Thailand & Bangkok Business Tips
Thailand can be a highly rewarding, as well as a highly frustrating place to do business. Most Thais are keen to have their nation join the ranks of fully developed countries. They love to learn about the practices and technology of the West, yet they can stubbornly refuse to believe ideas that work effectively all over the world will work in Thailand. "This is Thailand" is the often-used excuse when people ask why things are done differently here. To help you get by if you're visiting Thailand on business, here are some of the things we've learned from working in Bangkok for more than a dozen years:

Time & Working Hours
Normal business hours are the same in Thailand as in most other countries. It's still common for many companies to work a half day on Saturdays. However, it is highly unusual for Thais to request a business meeting on Saturdays. In general, Thais do not worry as much about being on time as Americans or most other westerners.

Thais do not take long annual vacations, as westerners do. Most of them will not take more than a day or two off per year. However, there are a number (about 15 days in all) of public holidays on which almost all offices will be closed. You should be aware of upcoming holidays and avoid scheduling your visit around these times. Note that many of the holidays are based on the lunar calendar, so their dates will change from year to year.

Although annual leaves are uncommon, there are still some times of year that are best avoided. The worst time to visit is the first half of April. Chakri Day falls on 6 April, and then from 13 to 15 April is the Thai New Year (Songkran) Holiday. With weekends, everything comes to a complete halt for up to five days. Many Bangkok residents escape the city for the provinces, leaving the capital practically empty. The first week in May should also be avoided, as both the 1st and 5th are holidays.

Meetings, Appointments and Traffic: Although traffic in Bangkok is not quite as bad as it was ten years ago, the time it takes to get from one place to another can still be unpredictable. Generally, being up to a half hour late for an appointment is not unusual, nor cause for alarm. Bangkok has no real central business district where most companies are located. In fact, the trend in recent years has been for many large companies to move to more suburban locations. Given this situation, it is almost unheard of to be able to fit more than two meetings in one day, unless the third is over dinner. Appointments will usually be made at 10:00 in the morning or 2:00 in the afternoon. Breakfast meetings are unheard of, in part because most Thais don't eat breakfast as well as the problem of sending the kids to school. Many office workers with kids have to send their kids to school, often making them a little late for work.

Class & Respect
Although there has been a backlash of sorts in recent years to some of the abuses engaged in by the rich and powerful, Thais in general are still very class conscious. Age and appearance are still used by people from almost every walk of life to determine how they will react to strangers. A light-skinned Westerner in a business suit almost automatically commands a great deal of respect. If they're gray-haired as well, they might well think they've been mistaken for Bill Gates.

Such respect means you'll be listened to and treated well, but this form of respect is a double-edged sword: You may not be given information or told things that disagree with what you have suggested. Many a foreign manager has been tripped up by the Thai practice of avoiding telling the boss bad news.

Dress
Most businesses observe somewhat formal Western style dress codes. Dress shirts and ties are standard for almost all male employees. Full suits (with jackets) are common for business meetings with upper management.

Negotiations, Contracts & Payments
Please note that the following section is based on my own experiences doing business in Thailand for more than a dozen years, as well as the advice I've gotten from others over the years. This advice is not meant to deter you, only to caution you about some of the challenges you might face doing business in the "land of smiles." (Michael)

Contacting and negotiating with Thai companies can be one of the biggest challenges in doing business in Thailand. The primary issue is usually lack of English skills. Many companies may not have anyone with the skills to communicate in English. If they do, you may end up talking to someone without any knowledge of the person or group you're actually trying to contact, and of course no ability to take decisions for them.

Even once contact is made, don't expect negotiations to proceed very fast. You may have exactly what your prospect needs, or be able to demonstrably save them lots of money, but the need to have a consensus in most organizations tends to slow things down. A further complication may involve the need to "test" your product or service for its usability. The usability may seem obvious to you, and even other cultures that you've dealt with, but as noted above, Thais tend to be quite skeptical about the applicability of a product or process that works well everywhere else. A big contributing factor in this is the Thai educational system, which relies almost entirely on memorization, and practically discourages problem-solving. The result in business is that Thais often won't believe that a product will work for them unless you show them doing exactly what they want it to do.

Contracts are another area to exercise extreme caution. You may not have any significant problems negotiating contracts, but your worries aren't necessarily over once you get the signature. You may find that key provisions of the contract are partly, or even completely, ignored even though the Thai company appeared to pay close attention to them when negotiating the agreement. The problem stems from a fairly fundamental cultural difference between Thais and westerners. In the west, we're taught from a very young age that promises are very important, and keeping promises is something one must do (well, except for politicians). For Thais, a promise (and a contract) is treated more like a statement of intent. It's not that they're agreeing to do things that they really have no intention to follow through with. Instead, it's usually a case of finding out later that what they agreed to is more difficult than they anticipated, or costs more than they thought, or simply proves "inconvenient" to follow through with. This inability to plan and anticipate is a very common factor in the failure of many projects.

Getting paid is the last, and often the most frustrating, hurdle to doing business in Thailand. As with contracts, the problem is rarely one of actual attempts to avoid paying obligations. The reality is that Thais, much like the rest of us, just don't like paying their bills. Companies have evolved large bureaucracies both to delay payments as long as possible as well as to try and get around these tactics. The most common delaying tactic is to have fixed payment dates, usually no more than two a month. They will not pay invoices until the next payment date after the invoice due date. Using this method they can stretch 30 days credit to as much as 60 days. A further tactic that may delay payment, if you don't know about it, is the fact that Thai companies will not send you a check. To get paid, you have to go collect the money from the company, on the specified date only. Thai companies employ armies of motorcycle riders whose sole job is to go around submitting invoices and collecting payment. The cost of all this bureaucracy to the Thai economy must be enormous, but it's another curious aspect of Thai culture that nobody questions it. Needless to say, if you are exporting to Thailand and expect a Thai company to transfer payment overseas to you, it is strongly advised that you insist on a letter of credit so that you can be paid promptly.

Getting Help Doing Business in Thailand
Now that we've gotten the bad news out of the way, we do want you to know there is some good news: There are people and places where you can get help doing business in Thailand. Most people are unaware that their tax dollars fund trade representatives at foreign embassies, whose job it is to help their companies export goods and services. These people can prove valuable first contacts in any new country, as can local chambers of commerce:

American Chamber of Commerce in Thailand
The American Chamber maintains a library of useful books on doing business in Thailand as well as reports written by member companies. Their directory of member companies may also provide useful first contacts.
US Commercial Service
The Commercial Service, which is part of the United States embassy to Thailand, is charged with helping American companies export goods and services to Thailand. You can contact them to arrange screenings and meetings with prospective Thai partners. It's your tax dollars at work, so best make the most of them.
British Chamber of Commerce in Thailand
The British chamber can provide useful contacts for UK companies wishing to do business in Thailand.
Thai - Canadian Chamber of Commerce
As with the other chambers, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce can help Canadian companies wishing to do business with Thailand.
Australian Chamber of Commerce
Australian companies should touch base with the Australian Chamber if they wish to do business in Thailand.
AusTrade
AusTrade is the Australian government's commercial service, tasked with helping Australian businesses export goods and services to the rest of the world.

Business Hotels & Meetings
Getting around Bangkok is difficult enough that choosing the right location to stay is very important. We've drawn up a list of Bangkok business hotels to give you some ideas. However, before making any decision, be sure to check whether or not your preferred hotel is near where you have business. Otherwise, you may find yourself commuting several hours to and from your meetings.

Bangkok can be a highly attractive venue for regional business meetings. The city is a major air transport hub, easily reachable from other Asian business centers as well as major cities all over the world. Add the competitive hotel rates in with the many entertainment options the city affords, and it's quite easy to convince people to meet in Bangkok.

Business Lounges
One might say, with a bit of tongue in cheek, that one of the best places to do business in Bangkok is the airport. There are a large number of very nice business lounges available at Don Muang International Airport with meeting rooms, good food and they are the only places in all of Bangkok where you'll find free internet.

What an excellent article for anyone wanting to do business in Thailand. Even I, who isn`t in that category, found this post interesting with that informative glimpse into the Thai way of doing things in business matters.