Lalit M. Johri

Green marketing of cosmetics and toiletries in Thailand

Use of traditional cosmetics and toiletries manufactured from herbs and plant extracts has been popular in many Asian countries. However, green marketing of these products is rather recent. Encouraged by the growing environmental consciousness on the part of citizens and a growing market for cosmetics and toiletries, several global and local companies have entered Thailand. An international company, The Body Shop, and a local company, Oriental Princess, have employed green marketing strategies to build their customer base in the Thai market. Using case research method and questionnaire‐based surveys, an attempt has been made in this paper to analyze the green marketing strategies of these companies and their impact on consumer attitudes and brand loyalty. The research shows that that the two companies have made honest attempts to adopt green marketing strategies. However, Thai customers consider non‐green attributes more important in making their purchase decisions. The two case companies have been able to create favorable attitudes and enjoy a high degree of brand loyalty.

Impact of status brand strategy on materialism in Thailand

Purpose – The paper aims to investigate the influence of status brand strategy of Mercedes Benz on materialism. Design/methodology/approach – Materialism level and perceived status associated with status brands are measured amongst Bangkok people. The correlation between the two shows the nature and the extent of the impact of the strategy on materialism. Findings – Status brand strategy promotes materialism at a moderate level. Older and low to middle income people are susceptible to the impact of the strategy. The three characteristics of the brand – symbolic meaning, quality, and emotional appeal – show a strong impact on materialists. Research limitations/implications – This paper focuses on the Bangkok population and a single status brand. The analysis does not distinguish between the perception of the owner and non-owner of the brand. Practical implications – The findings point to adopting appropriate marketing strategies. These are: use direct marketing channels, expand product range to introduce affordable products, and communicate against bad connotation of materialism. Originality/value – This paper calls for a reexamining of the impact of status brand strategy in escalating materialism. The findings will help in implementing strategies to discourage excessive materialism.

Management of environmental scanning processes in large companies in Thailand

A study of ABB, Shell and CP Group of companies in Thailand found that the scope and management of environmental scanning activities within organizations evolve continuously as a result of volatility of the environment and the diverse nature of businesses. In the case of ABB and Shell the respective regional head office along with global head quarter participate actively in the process of environmental scanning in order to make strategic choices and grant approvals for operating budgets and new investments. The regional head quarter, in the case of ABB and Shell, plays the intervening role as information and capital resource provider whereas the country offices collect specific information at the industry and market levels and use it for implementing specific programs. In the case the of CP Group, the president and several vice presidents at the head office in Thailand play the bulk of the role in environmental scanning. All companies use business performance indicators to review the scope and the management of their environmental scanning practices.

Coping with hypercompetition in the financial services industry in Thailand: environmental scanning practices of leaders and followers

The research on medium‐sized finance companies in Thailand shows that companies with well‐organized and managed environmental scanning practices are recovering from the impact of the 1997 financial crisis and are able to respond to the hypercompetitive market context. The industry leaders and followers show two distinct approaches in responding to business environment. The industry leaders focus on short‐ and long‐term horizons, look at a broader set of factors, are able to influence and better foresee changes in the environment and respond towards these movements more pragmatically. The industry followers are slow in capturing changes in the business environment, do not influence industry regulations and can only comply once the policies are handed out by the regulators. The leaders have managed to overcome the debt burden and are looking forward. The followers have to devote attention to cleaning up the past.

Managing local employees: expatriate roles in a subsidiary

– In order to identify expatriate roles in a subsidiary it is necessary to go beyond those functions which are subservient to the headquarters. This paper sets out to prescribe a new spectrum of development roles with respect to varying capabilities and development needs of local employees., – The roles of expatriates are analyzed based on seven case studies conducted with top automobile manufacturers in Thailand: Toyota Motor Thailand; Hino Motors (Thailand); Honda Automobile (Thailand); Isuzu Motors (Thailand); BMW (Thailand); DaimlerChrysler (Thailand); and Auto Alliance (Thailand)., – Four types of expatriate roles – commander, conductor, coach, and connector – are proposed; the roles correspond to the degree of task readiness and managerial capabilities of local employees., – The paper provides a tool that will help expatriates understand their roles according to the technical skills and managerial capabilities of local employees., – The paper offers practical advice for diagnosing expatriate roles and their training prior to assignment to a subsidiary.

Localization drivers in an emerging market: case studies from Thailand

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze the drivers that influence subsidiaries of international companies in the automobile industry in Thailand and how automobile companies pursue localization in response to these drivers. Design/methodology/approach – Using case research method, examined seven leading automobile manufacturers – Toyota Motor (Thailand); Hino Motors (Thailand); Honda Automobile (Thailand); Isuzu Motors (Thailand); BMW (Thailand); DaimlerChrysler (Thailand); and Auto Alliance (Thailand) – as well as 14 of their dealers and suppliers in Thailand. In total 120 Thai and expatriate managers were interviewed. Findings – Extending the knowledge body from existing research, this study found that there are four drivers for automobile manufacturers to adopt localization strategies. Those are host country characteristics, industry characteristics, company characteristics, and market characteristics. The results show that automobile manufacturers react to drivers by localization of their decision making, building and exploiting knowledge pool of local suppliers and distributors, increasing numbers of Thais at the management level while decreasing the number of expatriates, increasing R&D activities locally, localizing products, increasing usage of local suppliers, adapting manufacturer processes, reinvesting at subsidiary, and localizing corporate image. However, these vary in degree from company to company. Localization strategies produce benefits that go beyond allowing automobile manufactures to compete within the local situation, also enabling them to overcome challenges and use their successes to transform the parent company and other subsidiaries and eventually contribute to the parent companys globalization strategy. Practical implications – Managers in subsidiaries may first implement localization strategies to cope with driver factors to mitigate risks and uncertainty. By adopting localization, managers should not focus only on short term benefits to gain local advantages in host countries, but these advantages at the subsidiary should be transmitted to the parent company and other subsidiaries to build a competitive international strategy. Originality/value – CEOs of subsidiaries in emerging markets can learn what drivers influence localization strategies and how to cope and create local advantages for global competitiveness by implementing wide range of localization strategies.

Driving harmony: philosophy of Toyota Motor Thailand

Purpose – To describe how Toyota Motor Thailand (TMT) is using local Thai employees instead of the traditional Japanese workforce, and why.Design/methodology/approach – In‐depth interviews with Thai and Japanese employees, suppliers and dealers of TMT; and Imai Hiroshi, architect of the philosophy.Findings – A total of seven initiatives were discovered in which people played important roles in bringing the company into the community.Practical implications – For building and harnessing local advantages, multi‐national companies have to bridge cultural, knowledge and skill gaps between local and expatriate employees. The actions of these companies have to demonstrate long‐term commitment to host countries.Originality/value – CEOs of multi‐national companies, particularly Asian subsidiaries, can learn how to build and harness local advantages for global competitiveness.

Impact of business strategies of automobile manufacturers in Thailand

Purpose – The paper aims to investigate automobile manufacturers in Thailand and the effects that their business strategies had on their organizational performance. Design/methodology/approach – For empirical analysis, the method of confirmatory factor analysis and the structural modeling method were applied in order to refine business strategies, functional strategies, financial, and marketing organizational scales. Findings – This research reveals that there are three significant business strategies of automobile manufacturers in Thailand which have a positive effect on the organizations financial and marketing performance: cost focus (the first priority), cost leadership (the second priority), and integrated cost an differentiation (the third priority). All the priorities of functional strategies that have a positive effect on the financial and marketing organization performance were subsequently analyzed as follows: manufacturing strategy (most significant), human resource management (the second most significant), marketing strategy (the third most significant), and the financial strategy (the least significant). Research limitations/implications – Future research should select different random samples to assess the perceptions of front line managers of automobile manufacturers, dealers and automobile part firms. Practical implications – The management of automobile manufacturers and automobile part firms should implement and improve their business strategies in terms of cost focus, cost leadership, and integrated cost leadership strategies achieve higher financial and marketing performance. Originality/value – This paper contributes to the existing literature by reexamining the impact of business strategies of automobile manufacturers on organizational performance.

Developing local talent in international subsidiaries: the importance of trust and respect in Toyota

Purpose – To analyze the challenges and solutions in developing local employees for managing subsidiaries – the implementation of Thainization philosophy at Toyota Motor Thailand (TMT). Design/methodology/approach – In-depth interviews were conducted with Thai and Japanese employees, and Imai Hiroshi, one of the architects of Thainization philosophy. Findings – For successful implementataion of Thainization philosophy in TMT, the management had to demonstrate respect for local employees and build trust between Thai and Japanese employees. Once the employees related to each other on the basis of mutual respect and trust, it was relatively easy to collaborate and find solutions. Practical implications – CEOs of multi-national companies, particularly Asian subsidiaries, can learn how to cope with challenges in developing local employees, building their technical and managerial capabilities. Originality/value – Many international companies are struggling with the important issue of building capabilities of local employees for leveraging their global competitiveness. The successful implementation of Thainization philosophy of TMT offers a major breakthrough in this direction.

Sources of sustainable competitive advantage: the case of rice-milling firms in Thailand

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate the effect of several valuable resources (organizational reputation, human resource management (HRM) practices, networks, and vertical integration in production) in explaining the performance of rice-milling firms in Thailand. Design/methodology/approach – Resource-based view (RBV) theory was used to explain that the particular bundle of firm resources can become the source of sustainable competitive advantage and thereby improve the businesss performance. Semi-structured in-depth interviews and questionnaire were used to collect data from Thailand rice exporters. Then regression technique was employed for data analysis. Findings – Results from a survey of rice mills involved in international export showed that organizational reputation, some HRM practices, and networks were significantly related to firms performance, but vertical integration was not. Originality/value – This study supports the basic assertion of RBV theory that a set of firm specific resources c...