Experts worried about lack of Thai digital skills

By The Nation

 

 

Alibaba durian deal dismissed as ‘hype’, observers ponder impact

 

THE HYPE over Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba’s Bt11-billion investment in Thailand, announced last Thursday, and its huge Tmall online platform has only masked the country’s fundamental weaknesses in embracing the digital technology for economic and social benefits, according to experts.

 

Alibaba deal paving way for a monopoly?

 

Even though there were as many as 60,000 online orders for Thai durians in one day on Tmall, which covers the huge Chinese market of 1.4 billion consumers, on April 19 when the investment announcement was made, critics said it was unclear whether Thai durian growers and other farmers would gain from Alibaba’s bigger presence in Thailand.

 

Chotichai Bua-dit, president of the Rayong fruit orchard operators’ club, said it was good news that Thai durian growers had received many advance orders due to the advent of Alibiba, which already owns Lazada, the No 1 e-commerce site in Thailand. However, he is not sure whether durian and other farm prices will be depressed by these giant online platforms in the future due to their monopolistic power.

 

Suwit Saeng-arkard, the leader of another Rayong durian growers’ group, said Thai durian growers should benefit from Alibaba’s bigger presence as they will have more opportunities to sell their output, especially via online platforms.

 

Pramote Ruamsuk, adviser of the Eastern Provinces’ Chamber of Commerce, said he is not sure whether Thai farmers would gain more from Alibaba since there have been many Chinese businessmen setting up operations in Thailand to buy durians directly from farmers for online sales.

 

Somchai Ngamvannagul, a durian grower, said the wholesale price of Monthong durians had risen to Bt100 per kilogram from Bt70 earlier this month, but the supply is expected to be less than last year’s, so prices will probably be strong.

 

On Alibaba’s presence in Thailand, he said any benefits in the short term should be minimal for Thai durian growers due to this year’s expected lower supply.

 

Dr Nipon Poapongsakorn, a distinguished fellow at Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) and expert on the agriculture sector, said e-commerce platforms in general were good for Thai farmers since there are no middlemen to take profits. 

 

Regarding Alibaba’s bigger presence in Thailand, he said that Alibaba’s Tmall online marketplace has a solid reputation in protecting the interests of buyers, since it will not pay the sellers if their products are not satisfactory.

 

However, he said Thailand is not well-prepared to take advantage of online platforms and other features of the digital economy due to the shortage of qualified personnel and lack of inter-ministerial policy coordination.

 

For example, there is a shortage of people with skills in big data, analytics, artificial intelligence and other areas crucial to develop the digital economy.

 

In the case of Alibaba he said the Chinese e-commerce giant was not only selling products and services online, but it also provided loans on the digital platform using the massive data generated by millions of online transactions between buyers and sellers.

 

Nipon said the country had not been able to produce enough graduates with skills in digital and related fields to serve the massive investment projects in the Eastern Economic Corridor. He said the government should work more closely with universities and research institutes to support its Thailand 4.0 initiative.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30343718

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-04-23

50 minutes ago, webfact said:

Dr Nipon Poapongsakorn, a distinguished fellow at Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) and expert on the agriculture sector, said e-commerce platforms in general were good for Thai farmers since there are no middlemen to take profits. 

 

What nonsense!

 

Does the "distinguished" Fellow believe that poor farmers have the technical skills to manage on-line sales of their wares? The same poor farmers who were "educated' in the Thai education system?

 

Perhaps in theory, one day, the farmers will be able to manage their own sales operation and reap the benefits, but that day is way off in the future. The story notes: 

 

Pramote Ruamsuk, adviser of the Eastern Provinces’ Chamber of Commerce, said he is not sure whether Thai farmers would gain more from Alibaba since there have been many Chinese businessmen setting up operations in Thailand to buy durians directly from farmers for online sales.

 

Why do you think that is the case? Simply because they enjoy the weather?

 

Prayut is pleasing his Chinese masters.

 

Edited April 22, 20188 yr by Samui Bodoh
Lack of coffee

57 minutes ago, webfact said:

However, he is not sure whether durian and other farm prices will be depressed by these giant online platforms in the future due to their monopolistic power.

so we are subtly asking a monopoly, already a successful one, to Not enjoy the fruits of being a monopoly ? yeah, that will work

We live in an Isaan rural farming community. We have power outages almost daily and some days several times a day. My wife referred to many thing around here as "low tech."  People are largely uneducated and have a peculiar work ethic. I'd venture to say from what I've observed most Thai farm communities are not, and will not be ready-willing-or able to advance to ecommerce. Not for a long time. Maybe they could start by keeping the electric on.

4 minutes ago, selftaopath said:

We live in an Isaan rural farming community. We have power outages almost daily and some days several times a day. My wife referred to many thing around here as "low tech."  People are largely uneducated and have a peculiar work ethic. I'd venture to say from what I've observed most Thai farm communities are not, and will not be ready-willing-or able to advance to ecommerce. Not for a long time. Maybe they could start by keeping the electric on.

 

I agree the power outages are a big drawback to e-commerce, although if the farmers were tech-savvy they could perhaps use their smartphone. As you say, a lot of the rural population are low-tech rather than tech-savvy, although it doesn't seem to prevent a lot of them looking at facebook.

 

I'm glad we don't have as many power outages as you. We're also in Issan, and having too much time on my hands I keep track of our power outages. A quick check shows me in three-and-a-half years we've had exactly fifty power outages. Nowhere near as many as you.

 

They worry to much, the farmers kids are already masters of Pokémon and Minecraft and they will be the ones who can do it in the future. 

And the Chinese will buy up the commodoties at a cheaper price through a sly and scruplious middle man of influence no doubt and the Thai community will pay a higher price for a shortage of produce

1 minute ago, tracker1 said:

And the Chinese will buy up the commodoties at a cheaper price through a sly and scruplious middle man of influence no doubt and the Thai community will pay a higher price for a shortage of produce

That's capitalism communism for you.

 

3 hours ago, webfact said:

However, he said Thailand is not well-prepared to take advantage of online platforms and other features of the digital economy due to the shortage of qualified personnel and lack of inter-ministerial policy coordination.

Linux

Apache

MySQL

PHP

LAMP  These are the basics.  If you do not know these, then you are not prepared.  Thought they brought Ma on board so they did not have to do anything accept take credit for his success.  

Edited April 23, 20188 yr by yellowboat

Ive employed UNI students to take over some of the technical tasks that I was doing
Ended up sacking them as it took too long to teach them the basics of what they went to UNI for, so it was less time consuming to go back and do it myself...

I have 2 kids in school and still not sure what they go there for.... It doesnt appear to be for learning things.... 

Lets begin with basic arithmetic, eh?  Quite something to see people doing a simple addition by counting on their fingers.
Digital subjects? How about the online 90 day reporting? Is that up and running yet? How many years has that been in the works?
I do not know why they don't sub some of that stuff out to people who know how to program.

1 minute ago, Bill Miller said:

Lets begin with basic arithmetic, eh?  Quite something to see people doing a simple addition by counting on their fingers.
Digital subjects? How about the online 90 day reporting? Is that up and running yet? How many years has that been in the works?
I do not know why they don't sub some of that stuff out to people who know how to program.

C'mon, that would be loss of face to admit they don't know what they're doing technically.

 

Thai people use calculator for 2+2=4.

E-commerce? Not yet.

6 minutes ago, Bill Miller said:

Lets begin with basic arithmetic, eh?  Quite something to see people doing a simple addition by counting on their fingers.

Best way to get to grips with maths is use a a dart board, now if they gave everyone a dart board ..........no, wait...........

2 minutes ago, Anak Nakal said:

Thai people use calculator for 2+2=4.

E-commerce? Not yet.

 

Absolutely.

I used to have a bar. I remember watching the cashier using a calculator to enter 1,000 - 100.

 

Going in the local shop to buy three beers at sixty Baht. Gave the woman two hundred Baht and told her I needed twenty Baht change. She used her calculator to check, and then asked how I managed work it out in my head.

 

11 minutes ago, Bill Miller said:

Lets begin with basic arithmetic, eh?  Quite something to see people doing a simple addition by counting on their fingers.
Digital subjects? How about the online 90 day reporting? Is that up and running yet? How many years has that been in the works?
I do not know why they don't sub some of that stuff out to people who know how to program.

Local people whose first language is not English often count in English using their fingers, just the same way that many foreigners who are not fully conversant in Thai count through the numbers to check for the one they want to use - I learned basic French as a youngster and to this day I still have to count through the numbers to identify an unfamiliar number spoken in French.

 

And I think you'll find the problems with 90 day reporting don't have much to do with coding abilities but instead are budget motivated or similar. We employed Thai coders in Hong Kong and Bangkok and many of them were excellent.

17 minutes ago, Bill Miller said:

Lets begin with basic arithmetic, eh?  Quite something to see people doing a simple addition by counting on their fingers.
Digital subjects? How about the online 90 day reporting? Is that up and running yet? How many years has that been in the works?
I do not know why they don't sub some of that stuff out to people who know how to program.

Another word for fingers is digits, so I suppose you could say they have gone digital, sort of.... cheers

4 hours ago, webfact said:

Experts worried about lack of Thai digital skills

By The Nation

 

This about sums it up - A digital Jurian 

9 minutes ago, BEVUP said:

This about sums it up - A digital Jurian 

Perhaps you're confusing a certain type of  fruit with a jursitic person, dunno.

3 hours ago, bluesofa said:

although if the farmers were tech-savvy they could perhaps use their smartphone

Cannot do, the wife is using it for Facebook.

E-commerce in Thailand? Only China is really involved in this. Due to my experiences, 90% of calling a Thai firm, does not matter if it is a big or small one, failed, just because after a short heehaw, it becomes to quite evident that no one can speak your language. Answering to a mail? Same, but without giggling, or at least you cannot hear. Thailand is the first, Thailand is perfect, Thailand should develop a lot to survive.

Digital skills?  From what I have observed, the entire Thai education system is poor.  While on my first few trips I was mildly impressed that most of the girls could do basic math, and could read and write in their own language (possibly to as good a general level as many in the USA), the numbers and quality of people with advanced education skills was pitiful. So many so called college degrees are beyond fluff.  But Thai society will not say that.  They encourage and enable it.  I don't want to discourage or demean any education, but you can not turn a blind eye or avoid comparing things

1 hour ago, bluesofa said:

Absolutely.

I used to have a bar. I remember watching the cashier using a calculator to enter 1,000 - 100.

 

Going in the local shop to buy three beers at sixty Baht. Gave the woman two hundred Baht and told her I needed twenty Baht change. She used her calculator to check, and then asked how I managed work it out in my head.

 

My Mrs asks what 70+70+70.answer 210 my love.then she goes gets the old calculator out and checks and says 'oh you just get lucky' in the shop the other day buying flat pack table and chairs,got asked you want us make for you? No that's ok I do at home...well they all turned around and looked at each other like I must be a rocket scientist.farang can do? It's us who are stupid not them.when I get my mrs to have to think hard she calls it a headache and I bet I'm not the only tv member who goes through this scene.thailand 0.4  and I'm being generous.

Why is this a worry now? For years the government of los has purposely keep the schooling at a low leval So as to incress the money in their pockets via corruption and to keep the average citizen from being able through inteligence, learn about their command over them for fear that the citizens will try to install a true democratic country.

"...lack of thai digital skills..." I think not.

 

I have read on some websites Thais advertising for work and they (many of them) offer wonderful digital skills. 

 

So what's the gripe here?

13 minutes ago, happy chappie said:

My Mrs asks what 70+70+70.answer 210 my love.then she goes gets the old calculator out and checks and says 'oh you just get lucky' in the shop the other day buying flat pack table and chairs,got asked you want us make for you? No that's ok I do at home...well they all turned around and looked at each other like I must be a rocket scientist.farang can do? It's us who are stupid not them.when I get my mrs to have to think hard she calls it a headache and I bet I'm not the only tv member who goes through this scene.thailand 0.4  and I'm being generous.

Was told once that it was not possible for me to hang wallpaper. It was a 'specialist' job and I would have to pay for specialists to do it for me.

They still have the wallpaper in the shop.

9 minutes ago, overherebc said:

Was told once that it was not possible for me to hang wallpaper. It was a 'specialist' job and I would have to pay for specialists to do it for me.

They still have the wallpaper in the shop.

You need to be a specialist to hang wallpaper with a staple gun and tape.

A post against forum rules has been removed.

 

16) You will not make changes to quoted material from other members posts, except for purposes of shortening the quoted post. This cannot be done in such a manner that it alters the context of the original post.

Lack of skills full stop!

3 hours ago, Anak Nakal said:

Thai people use calculator for 2+2=4.

E-commerce? Not yet.

They generally lack confidence being beaten up all their lives, but doing math in a programming environment can be a lot of fun:

 

<?php

$x = 2;

$x+$x = $somchai;

if($somchai ==4){

echo "cookie";

}
?>

I can hardly contain myself ;-)