Sanyo Shuts Down Its Production Facilities In Thailand

[ajarnmark]

I am surprised more large companies have not decided to do the same

IMO it is quite clear that the is no plan in place for corrective action to ensure

that flooding does not happen again

For so many companies to put yp with the issues in Thailand, the labor must

come very cheap or they must be getting a lot of business benefits.

and how can you have a corrective action to ensure that flooding will not happen again? will you fight with God or mother nature and stop all the rains and flooding?

[Tywais]

Quick question....the minimum wage hike...how much of a hike was that as a percentage?

Ranges from 35% to 89% depending on province based on current minimum wage tables.

[Chopperboy]

If there's a shortage of labour then there should be no need to raise the minimum wage, market forces would take care of that, and if you can't make (or sell) semi-conductors (needing at least some decree of skill) using labour that costs as little as 300 baht a day then you should perhaps quit.

Don't forget the imported millions of cheap labor (officially with all the documents) from neighbor countries to keep the labor costs low.

Every government did that.

So that 300 Baht minimum wage is just a show for the red buffaloes. Easier would be to reduce cheap foreign labor force and wages will rise automatically and on market demand.

These companies are all BOI foreign owned, as such its a real gray area if they can hire immigrant labour. The BOI frown upon it, I got a letter 9 months ago telling me to get rid of all my Shan workers within 6 months. But the paragraph in the BOI law they referred to only talks about matching material resources to a project, nothing about labour. I think its a case of a BOI Thai owned company can, and a ferang owned BOI company is taking advantage of the Thais by doing it.

[FOODLOVER]

I thought to operate a business in Thailand you had to hand over 51% of the controlling interest to Thai's. How can they simply shut up shop when they don't have control of the company. I was going to set a small business in Thailand but I wasn't going to use all my money and then give 51% away just didn't seem like good business sense to me.

Not really sure how the large companies work out the corporate structure, but I do know that Honda, Sanyo, and others are NOT turning over 51 % of their business to a group of corrupt Thai "businessmen"........I think that only applies to small business owners that get screwed over by their Thai partners.

Regarding leaving, I think the companies were willing to put up with corruption and political instability. Apparently flooding and higher wages are the straw that broke the camel's back. I suspect many other companies are going to leave as well. The 300 baht minimum hike must have sounded great to the red buffaloes, but when everyone is jobless after being laid off it won't look so good then. The best thing the government could do now is to rescind that hike, and cite changing economic conditions. They are already in office, and have not done nearly all the other things they promised, so should not be a problem......

Regarding Thaniya, Nana Plaza and girls for Japanese businessmen, I suspect that when a bunch of Japanese companies move to Cambodia, that in short order there will be a bar area in PP catering to their business, full of cute Vietnamese girls to service them....... :jap:

I was actually under the same impression. Farangs and foreign companies set up businesses in Thailand, they contribute 100% of the costs and finacial backing and thai's own 51% of the interests and control the companies/businesses. I always wondered why farangs invest thier retirement funds in small businesses (bars etc) in Thailand when they will never actually own them and only be the minor stakeholder. Excellent business risk for the thai's, they contribute 0% make a great profit if the business suceeds and loose nothing if it collapses.

Sorry, should read entire thread before posting.

Edited December 12, 2011 by FOODLOVER

[maidu]

I bet dollars to donuts the Bt.300/day min wage doesn't apply to indentured servents hired by baht billionaire Thai/Chinese. Dig a little deeper, and you'll find that all over Thailand there are rich people with young workers (mostly Laotian, Burmese) who are expected to work ALL their waking hours seven days a week - for a pittance. More often than not, those pseudo slaves aren't even allowed to stray from the site. Farang don't often know of such things, but Asians do and they'd prefer not to admit it.

[mommysboy]

I bet dollars to donuts the Bt.300/day min wage doesn't apply to indentured servents hired by baht billionaire Thai/Chinese. Dig a little deeper, and you'll find that all over Thailand there are rich people with young workers (mostly Laotian, Burmese) who are expected to work ALL their waking hours seven days a week - for a pittance. More often than not, those pseudo slaves aren't even allowed to stray from the site. Farang don't often know of such things, but Asians do and they'd prefer not to admit it.

Fair point and actually could encourage an even bigger black market. Unfortunate turn of phrase though: as a donut will arguably be worth more than a dollar the way things are going.