Organized by the Asian-International Trade and Investment Association (AITIA), the fair aims to strengthen connections and boost trade, investment and cultural cooperation between Thailand and China and is expected to generate trade worth more than Bt500 million.

Wu Zhiyi, chairman of Asian-International Trade and Investment Association (AITIA) , notes that his association has joined hands with Thai and Chinese officials in hosting the eighth ACIEC 2018 at Hall 1 of Impact Muang Thong Thani.

Phusit Ratanakul Sereroengrit, deputy director general of Commerce Ministry’s Department of Business Development will chair the opening ceremony from 9.30am to 11am on November 16. Officials from Thai and Chinese government agencies including on the Thai side the Department of Business Development and the Office of Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion (OSMEP) and, from the Chinese side, from Zhumadian and Xuchang cities in Henan province, Lanzhou city in Gansu province, Nanchang city in Jiangxi province and the Guizhou Board of Investment will attend.

Highlights of the three-day event include the well-known “Lanzhou Lamian” cultural show from Lanzhou city, Gansu province, free retro photo shoots in a Thai village and three major seminars. Two of the seminars, “Thai-Chongren Trade and Investment Cooperation towards Asean Markets” and “Thai-Lanzhou Trade and Investment Cooperation” will be held on the opening day. The third seminar, “Know first, Prosper first and Attach knowledge towards Chinese Market”, is scheduled for November 17.

The event will also feature a free Investment Forum and Business Matching with Zibo city in Shandong province in the areas of agriculture and processed agricultural products, electricity and electronics, machinery, packaging and cosmetics and spa products. These will take place on November 17.

Phusit Ratanakul Sereroengrit, deputy director general of Commerce Ministry’s Department of Business Development, says that Sino-Thai relations are fraternal in nature and that the two countries have long and excellent ties. Trade has developed rapidly since the establishment of the ASEAN-China Free Trade Area, she noted, adding that Thailand’s geographical location at the centre at ASEAN has helped attract investors from China.

This has coincided with continuously increasing levels of Thai product consumption in China particularly in agricultural and processed agriculture products, the most popular of which are Hom Mali rice, mangosteens durians, mangoes and rubber pillows.

China is one of three most important markets for Thai exports with an export volume in 2017 of about Bt998 billion or 12.5 per cent of overall Thai exports. The list of exports confirms that agricultural and processed agriculture products including rubber, rice and tapioca have the biggest potential on the Chinese market and act as a driver of Thai exports.

Thailand, meanwhile, imports about Bt1,500 billion in products from China or about 20 per cent of overall imports. The major products include machinery, electrical appliances, iron and steel.

In conclusion, Phusit emphasized that the ACIEC 2018 is a propitious event that will promote trade and investment cooperation as well as strengthen relations between the two countries. It will also act as a bridge connecting trade, investment and culture between Thailand and China.

Wu, chairman of AITIA, added that the fair wouldshowcase products from more than ten Chinese provinces spread over the 5,000 square metres of the exhibition space. More than 1,000 Thai products that meet export standards from some 300 firms have been selected for the event. This fair is an important stage for Thai and Chinese businessmen to meet and get know each other, exchange opinions and share knowledge. In addition to the Thai products, more than 200 booths will be devoted to products with high export potential from neighbouring Laos and Cambodia to support and open business opportunities and connect trade and investment between Thailand and China as they move forward to expand trade to Asean markets.

It is expected that orders will exceed past years and reach Bt500 million and that the event will draw some 10,000 attendees. The fair is the only event that brings together the government sector, businessmen and members of the Chinese public, Mr. Wu concluded.

For 2019, targets have been set to bolster loans to Bt3 billion, deposits to Bt2 billion and trade finance transactions to Bt18 billion.

KBank has exhibited outstanding operating performance in Laos over the past four years without any NPL customer and is also set to expand the customer base in Laos, as well, the company said.

Pattanapong Tansomboon, KBank First Senior Vice President, said the performance of KasikornThaiBank in Lao PDR, is based on three strategies to expand businesses within AEC+3. They include the opening of branches or offices in the forms of a locally incorporate institutions (LII), foreign bank branches (FBB) and representative offices.

The bank has established LIIs in Laos and China, a branch in Cambodia and representative offices in Indonesia, Myanmar, Vietnam and Japan, as well as strategic partnership with Bank Maspion. The other two strategies are the expansion of the digital platform, focusing on providing services via digital channels, and the establishment of strategic partnerships with local financial institutions.

Lao PDR is one of the most important targets to enhance a service linkage under KBank’s strategy to create a service network of this region, the company said.

KBank in Laos, registered as a locally incorporated institution, has been in business for four years. The first branch – Pone Si Nuan Branch – was opened in 2014 with 13 officers, before the Headquarters official opening in 2017 at Lane Xang Avenue, now having more than 60 officers.

The company said those offices have reported continual growth in their performance, including the annual growth of loans, deposits and trade finance transactions at 73 per cent, 29 per cent and 17 per cent, respectively, over the past four years.

In 2018, the targets for loans, deposits and trade finance transactions are Bt2.4 billion, Bt1.6 billion and Bt13 billion, respectively. As a result of the efficient risk control and management, there is no NPL customer at all, the company said.

Pattanapong added that due to the opportunities granted by the Laotian government for domestic and foreign businesses to take part in a number of important projects, the economy of Laos has flourished.

Given the country’s growth potential, KBank has set up the targets of loans, deposits and trade finance transactions to reach Bt3billion, Bt2 billion and Bt18 billion, respectively, in 2019. KBank’s lending structure in Lao PDR consists of diverse customer groups, namely the sectors of government, agriculture, construction, commerce, transport, hire-purchase, and food and beverage at 33 per cent, 19 per cent, 15 per cent, 10 per cent, 10 per cent, 8 per cent and 6 per cent, respectively. Lending portions to local, government and Thai business sectors stand at 38 percent, 33 percent and 29 percent, respectively.

In addition, the company said KBank has expanded services for The Wisdom customers, with a minimum of Bt10 million, six-month fixed deposit, which has received positive feedback. Being the first and only commercial bank that provides such services, KBank has gained a larger number of these valued customers.

Despite the uptrend in global rates, IVL – one of the world’s largest chemical manufacturers – has managed its financial risks well, he said.

About 60 per cent of the debts carry fixed rates, with the balance under floating rates, said Agarwal, adding the company had issued debentures in the local market.

IVL borrows money in the local market where it operates. For instance, our business unit in Europe borrows funds in euro at low interest rate while its counterpart in the US goes for US dollar-denominated loans, he said. If an opportunity for another merger and acquisition arises, the company would not have problem with funding.

He said the company has US$1.8 to $1.9 billion in liquidity and an operating cashflow of $1.1 billion.

He played down the impact from the China-US trade war, saying IVL has facilities in both countries.

He said the global economic slowdown expected next year will not affect the company’s performance, pointing to the need for drinking water contained in plastic bottles made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET).

However, he is concerned about the bad publicity for plastic.

The company has tried to promote the recycling and reuse of PET bottles, he said. Authorities in Europe and the US allow private firms to recycle PET bottle for food packaging, but Thailand has yet to follow the lead, Agarwal said.

IVL announced earnings of $7.95 billion for the first nine months of the year, mainly due to diversification of product portfolio and the strengthening of its polyester value chain as well as high-value-added business.

Indorama Ventures’ global expansion continued over the period with acquisitions in the US, Brazil, Egypt, Portugal, Israel and the Czech Republic.

Meanwhile, the company’s CEO Aloke Lohia, expressed confidence in the outlook for next year. “We are well-positioned to benefit from margins and volume expansion in 2018 and 2019, thanks to the company’s unique, global portfolio of assets across the value chain,” he said.

IVL foresees continuous demand for chemicals in line with the economic expansion in many countries.

The company’s core earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation is expected to increase to $1.75 billion next year, an increase of 74 per cent from 2017, according to a company statement.

The TCP Group will invest Bt4 billion in Vietnam in the next three years to boost its marketing capabilities.

The group opened its first wholly-owned overseas office in Vietnam “TCPVN Company Limited” earlier this year, and plans to invest heavily in market research, sales, product development and distribution capabilities.

The company manufactures several brands of energy drinks, including Krating Daeng (Red Bull), Som Plus, Sponsor, Puriku, as well as “Warrior”, its latest product geared for the Vietnamese market.

“We are the first foreign company in Vietnam to hold full ownership of our business,” Saravoot Yoovidhya, chief executive officer, said during a seminar at their office in Ho Chi Minh City on Saturday.

“The opening of this office in Vietnam is part of a five-year plan announced in 2017 to triple our total group sales to Bt100 billion annually,” he said

“The reasons Vietnam was chosen as the location of our first overseas office was because of the lifestyle of the Vietnamese and the country’s economical potential,” he said.

Vietnamese consume energy beverages on a more regular basis than Thais, Saravoot explained.

They tend to consume energy drinks with ice in a glass along with their food, as opposed to drinking them straight from the can, he said. Saravoot even took a group of reporters to a market in the city to show how consumer behaviour towards energy beverages in Vietnam is different from that in Thailand.

This means that the consumption rate of energy beverages is much higher in Vietnam than in Thailand. Moreover, the company’s products are not required to carry warning on over-consumption, as opposed to Thailand where the company faces this regulatory challenge, he explained further.

The high consumption rate also means that the energy drink market in Vietnam is highly competitive, he says.

Saravoot revealed that TCP’s energy beverage brands have a combined market share of up to 42 per cent in Vietnam and expects total sales revenue in the country to reach Bt10 billion by the end of this year.

“We aim to increase our market share to more than 50 per cent in the next 5 years,” Saravoot said.

The Vietnamese economy is the other reason leading to TCP’s entry into the country.

“It is a commonly known fact that Vietnam is one of the fastest growing economies in the Asean region as well as in the Asia Pacific,” Saravoot said

“This is reflected in our sales, which has been growing by 25 per cent annually in the past three years,” he said.

Vietnam’s economy has a gross domestic product (GDP) of $223.9 billion, and is estimated to grow by up to 6.8 per cent in 2018. The energy drink market in Vietnam has a total market value of Bt25 billion with a growth rate of up to 6 per cent.

“Our investment in Vietnam is part of a larger vision of making our business organisation an entity which brings pride to Thailand on the global stage,” Saravoot said.

The company also announced its commitment to create an inclusive and sustainable eCommerce ecosystem in the region and champion opportunities in technology and logistics infrastructure to benefit its ecosystem of sellers, consumers and local communities, according to press statement.

Also, a new supporting program is introduced to empower environment for women entrepreneurs in the region.

James Dong, CEO of Lazada Thailand said that Lazada will assist SMEs to digitise their businesses and gain better access to Internet-savvy and mobile consumers; make it easier for sellers to create their own brands on Lazada; while leveraging the company’s logistics network to facilitate the transfer of goods.

“Having overcome the early challenges of building up the business and industry in a nascent landscape, we now want to lead our ecosystem through the era of robust digital transformation. Our focus is on creating a trusted platform connecting sellers to the Southeast Asian consumers. By enabling sellers with our technology and logistics capabilities, we want to help sellers flourish, to become sustainable businesses that will contribute to Southeast Asia economic growth in the long run.”

As the region’s leading online shopping and selling platform, Lazada is committed to establishing eCommerce as a prolific facet of the evolving digital economy. Healthy and flourishing SMEs are key components of a thriving eCommerce ecosystem – their existence helps unlock the full potential of Southeast Asian nations, allowing the region to digitize. To help sellers reach more customers, Lazada has developed various initiatives, comprehensive tools and dedicated trainings that enable sellers of all sizes to attract, engage and convert more consumers into sales.

According to Dong, SME entrepreneurs in the region face many limitations such as a lack of access to financial and support services, as well as a need to develop capacity in e-payments and eCommerce.

In Thailand, Lazada has overcome the challenge by partnering with the Siam Commercial Bank offering Digital Lending program for SMEs entrepreneurs on Lazada platform. The program, which is developed with the advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) Technology by SCB Abacus, offers online loans for e-commerce for the first time in Thailand.

The solution facilitates sellers by enabling instant credit approval on Lazada platform without additional paperwork. It helps online SMEs to increase liquidity and expand their business on Lazada.

Dong added that ‘logistics’ remains a huge challenge for eCommerce players big and small across Southeast Asia. The business is faced with limited fulfilment players, a small and fragmented transportation sector, as well as vastly different infrastructure landscapes. According to a recent study conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit or EIU, logistics is one of the challenges, particularly in archipelagos like Indonesia and the Philippines. Road networks, as well as the retail and distribution network, came up as higher-risk areas for eCommerce firms.

With Southeast Asia’s heterogeneity, data and technology are the two key factors that will dynamically evolve the experience for online shoppers. Those eCommerce businesses that can leverage data to navigate specific local consumer tastes and direct consumers to take desired actions are well-poised to succeed.

By allowing SMEs to tap into Lazada’s logistics network to facilitate the transfer of goods across countries, businesses will be able to deliver to customers anywhere.

Dong said, the eCommerce sector also presents tremendous opportunities for local talents and communities. A new generation of entrepreneurs are becoming increasingly prominent given wider access to social media and new innovative tools. In particular, the flexibility of maintaining an eCommerce business has attracted many female entrepreneurs to start their businesses while taking care of their families at home.

“When you consider how female shoppers will be key demand drivers as ASEAN economies develop, it makes business sense for large eCommerce players to cultivate female entrepreneurship, particularly in certain eCommerce categories, like cosmetics and children’s products, that will be fuelled by female-driven growth.

Women play a significant role in the digital economy, and an inclusive eCommerce ecosystem is one that creates an empowering environment for women entrepreneurs.

In supporting the local female community, Lazada has rolled out a few initiatives. For instance, our Mompreneurs programme provides stay-at-home mothers with free training and assistance, so they are equipped to run an online store while juggling family responsibilities.

The programme is currently available in the Philippines, and we are looking to expand this initiative to other markets in Southeast Asia,” said, Dong.

“This is where cross-cultural management presents significant value and opportunities, when managed properly,” Kiattichai says.

Over the years of his management experience in the logistics industry, he has learned that successful cross-cultural management broadly comes down to three things. The first one is about promoting open communication.

“Communication is key in managing people from different cultures. It all starts from having a clear vision of what an organisation strives to become and transparency on where we are and what we are doing as a team to deliver our aspirations,” Kiattichai says. “Promoting open communication at all levels provides an opportunity for management to stay close to what is going on in the organisation as well as in the market. I like to spend time with employees either in a casual one-on-one dialogue or in a small focus group as employees are in general more open in these settings.

“This helps us to understand the challenges of the employees on the ground and how we can improve in various aspects of our business. Open communication also fosters trust and closes the gap between management and employees while improving the engagement of people within the organisation. Fifty per cent of engagement challenges can be addressed by proper communication.” The second thing is to empower people.

“As the business is growing rapidly, it is important to empower the team on the ground that is closer to the market to make decisions in order to come up with ideas and solutions to the problems. Empowerment is a powerful way to get people involved and cultivate a sense of ownership,” Kiattichai says.

In a multicultural environment, empowering local people is the only way to harness the local knowledge and understanding, and use these assets to their fullest potential. In this aspect, the role of management is shifted towards a facilitating one as opposed to dictating what and how things have to be done, Kiattichai says.

The third one is to create and live the organisation culture.

“While capitalising on cross-cultural diversity, companies can be further strengthened by instilling a common corporate culture where certain sets of values are shared across the organisation,” Kiattichai says. “DHL has built a strong corporate culture and we stick to our company values and culture across every level of the organisation and in all the countries we operate in.

“For instance, the company believes in delivering ‘Result’ without compromising on ‘Respect’ and cultivating the mindset of continuous improvement as the way of working.

“Across different geographical markets, this has become the common guiding principle for everything we do, think and decide. The wealth of cultural diversity on a solid corporate cultural platform helps us differentiate ourselves from the others and stay ahead of the game.”

Kiattichai says that DHL is one of the most international companies in the world with more than 500,000 employees in over 220 countries and territories. Diversity is very important in DHL’s culture and it believes in leveraging diverse thoughts and cultures as its competitive advantage.

“At DHL, we practise “Head, Heart and Gut” leadership attributes. The concept advocates a balanced approach to leadership. Our people are our greatest asset and we believe in a diverse culture and a culture of ‘respect and results’ – i.e., we achieve results without compromising on respect,” he says.

“Logistics is essentially a service business and still fundamentally a people-based business despite significant developments made on the automation and digitalisation fronts. Managing logistics businesses successfully requires a cohesive plan that synchronises an organisation/people strategy with a business strategy.

“Southeast Asia in particular is a very large market with a very high degree of diversity, be it political, geographical, language, racial and cultural. We believe in diversity and inclusion as a competitive advantage. Countless studies support this statement, even directly linking organisational diversity and inclusion to higher profits.”

He adds that a Harvard Business School study found that multicultural networks encourage creativity of thought. As the Harvard Business Review points out, this kind of creativity is not only necessary in order to create a long-term competitive advantage but is also something that firms often struggle to achieve. Many other sources agree that innovation and creativity of thought are linked to competitive advantage as evidenced by increased profit, market share and sales.

DHL eCommerce is a division of Deutsche Post DHL Group (DPDHL), set up in 2014 in line with the growth of e-commerce. Thailand was the first new market entry for DHL eCommerce, where the company has built its own domestic delivery network with fully-owned operations.

Kiattichai started out in DHL as managing director of DHL eCommerce Thailand, building its domestic delivery network in Thailand to become the highly successful business it is today.

“Now, this has become a great case study for DPDHL Group as we have expanded into more markets. When we’ve expanded into Malaysia and Vietnam, I was asked to bring the same success to these new markets and became the MD for Southeast Asia,” he says.

He adds that today’s business is changing at a much faster pace than ever before. In this digital era, retail businesses are being reconfigured with the emergence of e-commerce, enabled by Internet adoption and changes in consumer behaviour.

He says that logistics is a crucial element in the ecosystem and an integral part of e-commerce. As the new and exciting e-commerce market and the e-commerce logistics market are both in a high-growth stage, these markets are very open and competition is intense. This is increasingly driven by consumer expectations that have changed dramatically over the past decade.

“In the past, where the expected speed of delivery could be one to two weeks, this is now one to two days or even same day – which is why we launched our same-day delivery service recently to meet the consumer expectations for our customers. I believe it is important to stay close to our customers, understand their changing needs and to be agile and quick to respond to the needs of the market,” Kiattichai says.

As for the challenges in managing a logistic business, he says: “The e-commerce logistics industry today is more exciting rather than challenging. The most exciting part is how quickly the market changes and how the company remains agile and focused on achieving the best customer experience for customer’s customers.

“We do this by being extremely customer-centric and ensuring we provide a great delivery experience with greater choice, control and convenience for the end consumer.

“We are very upbeat about the growth prospects for e-commerce in Southeast Asia. 2018 has been an excellent year for us and we have seen very positive and encouraging growth in our volumes and customers.”

He adds that innovation is another area in which DHL is making a big push globally as the company leverages technology and digitisation to stay the market leader. This includes “small” innovation initiatives for productivity gains (e.g. automation and robotics) and “big” innovation ideas such as new business models.

“Our Innovation Centres in Singapore, Troisdorf in Germany and the upcoming one in Chicago in the US are fully focused on developing, testing and rolling out new innovations such as artificial intelligence and we will do this with customer input to ensure we always provide value to the customer,” he says.

Kiattichai says his most basic 101 logistics experience dates to the time he learnt about how to move cargo on containerised ships.

“Like many other shipping veterans, I subsequently ventured into a more complex logistics world with an excellent opportunity to develop a full suite of logistics set-up experience – including freight forwarding, warehousing and distribution, trucking, customs brokerage and supply chain management service, from scratch,” he says.

He adds that throughout his career, he has had opportunities to expose himself to the ways of running a business in an extremely mature, slow growth market as well as setting up a new business from the ground up.

This experience also encompasses entering a new market and managing the turnaround of a troubled business, along with managing businesses at different stages of the business life cycle. “All such challenges have proven to be a very valuable experience,” Kiattichai says.

The service offers information-based lending, together with a plan to provide other financial products in the future.

The collaboration is also aimed at providing consumers with useful knowledge for a better financial discipline, while Krungsri Consumer and Krungsri Auto are prepared for more cooperation to continuously strengthen their business partner network in the digital world.

Thakorn Piyapan, chairman of Krungsri Consumer, said: “The collaboration with Lalamove, Thailand’s leading on-demand delivery service application, adds a new dimension to the financial service sector in the digital world where technology plays an increasingly integral part.

“Aside from adjusting how we approve of loan applications – from taking into account all the financial documents only, to a new approach called the information-based lending – to increase a chance to gain access to financial services for those freelancers, the initiative is also the start of our ambition to create a strong digital business partner network by bonding with leaders in various business sectors to expand our scope of and our ability to provide consumers with financial and loan services to encompass all segments as well as to adjust the way we provide these services in line with current younger generation’s lifestyle. This is an important step forward which will create a truly great impact on the current financial service sector.”

Chanon Klahan, managing director at Lalamove Thailand, said: “As an on-demand delivery platform in Asia which delivers within an hour, Lalamove is committed to improving the quality of life in every aspect of our drivers. Partnering with a leading financial service provider like Krungsri Consumer and Krungsri Auto is a good start. This will provide the drivers in our network the opportunity to access quality financial services.

“This also marks the beginning of an important business partnership where we can also offer value-added services to cover our existing clients who are business owners”.

The three screens with 440 seats altogether aim to show quality international, award-winning and arts film.

It will have a direct link to the MRT Samyan station and new cinema technology with an investment budget of over Bt40 million. Customers can book online.

Pongnarin Ulis, one of the founders, said: “House Samyan Movie Theatre will bring solutions to diversified customers. Viewers want movies that offer knowledge and inspiration that can be apply to their self-improvement more than simply just for pleasure. The demand for watching films in a cinema is still apparent.”

Chomsajee Techaratanaprasert, another co-founder, said: “We expect that House Samyan Movie Theatre will become a leading theatre for the largest groups of moviegoers in Bangkok by 2022. We target for 40 per cent market share for our niche market. This market currently accounts for 800,000-1,000,000 viewers.

The cinema will open by the end of 2019, they said.