Monday in Bangkok

Monday morning we began the educational portion of our International Field Study experience with a breakfast meeting at our hotel with the President of GM in South East Asia, Mr. Steve Carlisle. GM, outside of US, is the fastest growing brand. There many Thai government sponsored initiatives to reduce pollution, and as a result GM is fast developing cars with alternate fuel solutions. There was a really big GM display right near our hotel, with about 10 different model GM cars, expected to be in production by 2010. Steve talked about how fast the GM brand has taken off in South East Asia and about their plant in Thailand. Average age in the plant is 32 years old, and the automation level is much lower than in USA.

After the GM meeting, we met with a representative of the US Embassy, Mr. Nalin, at the hotel. He talked about the various ways the Embassy can help someone adjust to life and business in Thailand. The population of Thailand is 66 million people, with 6 million in Bangkok. The average per capita income is $4,500. Thailand's key industries are tourism, agriculture, automobile manufacturing and computer manufacturing. The top exports are rubber, rice, gems and jewelry. The unemployment rate is an amazingly low 1.5%.

After the US Embassy meeting we boarded our buses on the way to DP University. I could spell out the name, but nobody would be able to pronounce it anyway. ;-) The ride over was about an hour, and on the way you see many pictures of the King and Queen. As you're driving through the neighborhoods you see some that are very nice and brand new looking and then right next to those are old and dirty buildings. Apparently 20 years ago the tallest building in Bangkok was 4 stories, and now you see high rises and top class hotels everywhere. But right in front of the hotels are street vendors, selling just about anything you can imagine. Some parts of Bangkok remind me a lot of Manhattan, while others are a copy of Brooklyn NY. According to some of the Thai speakers we have had so far, the Thai's are not very innovative people, but are really good at copying things. Therefore you see a lot of similar looking infrastructure and a ton of various knock-off items, such as Rolex watches, Armani belts, etc. The streets and roads are modern looking with a wide variety and A LOT of vehicles, ranging from Honda Civic's to Lexus SUVs.

DPU is celebrating its 40^th anniversary this year, and currently has about 20,000 students total. There are approximately 1200 students in the graduate programs. They offer and MBA and have recently began a DBA program, which stands for Doctorate of Business Administration. They served us a traditional Thai lunch and them we met with some of their former graduates and entrepreneur's. We met a gentleman who works for a telecom company, and he talked to us about the way the telecom industry works in Thailand. Every company has to lay its own telephone lines!

We met a lady named Nicky, who used to work as an airline attendant, and now owns a software company that specializes in health services software. She has 40 employees and is one of the biggest health software companies in Thailand. She is also studying to receive her DBA from this university. The DBA program is a challenging one, with an intense focus on International Business. The instructors are all from over-seas and the program is very intensive. They have very strict requirements for completion, and currently have about a 40% drop-out rate.

After our DPU meeting we returned to the hotel and met as a group to de-brief our scavenger hunt lessons learned. It was very interesting to hear the different perspectives and the various proud moments experienced by the groups. Although we ended up not having time to see what everyone was able to find during their search, I think the overall objective was met. This concluded the educational portion of our day.

Last night I went out with some of the people in the executive class and we went to a Thai restaurant and then to the “Patpong” district, which is also known as the “Night Market”. This place is really crazy and indescribable. There are go-go bars and massage parlors on each side, and boutiques all in between. The merchants are selling lighters, t-shirts, luggage, fake watches, etc. They are easy to approach, but seem to have a slight problem with counting money. Either that or they must think we are dumb tourists. Every price that you get, you have to divide by 5 and begin from there. Having been in Bangkok for 3 days now, I was very worn out and returned around midnight to the hotel.