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3.3 THE IMPACT OF CULTURE
According to Englen et al’s study on entrepreneurial orientation in Thailand, cultural
dimensions have influenced the development of Thailand’s innovative capabilities.
Amarit Charoenphan has found that traits such as risk aversion and lack of trust are
deeply ingrained in Thai culture, even leading to a mistrust of indigenous brands,
preferring instead to favour those established and proven abroad. He suggests that
in Thailand:
“There is no culture of accepting and embracing failure and ‘have another go’; a culture
of constantly learning and improving. Openness to new ideas, innovation — it’s all still
in the works here; it’s still hierarchical, old school and slow to adapt.”
(interview A Charoenphan)
Supawat Boom, Founder of MeRooms, echoes this sentiment and consequently
concludes that for his startup to succeed he cannot address Thailand’s internal market
as he is unsure if it can adapt and mature:
“The best hope is inbound tourism, collaboration with the established players or thinking
ahead about what people are coming to Bangkok for, building it and exiting when the big
players come in.” (interview S Boom)
This appears to have created a vicious circle as whilst the travel tech space in Thailand
has potential, the opportunities it offers for innovation are not yet being reaped (WTCC.
org; Russell, 2016). According to Richard Jones, much of what is currently generated
involves cloning established ideas, citing Grab Taxis in Thailand as a direct response
to Uber. Further, Richard’s work with companies in Asia generally reveals a widespread
cultural fear of failure that demands new concepts be proven elsewhere first (interview
R Jones). The founder of Tabika, Jun Ishikawa, operating in the same Activities
segmentation as TakeMeTour in Japan, has observed a similar reluctance to try new
things in his own country, citing a fear of making mistakes (interview J Ishikawa). These
insights complement the findings of Thailand’s low trust society status and its high
uncertainty avoidance (Ward et al, 2014; Hofstede, 2016). However, this cultural aspect
alone is not entirely responsible for Thailand’s innovative orientation, as Japan, whilst
exhibiting many similar cultural characteristics to Thailand, remains at the vanguard of
technological progress (Ready, 2015).
A compelling explanation of this divergence in Thailand was identified as beginning
in the education system, which is slow to adapt and discourages critical thinking
(Intarakumnerd, 2015). In practical terms, educational rote learning hampers innovation
efforts as people become accustomed to being told what to do, thereby creating a
dearth of ‘free thinkers’ (interview A Charoenphan).
3.4 UNDERSTANDING INNOVATION
A recurring theme amongst Thai leaders for Thailand’s lack of innovative prowess was
that ‘technology and coding subjects’ are not taught in schools. It appears there is a
sense in which Thailand perceives itself as being technologically behind, therefore
innovation efforts become disproportionately technology focussed. Typical of responses
when asking about mechanisms for detecting innovation opportunities was:
“We can see patterns of tours being purchased today versus last year, we can track habits.
Customer behaviour tracking; I can track everyone coming to our website.”
(interview F Leeathiwat)
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Indeed, all Thai founders interviewed suggested their innovation would be directed by
exponential growth of data, customer research, and even focus groups. Little awareness
of human-centred design or the importance of an internally innovative culture was