Private sector organizes seminar on Turning Crises into Opportunities to Strengthen Thai Economy: Do or Die

Private sector organizes seminar on Turning Crises into Opportunities to Strengthen Thai Economy: Do or Die

BANGKOK, 19 September 2019 (NNT) - In an era when there are economic challenges including an international trade war and the advent of new technology, if business operators don’t know how to benefit from it all, they won’t be able to adjust themselves to it properly.

The world is also at the end of an economic upturn. In Thailand, The private sector has organized a seminar on " Turning Crises into Opportunities to Strengthen the Thai Economy: Do or Die”. The event was attended by experts from the business and government sectors who shared their views on seeking opportunities in times of change.

Mr Suwit Mesinsee, Minister of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation, delivered a speech saying that in the 21st century, people’s way of life can’t be separated from technology. Data or information is an important factor in business growth and the economy will be steered by innovative SME operators, startups, creative entrepreneurs and community enterprises, not large businesses anymore.

The approaching challenge is a change in careers among workers when they are replaced by technology. The population will be divided into two groups: skilled people and unskilled people. Another growing challenge is the community’s transformation into an aging society.

For many, the key to success lies in having new skills. The government has, therefore, accelerated steering the country into the 4.0 era in order to enhance its competitiveness, and strengthen local people by supporting local economies so that unskilled people can continue to earn money.

Mr Phachara Arayakarnkun, Chief Executive Officer of Bluebik Group Co., said digital disruption will soon completely change Thai society. This is because out of a total of 70 million people, 60 million are internet users.

There are 90 million mobile phone numbers currently in use. Internet users spend 10 hours a day online and 50 percent of them like to shop online. This will cause some old business practices to die out.

The solution is to create added value to local products which will lead to a group of loyal customers. It is necessary to create an interesting story to boost the appeal of many products, understand timing and launch new products as soon as they’re developed to test customers’ reaction so that there is time to improve the new product if the market deems it necessary to do so.