Superbon and Allazov get ready for ONE Fight Night 6
THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 2023
January 11, 2023 – Bangkok, Thailand: ONE Championship™ (ONE) returned to Bangkok to kick off a massive event week with a live press conference for ONE Fight Night 6: Superbon vs. Allazov, which was held at the W Hotel.
In attendance was ONE Championship Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong and Managing Director of ONE Championship Thailand Prem Busarabavonwongs. They were joined by the top athletes competing at the event, including reigning ONE Featherweight Kickboxing World Champion Superbon Singha Mawynn and his opponent, ONE Featherweight Kickboxing World Grand Prix Champion Chingiz Allazov, as well as ONE Flyweight Submission Grappling World Champion Mikey Musumeci, ONE Flyweight Muay Thai World Champion Rodtang Jitmuangnon, and former two-sport ONE World Champion Stamp Fairtex, among others.
Sityodtong announced the ONE Openweight Muay Thai World Grand Prix, which will pit 16 of the best Muay Thai athletes from around the world against each other to compete for a US$1,000,000 grand prize.
In addition, the promotion also paid tribute to 18-year-old martial arts prodigy Victoria Lee, who tragically passed away in late December.
Chatri Sityodtong, Chairman and CEO of ONE Championship, stated: “ONE Championship is launching the greatest era in the history of Muay Thai, with the Mecca, the pinnacle, the greatest stadium, and one of the most iconic fighting arenas in the world — the Mecca of Muay Thai — Lumpinee Stadium.”
“We are going to change, not only Muay Thai all over the world, [but also] we are going to elevate and inspire 70 million countrymen with our heroes and showcase Muay Thai around the world, every week, live in primetime in Thailand, broadcast live to 179 countries around the world. We are taking it to the next level and making Muay Thai a truly legitimate World Championship sport that the entire planet can enjoy.”
“We have the very best kickboxers in every division. We have the very best Muay Thai fighters in every division as well. We have the very best of the best, so there is no easy fight. If you want to fight the best of the best, there’s only one place, and it’s in ONE.”
Prem Busarabavonwongs, Managing Director of ONE Championship Thailand, stated: “Finally, ONE Championship is back in Thailand again after three years of the pandemic. I’m so excited this card is happening this weekend. I’m sure it’s going to be a blast. It’s going to be explosive. It’s going to be fun, for sure.”
“The reason we want to do this is because we want to help Muay Thai and rebuild Muay Thai to greatness again. It’s very important to support Muay Thai, with no gambling involved, and really make this a sport entertainment [spectacle]. I am confident that this year, we will ignite the greatest era of Muay Thai. So everyone, please help us and support Muay Thai.”
Superbon Singha Mawynn, ONE Featherweight Kickboxing World Champion, stated: “I’m very honored and happy that people think of me [as the best fighter in the world]. However, for me, I still think that there’s a lot of other strikers who are above me or who I have to fight before I can fully say that I accept this title.”
“My advantage is that I’m fighting at home, I’m fighting in Thailand. When it comes to speed and power, I also have the advantage on that as well. I also have a lot of support from my Thai fans in Thailand.”
Chingiz Allazov, ONE Featherweight Kickboxing World Grand Prix Champion, stated: “I say, a long time I waited for this fight. A long time we waited for this fight, my team waited. The first time I had a problem. After my COVID problem, then it was Superbon. But now, it’s time.”
“I know Superbon is a good fighter. He has an individual style, he has a real Thai style, and he has a universal style. But I like this. I make many kicks, I make many punches, knees. For me, no problem.”
“I waited for this day, I’m focused one hundred percent.”
ONE Fight Night 6: Superbon vs. Allazov will kick off at Impact Arena Muang Thong Thani on Saturday January 14 from 8am (Thailand time), and will be broadcast live to 170 countries worldwide during United States’ prime time.
Thailand eyeing AFF final switch to 50,000-seat Rajamangala in Bangkok
THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 2023
The Sports Authority of Thailand (SAT) wants to switch Thailand’s home leg of the AFF Championship final against Vietnam to the 50,000-seater Rajamangala National Stadium so more Thai fans can attend.
The match on Monday (January 16) was originally due at the 25,000-seat Thammasat Stadium in Pathum Thani, but SAT says Rajamangala is now 90% ready to host the final if the AFF organising committee agrees.
The first leg of the final will kick off in Hanoi on Friday after Mano Polking’s Thailand crushed Malaysia 3-0 to overturn a 1-0 deficit in the semi-final on Tuesday.
“We estimate a large number of Thai fans will be interested in attending the final match, so it’s only fair to switch the venue to a bigger stadium, like the 50,000-seat Rajamangala in Bang Kapi, Bangkok,” said SAT governor Kongsak Yodmanee as he led an inspection of the stadium on Wednesday.
Rajamangala Stadium played host to K-pop’s “Golden Disc Awards” on Sunday with around 35,000 music fans in attendance. Stadium rules dictate there should be a gap of at least 15 days between major events at Rajamangala to allow the grass to rehabilitate.
“The SAT will make an exception for the AFF final despite having only five days left [before the match],” said Kongsak. “We have brought in grass experts to speed up the rehabilitation and get the pitch ready for the match in time. The stadium is currently about 90% ready.”
Kongsak said the AFF committee would consider factors including the stadium’s readiness, transport, and costs in judging whether to make the switch.
“SAT’s job is to get the stadium 100% ready as soon as possible,” he said.
Vietnam booked their place in the final with a 2-0 win against Indonesia on Monday at My Dinh National Stadium in Hanoi.
Buriram Marathon to roll out Thai ‘paradise’ for 27,000 runners on Jan 21
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 11, 2023
More than 27,000 runners from dozens of countries will hit the start line for the 7th Buriram Marathon on January 21.
The “runners’ paradise” weekend will see participants compete on the Chang International Circuit which passes through star attractions in the Northeast province’s Muang district.
The day-night event features four categories to be held from 4pm to 2.30am: the marathon (42.195 kilometres), half marathon (21.1km), mini marathon (10km) and fun run (4.554km).
This year, 27,135 participants from 46 countries (59.89% men and 40.11% women) will run a course that features Huai Chorakhe Mak reservoir, the King Rama I monument, and Wat Klang Phra Aram Luang, which will be lit up with decorations to welcome athletes.
Thousands of participants and spectators will also find merchants selling athletics gear, souvenirs and local specialities.
With hotels in Buri Ram and nearby provinces booking up fast, local campsites are expanding to accommodate about 1,000 runners.
Shuttle vehicles will transport athletes and spectators from the airport, train station and bus terminal to the Chang International Circuit.
Last year’s Buriram Marathon attracted more than 26,000 runners and generated 531.94 million baht in revenue.
Monkey business: Top 5 SMB threats to watch out for in 2023
THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 2023
There’s a saying that those who own the information own the world. However, speaking about information security, the whole “world” is not enough – so the cybercriminals’ needs are confined to other people’s data, money, after all, business.
Don’t think that attackers are in a constant chase for big fortunes or tabloid scandals: as the statistics show, more than 60% of all small and medium businesses have experienced cyberattacks over the course of 2022.
Small and medium-sized companies are great contributors to the global economy: according to the World Trade Organization, SMBs represent more than 90% of all businesses worldwide. Due to cyberattacks, businesses may lose confidential information, finances, valuable market share – and there are plenty of ways criminals are trying to reach their goals. The less we can do is to count them; what’s more important is to define the threats the SMB sector might be exposed to – and ways they can be detected and prevented. Additionally, small enterprises consider a cybersecurity incident as one of the most challenging types of crisis.
Kaspersky experts analyzed vulnerable points SMBs might have and outlined some major cyber threats for entrepreneurs that they must be aware of.
1. Data leaks caused by employees There are different ways a company’s data may be leaked – and, in certain cases, it might happen involuntarily.
During the pandemic, many remote workers used corporate computers for entertainment purposes, such as playing online games, watching movies, or using e-learning platforms – something that continues to pose financial threats to organizations. This trend is here to stay, and while during 2020, 46% of employees had never worked remotely before, now two-thirds of them state they wouldn’t go back to the office, with the rest claiming to have a shorter office work week.
he level of cybersecurity after the pandemic and the initial adoption of remote work by organizations en masse has improved. Nevertheless, corporate computers used for entertainment purposes remain one of the most important ways to get initial access to a company’s network. Looking for alternative sources to download an episode of a show or a newly released film, users encounter various types of malware, including Trojans, spyware and backdoors, as well as adware. According to Kaspersky statistics, 35% of users who faced threats under the guise of streaming platforms were affected by Trojans. If such malware ends up on a corporate computer, attackers could even penetrate the corporate network and search for and steal sensitive information, including both business development secrets and employees’ personal data.
Also, there’s a tendency to blame ex-workers for possible data leaks. However, only half of recently surveyed organizations’ leaders are confident that ex-employees don’t have access to company data stored in cloud services or can’t use corporate accounts. An ex-colleague may not even remember they had access to such a such-and-such resource. But a routine check by those same regulators might reveal that unauthorized persons do in fact have access to confidential information, which would still result in a fine.
And even if you’re absolutely certain you parted ways on good terms with everyone, that doesn’t mean you’re out of the woods. Who can guarantee they didn’t use a weak or non-unique password to access work systems, which attackers could brute-force or come across in an unrelated leak? Any redundant access to a system – be it a collaborative environment, work email or virtual machine – increases the attack surface. Even a simple chat among colleagues about non-work issues could be used for social-engineering attacks.
2. DDoS attacks
Distributed Network Attacks are often referred to as Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks. This type of attack takes advantage of the specific capacity limits that apply to any network resources – such as the infrastructure that enables a company’s website. The DDoS attack will send multiple requests to the attacked web resource – with the aim of exceeding the website’s capacity to handle multiple requests… and prevent the website from functioning correctly.
Attackers resort to different sources to perform acts on organizations such as banks, media assets, or retailers – all frequently affected by DDoS attacks. Recently, cybercriminals targeted the German food delivery service, Takeaway.com (Lieferando.de), demanding two bitcoins (approximately $11,000) to stop the flood of traffic. Moreover, DDoS attacks on online retailers tend to spike during the holiday season, when their customers are most active.
There’s also a growing trend towards gaming companies gaining scale. The North American data centres of Final Fantasy 14 were attacked in early August. Players experienced connection, login, and data-sharing issues. Blizzard’s multiplayer games — Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Hearthstone, and Diablo: Immortal — were also DDoSed yet again.
Something to note is that many DDoS attacks go unreported because the payout amounts are often not terribly big.
3. Supply chain
Being attacked through a supply chain typically means a service or program you have used for some time has become malicious. These are attacks delivered through the company’s vendors or suppliers – examples can include financial institutions, logistics partners, or even a food delivery service. And such actions may vary in complexity or destructiveness.
For example, attackers used ExPetr (aka NotPetya) to compromise the automatic update system of accounting software called M.E.Doc, forcing it to deliver the ransomware to all customers. As a result, ExPetr caused millions in losses, infecting both large companies and small businesses.
Or take CCleaner, one of the most famous programs for system registry cleaning. It is widely used by both home users and system administrators. At some point, attackers compromised the program developer’s compilation environment, equipping several versions with a backdoor. For a month these compromised versions were distributed from the company’s official websites and downloaded 2.27 million times, and at least 1.65 million copies of the malware attempted to communicate with the criminals’ servers.
The recent examples that drew our attention are DiceyF incidents, which were performed in Southeast Asia. The prime targets were an online casino developer and operator and a customer support platform, which were attacked in The Ocean 11 style. Or the SmudgeX incident comes to mind: an unknown APT compromised a distribution server and replaced a legitimate installer with a trojanized one, spreading malicious PlugX within a South Asian nation to all federal employees who had to download and install the new, required tool. Surely, the IT support managing the distribution server and the developers were affected.
4. Malware
You can encounter malicious files everywhere: if you download illegitimate files, make sure they do not harm you. The most emerging threats are the encryptors that chase a company’s data, money, or even the personal information of its owners. To support this, it’s worth mentioning that more than a quarter of small and medium-sized businesses opt for pirated, or unlicensed software to cut costs. Such software may include some malicious or unwanted files that may exploit corporate computers and networks.
Additionally, business owners must be aware of access brokers as such layers of groups will cause SMBs harm in a variety of ways in 2023. Their illegal-access customers include cryptojacking clients, banking password stealers, ransomware, cookie stealers, and other problematic malware. One of the examples is Emotet, malware that steals banking credentials and targets organizations around the world. Another group that targets small and medium-sized businesses are DeathStalker, best known for its attacks on legal, financial and travel entities. The group’s main goals rely on looting confidential information regarding legal disputes involving VIPs and large financial assets, competitive business intelligence as well as insights into mergers and acquisitions.
5. Social engineering
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, many companies have moved much of their workflows online and learned to use new collaboration tools. In particular, Microsoft’s Office 365 suite has seen a lot more use — and, to no one’s surprise, phishing now increasingly targets those user accounts. Scammers have been resorting to all sorts of tricks to get business users to enter their passwords on a website made to look like Microsoft’s sign-in page.
We’ve uncovered many new ways how phishing scammers are trying to fool business owners, which sometimes turn out to be quite elaborate. Some are mimicking loan or delivery services – by sharing false websites or sending emails with fake accounting documents.
Some attackers masquerade as legitimate online platforms to get profit out of their victims: it may be even quite popular money transfer services, such as Wise Transfer.
Another red flag discovered by Kaspersky experts is a link to a page translated using Google Translate. Attackers use Google Translate to bypass cybersecurity mechanisms. The senders of the email allege that the attachment is some kind of payment document available exclusively to the recipient, which must be studied for a “contract meeting presentation and subsequent payments.” The Open button link points to a site translated by Google Translate. However, the link leads to a fake site launched by attackers in order to steal money from their victims.
Summing up, cybercriminals will try to reach out to their victims using every way possible – through unlicensed software, phishing websites or emails breaches in the business’s security network or even via massive DDoS attacks. However, a recent survey by Kaspersky showed that 41% of SMBs have a crisis prevention plan – thus, do care about cybersecurity and understanding how challenging IT security incident remediation can be is a good tendency that hopefully will result in reliable protective measures implemented within these organizations.
To protect businesses from cyberattacks, Kaspersky recommends the following:
• Implement a strong password policy, requiring a standard user account’s password to have at least eight letters, one number, uppercase and lowercase letters and a special character. Make sure these passwords are changed if there is any suspicion that they have been compromised. To put this approach into practice without additional effort, use a security solution with a comprehensive built-in password manager. • Don’t ignore updates from software and device vendors. These usually not only bring new features and interface enhancements but also resolve uncovered safety gaps. • Maintain a high level of security awareness among employees. Encourage your workers to learn more about current threats and ways to protect their personal and professional life and take relevant free courses. Conducting comprehensive and effective third-party training programs for employees is a good way to save the IT department time, and get good results.
Kurt Baumgartner, principal security researcher at Kaspersky
Alibaba Unveils Top Technology Trend Forecasting for 2023
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 11, 2023
Alibaba DAMO Academy, the global research initiative by Alibaba Group, has shared its annual forecasting of the leading technology trends that could shape many industries in the years ahead.
Among the leading technology trends, Generative AI, which has already gained considerable traction, is expected to make further strides with its growing applications set to transform how digital content is produced.
Aided by future technological advancements and cost reductions, Generative AI will become an inclusive technology that can significantly enhance the variety, creativity and efficiency of content creation, according to DAMO.
Another important emerging technology is dual-engine decision intelligence. Supported by both operations optimization and machine learning, the dual-engine decision intelligence system enables dynamic, comprehensive and real-time resource allocation, such as real-time electricity dispatching, optimization of port throughput, assignment of airport stands and improvements in manufacturing processes.
As such, the technology can also help businesses enhance operational efficiency.
Cloud computing and security are predicted to continue playing a key role in businesses’ digital transformation. As security technologies and cloud computing are becoming more integrated than ever before, security services have embraced the shift to become more cloud-native, platform-oriented and intelligent.
Other rising trends in DAMO’s forecast include pre-trained multimodal foundation models, chiplets, processing in memory, hardware-software integrated cloud computing architecture, predictable fabric based on edge-cloud synergy, computational imaging, as well as large-scale urban digital twins.
By analyzing public papers and patent filings over the past three years and conducting interviews with almost 100 scientists, entrepreneurs and engineers worldwide, DAMO presents the top technology trends in 2023 that are expected to achieve accelerated breakthroughs and impact positively across core industries economically and socially.
“Looking towards 2023, the advancement of various technologies will drive software/hardware co-design and the integration of computing and communications technologies. The wide application of technologies will facilitate the rollout of AI and other digital technologies in vertical markets and promote the collaboration of public and private sectors and individuals in security technology and security management. The innovation driven by the advancement of technologies and their industry-specific application has become an irreversible trend,” said Jeff Zhang, Head of Alibaba DAMO Academy.
In 2023, DAMO expects to see technology progress and a surge of related applications across fields:
Trend 1: Generative AI
Generative AI generates new content based on a given set of text, images, or audio files. Currently, Generative AI is mainly used to produce prototypes and drafts and is applied in scenarios like gaming, advertising, and graphic design. Along with future technological advancement and cost reduction, Generative AI will become an inclusive technology that can significantly enhance the variety, creativity, and efficiency of content creation.
In the next three years, we will see business models emerging and ecosystems maturing as Generative AI becomes widely marketized. Generative AI models will be more interactive, secure, and intelligent, assisting human beings to complete various creative work.
Trend 2: Dual-engine Decision Intelligence
In the past, the traditional decision-making method is based on Operations Research. Due to its limitations in handling problems with great uncertainty and its slow response to large-scale problems, academia and industry began to include machine learning in decision optimization. The two engines are perfect complements to each other, and when used in tandem, can improve the speed and quality of decision making. In the future, this technology is expected to be widely used in a variety of scenarios to support dynamic, comprehensive and real-time resource allocation, such as real-time electricity dispatching, optimization of port throughput, assignment of airport stands, and improvement of manufacturing processes.
In the future, dual-engine decision intelligence will be applied in more scenarios. It will serve to increase the number of entities and expand the scale in regional resource allocation scenarios, and eventually achieve dynamic, comprehensive, and real-time resource allocation.
Trend 3: Cloud-native Security
Cloud-native security is implemented to not only deliver security capabilities that are native to cloud infrastructure, but also improve security services by leveraging cloud-native technologies . Security technologies and cloud computing are becoming more integrated than ever before. We have witnessed applied technologies evolve from containerized deployment to microservices and then to the serverless model, and security services embraced the shift to become native, fine-grained, platform-oriented, and intelligent.
In the next three to five years, cloud-native security will become more versatile and can adapt more easily to multi-cloud architectures. It will also become more conducive to building security systems that are dynamic, end-to-end, precise, and applicable to hybrid environments.
Trend 4: Pre-trained Multimodal Foundation Models
Pre-trained multimodal foundation models have become a new paradigm and infrastructure for building artificial intelligence (AI) systems. These models can acquire knowledge from different modalities and present the knowledge based on a unified representation learning framework. In the future, foundation models are set to serve as the basic infrastructure of AI systems across tasks of images, text and audio, empowering AI systems with cognitive intelligence capabilities to reason, answer questions, summarize, and create.
Cloud computing is evolving towards a new architecture centred around Cloud Infrastructure Processors (CIPU). This software-defined, hardware-accelerated architecture helps accelerate cloud applications while maintaining high elasticity and agility for cloud application development. CIPU will become the de facto standard of next-generation cloud computing and bring new development opportunities for core software R&D and dedicated chip design.
Trend 6: Predictable Fabric based on Edge-Cloud Synergy
Predictable fabric, a host-network co-design networking system driven by advances in cloud computing, aims to offer high-performance network services. It is also an inevitable trend as today’s computing and networking capabilities gradually converge on each other. Through the full-stack innovation of cloud-defined protocols, software, chips, hardware, architecture, and platforms, the predictable fabric is expected to subvert the traditional TCP-based network architecture and becomes part of the core network in next-generation data centres. Advances in this area are also driving the adoption of predictable fabric from data centre networks to wide-area cloud backbone networks.
Trend 7: Computational Imaging
Computational imaging is an emerging interdisciplinary technology. In contrast with traditional imaging techniques, computational imaging makes use of mathematical models and signal processing capabilities, and thus can perform unprecedented in-depth analysis on light field information. This technology is already used on a large scale in mobile phone photography, health care, and autonomous driving. In the future, computational imaging will continue to revolutionize traditional imaging technologies, and give rise to innovative and imaginative applications such as lensless imaging, and Non-line-of-sight (NLOS) imaging.
Trend 8: Chiplet
The chiplet-based design allows manufacturers to break down a system on a chip (SoC) into multiple chiplets, manufacture the chiplets separately by using different processes, and finally integrate them into an SoC through interconnects and packaging. The interconnect standards of chiplets are being unified into a single standard, accelerating the industrialization process of chiplets. Powered by advanced packaging technologies, chiplets may bring in a new wave of change to the R&D process of integrated circuits and reshape the landscape of the chip industry.
Trend 9: PIM
Processing in Memory (PIM) technology is the integration of a CPU and memory on a single chip, which allows data to be directly processed in memory. In the future, compute-in-memory chips are projected to be used in more powerful applications such as cloud-based inference. This will shift the traditional computing-centric architecture towards the data-centric architecture, which will have a positive impact on industries such as cloud computing, AI, and the Internet of Things (IoT).
Trend 10: Large-scale Urban Digital Twins
The concept of the urban digital twins has become a new approach to refined city governance. So far, large-scale urban digital twins have made major progress in scenarios such as traffic governance, natural disaster prevention and management, carbon peaking and neutrality. In the future, large-scale urban digital twins will become more autonomous and multi-dimensional.
Mazda occupies 3rd place in Thailand passenger car market
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 11, 2023
Mazda announces that it achieved business performance in 2022 as expected with cumulative sales almost 32,000 units despite experiencing internal and external factors affecting the strength of the organization and dealer.
Particularly, the Mazda2 was able to maintain its popularity and it was ranked as the third position in the B-car including eco-car market, resulting in the cumulative sales of Mazda passenger car achieving the third position in the automotive market permanently.
The four crossover SUV models of the CX-Series also created a sales record and it was ranked in the fourth position in the SUV market with more than 12,000 units sold.
For this year, Mazda plans to launch new models to the market throughout the year, especially aiming to take care of customers and enhance customer satisfaction through the “Retention Business Model” to deliver excellent long-term customer experience, and sets a sales target of 35,000 units or increase by 10%.
Thai economy in 2022 recovered from the previous 2 years due to the recovery of private consumption and the positive factors from the increase of consumer confidence resulting from government policies. Especially, from the reopening of the country that helped restore the money back to the economic system and pushed businesses to move forward, which was the same direction as the Thai automotive business.
The demand for cars has returned and we have received supporting factors from the entering of new automotive brands; the Chinese brands, as well as the promotional campaign from various brands.
As a result, the Thai automotive market in 2022 grew approximately 12% from the previous year and had cumulative sales of about 850,000 units (estimated number), which was the same number as expected at the beginning of the year.
Tadashi Miura, President of Mazda Sales (Thailand) Co., Ltd, said, “Today Mazda announces that Mazda is moving forward with its Mid-Term Plan to increase Mazda brand value in Thailand through “Retention Business Model” by focusing on Brand Value Management and Customer Retention Business to deliver customer’s best experience with aftersales-service under the concept “All for Customer”. The purpose is to adjust Mazda business for growth and sustainability. This is an important policy that Mazda will adhere to as a guideline to formulate a strategy from today and will never change even if times or executives change. This policy will remain and will never change.”
For Mazda, although we had been in the midst of fierce competition and the shortage of semi-conductor since the beginning of the year, we were almost able to achieve the sales target. Most importantly, the passenger car Mazda2 was able to remain its popularity and created a sales record as the third position in the B-Car including Eco Car market with cumulative sales at 16,249 units and supported Mazda to achieve the third position in the passenger car market for over a half decade with the 17,810 units sold. Moreover, the Mazda CX-Series was able to generate substantial sales of 12,322 units. Therefore, in 2022, Mazda had cumulative sales of 31,638 units and remained its popularity with the sixth position in the Thai automotive market.
“At present, Mazda has 8 car models available in Thailand. The best-selling passenger car is Mazda2 while the Mazda CX-30 is the most popular crossover SUV. When considering cumulative sales of each model in 2022, it can be divided into 16,249 units of Mazda2, 1,553 units of Mazda3 and 8 units of the sports roadster Mazda MX-5. In the meantime, the crossover SUV Mazda CX-30 contributed 6,092 units, followed by 4,249 units of Mazda CX-3, 1,157 units of Mazda CX-8 and 824 units of Mazda CX-5 while the Mazda BT-50 contributed another 1,506 units. The cumulative sales of Mazda represent Mazda’s success. We would like to show our appreciation to customers for choosing Mazda to be your trusted vehicle in every journey.” Tadashi Miura added.
Moreover, Tadashi Miura also revealed his vision toward the 2023 economic outlook, “It is expected that the economy will grow constantly but will not be remarkable because there are positive and negative factors that needed to keep an eye on. For example, the price problem and energy shortage in Europe, the prolongation of the war between Russia and Ukraine, monetary policy, cost increases from inflation, the Covid-19 situation in China and the risk of an economic recession.
However, in Thailand, there are still supporting factors, especially tourism and consumption of the private sector which are important factors supporting and stimulating the economy. Since the middle of last year, it can be seen that the tourism sector has recovered from the increasing number of tourists and it was expected that we would receive more support from Chinese tourists because China has lifted the Covid-19 measure. It is believed that these factors will help alleviate the impact of global economic volatility and economic slowdown in Thailand.”
Miura also showed his vision towards the direction of the 2023 Thai automotive industry, “It is forecasted that the sales volume of the automotive market will be equivalent to last year. Although there are many more supporting factors stimulating the economy than the previous year, e.g., tourism, the growth of the agricultural sector, recovering of public consumption and the shortage of semi-conductor began to resolve. We have to keep an eye on the conflict between the USA and China, the conflict and energy crisis in Europe, and the increase in price and logistics that inevitably affects Thailand’s imports and export. In addition, the rising cost of living is another factor that slows down consumers’ purchasing power and it is believed that the competition in the automotive market will be more intense because there are new brands introduced to the Thai market. Nevertheless, it is expected that the sales volume of the automotive market will be equivalent to last year or about 850,000 – 870,000 units while Mazda is confident that our sales performance will grow about 10% or has approximately 35,000 units.”
Thee Permpongpanth, Senior Vice President of Mazda Sales (Thailand) Co., Ltd, said, “For the 2023 strategy, Mazda is committed to moving forward with the Mid-Term Plan through Retention Business Model that focuses on enhancing brand value (Brand Value Management) by improving customer experience at all touchpoints. The aim of the strategy is to create customer satisfaction throughout the ownership period of Mazda vehicles and create sustainable growth for the Mazda brand in Thailand. The strategy of Mazda is as follows,
Marketing strategy: Strengthen Mazda’s brand value by using effective marketing tools. Importantly, utilizing a digital platform to communicate with customers and Mazda Fan through One-to-One Communication, utilizing a centralized customer database and consolidating it into Global One Customer Data Management while creating customer experience and satisfaction at all touchpoints at the same time.
Sales Strategy: Establish a standardised sales policy to avoid price competition and create the highest customer satisfaction along with increasing the number of customers who love the brand. In addition, we aim to encourage customers’ re-purchase with Mazda CPO to offer more choices for customers who are looking for quality used cars that have been certified by Mazda as well as create sustainability for the Mazda brand in Thailand.
Product Strategy: Adopt the Human-Centricity Philosophy to improve Mazda’s unique products in order to deliver a joyful and fun driving experience to customers through the ownership of the car along with the determination to develop products that meet the needs of daily use and meet the changing consumer behaviour. Mazda plans to improve the products and launch them to the market in every quarter of 2023. At the same time, Mazda is committed to following its mission towards sustainability by 2030 or the Sustainable Zoom-Zoom 2030 by establishing the foundation to offer an environmentally friendly energy form under the right circumstance and time to endeavour for carbon neutrality by 2050.
After-sales service and dealer network strategy: Collaborate with dealers across the country to enhance the customer experience in terms of sales and after-sales service through the “All for Customers” concept to maximize customer satisfaction and create a long-term relationship with the after-sales service program that helps reduce the burden of expenses. In addition, we aim to enhance relationships and work together with dealers which is in line with One Mazda’s approach toward sustainability.
“All mentioned above is Mazda’s 2022 business performance and 2023 business plan. We are committed to delivering happiness to customers, partners and all parties to drive the Mazda brand to grow sustainably with automotive technology that offers comfort and environmental friendliness, which is in line with the Sustainable Zoom-Zoom 2030 to bring about a beautiful earth and to enrich people’s lives as well as society.” Thee added.
Samsung aims to be Thai market leader for all appliances in three years
THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 2023
Nongluck Ajanapanya
South Korean corporate giant Samsung has set the ambitious goal of becoming the market leader for all types of electrical appliances in Thailand within three years.
Jennifer Song, president of Samsung Electronics Thailand, said on Thursday at the Consumer Electronics Press Conference 2023 that she intended to introduce more than 100 new models and products to Thailand this year with many more to come in the following years.
Samsung Thailand is already the market leader in television and one of the top five in air-conditioners, refrigerators, and washing machines.
“All Samsung electronic product categories would be at the top of the Thai market in the next three years,” Song asserted.
She said Thailand’s economy would continue to recover with the help of the gains in the tourism industry.
Despite the flat economic situation last year, the company was able to maintain 5-6% growth, she said, adding as the Thai economy improves and people have more purchasing power, she expects sales of Samsung products to more than double from 2022.
“This year, we will continue to focus on the premium segment. However, we will also be interested in the mass market because we have a diverse range of products at an affordable price with Samsung’s quality,” Song said.
She explained that having its own manufacturing plant in Thailand allowed Samsung Electronics Thailand to save costs, enabling it to offer prices that most consumers can afford.
Jennifer Song
Meanwhile, the company aimed to also attract the premium market segment by continuing to develop and innovate its products with a deep understanding of consumer lifestyles, she said.
“Samsung has launched new technology and innovations every year,” Song points out.
Recently Samsung entered the business-to-business market. Song believes that this will help increase Samsung’s sales.
Song highlighted three key product strategies in order to be the market leader in Thailand: personalisation, connectivity, and sustainability.
“Samsung’s products will not be limited to home appliances. They will reflect your preferences, serve as your smart assistant, assist you in saving money, and protect the environment,” Song said.
Although demand for electrical appliances in Thailand is now low due to people prioritising tourism, Song is confident that demand will gradually increase, paving the way for Samsung to become number one.
(From Left) Aphiradee Phaholvech, Roengboon Klongkumnuankarn, Jennifer Song, Suwin Kooseeumnuay, and Paramee Thongcharoen
AirAsia Aviation Group named one of safest low-cost airlines for 2023
THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 2023
AirAsia Aviation Group has once again come out on top after recently being named one of the top 20 safest low-cost airlines in the world for 2023.
AirAsia Malaysia (AK), AirAsia Thailand (FD) and AirAsia Philippines (Z2) as well as medium-haul affiliate airlines – AirAsia X Malaysia (D7) and Thai AirAsia X (XJ) received this significant recognition for their robust overall safety procedures and comprehensive Covid 19 mitigation plans through a recent announcement by the safety aviation experts at airlineratings.com – achieving the top 7/7 stars for both areas.
Bo Lingam, Group CEO of Airasia Aviation Group Limited said: “Safety is a key deciding factor for travellers and is also a key factor affecting any airline’s reputation. This is now more important than ever post-pandemic.
“We maintain a strict focus on upholding the highest standards of safety at all times and wish to thank the aviation experts at Airlineratings.com for their recognition of this. During the downtime in flying over the past two years, we also introduced numerous innovations and contactless procedures to make flying more seamless and hygienic. Travel is now bouncing back and all these measures help restore confidence in air travel and stimulate consumers to get back on board in the skies with us.”
Geoffrey Thomas, Editor in Chief and Founder of Airlineratings.com commended AirAsia Group for continuing to put safety and Covid mitigation measures at the forefront. The airlines which we have acknowledged have also continued to pass the major International Air Transport Association (IATA) safety audit – IOSA, which covers more than 1,060 parameters and is the global benchmark for maintaining the highest safety standards.
“We look forward to seeing AirAsia continue to soar to new heights in the future now that air travel is back in a big way.”
Bangchak to acquire ExxonMobil’s 66% stake in Esso Thailand
THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 2023
Bangchak Corporation (BCP) said on Thursday that it had signed a deal to acquire the entire stake of ExxonMobil Asia Holdings (ExxonMobil) in Esso Thailand (ETL), marking a new chapter in greater energy security and energy affordability for the country.
In its letter to the Stock Exchange of Thailand, BCP said the company had entered into an agreement with ExxonMobil for the acquisition of 2,283,750,000 ordinary shares of ETL, accounting for 65.99% of total ETL shares, on Wednesday.
“The transaction is expected to be completed in the second half of this year,” BCP said, adding that the company would subsequently launch a tender offer for the remaining ETL shares once the transaction with ExxonMobil was completed.
BCP Group chief executive officer and president, Chaiwat Kovavisarach, said the investment is “a step towards greater energy security, balancing our long-term strategy with energy affordability and sustainability”.
“I believe this transformational transaction marks the beginning of a new chapter for BCP and for Thailand,” he said.
Chaiwat Kovavisarach
The transaction, which entails a 174 thousand of barrels per day (KBD) complex refinery, a network of distribution terminals, and over 700 service stations, will provide BCP with important catalysts for further growth and margin improvement.
“With a combined nameplate capacity of 294 KBD and a network of 2,100 service stations, the company would not only benefit from a complementary refining portfolio providing fuel supply security and optionality but would also be able to offer more comprehensive customer service through the enlarged footprint of service stations nationwide,” he said.
He added that exchange of knowledge and technology would enhance employees’ skills and capabilities, which would enable the company to deliver the best customer experiences and prepare for a move towards energy transition.
Amazon Web launching more cloud services in Thailand
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 11, 2023
Nongluck Ajanapanya
Amazon Web Service says it is launching more cloud services in Thailand this year, with the goal of signing up more large and small business clients to maintain, what it calls, its leadership position in the cloud market.
Vatsun Thirapatarapong, its country manager for Thailand, told a press conference on Wednesday that the company’s 15-year plan includes strengthening its provision of cloud service in Thailand.
AWS announced a US$ 5 billion investment in the fourth quarter of last year, which included cloud data centres in Thailand.
“As we look forward … we believe the cloud will play an even larger role in assisting ASEAN and Thai organisations in meeting their business objectives, and we are committed to assisting our customers in effectively leveraging AWS cloud to reduce their IT costs,” Vatsun said.
Spending on public cloud services in Thailand is expected to increase 31.8% this year, exceeding the global growth rate of 20.7% predicted for 2004, according to research company Gartner.
End-user spending on public cloud services in Thailand is expected to reach 54.4 billion baht this year, up over 25$ from 41.3 billion baht in 2022.
Over the next five years, governments, private companies and people are forecast to produce more than twice as much data as has been produced since the beginning of the digital age, industry boosters say.
Vatsun said that new innovation technologies can be divided into three categories: data analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning , and data governance and security.
“Our customers all have one thing in common: data is at the heart of their applications, processes, and business decisions. Working with data, on the other hand, is difficult. It necessitates a comprehensive set of tools that account for the scale and variety of this data, as well as the numerous purposes for which you intend to use it,” he said.
Meanwhile, companies require governance so that teams can explore and innovate while ensuring data safety and security. Companies must also be able to visualise data in a way that allows for quick and easy discovery and sharing of insights, he added.
Some of the company’s new products are: Amazon Aurora, Redshift, SageMaker and Amazon Security Lake.
Amazon Web Service’s new cloud products are facing intense competition from Huawei, Microsoft, Tencent and others, but Vatsun expressed confidence that AWS would remain a leader in the global cloud market.
Jennifer Song
(From Left) Aphiradee Phaholvech, Roengboon Klongkumnuankarn, Jennifer Song, Suwin Kooseeumnuay, and Paramee Thongcharoen
Chaiwat Kovavisarach
SootinClaimon.Com 