While Ichitan has invested heavily in extremely aggressive promotions, such as giving away luxury vehicles and condominiums, to gain market share, Oishi Group is to focus on strengthening its brand and long-term sustainable growth.

Ichitan Group yesterday gave away the first Bt10-million prize in its summer campaign. A luxurious condo in The River by Raimond Land project, fully furnished and ready to move into, was bestowed into the first lucky winner’s hands.

The campaign still has 29 other big prizes including a luxurious 80.94-square-metre duplex condo in the heart of Bangkok’s Thonglor area, worth Bt15 million, and 28 Mercedes-Benz GLA 200 Urban luxury vehicles valued at Bt2.09 million each.

Tan Passakornnatee, president and chief executive of Ichitan Group, said the company had selected only 30 deluxe rewards that people of any class dream of, worth Bt83 million in total.

“We selected condominiums in prime locations in Bangkok as prizes because condos are valuable assets whose value increases all the time, particularly those in good locations. Many new-generation and middle-income people want to own condominiums as one of the priority assets in life.

“We also decided to give away Mercedes-Benz in our campaign because it is a luxury vehicle brand that is known and desired by people at every level.”

Meanwhile, Jesdakorn Ghosh, vice president for beverage business at Oishi Group, said the company’s board decided not to invest heavily in hard-sell promotions, but to build brand loyalty and promote sustainable growth for the long term. This is in line with the company’s vision to triple revenue from its beverage business and to increase its net profit by 12 per cent by 2020.

“The policy has proved successful, with a significant increase of Oishi’s share in the local ready-to-drink tea market from 37.5 per cent in 2014 to 40.5 per cent last year,” she said.

“It left its closest competitor, which achieved a market share of 38 per cent, rather far behind, thanks to the company’s strength in all distribution channels: convenience stores, supermarkets, hypermarkets, and traditional retail shops.”

Oishi’s beverage business last year posted sales revenue of Bt6.3 billion, up 9 per cent from 2014. This was amid a slowdown in Thailand’s ready-to-drink tea market, which shrank by 2.5 per cent last year.

Net profit achieved by Oishi’s beverage business was Bt641 million, a 43-per-cent increase compared with 2014. That was a result of efficient production management, sales planning and marketing campaigns. Growth in international markets also leaped by 47 per cent last year.

Jesdakorn said the beverage group expected to achieve 11-per-cent growth in sales this year through five key missions.

They are to penetrate the market consistently and strengthen its market leadership by launching integrated marketing campaigns; to expand the target groups by offering product innovations to cater to younger people and health-conscious consumers; to increase consumer access via online channels; to adjust the product portfolio; and to facilitate growth in foreign markets, particularly theAsean region.

The company’s beverage arm posted strong growth of 47 per cent in exports last year, mainly to neighbouring markets such as Laos and Cambodia, as well as in other territories, such as the Middle East and Europe.

It would tender for 213.76 million shares or 71.25 per cent of Thai Carbon Black’s issued shares. At the price of Bt22 apiece, the deal will cost Bt4.7 billion.

The tender offer was filed to the Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday.

SKI recently boosted its stake in the Thai company to 28.75 per cent, which automatically forces it to launch the mandatory tender offer.

Established in 1978, Thai Carbon Black is a leading manufacturer of carbon black in Thailand with a capacity of 275,000 tonnes per annum, according to data on Aditya Birla Group’s website. It also has the capability of producing customised carbon black grades as per requirement. TCB has the unique distinction of supplying Carbon Black to all the six continents from a single location. It meets over 50% of Japan’s total Carbon Black imports and also supplies to other global markets including Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, China, Korea, Taiwan and Australia.

Ben King, who was appointed country head in January, said yesterday that about 250,000-300,000 SMEs had begun doing business online.

The company offers Google My Business, a free and easy-to-use tool for businesses, brands, artists as well as organisations to manage their online presence across Google, including Search and Maps, to support SMEs.

SMEs contribute about 40 per cent of Thailand’s gross domestic product.

One of the areas is online experiences such as “search lite”, which will provide faster searches, and YouTube offline.

Another is video data plans for the growing number of Internet users in the country and local content.

The company now provides 45 localised products out of the 55 products available in Thailand.

The third focus area is education. Google targets training 100,000 students through a series of online videos and self-learning courses.

Last, it will help SMEs go online. That would help SMEs to grow with an effective online presence.

With business leverage for business, the company will help SME advertisers reach consumers through the mobile platform as they search, watch videos, browse sites and use apps.

Google will also help measure and optimise every moment on both the Web and apps and deliver on consumer needs at the right moment.

Consumer Barometer has reported that at 57 per cent, mobile is the country’s primary computing platform.

Thailand is one of 21 markets in the world where smartphone adoption is greater than personal-computer adoption.

About 31 per cent of Thai smartphone owners shop on their phones, which is remarkably higher than the United States at 10 per cent or Britain at 7 per cent.

Mobile has raised expectations for immediacy and consumers are attracted to brands that address their needs at the moment.

Asia’s embrace of the smartphone has made micro moments more important than in any other region.

Asia has five of the top 10 markets when it comes to smartphone adoption and while not in the top 10, Thailand has great momentum on mobile.

In 2014, Thailand was at 40-per-cent smartphone adoption and in 2015, it was at 64 per cent, ahead of the US.

Some 40 per cent of Thai mobile users watch online videos to learn something new compared with 22 per cent in the US.

Some Bt950 million of the budget will be allocated for the installation of the fourth cold aseptic filling line at its beverage plant in Wang Muang district, Saraburi. A total of Bt350 million will be invested in the expansion and renovation of the group’s Japanese restaurants, mainly the Shabushi brand.

About 30 branches of the group’s Japanese restaurants, mainly Shabushi, will be opened this year.

Marut Buranasetkul, president and chief executive of Oishi Group, said it would open a new production line for Oishi beverages in Malaysia this year in partnership with its foreign affiliate Fraser & Neave (F&N). The plant will be responsible for distributing Oishi green tea in Malaysia and other Muslim markets, including Indonesia and parts of the Philippines.

F&N has also been also appointed to handle all marketing and distribution activities for Oishi beverages in Vietnam, to be launched officially this year.

Under the Oishi Group’s business plan, international markets will represent about 40 per cent of the group’s sales by 2020.

Oishi currently operates more than 200 Japanese restaurants under different brands, including Oishi Grand, Oishi Buffet, Shabushi, Nikuya, Oishi Ramen and Kakashi.

Paisarn Aowsathaporn, executive vice president for the food division, said Oishi had 119 Shabushi restaurants, of which 116 were |in Thailand. The company has opened three Shabushi restaurants in Myanmar, of which two are in Yangon and one in Mandalay. It will open its first Shabushi restaurant in Laos next year.

“We have set a [target] for our food business to reach Bt10 billion in annual sales by 2020, and to enjoy annual growth of between 7 and 10 per cent,” he said.

Marut said Oishi Group expected total sales this year to reach Bt14 billion, up 9 per cent over last year, of which half will be from its food business. The group’s food business is expected to grow by 7 per cent this year, and its beverage business by 11 per cent.

He said Oishi Group posted total sales revenue of Bt12.8 billion last year, up 4 per cent over 2014. Revenue from the food business amounted to Bt6.5 billion, down 0.5 per cent from the previous year because the economic slowdown and reduced consumer spending.

However, the beverage business posted Bt6.3 billion in revenue, up by 9 per cent. Total net profit last year was Bt712 million, an increase of 36 per cent.

“In 2016, we [will continue to grow] according to the vision for 2020 in line with the policy of Thai Beverage Group,” Marut said.

Oishi says it has five main business strategies.

The first is growth that uses product innovation to meet the demand of the green-tea market, which is likely to get bigger in the Asian region.

A modern central kitchen that meets global standards is provided to produce raw materials to supply the restaurants in its chain and to produce ready-to-eat frozen and chilled food for sale nationwide and export.

The second strategy is diversity in terms of products, personnel and domestic and international markets.

Third, it says its brands emphasise product innovation and creative marketing activities, as recognised by several awards.

The fourth strategy is the strong potential of an alliance network in Thai Beverage Group to help distribute products in Thailand and other Asian markets such as Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia.

Oishi claims dominance in the ready-to-drink tea market in Laos and Cambodia. At the same time, Shabushi restaurants are popular in Asian markets.

The last strategy is professionalism, with both local and regional professional teams who have exchanged their knowledge and experience leading to maximum work efficiency, the company says.

AIS has to switch off its 2G service once the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission awards a 900MHz licence to one of the two companies that won the licences at auction, True Corp and Jasmine International.

NBTC secretary-general Takorn Tatasith yesterday said TUC had informed the regulator that it would pay the first instalment of the licence fee and place the bank guarantees for the remaining instalments on Friday.

Takorn said that once TUC received the licence, it wanted the NBTC to extend AIS’s existing 2G service temporarily by allowing AIS and its affiliate, Advance Wireless Network (AWN), the use of TUC’s spectrum range for three months at a cost of Bt450 million a month. TOT would also receive some of the money.

That fee is based on the Bt76.3 billion True paid for the 15-year 900MHz licence, Takorn said.

TUC sent an urgent letter to the NBTC last Friday outlining the proposal, and the regulator’s telecom committee will consider it today.

AIS said there were 8.8 million users of its 2G-900MHz service, with 8 million of them AWN customers roaming with AIS. At the end of the three-month period, TUC suggested that the NBTC allow all the 2G users to move to another operator without having to pass the mobile-number portability system.

Jas Mobile Broadband of Jasmine International won the other licence for the 900MHz spectrum but is yet to pay the first instalment of the upfront fee. The deadline for the payment is March 21.

Asia-Pacific countries with the highest proportion of leadership roles held by women are the Philippines (39 per cent), Thailand (37 per cent) and Indonesia (36 per cent).

Globally, the proportion of senior business roles held by women stands at 24 per cent, up slightly from 22 per cent last year.

Russia still has the most women specifically in executive roles (45 per cent), while the lowest proportion is reported in Japan (7 per cent).

Just 23 per cent of senior management roles in the Asia-Pacific region are held by women. In developed countries across the region, this figure has risen to 57 per cent from 53 per cent in 2015, while it has fallen substantially among the region’s emerging economies to 20 per cent from 29 per cent.

“In Thailand, we’ve consistently held a leading position among the world’s best-performing nations when it comes to the occupation of senior business roles by women,” Sumalee Chokdeeanant, audit partner at Grant Thornton in Thailand, said yesterday.

“A well-established culture of women receiving further education and advocacy of women in business has spurred change.”

When senior businessmen were asked what attribute they thought was most important in good leaders, communication came out on top at 35 per cent. However, Thai women in senior management roles think passion (64 per cent) is the most important attribute for good leaders, compared with male Thai leaders who think that integrity (63 per cent) is the most important attribute.

“While these results differ greatly, it is encouraging to see a well-rounded view,” Sumalee said.

“In the past, many businesses were handed down from parents and there were different expectations for male and females leaders in those family businesses. This result shows that this can still be found in Thailand today, and this adds to the strength of diversity for most companies.”

Just one-third of Asia-Pacific businesses have no women in senior management. In Thailand, it is just 21 per cent, while the proportion in the region’s developed countries rose from 53 per cent last year to 57 per cent. Japan still has the highest proportion of businesses with no female senior managers (73 per cent), but in Russia the proportion is zero.

Companies with diverse boards, or those with more women on the board, have better financial performance than male-only boards.

Research from the Kellogg School of Management and Scientific American has also shown how heterogeneity can boost decision-making, so it’s not surprising that many companies worldwide, including in Thailand, are trying to promote this issue.

“Companies across developed nations have talked the talk on diversity in leadership for long enough. It’s time to put their promises into practice and deliver results,” Sumalee said.

“We know that businesses with diverse workforces can outperform their more homogenous peers and are better positioned to adapt to a rapidly changing global business environment.

“There is no one-size-fits-all solution to the world’s leadership-diversity shortfall but, as outlined in our new report, achieving progress will require the collaboration of companies, governments and women,” she said.