Today we visited the Thammasat University Business school in their Bangkok, Thailand campus. The university was first established in 1934 where they have a statue of their founder.
Professor Laddawan gave us a brief lecture about businesses adapting to Thailand’s customs. She taught us about a pipeline versus a platform business model and how that is being more used today. Additionally, she informed us that this model is all about being able to scale the business to a bigger customer base. She gave us the examples of AirBnB, Netflix, and Uber/Grab and how they were able to transform their business model to fit the Thailand people. Uber was sold to Grab in Thailand because Grab went to the cab drivers and recruited them to do more pickups. AirBnB is able to scale their business to all over the world and connect hosts to potential customers. Overall, she highlighted that these companies were able to localize their product or service by using context, behaviors and culture of the region or country.
After being given a lecture and a tour of the campus, the University invited us to eat lunch at their cafeteria where we enjoyed traditional food that professors and students eat on a regular basis.
After the University visit, we drove to the American Chamber of Commerce for our second business visit of the day. Sarawan Dever, Deputy Director, welcomed us and gave us a brief hour and a half lecture about AMCHAM, what it does, and how responsibilities differ from each location.
Throughout the presentation, students were encouraged to ask questions about AMCHAM and about her role in the non-for-profit organization. Afterwards, we took a group photo and thanked her for her presentation.
Shortly after, we arrived at the hotel at approximately 4pm and students enjoyed the remaining of the day by going to the pool, walking around the city, and relaxing in their rooms.
Written by Nik Woltz and Ethan Edelson
business and culture of the pacific rim 