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It is with great pleasure to introduce our fifth edition of Broadsight. The corporate monthly magazine from the Broadgate Financial Group.
Citation preview
July 2013—BROADSIGHT by
Broadgate Financial
BROADSIGHT by
September 2013—Issue 5
September 2013—BROADSIGHT by
Foreword
Dear Readers,
Welcome and thank you for reading the 5th edition of Broadsight, the corporate monthly magazine from the Broadgate Financial Group. As the Business Development Manager at Broadgate I am very excited to let you all know that our continued hard work in recent months is now paying off and those projects in the development stage are now moving towards implementation. This would not have been possible without a proper integration of the business and the HR strategy. Each and every individual in the company knows exactly what they are responsible for and have the necessary tools to ensure that their targets are achieved. “No one can whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra to play it.” H.E. Luccock It’s a pleasure to have this wonderful team around me that’s always there to support whenever required, so thank you very much. As the BDM, I am responsible for looking after various ongoing projects, from our innovative building technology of Litecast and Easy Panel to installing Waste Incinerators for proper disposal of Municipality Solid Waste (MSW) in our energy sector. This leads me on to formally announce the launch of our newest subsidiary Broadgate Energy who’s primary objective is to provide sustainable and renewable energy solutions for South East Asia. Subsequently, we are currently working on an important project that will directly impact on how Thailand will be looked at as a HUB for Renewable energy. Working with one of the largest LED manufacturers, we are on the verge of saving huge amounts of electricity while also meeting Thailand’s energy requirements by providing consultancy for Solar PV and Thermal installations all across Thailand. Do keep yourself updated with Broadgate as we have just started our engines and have a long way to go.
Khuram Gilani
Bussiness Development Manager
September 2013—BROADSIGHT by
News Feed
Industry News Energy
Industry News Plantations
Industry News Construction
Project News Q&A
ISR Free Loading Online
Retailer Contact Information
All of us at Broadgate Financial are pleased to
present you the fifth issue of our Corporate
Magazine: BROADSIGHT. We wanted to make it clear, comfortable to
read and enjoyable. That’s why in each of the
future issues you will find the same guidelines
with:
The hottest news from the previous
month along with upcoming important
issues relating to the business world in
ASEAN and beyond ;
A market report on the most important
aspects of last month’s financial news
provided by the Excelsior Worldwide Ltd
company;
Industry news related to our services in
Plantations, Construction and for the
first time Energy ;
A presentation of one new project
running at Broadgate Financial ;
A Q&A specific to our three industries ;
And finally a presentation of an
Individual Social Responsibility project
run at Broadgate Financial ;
We do hope you will enjoy this magazine as
much as we did compiling it. If you have any
questions or requests, please feel free to
contact us at
In this issue of BROADSIGHT,
Like
September 2013—BROADSIGHT by
News Feed
News Feed
Armstrong Asset Management
commits $30 million for SE
Asia solar and biogas
The company is pairing up with developer Annex Power on the projects in Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore. “We are delighted to be expanding on our strong relationship with the Armstrong Fund whose investment objectives align very well with our own and whose experience in the renewables sector and in Southeast Asia creates many synergies we plan to build on,” said Daniel Gaefke, managing director, Annex Power. Annex has 58MW of installed PV in Thailand already with a further 30MW contracted. Singapore-based Armstrong announced the first investment from its Southeast Asia Clean Energy Fund in May this year taking a 60% stake in six solar PV projects in Thailand with a total capacity of 30MW. The fund is backed by the World Bank's private sector investment arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC). The country recently increased its solar energy target for 2021 from 9.2GW to 13.92GW with 3GW of this to be sourced from PV installations.
http://www.pv-tech.org/
Vietnam internet restrictions
come into effect
A controversial law banning Vietnamese online users from discussing current affairs has come into effect. The decree, known as Decree 72, says blogs and social websites should not be used to share news articles, but only personal information. The law also requires foreign internet companies to keep their local servers inside Vietnam. It has been criticised by internet companies and human rights groups, as well as the US government. Vietnam is a one-party communist state and the authorities maintain a tight grip on the media. Dozens of activists, including bloggers, have been convicted for anti-state activity in the country this year. The new law specifies that social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook should only be used "to provide and exchange personal information". It also prohibits the online publication of material that "opposes" the Vietnamese government or "harms national security".
http://www.bbc.co.uk/
China sets course for lunar landing this year
China set a bold new course in its ambitious space program Wednesday, when it announced plans to land its first probe on the moon by the end of the year. The country's State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence told state media the Chang'e-3 lunar probe had officially entered its launch stage and by the end of the year, China would land a space probe on a celestial body for the first time.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/
Rubber farmers warn of mass protest
Rubber farmers from northern Thailand plan to stage a mass protest on Sept 3 if the government does nothing to prevent rubber prices from sliding further. Farmers had submitted a letter to the government in April, asking it to keep prices of raw rubber sheets at 92 to 98 baht per kg and cut lumps at 85 to 87 baht/kg.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/
'World's largest building'
opens in China The superlatives in China continue -- the latest symbol of China's "bigger is much, much better" ethos is open for business. Located in Chengdu (population 14 million), capital of Sichuan province in southwestern China, the New Century Global Center is the "largest freestanding building in the world," Chinese officials say. Though the words "world's largest" usually bring to mind an image of a towering skyscraper, this project actually isn't all that tall. But it's certainly big. At 500 meters long, 400 meters wide and 100 meters high, the 1.7-million-square-meter mega-structure is capable of housing 20 Sydney Opera Houses and almost three times the size of the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. The Global Center, which opened June 28, is home to business offices, hotels, movie theaters, shopping malls […]
http://edition.cnn.com/
September 2013—BROADSIGHT by
Most equity markets were down in August, especially emerging markets.
Continued speculation around possible Fed tapering worried investors and the
possibility of foreign involvement in Syria added to the negative performance
towards the end of the month. On the macroeconomic front news was much
brighter as China seems to have overcome its recent decline and Europe posted
surprisingly positive data.
After gains in July, world stocks recorded losses on the revival of rumors that the
US Fed will soon cut back its stimulus plans. Although it strongly hinted in its
speeches that it would reduce its bond buying program, Fed chairman Bernanke
remained very evasive on a timescale. This uncertainty led to volatility in the
markets and put downward pressure on stocks. Emerging market equities and
currencies were the hardest hit as massive amounts of capital were pulled out
and repatriated to safer markets.
In contrast to the negative sentiment surrounding financial markets,
macroeconomic data was globally encouraging. The US economy proved its
resilience once again with a better than expected GDP of 2.5% and an increase in
most of its leading economic indicators. Despite federal tax increases and
budget cuts, growth is picking up.
News Feed
Market News
Market Report
Japan on the other hand, had mixed data. It grew slower than expected in the
second quarter but its consumer prices rose at the fastest pace since 2008. Prime
Minister Abe has emphasized a lot on bringing inflation back to Japan after years
of deflation and it seems his policies are bringing results.
The most encouraging news, however, came out of China and Europe. After
several months of negative indicators and clear signs of slowing down, it looks as
though China’s economy is stabilizing. Key indicators such as manufacturing,
industry, retail sales, exports and imports all rebounded sharply during the month
and pointed to the end of the slowdown. Europe also had some surprisingly good
figures. Euro zone growth hit a 26 month high while factories and services
recovered. Economic confidence hit a 17 month high. Nevertheless,
unemployment still holds at a record 12.1% and private sector loans continue to
fall.
We expect volatility to remain strong in the short term. The stimulus issue is very
much on the table and will be until the Fed makes an announcement mid
September.
Excelsior Worldwide Limited is pleased to offer the following
Market Commentary by Sebastien Le Van, head of R&D, to share
his thoughts on global economic developments, market insights
and other factors that may influence investment opportunities
and strategies.
September 2013—BROADSIGHT by
The information set out herein has been obtained from various sources and is by way of information only. The Broadgate Financial Group and Excelsior
Worldwide Ltd can accept no liability of any sort in relation thereto and readers should obtain their own verification of any statement before making any
decision which may have any financial or other impact. Neither the information nor the opinions herein constitute, or are they to be construed as, an offer or
a solicitation of an offer to buy or sell investments.
It is widely expected to announce tapering but as previously said the timescale remains elusive. Until we know more, markets will remain cautious and capital flight from emerging markets could continue. In addition, any positive macroeconomic news could have a negative impact on markets.
In the medium term we are cautiously optimistic. A stronger global economy
will inevitably lead to stronger financial markets and major economies seem
to be on the right track. Recent US data indicate the economy will improve in
the second half of 2013 and China’s recent numbers suggest it will achieve the
government’s target of 7.5% growth. Japan has had encouraging inflationary
results which it needs to build on, while Europe is showing early signs that the
debt crisis could be drawing to a close.
Despite the good news there are still obstacles ahead. The US is set to reach
its debt ceiling in October and Europe has yet to resolve its unemployment
problem which is a drag on growth.
Japan also faces a tough decision regarding a controversial sales tax hike that
could make or break Abe’s ambitious economic reform. Finally, economies
that had been resilient to the global financial crisis, such as Thailand and
Indonesia have recently showed signs of slowing down, in part because of the
withdrawal of foreign capital that these countries rely upon for growth. The
re-emergence of a strong Chinese economy could be the driver that these
emerging countries need, so we will have to monitor how their relationships
progress.
In the long term we remain confident markets will move forward.
September 2013—BROADSIGHT by
In early July, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra tried
to decrease the stress on government funds and cut
the purchase price of rice by 20%, resulting in many
revolts from the farmers in June 2013. Soon after, the
original price was reinstated early July, and Yingluck
continued the rice subsidiary program.
The government started buying rice at 15,000 baht per
ton of rice ($482), which is 50% above the market price.
This program created a loss about $4.4 billion during
the first crop year. If the market price is lower than
15,000 baht, the government makes a loss. On the
other hand, if the market price is higher, then the
government profits. The latter is hard to achieve since
15,000 baht is such a high price compared to past
prices. This monetary loss could even affect Thailand’s
Baa1 credit rating as demand for Thai rice continues to
fall. In order to raise the price of rice, Prime Minister
Yingluck decided to hoard the rice from other
countries; however, this plan failed as rival exporters
such as India and Vietnam lowered their prices while
the Philippines increased its production rates. Thus,
Thailand lost its status as the world’s largest grain
exporter to India.
“promote the sale of Thai rice via government-to-
government channels”. A trip during July to China,
Indonesia, and Iran was planned for this purpose. Once
the 15,000 baht price ends in September, perhaps
another solution for the government would be to end
the subsidiary program and change its policy.
Such a crisis shows how important agriculture is to any
country. Increasing the demand for any product would
greatly help the farmers who work tirelessly to grow
their crops. Broadgate Plantations is also contributing
by taking part in palm oil and corn production. We can
provide various services that cater to farmers as well
as investors. These services include plantation
development planning, financial planning, and
management of an existing plantation.
Kevalin Hutachinda
The Price for Rice Ain’t Right
Industry News
Plantations
Although rice is a main component for Thailand’s exports, farmers sell
their rice to traders at a low price.
The government then encountered another problem—
moldering rice. After hoarding for a long period of time,
the rice began to decay. Having so much rice going to
waste would increase the $4.4 billion loss.
In order to salvage the 17 million tons of rice, the
government decided to spray chemicals onto the rice to
reverse the rotting. These grains of rice are then sold to
Thai citizens, although they don’t know whether or not
the rice is stained with chemicals or not. People have
come up with many solutions to avoid such chemicals—
two of which include avoiding rice altogether or directly
acquiring rice from local farmers.
If the demand for rice in Thailand falls, the government
should lower the price of rice. However, lowering the
price would aggravate the farmers again as they prefer
the rice subsidiary program, which provides a better
living standard for them. Not only is rice held as a
staple for many dishes in the Thai cuisine, but it is also
highly respected as a sacred object and a cultural
identity. Nevertheless, the country’s credit rating is in
jeopardy. Commerce Minister Niwatthamrong
Boonsongpaisal said the government would try to
September 2013—BROADSIGHT by
India is a country that seems to stay out of the news
more than other nations yet looking at their economy
and construction needs it becomes shocking the size of
the numbers involved. India is the worlds 7th largest
country and 2nd most populated and 10th largest in terms
of GDP. This massive economy was achieved through
above average economic growth (5.8% over the last 20
years). However, this economic growth has not
benefited everyone; sadly India also has the highest
concentration of people living in poverty (under
$1.25USD a day). 400 million people or 32.7% of the
country lives in poverty while 96.9% or 1.2 billion people
live on less than $5 a day. Though a lot of these statistics
Implications of India’s Demographics
faster completion of projects and buildings. Not only are
these products lower cost but also much more
environmentally friendly compared to the current
construction materials used in India. The increased
efficiency allows the large housing needs to be filled
quickly and the lower cost allows them to be affordable
for the masses. The government currently has a number
of construction plans but there is still much work to be
done as not many has been completed or even began
construction.
As India’s population grows and the population migrates
to cities, it desperately needsto begin construction of not
only new homes but also affordable homes. India has the
workforce, market and a need but still needs either the
government or the business community to take the lead.
With today’s modern construction materials such as
Easypanel or various precast materials available the
housing problem can be solved in an efficient, cost
effective and environmentally friendly way.
Jason Campbell
India has experienced tremendous growth but this has been unequally shared. The country now has a number
of problems that need to be resolved but with them comes significant opportunities for the future.
seem negative it does mean that solving these problems
represents a significant opportunity for the future. One
of these areas is in construction. With a work force of
488 million people there is no shortage of workers for
infrastructure or construction projects in general. Along
with plenty of workers the market for new homes is
huge. With the middle class estimated to grow to 580
million by 2030, there are plenty of people who will have
interest and finally the money to buy new homes. This
increase in the middle class usually leads to people
shifting where they live. Traditionally a population
migration more to cities occurs. Current estimates
predict a need for 500 million new homes to be built in
the next 10 years due to population growth and
movement to cities. In addition to the future predicted
need of new housing, there is already an affordable
housing shortage of 19 million homes that desperately
needs to be filled.
This type of situation creates a lot of opportunity for
efficient building materials such as Easy Panel that can
take advantage of the large labor force but don’t require
a high skilled labor force. Another area is ready-made
construction materials like precast concrete that allow
Industry News
Construction
September 2013—BROADSIGHT by
Industry News
Energy
Incineration- A Good Investment ?
Industry News
Energy
In 2009, Thailand generated around 41,410 tonnes of waste per day and a total volume of
15.1 million tonnes. Approximately 3.5 million tones from this total is categorized as
“hazardous waste” which is to say waste that contains toxins and chemicals that can
potentially be a threat to public health and the environment. 63% of the total waste in
Thailand is carried out by open dumping, also known as landfill. With this amount of waste
being generated annually, Thailand is aware of the impending dangers and has started to
develop incineration technologies.
Currently a Thai company is planning to invest
20,000,000 THB to build incinerators among
communities that would be equivalent, powerwise to
100 kW. According to the plan, 80 percent of the total
components for constructing the incinerators would
be manufactured locally in Thailand and an intended
model would be capable of burning 6 tons of waste
per day. However, the progress of this project is still
moving in a relatively slow pace due to financial
issues and the unfamiliarity people still have with this
technology.
Building an incineration system is very expensive due
to the high capital cost and the required raw
materials for such a large facility. The construction of
the incinerators requires 15,000,000 THB five months
in advance which has left many companies unable to
complete and expand the project due to the lack of
funds. In addition, Corporations also find difficulties
in sponsoring research in relation to the development
An incineration system is the combustion of organic
matter in garbage to generate electricity. The first
operational incinerator, also called the “don
destructor”, was introduced in 1877, designed and
created by Alfred Fryer, Manlove, Alliott, and Fryer of
Nottingham, England. In 1898, engineer J.H. Maxwell
declared incinerator to be “the most sanitary,
efficient, and in many cases the only means of
satisfactory disposal”. By the mid-20th century,
hundreds of incinerators were installed in the United
States. By the1960s, New York reported the installed
incinerators successfully incinerate annually one-third
of the city’s waste. Nevertheless, it wasn’t until the
1970s when the public discovered the negative
contribution these incinerators had towards water
and air pollution. After the passing of the Clean Air
Act in 1970 the development of incinerators was
controlled because they did not meet the given
standards for the amount of chemicals a plant would
be allowed to release into the atmosphere.
and improvement of incinerators. Moreover,
developers still struggle to find trust and confidence
from people about the effectiveness and safety of
this product.
Nevertheless, ongoing research in regards to
incinerators is focused on how to reduce emissions
and get rid of the harmful ash which is produced
after burning the waste. There are proposals about
using scrubbers and baghouses to resolve these
issues. Scrubbers and baghouses have the ability to
catch and obtain fly ash and residual ash, which
prevents it from reaching the atmosphere and
adversely affecting the environment. Moreover,
studies at Brigham Young University have reported
that scrubbers can reduce up to 86 percent of the
total emissions from incinerators. Therefore, the
innovation of incinerators is still ongoing, and the
potential for making waste into energy still remains
as a viable option for the future.
One of Broadgate Energy’s projects, “Navitas”, aims
to cooperate with local authorities to construct
incinerators for Thai communities.
Chi Kit Cheong
September 2013—BROADSIGHT by
Consequently to the new
Bangkok “green” city plan
covered in the previous
article, it appears that the
construction industry will be
strongly affected in the
future. Let us introduce the
LiteCast panels technology,
Broadgate’s solution to
match the new eco-
standards promoted by the
Thai Green Building Institute.
This month, we had the opportunity to meet Ken Golby, CEO of Excelsior Worldwide
Limited, a fund management company created in 2005, based in Bahamas. Ken Golby
started in the finance industry in 1982. He then moved from consultant to a position of
Managing Director of a national independent brokerage. After some 10 successful years
onshore, Ken moved to Dubai with offshore company Finexco Ltd before finally coming to
Bangkok, Thailand.
Q
A
.
To receive a free copy of our solar fact sheet or report please email us at [email protected]
our consult our new dedicated website : www.broadgateenergy.com
Due to its geographic location near the equator, Thailand has a relatively high
potential to produce solar energy compared to most countries.
Solar energy generated from using 1% of Thailand’s land area is equal to 700
million tons of oil worth of energy. This can account for 400 of Thai citizens’
energy use for the year 2010. Because we are focusing on putting solar panels on
unused rooftops, we are not utilizing land that can be used for other purposes
such as agriculture, industrial, roads and etc. but instead, optimizing unused
areas on rooftops by generating energy passively.
The solar panels used on rooftops are called photovoltaic panels. Basically, these
PV panels generate electricity by using solar cells to convert energy from the sun
into a flow of electrons. Once electricity is generated it is put back into the grid
where the government will purchase it known as the FiT scheme. This FiT scheme
applies to all levels of the community from individual residence homes to large
enterprise buildings totaling 200 megawatts, where the level of tariff is classified
into three levels by the capacity of energy that can be generated from the panels.
The small capacity is at 10kWh or lower, medium at 11kWh – 250kWh, and large at
251kWh and above, where the tariff levels are at 6.96, 6.55, and 6.16 THB
respectively. The scheme will last for 25 years, which will be valid for licenses
applied before end of December 2014.
Broadgate Energy is currently in discussions with interested multinational
companies specializing in solar energy who are willing to take advantage of this
opportunity.
Ken Jayaphorn
Recently the Thai Ministry of Energy has taken the initiative to increase
incentives for solar panel rooftops by using a feed-in tariff (FiT) scheme.
Broadgate Energy has foreseen this opportunity and is now sourcing rooftops
for leasing solar panels in Thailand.
Let The Sun Shine
‘Helios Project’ by England Ireland Japan Thai mUSA Australia India
Project News
September 2013—BROADSIGHT by
Q&A
Meet Nalisa Sitabut from Nalisa Sitabut is currently the Country Manager for 88db. She has shared with us her
opinions on the future and effects of digital technology and social media.Her opinions on the
future and effects of digital technology and social media.
video consoles such as Xbox don’t require remote
control and the no touch technology even expands to
eyeglasses as Google glasses use eye gestures. That’s
how things are going to move forward with digital
technology.The process is very challenging but this
development in technology will change the way we
design our applications, our websites and our
campaigns in the future.
Information and solutions are going to be
Cloudbased. For example you don’t need to carry any
documents nor do you have problems with forgotten
hard drives or memory sticks. You can save things on
the Cloud e.g. Dropbox, iCloud and Google Drive.
However, many organizations and the management
staff need to anticipate loss of data since things will
no longer be kept on the company’s servers.
Lastly, privacy will become a bigger concern
considering that people are tracked and profiled
through their own devices, the applications they use
and their free email service providers.
How essential is webmarketing to a small business?
Very important. Webmarketing is actually a very cost
effective way to bring leads to a business.
Webmarketing is comprised of analytics, SEO,
content, design and conversion. With webmarketing
you don’t need to spend a huge amount of money
like you have to do with mass communications
through traditional media which cannot monitor or
track your ROI. Webmarketing strategies, with a good
use of tools, will allow you to check how many
responses you get from your marketing campaign,
who responds to the campaign, and how many
business leads you receive. By utilizing valuable
statistic data a business can adjust the strategies and
the content quickly to achieve better results. As well,
it has a personal touch which means you can really
target your particular audience so your conversion
rate is high while your cost of sales remains low.
What do you think is going to happen in the future in
regards to social media and digital technology?
Although many people think social media and digital
technology are the same, they are actually separate.
Social media has become a new PR channel that
businesses and organizations can utilize to develop a
strong brand; however, it will prove to be effective
when content is original and has good quality. Good
and interesting content will play a major role in the
success of your social media campaign because it can
create viral effects that people will share and curate
your content. Now in terms of digital technology, it will
become “No Touch”. Touch technology is used
presently but in the near future many devices will
require no touch. For example Siri voice recognition
and Google voice search. Technology will become
gesture based like Samsung’s Air require remote
control and the no touch technology even expands to
eyeglasses as Google glasses use eye Touch. Now even
September 2013—BROADSIGHT by
How do you think about users’ search behaviours these
days and how they may affect website development?
Basically, users search behaviours are changing. They no
longer use a broad term to find what they want, they go
for more specific terms. However, they don’t use a long-
tail one either. For example, users will not search by just
typing “coffee” or “Starbucks” but search more
specifically to what they want such as “Starbucks coffee
Sathorn area.” As a business owner you have to
understand the user’s search intent in order to
understand the keywords they will use. This change does
not make the process harder for the business owner or
the user but rather it requires comprehension of the
users.
Around five or six years ago, site owners could dictate
how the site should look or how the information should
be presented. Nowadays, users dictate how the site
should be and what contents they want to consume and
share. These concepts are called User Interface (UI), User
Experience (UX), and Content Marketing. It is important
to understand that the more people that rate and share
your content, the better your ranking is on Google.
This is the new algorithm that Google just released in Q4
of 2012. So it is now necessary to find out what users
want rather than what you want your website to be like.
The effective way to plan your website information and
interface design is to study your website statistics. Google
Analytics is one of the popular tools you can use in
analyzing your traffic data. This data tells you where the
users came from, what pages they looked at, what
languages they use, what devices they browse with and
even the bounce rate. I highly recommend that you try
not to build a perfect website containing everything you
think people would want but to build one with necessary
features. Then, you can evaluate the website’s
performance and analyze your traffic data in order to
continue to add features and improve the contents based
on users’ search terms, ranking, traffic, time spend on
sites, and conversion target.
Do you think digital technology negatively affects the
younger generations?
So far I can see three effects clearly. First is short
attention span. While students sit in a class a facebook
message pops up or a text message pops up.
Ms. Nalisa Sitabut
September 2013—BROADSIGHT by
88DB :195 Empire Tower II, 26th Floor, Unit 2610, South Sathorn Road, Bangkok 10120.
For further information, please visit their website : www. 88db.com
Their attention spans are short because of these
distractions, but I guess they can practice multi tasking.
If they are distracted but can return to their tasks without
lowering their work quality, then I think that’s fine. You
can’t stop the new generation from technology but as
parents, should show your children how to keep things in
balance and remain attentive among all the distractions
and develop multitasking skills.
Second is lack of social skill. A good example can be seen
at restaurants. Many times you walk into a restaurant
and can easily see families, couples, or friends sitting at a
table, but they are are fully engaged with their phones
online. There is no social mechanism to delay or to hold
back their reactions. Additionally, many young kids and
teenagers have also become self-conscious. They keep
taking pictures of themselves, manipulating those
pictures to look extraordinarily beautiful, sharing those
pictures on social media and then keep watching how
many people will like and share their self-portrait. They
focus so much on themselves such as how they will
look and will be perceived instead ofspending time on
developing their unique qualities such as skills,
experience, and productive attitudes.
instead of spending time talking and sharing moments
together. This is a relatively sad issue prevalent today and
seems to be on the increase.
Third is egoism and a deteriorating positive attitude. An
online channel endorses negativity. People feel tempted to
complain and share bad stories very quickly online. They do
not pay so much attention to the possibility that negativity
can affect others. Furthermore, they care very little about
the consequences. Moreover, a lot of people have a
tendency to believe and encourage negativity. Look online
and see how many negative messages go around. You will
discover a lot of young people really complain about their
schools, their friends, their relationship or even their lives
September 2013—BROADSIGHT by
I S R
The majority of Thai disabled people live in rural areas
and are commonly regarded as unemployable although
this attitude is changing. However, there are still some
organizations established to help and train them to
become more independent. One of these organizations
is Father Ray Foundation.
In 1974, Father Ray Brennan C.ss.R, an American priest
of Redemptorist order, first accepted an unwanted
baby into his care. That act of kindness was the start of
a life of devotion to help the underprivileged in Thai
society. He opened an orphanage and a vocational
school for people with disabilities. There, these people
can find a “home” that was long taken away from them.
In 2012, Minh had the opportunity to visit and provide
help to the organization for several days and especially
to the Redemptorist Vocational school where a lot of
A Day at Father Ray Foundation Father Ray Foundation is a charitable organization loacated in the Thai resort Pattaya. The
foundation provides home, education, food, and so much more for orphans and disabled
people. Minh Do Ngoc, Marketing Support Officer at Broadgate Financial, had the opportunity
to do community service there.
It includes several projects such as teaching English at
the vocational school, helping the nannies at the Day
Care Center or organizing educational activities for the
children.
Chi Kit Cheong
Minh playing with children
If you are interested in encountering a similar experience, please visit Father Ray Foundation website : http://www.fr-ray.org
young adults are taught. Skills learnt include fixing
computers, electronic repairs and English language
skills. There are more than 2,500 adults with disabilities
who have successfully graduated from the school.
Minh reported as well that she met a lot of orphans.
“You would never believe they are disabled. They have a
very strong attitude and make a lot of efforts to learn in
order to get equality and acceptance from the society”.
She also said that the children have varying disabilities,
such as autism. ‘’They can get very protective and
aggressive as people get too close to them. Therefore, I
needed to be very patient in communicating and
relating to them”.
For many years, The Father Ray Foundation has
welcomed many volunteers especially foreigners who
want to assist in improving the lives of these children.
September 2013—BROADSIGHT by
Article
Freeloading Online Retailers
The retail landscape has changed dramatically with the development of the
internet. This change has created a unique system where online retailers are
benefiting by the advertising of their competition and as a result become more
competitive. Traditional retails are beginning to fail make a alternative to the
current system desperately needed.
so willing to purchase the product on Amazon.I
would have been unable to truly see the quality of
the TV, see the comparisons next to each other,
test it, or easily ask questions to a sales person.
All of these thoughts would make me significantly
less likely to purchase a bigticket item online, but
instead I did, as a result of Amazon’s competitor.
The actions of Amazon’s competition help drive
the sales to them and allow Amazon to save
money and, thereby always have the lowest price.
This current system is very interesting; however,
for a big reason and that is the big box retailers
are starting to go bankrupt. Circuit City has
already gone bankrupt and Best Buy is currently
experiencing problems and is in need of a turn
around. Amazon does not need to pay for
The retailing space has seen a dramatic shift of
business from the once dominant big box
retailers (Best Buy, Circuit City) to the new
online companies (Amazon, Alibaba). As a
consumer, I clearly see the benefits of online
companies. They offer convenient services by
allowing consumers to browse through many
diverseproducts from home and, most
importantly, low prices. What most people,
myself included, often forget is the benefit of
the big box retailers such as the ability to see the
product, test it in use, ensure quality, and know
it is what we want. In today’s economy this
benefit provided by the big box retailers sadly
does not benefit them but instead the online
retailers such as Amazon. Allow me to provide
an example below. I want to buy a new big
screen TV and naturally want the lowest price;
thus, I go to my local big box retailer to see
what they offer and at what price. While I am at
the store,I am able to see a comparison among
different models and ask the sales person any
questions I have. After I have seen enough, I
decide I want the 80 inch Sharp Aquos ($3,799),
I return home to compare the prices between
different stores, and, as what normally
happens; Amazon has the lowest price ($3,400).
Of course I buy it from Amazon and am very
happy since I acquired exactly what I wanted for
the cheapest price. However, let’s examine
what happened here further. If I were unable to
go to a big box retailer, I would not have been
September 2013—BROADSIGHT by
box retailers. Assuming however, the demise of
big box retailers, Amazon will need to offer
some sort of program or method to improve
the customers experience or interaction with a
product prior to purchase. They will also need
to find a way to increase consumer’s exposure
to the latest and coolest electronics to help
drive demand. If Amazon does not do any of
these actions then one possible future would
be one where manufacturers sell directly to
consumers and thus can reduce prices further
and we eliminate yet another middle man in
the supple chain.
Jason Campbell
I know that without seeing the latest technology
in person and being able to test it out, I have a
significantly weaker desire to purchase the
product. Also other big-ticket items pose to be
too large of a financial risk to essentially blindly
order solely based off user reviews. The only
possible solution I can think of would involve
manufacturers setting set pricing for their
products to level the field.
This method would appear drastic and would
most likely pose little benefit to manufacturers
as much as merely tax consumers to save big
expensive store real estate, sales people, or
marketing campaigns. This current system is
very interesting; however, for a big reason and
that is the big box retailers are starting to go
bankrupt. Circuit City has already gone bankrupt
and Best Buy is currently experiencing problems
and is in need of a turn around. The reason this
is so important is due to the fact that we do not
know how a disappearance will impact Amazon’s
sales. Naturally we want to assume that the
decline of big box retailers will help the online
companies, but I do not believe this relationship
to be as clear as we like to assume.
September 2013—BROADSIGHT by
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Contributing authors :
Khuram Gilani
Sebastien Le Van
Kevalin Hutachinda
Jason Campbell
Chi Kit Cheong
Ken Jayaphorn
Do Ngoc Minh
Many thanks to :
Nalisa Sitabut
The views and opinions expressed in this magazine are those of authors and do not necessarily reflect
the official postition of The Broadgate Financial Group.