Small- and medium-sized Pattaya business operators were told they need to become more efficient if they hope to compete once Thailand joins the ASEAN Economic Community in 2015.
Paphon Mangkhalathanakun, head of the Small and Medium Enterprise Supply Chain department for Thai Military Bank, told entrepreneurs meeting at the Centara Grand Mirage Beach Resort Aug. 21 they need to examine their businesses and eliminate any expense not related to creating value for customers.
Paphon Mangkhalathanakun, head of the SME and Supply Chain Office, TMB Bank, tells entrepreneurs they need to be more efficient in order to compete once Thailand joins the AEC in 2015.
The “SME Efficiency Do-It-Yourself” seminar, co-sponsored by the bank and the Thai-Japan Technology Promotion Assessment cooperative, aimed to help business owners cope with uncontrollable fluctuations in the world economy, marketing and investments. Small- and medium-sized businesses, speakers said, face higher manufacturing and labor costs that can put them at a disadvantage once the Association of Southeast Asian Nations forms its common market.
Speakers emphasized “lean manufacturing,” a concept championed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s International Motor Vehicle Program to help U.S. automakers compete with Japanese competitors. According to MIT researchers, who later penned a best-selling business book on the concept, the “lean” production practice considers the expenditure of resources for any goal other than the creation of value for the end customer to be wasteful and a target for elimination.
Paphon said he believed the seminar will help Pattaya businesses become more efficient and that the bank will host a half dozen more seminars later around the country.
