Promoting the Thai brand

Thailand News - Perspective - Sunday December 09, 2007

EDITORIAL

Promoting the Thai brand

Competitiveness is a most popular catchword these days, as politicians are wooing the business sector and urban electorate with promises to make Thailand more competitive in the global trade arena. But why is Thailand lagging behind in this area, despite its abundant natural resources and a growing educated workforce?

Why is it that emerging economic giants like China and India - seen as under-performers over a decade ago - have found a competitive advantage that may soon enable them to outpace many western industrialised countries?

According to Goldman Sachs, China is set to overtake Germany in 2008 to become the world's third-largest economy, after the United States and Japan. India is not far behind in terms of sustained economic growth.

The success lies in their ability to compete with developed countries for "intellectual capital" by building high-quality universities, investing in high value-added and technologically intensive industries, and encouraging entrepreneurial activities.

In the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, there are 34 universities, many of them private engineering universities with courses in information technology, computer science and engineering, biotechnology and nanotechnology. Across the country, the IT and software sectors have replaced the manufacturing sector as the highest income generators.

China , meanwhile, is ranked the seventh most R&D-intensive country in the world. It has established many national technology development zones that give tax reductions and provide support to technology-driven new ventures. All this came about because the government realises that innovation and knowledge are crucial for future economic development.

At issue here is not only whether Thailand should follow in the footsteps of these economic powerhouses, but how it should position itself in the global market. The advance of globalisation means that every country must compete with every other for its share of the world's consumers, tourists, investors, entrepreneurs and sporting and cultural events - as well as the attention and respect of other countries, their people and the global media.

And there are cliches that form the background of our opinions. Paris is about fashion and perfume, Japan about technology, Brazil about samba and football, and Africa about famine and war. It's not easy for any country to persuade people in other parts of the world to go beyond these cliches and stereotypes and understand the rich complexity that lies behind them.

So it is up to governments to discover what the world's perception of their country is, and develop a strategy to manage it. Here in Thailand, the problem often lies in wrongful strategies or the inability to implement them in a coordinated way.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand, for example, promotes the country to holidaymakers and business travellers, while the Board of Investment promotes the country to foreign companies and investors. The Export Promotion Department showcases Thai products abroad, while the Foreign Ministry presents Thailand in the best possible light to people and governments around the world.

Because most of these agencies usually work in isolation, they sometimes send out conflicting messages about the country. As a result, no consistent picture of the country emerges. Far more can be achieved if the work of these agencies is coordinated and harmonised into a national strategy that sets clear goals for the country's economic, social and political development.

This kind of strategy is known as brand management in the corporate world, in which the task of promotion, positioning and reputation management has proved successful in meeting new challenges. If properly applied, it can become a powerful competitive tool for change both within the country and beyond.

What we need is a critical mass of civil servants, business operators and organisations that are dedicated to the development of new ideas and policies. By working together, we can find a way to rebrand the country in the global arena.

Bangkok Post