Supachai worried about Alibaba investing in Thailand

[webfact]

Supachai worried about Alibaba investing in Thailand

By The Nation

 

 

BANGKOK: -- Supachai Panitchpakdi, former director-general of the World Trade Organization, is wary of investments in Thailand by e-commerce giant Alibaba, warning that it could lead to monopoly.

“The government should not make too many concessions by allowing them to do everything," he told reporters on the sidelines of “The Trade and Development Regional Forum 2017” hosted by the International Institute for Trade and Development.

 

His remarks come after the China-based Alibaba announced plans to invest in Thailand .

 

Supachai said Alibaba not only owns the e-commerce platform but also has its own logistics and payment platforms as well as Big Data of consumers and suppliers.

 

The government needs to monitor it closely, said Supachai, who was secretary- general of UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) from 2005-2014.

 

He also called for the WTO and UNCTAD to create a code of conduct for giant digital technology companies like Google, Facebook, Apple and Alibaba, who, he feared, could potentially control the world economy.

 

These companies have Big Data that no government can afford to have and they do many businesses that have created disruption globally and could become even more disruptive in years to come, he warned.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30321182

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-07-19

[ChrisY1]

Monopolies in Thailand are allowed to be operated by Thai companies.....anyway, Alibaba already own Lazada in SE Asia....and there's for sure no other company that would come close to Jack Ma....send your money to some spiv e-commerce company here and there's every chance you'll get nothing back....or just junk!

[HiSoLowSoNoSo]

CP group would also be vise to monitor. How much of their profit do they put back into Thailands economy? I have seen their massive investments in Cambodia and now also in Malaysia.

[ratcatcher]

Supachai worried about Alibaba investing in Thailand

 

"Welcome to Thailand Jack, now let me introduce you to the forty thieves."

[rkidlad]

I'm buying a lot more things through Lazada and Amazon. Never had a problem with them. They do what they say and you buy what's advertised.

 

As for many local companies. No, just no. Even the locals are realising that a brand/company you can trust in is a brand you go back to. Times are changing and Thailand can either embrace it or stick its head in the sand and regress furthermore. 

[William C F Pierce]

Sorry Mr Supachai Thailand is not big enough to argue with Big Brother China, you will do as you are told or they will block your Chinese tourist industry.

[colinneil]

Supachai is worried about Alibaba creating a monopoly.

What about CP and all their monopolies?

Thing is they are scared of competition, bring it on, i say.

[Knocker33]

Used Lazada many times . Good service so far. Used Macro click once. What a joke. Go to store pay for item . Wait one month for it to be delivered(from Bangkok) to store. Drive back to store. Thirty minutes to explain to staff why I was there. Lazada delivered to door in two days. No wonder they are worried it shows just how incompetent they are.

[smutcakes]

As others allude, they don't seem to concerned with the current monopolies. I wonder who is pushing this guy forward to make comments like this? Does he hold Non Executive or Advisor roles at any large local companies?

[impulse]

They're justifiably nervous that online shopping may put the malls out of business.  
 

Go to the mall, get some Starbucks and free air conditioning while you're looking at the goodies you're actually planning to buy online at half the price...

 

They'll still get the visitors for the social aspect and the free A/C.  But that doesn't pay the rent.

 

[Stargeezr]

Could it be that another Power type , company is concerned that they won't be the big King of business anymore?

Hmmmm...

Geezer

[Lucky mike]

Why would you use Lazada ? COD available, delivered promptly to the door, great return policy,, get what you pay for....the future is here !

[impulse]

1 hour ago, Lucky mike said:

Why would you use Lazada ? COD available, delivered promptly to the door, great return policy,, get what you pay for....the future is here !

 

Lazada is handy, and I use them a lot.  But they ain't the future.  Just the best of a sorry lot.  If Amazon were to invest in logistics and fulfillment here in LOS, they could displace Lazada as #1 in a heartbeat.

 

On a side note, I'm trying to help some Thai co-workers get set up to sell on Lazada.  It's taken a while, but I have figured out that it's virtually impossible for me to help them with Lazada unless I can read Thai.  Going through that exercise has convinced me that Lazada is extremely vulnerable to competition that can offer better service to English speakers- both on the buying and the selling side.

 

[tomacht8]

The big supermarket chains suck the blood out from the local mom & pop stores. The online trade eats the revenues of stationary retail stores.

No one can stop this development.

The only way out for the affected businesses are creative new concepts, better products, experience worlds, stronger customer relationships and excellent customer service. 

 

And there we would be again by the education question: Do thai entrepreneurs master this instrumentarium?

[KIWIBATCH]

4 hours ago, impulse said:

They're justifiably nervous that online shopping may put the malls out of business.  
 

Go to the mall, get some Starbucks and free air conditioning while you're looking at the goodies you're actually planning to buy online at half the price...

 

They'll still get the visitors for the social aspect and the free A/C.  But that doesn't pay the rent.

 

Shopping malls are dead...dying/boring.....bit by bit.....overpriced goods. because of the high rents the shop tenants must pay......same old same old...store brand name after store brand name.......no prices on goods (especially when they have a "70% off promoshun").....give me an open air market any day and the ability to shop on-line where I can buy/pay and have the purchase  delivered within days...anything I want...!!!

[djayz]

Instead of trying to control and regulate everything they fear and perceive as a threat, they should be trying to learn from them and encouraging their own people to adapt and improve.

My overall experience here has led me to the conclusion that the quality of services - in general - is declining. 

 

[impulse]

8 minutes ago, djayz said:

My overall experience here has led me to the conclusion that the quality of services - in general - is declining. 

 

If only that were specific to Thailand.  A lot of people have been here long enough, or have selective memories of how things are "back home".   The give-a-crap quotient is falling back home, too as live people are replaced by phone menus that advise us to press 1 for a technical question, and you can place an order at McDonalds without ever talking to anyone...  Not to mention smart phones' strangleholds aren't unique to Thailand.

 

 

Edited July 20, 2017 by impulse

[impulse]

44 minutes ago, KIWIBATCH said:

Shopping malls are dead...dying/boring.....bit by bit.....overpriced goods. because of the high rents the shop tenants must pay......same old same old...store brand name after store brand name.......no prices on goods (especially when they have a "70% off promoshun").....give me an open air market any day and the ability to shop on-line where I can buy/pay and have the purchase  delivered within days...anything I want...!!!

 

Shopping at the malls may be dying, but Thailand seems to do a reasonable job of re-inventing them as entertainment and dining centers.  Whether that will be enough to replace the revenues lost to online sales remains to be seen.  (Could that be the real reason behind the crackdown on street vendors???)

 

That's especially disturbing with so much of Thailand's economy being driven by real estate development, which employs so many people and adds to the Elite's wealth as their land holdings skyrocket in value.  Killing off mall development in Thailand would be akin to killing off the internal combustion engine in an economy like the USA where so much of it is dependent on burning petroleum products in our gas guzzling SUV's.

 

Edited July 20, 2017 by impulse

[Redline]

23 hours ago, webfact said:

He also called for the WTO and UNCTAD to create a code of conduct for giant digital technology companies like Google, Facebook, Apple and Alibaba, who, he feared, could potentially control the world economy.

 

These companies have Big Data that no government can afford to have and they do many businesses that have created disruption globally and could become even more disruptive in years to come, he warned.

Too little too late...the major corporations spend billions on psychological manipulation~there is no country strong enough to stop this trend.  The masses are addicted, and it's good for capitalism~governments get their cut legally and illegally as well.  Even communist countries have succumbed.  Once VR is everywhere, people won't care about what's happening anyway

Edited July 20, 2017 by Redline

[the guest]

You mean like the Thai breweries, which monopolize everything. The choice of beers (and drink in general) in Thailand are few.

[ddavidovsky]

It's a bit of a dilemma. Some things require a big operation to do all that it takes. When everyone uses one company because they're the best (such as Amazon, Google etc) they become monopolies by consumer choice.

For some operations, they have to be big to become better, but then the benefits of competition are lost. By preventing an outright monopoly, the regulators might actually be holding things back, but that's not necessarily a problem. In this kind of business, the regulators should make sure that there are at least two big players (cf Microsoft and Apple) to keep each other on their toes.

 

Btw, Supachai has been in the news regularly lately. Is he getting in position?