35
MAR 2016 FOOD FOCUSTHAILAND
SURF
THE AEC
Challenges for Thai Businesses
Though Dawei megaproject will drive Thailand towards a
prominent position in ASEAN, the challenges in terms of
entrepreneurial competency and soft infrastructure in every
ASEAN country need to be addressed. Challenges for Thai
businesses are the speed and the ability to increase their
competency and competitiveness given huge government
spendingon infrastructuremegaprojects.Entrepreneursneed
to hastily improve their ability to compete with regional
businesses fromSingapore,China, Japan,SouthKorea, and
Malaysia, who are currently better equipped with hi-tech
management systems, technology, and financial resources.
As freer of competition foreseen in the region, the
competitiveness of Thai basic industry decrease. Thus, Thai
entrepreneurs should focus on developing value-added
products and services. They may choose to build on their
foundations. For example, the service sector can integrate
more technology into their transportation system or set up
online systems to connect warehouses in the region. To add
value to products, entrepreneurs may choose tomodernize
their existingproducts, suchasshifting frombulkybag rice to
