The China-based online marketplace giant is targeting having over 5,000 members in the Kingdom by the end of the year.

Zhang Jun, general manager of Alibaba’s overseas business-to-business unit, said under the AJD cooperation the Chinese company would provide services to support local small and medium-sized enterprises.

“Thailand is an important country for us to do business for now and the future,” Zhang said.

“We now have more than 50 million members worldwide and around 600 members are existing members from Thailand.”

Jerry Wu, country manager for Alibaba Thailand, said that under the AJD corporation Alibaba would provide a B2B marketplace or e-commerce platform for local businesses.

He said Thailand was a top five global market for buyer searches. The top two markets are China and India.

The firm is eyeing 10,000 Thai members by the end of next year.

It has plans to help Thai SMEs export to new markets.

“We want to help Thai SMEs export their products to international markets and Thailand is a big market for us,” Wu said.

“The firm also has also expanded its business in India, Indonesia and Malaysia.”

Nattawat Woranakul, deputy CEO of AJD, said the company had set up a new business unit with around 20 staff to secure members for Alibaba.

It would do that via its call centre and its eight service centres nationwide, Nattawat said.

Nattawat expects that by the end of this year it would have gained around 5,000 new SME members who want to provide their products via Alibaba.com.

Under the cooperation, AJD will receive money for each new member it secures.

Nattawat said in a bid to lure members AJD would soon corporate with AIS in a campaign to capture the telecom giant’s SME users.

Amorn Meemano, president of AJD, said the firm was negotiating with a bank to provide its new Alibaba service to support the bank’s customers.

“We are under negotiate with the bank as an executive partner so the bank will able to provide an executive service to their customers,” Amorn said.

Last year Alibaba appointed ReadyPlanet, an online service provider, as the first reseller in Thailand.

“Plastic surgery is now well received by Thai consumers. [It] is almost becoming a new norm in the society after an influx of South Korean culture via various forms ranging from TV series, music and cutting-edge plastic-surgery technology,” chief executive officer Aliza Inthaseni said yesterday.

Thailand is also well known as a regional hub of medical tourism, including for plastic surgery. In Thailand alone, the value of the plastic-surgery and beauty-enhancement market is estimated at Bt30 billion with tremendous growth of 20 per cent a year. This presents a huge opportunity for both new and existing players in the market.

To capitalise on this growing opportunity, Aliza said her company was planning to become a holding company for a holistic beauty and plastic-surgery service.

This year, the company partnered with JW Plastic Surgery, a top-ranked beauty clinic in South Korea, to establish two branches in the Kingdom in 2016.

Under this partnership, which also covers Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar, the clinic will provide plastic surgery for noses, faces, eyes and breasts by well-trained Thai doctors to the same standard as in South Korea.

The company hopes to have about 30 to 50 patients this year. It will also be able to transfer some Thai patients and from neighbouring countries who wish to have an operation in South Korea.

Each JW Plastic Surgery clinic needs at least Bt20 million to establish. By the end of this year, Prime Medica targets revenue of Bt45 million.

The Thai company is also planning to build a beauty centre at Siam Square that will also provide the latest technology from JW Plastic Surgery.

The company will construct an eight-storey hospital on 2 rai (3,200 square metres) on New Phetchaburi road. The hospital project will cost about Bt700 million to Bt800 million, and is expected to be completed in three years.

The Chinese corporate, which is also listed on the New York Stock Exchange, selected Thailand as the largest overseas recipient of its investment for three reasons. First is the strong relationship between Thailand China, second is the clear regulations and incentives to support foreign investors, and third is its partners, including financial institutions, said Jifan Gao, chairman and chief executive officer of Trina Solar.

The plant in Rayong province is operated by its subsidiary Trina Solar Science & Technology (Thailand), with registered capital of Bt2 million, to produce solar cells and PV modules.

Gao said the Rayong plant would have 10 per cent of the total production capacity of the Trina Solar group.

China Minsheng Bank and Siam Commercial Bank have provided a syndicated loan of $100 million for the manufacturing facility. SCB has set aside additional financing of $43 million for working capital.

Arthid Nanthawithaya, SCB chief executive officer and deputy chairman of the executive committee, said the arrival of the world’s largest solar-module operator would encourage the mood of foreign direct investors, which Thailand needs after losing FDI market share to some other countries in Asean.

Thailand has a full banking system to help support FDI, which means it does not only provide credit but the banks have to understand business management for its customers, he said.

To draw FDI, Thailand has to show Chinese investors that previous investment by Chinese companies had been supported by local financial institutions and Thai-Chinese associations, Arthid said.

The second- and the third-largest producers of solar cells in China are also interested in investing in Thailand, he said, adding that more than 10 Chinese companies in renewable energy, rubber products and infrastructure were also keen to establish plants in Thailand.

So far, SCB has extended close to Bt15 billion in financing to Chinese corporates, and it plans to double that amount in three years.

SCB has focused on Chinese inbound investors in Thailand and Vietnam, where it has a branch in Ho Chi Minh City. The bank believes Vietnam will play a critical role in its international banking activities in the future. At present, loan booking from international clients has been seen in its branches in Hong Kong and Singapore.

Chinese and Vietnamese inbound investors will be crucial supporters for SCB’s international banking, which it hopes will be providing 10 per cent of total loan portfolio within three to five years.

As of last month, SCB had a loan portfolio of Bt2.28 trillion.

SCB recently provided a credit line of Bt18 billion to finance the hotel |and retail arm of Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi’s TCC Group.

Arthid said the bank was thinking seriously about how to help small and medium-sized enterprises that have not recovered yet from the economic slowdown.

He added that the bank was considering increasing its loan loss reserve to shore up its coverage ratio from the current 100.8 per cent.

The Korean company aims to penetrate the film industry in Thailand and neighbouring markets.

Under the JV, worth Bt100 million, CJ E&M and Major Cineplex Group will jointly set up a film-production company, CJ Major Entertainment Co. CJ E&M will hold 51 per cent of the new company, and Major Cineplex Group 49 per cent.

The deal will also support Major Cineplex’ plan to ramp up the expansion of its cinemas in Thailand and neighbouring Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam (CLMV). The group currently operates 600 cinemas in 92 locations in Thailand, while in Cambodia in has seven screens and in Laos five. It plans to increase the total number of cinema screens to 1,000 by 2020, of which 900 will be in Thailand and the rest in CLMV countries.

The first film to be launched under the joint venture is “Miss Granny”, a reproduction of a popular Korean movie.

In Thailand, the movie has passed the pre-production process and is expected to be screened locally around the end of this year.

Vicha Poolvaraluck, chairman of the executive committee and chief executive officer of Major Cineplex Group, said the JV company would produce between 15 and 20 Thai films over the next five years, not just for Thailand but also for screening in Asean and other markets around the world. The average investment in production and marketing activities will be about Bt50 million for each film.

“Thai movies have a share of only 30 per cent in Thailand’s film industry, which is quite small. In China, Chinese productions control a share of more than 50 per cent of the market.

“Making Thai films needs professionalism and a higher scale of production,” he said.

Vicha added that in Korea, people watch about four movies on average per year, while in China, the average is about one movie a year.

“In contrast with those markets, in Thailand, our people watch fewer movies, lower than one movie a year on average. In Cambodia, we [Major Cineplex] have opened only seven cinema screens so far, which is quite |small compared with the |country’s rich potential to have |100 screens.”

He said Thai films now accounted for about 40 per cent of the total movie market in Cambodia. Many markets in Asean enjoy wide acceptance of Thai films.

Jeong Tae-sung, CEO of CJ E&M Film Division, said this was the first joint venture of CJ E&M in Southeast Asia. The company has a JV in Japan, and a wholly owned subsidiary in China.

“We have seen in Asean plenty of room for Thai films in the market. Thai films now share only 30 per cent of the total movie market in the region. And [there is] great potential to increase the market share to 50 per cent in the future,” Jeong said.

He said that Thai films had improved in quality over the years, leading to success.

For this reason, Thai moviegoers pay attention and give priority to innovative productions and are ready to experience new things.

Willy Shih, professor of management practice in business administration at the Harvard Business School in Boston, Massachusetts, said big companies in Taiwan, Japan and China had been expanding their business globally by leveraging differences in their strategic marketing, management and distribution.

Taiwan has experienced a disproportionate impact but with few global brands.

Japan cited a significant global brand and distribution footprint but stagnant performance. However, there are some of signs indicting big change recently, Shih said.

For China, there is a lot happening as the country is accelerating its global push.

Shih said Thailand was a key strategic hub for big Asian companies for their global expansions such as Japan’s Toyota Motor, which began exporting cars before moving to local production and management.

Toyota started with Thailand and then expanded to Australia and the US.

Matsushita (Panasonic), Honda, Cannon and Sony used the same trick by beginning with a focus on exports and manufacturing.

Shih said successful Japanese firms called this approach force learning.

He said they sent young leaders abroad and forced them to learn foreign markets through trial and error.

He said Taiwan companies took a shorter-term path towards original design manufacturing and equipment manufacturing in overseas markets.

The longer term approach necessitated splitting the contract manufacturing of electronic manufacturing services from brand and market development.

Shih said the most successful Taiwanese product internationally was the semiconductor, and that was because of the government’s lead and guidance.

Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturers entered the US market with their products priced competitively and took advantage of ongoing price wars, he said.

By March, Chinese companies announced the purchase of US companies valued at US$39 billion (Bt1.3 trillion), eclipsing 2015’s full-year record of US$17 billion (Bt595 billion) through 114 deals.

Fourteen Chinese firms spent US$102 billion (Bt3.5 trillion) to buy companies outside its borders.

However, China’s central bank governor warned that country’s corporate debt was too high and was a risk to the economy.