Friday, February 17, 2017

International Business - Fly, Drive, Train and Boat


On the road in Thailand
     We live in the 21st century, lets not forget that. The world is globalised, people are moving from continent to continent, through many time zones in the same day. We are eating practically the same foods (Steak, Sushi, Indian, Chinese, Italian, Korean you name it, major cities all have them), we talk the same languange of business and possibly leisure (many people speak second, third and even four languages fluently). So, it is the age of Internationalization of the mind, the inter-connectedness of the world at large (OK, China has blocked Google, FB and Whatsapp) and the flying road warrior. You cannot email a handshake, you can't pat his back on a job well done, you need to see their limited space for their a)equipment b) server c) layout.  

     In short, the selling process is still a 'person to person' interaction. People 'buy' people. They want to see, feel, shake the hand of the man who will 'sell them the dream'. To smell the same air... ok, I will stop there.

   When we do international business, we need to use the existing infrastructure of the country / territory we visit ; in this case, Thailand. Its accessibility is very easy, so is its ease of doing business. I have been too often dependent on the local representatives to get around the country. In fact, the Mass Rapid Transit is so convenient, anybody can access it from the Suvanabhum airport to the major capital Bangkok. All major cities, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Seoul, Taipei, Bangkok, Shanghai (and many first tier Chinese cities) have that connectivity all setup.

    I have only started to use the Bangkok system and it is so efficient. So, a typical day for me is to fly in to the airport, hit the ground running, and visiting customers and being dropped off at the MTR or BTS station for me to take to the hotel. Sometimes, I take the boat to my hotel if it is beside the Chao Phya river.




The BTS line and the Airport Line 

Hence, Fly, Train, Drive and Boat ; Four efficient modes of transport in this City of Angels.

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