Thai service culture

[Snick]

From the Wall Street Journal

http://online.wsj.co...=googlenews_wsj

Those who argue this will be Asia's century tend to look to China as the model and engine of growth. Maybe they ought to look towards Thailand instead.

Thailand's other way is apparent from the moment you arrive. It would be hard to believe there is a more efficient, pleasant and better run international airport than Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi, especially coming from London's Heathrow, which seems the antithesis of friendly efficiency.

Of course, Suvarnabhumi is modern and designed to a sensible plan, whereas Heathrow is more like... Bangkok: a hotch potch of old and new, some of which works well while other bits creak and crumble. But the Thai gateway's principle strength has less to do with the quality of infrastructure than a vital component that is sorely lacking at London's main airport--a service culture. Indeed, this service culture pervades Thailand more generally and often compensates for where the country clearly shows its status as a still developing economy.

Whatever the source of the deservedly famous Thai service culture--be it Bangkok's historic role as an important regional trade center or the country's majority Buddhist religion--it is a huge and generally underrated asset. Economists find it hard to measure service quality, whereas counting widgets is easy. So the Chinese economic boom looks particularly miraculous because the cubic miles of concrete poured and the metric tonnes of steel are readily quantified. Never mind that this was also the case during the Stalinist and Maoist economic "miracles", which later were found to be enormously wasteful misallocations of resources.

This is relevant because the Thais have found a means of putting that exceptional hospitality to good use, not just in its well established holiday industry but also in specialized service sectors like medical tourism. Thai hospitals specializing in catering for foreigners offer at least the equivalent of top American or European facilities and expertise, usually at half and sometimes a quarter of the cost. Doctors tend to have been trained in the U.S. or the U.K., technology is top of the line and nursing care is unparalleled. The reasons it is cheaper, especially than in the U.S., is that wages are lower, malpractice insurance is lower and facilities are run at full efficiency. High-tech scanners and lab equipment are run at full capacity, round the clock, except for normally scheduled downtime for servicing.

Meanwhile, the opening up of Burma and Laos, as well as Southern China and Vietnam, are bound to increase Bangkok's importance as a regional hub for any number of service industries.

Although much is made of China's manufacturing prowess, it's worth noting the rise of industrial robot technology. China's competitive advantage hitherto has been the cheapness of its work force. But as robots increasingly supplant workers, much of this manufacturing will return to the industrialized countries that demand the goods being produced--it will be closer to the specialist technicians who can maintain and run the capital equipment and cut out the cost of transporting the goods to their markets.

Specialist service providers--be they international legal and financial franchises in the City of London or medical care in Bangkok--will maintain their competitive advantage much longer.

Will Thailand continue to have a high quality supply of labour to fulfill this function? Unemployment is already running at a mere 1%, but this could be due to measurement issues as well as the high proportion--some 40%--of the workforce devoted to agriculture. Overstaffing seems a problem in some places, while expats complain about inefficiency and about the Thai habit of not giving notice when they leave jobs.

On the other hand, Thais are entrepreneurial. It only takes a walk down a Bangkok street to see quite how true this is. Indeed, Bangkok's busy, almost chaotic streets are likely to be a breeding ground for innovation. Certainly, the Thais do a thriving business in imitation if not outright copyright infringement.

Thailand, of course, has its imperfections. Although most of the country is accepting of other cultures and religions--viz the Thai habit of having animist temples for house spirits, bowing to Hindu deities and displaying garish Father Christmases all the while professing Buddhist faith--in the south there is religious strife between Muslims and Buddhists.

And although the country seems well tempered on the surface, there is considerable resentment among the rural poor of Bangkok's rich. The riots of three years ago are still fresh in the memory, as are many of the grievances.

And yet Thailand seems to be on a healthy progression towards development; more so than, say, China. As long as the progression from the current beloved king, the world's longest serving monarch, to his less popular son runs smoothly, there will probably be a strong enough bond among the Thais to overcome near-term difficulties in its drive for development.

This is an opinion column by Alen Mattich, who has been a columnist for Dow Jones for more than a decade. Write to him at alen.mattich@dowjones.com or on Twitter @AlenMattich

[xyzzy]

From the Wall Street Journal

http://online.wsj.co...=googlenews_wsj

Thailand's other way is apparent from the moment you arrive. It would be hard to believe there is a more efficient, pleasant and better run international airport than Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi, especially coming from London's Heathrow, which seems the antithesis of friendly efficiency.

Of course, Suvarnabhumi is modern and designed to a sensible plan,

Yes I particularily like the area between the front doors and the ticket counters at Swampy that is often so crowed it's sometimes hard to move around and you must constantly shift your course to avoid other passangers. Along with those sometimes looong walks to/from the gates. Heathrow must be really phucked up.

[ciobha]

Heathrow (terminals 1 to 4) is a shithouse Snick. It is so dirty even the rats wear overalls.

[Rickshaw]

Somehow, I have never associated Thai culture with customer service.To me, great customer service cuts in when something goes wrong. My experience on Thailand when this happens is:

1. nobody but the boss is empowered to make a decision and
   
2. in order to make a decision, the boss have to admit something has gone wrong; at this point, face can be lost and so it is far easier to pretend that nothing is wrong in the first place or, if it is, it's your fault.
   

I know that this is a massive generalisation, but overall, it has been my experience. As a result, unless it is a major catastrophe, I try to smile and move on rather than to get them sort the problem out. Which is not great customer service to my mind.

[pacman]

The WSJ article makes a series of points that are correct but when it comes to true customer service, I agree completely with Rick. Once the Thais lose control of a situation & are about to be embarrassed, they go into complete denial. Up to that point, they are very good, watch out for when they have to think for themselves.

[Snick]

Cute Girls,Pretty displays,Nice smiles,No Service.

A few things I have noticed over the years, Thais will go to extra-ordinary lengths to not do something. I've had many cases where a Thai has taken 30 minutes to explain why they can't do a 2 minute task.

Going into a department store you ask where is X, and as soon as you turn around to look where the saleperson was pointing the person is running away. Needless to say, X was not where they were pointing.

If something needs approving, no one will do it. Its a hot potato, everybody says the next person needs to approve and you eventually get back to the first person.

These are generalizations of course, going back to point 1, I called Thai Air one day to use frequent miles and I got 20 minutes of Mai Dai ( Can't Do ), the next day same thing, the next day got the most helpful operator who gave me all the times available on the days requested, confirmed everything and it all went fine.

[Tomcat]

  Heathrow must be really phucked up.

 

If you travel cattle class most airports are bad news. I have an American Airlines Lounge pass for Heathrow and its sweet as can be. No hassle. Terminal 3 has been upgraded and its a busy airport but i dont have any issues. All airports have bad days dont they

 

Try checking into Hong Kong in Mid October... 2 hours wait and no fast track available.. nice airport but lousy service at immigration... Nil Pois

 

Swampy is very good i must say and i never had any issues there.