Country Analysis Report - Thailand - In-depth PESTLE Insights

Introduction

The country analysis report on Thailand provides a wide array of analytical inputs to analyze the country’s performance, and the objective is to help the reader to make business decisions and prepare for the future. The report on Thailand analyzes the political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental (PESTLE) structure of Thailand. The report provides a holistic view of Thailand from historical, current and future perspective. Insightful analysis on critical current and future issues is presented through detailed SCPT (strengths, challenges, prospects and threats /risks) analysis for each of the PESTLE segments. In addition, the PESTLE segments are supplemented with relevant quantitative data to support trend analysis. The PESTLE country analysis report series provides an in-depth analysis of 50 major countries.

Features and Benefits

- Understanding gained from the country analysis report on Thailand can be used to plan business investments or market entry apart from a holistic view of the country.
- Political section on Thailand provides inputs about the political system, key figures in the country, and governance indicators.
- Economic section on Thailand outlines the economic story of the country to provide a balanced assessment on core macro-economic issues.
- Social section on Thailand enables understanding of customer demographics through the income distribution, rural-urban segmentation and centres of affluence, healthcare and educational scenario in the country.
- Technological section on Thailand provides strategic inputs on information communications and technology, technological laws and policies, technological gaps, patents data and relevant laws.
- Legal section on Thailand provides information about the legal structure, corporate laws, business set-up procedures and the tax regime.
- Environmental section provides information on environmental policies in Thailand and the performance in terms of important environmental indicators.

Highlights

PESTLE analysis of Thailand identifies issues that affect the country’s performance through the prism of current strengths (strengths), current challenges (weaknesses), future prospects (opportunities) and future risks (threats).
The political landscape discusses the evolution of the political scenario in Thailand in different periods. The economic, social, foreign and defence policies are considered in the political landscape section. It also discusses the performance of the country as per World Bank Governance Indicators.
The economic landscape describes the evolution of the economy of Thailand in different periods. It also examines the country’s performance in terms of GDP growth, composition by sector (agriculture, industry and services), fiscal situation, international investment position, monetary situation, credit disbursement, banking sector and employment. The economic landscape also explains the financial system in the country, especially with regard to financial authorities/regulators.
The social landscape covers the demographics, education and healthcare scenario in Thailand. The social welfare policies of the government along with the country’s performance in terms of healthcare, income distribution and education are also provided.
The technological landscape discusses the structure and policies in terms of Intellectual property, research & development, technology agreements/pacts; and policies related to the promotion of technology in Thailand.
The legal landscape examines the structure of the judicial system, legislation affecting businesses, tax regulations, labor laws, trade regulations and corporate governance in Thailand.
The environmental landscape in Thailand discusses the environmental regulations and policies of the country. The performance of the country in terms of in terms of environmental indicators and impact of environmental policies is also examined.

"The economy of Thailand recovered partially after the 1997–98 financial crises. GDP declined in both 1997 and 1998, and did not recover to 1996 levels until 2003. Thailand’s real GDP growth during 2004–10 averaged 4.1%, which was below its potential growth of 5.5–6%. Furthermore, with the slowdown in the growth of private investment over the past four years, there exists a significant need for investments and a higher skilled workforce. The economy contracted by 2.3% in 2009, before rebounding with growth of 7.8% in 2010, driven by strong exports. Datamonitor expects GDP to grow by 3.7% in 2011, driven by exports and domestic demand."

Your key questions answered

- What is the outlook in terms of political stability, policies towards businesses, external front and popularity of government in Thailand?
- What is the economic performance of Thailand in terms of GDP growth, fiscal situation, international investment position, monetary situation, credit disbursement, and employment among other economic indicators?
- What is the performance of Thailand in terms of healthcare, income distribution and education?
- What is the performance of Thailand in technology intensive sectors like telecommunications and information technology, patents and R&D expenditure trends?
- What is the legal structure in Thailand and are the laws conducive for investment?
- What is the performance of Thailand in terms of environmental indicators and impact of environmental policies? SHOW LESS READ MORE >

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Overview 1
Catalyst 1
Summary 1
Key Facts and Geographic Location 12
Key facts 12
Geographic location 13
PESTLE Analysis 14
Summary 14
Political analysis 15
Economic analysis 18
Social analysis 22
Technological analysis 25
Legal analysis 28
Environmental analysis 31
Political Landscape 34
Summary 34
Evolution 34
Structure and policies 36
Performance 41
Outlook 42
Economic Landscape 43
Summary 43
Evolution 43
Structure and policies 45
Performance 47
Outlook 60
Social Landscape 61
Summary 61
Evolution 61
Structure and policies 61
Performance 64
Outlook 66
Technological Landscape 67
Summary 67
Evolution 67
Structure and policies 67
Performance 68
Outlook 71
Legal Landscape 72
Summary 72
Evolution 72
Structure and policies 72
Performance 75
Outlook 75
Environmental Landscape 76
Summary 76
Evolution 76
Structure and policies 76
Performance 77
Outlook 79
Appendix 80
Ask the analyst 80
Datamonitor consulting 80
Disclaimer 80

TABLE OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Map of Thailand 13
Figure 2: Thailand – key political events timeline 36
Figure 3: Thailand – key political figures 37
Figure 4: Composition of the House of Representatives, 2011 39
Figure 5: Thailand – historical GDP growth, 1991–2010 44
Figure 6: Market capitalization of the SET, 2003–10 46
Figure 7: GDP and GDP growth rate in Thailand, 2004–14 48
Figure 8: GDP composition by sectors, 2010 49
Figure 9: Agricultural output of Thailand, 2005–10 50
Figure 10: Industrial output of Thailand, 2005–10 51
Figure 11: Services output of Thailand, 2005–10 52
Figure 12: Current account balance of Thailand, 2005–10 53
Figure 13: Balance of trade in Thailand, 2006–10 54
Figure 14: External trade of Thailand, 2006–10 55
Figure 15: Total foreign investment in Thailand, 2005–10 56
Figure 16: Consumer price index and consumer price index-based inflation in Thailand, 2004–14 57
Figure 17: Employment in Thailand, 2004–14 59
Figure 18: Unemployment in Thailand, 2004–14 60
Figure 19: Thailand – composition by religion 63
Figure 20: Expenditure on healthcare in Thailand, 2001–10 65
Figure 21: Government expenditure on education in Thailand, 2002–13 66
Figure 21: Growth of fixed and mobile phones in Thailand, 2002–12 69
Figure 22: Internet users in Thailand, 2002–09 70
Figure 23: Carbon dioxide emissions in Thailand, 2003–10 78
Figure 24: Carbon fuel usage in Thailand, 2003–10 79

TABLE OF TABLES
Table 1: Thailand – key fundamentals 6
Table 2: Thailand – key facts 12
Table 3: Analysis of Thailand’s political landscape 15
Table 4: Analysis of Thailand’s economy 18
Table 5: Analysis of Thailand’s social system 22
Table 6: Analysis of Thailand’s technology landscape 25
Table 7: Analysis of Thailand’s legal landscape 28
Table 8: Analysis of Thailand’s environmental landscape 31
Table 9: Mid-year population by age, 2010 62
Table 10: Patents received from the USPTO, 2003–10 68