the beauty is overwhelming. Most impressive, maybe, is the Temple of the Emerald Buddha with all its gleam and glitter and not to forget the the most holy image of the temple being the “talisman” of the Thai Kingdom. But just walking through the numerous temples, images and courtyards is an adventure never to be forgotten. The pictures in this post only barely reflect the beauty of the complex.

The best way to experience Bangkok might be from the riverside and of special interest to the Danes interested in business is the former head office of the East Asiatic Company (ØK).

Saturday Night was devoted to a visit to the Sky Bar. A bar on the 64 floor of a Skyscraper with a magnificant view of Bangkok from the above and prices at the bar that more or less reflects the altitude of the building!

Sunday the group was split according to interests – sleeping (after a long night in town), shopping, sightseeing etc. but also work on the upcoming group project and presentations.

The weekend gave us a well-deserved break from the full programme at the university and we are  now looking forward to the final week of the course with company visit to Grundfos, lectures, group work and presentations before heading back to Copenhagen.

Visiting Electrolux

Friday the university, RMUTK, had arranged a visit to the production facility of Electrolux in Thailand. The facility was built as a part of the restructurering program Electrolux initiated in 2004 as a consequence of  consumer demand for better products at lower prices, globalization and a pressure for having cost-competitive manufacturing from producers from low-cost countries. The facility is situated in the Rayong province some 200 kilometers from Bangkok. The location has been chosen due to tax exemption schemes from the Board of Investment of Thailand, transportation parameters, access to suppliers and closeness to future growth markets. The factory has primarily sourced washingmachines and dryers to parts of Asia and Australia but has recently begun sourcing to Europe and Americas as well.

Electrolux had planned an impressive 3½ hour programme for us with presentations by the GM, HR manager and Product Development Manager of sales and marketing activities, product development, production and a tour of the factory. 

We highly appreciate the kindness and all the work that Electrolux had put into making our visit successful. The visit was very valuable to our course and extremely relevant for our students in general putting a practical perspective into the theory of the academic world.

Below a few pictures from our trip to the factory. On our way back we had a first hand experience of the famous Bangkok trafic as the bus drive home took 4 hours! Nevertheless we enjoyed the opportunity to see the countryside and surroundings of Bangkok.

Becoming experts on doing business in Thailand

The course is progressing very well and the students are getting closer to becoming experts on doing business in Thailand. So far we have had very interesting lectures on marketing strategy and consumer behaviour in Thailand by Aj. Kitima  (on the left picture having lunch with me) followed by a field trip to observe consumer buying behaviour in a large shopping center. The trip included a nice lunch at a Japanese restaurant!

Wednesday evening we were invited by the Danish-Thai Chamber of Commerce (http://www.dancham.or.th/) to a network meeting at the Grand Millenium Hotel. This meeting gave the students a unique possibility to meet business people with a lot of practical experience on doing business in Thailand which also could help as input to the project they have to write.  A number of questions were prepared and the challenge was to overcome the nerves and approach the members of the chamber with all the questions. Luckily this turned out to be easier than feared by the students. The members as well as the representatives from the Danish Embassy were very kind and helpful and gave valuable information and shared their personal experiences with the students. Some students even eyed an opportunity to get a contact for a possible internship.

Thursday international marketing strategies (entry strategies) and legal aspects were on  the agenda. Aj. Atchariya gave a very inspirering lecture on the subjects. The students (and myself) learned a lot about Thai culture – what to do and what not to do – and we have now among other things learned how to give a proper “Wai” (greeting) as well as the difference between  Phu Yai (“big people”) and Phu Noi (“little people”).

Preparing for the trip we have discussed Thai customs at home and we were surprised to see that at least in Bangkok the cultural gap between Denmark and Thailand is not as big as expected. We know of course that it is an entirely different story outside Bangkok and we are now ready to do business “the Thai way”.

Tomorrow (Friday) we are going to visit the Electrolux factory in the Rayong province and we are all very excited about this trip. I will tell more about the trip in my next post…….

Arriving in Bangkok

Coming out of Copenhagen turned out to be a little more complicated than anticipated. The radarsystem was out of order in our plane and a sparepart had to be flown in from Hamburg. There goes the first 5 hours of delay. Then the plane from Hamburg forgot to bring the sparepart and the sparepart had to be driven in by Taxi….. There goes the next 7 hours of delay. Having waited in total for more than 15 hours in the airport (and even though Copenhagen Airport is a very nice airport there are are only so much to do for 15 hours and two meal vouchers!) we were happy to board the airplane at 2.30 AM and not the least arriving in Bangkok 10½ hours later.

The University, RMUTK, was kind enough to pick us up in the airport and drive us to the hotel which is located very conveniently only 20 minutes by foot and bus from the University. None of us have ever been to Bangkok before and the city with all its noise, skyscrapers, Tuk Tuks, street kitchens, people and more made a huge first impression which we are still digesting (maybe together with a little jetlag).

Monday morning we were picked up at the hotel by our contact Greg LaBarre and we arrived at the University for welcome ceremonies with the president and teaching staff and coffee at 9.00 AM. The University has put a lot of effort into preparing the course for us and we were very impressed with the reception we received. Besides the 10 students from Copenhagen North 13 students from RMUTK also attends the course and they also gave a warm welcome to us. The course then started with our students giving a presentation of Denmark

followed by presentations from the University, tour of the campus and a very nice lunch. Our students are very excited and are looking very much forward to the next 2 weeks of the course.

These are all of the participants in the course in front of the main entrance:

10 students from Business Academy Copenhagen North travels to Bangkok

Business Academy Copenhagen North has in the autumn of 2009 initiated a collaboration with Rajamangala University of Technology Krungthep, International College located in Bangkok. We have together developed an elective course “Doing Business in Thailand” that 10 students from the Marketing Mangement Programme will attend from 16-27 August 2010.
The purpose of the elective course is to develop the students knowledge on economic development, cultural factors and market conditions in Thailand in order to assess the attractiveness of the market for Danish companies.
Our 10 students will work with an equal number of Thai students on projects in a cross-cultural group setting. During the course we will visit Pandora, Grundfos and Electrolux in Thailand as well as attend a network meeting “Danish-Thai Chamber of Commerce.”
We have very high expectations for the course and the students are looking forward to getting started after many weeks of preparations.

First step is leaving from Copenhagen Airport Saturday…..