informa october 2012

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Contents

Cover StoryOspitalita’ Italiana meets F&B Committee

TICC News

LifestyleBangkok: a NEW Vibrant Center of Contemporary Art

Business FocusAn Insight on the Thai Labor MarketWhat companies have to deal with to keep employees motivated

Legal IssueThe Intellectual Property Challenge 3-D Printing

The Embassy of ItalyEUNIC Fantastique! European Union National Institutes for Culture

Italian Trade Commission Trade Between Thailand and Italy

TICC Events

TICC Fairs & Upcoming Events

Member Area

MOVIEMOV 2012 A Look Behind the Lens…Tongpong Chantarangkul, the Director of “I Carried You Home”

InterviewNatuzzi: From Italy with comfort

Technology3D Printing: Revolutionary New Technology

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Mr. Giovanni Quaratesi has joined the Thai Italian Chamber of Commerce (TICC) as Secretary General, replacing Sandro Zanello effective September 1. TICC thanks Sandro for his great work in the past three years and wishes him good luck in his new career in Bangkok.

ITALIAN LANGUAGE COURSES Two ITALIAN LANGUAGE COURSES are offered by the Dante Alighieri Association (La Dante), a non-profit organization for Italian language and culture promotion. The two courses will start on Tuesday, November 6th, 2012 at the Thai-Italian Cham-ber of Commerce (TICC), 16th floor, Vanit II Building, 1126/2 Petchburi Road (accessible from BTS, Ploenchit Station). The two courses are “True Beginners” and “Say it in Italian: travel, food, fun”. Classes will meet twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. for five weeks; the course fee is 4,000 baht, discounted to 3,500 baht for La Dante and TICC members. Classes are limited to ten students. Classes are taught by instructors who have graduated from Italian universities and are experienced in teaching Italian as a foreign language. La Dante also offers individual lessons and conversation classes. For reservations or additional information please contact [email protected] or call 082-4490598. The Dante Alighieri Association Committee

TICC NEWS

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Ospitalita’ Italiana meets F&B Committee

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Thailand has one of the lowest levels of unemployment in the world. It is a fast growing country in one of the most dynamic regions of the world: Southeast Asia. This being said, the Thai labor market is colorful and multifaceted. It is a workforce with different competencies, qualifications and levels of experience.

By Narciso Podda narcisopodda @ hotmail.it

Strengths (and weaknesses), op-portunities (and threats). The Thai

labor market has the right mix, for both local and multinational corpora-tions, to succeed (or fail) in domestic and international markets. It all de-pends on how employers select and manage the most important factor of production: the workforce. “When looking to hire local staff, the three main aspects that firms have to consider are: Thai’s high economic activity, wages and benefits, and cultural differences,” says Mr. Sim-one Spina, of Legal & Commercial Services Int. Co. Ltd. With his many years of experience as a consultant for Italian firms that want to access the Thai market, Mr. Spina has good recommendations for future employers. Because of the high level of economic growth and investments from Thai and many multinational corporations, Thailand’s unem-ployment rate stands at around 1% (nothing compared to that in Italy at the moment). “It’s very easy for Thais to leave a job and find a new one fairly quickly. One of the main prob-lems for Italian companies is the high level of turnover,” pointed out Mr. Spina. Ms. Aline Boulom, Head of the Human Resources Department for one of the major global providers of Integrated Piping Solu-tions (Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Industries), confirms this: “Being a family business, we do experience turnover problems only to a certain extent. But generally it is true that high turnover is quite common in Thailand. Workers, office staff or even managers often accept employ-ment when in fact they are still searching for a better offer somewhere else at the same time. We lose a lot of employees in the weeks or months following the recruitment.” To avoid this, Mr. Spina suggests to lever-age wages and other kind of benefits in hiring

and keeping employees within the company. “We always advise our clients to focus on ben-efits and other forms of compensation based on results, rather than on a fixed salary.” Particular attention should be given to this aspect considering that, when looking for qualified personnel, salary becomes one the most important topics, according to Mr.Andrea Gallucci, founder and Managing Director of DigithaiGroup (software solutions): “I have noticed that they tend to change employer fairly quickly when they have the opportunity to receive also a slightly higher salary. And in our sector they can do it quite easily because there is a high demand of expert and specialized employees, but few meet all of the character-istics needed.” Being a big multinational corporation won’t make a big difference, as Ms. Boulom

to cultural differences, therefore adaptable and interactive in a multicultural environment both with seniors and other co-workers”. However, this positive hierarchical adapta-tion can have negative implications in some environments, as Ms. Boulom noticed. “Thais main strength is definitely their positive thinking and the fact that they don’t like conflicts. It is of great value in daily work and especially in situations of stress and pressure. However, to value seniority so highly, to hesitate or even refuse to tell anything that could make a more senior employee feel uncomfortable, (although cannot be qualified as a weakness socially speaking) can create difficulties working in a Western thinking model.” But what are employers really looking for when selecting a candidate? Among senior and top positions, companies search for en-

trepreneurial thinking, the ability to find new ideas, and creativity. Experience alone seems not to be enough to guar-antee positions of command, according to an analysis of contracts in hand by PPL Recruitment Partners Company Ltd., a recruiting company founded by Mr. Fabio Di Gioia and chaired by Nigel Donald. Competencies and responsibili-ties, therefore salary, vary on each spe-cific case, mainly sectors, positions and size of companies. “Also for entry-level positions, motivation seems to be one of the most valuable asset that companies required candidates to have”, says Mr. Donald.

Regarding future prospects for the Thai labor market, particular attention should be given on assessing the real impact, on Thai economy, of the policy decision to increase minimum wages in Bangkok +40% to 300 baht a day. A policy that, according to promises by the current government, will be implemented national wide in the next few years. Increase of disposable income is good for consumption and economic growth, but it also mean more costs for companies and pressure on inflation. The real impact will be determined by the ability of the Thai production system to withstand this spike in wage and continue to be competitive on international markets (exports account for the higher share of GDP). Among the major factors that society and policy makers have to solve are: a low level of English proficiency, a large portion of youth with a low level of education, and an oversup-ply in certain qualifications with lack in others, according the last quarterly report by the Thai National Economic and Social Development Board.

So here’s to you Thailand!Keep working hard!

An Insight on the Thai Labor Market:What companies have to deal with, from the selection process onward

confirms: “Currently there are more companies looking for human resource than people looking for jobs. Available specialized employees are not only scarce, they also have a large choice of offers and can opt for the most attractive one, the best combination of benefits”. But hiring someone and finding the appropriate cost/efficient salary for specific competencies is only half of the job for an employer. Man-aging cultural differences and creating a nice working environment are also very important, especially when local staff has to deal with foreigners. A misunderstanding or something not said in a proper way can easily became a source of conflict, and make the employee no longer feel good about working in that environment. As already said, quitting and looking for something else, somewhere else, won’t be that difficult. However, because of the characteristics of Thai society, this situation doesn’t seem to be that common. “In our company we did not ex-perience any cultural related problems,” noted Mr. Alessandro Benetti, an employer with one of the major European manufacturing compa-nies in Bangkok, global leader in its industry. “Our Thai staff proved to be social and open

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INTERVIEW

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Description

2011 2011 (Jan.-Jun.) 2012 (Jan.-Jun.) 2011 2011 (Jan.-Jun.) 2012 (Jan.-Jun.) 2011 2011 (Jan.-Jun.) 2012 (Jan.-Jun.)

Total Trade 457,316.18 226,025.75 234,869.57 20.91 25.36 3.91 100 100 100

Export 228,825.28 114,519.85 112,264.63 17.16 23.1 -1.97 100 100 100

Import 228,490.91 111,505.90 122,604.94 24.91 27.76 9.95 100 100 100

Trade Balance 334.37 3,013.94 -10,340.31

Total Trade 3,966.67 2,093.84 1,851.59 25.24 27.79 -11.57 0.87 0.93 0.79

Export 1,866.83 1,031.16 766.95 9.29 17.32 -25.62 0.82 0.9 0.68

Import 2,099.84 1,062.68 1,084.64 43.93 39.9 2.07 0.92 0.95 0.88

Trade Balance -233.01 -31.52 -317.69

Trade Summary between Thailand and Italy

Thailand - Italy

Value: Million US$ Growth Rate (%) Share (%)

Thailand - World

Exports Structure

Description


Total 1,866.80 1,031.20 766.9 9.29 17.32 -25.62 100 100 100

1. Agricultural products 338.2 202.1 127.2 25.04 54.36 -37.07 18.12 19.6 16.58

2. Agro-industrial products 287.1 98.3 93.5 72.07 23.25 -4.96 15.38 9.54 12.19

3. Principle manufacturing products 1,228.90 721.6 545.7 -2.97 8.43 -24.37 65.83 69.98 71.15

4. Mining and fuel products 0.1 0.1 0.1 -65.94 -60.53 50.08 0.01 0.01

5. Others (special transaction: articles, 12.6 9.1 0.5 204.23 250.82 -94.39 0.67 0.88 0.07


Imports Structure

Description


Total 2,099.80 1,062.70 1,084.60 43.93 39.9 2.07 100 100 100

1. Fuel lubricants 0.9 0.4 0.6 -4.2 -18.16 43.34 0.04 0.04 0.06

2. Capital goods 1,069.70 556.2 599.2 56.14 47.94 7.74 50.94 52.33 55.24

3. Raw materials and intermediate products 543.9 267 233.6 27.57 24.86 -12.51 25.9 25.13 21.54

4. Consumer goods 434 212.4 223.7 38.03 37.28 5.31 20.67 19.99 20.63

5. Vehicles and transport accessories 41.4 20.6 24.9 62.96 63.84 21.04 1.97 1.94 2.3

6. Arms, munitions used in official services and 9.9 6 2.5 47.41 207.32 -57.85 0.47 0.57 0.23


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Exhibitions In Italy Detail Date Venue/Website

73° PITTI IMMAGINE BIMBO Fashion January/June www.pittimmagine.comFlorence

VICENZA ORO and T-GOLD International Exhibition of Gold, Jewellery, Silverware, Watches and Gemstones.

January/May/June/September

www.vicenzaoro.itVicenza

MILANO MODA DONNA Ladies' wear February-March/September

www.cameramoda.itMilan

FIERAVICOLA International Poultry and Rabbit Fair April www.fi eraforli.itForlì

ROMA CAVALLI International Equestrian and Horse Racing Exhibition April www.romacavalli.it

Rome

MILAN FURNITURE FAIR April www.cosmit.itMilan

Exhibitions In Thailand Detail Date Venue/Website

Bangkok International Gift & Bangkok International Houseware October Fair 2012

Gift & Houseware Trade: 16 – 19 Oct. 2012Public: 20 – 21 Oct. 2012

BITEC, Bangkok, Thailandwww.bigandbih.com

In-Cosmetics Asia Bangkok Personal care ingredients 6 – 8 Nov. 2012 Hall 101 - 102, BITEC

Thailand Health and Beauty Show 2012

Trade 7 – 9 Nov 2012 Public10 – 11 Nov 2012

Bangkok International Trade &Exhibition Centre (BITEC), Bangkok,

Thailand International Education Expo (TIEE 2012) 22 – 24 February 2013

Royal Paragon Hall, Siam Paragon, Bangkok,www.thailandeducationfair.com

Date Events Location

October

11 Fri. Food and Beverage Committee TICC

November

15 Thu. Aperitivo Italiano – Networking Event with the Irish Chamber of Commerce To be confi rmed

December

7 Fri. EU Networking Event To be confi rmed

13 Thu. Bridge of Hope – Charity Dinner 2012 SC Park Hotel

informa october 2012

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