SMEs Expect Thai Economy to Expand in 2019

©iStock/Tzido

An academic survey found that SMEs expect the Thai economy to expand by 3.79 per cent next year.  About 84.2 per cent of respondents said they were not ready to undertake digital transformation.

In addition, the survey found that the three most important factors affecting businesses were the:

1. Post-election political environment
2. Domestic economy
3. World economy

However, such factors as a lack of qualified personnel as well as intense competition were also noted as important.

Read more about how SMEs expect the Thai economy to grow 3.79 per cent in 2019.

The Perils of Globalization

iStock/Thinkstock

Is the Swedish furniture giant Ikea selling sex? Oh please. Here's the headline:

IKEA red-faced over product that sounds like sex.

Ikea, the Swedish furniture giant hires translator to vet merchandise as product names run afoul of Thailand’s conservative mores. Their story is just the latest example of the perils of names in a globalized economy.

Read the entire article here.

One more tidbit:

The company, which launched its fifth-largest superstore in Bangkok last year, realized that terms like Jättebra, for a plant pot, can echo a crude Thai term for sex.