June Advance 2013

www.austchamthailand.comA MONTHLY PUBLICATION OF THE AUSTRALIAN-THAI CHAMBER OF COMMERCE IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE AUSTRALIA THAILAND BUSINESS COUNCILJune 2013

EMBASSY NEWS “Food Safety…Let’s Get Started”

CHAMBER EvENTS Bangkok Sundownersat the Conrad Bangkok

12 16 20

NEWS AND UPDATES Australia’s Water Wisdom in the Asian Century

14

BUSINESS BRIEFHow to Collect an Unpaid Bill in Thailand

Cyber Crime: Would Your Business Know How to Respond?

in this edition

Minor Growth Major-League

ATS specialistmortgage

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Exceptional People Ad final.indd 1 5/17/13 2:34 PM

Page 3

Aussie Property 1/1

Note: __________________

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ContentsPATRONHis Excellency James WiseAustralian Ambassador to the Kingdom of Thailand

PRESIDENTLeigh Scott-KemmisDBM (Thailand) Ltd.

vICE PRESIDENTSJason EllisBlueScope Steel (Thailand) Limited

M.L. Laksasubha KridakonBaan Laksasubha Resort Hua Hin

Belinda SkinnerTopTalentAsia

TREASURERWarwick KnealeBaker Tilly Thailand Limited

DIRECTORSDavid BellCrestcom-Ra-Kahng Associates Ltd.

Josh HylandAEC South East Asia Co., Ltd.

Brenton Mauriellodwp

Alan PolivnickWatson, Farley & Williams (Thailand) Limited

Rananda RichBlackmores Ltd.

Pratamaporn Svasti-XutoAustralia and New Zealand (ANZ) Banking Group Ltd.

Charles WrightmanNatural Ville & Lenotre

EX OFFICIOGreg WallisSenior Trade Commissioner, Thailand

COORDINATORSPaul WilkinsonJVK International Movers Ltd.ESB CoordinatorEmail: [email protected]

Trevor Dick Indochine Asset ManagementESB CoordinatorEmail: [email protected]

BUSINESS BRIEFS 6 Minor Growth Major-League 10 Dealing with Cyber Crime –

Would Your Business Know How to Respond?

12 How to Collect an Unpaid Bill in Thailand

NEWS AND UPDATES14 Australia’s Water Wisdom in the

Asian Century

EMBASSY NEWS16 “Food Safety…Let’s Get

Started”

6

COMMUNITY SERvICES17 Voluntary English Teaching

at Baan Khao Din School, Chonburi

CHAMBER EvENTS18 Australian Federal Budget

Update and Economic Outlook20 Sundowners at VIE Hotel

AUSTCHAM MEMBERS22 New Members and Member

Changes

FROM THE CHAMBER OFFICE

26 Message from the Executive Director

17

10

June 2013 5AustChamThailand Advance

Each Director has also adopted areas of focus, as well as some specific pro-jects and outcomes. These are sum-marised on our website at http://www.austchamthailand.com/boardmembers. I’d encourage you to have a look.

We will be aided in pursuing some of these objectives through a reinvigorated Board of Trade. AustCham now has a permanent director’s seat on the Board of Trade and will be fully engaging in a newly constituted committee support structure. This will improve our ability to stay close to major emerging issues and additional access to the Thai authorities in pursuing our agenda.

As part of its productivity drive, the Aust-Cham office is trialling a new timesheet system. What’s captured my attention is the staggering number of hours being put into chasing dues for the member-ship year that started on 1 April. This is costing you money. I’d rather see the office delivering for members, not chas-ing payments. We’ve already sent five separate reminders over recent months, not to mention individual follow-ups. Five! So if you haven’t paid, please do so or let us know you won’t be renewing. If you know of chamber colleagues that are still to finalise their subscription then please encourage them to pay up. It’s not fair that the vast majority of Chamber members are penalised through reduced services because a minority hasn’t had the professional courtesy to pay on time. Remember, this is your Chamber.

The good news for members that have renewed on time is that you and any of your staff registered ‘as a member’ with AustCham’s new website will automati-cally go into the draw for a return flight to Australia with our corporate sponsors Singapore Airlines. Thanks SIA!

Leigh Scott-KemmisPresident, AustCham Thailandwww.austchamthailand.com

So much for last month’s con-gratulations for being quiet during Sundowners sponsors speeches!

The success in April turned into a major disappointment in May.

What stops us from showing respect to our sponsors? I am sure we would not do this in Australia, so why here?

There is a choice. If you are happy to show good old Aussie values of respect and decency to your sponsors then your Sundowners fee is Baht 550. If, how-ever, you chose to say that you came for networking and do not want to acknowl-edge the sponsors then your fee is Baht 1,000. Take your pick, we can ask you at the door. If we do not have sponsors then the higher fee is the absolute mini-mum Sundowners will cost as the eco-nomics of it currently stand.

So let’s make June the same as it was in April! It’s in all of our interests and it is just the right thing to do.

On a different note, members would recall that AustCham Directors have traditionally been allocated a ‘Portfolio’ which guides their contribution to the Chamber for the year. For 2013 we’ve taken that approach a step further with a new ‘Directors’ Objectives and Con-tributions Framework’. The Board has given itself a set of shared objectives that it will collectively work towards. They include:

• boost AustCham revenue, particularly through more members and spon-sors;

• identify and communicate issues of emerging interest and opportunity for AustCham members;

• increase member engagement and benefit, particularly through presen-tations, dialogues and discussion forums;

• build AustCham’s knowledge creden-tials and contribution, particularly via our new website; and

• build ‘communities of interest’, par-ticularly on the Eastern Seaboard and with the large Japanese commercial presence in Thailand.

FROM THE BOARD

Harry UsherLady PiePhuket CoordinatorEmail: [email protected]

Australian-Thai Chamber of Commerce20th Floor, Thai CC Tower889 South Sathorn RoadBangkok 10120Tel.: +66 2 210 0216 Fax: +66 2 675 [email protected]

For more information on individual Board Member focus please visit www.austchamthailand.com/boardmembers

Editorial CommitteeBelinda Skinner, Domenica Agostino,Gary Woollacott

Marketing & Production Scand-Media Corp. Ltd4/41-42 Moo 3, Thanyakarn VillageRamintra Soi 14, BangkokTel.: +66 2 943-7166/8 Fax: +66 2 [email protected]

AdvertisingFinn BalslevEmail: [email protected]

Contributions to Advance magazine are welcome. Please submit content to [email protected] by the first day of the month for publication in the following month’s magazine.

Opinions expressed in Advance do not necessarily reflect the views of the Chamber.

President’s Message

6 June 2013 AustChamThailand Advance

BUSINESS BRIEF

By Mark Carroll

There’s been a lot of chatter about the market potential of the new Asian ‘middle class’. There’s also

a lot of talk about Asian companies expanding out from their domestic markets to become regional and global power-houses. But where’s the proof?

Let me introduce you to Minor Interna-tional Public Company Limited, or MINT as it is affectionately known. This is the brand behind the brands. And it has built on its domestic success in Thai-land to launch onto the global stage in a big way.

On the face of it, MINT is a pretty straight-forward business: restau-rants, hotels and retail. The statistics, however, reveal a remarkable story of growth. From a single hotel in 1978 it is now:

• 1,400 restaurant outlets in 17 coun-tries;

• 45 hotels and 40 serviced apartments(under eights brands) in 12 countries;and

• a portfolio of ten lifestyle brands (rang-ing from Gap and Esprit, to Red Earthand Zwilling J.A. Henckels) focussedon fashion, cosmetics and contractmanufacturing.

For the shareholders of one of Thai-land largest listed companies, the 2012 numbers also sing a nice tune:

• 80 per cent net profit increase fromthe hospitality businesses;

Minor Growth Major-League• 35 per cent net profit increase from

the restaurant businesses; and• core net profit up by 78 per cent to a

record high of Baht 3.4 billion.

The Minor story of growth pretty much tracks the history of middle income expansion in Asia. The middle class comprised 21 per cent of develop-ing Asian nation populations in 1990. By 2008, however, that had more than doubled to 56 percent. Relative to their populations, Thailand and Malaysian middle-classes grew the most, build-ing potent consumer markets. It can be easy to forget that Thailand’s population – at 68 million – ranks it alongside mostof Europe’s larger countries including France (65 million) and the United King-dom (62 million). It certainly eclipses Australia’s cosy little domestic market of 22 million.

As disposable incomes rose in Thailand in the 1990s and 2000s, consumers enthusiastically embraced new prod-ucts and services ranging from pizza and ice-cream to cosmetics and luxury hotels. Minor was ready and waiting. It first began appealing to the middle-class palate (and wallet) with a single pizza store in 1980. It then franchised Swenson’s ice cream and sundaes in 1986. It added Sizzler and Dairy Queen in the 1990s. Burger King was intro-duced in 2000.

In the hotel business, Minor started out with that single resort in Pattaya and

added more hotels and a spa busi-ness throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Strong domestic demand allowed it to launch the first home-grown Anantara brand of hotels in Hua Hin in 2001. At the same time, it expanded its portfolio of hotels under brands such as Marriott and Four Seasons.

By 2030 the Asian middle class is pro-jected to increase by more than 2.5 bil-lion people, thus accounting for around 60 per cent of global middle-class con-sumption. So it’s no surprise that a key plank of Minor’s recent – and planned future – success is taking what it has learnt from the Thai market and applying that in other countries with strong middle income potential, particularly in Asia.

Take its foray into Australia, for exam-ple. In 2011 MINT acquired Australian-based Oaks Hotels and Resorts Limited (then in receivership) and its 38 serviced apartment hotels in Australia, New Zea-land and the Middle East. Since then, Minor has turned Oaks performance around to the point where it contrib-uted 31 per cent of revenue to the MINT hotel business in 2012, with revenue rising by 77 per cent to Baht 5.1 bil-lion. With characteristic Minor vision, it is now also expanding the Oaks brand and its niche serviced apartment model out from Australia. Oaks was launched in Thailand last year, with its first prop-erty in Bangkok’s Sathorn district.

In the restaurant business, Minor saw a great opportunity in the Australian-


BUSINESS BRIEF

grown Coffee Club franchise. Started in 1989 by two friends in Brisbane, Minor Food Group acquired a 50 per cent stake in the business in 2008 and set about its international expansion. There are now more than 300 outlets in at least seven countries. In 2012 sales increased by 21 per cent to A$ 405 mil-lion, or about 12 billion baht.

The Coffee Club also wholly-owns a subsidiary steak-house business called Ribs and Rumps, with 11 outlets in Australia and one in the United Arab Emirates. So should we expect to see this brand also taken international? In MINT’s own words:

“We are now poised to develop Riverside, alongside Pizza Company, Thai Express, The Coffee Club and Ribs and Rumps anywhere in the world as company-owned outlet or franchises.”

By the way, Riverside refers to the ini-tial 49 per cent stake Minor Food Group acquired in December last year in 21 ‘sizzling fish dish’ restaurants in Beijing and Shanghai. And Thai Express is the chain of 56 company-owned and eight franchised Thai food restaurants in Sin-gapore.

MINT’s success is not simply a matter of being in the right place at the right time. This is a company with serious vision, intent, a keen sense of social respon-sibility and an uncompromising focus on customer service. Says Paul Kenny – Chief Executive of Minor Food Group, and an Australian recently recognised by his own Government as one of 50 ‘global achievers’ abroad – “none of us, from the Chairman on down, ever forget where the business is actually created. And that’s with the customer. Our cor-porate vision sets a goal of 100 per cent satisfaction to all stakeholders and that’s what we strive to achieve. This business is created where you actually deal with a customer; where the trans-action happens.”

Kenny also credits MINT’s annually updated five year forecast as a vital internal mechanism to ensure man-agers are always forward-looking. “It makes people think further out, and it made us realise that if we were to grow

at the rate our shareholders wanted, we had to look outside Thailand.”

Dillip Rajakarier, Chief Executive of Minor Hotel Group, was the architect behind the remarkable turnaround of the Oaks brand in Australia. After initially crediting Minor’s deep pockets as ena-bling Oaks to invest its way out of its deep malaise, he admits it also required a good dose of imported MINT philoso-phy. “Within Minor we call it a ‘drive’ cul-ture. We believe in people, passion and performance. The drive culture turned the whole philosophy and the culture of Oaks around”. Kenny echoes the senti-

ment, saying that “if people understand what is expected of them, and are being rewarded accordingly, then they will drive to get the result. That’s an integral belief of our company”.

MINT recognised early on that effective corporate governance has a top prior-ity for any business wanting to expand internationally, but particularly for a listed company. The top managers have all completed courses at the Thai Institute of Company Directors, which borrows much of its curriculum from its Austral-ian counterpart. Last year MINT intro-duced its first separate sustainability

Paul Kenny, Chief Executive, Minor Food Group


BUSINESS BRIEF

Dillip Rajakarier, CEO Minor Hotel Group

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Both Kenny and Rajakarier stress that while MINT is now a global company with global ambitions, Thailand remains its core. As Rajakarier puts it, “the back-bone of Minor hotel business has been Thai hospitality culture. It is second to none. That’s what has underpinned the growth in the Anantara brand. That, and we don’t settle for second best. We always aim to have the best spa and the best restaurants. And provide the best service.”

Geographically there is no better place than Thailand for any company wanting to expand into growth markets in the Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa. MINT is acutely conscious of that. I’m reminded by a Minor executive that four hours flight is a weekend getaway. MINT wants them staying at a Minor hotel, eating Minor food and buying Minor retail products. Four hours from Bangkok offers an enormous number of potential destinations – and thus the platform for a veritable MINT empire.

Looking ahead and acquisitions, expan-sions, openings and launches are obvi-ously the order of the day. The pace is frenetic, but matched by an unquench-able enthusiasm – a drive – to succeed. If the first quarter results of 2013 are anything to go by then it will also be a rewarding future. Year-on-year net profit is up 25 per cent in the restaurant busi-ness, nine percent in the hotel group and a massive six-fold in retail trading – thus producing a record-high quarterly net profit of 1.4 billion baht, almost 20 per cent higher than the same period of the record-breaking 2012 year. Nice!

report to accompany its 2012 financial statements, a reflection of its belief that “balancing economic, social and envi-ronmental goals in the midst of com-petitive environment is the essence of

sustainable growth”. Sustainability takes the notion of corporate social responsi-bility (CSR) a step further by enmeshing CSR values and culture into the everyday practices of the organisation.

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By Andrew Smith, Orion Investigations

They say there are two certainties in life, death and taxes. I would suggest that there are now three.

Death, taxes and being confronted with cybercrime. It is not uncommon to hear the phrase cybercrime or cyberterrorism being used in the media and how another major company has been hacked. Yet many people are still unsure exactly what constitutes cybercrime and whether they may have been a victim.

Symantec defines cybercrime as “any crime that is committed using a computer or network, or hardware device. The com-puter or device may be the agent of the crime, the facilitator of the crime, or the target of the crime. The crime may take place on the computer alone or in addition to other locations”.

The term cybercrime covers a broad range of activity from spam emails, phish-ing emails (made to look like it originates from a legitimate company), identity theft, cyber harassment, illegal downloading of music, the hacking of networks and theft of company data. Many businesses see spam emails more as an annoyance than a major threat. However it only takes one employee to click on a link that then redi-rects them to a malicious website. The website covertly downloads and installs malicious software onto the system and before you know it, all of your company’s data has been lost.

Businesses have a legal and moral obli-gation to protect their customers’ per-sonal information. However, data leakage remains one of the biggest problems they face in today’s technological world. A survey was conducted in 2012 by the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) and Symantec of 1,000 small and medium-sized businesses (SMB). Some of the findings include the following:

• Bring your own device (BYOD). The convergence of communication devices and technology is unprecedented and presents unique challenges for all busi-nesses. People are now using mobile devices like they would a PC. It is esti-mated that by 2014 mobile Internet will overtake desktop Internet usage. The devices store large amounts of com-pany data which can be automatically synced to various online storage loca-tions. At a recent presentation I ascer-tained that most of the audience had smart phones. However, when I asked how many had anti-virus installed on their phone only two put their hands up. According to a report by NQ Mobile, nearly 33 million android phones were targeted by malicious software in 2012.

• Social engineering - Many attackers now target social media websites such as Facebook or LinkedIn to gather intel-ligence about the company and their employees. These types of sites can be

• 87 per cent of businesses do not have a formal written Internet security policy for employees.

• Nearly six out of 10 (59 per cent) SMBs do not have a contingency plan outlin-ing procedures for responding to and reporting data breach losses.

• 75 per cent of SMBs do not have policies for employee social media use on the job.

• 60 per cent of SMBs say they do not have a privacy policy that employees must comply with when they handle customer or employee information.

Many SMBs underestimate the serious-ness of cybercrime or perceive that trying to prevent becoming a victim as too dif-ficult to deal with so ignore the problem. Hackers and other malicious users are well aware of this and as a result SMB’s are now a prime target.

So what are some of the emerging threats for 2013?

BUSINESS BRIEF

Dealing with Cyber Crime – Would Your Business Know How to Respond?


a rich source of information yet many companies still do not monitor what employees place onto the websites.

• Phishing continues to be one of the big-gest threats to online privacy and secu-rity. Phishing is the practice of sending emails purporting to be from legitimate companies in order to induce individu-als to reveal personal information such as passwords and usernames.

• Some of the biggest threats to a busi-ness continue to be from inside the company. It has been found that privi-leged users often get away with fraud for up to 32 months.

When a business becomes a victim of cybercrime it can leave the organisation in a vulnerable position, ethically, financially and legally. All incidents need to be treated seri-ously. What starts out initially as an inter-nal investigation could quickly expand into a criminal investigation which then involves outside agencies, or the investigation could leak out to the public or the media.

The company will often turn to their IT staff to begin the investigation and the exami-nation of computers and network to iden-tify what has taken place. The problem is that IT staff often have not received any training in the correct handling of elec-tronic data that may be relied upon in court at a later data. Incorrect handling of electronic data could cause the integrity of the data to be called into question at court - or disallowed altogether.

This is where digital forensics can assist. Digital forensics is the examination of elec-tronic data stored on computers and other digital storage devices for evidence, using approved methods that will cause no, or minimal, changes to occur to the data.

The range of devices that can be exam-ined includes items such as computers, laptops, iPads, mobile phones, satel-lite navigation systems, games consoles, printers, CDs and DVDs. Basically any-thing that stores electronic data.

Digital forensics can be used for all types and sizes of investigations that involve elec-tronic data including criminal, civil, employee misuse, contractual disputes, intellectual property cases, and harassment.

When a forensic investigation is con-ducted, there are five stages that the investigator will go through.

1. Preservation – the data will be pre-served in such a way that no changes will occur to the data and as a result ensures the integrity of the data.

2. Identification – The volume of data that may need to be examined is increas-ing all the time. By conducting keyword searches the volume of data can be quickly reduced.

3. Extraction – It is vital that the data is extracted in a way that it can be dem-onstrated to the courts that the integrity and authenticity of the data has been maintained.

4. Interpretation – This is one of the most difficult areas of forensics and relies on the skills and experience of the inves-tigator to be able to correctly interpret the data that has been found and the sequence of events surrounding that data.

5. Reporting- It is important to factually present the findings of the investigation but in a way that is not too technical and is in an easy to read format.

When confronted with a forensic investiga-tion, businesses initially tend to focus on the costs involved. Yes there is an upfront cost, and depending on the complexity of the investigation and the number of com-puters involved, it can appear to be expen-sive. However consider the following:

• Evidence that can only be obtained by a forensic examination can often prove vital to the successful outcome of the investigation

• A forensic investigation can often reduce the need for full legal action to be taken

• A forensic investigation can save time resulting in a saving of money

You have to consider how much it is cost-ing your business to have your confiden-tial information sold on to a competitor or the damage that may occur to your rep-utation if your client’s details have been stolen.

When I speak to people about what we can recover from computers or mobile phones they are often amazed. The types of data that can be recovered include but are not limited to:

• Deleted data• Documents• Emails• Images

• Internet history• Instant chat conversations such as

Facebook or Skype• Details of files placed onto USB devices

For mobile phones this also includes deleted call logs, deleted SMS messages and even location information such as GPS fixes.

There is no doubt that businesses’ dependence on technology will continue to increase. Many are quick to adopt new technologies as a way to deliver their ser-vices quickly and cost effectively to their customers. The upsurge of the use of mobile devices means employees are no longer bound to a desk. However the use of such devices brings many challenges. Although businesses are quick to adopt these technologies many either do not give sufficient thought to how to secure these devices or simply do not understand the potential for disaster. They need to not only look at how to prevent a cyber-secu-rity incident from occurring but have in place clear procedures for dealing with an incident when things do go wrong. Digital forensics is a useful tool in the fight against cybercrime and if used correctly and early in the investigation may prevent vital infor-mation from being lost or destroyed.

Andrew Smith is the Director of Computer Forensics Services for Orion Investigations, a commercial investigation company based in Bangkok. He is responsible for the man-agement of the Orion Computer Forensics Unit. Andrew is an experienced forensic investigator with extensive training and com-prehensive experience in relation to criminal, corporate, malware and counter terrorism investigations within the UK and Europe. With over ten years’ experience in the field of computer forensics Andrew has regu-larly appeared in court as an expert witness to present complex computer evidence. Andrew can be contacted on [email protected]

Orion Investigations is a commercial inves-tigation company and registered law office based in Bangkok. Their services include Intellectual Property Investigations and Rep-resentation; Computer / Digital / Mobile Phone Forensics; Company and Individ-ual Background Checks; Pre-employment Screening; Workplace Investigations, Fraud Prevention, Detection and Prosecution; Pol-ygraph / Lie Detector Tests; Surveillance and Counter Surveillance. www.orioninv.co.th

BUSINESS BRIEF


How to Collect an Unpaid Bill in Thailand

BUSINESS BRIEF

By Narit Direkwattanacahai, LLM (Cambridge)

No doubt collecting any overdue bill is one of the most hated tasks for any business professional to the

extent that no one in their right mind wants to deal with it. Particularly if you are a busi-ness owner or an executive in charge who is held accountable for the bottom line of a company or a division.

In any case, collecting accounts receiv-able is crucial to any business because cash flow is the lifeblood to the business.Whenever any account receivable becomes uncollectible, the overdue bill must be dealt with one way or another. From time to time, a new customer or even an existing customer may fall behind on their payment. Typically, an invoice for goods or services becomes overdue. In this article, we will address the legal aspects of bill collection in Thailand. Once any invoice becomes overdue for quite some time, a responsible person should take the following steps.

Step 1: verify Claim’s Enforceability

Sadly, not all overdue bills are enforceable by legal action in a courtroom. Typically, a claim for an unpaid bill for goods and/or services must be at least supported by relevant evidence. This requirement for supporting evidence is either mandato-rily imposed by a statute or is highly pre-ferred and weighted by a court. Without this supporting evidence, a bill collector may have a hard time in a courtroom in an effort to prove to the court that a cus-tomer does really owe the money. When a customer fails to pay a bill on time, the first step that any bill collector should do is to check the documentation of the transaction.

or part performance, the bill collector is barred from filing a claim to recover the value of the goods from a buyer in court.

2. Hire of Work (Services Agreement)

Even though law does not specifically require written evidence for a hire of work agreement (services agreement) to be enforceable by action in court, writ-ten evidence for the hire of work agree-ment still matters. If the amount of the hire of work (service fee) is significantly high, the court will highly weight the writ-ten evidence or the written agreement for the hire of work (the services agreement). Without written evidence, the bill collec-tor may find it difficult, if not impossible, to convince the court that the customer has already agreed to pay the company the demanded amount for the hire of work.

Review all correspondence

Secondly, the bill collector has to gather all issued invoices that have been unpaid,

Look for a written contract

First, a bill collector may want to check whether a written contract is drawn up and signed in your favour or the custom-er’s favour. At present, based on a writ-ten contract what are your disadvantages and your customer’s disadvantages? You may also want to take a closer look at the details of the payment due date. The idea is to ensure that the right of payment is secured by a written contract.

1. Sale of Goods

Under the Civil and Commercial Code, a sale of movable property where the agreed price is Baht 20,000 or higher is not enforceable by action unless there is some written evidence signed by theparty liable, or unless the deposit is made, or there is part performance. Therefore, a sale of goods without a written sale agree-ment may be unenforceable. Basically without the written evidence signed by the party liable, or the deposit being made,

You have delivered the goods or services, sent the invoice expecting the (on time) payment, but after waiting and waiting and waiting, the customer still has not paid the bill. This kind of case happens too often, and worse, many customers simply ignore the outstanding bills. What can be done to collect those unpaid bills and, more specifically, how does Thai law govern the debt collection issue?


and every piece of correspondence e.g. facsimile messages, emails, letters and so on. Examine whether the company has ever waived any rights or not. Waivers can be in many forms. It could be a reduc-tion of the billed amount or an agreement to a request for extension of time or any other form. Moreover, the company as a supplier of goods or services has to be cautious whether the customer has ever challenged any billed amount, or the qual-ity or the quantity of supplied goods or rendered services. So watch for any chal-lenge of the billed amount. If there is any challenge, the bill collector then has to be prepared to address these challenges properly. The customer may raise any inaccurate data and the bill collector may need to clarify such inaccurate data.

Step 2: Negotiation

As a bill collector, before you go on the offensive and sue the customer, it might be a good idea to discuss the outstand-ing bills with the customer. Normally, a bill collector contacts the customer in order to follow up the payment. In the process, the bill collector may arrange for a meet-ing with the customer so that both par-ties can agree on the outstanding issues. Practically, the customer may take one of the following positions; the customer may challenge the billed amount on the grounds of quality or quantity of the goods or the services supplied.

Again, these complaints may or may not be legitimate. The customer may request for an extension of time. The customer may ask for a reduction of the billed amount. Evidently, before getting into any negotiation room, the validity and enforce-ability of the claim must be examined first by the bill collector. If the negotiation hap-pens to yield any fruitful result, the bill col-lector is recommended against signing anything, no matter how optimistic you are, until the document is reviewed by your own legal counsel.

Step 3: Lawyer’s Demand Notice

If the negotiation or the company’s follow up letter happens to yield no positive result, the next step is to arrange the lawyer to serve a demand notice to the customer in an effort to recover the price of goods or services. If the demand notice still fails to secure any payment, then you may need to go to the next step.

Step 4: Preparation for Filing Lawsuit

When the lawyer’s demand notice is still ignored by the customer, then it is the time that the bill collector instructs the lawyer to file a lawsuit against the cus-tomer in court to recover theoverdue amount.

Check for statutory limitation on time

One of the first things that the lawyer has to verify is whether the statutory limitation on the time of the claim has run out or not. The law imposes the time limit (or you may think of it as a deadline) that a claim-ant (or a plaintiff) needs to file a claim (law-suit) to the court. The reason behind this time limit (deadline) is that a party cannot keep litigating forever. The memory of the witnesses may fade away and the doc-uments may be destroyed, damaged or lost with the passage of time. Thus, if a claimant (or a plaintiff) wants to use the court to enforce their right, they have to do so within the time limit (deadline). While this statutory limitation on time seems to be a task for a lawyer to sort out, the cau-tion here for the bill collector is that they do not wait for too long before taking any action because by the time you take any action, it may be too late.

The Civil and Commercial Code sets out the statutory limitations on times for each type of claim differently. For a claim for goods or services (consideration for hire of work), the seller must file a claim (law-suit) to the court to demand the payment of the price of the goods sold by the seller to the buyer, from the buyer within the time limit (deadline) set out by law. The statutory limitation on time for the claim for the price of the sold goods is either

two years or five years, depending on the circumstances.

Give the lawyer every side of the story

The bill collector is recommended to give the lawyer all accounts of whatever hap-pens regardless of how terribly unfavour-able it may sound to the company so that the lawyer can strategize a lawsuit in the way that is most beneficial to the com-pany in the circumstances. All too often, the client only tells one side of the story and withholds critical information from the lawyer. Eventually, the lawyer finds out the undisclosed information in a courtroom and you know what the result would be like. If the bill collector finds any weakness or any disadvantage in his or her claim, all those issues should be bought to the attention of the lawyer. This will enable the lawyer to evaluate the situation more accurately and find a way to deal with any unfavourable tax. Definitely, it is not in your company’s interest to withhold any infor-mation from your own lawyer.

This legal article was written by Narit Direkwattanachai, a corporate and tax attorney at NARIT & Associates with expertise in corporate tax and commer-cial dispute. He holds a Bachelor of Law (1st class honors) from Chulalongkorn University, and a Master of Law from the University of Cambridge, UKand an MBA in finance from the Georgia Institute of Technology, USA. He can be reached at [email protected]

NARIT & Associates is an international law firm based in Bangkok, Thailand with prin-cipal areas of practice on Corporate and Commercial, Mergers and Acquisitions, Tax Planning, Litigation and Dispute Resolu-tion, Business Contracts/Agreements, Real Estate and Construction, Insurance and Employment. For more detailed information, please visit their website www.naritlaw.com

Disclaimer: The material in this document has been prepared for informational pur-poses only and is not intended to be legal advice. The reader should not act in any way on the basis of the information with-out seeking where necessary appropriate professional advice concerning their own individual circumstances. NARIT & Asso-ciates assumes no responsibility for, and disclaims all liabilities (including respon-sibility for any action or inaction taken) to the fullest extent permitted by law.

BUSINESS BRIEF


Australia’s Water Wisdom in the Asian Century

NEWS AND UPDATES

By Michael Harris

The Asian Century White Paper out-lines a vision of Australia’s present and future where all aspects of

Australian life and policy are enmeshed with Asia, so that even the most domes-tic of issues — such as irrigation water reform — are also an important part of our foreign policy. Our neighbours face increasing scarcity and variability in water resources, and greater international rivalry for their use. It is no surprise then that the White Paper calls on Australia to share our knowledge and experiences.

Like Australia, many countries in Asia owe much of their agricultural production to great river basins: Australia’s Murray-Dar-ling; South East Asia’s Mekong; China’s Yangtze and Yellow Rivers; Myanmar’s Irrawaddy; and South Asia’s Ganges. As in the Murray-Darling, in each of these systems there are ever greater demands while the supply of water is threatened by climate change or disputes between dif-ferent political jurisdictions. Each of these countries, together or alone, must figure out how they can ensure what water they do have is used most effectively.

Australia’s experience and knowledge can be (and has been) put to work here. The White Paper states that to contribute to ‘sustainable security’ in the region, ‘we are well placed to collaborate and share our experience of replacing centrally planned water allocations with a market’, which captures the central insight into Austral-ian water reform. Since water is scarce we need some mechanism to ensure that water is used where it is most productive. This mechanism also needs to respond to variation in water availability from year to year (Asian countries, like Dorothy Mack-ellar’s Australia, are ‘lands of droughts and flooding rains’). A government could try to decide where the water is needed most and distribute it among competing inter-ests all espousing their own needs, but even the most enlightened public serv-

segment of Australia’s neighbours. This is why Australian water experience can contribute to ‘sustainable security’ in the region. The potential for property rights reform in Asian water is considerable, and the prospect for gains great. Although the reform process has been drawn out in Australia, what took 100 years of wran-gling here could be done in a far shorter period, just as the industrialisation of the ‘Asian Tiger’ economies, and now China, have achieved in decades what the West took over two centuries to do.

The long Australian history of water reform begins with federation and com-peting claims between South Australia and states upstream on the Murray River. However, the problem of allocation was always seen as a problem between dif-ferent governments (as on the Mekong today), and not between different water uses, which is the ultimate issue at a stake. For most of the 20th century, water rights were fixed to certain pieces of land regardless of whether the water was best used there or elsewhere, and large dams were used to divert more of a scarce resource rather than making better use of the water already diverted. Yet a river could only be diverted so much. By 1994

ant could not possibly know whether the professed needs of one irrigator is truly greater than another. Property rights and water trading avoids this conundrum.

An individual water user is best placed to recognise the value of water in their own circumstances, whether for farming or another use, and compare it to the value to other users — represented by the price they are willing to pay in the market. If this price is higher than the value of the water to an individual user, they can sell whatever water they have to a user who has a more valuable use. In this way, year after year, water can be directed where it is most needed and can provide income to those who forego their water use. While surface water (that is, water in rivers and streams) dominates our discussion of water, similar principles of property rights and trade can also be used to govern groundwater.

The major use of water in both Australia and Asia is for irrigated agriculture, so ensuring the efficient use of water also increases the amount of food that can be produced. In many parts of Asia agriculture is also still the major use of human labour, so water rights reform could increase the incomes of the largest, and poorest,


the Council of Australian Governments agreed in principle that water rights should be separated from land and traded freely as property. This in turn began a learning process. Property rights to water need to accurately reflect a water user’s impact on infrastructure and their use of common storages such as dams. Trading prices need to reflect the evaporation losses that occur as water moves downstream, and the effect of water use on water quality.

Most recently the environment has been recognised as a user of water alongside agriculture. Water trade has allowed water to be purchased and directed to improv-ing river health and biodiversity. The payoff from this experience became very clear during the ‘millennium’ drought in the past decade. Temporary water trade — that is, the sale of a year’s water rather than the permanent right — allowed many farms to stay afloat despite the most challeng-ing climatic conditions for many decades, and allowed the impact on production to be minimised. Horticulturalists bought water to keep their trees and vines alive

for better years. This water was often sold by broadacre farmers who could then temporarily shift to dryland cropping or ride out the drought on water sales.

This history of reform and drought has left us with a large stock of knowledge about the mechanics and institutions of allocat-ing scarce water through trading, and this has been extended around the world and cited by reformers in Chile and the US, and attracted interest from India. Austral-ian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource has also conducted research on the pos-sibilities for water trading in the Yangtze which was used by AusAID to brief Chi-nese policymakers. There is a certain urgency about this issue, and not just due to changes in climate or increased popu-lation. One important lesson from the Aus-tralian experience is that poor decisions are very difficult to reverse, and property rights can sometimes exacerbate these problems. For instance, the advent of water trading saw an increase in water use, as ‘sleepers’ and ‘dozers’ (entitle-ments that had never been exploited, or

had not been exploited for some time) were sold to farmers who put them to use and created an over-allocation of a resource that was becoming scarcer.

The countries of Asia are undergoing tre-mendous changes in agriculture, and changes made now may have effects long into the future. These changes should not inhibit good water policy in future, and hopefully they can get it right the first time. The drafters of the White Paper were right to recognise that Aus-tralia’s water experience has a vital role to play in the Asian Century.

Michael Harris is Chief Economist for the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Science. This article was first published on The Interpreter, blog of the Lowy Institute for International Policy (www.lowyinterpreter.org). The Inter-preter aims to provide fresh insights into international events and a new way to expe-rience and interact with the Lowy Institute. It is required reading for anyone interested in the subjects covered by the Institute.

NEWS AND UPDATES


EMBASSY NEWS

Under campaign, you can speak up for endangered animals, plants and places. Tell the world what they mean to you, and why we must stop illegal trade and unsustainable consumption of wildlife. Learn about what’s happening to the world’s wildlife and what you can do. Join the iTHINK ambassadors, your voice and personal network can really make a difference!

is a public awareness campaign aimed to reduce wildlife consumption in Thailand and other Asian countries. The campaign is implemented by FREELAND Foundation, an organization dedicated to making the world free of human slavery and wildlife trafficking by increasing law enforcement capacity, supporting vulnerable communities and raising awareness.

There are many worthy charities around Bangkok and AustCham would love to be able to assist them all. Unfortunately we can’t! The Community Services Subcommittee have instigated an initiative to endeavour to support some of our member related charities. Our aim is to promote various charities to our members in order to raise awareness or where our members are perhaps looking for a new CSR partner – a type of CSR matching service. Each month part of your Sundowners entry fee will go towards the monthly CS sponsor. Each charity will have presented to, and been approved by, AustCham’s Community Services Subcommittee.







May SundownersCommunity Services Focus

“Food Safety…Let’s Get Started” The Australian Trade Commission

(Austrade), Australia’s federal trade and investment promotion agency,

organised a seminar on “Food Safety...Let’s Get Started” with presentations by experts from the William Angliss Institute, Australia’s specialist centre for hospitality, tourism and culinary arts training and edu-cation. The seminar was held at the Inter-Continental Bangkok on 26 April 2013.

Mr Greg Wallis from Austrade welcomed guests and emphasised the importance of food safety standards in Australia. Speak-ers from William Angliss included Interna-tional Director Wayne Crosbie, as well as Mark Aguis and Freddy Bosshard.

“Food Safety...Let’s Get Started” provided expertise on professional food practices from farm to plate. Over 70 representa-

food safety practices.

Australia is a world leader in food produc-tion and has an internationally recognised reputation for high levels of food stand-ards and safety.

- For trade inquiries, please contact: Sarakit Chutikul, Business Development Manager, Phone: +66 2 696 4838

Fax: +66 2 696 4801 [email protected] For further media inquiries, please con-

tact: Vareerat Unwerawattana, Market-ing Manager, Thailand Phone: +66 2 696 4837 Fax: +66 2 696 4801

[email protected] - Australian Trade Commission (Austrade) Australian Embassy, 37 South Sathorn

Road, Bangkok, 10210, Thailand www.austrade.gov.au

Sarakit Chutikul (far left) and Chantimaporn Mekd-hanasarn (centre), Business Development Manag-ers at Austrade with Wayne Crosbie (second from right), William Angliss Institute’s Director of Inter-national, and food safety experts, Freddy Boss-hard (second from left) and Mark Aguis (far right)

tives from the Thai food industry attended the seminar to gain insights and under-standing of workplace hygiene proce-dures and how to implement or improve

COMMUNITY SERVICES


voluntary English TeachingSaturday 18 May at Baan Khao Din School, Chonburi

AustCham Thailand sponsors a number of schools in the provinces of Chonburi and Rayong. Part of this support includes the provision of English classes, which are conducted by volunteers from our community. Volunteers work with small groups of children aged between 5 and 12 years and play simple games and activities which encourage the children to use the English language. No prior teaching experience is necessary, just a lot of enthusiasm! If you are interested in becoming a volunteer, please contact [email protected]

COMMUNITY SERVICES


Australian Federal Budget Update and Economic Outlook

AustCham welcomes a new Gold Sponsor: Servcorp

AustCham welcomes a new Bronze Sponsor: ARB Corporation

thursday 16 May at the st. Regis Bangkok

Australian economist, Carey Ramm, provided expert analysis and comment on the recently released Australian Federal Government Budget for members and guests. Providing insight on its impact on business both within Australia and overseas, Carey also gave attendees an update on the outlook for the Australian and Global economies and provided his practical insights on the opportunities and challenges we will face in the coming year. For the full presentation please visit www.austchamthailand.co/news

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Servcorp not only gives you the ability to run your business from the best locations in the best cities

CHAMBER EVENTS

around the world, but they also give you the best facilities, the best technology and the best people crucial to making your business successful.

They are proud to be an innovator of the Serviced and Virtual Office industry in their development of technology driven solutions which benefit your business.


CHAMBER EVENTS

Bangkok SundownersWednesday 8 May 2013 at the Conrad Bangkok

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May Sundowners turned out to be an entertaining and relaxed evening of networking for guests. Held in Conrad’s luxurious Diplomat Bar in the lobby and serenaded by the house jazz band, AustCham members and friends heard from our sponsors Thana Burin and learned about their diversity in public relations, marketing and communications. With over 20 years of experience in South East Asia, they are certainly to be considered an expert in their field. Guests also heard from Samitivej and some were even brave enough to try the hair analysis testing they set up on the evening. Freeland Foundation, our community service sponsor, also talked to guests about their dedicated work and ambitions for a world free of wildlife trafficking and human slavery. For more about them please visit the community service page.


CHAMBER EVENTSCHAMBER EVENTS

1) Thunya Lersin, dwp; Duangporn Ajchariyakup, dwp; Natthanan Jaroondhanyapong, dwp. 2) Nattawan Iamsittipol, Thana Burin AP; Dr. Jitjumlong Harinasuta, Samitivej Hospital; Belinda Skinner, TopTalentAsia, AustCham Vice President; George Reainthong, Conrad Bangkok; Porntip Utsahaphan, Samitivej. 3) Colin Beech, Credenda Associates; Christa Avery, ATBC. 4) Robert E. Tober; Erik de Ward, Tulip Pacific. 5) Ubonrat Kraisai, Thana Burin AP; Porntip Utsahaphan, Samitivej; Nattawan Iamsittipol, Thana Burin AP. 6) Dr Quanchao Leepowpanth, AusAlliance; Pimpai Leepowpath, AusAlliance. 7) Rananda Rich, Blackmores, AustCham Director; Sam Mizzi, McConnell Dowell; Marc Snell, Aurecon Consulting; Nikolaus Leubner, The Beaumont Partners. 8) Martin Kyle, Harrow International School; Phachnee Harnthamthong, Bangkok Fine Wine Company Limited; Lloyd Wilson, Berkeley International School. 9) Phachnee Harnthamthong, Bangkok Fine Wine Company Limited; Atchara Boonyahansa, Bank of America; James Wise, Australian Ambassador to Thailand; Trinh Sajjachaiyanont, Servcorp. 10) Greg Wallis, Austrade; Simon Moran, Manheim Asia Pacific; Brenton Murillo, dwp, AustCham Director; Warwick Kneale, Baker Tilly Thailand, Austcham Treasurer. 11) Marie Bouaichasith, TCC Global; Laurent Bastide de Grave, AIT Centre; Nannapat Sriwalai, Grant Thornton. 12) Robyn Macivor, PATT Foundation; Mark Hoenig, DEALS.com.au; Anna Maria Berger, JAC International. 13) Tony Lohitnavy, Treedom Investments; Philipp Dickert, Big Group Global. 14) Assistant Professor Anucha Chintakanond; Nichapa Mahuemuang; David Armstrong. 15) Bioscor International by Samitivej Team.

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services, which include maintaining your representative office in Thailand.

Establishment Facilitation: Once you have decided to establish your opera-tions in Thailand, we protect and grow your existing operations with custom-ised services for your HR, finance, tax and legal needs.

Cultural Support: We provide assis-tance with translation and localisa-tion of your communication materials. We also run orientation programs and workshops tailored to your need to overcome any cultural challenges.

Blackett Property GroupMODE 3, Level 1, Suite 121, 24Londsdale Street, BraddonAustralia 2612Phone: +61 2 6241 6311Fax: +61 2 6241 7855Website: www.blackett.com.auMembership Level: Corporate Affiliate

Primary Representative:David Howarth, Managing Director

Company Profile:Blackett Homes was incorporated and commenced operations in March of 1981. Over the past 32 years we have grown from a very small company to one of the Canberra region’s most suc-cessful and long standing residential building companies.

A family owned business, Blackett Homes has a strong commitment to Canberra and the surrounding region. Employing over 22 full-time staff mem-bers along with a large team of reli-able subcontractors, Blackett Homes supports local trades, suppliers and consultants with many of these rela-tionships spanning over twenty years. Blackett Homes is a forward thinking company with a strong financial base

Ausalliance218/337, Ratchadaphisek RoadHuaikhwang, Bangkok 10310Phone: +668 1826 0504Email: [email protected] Website: www.ausalliance.com.auMembership Level: Corporate Ordinary

Primary Representative:Quanchai Leepowpanth Ph D, PartnerAlternate Representative:Pimumpai Leepowpanth, Assistant Manager

Company Profile:Ausalliance helps foster your success in Thailand’s business environment.

As a specialist in international business development, our services encompass strategic market entry, business registra-tion and partnering, and liaison services, in addition to a diversified range of cus-tomised services to help your organisa-tion overcome any cultural challenges.

Our core team comprises of local pro-fessionals in Thailand and local profes-sionals who operate at the Australian headquarters. Our renowned senior advisors have backgrounds in corpo-rate finance, law, engineering and rel-evant functional fields with extensive experience in the Thai business envi-ronment.

Ausalliance is registered entity in both Thailand and Australia.

Products and Services:Strategic Planning: We help you come up with the right entry strategy through comprehensive research and stud-ies, providing you with market insights that will put your business in the best market position.

Business Matching: We facilitate con-nections with your potential partners, and offer representation and liaison

utilising the latest technologies and processes.

Blackett Homes has a wealth of expe-rience having built over 2000 houses, townhouses and apartments since 1981. Working with a variety of cli-ents including private, government and semi-government authorities such as Defence Housing Australia and Com-munity Housing Canberra, Blackett Homes continues to enjoy a high per-centage of repeat business from all sectors.

Cape dara Resort256 Dara Beach, Soi 20, Pattaya-Nak-lua Road, Pattaya, Chonburi 20150Phone: +663 8933 888Fax: +663 8933 800Email: [email protected]: www.capedarapattaya.comMembership Level: Corporate Ordinary

Primary Representative: Pattamon Mekavarakul, Assistant General Manager

Company Profile:Cape Dara Resort invites you to expe-rience five-star luxury resort and ser-vices at a uniquely splendid location. Rising 26 storeys above a quiet resi-dential section of North Pattaya, the resort stands amid lush natural sur-roundings including its own private beach on beautiful Pattaya Bay. At Cape Dara, guests enjoy the calm and tranquility of a seaside retreat, yet all the while only minutes from the pulsing centre of one of the world’s top desti-nations for leisure and business travel.

Checkinn9997/1 Sukhumvit Rd between Soi 5 and Soi 7, Directly Opposite Landmark Hotel, Bangkok 10110Phone: +668 1735 7617Email: [email protected]: www.facebook.com/checkinn99 Membership Level: Corporate Ordinary

AUSTCHAM MEMBERS


versatile company. We pride ourselves on our ability to create superior prod-ucts and award winning business solutions. Futuris operates a grow-ing international network of design and manufacturing facilities that provide quality, value and innovation.

Futuris is rapidly emerging as one of the world’s new breed of leading auto-motive suppliers and is also success-fully diversifying into the cleantech, infrastructure and transport industries.

Products and Services:Futuris provides a fully integrated solu-tion for the design and development of automotive and transport seating and interior systems, from concept right through to volume production.

Through a global team of talented and innovative people with a can-do atti-tude, we design world class products with an absolute focus on the drivers and passengers that will use them. The results win global acclaim with con-sumers, along with media recognition as some of the best products available.

Milford (thailand) Co Ltd700/912 Moo 3Amata Nakorn Industrial Estate (phase 9), Tambon NongkhakaAmphur Panthong, Chonburi 20160Phone: +663 8212 213Email: [email protected] Level: Corporate OrdinaryWebsite: www.milfordibc.com

Primary representative:Ian SharkeyManaging DirectorAlternate Representative:Patsita HirunwasuthanaSales Manager

Company profile:Milford (Thailand) Co Ltd, a division of the Milford group of Companies is a leading design and manufacturing

1. Environmental enhancement by max-imising the efficient conversion of carbon absorbing and rapidly renew-able raw materials into finished prod-uct

2. Social development and economic enhancement in rural and regional communities

3. Holistic growth through enhancing and developing farmers, the com-munity, their market base, as well as returns for stakeholders

1. Bio-Feed Division: with concern for global food security, the Feed Division was established to pro-vide nutritious solutions for meet-ing the fast growing demand for animal feed, and to capitalise on the growing middle class in Asia and their increasing feed require-ments

2. Bio-Fibre Division: supplier of eco-friendly long and short cut natural kenaf fibres and powders for use in bio-composites, and construction materials

3. Pet Care Division: producer of highly absorbent and the most eco-friendly pet bedding for cats, small pets and equestrian

Futuris Automotive (thailand) Co., Ltd.500/119 Moo 3, Hemaraj Eastern Seaboard Industrial Estate,Tambol Thasit, Amphur Pluakdaeng, Rayong 21140Phone: +663 3658 900Fax: +663 8656 004Membership Level: Corporate OrdinaryWebsite: www.futurisautomotive.com

Primary Representative:David Chuter, Executive General Manager, ThailandAlternate Representative:Carl DekoningExecutive, Business Development

Company Profile:Futuris is a successful, innovative and

Primary Representative:Chris Catto-Smith

Company Profile: Original Bangkok cabaret bar and res-taurant located in the Sukhumvit area. Ideal for couples looking for live enter-tainment and dancing without the has-sles. Jazz Sunday afternoons 2-6pm. Acoustic easy listening Blues, clas-sics and vocals every Happy Hour from 6-8:30pm. With a nightly Cabaret style show by the house band, Music of the Heart, who entertain with Covers, Hits, Golden Oldies, Sing-a-long as well as dancing and fun. Non-pretentious steakhouse, European and local food. Plan to stay for the evening.

Product and Services:• Cabaret Style Entertainment• Restaurant• Jazz and Blues• Private Parties

engage eco Products Co., Ltd10th Floor RSU Tower571 Sukhumvit Road, Klongton NuaWattana, Bangkok 10110Phone: +662 259 6926Fax: +662 662 3416Email: [email protected]: www.engagenrc.com Membership Level: Corporate Ordinary

Primary Representative:Mark Abell, DirectorRobert Brodie, CEO

Company Profile:A leading South East Asian supplier of kenaf-based animal feed, pet care products, natural fibres and bio-addi-tives. Their activities focus on three core principles:

AUSTCHAM MEMBERS


company supplying intermediate bulk containers and specialised logistics products. With decades of experience, Milford IBC has been at the forefront of design and development of IBCs and associated products. Supplying to the world’s manufacturers, transporters and pooling companies, Milford IBC does not just provide a product, it pro-vides all the resources to capture the needs of the customer, and convert it into a smart, efficient, logistics reality.

“Stacking business in your favour” is not just a catchy phrase - it sums up what Milford IBC can deliver when you incorporate an IBC into your organi-sation. Efficiencies from return cycle transportation, reduced storage costs, container and truck maximisation and eliminating rental expenditure are all areas where the purchase of a Milford IBC product can directly impact on your bottom line.

Products and Services: With our standard range of Intermediate Bulk Containers we can assist you with the transportation requirements of liquids, dry goods or any general freight or logistics. We also provide a bespoke service where our own design and engineering team can work with you to provide a solution to any product trans-portation issues that you may have.

oxford Business GroupBoard of Investment ICA,TP & Tower 12th Floor1 Vibhavadi Rangsit Road,Chatuchack, Bangkok 10900Phone: +668 5359 9427Membership Level: Corporate OrdinaryWebsite: www.oxfordbusinessgroup.com

Primary Representative:Clementine Hazeran, Country Director ThailandAlternate Representative:Roosa Kivisto, Editorial Associate

AUSTCHAM MEMBERS

Company profile:Oxford Business Group is a global publisher and consultancy produc-ing annual investment and economic reports on more than 34 countries. Every business intelligence report is based on in-country research by expe-rienced analysts. To identify investment opportunities, we draw on more than 1,000 first-hand sources. You need only one – Oxford Business Group.

the naka island, A Luxury Collection Resort and spa Phuket2nd Floor, Ploenchit Centre, 2 Sukhumvit Soi 2, Klongtoey, Bangkok 10110Phone: +667 6371 400Fax: +662 6568 778Email: naka.reservations@ luxurycollection.comMembership Level: Corporate OrdinaryWebsite: www.starwoodhotels.com

Primary Representative:Jodie Scott, Director of Sales andMarketingAlternate Representative:Erich Friedl, General Manager

Company profile:Nestled among stunning beaches, lush coconut groves, with never-end-ing views of the emerald-green Phang Nga Bay and idyllic landscapes of the Phuket coastline, The Naka Island is an exclusive boutique resort on Naka Yai Island, located just off the Phuket East coast. While only 25 minutes from Phuket International Airport, The Naka Island is accessible only by private speedboat, making it a uniquely private and intimate retreat.

The resort offers 67 villas, ranging from 350 to 1,600 square meters. Each villa features open-air bathrooms, private plunge pools, spacious outdoor areas,

Sala pavilions, including iPod docking, a comprehensive music library, and Bose indoor sound systems.

Guests at The Naka Island can enjoy an array of facilities such as the resort’s main swimming pool, 24-hour Fitness centre or pamper from head to toe with Spa Naka’s indigenous treatments. The Naka Island offers many options for recreation including snorkeling, scuba diving, squid fishing, sailing, windsurfing, kayaking and bike tours. The resort’s concierge can organise day excursions to all areas of Phuket and nearby islands.

Products and Services: The resort features Tonsai, an all-day dining restaurant in a casual, beautiful seaside setting. For the ultimate al-fresco dining, enjoy My Grill, an open beachside grill house that offers the freshest seafood and juiciest steaks with a southern Thai influence. Or sip on a signature cocktail from Z Bar’s extensive cocktail menu while enjoying a spectacular sunset over the ocean.

dr Michael WatersDeep Running Waters40 Aston Wilde Avenue, Chittaway Bay 2261 New South Wales, AustraliaEmail: [email protected] Level: Individual Affiliate

Change of Representative

• Ms Apissara Chompoowong, Sales manager is a new representative of Budget Car and Truck Rental

• Mr Michael Howard, Vice President Sales and Marketing is a new repre-sentative of SALA Hospitality Group.

Win a ticket to Australia with Singapore Airlines

by registering with AustCham's new website

To help us celebrate the launch of our new website and member management system, we've persuaded Singapore

Airlines to let us give away a return ticket to Australia to one lucky person registered as a member in our new system by

30 June 2013.

Each and every employee of an AustCham member company is able to sign up for website access. Ask our staff how or visit www.austchamthailand.com/websiteaccess and follow the prompts.

*The Singapore Airlines ticket will be valid for return economy class travel to any one of the five Singapore Airlines destinations in Australia - Perth, Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne or Sydney.

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this when Australian business is not pre-sent in Thailand in sufficient numbers to warrant a focus on any particularly indus-try sector? In other words, apart from Sundowners and social-type networking functions, is there value for our members in coming together to exchange views about doing business in Thailand?

Talking to members, the answer to the latter would seem to be yes. Members want the opportunity to make new con-tacts, learn from the experience of others and generally chat about business. So what focus do we employ to bring people together? Rather than a particular indus-try focus, one possible model would be regular (and industry-generic) Austral-ian Business Roundtable (ABR) forums. They could be targeted at businesses and business people with an interest in Australian business. We leave it up to them, however, to define what Australian-related means. For example, you might be a 100 per cent Australian owned busi-ness, a Thai company with investments in Australia, or simply interested in what Aussies have to say. We could hold ABR meetings regularly (maybe bi-monthly) in Bangkok and on the Eastern Seaboard, and once or twice a year in Phuket. There could be a simple standard agenda along of the lines of: presentation by an Australian-related business on their busi-ness interests in Thailand (or Thai-related business in Australia); an update by the Australian Embassy; and an open dis-cussion. An objective would to build a familiar format – a ‘brand’ – in the same way that Sundowners has done for social business networking, but for structured business discussion.

If you had any thoughts on this idea I’d be most interested to hear from you.

Mark CarrollExecutive Director, AustCham Thailandwww.austchamthailand.com

After frantically finishing AustCham’s application for the Asian Century Busi-ness Engagement Plan grants by the

end of April, I was counting on May being a little quieter. I was wrong.

We started the month with a special ‘strate-gic discussion’ meeting with the new Aust-Cham Board. This was a great opportunity for me to receive some direction from the recently elected Directors, and allowed me to brief them on some of the risks and opportu-nities that I saw facing the organisation from an operational perspective.

A topic we spent a bit of time on was the overall role we saw for AustCham and what it meant to be an ‘Australian’ chamber. As an institution, AustCham sits between business and government. We are a non-government and non-profit organisation. For our funding we rely almost exclusively on membership dues. Members, in fact, own the Chamber. Yet why do our members join the Cham-ber in the first place? Naturally, the reasons vary. But there is one constant that I can’t see changing any time soon. That is, we are the only Australian Chamber of Commerce in Thailand. Being Australian, it would seem to be clear, is thus our fundamental value prop-osition. Moreover, our relationship with the Australian government, it would follow, is a crucial enabler for that value proposition.

Nationality, however, typically means little to a business (except where this is a commer-cial imperative or sentimental attachment). Rather, companies are overwhelmingly con-cerned with industry-specific issues that cut across all nationalities. For government, on the other hand, national interest is the only thing that matters. Government’s job is to protect and advance the interests of its citi-zens.

Given AustCham sits between government and business, this presents us with a bit of a conundrum. How do we enliven our ‘Aus-tralian business’ value proposition while at the same time meeting the industry-specific interests of our member businesses (that bankroll the Chamber)? And how do we do

FROM THE CHAMBER OFFICE

Calendar of Events

SATURDAY 1 JUNEBlueScope 2013 AustCham Ball18:30-02:00Venue: Grand Hyatt ErawanCorporate Sponsor: NS BlueScpope (Thailand) LimitedCommunity Service Sponsor: The Beaumont Partnership Foundation

WEDNESDAY 5 JUNE AustCham Commonwealth Sundowners18:00-21:00Venue: Antanara Bangkok SathornCorporate Sponsor: Minor International

FRIDAY 7 JUNE12th volvo Truck and Bus (Thailand) Convoy for Kids Charity Golf Event10:00Location: Laem Chabang International Country Club

FRIDAY 14 JUNEEastern Seaboard Sundowners18:00-21:00Venue: Hilton PattayaCorporate Sponsor: Capital Television Group Co., Ltd.

SATURDAY 22 JUNEvoluntary English TeachingBus departs at Thai CC Building at 8:00Location: Wat Phra Patharnporn School, Sri Ra Cha

Message from the Executive Director

thank you to May sponsors: