Economic Developments, Business Culture and its Links to Business Practice: Is There a Thai Style of Management?

It is widely thought that East Asian culture has contributed to the rapid growth of the area. Paradoxically, the financial crisis and slowdown in the late 1990s may be attributed to some of the same cultural factors. This paper summarizes the results of a survey study of business culture and practice in Thailand. From the perspective of economics, we hypothesize that business practices are related to, but can be distinguished from, broad cultural considerations. Many respondents believe that Thai firms practice a Thai style of management based on Asian cultural values. This involves top-down centralized management, compromise, personal relationships, and less focus on formal performance measures than in Western-managed firms. This appears to be a culture-specific matter although it may also be related to the prevalence of family-owned or controlled firms in the region. The business practices observed may have been helpful in the socio-legal setting that prevailed during the East Asian boom, but they may have contributed to the financial crisis and they may be a barrier to adjustment in the future.

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