BBA Newsletter 1

Ajarn Jittaporn Sriboonjit; Assistant Dean-Foreign Affairsand BBA Executive Committee, Dr. Kangwan Yodwisitsak; BBAAssociate Director, Dr. Somchai Supattarakul; BBA Committee andAjarn Akekarin Yolrabil; Director of SMART Center@Thammasat haverecently received Assistant Professor position.

On November 23, 2005, the Faculty ofCommerce and Accountancy, in cooperation withthe Alumni Association, held the 67th AnniversaryCelebration with its faculty at 08:30 a.m. - 12:00noon at room#202.

In this occasion, Mr. Hugh Patrick O’Connell andAjarn Wisit Wisitsora-at were selected to receive “TheFaculty Award”.

On Behalf of the BBA International Program,we would like to say “Thank you and Congra-tulations”.

Congratulations!!! Through the year, we are oftenbusy with our studies and lives from dayto day, and we just cannot seem to findthe time for taking care of our loved ones.It is not a matter of a chance, it is indeeda matter of a choice. We always have achoice to create a moment of joy andhappiness with families and friends.Retrospect in the past year to realize whatyou have turned your back on. Your newresolution will no longer remain rhetorical.It is your choice to make it come true.

May your new year be filled with ahappy, healthy, and prosperous moment!

BBA Director and Staff

The 67th Anniversary of the Faculty ofCommerce and Accountancy

BBATHAMMASAT UNIVERSITYNewsletterVol. 9 No. 1 January - March 2006

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The BBA International program organized a “BBA Open House” onSeptember 24th, 2005, at Meeting Room 1-2, Queen Sirikit NationalConvention Center.

The event began with the topic “Why BBA International Program,Thamamsat University? and Admission Process” by Assoc. Prof. Dr. KulpatraSirodom; BBA Director and Asst. Prof. Dr. Pantisa Pavabutr; AssociateDirector with three BBA parents to share their experiences. Followingthat, Prof. Dr. Robert T. Green made a great impression to the audiencewith the list of all universities we have partnered with, the introductionof PIM and our exchange program. Later on, the panel of alumniand current students consisting of Mr. Supawat Likittanawong, BBA#2,Miss Metinee Leevarapakul, BBA# 5, Mr. Samana Kumthampinij, BBA#5,Miss Thiratee Vongruamlarp, BBA#8, Miss Pantira Chotchaisathit, BBA#12and Mr. Natthapol Prakoonsuksapan, BBA# 13 came on stage to talkabout their experiences, their success stories, and BBA academic and

BBA 11’s university life is coming to an endvery soon. Isn’t that sad that we will be leaving theuniversity and trying to find the right job for us? TheBBA, therefore, hosted the graduation orientation toprepare all BBA#11 in coping with the real new businessworld.

BBA#11, dressed formally with business-attire,arrived at the orientation at The Landmark Bangkokon September 15, 2005. The orientation topics includedcareer discussions from our BBA alumni and theintegrative job search solution. Moreover, there was anexhibition from many well-known companies fromdifferent industries–accounting, finance, and marketing.

Each session was very interesting. BBA#11 couldexchange their ideas with the lovely successful BBAalumni who are more than willing to share their

experiences at work.Then BBA#11 movedon to look at theexhibition, acquiringsome applicationsand sending in theirresumes. After lunch,the integrative jobsearch solution ses-

sion began with some presentations. BBA#11 learneda lot about interview tips, for example, how to writetheir own ‘2-minute me’ for job interview introduction.More interestingly, there was a short interview play bysome of the BBA#11 students.

The orientation was very useful; we believe thatwe can use all those tips when finding our job. AsBBA#11 is graduating soon, the journey of BBA#11’slives has just begun. Let’s meet up sometimes andgood luck to us all. God Blesses.

BBA 11’s Graduation Orientation

BBA Open House

non-academic activities such asorientations, case competitions,sport events, and social programs,as well as to answer manyquestions from the floor. Moreover,Ajarn Nopadol Rompho fromSMART Center @ Thammasattalked about SMART-I Test. Inaddition to the introduction of BBAThammasat, Princeton Review, ledby Khun Monthira Sudasna NaAyudhya participated in this eventby briefing about SAT examinationas well as giving the audience anopportunity to get acquainted withit by conducting a 30-minutesample SAT test.

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From a joke in class, it became a real thing! One day in FN 461:Advance International Corporate Finance, after being assigned a smallproject of a hotel in Khao Lak, we were joking about how much we wantedto go see the real place. It was overheard by Ajarn Montira, the lecturer.She happened to know someone in Khao Lak and Phuket since she wasone of the team who went down there and helped those people after thetsunami. So, we arranged a small field trip consisted of 14 students, Ajarnand 2 of her friends, TA, and P-Aor, BBA Manager. We went to Phuket andspent a night at a hotel called Patong Bay Garden Hotel. There, we learnt

Field Trip FN 424A commodities market? A futures market? Back

in my high school days, I would have absolutely noidea as to what that is. Now that I’m a third year studentat BBA Thammasat, my knowledge has broadenedduring a class field trip.

On November 23rd, the Derivatives and SecuritiesAnalysis class (FN424) made a trip to All Seasons Placeon Wireless Road to see the Agricultural FuturesExchange of Thailand (AFET). The exchange is wherethe trading of futures and options takes place. A futurescontract is an obligation for the holder to buy or sell anasset at a predetermined price whereas an optionscontract is the right the holder has to buy or sell asecurity at an agreed upon price. In this case, the assetsthat we’re talking about here are equities, debtsinstruments, or commodities such as gold, crude oil,rice, and rubber. These contracts are traded by hedgerswho want to minimize their risks, or for speculatorswho want to make a profit from the trading. Furthermore,AFET is an electronic market, which differs from ofexchange of Open Outcry where traders yell and usehand signals when they want to make transactions.

Our class was given this opportunity by Dr.Kulpatra, and while we were there, we got a first-handlook at how the electronic market worked. The classtested a simulation in which each group wouldcustomize their futures contract and sell themelectronically to other people who were playing the

game. Each group was given assistance by the staffworking there while playing the game. Some groupsmade profit, while others made massive losses (I wasunfortunately a part of the latter group). Despite all ofthat, everyone had a good time to go along with thisnew learning experience. Those who were profitablewere excited by the results, and those who were in thered laughed at their mistakes and wondered what wentwrong. If this simulation was real, I can assure you thatsome of us would walk out of the building with anempty bank savings account in order to repay the losseswe made.

Thanks to the BBA and Dr. Kulpatra for arrangingthis field trip. At BBA Thammasat, students don’t learnjust from the textbooks. They’re also given a chanceto go outside and apply their knowledge in the realworld! If I went to any other university, I wouldn’thave a chance to experience this opportunity, and Iwouldn’t know how Thailand’s future market works.

3 Days 2 Nights in Phuket and Khao Lakhow to operate a hotel and how they handled the situation when tsunamihit. Thank you to P-Pan who gave us the knowledge. The next day, wemoved to Khao Lak, the area that was damaged the most from tsunami.We stopped at Baan Nam Kem, and the navy golf course to talk to peoplewho were there when tsunami hit. We were accommodated at an unfinished-reconstruction hotel named Khao Lak Palm Beach Resort. That eveningwe got a chance to make use of ourselves by cleaning up the longggglongggg beach before we got permission from Ajarn to do whatever wewanted. Some of us went to swim in the see, but some were still scared.The next morning, we got a chance to talk to the manager and gain loadsof knowledge as we got from Phuket. We even got to see the MukdaraBeach Resort, a five star hotel in Khao Lak in reconstruction progress.That evening, we went home. Thank you to Ajarn Montira, all the guessspeakers, and BBA office that made this trip a very valuable one. Weshould have more this kind of trip!

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runner up for sure. In addition, the organizersapproached us and told us to be proud and that wewere among the best in the competition. To certainextent, we were proud of ourselves for the fact thatwe had proven ourselves and performed very well withno hesitation that we are comparable with the leadingbusiness schools in the world

I personally and strongly believe that we haddone our best and there was nothing that we couldhave possibly done to improve the performance. The

overall experience was overwhelming and woulddefinitely be a key moment of my life going forward.It is my honor to have an opportunity to work withfantastic teammates and on behalf of the team, weare honored to represent Thammasat University.Finally, we would like to thank our advisors, ProfessorJames P. Fitzpatrick, Professor Robert T. Green, Dr.Kulpatra Sirodom for their continual support andvaluable guidance. Once again, it is an honor to beguided and supported by dedicating professors andadvisors. Thank you for an amazing experience!

For the 8th time the students of BBA InternationalProgram, Thammasat University, has successfullyorganized the only undergraduate level businesscase competition in Thailand, the ThammasatUndergraduate Business Challenge (TUBC) 2005. Theevent was held at Amari Watergate Hotel on August17-20, 2005. Once again, TUBC was well sponsoredby PricewaterhouseCoopers and Bangkok Post; bronzesponsors: Phatra Securities and Puriku White Tea.

ActivitiesThe Success of Thammasat UndergraduateBusiness Challenge (TUBC) 2005

Very special this year, TUBC received participationfrom 7 international universities from 5 countriesworldwide–ranging from Canada, Hong Kong, Malaysia,Singapore, and The United States of America. Also, eightThai universities participated which made the number ofparticipating teams to be a total of 15, the largest numberin TUBC history.

The featured case for this year’s competition wasfrom Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) with the mainfocus of the how to make tourism in Thailand be once

again attractive after the tsunami last year. Congratulations to the winner of TUBC 2005McGill University, from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The first-runner up was SingaporeManagement University, Singapore and the second-runner up was The Chinese Universityof Hong Kong, Hong Kong.

TUBC 2005 can never be successful without all participating teams, the generosityfrom the sponsors, the judges, and the audiences. Thank you. Further thanks areextended to the BBA International Program and all TUBC committee who committedtheir time in organizing the event. The TUBC committee would like to thank you all whoshow interest in TUBC 2005 and hope to see everyone again next year TUBC 2006.

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BBA Newsletter 5

that I could not remember. Interestingly, that was ourfirst hockey game and I was fortunate to be able tograsp the T Shirt shootout and witnessed the HockeyFight, which makes hockey a famous sport in ouropinion. Despite the fact that we were all tired and jetlagged, the god of the game would not let us leaveeasily. The game went on to the overtime after thevisitors scored the equalizers with only 20 secondsleft, prolonging the game to over 3 hrs.

After relaxing and recovering from jet lag for 2days, the real competition began. The case that wewere dealing with was the company called Ashland(Changzhou) Chemical Co. Ltd, the supplier ofchemicals unit to foundry industry which subsequentlysupplies to the growing Chinese Auto Industry. Thecompany faces challenges such as the rise in rawmaterials cost, competition, government relation andalso possible domestic and international expansion.We had collectively 24 hrs to hand in our presentationand of course, we stayed up all night long to finish thiswork. Despite the seriousness and the time pressurewe had to face, Punda was able to constantly makejokes to raise team morale to be “Cool” all along theway.

After the lengthy preparation and tryouts, theopportunity to compete with other leading businessschools around the world had finally emerged at TheCIBER Case Competition, organized by Fisher Collegeof Business, Ohio State University. The Thammasatteam consisted of Pantharee (BBA#12), Panthira(BBA#12), Punda (BBA#11),myself Tarin (BBA#11).Accompanying us was our key supporter and advisor,Professor James P. Fitzpatrick.

CIBER Case Competition included 12 leadingbusiness schools from around the world with onlytwo participants from Asia, Thammasat Universityand Singapore Management University. All of theactivities were arranged and organized on one of thelargest campus in United States, the OSU campus,and participants were exceptionally treated andaccommodated at the wonderful Blackwell hotel onOSU Campus. As we had initially expected, the weatherwas absolutely perfect and the camaraderie amongthe organizers, the participants was impressive.Because of the proximity to my and our BBA#11’sfriend, we were able to once again meet with our friend,Chairatch (BBA#11). Owing to his charm, Panthira wasunable to contain her feeling and kept on talkingabout him most, if not, all the time. He also wantedme to remind everyone in BBA#11 that he misses usall and would probably be back next year.

During day 3, we had a chance to visit one ofthe most successful companies making home-madecookies in the United States, “Cheryl & CO” whichalso sells their product online. We were thrilled by theamount of delicious cookies and of course, thevision of the management of this once a Kitchen-madecookie to a Multimillion Dollar business and still growing!Later that evening, we attended the National HockeyLeague game, after a full year of lockout, between thehometown favorite, Blue Jackets, and another team

CIBER CASE COMPETITION

The competition was divided into 3 groups,we were in the group with Singapore ManagementUniversity (SMU), Ohio State University (the host)and University of Wisconsin Madison. After thepresentation, we were largely impressed by theapplause from the organizers and audiences whichgave us a strong feeling that “God, we have a chance”.In the finalist announcement, our score was tied withSMU. Unfortunately, our flaw was something that weknew all along the way, even before the competitionitself, Team balance. Consequently, the judges choseSMU and they went on and win the competition.Interestingly, at the end of the competition SMU’sadvisor came up and told us that Thammasat deservedto be in the finals and would have made the first

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“They will treat you like a prince!” “Thecampus is amazing!” “The view is beautiful!” Thosewere the comments I heard from the seniors who havebeen to the Citigroup International Case Competitionin Hong Kong. So how can this year’s team not getexcited? I mean, what’s better than going to HongKong for seven days while your classmates are busyback home going to classes? Yes, we were awarethat the Thammasat team that went there last yearwas filled with four talented BBA#10s who havealready graduated and went on to their prestigiousjobs. That’s why they WON last year, which makes usthe defending champion of this competition. Thisyear’s team was accompanied by Prof Dr. Robert T.Green, and it consisted of Pailin (Pauline) Veerakulananand Manita (Aor) Poovatanasedj of BBA#11 andOrrawan (Ann) Montien and myself, Tanawat (Note)Damnernthong, of BBA#12. Any pressure? Whatpressure?! If this year’s team could make it into thefinal round of this competition, we would already feelprivileged. And that’s certainly what happened.

On the Monday of October 24th, we took off forHong Kong, not knowing what would be awaiting us.We had heard about the Hong Kong experience fromour seniors and I was personally expecting exquisitehospitality from the staff who was organizing theevent. After all, Citigroup was the sponsor, andobviously they have a huge sum of money to pour intothis event. They sure did not disappoint. Every wordthat we heard from the seniors was true. Once we gotto the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology(HKUST), we were amazed by the scenic location ofthe campus. The visitor center where our team stayedwas situated on a mountaintop overlooking a bay atthe base of the hilltop. The turquoise water soothedour eyes, and the 25 degree weather made us feel justright (it’s good to escape the forever-hot Bangkok).

That Monday evening, the case competitionformally began. All the teams were taken to the HongKong Convention Center. Apparently, we had dinner inthe same room where Bill Clinton back in July 1, 1997when China resumed the exercise of sovereignty overHong Kong. There, we had some elegant food whichour stomachs did not have the proper enzymes todigest. I would do the food injustice by trying todescribe what it was in this newsletter, but all I knowis that it was served with mashed pumpkins (no, youcan’t get those at KFC). There was also a costumecontest in which each school wore their culturalcostume that best represented the country that theyhail from. We saw some cowboys from Texas (Universityof Texas-Austin), a sword-wielding samurai (RitsumeikanAsia Pacific University) and even a rugby player(University of Auckland). Our very own Ann dressed asa bride in a Thai wedding costume, and she certainlydrew a lot of attention from the guys. The dinner also

gave us time to mingle with participants from otheruniversities, and this competition gave us a chance toexpand our networks around the world. If we were toflop with the case, then we can take solace and knowthat at least we made a few friends from differentparts of the world.

On Tuesday, we were taken to the Citigroupheadquarters in downtown Hong Kong where we hearda speech from several Citigroup executives. Afterwards,everyone hopped on to a ferry to see the variouslandmarks of Hong Kong that surrounds VictoriaHarbour. Once the ferry anchored down, we were takento a seafood market where we saw various interestingsea creatures. Once again, we were well fed and dinedon oysters, lobsters, fish, and shrimps to name a few.I started to feel like a king already.

The next day, we all engaged in a group activitythat allowed us to explore Hong Kong, going aroundthe city to take whatever pictures we wanted with adisposable camera that they gave us. However, eachgroup had to write a story about two pictures theychose and how it represented Hong Kong as a globalcity. Each university was broken off into different groups,and again, this gave us time to chat with other studentsfrom different parts of the world. Later, it was announcedthat my team had won this “Explore Hong Kong”activity. Would this be a sign of things to come?

The real hard work began on Thursday morning.Before the case was distributed, we had a drawing ofthe competition to see which teams would be in whichdivision. Drawing the lucky hand, our team was in thedivision with four universities while other divisions hadfive. Our competitors in the first round were theUniversity of Hawaii-Manoa, Ivey Business School fromthe University of Western Ontario, and Hong KongUniversity of Science and Technology, the home team!This year’s company in analysis was the Hong KongInternational Airport which is regarded worldwide asthe world’s best airport in terms of providing qualityservice, seamless transfers, and retail services in its

Citigroup International Case Competition

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duty-free shopping. The issue stated in the case washow Hong Kong can collaborate with other mainlandairports which are now striving to be internationalplayers and the “gateway to China”. Given 30 hours toanalyze the case, our group felt that this was one ofthe toughest cases that we have encountered. Thecompany was in good financial shape, and everyrecommendation we thought of seemed to beimplemented by the company already. After speakingto other teams after the competition, they all said thesame thing too! Nonetheless, we came up with ourown strategy (to have HKIA expand within the PearlRiver Delta in cities like Guangzhou and Shenzhenwhile integrating the flows between China’s two largestairports in Beijing and Shanghai) and finisheddissecting the case with four good hours of sleep onThursday night. Nobody slept before 5 a.m. Boy, it wasbrutal.

On Friday, it was the first round of the com-petition, and we had to present our recommendationin front of three judges who were top managers atCitigroup and the Airport Authority of Hong Kong. Thesheer thought of presenting made us nervousalready. My pulse rate certainly went up, and I think Ihad symptoms of high blood pressure (ok, not really).After 45 minutes which seemed like eternity, our teamfinally clawed our way through and finished. Yes, wedid face some jaw-breaking questions from the judges,and that caught us off-guard during the presentation.But it was finally over! We got our presentation outof the way! We finally did it! Later that night, therewas a dinner to announce the finalists of thecompetition. Surely, our team was still elated, and weweren’t expecting to make the finals. After all, it’sbetter to have no expectations, right? It’s better thangoing in there with high expectations and coming outdisappointed. Anyway, when HKUST’s advisor went onstage to announce the finalists, he said,

“Again? For two consecutive years...”At that point, my mind was thinking “Uh-Oh.”

Could it be true?“For two consecutive years, it’s the Thammasat

team.”

We were delighted to be in the final round, butthis also meant that we were going to spend yet anothernight on the case! The three schools that we would goup against were Singapore Management University,University of Auckland, and McGill University. Now, itwas time to go back to our room again, while theother groups, we heard, were going out to celebratethe end of their case. Arghhhhh...

Back in our room on Friday night, we receivednew information about the case. However, we did notmake many changes to our presentation, and all wedid was fine-tune certain parts and rehearsed ourpresentation to the fullest. We even managed tofind eight hours of good sleep that night. It wasn’t ashorrible as we imagined.

Saturday afternoon, all the participants departedthe campus to go to the Ritz Carlton Hotel in downtownHong Kong where the final round was going to bepresented. What caught my eyes was the elegance ofthe hotel. Only the finest European cars were parkedin front of the hotel lobby. Oh, and there was thatRolls Royce showroom next to the hotel. It would havebeen sweet if they brought the finalist teams to thehotel in a Rolls Royce, but that’s another story. On the6th floor of the hotel, there was a ballroom set upfor the presentation. There must have been at least100 seats set up for the audience. Talk about nerve-wracking! Everybody on our team was nervousspeaking in front such a large crowd! Fortunately,we got through our presentation smoothly, andafterwards, many teams came to congratulate us fordoing such a great job. One participant from LundUniversity in Sweden even came to say that ourslideshow was the best that he’s ever seen in his life.That led Pauline to say, “Even if our content is notgood, at least we can make our slides look pretty”.

After this presentation, everything was over. Wefelt free like a heavy load came off our shoulders. Now,all we had to do was wait for the announcement. Allthe participants now headed down to the basement ofthe hotel where the dinner was. During the ceremony,we had a special guest speaker, Mr. Victor Fung, anicon and symbol of Hong Kong. But what we werewaiting for was the announcement of the winner. Sure,we were happy to be in the final round, and to win thewhole thing would be icing on the cake. It is somethingthat we never imagined when we first got on theairplane. We would already have something to bringback to Thammasat with us since they gave a trophyto all the four finalists. As it turned out, we took homethe smaller of the two trophies because McGillUniversity beat us out. That team did a great job, andthey deserve it. This makes it championship numbertwo for them because they won the ThammasatUniversity Business Competition (TUBC) earlier thissemester. Our team went over to congratulate themand we took several group pictures with our shiny,golden trophy (which is now resting inside the BBAoffice). Now, it was time to head over to Lan KwaiFong to celebrate!

Finally, our team would like to thank a few people.First, a big Thank You goes out to Dr. Bob foraccompanying us to Hong Kong. We know you enjoyedthe shopping experience there. A big Thank You goesto Dr. Bob again and Ajarn James for teaching us,guiding us and showing the light during the casepractices. Because of you two, we have learned somuch more. A big Thank You goes to P’Pam+ fordealing with us, the plane tickets, and various expenses.I know we must have given you a big headache, butwe truly appreciate your help. Lastly, Thank You toBBA, especially Dr. Kulpatra, for giving us thisopportunity to go abroad and represent the ThammasatUniversity. We hope we made you proud, because nowwe have a shiny, golden trophy to brag about.

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I first got into environment activities in December,2004 as my friend asked me to join Thailand YouthEnvironment Network (ThaiYEN). It is an environmentorganization which aims on creating awareness forpeople especially young people. Personally I do wantto make something good for the world but was not yetinto the environmental issues that much. I just careabout the environment but not yet have plan orinterested to do it before joining. ThaiYEN is such a bigturning point of my life. In ThaiYEN, I was responsiblefor international work so on February 2005 I got achance to go to Nairobi, Kenya to attend the TUNZAGlobal Youth Retreat (GYR). It is a pre-session of theGoverning Council which is the forum where ministersargue about environment issue. In GYR, youthparticipants will share ideas and best practices thenpresent it in Governing Council. In GYR, it was my firsttime learning the concept of Millenniums DevelopmentGoals (MDGs). I felt so lost and blur. I did not reallyknow what they were talking about. All I could do atthat time was stay still and listen. I felt so bad of myselfsince I could not participate as much as I expected.Then I promise to myself that I was going to learn moreon MDGs and other environment issues. I also commitmyself to launch South East Asia Youth EnvironmentNetwork (SEAYEN) which is the part of UNEP’sprogram. With this commitment, I had to cooperatewith UNEP Regional Office of Asia Pacific on many

Environment Activities and My Travelingprojects. As a result of working hard, I was nominatedby UNEP ROAP to participate in Global EnvironmentalAction (GEA) conference at Gifu, Japan in June andluckily I was selected. In the conference, I had to makea concrete presentation on Youth Action towardMDGs’. I did do a lot of research and added manysuggestions and implementation. This GEA conferenceis also the pre-session for ECO-Asia which is theforum for ministers to discuss environmental issues(just like in Kenya). The youth ideas will be gatheredand be presented in ECO-Asia. One of my suggestionswas about “Sustainable Life Style” such as car pooling,using two sides of paper with different color of penswas included in the report and presented in ECO-Asia.I felt much better and more involved than my time inKenya.

Then two months later, I was sent by UNEP toobserve North East Asia Youth Environment Network(NEAYEN) conference in Seoul, South Korea. As I’mthe head of SEAYEN project, it would be my advantagesto see how another network was launched.

Besides working in the environment field only, Igot a chance to apply my environmental knowledgein the business field. In September, I launched theEco-tourism project with my Japanese friend. Wearranged the tour for Japanese people to visit Ban-Chiang, the world heritage in Udornthani withoutharming the existing village-culture and environment.As a result, I was invited to go to Osaka, Japan topresent the report on this project and also join thebusiness plan competition. This competition is like aplace for project owners and the investors to meet.From the competition, I received nine computers andsome money from the investor to make my projectbecome real.

Then in October, I came back to work inenvironment field again. At that time, there was an UNEPInternational Youth Conference at Bangalore, India.

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BBA Newsletter 9

This is our most stunning experience!

It is our very first contest so we’re still excited.Our group, the “TU Talent”, has four teammates: twofrom BBA and the others are from the Faculty ofCommerce and Accountancy (Thai Program). Thecontest is all about designing an integrative marketingplan for Spy Wine Cooler. We have to come up with ahighly innovative, inventive, effective idea that will helpimprove the brand equity of SPY, plus, touch the mindof the judges. And most important, it must be an ideathat is possible to implement in the real world.

The rewards go far beyond what we couldimagine. Not only did we receive 95,000 Baht after tax,we also had a once-in-a-lifetime chance to be innewspapers and on theTV program....Yes, TV program,amazing isn’t it?

For the outstanding success we had, we have tothank BBA for teaching us tons of practical knowledgewhich has already proved itself very helpful andadvantageous in the real world.

And last, we encourage those of you belovedcollage friends who would like to have such wonderfulexperience to open up your eyes and grab your chance‘coz the opportunity is all around. You are the beststudents of the best institution within the country!

There are 84 countries and 130 youth participantsparticipate in the conference. I was selected by UNEPHead quarter to attend the conference. The theme ofthe conference was still on MDGs. But the Hi light ofthis conference was to elect new UNEP Tunza YouthAdvisory Council (TYAC). All participants would electtwo representatives from each region as the youthadvisor. One country has one vote regardless of numberor participants from same country. Each country canvote for two people per region. For example, Canadacan vote two people in North America region, twopeople from Asia pacific region, and two people fromEurope. The roles and responsibilities of TYAC are toadvice UNEP on youth and environment activitiesand to represent their own region. As I made a lot ofinvolvement in the conference, I was elected to be in

UNEP TUNZA Youth Advisor represents Asia pacificregion.

It was hard to believe that I took only eightmonths (Feb to Oct) to be in this position. I changemyself from the person who knows nothing aboutenvironment issue to be the environmental advisor.The thing is there is nothing you can NOT do in thisworld. You just have to set your goals and try your bestthen finally you will achieve them. My up-coming eventis to launch the 1st SEAYEN conference in July 2006 soif any of you interested to participate in the conferenceor want to be the volunteer for the conference, do NOThesitate to contact me at mei_waranya@yahoo.com.Let’s think globally but act locally!!!

main purpose was to gain some valuable experience that no textbookscould give us, and fortunately it really was valuable.

Apart from the academic knowledge we’ve gained from thecompetition, both from our own attempts in finding answers to ourcuriosity which were obviously encouraged by the perseverance in theteaching of all our admiring Ajarns especially our consultant, AjarnKritsadarat Wattanasuwan, we’ve earned a more worthy thing,friendship. We’ve met new people who not only showed us completelydifferent, yet brilliant, perspectives on their strategies but also sharedthe same tiring periods of preparation and exciting moments duringthe presentation, giving us the feeling that we were not alone on theroad and this was what we called a true profit in joining the event.Getting the trophy was one thing but having good friends was another.We’d chosen the latter choice for it was, and always is, worth enduringour hard working for.

Frankly speaking, I had no ideahow we had won the prize. Winningthe competition wasn’t our main goal,though we had slightly hoped for it. Our

“My Nongpho My Idea 2005”Competition

In Spy Branding Contest

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10 BBA Newsletter

About three months ago, our team had a chance to participate in the AJF Young Fund ManagerAward 2005. The contest was held by Ayudhaya JF Asset Management (AJF) from August to October, 2005.The test is divided into 2 sections: examination (30%) and trading simulation (70%). During the simulation game,we had to manage a fixed-income portfolio with an initial investment of 500 million baht. The goal of the gameis to maximize the net asset value (NAV) of the portfolio within 50 working days of the Thai bond market.Nevertheless, our actual objective of why we joined this competition is to learn how to apply what we havestudied in class and books into the reality. In fact, we did not only achieve the first runner-up award from thiscontest but have also gained much more practical knowledge and experience than we ever imagined.

Sounds of laughter and the pitter patter of theorphan children’s feet brought smiles and a warmwelcome to the exchange students as they ran to greetus. Shyness was not in the children’s vocabulary.Grasping our hands and tugging our clothes, they pulledon us from all around with playful excitement.

The language barrier for most was brushed asideas genuine gestures of love were communicated

between the orphan children and the exchangestudents. Whirling and dancing around, I lost touchwith reality and felt as if I was one of them. Skipping,giving piggy-back rides, and allowing the children tosnap pictures with my camera was the least that I coulddo. The children were having so much fun with theexchange students’ cameras that we had to divert theirattention back to the project at hand, which was plantingbushes alongside the walkway.

Playing what is known in America as “duck...duck... goose!” was enjoyed in entirety as a groupwhile we waited for our lunch to be prepared. Thechildren were eager to please as they brought theexchange students their soup and in return, theexchange students wanted to help in any way possibleso a few assisted in serving desserts.

With our tummies full, we exchanged our lastlaughs and hugs as we were torn apart. Sadnessglazed over the children’s eyes and I found it heartwrenching to leave the little bundles of joy. I also foundmyself wishing that I could do more for them as I prayedfor their well-being.

Hugs, laughs, games, and the “too cool forschool” modeling pictures by the children are all deeplyembedded memories that I will treasure forever.

Rajwitee Orphanage Trip

AJF Young Fund

10 BBA Newsletter

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BBA Newsletter 11

For almost four monthsof participating in the “MMA orMoney Management Award”, itwas truly a wonderful time of mylife. The competition is heldannually by “Family Know-HowCompany Limited” with thecooperation from The StockExchange of Thailand (SET) asone of the main sponsors. Andthis year, the competition isheld for the third time, since theyear 2003.

The Money Management Award (MMA) is moreor less a combination competition ranging fromcomprehensive financial knowledge testing to theability to convey information to audiences. Those whopass all the criteria will be selected as 10 MoneyManagement Ambassadors. These ten ambassadorsare responsible to coordinate activities held by theSET, especially the activities concerned with personalfinance throughout the year. Not only are there prizesfor the ten ambassadors, there are also prizes for thosewho demonstrate distinct knowledge and ability inInsurance and Derivative to be the “Insurance Star”and the “Derivative Star”. And the amount of moneygiven to all the winners is SO HUGH that my friendsand I jumped into this competition right away!!! (Forthe winner of the MM Ambassador, he/she willreceive the prize of THB 500,000!!!)

Yeah! The higher the prize, the more contestantsthere will be. There are more than 5,200 contestantscompeting throughout the country from those from theNorth to the South! All contestants are from those whoare in their junior year to individuals not exceeding 25years in age. The competition was divided into 6 roundswith additional rounds for those of Insurance andDerivative Stars (2 best contestants will be selectedfrom the same pool of 5,200 contestants).

In the first round, all contestants have to do a100-question-multiple-choice examination to testtheir knowledge of fundamental economics, finance,investment, business tax law, and etc. After thisround, there were only 200 contestants left for thenext round.

The second round was more of the practicalproblems given to us. There were four essay questionsin which we had to do. The first two questions wereabout establishing a portfolio of investment for aparticular individual in question and the latter wasabout how you would create a TV program aboutfinancial stuff for Thai teenagers. And the other setof the questions were about insurance andderivative. There were only 100 contestants leftafter this round. Yeah, I still survived!!!

In the third, all 100contestants including me(^_^) had to present what weanswered in the second round tothe judges. The judges wereranging from professors to thosepersonality judges. EQ (emotionalquotient) Test was given at thisround, either. Whoa, I stillsurvived!!! (Maybe I should go forthe “Survival” instead, LOL.)

Now, in the fourth round,only 50 contestants from more than 5,200 wereselected. All 50 contestants will have a chance toparticipate in a learning tour which includes visitingrural villages in Karnchanaburi to see how the peoplethere manage their village fund, visiting assetmanagement fund such as AJF and TISCO, and havinga great opportunities to interview the financial celebritiesin Thailand.

Here comes the fifth round, in this round, allcontestants were given eight articles relating to hotnews during that time. We had to analyze all of themand randomly choose one to present to the judges.This round was a lot tougher than the earlier onessince we had to read and do research for each newsitem and give our opinion on it. There were 11 judgesin this round and most of them tried to ask questionsaccording to their views ranging from those whowere investors/professors to personality teacher!

Finally, 10 Money Management Ambassadorswere selected. Two of them are from our program-BBA, which are Miss Sireethorn Sucharittanuwat(Ja-oe: BBA#12) and me (Mr. Apichet Kiatworakun(Ong: BBA#12)!!! In the final round, only 3 from theten ambassadors will be selected as the top-threeambassadors. Unfortunately, we did not reach to thetop three; however, Ja-oe got the Derivative Clusterprize for the best selected ten contestants whoshow great abilities in derivative, and I got theInsurance Star prize which is the prize for the winnerof the insurance part (there are main 3 prizes-MMA,Insurance and derivative). BRAG!!!: Combining ourprizes, the amount is worth more than THB 100,000.Just to induce you guys to participate for the nextyear’s MMA.

Having a chance to participate in the MoneyManagement Award is such a memorable experience.The competition allows us to learn new knowledge boththeoretically and practically. Nevertheless, we wouldnot be able to reach this point without all support fromeveryone especially those from BBA - Ajarn, P’ P’

(æ’Ë æ’Ë), friends, N’ N’ (πâÕß πâÕß). Thank you everyone!!!

BBA Newsletter 11

Money Management Award (MMA 2005)

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12 BBA Newsletter

For the second semester 2005, we will welcome 15 exchangestudents. They are 13 exchange students from Faculty of Commerceand Accountancy’s network universities, one exchange student fromThammasat University’s network university and one exchange studentfrom ISEP Program. And also Mr. Gilbert Schiffman still be with us in thissemester.

Faculty of Commerce and Accountancy’s exchange students

The University of Texas at Austin, USAMs. Dixie Kaiulani Hamilton

University of North Carolina, USAMr. Nathan Daniel Mooney

University of Hawaii at Manoa, USAMr. Douglas Edward Moreau

McGill University, CanadaMr. Jean-David Fournier

University of Alberta, CanadaMr. Robert Alan Boothe

University of Ottawa, CanadaMiss Nicole DoreMiss Karine LeclairMr. Mark Anthony CassettaMr. Matthew Barnes

The University of Western Ontario, CanadaMiss Eva Christine Szymanski

European Business School, GermanyMiss Sophie SiebelMiss Nicoline Dechamps

ESADE, SpainMiss Marta Pons-Formosa

Thammasat University’s exchange studentUniversity of California, Berkeley, USA

Miss Nicole Sheena Anand

ISEP Program studentIowa State University. USA

Mr. Brian Michael Leopold

Partner UniversitiesMr. Mark Scullion; Associate Director for Global Programs BSBA

Program, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA had an afternoontea meeting with Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kulpatra Sirodom; BBA Director,Dr. Kangwan Yodwisitsak; Associate Director, Mrs.Narisa Klieothong; BBAExchange Coordinator and Miss Umaporn Hongwattananon; GEMBA staffon November 21, 2005 at the lobby of Shangri-La Hotel. After the meeting,Narisa and Umaporn took him to visited Bangkok Suanlum Night Bazaarand saw “Hom Rong” Thai Puppetry at Joe Louis Theatre. On November22, 2006, we took him to visit Wat Chaiwattanaram and Wat Mongkolbopit,Ayudhaya.

Exchange ProgramIncoming Exchange Students

Ms. Dixie Kaiulani Hamilton

Mr. Douglas Edward Moreau

Mr. Nathan Daniel Mooney

Mr. Mark Anthony Cassetta

Miss Karine Leclair

Miss Nicole Dore

Mr. Robert Alan Boothe

Mr. Jean-David Fournier

Mr. Matthew Barnes

Miss Eva Christine Szymanski

Miss Sophie Siebel

Miss Nicoline Dechamps

Miss Marta Pons-Formosa

Miss Nicole Sheena Anand

Mr. Brian Michael Leopold

BBA Newsletter 13

The international exchange student trip for theFaculty of Commerce and Accountancy began on theFriday 19th of August from in front of ThammasatUniversity. The plan was to drive to Hua Hin, which was3 hours by bus. The departure time was scheduled to beat 9:00 am sharp but due to a student (not mentioningany names) waking up late because he was enjoying anight out the previous night at Kao San Road, our

Exchange Intro Trip

make a stop at the Phranakorn Kiri(Buddhist temple on a mountain) butdue to heavy rain this was cancelledand it was straight back to Bangkok!Overall, the general opinionamongst the students of the tripwas that they enjoyed the tripimmensely and were greatlyimpressed with the accommodationprovided. On behalf of all the ex-change and non-degree students,we would like finally to take thisopportunity of thanking all of theBBA staff and the professors whogave up their time and helpedorganize the trip that was, for all ofus, a great experience.

departure was delayed by one hour resulting in us being caught in thetypically heavy Bangkok traffic. Once arriving at Hua Hin, the majority ofthe students were shocked that the accommodation provided by the facultywas a 5 star hotel (the Dusit Resort and Polo Club) with a beautiful pooland beachfront. The program began with a buffet lunch to feed an army,then on to a lecture on life on and off campus. We continued later with aguided tour of the hotel and it’s facilities, with the hotel general managergiving a presentation on how to manage a hotel in Thailand. His presentationwas on the trials and errors he as a manager has faced throughout hisyears working at the Dusit in Hua Hin. The presentation was very interestingand entertaining but unfortunately it was late in the afternoon so many ofthe students had a hard time concentrating, resulting inevitably in a lackof interaction between Mr. Victor and the students. After this long day, freetime was finally given and students leapt to the chance to go for a swimor just simply relax in their 5 star accommodation. Dinner in the hotel wasserved in a bazaar like setting with different types of food on displayaccompanied by traditional Thai dancers and a small percussion groupplaying traditional Thai music. Late night activities organised by the studentsbegan around 10:00 pm with a trip to the night market in Hua Hin followedby late night dancing at the Hilton hotel in the city.

On Saturday Morning we had the chance to see peoples creativitycome in to play with t-shirt painting, fruit carving and a Thai cooking classin preparing tom yum goong. Everybody got to taste but of course therewere a few a little hesitant to do so.

Saturday afternoon was used for outdoor team building activities.This was a fun experience that enabled students to get to know each othermuch better. The winning team was the Thai Spicers with the team leaderbeing Philip from Denmark who surprisingly survived all the games withonly nine useable fingers. The winning team received a “useful” prizecourtesy of the Dusit hotel. The rest of the day was used to enjoy thehotels facilities that ranged from students going on a wild ride on thebanana boat and lounging in the pool

Sunday being the last day of the trip where we were informed of thedo’s and don’ts in Thailand. This was very informative session that helpedstudents gain a better understanding of the Thai people and culture. Onthe way back to Bangkok we stopped off at the Summer palace to seethe former Summer residence of the King. We were also scheduled to BBA Newsletter 13

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International Affairsof Faculty of Commerceand Accountancy orga-nized the Farewell PartyNight for BBA and Gra-duate exchange studentsfor semester 1/2005 onNovember 26, 2005 atChomsuan Restaurant.The Party started in theevening and peopledressed in Thai costumeto join a contest. Asst.Prof. Jittaporn, a speakerinvited Assoc. Prof. Gasi-

nee Witoonchart, Dean of Faculty of Commerce andAccountancy to give a speech. Next, BBA exchangerepresentative, Mr. Hendrik Cluever talked about hisexperience during study at BBA Thammasat. Afterthat, it’s a time to enjoy dinner and Turkey (for thelate Thanksgiving). Thai Costume contest startedafter everyone’s ate the delicious food. The winner whowore the most elegant and beautiful is Mr. MathieuJaime from MIM program. The first runner-up is MissSavija Pannark from BBA who wear a Thai ancient ladydress called “Tabeng-Maan” and the third rank is MissStefanie Buch from BBA as well. Before the time’s end,we took a photo together and all of exchange studentsreceived a souvenir; VCD of student activities for theirmemory time in Thammasat University.

The Thammasat Business School sentrepresentatives to the annual meeting of the Partnershipin International Management (PIM), which this year washeld in the beautiful city of Prague, in the CzechRepublic. PIM is an exclusive organization that iscomposed of 53 of the world’s most prestigiousbusiness schools. The Thammasat attendees at thisyears meeting were Dean Gasinee Witoonchart, AjarnKulpatra Sirodom, and Ajarn Bob Green

The meeting was kicked off with talks from CzechRepublic’s Deputy Prime Minister and the CEO of oneof the country’s major banks. The attendees then gotdown to the serious business of strengthening alliancesand discussing ways in which business education intoday’s global economy can be strengthened. Inaddition, one new member was voted into thePIM, that being Tsinghua University, which is one ofChina’s elite universities.

The Thammasat representatives openednegotiations to establish several new prospectiveexchange agreements for our students at schools thatincluded York University of Canada, the Czech Schoolof Economics, and Tsinghua University. In addition,several other cooperative programs were discussed withother PIM schools, such as an agreement with theNational University of Singapore to establish a reciprocalprogram whereby each school delivers programs ondoing business in its country to students from the otherschool.

Thammasat’s membership in PIM has providedinvaluable contributions over the years to the school’sefforts to continuously improve our internationalprograms. Being in the company of such high qualityinstitutions presents us with multiple opportunities tobuild new international relationships and to remain atthe forefront of international education.

Thammasat Delegation Attends PIM Meeting

Incoming Exchange Farewell Party 1/2005b

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BBA Newsletter 15

Column I

Information session:Marching to X-change

Decisions begin with information. We realize thatstudents have a choice to create a chance, and weencourage them to capitalize on the chance to make asmart choice. Making a choice of schools to go onexchange is no exception. On September 13, 2005,Dr. Somboon Kulvisaechana, Associate Director forInternational Affairs, hosted an information session onexchange programs. Choices of partner universities,selection criteria, financial matters, course transferequivalency, and general preparation tips werepresented to provide as much comprehensive insightas possible. The session was well-received by the BBAsophomores who have a strong intention to studyabroad and to be exposed to the truly internationalenvironment. During the session, it was noted that allapplicants would be interviewed by BBA professors.While academic performance is important, in the casewhere applicants are applying for a competitiveuniversity, the interview may determine who isnominated to that university. The interview will give youthe opportunity to demonstrate that you haveresearched your options and are emotionally equippedto cope with a semester or year overseas without yournormal support structures.

Column II

X-change collaborationson the rise

At BBA, we have long recognized the importanceof capitalizing on a global business education throughstudent exchange activities. The BBA exchangeprogram actually highlights the point of distinctionwhere our students can learn and experience newplaces and cultures abroad. Apart from our currentlist of renowned partner universities, we always try toexplore more options of schools for the benefits ofthe BBA students. During October 20-30, 2005, Assoc.Prof. Dr. Kulpatra Sirodom, BBA Director, Asst. Prof.Jittaporn Sriboonjit, Assistant Dean for InternationalAffairs and Dr. Somboon Kulvisaechana, BBA AssociateDirector for International Affairs, took a trip to visit anumber of the top US B-schools to explore thepossibilities of establishing academic collaborations,

BBA Newsletter 15

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D.including student exchange schemes. They are the

Stern School of Business, New York University; theMcIntire School of Commerce, University of Virginia;the Smeal College of Business, Pennsylvania StateUniversity; and the Fisher College of Business, OhioState University.

“Needless to say, the business curriculum in theUS is on the cutting edge, placing enormous emphasison innovative business agendas and, at some point,moving toward oriental business practices. For theutmost interest of our School and BBA students, it isa critical time period to make the right moves to partnerwith the top US B-schools not only for the studentexchange program but also for the faculty-to-facultyresearch exchange arena. Basically, the meetings withthe deans and student exchange directors of the visitedschools are very fruitful and productive. They are veryimpressed with the reputation of Thammasat BusinessSchool in general and the BBA International Programin particular. All of them agree at the initial stage tofocus on any possibilities that can get the studentexchange projects off the ground,” said Dr. Somboon.We strongly hope that in a few years to come or, atbest, in the next academic year we can add one ormore of these Schools onto our partner university listfor you to choose from.

BBA International ProgramFaculty of Commerce and AccountancyThammasat University2, Prachan Road, Bangkok 10200 ThailandTel: 66 2225 2113Fax: 66 2225 2107E-mail: tu-bba@tu.ac.thHomepage: www.bus.tu.ac.th/bba/bba.htm

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2nd semester (January 9 - May 21, 2006)

Second Semester Begins January 9, 2006Period of Withdraw W/O Record January 9 - 20, 2006Last day of Refund Fee Request January 27, 2006Mid-Term Examination March 6 - 12, 2006Last Day of Withdraw with “W” March 17, 2006

Last Day of Classes May 7, 2006

Final Examination May 11-21, 2006

Thammasat University

Important Dates

2006 Admission Schedule:Period II

Activities Date

Application submission March 20 - 28, 2006

Application fee due March 20 - 29, 2006

Announcement of qualified candidates for interview April 6, 2006

Interview date April 18 - 20, 2006

For further information, please contact:BBA International Program, Faculty of Commerce and Accountancy, Thammasat University2 Prachan Road, Pranakorn, Bangkok 10200 THAILANDTel. & Fax: 66 2225 2113, 2225 2107 E-mail: tu-bba@tu.ac.th Homepage: www.bus.tu.ac.th/bba/bba.htm