KM Ph.D. Research Proposal
1.
Student Name: Yingrudi Khankaew Student ID Number: 502152012
2.
Title:
English:
 “Thainess Service Language” Mind-Map for national branding in creative economy
 แผนที่ความคิด “ ภาษาบริการอย่างไทย ”
ในการสร้างตราสินค้าระดับชาติสู่เศรษฐกิจสร้างสรรค์
3.
Principle, Theory, Rational and/or Hypotheses
Our economy is transforming in new ways every day, from an older industrial system founded on raw material to a creative economy bound only by the limits of human talent and imagination. From the recent decades, a series of gradual changes in our economy and society have combined to give us fundamentally the new system of working and living. I call the age we are entering the creative age because the key factor propelling us forward is the rise of creativity as the prime mover of our economy. Not just technology or information but human creativity. Innovation doesn’t come magically from an invisible hand.
As Stanford University Economist Paul Romer has long argued, great advances have always sprung from ideas.
Thai Government 0fficials currently aims at generating value-added products and services in the potential benefits of a “creative economy.” According to Dr.
Narongchai Akaraserani, economic advisor to the prime minister, encourages the whole nation to utilize creativity for building GDP growth. The creative economy concept was basically defined generally as the combining of talent, creativity, knowledge and innovation with cultural heritage to generate GDP and to increase the country’s competitiveness. In addition, the importance of emerging creative industries is that they convert human capital into social capital, which transform to competency and to productivity. New global competition for talent and the challenges it brings with it. One traces the rise of the creative economy, identifying the factors for long-term economic status turns one harnessing the full creative potential of each and every human being in nations.

The Thailand government has adopted UNCTAD’s creative economy model, with some classification adjustments according to UNESCO. Creative economy is a subjective concept that is now unique definition until now. However, the
UNCTAD defined the “creative economy” which can be summarized as follows:

The creative economy is an evolving concept based on creative assets potentially generating economic growth and development;

It can support income generation, job creation and export earnings while promoting social inclusion, cultural diversity and human development;

It enhances economic, cultural and social dimensions interacting with technological base, intellectual property and tourism purpose;

It is a set of knowledge-based economic activities with a development dimension and cross-cutting linkage at macro and micro levels to the overall economy;

It is a feasible development option calling for innovative multidisciplinary policy responses and interministerial action
The focus industries originally were divided into four categories: cultural heritage, arts, media and functional creation. Under the government’s policy, three additional important service sectors have been incorporated, which are cultural tourism, Thai food and Thai traditional medicine. Therefore, the national creative classification to focus on are: advertising, animation, architecture, crafts, design, fashion, film and photography, historical and cultural tourism, interactive leisure and software, music performing and visual arts, publishing, television and radio, Thai food and Thai traditional medicine.
It is important for Thai entrepreneurs and service providers to understand the best practices in specific target sectors in order to product the best quality and add the most value to their goods and services by tapping creativity and talents from the role models. The TCDC, which is the famous Office of Knowledge
Management Development (OKMD), serves as a country’s major creativity learning centers. However, as Thailand are very service-minded. Not only tangible needs, Thais also want to satisfy the mind, through intangible service.
Therefore, the government should extend their policies from satisfy the functional needs of the five senses to another important sense, the mind.
Furthermore, the government should implement new service language as the new requirement to serve as the mental benefits.
However, Thailand lacks a Thai national service agency aimed at tackling relevant and emerging problems facing the service sector and to increase national competitiveness as a priority. Like many countries in Asia, the service industries have been one of the most rapidly growing sectors in Thailand. The

typical services offered are in the service cluster in transportation, construction, retailing, wholesale, finance and tourism (Kasikorn Research Center, 2006).
Competitive priorities typically included price (cost), quality, dependability, and flexibility (Hayes and Wheelwright, 1984; Johnston, 1988; Ferdows and De
Meyer, 1990; Vickey et al., 1993; Butler and Leong, 2000; Li, 2000; Kathuria,
2000; Ward and Duray, 2000; Boyer and Lewis, 2002; Kazan et al., 2006).
Others have stated that customer care represented an emerging priority for maintaining the firms’ competitiveness (De Meyer et al., 1989; Miller and Roth,
1994; Frohlich and Dixon, 2001; and Lee, 2002). In addition, responsiveness and time to market for a new product development could be regarded as important competitive priorities due to the shorter life cycle of a typical product
(Leong et al., 1990; Chen, 1999; and Blanchard, 2004). From the serviceprovider perspective, the focus on competitive priorities had focused primarily on satisfying and fulfilling customers’ expectations such as the SERVQUAL
(incorporating reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and tangible elements) model by Parasuraman et al. (1988). According to Phusavat et al(2007), it is important to gain awareness on perceived value-added service priorities which will support the effective service process and practices. The overall research findings indicated that the quality criterion was perceived to be the most important priority for maintaining and improving competitive advantage. Any country that place a greater focus on world-class service will have increasing returns on their investment due to the multiplier effect of their competitive advantage leading towards creative economy value creation.

มรดกวัฒนธรรม
ศิลปะ
สื่อ
การออกแบบ
อุตสาหกรม
National
Finance
Resources
Knowledge
Institution
Human
Man Made
Culture
Very Hard
To Build
Easy to
Measure
ประเทศไทยมีความได ้เปรียบในด ้านความหลากหลายทางวัฒนธรรม ซึ่งเป็นทุนสูงสุดทางเศรษฐกิจ
หรือ ที่เรียกว่า “ เศรษฐกิจสร ้างสรรค์ ”
Source: Dr. Noppasit Chakpitak (2009)
These forms of capital are the input of the national productivity. Four of these forms of capital (institution, human, knowledge and culture) are the foundation of the creative economy. They can be influenced by human creativity. They are interrelated and can influence each other which can have a multiplying effect.

‘Knowledge is power’ – and it is up to those with access to knowledge to decide if that power will continue to be used over others to increase the gap between rich and poor or if it will be a power to empower visions and realities based on an inclusive earthly ethic. Currently, “The wealth of a nation no longer depends on its ability to acquire and convert raw materials, but on the abilities and intellect of its citizens” (TFPL, 1999, p. 2). This knowledge economy has brought with it new fields of study and approaches that are contributing to a more robust understanding of the role of knowledge for the creation of human and social capital as key factors in societal development as the creative economy initiative. The creation of these types of paradigm shift is in the interest of multiple sectors of society and benefits society as a whole. Thai entrepreneurs should make the best use of Thailand’s cultural richness, traditions, and cultural heritage as economic multipliers for economic growth.
Nowadays, processes related to knowledge creation, learning, and innovation have a social impact just as significant as economic initiatives (OECD, 2001, p.
17).
Since the dynamic changes from industrial to service based economy, the gross domestic product (GDP) of Thailand has expanded significantly. In 2005, the service sector accounted for 48 percent of the country gross domestic product
(Manasserian, 2005). Currrently, Thailand should concentrate in the knowledge-based creation to provide best creative service industries. In countries like the US, the service sector accounted for 69 percent of the GDP by
1989. In the UK in 1990, the service sector accounted for 62 percent of GDP and 60 percent of GDP in Germany. For emerging economies like China, the service sector contributes to 48 percent of GDP in 2001, but it decreased to 33 percent (Malhotra et al, 2005).
In this research, “Thainess service language” will be explored, identified, and modeled for intellectual capital value creation for bringing Thai culture to become a driving force of the creative economy. The mental literacy known as mind-maps of Tony Buzan will be utilized for effective knowledge representation and Buzan’s multiple intelligence will be extended based on
Thainess service language best practices. Using service language as the creative metaphor, non verbal communication as mental literacy to increase national productivity (GDP) of the country as well as provide mental benefits to the country (GNH). In addition, this study will provide Thainess service language model as product country image (PCI) and Tourism Destination image (TDI) platform to enhance national brand image as the driver of creative

economy. The knowledge management will be utilized for modeling “Thainess service language” as Intellectual capital value creation for world-class customer satisfaction.
Research Questions :
1.
What is “Thainess service language” taxonomy and classification?
2.
How can “Thainess service language” add as value to creative economy?
3.
How can “Thainess service language” add value to world-class customer satisfaction?
4.
Can knowledge management be utilized for collaboration of knowledge capture, creation, representation, sharing and dissemination to enhance creative economy?
5.
How to create model for knowledge sharing and dissemination?
Hypotheses:
1.
Thainess service language will have positive relationship to creative economy.
2.
Thainess service language will have positive relationship with customer perception.
3.
Thainess service language will have positive relationship with national branding.
4.
Thainess service language can be modeled by utilizing knowledge management tools.
4.1 SECI model can be utilized for knowledge capturing.
4.2 Best practice can be utilized for knowledge modeling.
4.3 Intellectual capital can be utilized for knowledge classification.
4.4 Mind-maps can be used for knowledge representation and dissemination.
Keywords: TSL (Thainess service language) mind-map, Intellectual capital, creative economy, branding
Keywords: TSL (Thainess service language) mind-map, Intellectual capital, creative economy, branding

Theory:
Knowledge Management Theories and Tools:
Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) define two realms of knowledge: Tacit and explicit. Explicit knowledge is easily identified, easy to articulate, capture and share from written expressions, manuals, and reports. On the other hand, tacit knowledge consists predominantly of intuition, perception, feeling, value and beliefs, usually not only difficult to express but also difficult to capture and transfer. Of the two, tacit knowledge carries the higher value in that it is the essence of intellectual capital and innovation.
Dana et al, p. 11 (2005) claims that managing successful knowledge and intellectual capital in the Network era is a multidimensional challenge. It requires understanding and interconnection of for inextricably linked domains
(see figure): culture, content, process, infrastructure, and of which also have a tacit as well as explicit dimension.

SECI Model :
The SECI model and COP theory will be employed from capture, analysis, validation, modeling, sharing, and learning the new knowledge creation for personality enhancement model for Thai people. The knowledge of Thai

traditional and local wisdom has many important special tacit characteristics, which requires exploring and involving both explicit and tacit natures.
According to Nonaka (1998, 2000), the transformation of knowledge, SECI
Model, has four phases and the process will repeat like a spiral. Some tacit can be transferred straightforwardly to other people as tacit knowledge. Tacit knowledge can also be expressed and externalized into explicit knowledge, which can be combined and therefore new explicit knowledge can be produced.
Explicit knowledge should be internalized and become one’s own tacit knowledge before it can be applied and generated. All these transfer and transformation of knowledge creation produce within appropriate Ba, which are physical and virtual places, tools and environment facilitating the learning processes.

Intellectual capital:
Until now, the definitions of intellectual capital have been inharmonious
(Nazari and Herremans, 2007). The diverse definitions for intellectual capital and measurement are difficult to benchmark with competitors and leading organizations. However , a number of classification schemes divide intellectual capital into the categories of external (customer-related) capital, internal
(structural) capital, and human capital (Bontis, 1996; Bontis and Fitz-enz, 2002;
Edvinsson and Malone, 1997; Roose et al .
, 1997; Stewart, 1997; Sveiby, 1997).
The distinction has been broadly accepted in facilitating the preparation of
“intellectual capital accounts” which are employed differently in making decisions regarding organization value creation that are more encompassing than decisions made beforehand (Guthrie and Petty, 1999; Sveiby, 1997). No exact unified definition of intellectual capital is found in many literatures; however, three major common observations are proposed:
(1) The concept of value creation to the organization often proposes.
(2) Same characteristics of common definition are: knowledge, skills, knowhow, experiences, intangible assets, information, processes and value creation.
(3) Human capital, organization capital, structural capital, customer capital, relation capital are widely accepted.

Knowledge map
Knowledge map involved locating important knowledge in the organization and then presenting some sort of knowledge as a list or picture. The knowledge map will be focused on people, document and database. (Davenport and Prusak,
1998)

Knowledge map is the tool of transferring knowledge into a graphical form that is easily understandable (Speel et al.,1999).

The knowledge map is a navigation aid to both explicit and tacit knowledge (Grey, 1999).
 The knowledge map can be used as navigational system that support users to find the solutions of the problems they have (Duffy, 2000).

The knowledge map can be redefined as the visual presentation of information
Mind-map

In this study Buzan Mind Map will be utilized for knowledge mapping and representation and extended for mind capital as value creation leveraging from
Thainess-based. Tony Buzan, awarded the Lifetime Achievement for Creativity and Innovation by the American Creativity Association, is the inventor of Mind
Map, the most powerful thinking tools. He has achieved the status of ‘guru’ in the fields of creativity and brain development. The enlightenment from Tony
Buzan has opened my eye about key mental literacy for the “Thailand Thinking
Future.” Service at the traditional way has always focused on the function benefit of the body. The new approach that I proposed focuses on the holistic approach to serve body and mind. To achieve this goal we have to capitalize from the four forms of capital: human, culture, knowledge and institution.
Their inputs lead to greater satisfaction as it services body and mind. A relaxed and balanced mind leads to thinking clearly without distractions, which leads to creative intelligence. Creative intelligence according to Tony Buzan is the ability to think in new ways- to be original, and where necessary, “stand apart from the crowd.” With the input of Thainess, creative intelligence becomes
“enlightenness intelligence.” This has the effect of clarity of mind. With this new “mind capital”, the person has the ability to set the highest standard of conscious thinking as well as acting appropriately according to the noble acceptable world values of Immanuel Kant’s categorical imperative from
The
Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysics of Ethics (1785), "Act as if the maxim from which you act were to become through your will a universal law.
.
Best Practices
According to American Productivity and Quality Center (1997) noted that there is no one size fit all “ best practice” because best for one may not best for everyone. Best practices are the practices that have been shown to produce

superior results; selected by a systematic process; and judged as exemplary, good, or successfully demonstrated. Best practices are then adapted to suit a particular structure and contextual specific. A study by the European Center for
TQM (Jarrar and Zairi, 2000) concluded that the best practice process for the
“effective transfer of best practices” is made up of six major stages which are: searching, evaluating, validating, implementing (transferring and enabling), review and routininzing. However, internal transfer is the most difficult stage of best practices. Transfer is identifying and learning from best practices and applying them in a new configuration or new place ( O’Dell and Grayson,
1997)
Learning in Action
Learning in action (David A.) is an important process for adaptive training design. Human learning requires inquisitiveness and openness to tackle conventional wisdom and routines as accepted for “the way people do things.”
People’s characteristics and personality are both explicit and implicit. They are invoked without conscious thought. For effective personality training model, acquiring information at multiple points in multiple ways and encouraging conversation to maximize learning will be approached to foster effective learning. In this research study, learning in action will be categorized into 2 types, which are must do list and intelligent learning. The researcher will first explore, observe and set the effective requirement criteria for personality enhancement programs as “must do lists.” Then, the best-practice from role models will be searched and identified.
ICH Framework
The “intangible cultural heritage” framework is manifested in collecting primary and secondary knowledge from traditional and local wisdom through human expressions, including language as a vehicle of the intangible cultural heritage, performing arts, social practices, rituals and festive events, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe and traditional craftsmanship.
WIPO: World Intellectual Property Organization
WIPO provides practical tools concerning the protection of traditional knowledge (TK) and traditional cultural expressions (folklore), access to and benefit-sharing in genetic resources. WIPO’s work a wide range of capacitybuilding activities, include practical intellectual property guidelines and information technology tools for managing IP issues when recording, digitizing and disseminating intangible cultural heritage, being developed within the
Creative Heritage Project. In addition, WIPO provide guideline to “Folkloristic approach” will be one of the important elements of the study. It is the body of expressive culture, including tales, music, dance, legends, oral history,

proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, customs, and so forth within a particular population comprising the traditions (including oral traditions) of Thai culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. Traditional cultural expressions are integral to the cultural and social identities of indigenous and traditional communities, they embody know-how and skills, and they transmit core values and beliefs. As cultural and economic assets, their protection is linked to the promotion of creativity, enhanced cultural diversity and the preservation of cultural heritage.
Economics model
Major Economics Model utilized in this study will based on Humanistic
Economics extended from Maslow Hierarchy of needs and Buddhism
Economic. In addition, Gross National Happiness (GNH) to enhance the national GDP level will be explored.
Mind Capital
With this new achievement of mind capital, a person has new means of achieving panna or intellectual wisdom. As a matter of fact, the socio-culturalcognitive in Thai ways is interconnected, combined with wholeness of human, organization, society to national products and service identity. A new development paradigm is emerging that connects the human capital to culture capital to enhance national income of the economy. As one looks at the history of the development of economic thought in the west, one sees that the part that is missing is an adequate model of the reality of human behavior, usually devalue human capital. However, the use of mainstream economics’ current model of homo economicus initially introduced by John Stuart Mill and further elaborated by Alfred Marshall, views human as a rational social unit, perfectly informed and self-interested agent who desires economic wealth. It reflected the sensual pleasure of a human being. This statement reflects another major turning point in Economics from using reasoning based on empirical evidence to explain situations to the use on assumptions. Mainstream economics degenerate human value to some ignorance: viewing human being only as a consumer. Such narrow understanding reflects in utilization of resources and environment in a devastating way. That actions precipitated by mainstream economics will directly lead to social destruction caused by rapid depletion of natural resources and deterioration of the environment. As everyone is competing for more material things, such competition will turn into highly devastation, causing social disintegration and paralysis, causing human destruction in the end.

After being satisfied by more material consumption, human beings will not be happier and the society as a whole will not be better off. It is because in order to have everything operating under the key “efficiency”, competition must be emphasized and free market system must be encouraged. In the end, the competition lead to destruction of valuable resources as well as an environment that will be conductive to humanity. The key point is that the happiness anticipated from more consumption or material acquisition does not represent truly happiness.
Most western economic theorists views human as static, resulting in dehumanization. It reduces human capital to that of a machine. While western psychology studies the evolution of human mind through observation of human behavior as a reflection. Applying to human study can also be weakness. The method of enquiry cannot explain systematically how such mental evolution can be made. It can not explain contribution factors for such situation. The missing part of such analytical method is the lack of tools for an internal systematic understanding of mind.
Buddhism Economics
The Buddhist method of analysis focuses directly on this issue and results on more complete understanding of human needs and nature. Consequently,
Buddhism approach is able to explain various conditions for mental development according to various level of needs from difference hierarchies of value. Eastern philosophers observed close dynamic relationships between human beings and all other things in the nature. The focus was more on natural harmony and happiness. Buddhist Economics will be explored as one of the best applications for a study of production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services in Thailand since 95% of Thai population are Buddhism.
Therefore, Buddhism paradigm incorporates an understanding of Thai people behavior and nature into economic model. This paradigm will also serve as an analytical tool to understand human beings in greater width and depth.
However, the Buddhist Economics serves as a new body of knowledge, not only for Buddhists, but for everyone who wants to be awakened and to be enlightened. This new interpretation of economics is consistent with both the human way of life and a sustainable future for the world. Parallel with the
Buddhist Economics, there is the concept of “Sufficient Economy” since 1974.
This proposal turns in the form of “ New Theory ” of farming. It can be considered as a proper way to carry out economic activities according to
Buddha Dhamma.

Having analyzed the difference between western and eastern views on economic model, the one that is closest to Buddhist economics is Humanistic
Economics since the beginning of 1960’s. Humanistic Economics focused on human need which has been equated with the concept of value. It classifies the human needs ranging from material value or material need and progressing through social value to moral value.
The common ground of both humanistic and Buddhist economics is that both focus on human needs instead of want or desire or cravings as a driving force.
Human needs are the basic foundation for all human beings regardless of time, race, ethnicity, tradition and culture. The only difference between the two is the growth in human value. As humanistic economics roots in western culture and civilization, its analytical and classification tool rests mainly on behavioral science with high emphasis on the concept of “self”. Humanistic economics already systematically give the light in human nature from external analysis of human being. Buddhist economics explains the functioning of the human mind, mainly focus on non-self or anatta , which is the starting point for the creation of panna or human intellectual capital. Pana is the most important concept in
Buddhism knowledge, while atta or self is an illusion.
Neuro Economics ( Brain-Mind-Body)
The five aggregates consists of rupa (corporeality), vedana (feeling), sanna
(perception), sankhara (mental formation) and vinnana (consciousness), are the causally conditioned element of existence formation forming a being or making us the so called “self”. Rupa or corporeality serves a door to allow external information to flow inside and consists of six important parts as the receiver of information. The are the eyes for seeing, the ears for hearing, the nose for smelling, the tongue for tasting, the skin for sensing, and most importantly, the mind for understanding.

Most westerns understand Happiness from pleasure or hedonism. It is a pleasure from acquisition or sensual pleasures or kamasukha . However, the higher of happiness can be achieved without the acquisition of things. This can be find out from Thainess service. It is the condition of the more purified mind
, serving customer from inside, resulting from giving or contributing such as giving friendship or metta, or helping others relief from dukkha or karuna, happiness from having calm mind or Samadhi, and happiness from being surrounded by natural beauty or sappaya. It is a truly mental condition emanicipation of the mind from all defilements of to understand everything in its own nature. These service-minded capital especially metta and karuna will create the happiness spiral for sustainable society.
Eight-fold noble path are proposed to eventually achieve the nibbana.
Sila Samadhi Panna
- right speech
- right conduct
-right livelihood
- right effort
- right mindfulness
- right concentration
-right understanding
-right mental attitude
The goal of Buddhist Economics is for human beings to achieve sukkha without any burden to oneself or others. Utility and satisfaction theory will be emphasized.

Purposes of the study
The aim and objectives of the research are
 To study key service world-class organizations.
 To create Thainess service language mind-map.
 To create national branding for creative economy by using “Thainess service language”.

To achieve world-class standard of customer satisfaction by using
“Thainess service language”.
Literature Review
Thai culture
There are two primary perspectives from which a culture can be understood, namely through ‘emic’ and ‘etic’ classifications. Epic is a description of typical global value, attitude, manner of a typical behavior that can be applied to other cultures. Many cultural behavioral dimensions of Thai culture can be viewed by “looking from the outside in” within the international business frameworks.
By integrating the model o the most influential models of culture, namely
Hofstede, 1980, Hall, 1976 and Trompenaars, 1997, summarized Thailand as follows:

Collectivism

Hierarch

Relation-based

High-text
An emic account is a description of behavior or belief in terms of cultural specific, by looking from inside out. The indigeneous cultural mental language based on the cognitive construct of kreng jai, bhun khun, nam jai, hen jai and sum ruam. Structurally, from the global perception, the Thai culture can be classified based on Etic perspective as first impression management manner especially Thai people has the “impressive Smile” widely known as Land of
Smile.
The role of cultural context
Edward Hall (1976) presented the highly influential concept of high and low context as a way of distinguishing between and understandingt different cultural

norms.A high-context communication behavior can be defined as one in which most of information is already in the person while low-context culture cokmmunication is from the quantity of the information in the explicit code
(Samavor and Porter, 1995, p.101).
Thailand has repeatedly ranked as one of the strongest high-context culture
(Meal and Andrews, 2009; Hollesen, 2004; Keegan, 1999). Thai people carry within them highly developed and refined notions of how most interaction will unfold, of how they and the other personal will behave in a particular manner.
Thais have more indirect behavioral style of communication: less explicit with highly nonverbal communicate.In Thailand, people are more likely to covey the message by manipulating the context because of the collectivist culture One of the most important goals of communication is to maintain harmony and face saving. Saying ‘no’ is difficult because it is impolite. The relationship building is important. The following table demonstrates the comparative characteristics of high-context and low-context cultures
Hofstede’s cultural differences model is based on data collection known as ‘the
Values Survey Module’, collecting from a questionnaire of 116,000 ployees in branches and affiliates of IBM in fifty countries and three regions. The summarization of results reflects the national cultural characteristics dimension of a country (Hofstede, 1980, 1997).
According to Hofstede’s model of work value, Thailand’s culture is relatively hierarchical, collective, feminine and with moderately more likely to avoid uncertainty.
The word culture apparently originates with the Latin culture, which is related to cultures, which can be translated as “cult” or “worship.” This meaning is helpful in understanding the use of the term. Members of a cult believe in specific ways of doing things, and thus develop a culture that enshrines those beliefs.
Culture Definition
A definition by Terpstra and David (1985) serves to delineate what is meant by culture in this context:
Culture is learned, shared, compelling, interrelated set of symbols whose meaning provides a set of orientations for members of a society. These orientations, taken together, provide solutions to problems that all societies must solve if they are to remain viable.
To sum up the above definitions, culture can be described as the collection of values, beliefs, behaviors, customs, and attitudes that distinguish a society. A

society’s culture provides its members with solutions to problems of external adaptation and internal integration.
Culture can be studied at different levels from organizational, business , regional, national, to international level. However, in this study a national culture will be focused since it is best embodied in the values Thai people hold.
Thai culture shapes people’s beliefs and attitudes and guide normative behavior to perform in everyday life.
Values have been described as enduring beliefs that specific modes of conduct or states of existence are socially preferable to their opposites (Rokeach, 1973).
A value system is seen as a relatively permanent perceptual framework that influences an individual’s behavior (England, 1978). Cultural values establish the norms or standards by which everything in a society is judged. Not all members of a cultural group will hold exactly the same values (Hofstede,
1984). A value system represents what is expected or hoped in a society, not necessarily what actually occurs. In the past 20 years, researchers have attempted to develop a composite picture of culture by studying the differences among cultural values. This has been done in two ways. Some studies have looked at the cultural dimensions that reflect similarities and differences among cultures(for example, Hofstede, 1980). Others have used these findingsto group countries into clusters of nations with similar cultures(Ronen and
Shenkar, 1985). The purpose of this article is not to review these studies, but to look at an alternative way to classify cultural values.
A Classification study of Chinese Culture
Part of Thai culture is embedded from Chinese’s value and belief. Many of
Thai population are come from China. Therefore, it is important to understand
Chinese classification as an influence on Thai culture.
Two most widely used models are Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck’s(1961) five dimensions and Hofstede’s (1984) Value SurveyModel (VSM). However, the problem with these modelsisthat the scope istoo narrow or simplistic with only four or five variables. Both modelscould not be used asa true representation of the complexity of a national culture, particularly in the case of Hofstede’s
VSM that is mainly concerned with business culture rather than national culture.
An alternative method is the one used in an earlier study by the Chinese Culture
Collection (1987). After consulting a number of Chinese social scientists, the survey developed a list of 40 key values. For the purpose of this article, these 40 cultural values have been reexamined and fully amended to produce a

new list of Chinese Culture Values (CCVs) shown in Table 1a (in English)
After an extensive review of literature on Chinese culture and management, the author believes that these following values are equally important but missing from the original list. They are: bearing hardship, governing by leaders instead of by law, equality/egalitarianism, li /propriety, people being primarily good, kinship, veneration for the old, deference to authority, conformity/group orientation, a sense of belonging, reaching consensus or compromise, avoiding confrontation, collectivism, not guided by profit, guanxi (personal connection or networking), attaching importance to long-lasting relationship not gains, morality, Te (virtue, moral standard), Wisdom/resourcefulness, being gentleman anytime, obligation for one’s family, and nation, pragmatic/to suit a situation, contented with one’s position in life, orientation to the past, continuity/being part of the history, taking a long range view, the way (Tao), fatalism/Karma (believing in one’s own fate), Yuarn, harmony between man and nature, and the unity of Yin and Yang.
These core values can be summarized into eight categories, namely national traits, interpersonal relations, family (social) orientation, work attitude, business philosophy, personal traits, time orientation and relationship with nature.
National Branding
Travel and tourism is the second largest global industry with daily international revenues of approximately US$2 billion, and investments of 12 percent of world GDP. Though this is a highly competitive industry, there is a paucity of academic research on destination branding. This paper aims to present a

branding framework for designing successful destination strategies. This exploratory study seeks to determine key factors that affect the strategic branding of destinations.
There is a paucity of academic research in this field (Pike, 2005) in an industry with daily revenue of over US$ 2 billion (Future Brands, 2006). This is a growing industry with less than 12 percent of the world population flying internationally (IATA, 2007; WTTC, 2007). In 2006, Travel and Tourism
(T&T) contributed 10.3 percent to world GDP, had 12 percent of global investments and 8 percent of all jobs (WTTC, 2007; Arnold, 2007).
Competition is fierce with 194 nations clamoring for a share of the tourist’s heart, mind and wallet. This indicates a need for a more strategic approach to branding as brand position leads to greater economic value (Matear et al., 2004;
Davis, 2002), growth and welfare. A study by Fan (2006) found that brand owners outperformed their OEMs in terms of profits by a ratio of 50:1. A strong international marketing strategy improves financial and brand performance through identification and achievement of specific brand values (Wong and
Merrilees, 2007; Meenaghan, 1995).
Brand image and Brand personality
Brand image and brand personality are key components of brand loyalty and brand positioning (Plummer, 1985; Keller, 1998). Although several models exist to explain the two concepts, much ambiguity surrounds the relationship between brand image and brand personality. Poor conceptualization and a lack of empirical studies have hampered progress in understanding this relationship.
At the theoretical level, two issues can be identified: definitional inconsistencies and the interchangeable use of the terms brand personality and brand image.
Patterson's (1999) review of the branding literature identified 27 definitions of brand image and 12 definitions of brand personality. In some instances, brand image has been defined in terms of brand personality (e.g., Hendon and
Williams, 1985; Upshaw, 1995). The terms brand image and brand personality have also been used interchangeably in the literature (e.g., Smothers, 1993;
Graeff, 1997). Patterson (1999) concluded that most studies fail to distinguish between the concepts of brand image, brand personality, brand identity and user image. Still, some scholars have attempted to provide some theoretical explanations of the nature of relationship between brand image and brand image
(e.g., Plummer, 1985; Patterson, 1999). For these authors, brand image is conceptualized as a more encapsulating concept and, as such, has a number of inherent characteristics or dimensions including brand personality, user image, product attributes and consumer benefits. For example, in their brand model,

Heylen et al. (1995) posit that brand personality and brand identity are two antecedents of brand image. However, this conceptualization contrasts with
Kapferer's (1997) identity prism, in which personality and self image are seen as antecedents of brand identity, along with physical, relationship, reflection and culture dimensions. Thus, the lack of theory development has resulted in much confusion, and this impedes the establishment of managerial implications. In the tourism literature, destination image has been identified as a key component of destination loyalty. However, to the best of our knowledge, no study has yet investigated the relationship between destination image and destination personality.
Destination branding
“A brand is a consistent group of characters, images, or emotions that consumers recall or experience when they think of a specific symbol, product, service, organization or location” Simeon (2006, p. 464). Branding must
“attract and keep customers by promoting value, image, prestige, or lifestyle”
(Rooney, 1995, p. 48). It must communicate information, minimize risk or increase trust (Knox, 2004), help identify or recall key factors, differentiate from competition and facilitate recommendations (Palumbo and Herbig, 2000). For destinations this is challenging as they attract a diversity of customers and the delivered product is often highly customized with the customer in control.
Destination brands are similar to corporate brands, as they act as umbrella brands for a portfolio of leisure, investment and business tourism, and stakeholder and citizen welfare products (Trueman et al., 2004). Goodwill is

created through a unique identity by considering the diversity of stakeholder needs (Hatch and Schulz, 2003). Destinations like corporations are subject to increasing market complexity (globalization, internal and external government policies, foreign exchange fluctuations and natural environment) and increasing marketing costs, which warrants a corporate branding approach as posited by
Xie and Boggs (2006). Hence corporate branding strategies can be extrapolated to the destination context. Destination brands are also similar to product and services. They have both tangible and intangible components, are mostly service dependent, and can bepositioned through the use of slogans (Pike,
2005). Country of origin (COO) applies in the destination service context
(Javalgi et al., 2001). It requires greater emphasis on factors internal to the organization, especially the role of employees (for destinations, this refers to citizens) in the brand building process (Harris and de Chernatony,
2001).
Quality of Experience (QoE)
A new kind of economy – the experience economy – is emerging in which increasing numbers of industrial practitioners realize the importance of capitalizing on the customer experience (Carbone, 1999; Pine and Gilmore,
1999). Pine and Gilmore (1999) conceptualized the customer experience by entertainment, education, escape, and estheticism. These four categories differ according to the distinct level of their absorption into and participation in the products and services on offer.
Capturing the theme of experiential value, Schmitt (1999; 2003) suggested that industry pursue experiential marketing management in an effort to manage the customer’s entire experience of a product and a brand. He disassembled experience into five types: sense, feel, think, act, and relate. Sense experiences enable customers to satisfy their need for estheticism. Feel experiences refer to customers’ perceptions of fun and pleasure. Think experiences satisfy customers’ desire to seek opportunities to broaden their knowledge and learn new things. Act experiences reflect their personal ties with a brand and company, which helps them to develop individual actions and lifestyles. Finally, relate experiences involve the social networks and interrelationships among customers, which then produce a feeling of belonging to the community and to society. Cai and Hobson (2004) adapted and extended the experience economy and experiential marketing concepts to the lodging industry. They provided a four-state continuum of the lodging marketplace by equating the state of experience as the fourth economic progression along with that of brand. In a similar vein, in the experience economy, a successful hotel brand aims to ensure positive and multidimensional experiences for its guests so as to win a differentiated position in their minds.
On their websites, Langham Hotels are promoted as creating new hospitality experiences that exude graceful and timeless elegance and blend a sense of the

past with the contemporary. The Marco Polo Hotels’ website states that guests are warmly welcomed to their “home” and offered an authentic hospitality experience.
Experience economy
In today’s experience economy, there is an economic transformation from service toward experience (Pine and Gilmore, 1999). This requires the pragmatic implementation of experiential (Schmitt, 1999) and hedonic marketing (Hirschman and Holbrook, 1982; Hirschman, 1984). The studies of experience in the tourism and hospitality industry have mainly been based on five models (Prentice et al.
, 1998). The primary model is the exploration of tourist typologies, including the package of sociological and psychological needs that tourists desire to fulfill through traveling. For instance, Cohen (1979) discussed five types of tourism: recreation, diversionary, experiential, experimental and existential. Tourists who desire recreational and diversionary experiences are likely to seek out opportunities for pleasure and entertainment, whereas tourists of the latter three types prefer to learn about different cultures or acquire new skills (Uriely and Belhassen, 2005). Similar studies have examined the leisure experience (Mannell and Iso-Ahola, 1987). In fact, these different types of experiences show that tourists have a wide range of needs that are located at different levels of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
(Maslow, 1943, 1970). Pearce and his colleague (Pearce, 1988; Pearce and Lee,
2005; Pearce, 2005) successfully applied this concept to the tourism and hospitality industry by developing a revised version of Maslow’s hierarchy, termed the “travel career ladder/pattern.” However, the needs that can be drawn from this ladder/pattern are limited. Sociopsychological needs are better captured by the push factors of motivation theory (Chon, 1989; Jang and Cai,
2002; Rishi et al.
, 2008). These include the need for relaxation (Zhang and
Lam, 1999), escape (Oh et al.
, 2007), nostalgia (Pearce and Lee, 2005), sensation (Oh et al.
, 2007), freedom (Pearce and Lee, 2005), novelty (Zhang and Lam, 1999), pleasure (Oh et al.
, 2007), fantasy (Hirschman and Holbrook,
1982), safety (Otto and Ritchie, 1996), family togetherness (Zhang and Lam,
1999), human relationship enhancement (Zhang and Lam, 1999), knowledge and education (Oh et al.
, 2007), egoenhancement (Otto and Ritchie, 1996), and self-achievement (Pearce and Lee, 2005). These types and dimensions of experience have been proved valid for the hotel industry (McIntoch and Siggs,
2005; Oh et al.
, 2007; Otto and Ritchie, 1996). Therefore, it has been determined that a well-managed hotel brand should be able to satisfy these experiential needs in the creation of experiences (Keller and Lehmann, 2006).
Klaus and Maklan (2007) maintained that a superior and profitable brand in today’s service-dominated competitive world delivers QoE rather than quality of service. There is a paucity of knowledge about the experiences of hotel guests. McIntosh and Siggs (2005) suggested that customers in the hotel

industry are concerned with whether their experiences have a unique character and are personalized, homely, of quality, and value-added. Zins (1998) successfully explored guests’ experiences as related to the satisfaction of their personal needs in five middle- and upper-class theme hotels in
Austria. The psychographic concepts therein explained customers’ intrinsic needs, paralleling Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (Maslow, 1943, 1970), and push motivational factors. Otto and Ritchie (1996) also identified four experience dimensions of hotel services, namely, hedonics, peace of mind, involvement, and recognition. These four dimensions of the hotel stay experience were presented in ascending order, as per Maslow’s hierarchy (Maslow, 1943, 1970).
In a more recent study, Oh, Fiore, and Jeoung (2007) explored hotel guest’s experiences in the U.S. bed and breakfast industry, a special category of the hotel industry. This exploratory work was based on Pine and Gilmore’s (1999) four conceptual realms of experience: entertainment, education, escape, and estheticism.
Brand Equity
From the foregoing discussion, it is evident that brand equity can be disaggregated into four components: brand awareness, brand associations, QoE, and brand loyalty. Specifically, brand awareness refers to “the ability of a potential buyer to recognize or recall that a brand is a member of a certain product category” (Aaker, 1991, p. 61). Although brand associations often reflect the search and emotional attributes of a hotel brand image (Aaker, 1991), in the present study, the term is restricted to search attributes alone. The emotional or experiential attributes are thought to be associated with QoE, which measures hotel guests’ perceptions of the extent to which their sociopsychological needs have been fulfilled. Brand loyalty is defined as a biased response, expressed over time, to one or more hotel brands within a set of such brands (Dick and Basu, 1994; Franzen, 1999; Oliver, 1999). Overall brand equity fundamentally manifests the power of a brand name to make the affiliated product distinct from unbranded product.
Religion as a service branding tools
Icons
The best-known Buddhism icon is the Meditative Buddha. This carries an enormous symbolic language by representing a way of life, a belief system, and a community traditions and practices for millions of Thais. This Buddha iconic message can be multilayer meanings and representations. However, Busshas have been glonally adopted by a multitude of non-Buddhists of other faiths who are seeking and emlightenment in one form or another. The Buddha image can be seen all over Thailand in pendants, in printing, in statue, and in print. They appear in various respective form of material substance in Thai society. Buddha

image is central to the formation of Thai society, providing a sense of belonging and a share of core values.
Ten tools of sensory branding, serving as the ultimate role model for branding are follows:
1.
A unique sense of belonging
2.
A clear vision with a sense of purpose
3.
Take power from your enemies
4.
Authenticity
5.
Consistency
6.
Perfection
7.
Sensory Appeal
8.
Rituals
9.
Symbols
10.
Mystery
Superstition Bonding
In Thailand, superstition becomes tradition. Religion does provide a role model in terms of offering traditional and lifetime wisdom with a depth rooted meaning. Many brand builders can learn from the way religion has communicated it message through myth, symbol and metaphor over long time.
Thais absorbed dialog, folklores, stories and captivated by the history, symbols, and historical footprints and written expressions. They touch us at a fundamental emotional level, which precludes any rational discussion.
Currently , most people are searching for emotional fulfillment and spiritual connection. The steady attraction to alternative religions has become a fact of life.
Self-presentation
The creative economy is new paradigm shift that embrace economic, cultural, technological and social aspects of development at both macro and micro national economic levels. The “Thainess Capital” will be an initiative economic driver used to foster national intellectual capital for building competitive national brand equity benefit as the key driving forces for economic growth and value promoting development in this rapid changing era. Creativity of Thainess Capital will be shaped as the formulation of new ideas for national branding to foster service economy, enhancing productivity and economic growth of Thailand. Thainess Capital will be created from the Thai normative wisdom, values and beliefs of Thai people as self-presentation appearance and behaviors in everyday life to perform the best performance.

Thainess capital creation is associated with originality, imagination, inspiration, ingenuity and inventiveness from the inner mental model representing as Thais identity and values for delivering best service-minded and expressing creative hospitality ideas; associated with knowledge, these intangibility are the key essence of Thainess intellectual capital. Thainess capital Knowledge management of Thai creativity, culture and economic will be modeled towards a multidisciplinary model centered on the service dominant of Thai economy.
A Luxury Value Perception
Following a comprehensive understanding of the luxury construct, all relevant present and potential value sources of the consumer‘s luxury perception should be integrated into one single model. Generally, values can be regarded as beliefs that guide the selection or evaluation of desirable behavior or end states
(Schultz and Zelenzy 1999). With regard to consumption values which directly explain why consumers choose to buy or avoid particular products (Sheth et al.
1991), different types of values influence consumers‘ purchase choices: A customer‘s luxury value perception and the motives for luxury brand consumption are not simply tied to a set of social aspects of displaying status, success, distinction and the human desire to impress other people, but also depend on the nature of the financial, functional and individual utilities of the certain luxury brand. Pointing to the fact that luxury value lies in social and individual as well as in functional and financial aspects, it is important to synthesize all relevant cognitive and emotional value dimensions in a multidimensional model.
Drawing on existing luxury research literature as well as Bourdieu‘s capital theory (1986) proposing economic, cultural, and social capital, our model extends the Vigneron and Johnson five-dimension framework in order to enhance the current understanding of consumer motives and value perception in relation to luxury consumption. The question of what really adds luxury value in the consumer‘s perception is defined in this paper through the existence of four latent luxury value dimensions:
1.
Financial Dimension of Luxury Value Perception – The financial dimension addresses direct monetary aspects such as price, resale price, discount, investment, etc. It refers to the value of the product expressed in dollars and

cents, and to what is given up or sacrificed to obtain a product (e.g.,
Ahtola 1984; Chapman 1986; Mazumdar 1986; Monroe and Krishnan
1985).
2.
Functional Dimension of Luxury Value Perception – The functional dimension of luxury refers to the core benefit and basic utilities that drive the consumer based luxury value such as the quality, uniqueness, usability, reliability,
and durability of the product (Sheth et al. 1991).
3.
Individual Dimension of Luxury Value Perception
– The individual dimension focuses a customer‘s personal orientation on luxury consumption and addresses personal matters such as materialism (e.g.,
Richins and Dawson
1992), hedonistic and self-identity value (e.g., Vigneron and Johnson
2004; Hirschman and Holbrook 1982).
4. Social Dimension of Luxury Value Perception
– The consumption of luxury goods appears to have a strong social function. Therefore, the social dimension refers to the perceived utility individuals acquire by consuming products or services recognized within their own social group(s) such as conspicuousness and prestige value, which may significantly affect the evaluation and the propensity to purchase or consume luxury brands (Vigneron and Johnson 1999,
2004; Bearden, and Etzel 1982; Brinberg and Plimpton 1986; Kim 1998).
These key dimensions of luxury value perception encompassing the financial, functional, individual, and social aspects are strongly correlated but not identical with each other as shown in Figure 1 (see image below).
Nonverbal communication
Mehrabian (1969) first introduced the term immediacy cues, which includes eye contact, interpersonal distance, body lean, and body orientation, and defines immediacy as “communicative behaviors which enhance closeness to another”
(Mehrabian, 1969, p. 203). According to Mehrabian (1971), nonverbal immediate behaviors are actually abbreviated forms of approach and avoidance.
For example, the lifting of a hand to greet someone at a distance is an abbreviated reach to touch, while pushing back in a chair when one wants to end a conversation may be considered an abbreviated movement of departure.
Variations of these behaviors create the closeness associated with immediacy and contribute to the verbal messages of the sender. Mehrabian also stated that individuals’ behaviors could contribute to feelings of like or dislike and could make the interactional partner feel either good or bad about self.
Rifkind and Harper (1993) found that nonverbal immediacy behaviors include
(a) eye contact, (b) relaxed body posture and positioning, (c) gestures, (d)

smiling, (e) facial and vocal expressiveness, (f) appropriate touching, and (g) physical proximity. During a communicative encounter, nonverbal affect was both encoded and decoded within the interaction. Along with the verbal message, receivers based their opinion of the message sender on the basis of these nonverbal cues. Regardless of the verbal message presented, individuals relied heavily on the information sent through nonverbal channels to ensure that the perceived actions matched the words of the message sender, indicating that verbal messages were less important than nonverbal immediacy behaviors.
Mehrabian (1971) stated that individuals could generally establish an impression in terms of the immediacy principle: “People are drawn toward persons and things they like, evaluate highly, and prefer; and they avoid or move away from things they dislike, evaluate negatively, or do not prefer” (p. 1). Behaviors contribute to this feeling of like or dislike; through a series of immediate behaviors, one is able to make a conversational partner feel either good or bad.
Using nonverbal behavior in an immediate manner may ensure the positive effect of a message and establish a positive relationship among communicators.
Mehrabian (1971) indicated that to create a sense of attraction and liking within others, individuals may use nonverbal immediacy. Studies on immediacy found that nonverbal messages may be used strategically for the benefit of both partners during an interaction. As a result, employing nonverbal communication in an immediate manner tends to ensure the positive effect of a message and establish a positive relationship among encounters (Mehrabian, 1971). Rifkind and Harper (1993) indicated that during a conversation the face, especially around the eyes, communicates the most immediacy. Eye contact and gaze are considered to be affiliative messages that increase liking. Even the positioning of the body when conversing affected immediacy. Also, reducing distance between individuals to achieve opportunities for more direct eye contact increases immediacy. An example that supports this point of view is when an individual stands with arms crossed in front of the chest and leans backwards, which may be interpreted as a lack of care and unresponsiveness; this action depends, however, on the context of the conversation and its interpretation by the individual. Another example is that when an individual increases speaking rate, pitch variation, and vocal expressiveness, the vocal actions convey a higher level of immediacy. Further, when an individual uses a slower rate of speech, speaks in a monotone voice, and pauses numerous times, there is a decrease in the immediacy experience. Rifkind and Harper (1993) indicated that touching behaviors on the hand, forearm, shoulder, and back also increases perceptions of immediacy. As has been previously noted, using nonverbal immediacy behaviors may have a positive outcome in communication. Many researchers confirm the notion that immediacy behaviors increase liking in teacher-student relationships in the classroom. According to Imada and Hakel

(1997), greater immediacy is attributed to greater liking. In a situation where liking is essential for communication effectiveness or persuasion, the use of nonverbal immediacy may be advantageous for the participant. Researchers noted that those who exhibit immediate behaviors are better liked and seen as more motivated and more competent (Buhr, Clifton, & Pryor, 1994; Mehrabian,
1971). Positive characteristics associated with immediate behavior encourage those around the individual to follow directions. Through a series of immediate behavior actions, one may make a conversational partner experience either positive or negative feelings about self. Using nonverbal immediacy ensures the positive effect of a message, and thereby establishes a positive relationship between communicators. Although there are certain situations in which nonverbal immediacy may not prove appropriate, the research indicates that high levels of compliance may be achieved through immediacy. This compliance is most beneficial in communicative situations as well. In addition, studies on immediacy found that this nonverbal behavior may be used strategically for the benefit of both partners in a conversation, as well as for others who encountered immediacy.
Intercultural communication
According to Hall (1990), "culture is a technical term used by anthropologists to refer to a system for creating, sending, storing, and processing information developed by human beings, which differentiates them from other life forms"
(p. 183). Gudykunst and Kim (1984) defined culture as a theory "for interpreting the world and knowing how to behave" (p. 13). Keesing (1974) defined culture "as a system of competence shared in its broad design and deeper principles, and varying between individuals in its specificities" (p. 89).
From all these definitions, culture may be viewed as part of an intercultural communication process. Intercultural communication reflects communication between two individuals from two different cultures through an exchange of interacting, sharing, and interpreting information. The best outcome for intercultural communication may be when people encounter cultural differences between one another and interact favorably despite these differences.

Eastern
Language
Perception
Western
Language
Perception
Chen and Starosta (1998) defined intercultural communication as "the communication between people from two different cultures" (p. 28). One consistent factor that distinguishes intercultural communication from other forms or types of communication is the relatively high degree of difference in the cultural and experiential backgrounds of individuals. Kim (2001) explained that intercultural communication employs the concept of stranger to integrate various types of intercultural situations into a continuum of interculturalness, with differing degrees of cultural difference, unfamiliarity, and psychological distance involved in specific communication encounters. (p. 140)

Condon and Yousef (1975) asserted that we "cannot separate culture from communication, for as soon as we start to talk about one we are almost inevitably talking about the other too" (p. 34). Thus, intercultural communication includes cultural communication, which focuses on understanding communication within a particular culture. Hall (1976) identified two dimensions of culture that influence intercultural communication: individualism-collectivism and high and low context. These were factors that varied across cultures.
Individualism-Collectivism
In individualistic cultures, individuals focus on personal self and goals. Persons in the individualistic cultures emphasize a need for privacy, voice personal opinions, and are accustomed to freedom in speech through verbal selfexpression. In collectivistic cultures, however, the focus rests on group goals and group harmony. Persons in these cultures emphasize community, shared interests, and maintaining face. Additionally, in collectivistic cultures, "people belong to in-groups or collectivities which are supposed to look after them in exchange for loyalty" (p. 419), especially those groups which are important to all members and those groups for which individuals will make sacrifices
(Triandis, 1988). Inversely, Hofstede and Bond (1984) stated that in individualistic cultures, "People are supposed to look after themselves and their immediate family only" (p. 419).
Andersen (1985) asserted that individualism and collectivism determine how individuals live together–for example, whether they live alone, with family, or in tribes. People in individualistic cultures emphasize their own space or regulated access to privacy. Gudykunst and colleagues (1996) asserted that individualism and collectivism affect multiple aspects of nonverbal communication. As mentioned earlier, individualistic people prefer more space than those in collectivistic cultures, whereas people in collectivistic cultures tend to have close proximity due to an interdependent life style. In addition,
Andersen (1988) indicated that people in individualistic cultures are responsible for their own happiness while collectivists focus on group happiness rather than personal happiness. This may lead to persons from an individualistic culture tending to smile more than persons in a collectivist culture (Tomkins, 1984).
Low-High Context Cultures
Hall (1976) explained the terms low and high context cultures by noting that
"low-context culture occurs when the mass of information is vested in the explicit code" (p. 70). High-context culture occurs when "most of the information is either in the physical context or internalized in the person, and

very little in the coded, explicit, and transmitted part of the message" (Hall,
1976, p. 79). Gudykunst and Ting-Toomey (1988) indicated that people in individualistic cultures are likely to represent low-context culture, due to the use of direct communication with a focus on verbal communication. People in collectivistic cultures, on the other hand, are more likely to display a highcontext culture by virtue of their use of indirect communication and emphasis on nonverbal communication.
Neuliep (1997) explained high-context cultures generally have a restricted code system. A restricted code system relies more on the contextual elements of the communication setting for information than on the actual language code. Within a high-context transaction, the interactant will look to the physical, social, and psychological environment for information. Because interactants in a highcontext culture know and understand each other and their appropriate role, words are not necessary to convey meaning. (Neuliep, 1997, p. 435) As mentioned above, a high-context culture relies more on physical context and has little explicit encoding, whereas a low-context culture focuses more on the meaning of behaviors in the messages and should be explicitly coded (Hall,
1976; Lustig & Koester, 1999). This is because verbal messages in a lowcontext culture must be clear descriptions with specific meanings. In contrast, a high-context culture tends to emphasize nonverbal meanings. As a result, people from a low-context culture may perceive those from a high-context culture as unattractive, due to the differing emphasis of high-context culture on verbal communication. Generally, people from a low-context culture are perceived as being more talkative than people from a high-context culture, who are less verbally communicative.
Service employees' nonverbal behavior remains virtually unexplored despite its importance with respect to the outcome of service encounters. There are still few study of research attention on an investigation of the role of nonverbal communication on customers' evaluations of luxury service consumption experiences in Thai society.
The main contribution of the present paper is to develop an integrated conceptual framework of Thainess luxury service language for value creation perception. However, what is relatively unclear is the nature of the effect of service employees' socio-cognitive behavior to utilize their nonverbal behaviors for impression management on customers' perceptions of service satisfaction. Thainess service characteristics for excellence service language delivery will be identified and captured especially mainly as nonverbal communication ways. This lack of clarity is unfortunate because research in the communication field reveals that the nonverbal components are at least as important as the verbal components of interpersonal communication in shaping the outcome of employee-customer interactions (e.g. Barnum and Wolniansky,
1989; Burgoon et al., 1990). In fact, nearly half of the variations in response to interpersonal communication can be attributed to nonverbal factors (Mehrabian,

1981). It is even suggested that nonverbal communication, the form of communicating thoughts and emotions without using words, accounts for nearly
70 percent of all communication (Barnum and Wolniansky, 1989).
Past research in sociology and communication indicates that individuals learn from early childhood how to use nonverbal behavioral signals as a communication vehicle (Palmer and Simmons, 1995). In fact, the manner in which individuals learn to communicate nonverbally is similar to how they learn a vocal language. Once having learned to communicate nonverbally, individuals consciously and unconsciously integrate nonverbal cues into conversations, using them to convey specific social meanings such as intimacy, immediacy, involvement, and dominance (Burgoon, 1991)
Service Quality
Many of previous research focus on macro service issues, such as the antecedents of services quality (e.g. Bolton and Drew, 1991), the relationship between service quality and business profitability (e.g. Rust et al.,1995), and service recovery efforts (e.g. Webster and Sundaram, 1998).
Customer Satisfaction Research
The first customer satisfaction research is occurred in the early 1980s. Works by Oliver (1980), Churchill and Surprenant (1982), and Bearden and Teel
(1983) tended to focus on the opeationalization of customer satisfaction and its antecedents. By the mid-1980s, the focus of the research had shifted to construct refinement and the implementation of strategies designed to optimized customer satisfaction, according to Zeithaml, Berry and Parasuraman (1996, p.31).
SERVQUAL
Particular scientific inquiry and the development of a general service quality theory can be accredited to Parasuraman, Berry, and Zeithaml (1985). They proposed the ration of perceived performance to customer expectations was critical to maintaining satisfied customers. Their mulyi-item SERVQUAL scale is considered one of the first attempts to operationalize the customer satisfaction construct. The battery of items used in the SERVQUAL multi-item scale is still used today as a foundation for instrumental service development.
The primary service quality measurement factors considered in the scale involved tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy. The primary research question involved which of the five areas was the most important to customer satisfaction. However, maximizing customer satisfaction does not necessarily reflect the corporate altruism, or direct to tangible benefit.
The underlining premise, especially before early 1990s, was that satisfied

customers yield greater profitability and leading to be more successful. And yet only there are limited empirical evidence supported this notion.
Buzzle and Gale (1987) yield evidence to support the link between market share growth and service quality; nevertheless, the be short of of enough substantive evidence supporting the contention that customer satisfaction was instrumental in ensuring the corporate profitability led to council on Financial Competition to the following reflection in 1987: “ Service quality as an issue is seriously overrated; service certainly is not as important as the mythic proportions it has taken on in industry trade publications and conferences.” This typical skepticism likely precipitated a flurry of previous academic and industry research focus on linking customer satisfaction to corporate profitability and market share.
Rust and Zahorik (1993) focused on the financial banking industry. Their research related customer satisfaction, retention, and profitability. The author confirmed that retention rated has driven market share and customer satisfaction is a primary determinant of retention. Their model permitted Rust and Zahorik to determine the spending levels of each satisfaction elemenmt which will maximize profitability, subject to the assumptions of the model and accuracy of parameter estimation (1993, p. 212). Furthermore, Rust and Zahorik (1993, p.
211) suggested a number of ways companies could improve customer satisfaction and thereby increase intention rates that create creative financial benefit. Among these were “ training programs to help personnel to ben more responsive to customers, upgrade facitities, beteer data handing systems, customer surveys and newsletters.”
Zeithaml et al. (1996) refined the linkage between cutomer satisfaction and profitability by focusing on a n interventing variable: retention. The author represented for objectives related to the study:

A synthesis of existing research that links service quality and behavior outcomes

A hypothetical model that relates service quality to certain behaviors that precede defection

Presentation of empirical evidence connecting service quality and behavioral intentions

Development of a fundamental research agenda that will link individuallevel behaviors to outcomes like customer purchase and retention
Behavior intentions were developed in an effort to capture the full range of possible product and service outcomes. A 13-item battery was developed and partially based on previous study by Cronin and Taylor (1992) and Boulding,
Kalra, Staelin, and Zeithaml(1993) that apparently determine a wider range of

behavior intentions. Some of the unique survey content involved likelihood to pay a premium price and behavior loyalty despite price increases. Figure below summarizes the five factors encompassed five dimensions for behavior intent.Anderson and Fornell (1994) studied a large data set to product empirical evidence that customer satisfaction pay off with greater profits. Their research are mainly focus on customer satisfaction, share, and profitability.
Thai values and behaviors
Suntaree Komin (1990) researched about Psychology of Thai people: values and behavioral patterns. She summarized that Thai value system representing the collective “cognitive blueprint or the mental programming.” Most Thai people possessed their value through socialization, to guide their lives as desirable members of Thai society. The high consistency of the value rankings not only substantiates the relative stability nature of value, but also constitutes to the relative stable patterns of culture and personality as national characteristic or national character. In this research, the list of 20 Terminal values and 23
Instrumental values were studied. The value study was measured from 6 different age groups.
Rokeach defines values as “abstract ideals, positive and negative, not tied to any specific objects or situation, representing a person’s beliefs about modes of conduct and ideal terminal goals” (Rokeach, 1968, p. 124). Therefore, a person’s definite value system is like a cognitive blueprint when activated, leads to actions and personalities.
National Culture
Hofstede (1980) offers a framework for analyzing national culture, which can be summarized by four key cultural dimensions as follows: (1) Individualism vs. collectionism, (2) Power distance, (3) Uncertainty avoidance, (4)
Masculinity vs. Femininity. According to his study of national culture in four dimensions as mentioned earlier (Kolb, et.al., 1984) has shown that the
American culture is characterized by (1) extremely high score on
“individualism”, (2) relatively high on “masculinity”, (3) small “power distance”, and (4) medium to weak “uncertainty avoidance”, which are contrary to Thai national culture.
Characterizing a national culture are referring to the common characteristic elements with in the Thai culture, the national norms, or cluster norms in case

of explaining the particular group. Komin (1990) described that by nature instrumental values as modes on behaviors serving means, instrumental to the attainment of the goals, reflected effective social interface and relations’ pattern of a culture. Different cultures will be more likely to have subtlety different means to attain goals. Therefore, identifying “Luxe Impression Service
Charisma” in Thai society should based on finding of Thainess Instrumental values and beliefs for illuminating the culturally learned patterns, whereby Thai people learn to use them to perform service function effectively in Thai society.
The follows are the summary of Thainess cultural value classifications according to their relative significant positions in the Thai cognitive system:
1.
Ego Orientation
2.
Grateful relationship orientation
3.
Smooth interpersonal relationship orientation
4.
Flexibility and adjustment orientation
5.
Religio-phychical orientation
6.
Education and competence orientation
7.
Interdependence orientation
8.
Fun-pleasure orientation
9.
Acheivement-task orientation
Harmony and balance:
In Chinese reasoning, there is a greater concern for harmony, intuition thinking and balance making (Lin, 1977, p. 86; Nakamura, 1964; Northrop, 1946, p.
375).Much concern is given to learning ``how to accommodate the nuance of influence of many forces'' (Redding, 1993, p. 77). Bond (1991), in his review of
Chinese psychology, concludes that ``Chinese tend to perceive on the basis of the overall pattern uniting objects, Americans on the basis of a characteristic shared by the objects.'' Such reasoning may be viewed as a matter of connectedness, as one tries to understand the interplay between the large array of forces that impact a decision (Needham, 1956). This pattern in reasoning and perception has been linked to the collectivist nature of Chinese culture (Bond and Hwang, 1987; Hofstede, 1980). Living in a culture that enforces strong ingroup allegiance (Triandis et al., 1988), the Chinese have historically needed to balance personal desires with group demands. The authoritarian decisionmaking strategies of groups (Tse et al., 1988b) necessitates that an individual balance the demands of the leader with personal desires. This normative force thus blunts personal affective desires in the formation of intention. In contrast with these elements of Chinese thought, Western thought has been characterized as abstract (Levi-Strauss, 1962), hypothetical-deductive (Luria,
1976), context independent (Greenfield and Bruner, 1966), and theoretic
(Scribner, 1979). In addition, consumer researchers have noted the hedonic aspects of consumption on the part of Americans (Hirshman and

Holbrook,1982). Given that US culture is individualistic (Hofstede, 1980),
Americans are more likely to express their affective states as opposed to suppressing them for group consideration (Triandis et al., 1988). De
Tocqueville (1965) attributes this tendency to egalitarianism: ``Equality begets in man the desire for judging everything for himself.'' As a result, respect for tradition and authority is muted and the expression of every thought and impulse is encouraged. The normative forces that govern US behavior represent a utilitarian consideration in the light of self-interest or a desire on the part of self to express values consistent with an admired group (Oliver and Bearden,
1985). Thus, the normative forces reflect an individualistic bias that may not be characteristic of collectivist cultures.
Novelty
This study makes important theoretical contributions to the understanding of the relationship between “Thainess service language” to enculturation value added for national branding towards creative economy. In addition, this will provide the service industry with new tools to enhance customer satisfaction through implementation of “Thainess Service Language” Model.
Dissemination and exploitation
The research will be disseminated in academic research community through academic and research publication and professional journals relating to the field of study. One conference paper will be presented at international conference with one academic papers will be publicized in the journals. Proposed publication in the research field are for examples, Journal of Knowledge
Management, Journal of Psychology , Journal of Service, Journal of Intellectual
Capital, Journal in Human Resources Development. In addition, web site design for e-learning will be designed for knowledge sharing of the research outcomes to benefit for the society and international level.
Resources and project management
First of all, time is one of the most important factors for project success since the completeness of the project requires a lot of time and effort. Therefore, time management for the researcher and work-life balance should be managed.
On the supply side, experts from leading national service provider must be willing to share the tacit key performance knowledge. On the demand side, customer must provide enough time and effort to participate for providing valuable preferable service satisfaction outputs. Therefore the research support team needed to be well trained before getting into the field survey. The interpersonal relationship and effective communication methods should also be managed to get actual support. In addition, the proficiency of English language is required for mutual understandings. Moreover, knowledge management

methods and tools should be purposely managed from explore, collect, capture, analyze, validate to disseminate stages. The key persons for best practice and role model interview should be clearly identified and explained the research purpose so that the communication will be easily followed and supported.
However, during data collection and analysis process, the computer and media tools such as VDO recorder, voice recorder, digital camera, mobile phone are required. During data processing and model development process, the computer notebook and some software such as SPSS, Common KADS, Microsoft office program such as Visio program will be necessary. All research study processed require systematic project management. Microsoft project and endnote program will be helpful for research processes. Mind-maps will be benefit for final model of knowledge representation. Last but not least, highly selfmotivation and strong determination will be required for research achievement.
Education and application advantages
The renewed interest is to build Thainess service language training and development programs by using Thai cultural heritage and creativity equipped
Thai service skills and knowledge toward world-class standard.
In terms of academic community, Thai entrepreneur and service providers will understand and learn TSL mind-map to increase competency and know how skills. Ministry of Labor, Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Human Resources will apply this model to enhance public service as well as to increase customer satisfaction through training and coaching program. For international level, expats and foreign investor will have more understanding on Thai language and mental literacy to enhance social and business in Thailand. Both private and government academic institutes will benefit for future human development research.
For commercial sector, Training program can be developed for service personality and customer satisfaction, and Thai social etiquette. Learning and development software, E-learning, documentary, VDO Present, digital Media, and Thai social etiquette guide book will be proposed.
Research designs, scope and methods
An empirical study was conducted in Thailand in 2009 to explore Thainess value creation by measuring consumer perception and satisfaction to Thainess
Service Language. In the empirical study we focus on the part of communication that takes place when using a service. The empirical data consists of interviews with existing customers and employee. Owing to the exploratory nature of the study, depth interviews were conducted and recorded, using a topic guide to steer the interviews. Data will be recorded and translated.
Thainess will be placed as the attribute as providing creative inspiration, stimuli or metaphor for value creation during service encounter. The respondent will

be asked for examples: how would you define “Thainess Service Language” .
They were then asked then asked: “ Within the Thainess service what does
“added value” mean to you?” “ What is the most important factors for Thainess
Service Impression for world class satisfaction. The interview explored consumer perceptions of the relevance and satisfaction from leading world-class service organizations such as the Oriental Hotel, Chivasom, Blue elephant restaurant, and Jim Thompson. In addition, exclusive interviews with Thai leaders namely Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Culture, Ministry of
Commerce, and leading Thai entrepreneurs will be proposed.
The research study will be divided into 2 main phases, which are exploration stage and model development stage.
At the exploration phase, the objective is to explore and survey purposive knowledge of Thai people image and national image for creative economy value creation from primary source, secondary source and interview. The knowledge of Thainess capital service impression management based on Thai socio-cognitive frame of mind, namely social value, belief and attitude will be explored and identified. National identity and service-mind personality for hospitality will be investigated. The key knowledge will be identified, observe, and capture from world-class Thainess legendary world-class service providers, namely Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Chivasom as well as world class products such as Jim Thompson, and Blue Elephant. The data collection will be managed by qualitative face-to-face in-depth interview of key management, service provider and customers. Participation exploratory research will be implemented. The process of data collection will apply knowledge management approach. The semi-structure interview questions will used. Data interpretation will be analyzed and validated. The second is the model development phase. Knowledge management will be utilized for modeling
“Thainess service language” as Intellectual capital value creation, relating to the creative economy. Proper communication channels will be implemented to disseminate the findings. In this research study, both qualitative and quantitative methods will be applied.
Location : Thailand
Duration : Approximately Three-Year from October 2007 to August 2010
Research Program and Gannt Chart
The research study will be continuing for three-year divided into 5 different phases as follows:
The first stage, proposal stage, the research problems are explored and identified. Literature review will be searched for. Interview questions

will be established for pre-test of problem statement and ready to be surveyed for the data collection phase. The final proposal and qualifying examination needed to be done.
The second stage will be data collection phase. The appointment will be scheduled for the key target interview. During this stage face-to-face interview will be conduct. Participation in seminar and meetings for additional relevant information search will be explored.
The third stage is the analyzing and interpretation phase. Knowledge validation will be done at the end of this stage.
The fourth stage is the model development phase from knowledge identification, knowledge creation and acquisition, knowledge codification and refinement to knowledge employment and verification.
The fifth stage is the knowledge access and sharing through conference paper for presentation and final thesis.
Description of Tasks
2008-2009
2010
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug
Proposal Stage
Investigate & identify research problems
Literature survey and review
Identify factors for research study
Develop questionnaire & interview questions
Test questionnaire & interview questions
Write final proposal
Data Collection Stage
Interview face-to-face
Observation survey
Attending Training and Conference
Documentary surveys for relevant information
Analyze Stage
Data Analysis and Interpretation
Model Development Stage
Identify knowledge & develop model
Develop channel for knowledge representation, sharing and dissemination
Attend International Conference
Write Conceptual framework
Present conceptual framework
Thesis Writing and Revision
Thesis Submit

Major project risks
The knowledge of “Thainess service language” for service value creation from first-hand source and expert in-depth interview may have some error from human bias. Insufficient cross-cultural understanding of creative economy taxonomy may impact the findings. In order to justify the model, tremendous time and samples will be required for data validation and quantification. With the small sample size and only concentrate the study to leading world-class organization in Thai hospitality industry, and so the findings cannot be generalized to the wider tourist population and to other service and product categories. In addition, some aspects are sensitive and subliminal understanding from different backgrounds, beliefs and values.

Human
Capital
BODY-MIND-BRAIN
Thai identity
Thai Personality
Communication: verbal and nonverbal
Self-presentation
Thainess Service Language

Body Service Language

Mental Language (service-mindedness)
Intellectual Capital
Relation Capital

Thai ways

Thai service-mind
SECI Model
Structural Capital
Socio-cultural based
- Thai normative wisdom
- Social value, attitude and belief
- Thai heritage
- Buddhism
Fifth
Discipline
Learning in
Action
Mindmapps
Supply
National Branding
Functional and Mental Benefit
Tangible
Value
Customer
Satisfaction
Four forms of capital:
Human
Institution
Culture
Knowledge
Economic multiplier
Effect
Demand
World-class
Customer
National
Competitiveness

Historical Study
1. Chivasom
Chiva-Som founder, Boonchu Rojanastien, attributes Chiva-Som’s top position to a unique blend of Thai Buddhist philosophy, his own life experiences and years of visiting spas around the world. “Chiva-Som, meaning ‘haven of life’, allows guests from Thailand and around the world to experience a rejuvenation program that is tailored for each guest and presented in a positive but nonregimented way. “Every element of Chiva-Som is a blend of the world’s best.
Thailand’s leading international health resort has been rated the number one
‘Overseas Destination Spa’ and positioned at number five in the world’s Top
100 ‘Best of the Best’ that travel has to offer by readers of Conde Nast
Traveller magazine.
World-class architecture which combines Southeast Asian and Western designs through to the service commitment which is a balance of international standards and Thai spiritual values, everything we do focuses on a holistic approach to health that incorporates mind, body and spirit,” he says.
Many of the staff working at Chiva-Som have been there from the start. They are experienced in delivering service with a delicate touch that encourages guests to relax and enjoy the balance between the extremes of fast-paced modern living and the solace of traditional Thai culture. “The way we deliver services is uniquely Thai and at Chiva-Som we work hard to maintain this service quality. At the same time we continue to innovate and rely on modern equipment that can help us better serve our customers,” he says.
Boonchu believes it is the strong Thai values which have seen Chiva-Som positioned at number five in the ‘Best of the Best’ category in Conde Nast
Traveller magazine’s seventh annual Readers’ Travel Awards. “The high ‘Best of the Best’ rating sets us apart and tells us that guests find Chiva-Som a uniquely fulfilling experience in itself.”
In recognition of its position as one of the world’s top health resorts, Chiva-
Som has been assigned by the Government to assist with setting standards for spa businesses in Thailand. This in turn will enable the Government to efficiently monitor this type of business and ensure quality standards support the national strategic plan to establish Thailand as Asia’s health centre.
Revealing the idea for establishing Chiva-Som, Boonchu says the Chiva-Som philosophy is built on strong foundations that have stood the test of time. In fact, it began a few decades ago when friends were invited to join him at the old

beach house in Hua Hin to recharge themselves with a weekend of exercise, relaxation and healthy meals based on his own recipes.
วิธีการบ าบัดรักษาของชีวาศรมเป็นการบ าบัดด้วยวิธีธรรมชาติ
โดยอาศัยหลักการสร้างความสมดุลให้กับร่างกายและจิตใจ
จึงมีการให้บริการด้านการบ าบัดเื่่อเสริมสร้างสุขภาืและ
ให้บริการทางด้านการฝึกสอนการออกก าลังกาย และกิจกรรมต่างๆ
นอกจากนี้ชีวาศรมยังมี โปรแกรมเกี่ยวกับการให้ค าปรึกษาหลายด้าน เช่น
การโภชนาการ การลดน้ าหนัก การบริหารความเครียดและสันทนาการ
หลายประเภท โดยผสมผสานเทคโนโลยีอันทันสมัยและความ
ช านาญระดับโลกเข้ากับปรัชญาในการแสวงหาสุขภาือันสมบูรณ์
และความเป็นอยู่ที่ดี มุ่ง
สร้างสรรค์ดุลยภาืระหว่างร่างกายและจิตใจ
และจิตวิญาณของแขกและสมาชิกทุกท่าน โดยมี
จุดมุ่งหมายส าคัญ 3 ประการ
1.เน้นการสร้างสรรค์สิ่งแปลกใหม่มากกว่าการปฏิบัติในรูปแบบเดิมๆ
ที่เคยกระท ากันมา
2.เน้นการป้องกันโรคภัยไข้เจ็บมากกว่าที่จะมุ่งเน้นไปในการรักษา
3.เน้นการใช้วิธีการอันชาญฉลาดในเร่่องความชราแทนการยอมรับความชรา
โดยรวมส่วนใหญ่เป็นแขกชาวต่างชาติ ประมาณ 80% จากจ านวนแขกทั้งหมด
40%
เป็นแขกที่เคยมาใช้บริการแล้ว
ลักษณะของคนที่มาใช้บริการเป็นบุคคลที่เกิดความเครียดจากการ
ท างานและสิ่งต่างๆ รอบข้าง
ต้องการการืักผ่อนและต้องการสถานที่ที่ช่วยบ าบัดท าให้เกิดการ
ผ่อนคลายทั้งทางร่างกายและจิตใจ
- อายุของผู้เข้ามาใช้บริการ จ ากัดอายุไม่ต่ ากว่า 16 ปี ผู้ใช้ส่วน
ใหญ่เฉลี่ยโดยรวมมี
อายุ30 ปี
- ก าหนดจ านวนแขกเข้าืักจ านวน 2 คนต่อ 1 ห้อง
เื่่อต้องการเน้นความสงบเป็นหลัก
- แขกชาวเอเชียส่วนใหญ่โดยเฉลี่ยจะเข้าืักตั้งแต่ 3 วันขึ้นไป
ชาวยุโรปทั่วไปโดยเฉลี่ย

จะเข้าืักตั้งแต่10 อาทิตย์ขึ้นไป
Design:
ผสมผสานความเป็นตะวันออกให้เข้ากับอิทธิืลตะวันตกเื่่อความเป็นสถาปัตยกร
รม
แห่งยุคของ south east asia สปาเป็นหัวใจหลักของชีวาศรม
ซึ่งมีรูปแบบที่ทันสมัยมากที่สุด มีเคร่่องอ านวยความ
สะดวกมากมายหลายประเภทและได้รับการออกแบบให้มีความรู้สึกกว้างใหญ่เื่่อ
ให้ความกลม
กล่นกับสภาืแวดล้อมของชีวาศรม
Blue Elephant
Blue Elephant has been building its success on a strong Thai food competence coincident with Thai cultural references. Its success can also be attributed to
Western quality and managerial standards. Its geographical expansion strategy might be described as ‘outside-in’: after 22 years of business. They have spread their outlets from Europe to Thailand.
Blue Elephant international started in 1980 in Brussels with three Thai partners and one Belgian husband, Khum Noorot Somany, a Thai living with her
Belgian husband, Karl Steppe, opened the first restaurants and today the chain is among the leading upmarket Thai restaurants in the world. The company expanded into London in 1986, then Copenhagen in 1990, followed in
1990,followed by Paris in 1991.In1997, the company opened two more branches, one in Dubai and the other in New Delhi. Beirut followed in 1998,
Lyon in 1999,Malta in 2000,Bangkok in 2002,Kuwait in 2003, Bahrain in 2004,
Moscow in 2005, with Jeddah and Jakarta to come in 2008 and
2009.Surprisingly. the company has stayed away from the USA and Australia.
‘To run a restaurant successfully it needs care, control and standardization. Our head office is based in the UK and our in Belgium. If we would expand our business to other regions link the USA or Australia, we will need competent local partners first. However, we are expanding our business to the USA in the from of products like curry pastes and cooking ingredients,’ says Ms Fong from
Blue Elephant.
Their non-European market entry strategy, like that used with the USA, is the polar opposite to that used in UK. Where the company opened a restaurant first and started selling curry pates and cooking ingredients later. An interesting

coincidence, as a topic of speculation, is that it took Blue Elephant 22 years to enter the Thai restaurant market and the same amount of time from opening the
London branch to selling cooking ingredients to a UK supermarket chain,
Waitrose, which bean in 2008.
The overall company philosophy is to create a ‘totally Thai dining experience’.
Accordingly, the ambience in all restaurants is exotic: fish swimming around little ponds, wooden bridges which from paths through the restaurant. Thai palm trees decorating the inter waitresses, all providing a foretaste of experience of a restaurant in Thailand. All ingredients, apart from seafood, are flown in from Thailand. Managers and chefs must be Thai restaurant has its own standard recipes: a Thai dish in London is prepared in the same way in
Paris or Bangkok, and chefs receive extensive training before they can start working. All this comes at a cost, so it is not surprising that a typical Thai papaya salad (som tam) or minced chicken salad (larb gai) that would cost in
Thailand less than 1Euro,costs in London the equivalent of 9 and 15 Euro respectively. Nonetheless, all restaurants enjoy high traffic and company is set for further expansion as a result of its financial strength.
Blue Elephant managed to put Thai cuisine on the global stage by stressing its
Thai heritage as its uncompromising quality. The image of Thailand as a culinary distinguished country helps in selling its products abroad. In contrast, its Bangkok brand is not as successful; offerings of genuine Thai food in traditional settings are abundant. The strength of country brand ‘Thailand’ is not a point of differentiation in the home marker. To enter USA, where there are upwards of 10,000 competitors and a lack of suitable partners, is dangerous.
Alternatively, associating their own product range of cooking ingredients and cooking schools with Thailand’s food competence has proved to be a successful strategic recipe. Blue Elephant, although originating from Belgium, has successfully managed to make the brand “Thailand” part of its culinary experience.
Thai airways
In the highly competitive aviation industry a strong brand can be a major differentiator. With the assistance of interbred , Thai Airways ,celebrating its
50 th anniversary in 2010 , has sought to reposition the airline and find new ways of reaching its various consumer segments. The challenge was to was to bring across a caring image from ticket offices service, to flight and ground crew uniforms , raditional advertising and the company website.The new brand design they came up with is influenced by the traditional Thai wai, a greeting made by bringing the two palms together. In a sense, Thai Airways has revised its brand by returning to it’s the roots. However, the wai as a theme has been

copied by its many Thai airline service competitors. In terms of choice of colours, Thai Airways went back to original darker tone. In 1975, it introduced a petal-like leaf logo which signifies a Buddhism related object. The previous logo colors represents the Thai orchid, gold representing Thai arts, and pink as a symbolic language for Thai silk. Definitely, The wai is the service language and thai symbolic for greeting and impression management in Thailand.
Case Study: Mandarin Oriental Hotel
บันทึกการสัมภาษณ์
หัวข้อ
คุณวีระศักดิ์ ชุณหะจักร
Director โรงแรมแมนดาริน โอเรียนเต็ล กรุงเทื
คุณหญิงฤดี : ขอเรียนท่านช่วยเล่าถึงความเป็นไทยของ โอเรียนเต็ล
กรุ๊ปให้ฟังหน่อยได้ไหมคะ
คุณวีระศักดิ์ : เราอาจจะไม่ใช่ไทยมาก แต่ว่าเราเป็นเอชีย เอเชีย อยู่ใน
Vision ตอนที่เรามาเปิดโรงแรมใหม่ๆ
เราจะต้องเอาคนเอเซียไปสอนค่อไทยก็เป็น เอชียก็เป็น
อาจจะไม่ใช่ไทย 100% อย่างนี้ค่อวิสัยทัศน์ของโรงแรมโอเรียนเต็ล
กรุงเทืก็จะืูดถึงความเป็นไทย
คุณหญิงฤดี : ก็ค่อไทยเป็นส่วนหนึ่ง
คุณวีระศักดิ์ : เอเชีย culture
เราต้องไปสอนฝรั่งให้เขามีความเป็นเอเชีย
เืราะว่าถามหน่อยว่าถ้ามันไม่ดีแล้วท าไมจะต้องมาท าเป็นเอเชียถ้ามัน
ไม่ดี แสดงว่าเขาเห็นว่านี่ค่อจุดขาย แล้วเป้าหมายของเรา
เราจะต้องขึ้นมาเป็น Top 3 ในระดับโลก
ก็แสดงว่านี่ค่อจุดขายของเราที่โดดเด่นอันนี้จะเป็น mission statement
ของในเคร่อบริษัทโรงแรมโอเรียนเต็ลกรุงเทื
ก็อาจจะประกอบความเป็นไทยบางส่วน ก็ต้องมาดูว่าเป็นไทยยังไง

คุณหญิงฤดี : อันนี้ืูดถึงความเป็นไทย
ขออนุญาตเรียนถามในความเป็นไทยในส่วนของ
Industry
ในภาืรวมของท่านอาจารย์มองว่ามันสร้าง Value
ในส่วนของ world-class customer ตรงไหน
คุณวีระศักดิ์ : คนชอบืูดกับผมเสมอว่าโอเรียนเต็มดีอย่างนั้นดีอย่างนี้
ในประเทศไทยโอเรียนเต็ลที่หนึ่ง อะไรอย่างนี้
ผมืูดเสมอว่าจริงแล้วโรงแรม 5
ดาวในประเทศไทยเนี๊ยดีใกล้เคียงกันหมด
แล้วเราไม่คิดว่าเราดีกว่าคนอ่่น เราคิดว่าเราเหม่อนคนอ่่น
แต่รู้ไหมเราดีด้วยอะไร เราดีด้วย Thai culture
เืราะว่าฝรั่งที่เขามาเืราะเขาช่่นชม Thai culture
ความนอบน้อมของคนไทย ในความเป็นวัฒนธรรมไทย
มันท าให้ฝรั่งเขา impress เรา เขามองว่าเราน่ารัก
บางทีก็ดูไม่ค่อยฉลาด ดูไม่ค่อยรู้เร่่อง อย่างเช่นว่า เราไม่รู้เร่่องเราก็ยิ้ม
ือเราท าผิดเราก็ยิ้ม อะไรอย่างนี้ ผมว่าสิ่งนี้ค่อเสน่ห์ และโรงแรม 5
ดาว ในประเทศไทยหลายแห่งไม่ใช่แต่ที่โอเรียนเต็ล
เืราะทุกคนก็เป็นคนไทยก่อนอ่่นเราต้องขอบคุณวัฒนธรรมไทย
ถ้าคนไทยไม่ได้มีวัฒนธรรมแบบนี้ผมเช่่อว่าเราสู้เขาไม่ได้หรอก
เราชนะเขาตรงนี้
คุณหญิงฤดี : ท่านอาจารย์มองในมุมนี้มันมีความต่างหร่อเหม่อนกัน
ในวิถีชีวิตของไทยกับวัฒนธรรมของเอเชีย
คุณวีระศักดิ์ : เรียกว่าถ้ามันมีดีกรี สมมุติว่าฝรั่งค่อ 0 เอเชียค่อ 50
ไทยค่อ 100 ยกตัวอย่างเช่น เอเชีย
ไปเม่องจีนเหม่อนมาเม่องไทยไหมครับ
คุณหญิงฤดี : ไม่เหม่อนค่ะ
คุณวีระศักดิ์ : ืนักงานเสิร์ฟที่เม่องจีนืูดเสียงดัง ตะโกน
คนไทยืูดเสียงดังไหมครับ จีนก็เป็นเอเชีย ไทยก็เป็นเอเชียทั้ง2

ก็เป็นเอเชียเหม่อนกัน
แต่เรามีวัฒนธรรมที่แข็งแรงกว่าละมุนละไมมากกว่า
คุณหญิงฤดี : แล้วสมมุติว่าจากความรู้ ประสบการณ์
ในมุมความประทับใจการให้บริการที่สร้างความประทับใจในการบริกา
รที่เป็นเลิศ เช่น การยิ้ม การไหว้ อาจารย์ช่วยยกตัวอย่างหลักๆ
คุณวีระศักดิ์ : 1. แน่นอนการยิ้ม 2. ไหว้ 3. ความนุ่มนวล 4.
ค าว่าไม่เป็นไร ไม่เจ้าเร่่องเจ้าราว และการให้อภัย
คุณหญิงฤดี : ในด้าน
mind มันเป็นจุดเด่นของเราไหมคะ
ในการบริการแบบสร้างความเป็นเลิศ
คุณวีระศักดิ์ :
ตรงนี้ก็เป็นวัฒนธรรมอย่างหนึ่งว่าคนไทยเราใครมาถึงเร่อนชานต้องต้
อนรับ สมัยก่อนนี้อันดับที่ 1 อันดับที่ 2 เราเคารืผู้ใหญ่
เคารืผู้มีืระคุณ เรามองลูกค้าว่าเป็นผู้มีืระคุณ
เืราะฉะนั้นเราต้องเคารืเขา เราจะไม่ตีเสมอ
ความกตัญญูดังนั้นในมุมของศาสนาืุทธที่เป็นื่้นฐานของสังคมไทยเป็
นหลักจะสามารถเข้ามาเป็นส่วนหนึ่งของการให้บริการ
คุณหญิงฤดี : ในมุมไหนมากที่สุด ในแนวคิดของท่านอาจารย์
คุณวีระศักดิ์ : สติ สมาธิ ที่โรงแรมเรานี้
เราส่งืนักงานไปสวนโมกขึ้นรถบัสปรับอากาศไปกัน 4 วัน
ไปศึกษาธรรมมะ ค่อการที่เราจะบริการได้ดี
ยิ้มแย้มแจ่มใสมันจะต้องมีความสุข ต้องมีสิ่งที่ดีที่มาจากข้างใน
ถ้าตัวเขาเองสมมุติว่ามีปัญหาอยู่ที่บ้านแล้วเขาแยกไม่ได้และต้องมาท าง
านเขาไม่มีสติไม่มีสมาธิการท างาน เขาไม่มีสติ
ไม่มีสมาธิในการท างานเข้าจะท างานได้ไม่ดี เืราะฉะนั้นเขาต้องมีสติ
ต้องรู้ว่าท าอะไรอยู่ต้องท าอย่างไร
คุณหญิงฤดี : ในแง่ของ Thainess ที่ทรงคุณค่า เช่นในวัง
วัฒนธรรมเก่าๆ อะไรที่เราควรจะน ากลับมาใช้บ้าง
คุณวีระศักดิ์ : การก้ม การให้ความเคารืเม่่อเดินผ่านผู้ใหญ่

คุณหญิงฤดี : ก็ค่อการนอบน้อมต่างๆ ที่มีเราจะมา leverage ให้เป็น value เืราะว่า Creative Economy ก็ค่อการสร้าง value จากสิ่งที่เป็น intangible ให้เป็น value ที่เป็นมูลค่าเงินหร่อความสุขแก่ลูกค้า
ในมุมของศิลปะมาจากวัฒนธรรมในวัง
ท่านอาจารย์คิดว่าอะไรที่สร้างมูลค่าได้
คุณวีระศักดิ์ : การประดิดประดอย การแกะสลัก การจัดดอกไม้
คุณหญิงฤดี :
ดอกไม้อะไรที่แสดงถึงความเป็นไทยในสายตาของท่านอาจารย์
คุณวีระศักดิ์ : ดอกมะลิ, มะลิลอยน้ า
คุณหญิงฤดี : กล้วยไม้ได้ไหมค่ะ
คุณวีระศักดิ์ : กล้วยไม้จริงๆแล้วไม่ใช้ไทยเท่าไหร่
เืียงแต่ว่ามันปลูกได้ในเม่องไทย แต่ถ้าถามว่าดั้งเดิม ของมันจริงๆ
มันมีหลายื่้นที่ มันไม่เด่น
คุณหญิงฤดี : อย่างมะลิตอนนี้เราืานืุ่ม ืวงมาลัย
คุณวีระศักดิ์ : คุณลองดูสิชาติไหน ประเทศไหนมีืานืุ่มบ้าง
คุณหญิงฤดี : ไม่มีเลย ถ้าเช่นนั้น
ในการศึกษาเราจะน าดอกมะลิมาศึกษาถึงดอกไม้การให้บริการ
ท่านอาจารย์คิดว่าเหมาะสมหร่อไม่ค่ะ
คุณวีระศักดิ์ : ได้
คุณหญิงฤดี : Media เื่่อการศึกษา จะเป็น communication channel
ในมุมของท่านอาจารย์คนไทยเป็น media channel ได้หร่อไม่ค่ะ
คุณวีระศักดิ์ : เป็นได้ด้วย Word of mouth
นี่แหละที่เป็นตัวส าคัญที่โอเรียนเต็ลมีช่่อเสียงก็เืราะตรงนี้แหละ
คุณหญิงฤดี : เขาืูดว่าอย่างไรบ้าง
คุณวีระศักดิ์ : ก็ือเขามาแล้วเขาก็กลับไปืูดต่อว่าดี
คุณหญิงฤดี : เรามีการโฆษณาผ่านโรงแรมอย่างไรบ้างค่ะ เช่น Media
ต่างๆ

คุณวีระศักดิ์ : ส่่อประชาสัมืันธ์ และมีการเขียนข้อ commend
จากนักท่องเที่ยวหร่ออาจมีการสัมภาษณ์แล้วตอนนี้ก็มีส่่ออินเตอร์เน็ตห
ร่อที่นอกเหน่อจาก Word of mouth
คุณหญิงฤดี : ลูกค้าเช่่อจากส่่อตรงนี้มากไหมค่ะ
คุณวีระศักดิ์ : เยอะขึ้นเร่่อยๆ
คุณหญิงฤดี : แล้วในแง่การ direct PR มีการว่างแผนส่่ออย่างไรบ้างค่ะ
คุณวีระศักดิ์ : เราลงแมกกาซีน หนังส่อืิมื์บ้าง บางโอกาส
และอาจจะมีกิจกรรมทางอ้อม ต่างๆ นั้นก็ถ่อว่าช่่อเราได้มีคนเห็นบ่อยๆ
คุณหญิงฤดี : Functional creation ถ้าเปรียบเหม่อนอาหาร เช่น
ชีวาศรม ในที่สุดเขาก็ได้สูตรของการบ าบัด ของเรามอง function creation ของโอเรียนเต็ลค่ออะไรคะ
คุณวีระศักดิ์ : บริการ ผมืูดเสมอว่าโรงแรมจะประสบความส าเร็จต้องมี software และ hardware hardware ค่อตัวโรงแรม hardware
ค่อใครมีตังค์จะท าให้ดีขนาดไหนก็ได้ แต่ software
คุณมีเงินอย่างเดียวไม่ได้ต้องมีสมองด้วย
ถามว่าโอเรียนไปเทียบกับโรงแรมในยุโรปที่เขาใช้วังเก่าท าเราไปเทียบ
เขาไม่ได้ แต่ถ้าถามว่าเราแื้เขาเยอะไหม มันก็ไม่ใช่
ซึ่งเราอาจจะดูไม่อลังการเท่าเขาแต่เรา
แต่ว่าอย่างที่บอกโรงแรมต้องประกอบไปด้วย software และ hardware
คนไม่ได้ไปที่ hardware อย่างเดียว ผมว่าคนไปที่ software ด้วย ถ้า softwareไม่ดีผมว่าคนไม่ไป ขณะที่ hardware ไม่ดีเท่าไหร่ แต่มี software ที่ดีผมว่าคนจะไปมากกว่า
เม่่อไม่นานมานี่ผมชอบมากมีแขกเขียน commend
ให้โรงแรมเม่่อสัปดาห์ก่อน เขาบอกว่าเขาไปโรงแรมมาทั่วโลก
ล่าสุดเขาไปที่โรงแรมเร่อใบ ที่ประเทศดูใบ ทั้งที่นั้น
และโอเรียนเต็ลเปรียบเหม่อนน้ าตาลค่อให้ความหวานแบบสุดยอดเหม่อ
นกัน แต่โอเรียนเต็ลเป็น nature sugar ค่อฟังแล้วเห็นภาืเข้าใจเลย

คุณหญิงฤดี :
ืวกข้อเขียนที่ต่างชาติหร่อนักเขียนหร่อแม้แต่ลูกค้าที่เขียนมาขออนุญ
าตศึกษาได้ไหมค่ะ
คุณวีระศักดิ์ : ผมแนะน าให้เข้าไปดูในเว็บไซด์ของโรงแรม
คุณหญิงฤดี : มีโรงแรมที่เชียงใหม่ช่่อ
วิลเลจ
ขออนุญาตถามในแง่การสร้าง Value Address
ค่อไปลงทุนไม่มากแล้วอยู่ๆโรงแรมก็มี Value
มหาศาลเราเอาอะไรไปใส่ให้ค่ะ
คุณวีระศักดิ์ : ผมมองว่าหลายๆอย่าง luxury cozy และผมว่ามันมีเสน่ห์
คุณหญิงฤดี : เท่าที่ทราบสมมุติว่าลงทุน 30 ล้าน ในการสร้าง faceted
ที่ส าคัญที่สุดมันไปเปลี่ยนฮาร์ดแวร์หร่อซอฟแวร์ในแง่ composition
คุณวีระศักดิ์ : เช่่อว่าตรงนั้น Hardware มีคนเยอะ และว่า Software
จริงๆแล้วเม่องไทยมันใกล้เคียงกัน มันไม่ต่างกัน ผมจึงเช่่อว่าตรงนั้น
Hardware
คุณหญิงฤดี : แล้วเขาปรับอะไรค่ะในเม่่อบุคลากรเราไม่ต่าง
คุณวีระศักดิ์ : ก็คงปรับปรุง แต่ค่ออันที่จริงผมก็ไม่ทราบ background
ของเขานะครับ แต่ที่ผ่านๆมาไปเห็นแล้วมันสวยงามมาก
คุณหญิงฤดี : อันนี้เจ้าของเป็นใครค่ะ
คุณวีระศักดิ์ : ผมก็ไม่ค่อยแน่ใจว่าคนเดิมเขาขายต่อให้กับใคร
แล้วใครเข้ามาบริหารงานต่อ
คุณหญิงฤดี : ในแง่ของ Quality Legendary Experience มันค่ออะไร
ในการที่จะ sharing ความเป็นโอเรียนเต็ลไปสู่รุ่นต่อรุ่น
แล้วเราถ่ายทอดกันอย่างไร
คุณวีระศักดิ์ :
ผมต้องืูดอย่างนี้ครับว่าโอเรียนเต็ลที่ประสบความส าเร็จได้ทุกวันนี้ ค่อ
คุณเคิร์ท
ท่านเป็นผู้น าที่สุดยอดของความเป็นผู้น าท่านได้รับรางวัลหลายอย่างที่เ

ป็นระดับโลกค่อท่านมีวิสัยทัศน์สูงท่านรู้ว่า Hardware
ต้องจัดการอย่างไร Software ต้องจัดการอย่างไร
วันแรกที่คุณเคิร์ทเดินเข้ามาวันแรก
ืนักงานเลี้ยวซ้ายเลี้ยวขวากันไม่เป็นระเบียบ แต่ืออยู่ๆไปท่านก็ตบ
ตบให้อยู่ในแถวในระเบียบ
ือืนักงานทุกคนเดินเข้าแถวแล้วเป็นระเบียบแล้วคนใหม่มาจะกล้าเดิ
นแตกแถวไหมล่ะ ในเม่่อมันค่อวัฒนธรรมองค์กร LQE
ทุกวันตบเข้าตบเข้ามันก็อยู่ตรงนี้ แล้วแก่ไม่เคยยอมหยุด
ผมยังเคยคุยเล่นๆกับองค์กรของโรงแรมอ่่นๆนะบางทีถ้าเขาท าผิดคุณต้
องบอกเขานะ คุณอย่าดุเขานะ
อย่าไปว่าเขาไม่ดีผมก็บอกว่าก่อนที่คุณไปว่าเขาเนี๊ยคุณเคยบอกเขาหร่
อเปล่า ก็คุณไม่เคยบอกเขาแต่คุณคาดหวัง
เอ่อเคยบอกไหมเคยเนี๊ยเม่่อ2 ปีที่แล้วเคยจ้างคนมา teach ไปทีหนึ่ง
เม่่อ 2 ปีที่แล้วมันจะอยู่กับเขาไปตลอดชีวิตเลยหรอ
ขอโทษนะครับโอเรียนเต็ลืูดกันทุกวัน ทุกเด่อน ทุกปี
ืูดกันซ้ าๆกันตลอดชีวิต ปีหนึ่งเรามีหัวข้อการอบรมเก่อบ 200 หัวข้อ
และเราไม่เคยหยุด ทุกปีเราจะมีการ test เร่่องมารยาทไทย ทุกปีเราจะ test เร่่องการท าความสะอาด test ทุกเร่่องที่ืนักงานควรจะรู้
อย่างในช่วงนี้เศรษฐกิจไม่ค่อยดีอาจมีการอบรมเร่่องการออมเป็นต้น
คุณหญิงฤดี : ในด้าน CSR ในด้านไหนที่เราถ่ายทอดได้ดีที่สุด
คุณวีระศักดิ์ : เราท าโรงเรียน
เรามีผ้าป่าห้องสมุดให้โรงเรียนในต่างจังหวัดไปท าห้องน้ า
เราไปปลูกป่า ค่อผมไม่ชอบท างานสร้างภาื แต่ต้องท าให้ได้ผล
เช่นเม่่อก่อนเขามีการท าความสะอาดแม่น้ าเจ้าืระยาฟังดูดีแต่ในความ
เป็นจริง แม่น้ าสกปรกช่วงไหน แม่น้ าจะสกปรกช่วง high season
ช่วงปลายปี low season ช่วงแขกน้อย เช่นว่า เม.ย.-ก.ค.
ปรากฏว่าเวลาเราท าช่วง high season
เราไม่สามารถท าอะไรได้เืราะว่าแขกเราเต็มเราต้องดูแลแขกเราเต็มไ

ปหมด เราก็จะไป clean ช่วง low season
ช่วงแขกน้อยซึ่งมันไม่มีแล้วขยะ
ต้องไปขุยขยะจากตลิ่งที่มันไม่มีผลอะไรผมก็เลยไม่ท า
เม่่อก่อนเขาท ากันแต่ผมเห็นมันไม่มีผลดีอะไรก็เลยไม่ท ามีแต่สร้างภาื
คุณหญิงฤดี : ในแง่ของ Body language
ในการบริการท่านอาจารย์คิดว่ามันส าคัญอย่างไร ในมุมไหนบ้าง
คุณวีระศักดิ์ : มากครับ มันส่่อให้เราเห็นว่าเราคิดอะไรอยู่
อย่างเช่นว่ายิ้ม ผมบอกเสมอว่าคนไทยอะไรก็ยิ้ม
ถ้าคนที่เข้าใจในวัฒนธรรม บางทีเราเซ่อๆซ่าๆืูดไม่ถูก
ืูดไม่ชัดบางทีมันก็เป็นเสน่ห์
คุณหญิงฤดี : ในมุมของ Body language เทียบกันกับ communication อันไหนที่ส าคัญกว่ากัน
คุณวีระศักดิ์ : น่าจะเป็น Body language
เืราะคนไทยส่่อสารด้วยวิธีนี้
คุณหญิงฤดี : ในแง่ของของการ Trading ขอศึกษาในด้านของ organization Structure ในประเด็นนี้อยากจะศึกษาในแง่ของ KM
เรามีการเรียนรู ้ สอนคนตั้งแต่เข ้ามาหรือการเลือกคนเราจะรู ้ได ้อย่างไรว่าทุกคนมีคุณภาพหมด
คุณวีระศักดิ์ : ส่วนใหญ่เราจะดูคนที่มีประสบการณ์มาบ้างแล้ว
การสัมภาษณ์ จากการทดลองงานของเขา
มันก็จะืิสูจน์ได้ว่าเขาเป็นอย่างไร การฝึกฝนเราต้องฝึกฝนเขา
คุณหญิงฤดี
:
ในแง่ของการอบรมบุคคลิกภาื
Personality Trading
เรามีไหมค่ะ
คุณวีรศักดิ์
:
เรามีสอนกันทุกปี
คุณหญิงฤดี
:
ในแง่ของคอนทูลิตอนต้องเรียนรู้ไหมค่ะ
คุณวีรศักดิ์
:
ต้องมีครับ
แต่เราไม่ได้มีทุกปีเราจะใช้คนจากสถานทูตประเทศต่างๆมาอบรมว่าแต่ล่ะชาติแต
กต่างกันอย่างไร และมีืฤติกรรมอย่างไร
แม้กระทั่งช่่อที่อ่านยากๆของแต่ล่ะภาษาเรากผ้ต้องสอนให้เขาอ่านให้ออก
คุณหญิงฤดี
:
ในแง่ของเวอร์คลาส เซอร์วิส จากการ trading
อะไรที่ท าให้เราก้าวไปสู่ความเป็นเวอร์คลาส

คุณวีรศักดิ์
:
ในแง่ความเป็นไทยอย่างเดียวท าให้เราไปสู่เวอร์คลาสไม่ได้
เราต้องมีความเป็นอินเตอร์ด้วย อย่างเช่นการเสิร์ฟ ค่อแบบสบายอะไรก็ได้ไม่ใช่
มันต้องมีวิธีของมัน มันต้องอินเตอร์ เราต้องสอนทั้งนั้นเทคนิคก็ค่อไทยค่อผงชูรส
เราน าไปเติมเื่่อให้ดูดีขึ้นมา คิดว่าน่าจะป็นอย่างนั้น
คุณหญิงฤดี
:
ในแง่ของเราโอเรียนเต็ล
ไม่ใช่ไทยแต่เืียงอย่างเดียวแต่เราเป็นเอเชียด้วยแต่ไทยเป็นภาืของซอฟแวด์
คุณวีรศักดิ์
:
อย่างที่มองฐานของโอเรียนเต็ลค่อ เอเชีย ไม่ใช่นะครับ
แต่เอเซียค่อเอเซีย จีนเป็นเอเซียไหม ไปเม่องจีนกับเม่องไทยต่างกันไหม
ต่างกันโดยสิ้นเชิงเลยครับ ทั้งที่ทั้งหมดค่อเอเซีย
เืราะฉะนั้นโอเรียนเต็ลค่อไทยไม่ใช่เอเซีย
คุณหญิงฤดี
:
ถ้าเราจะสอนที่อ่่นให้เป็นเหม่อนไทยท าได้ไหมค่ะ
คุณวีรศักดิ์
:
ถ้าในเม่องไทยท าได้
คุณหญิงฤดี
:
แล้วในต่างประเทศล่ะค่ะ
คุณวีรศักดิ์
:
ผมว่ายาก เืราะมันมาจากวัฒนธรรม
มาจากข้างในผิวเผินอาจจะได้ ให้เขายกม่อไหว้ ให้เขายิ้มได้
ผมว่าจริงๆอเมกายิ้มมากกว่าคนไทยอีกเืราะฉะนั้นคนไทยยิ้มมันมาจากข้างใน
คุณหญิงฤดี
:
วิธีการ trading
ของ
HR
มีอะไรบ้างค่ะ
คุณวีรศักดิ์
:
เรามี 3 เร่่อง
1.
เราถามเขาว่าเขาอยากได้อะไร เขาขาดอะไร
2.
เรามองว่าเราควรให้อะไร
3.
จากแขก
Comment
คุณหญิงฤดี
:
สัดส่วนเป็นอย่างไรโดยส่วนใหญ่
คุณวีรศักดิ์
:
ืูดยากครับเืราะว่าโอเรียนเต็ลเป็นมา 133 ปีแล้วค่อมันท ามาทุกปี
มันมาจากตรงนั้นแล้วกลายมาเป็น 200 กว่าหัวข้อ
คุณหญิงฤดี
:
แล้วสัดส่วนระหว่างสกิงกับสเปเชียส
คุณวีรศักดิ์
:
50-50 ครับ
คุณหญิงฤดี
:
ในส่วนของ 200 กว่าหัวข้อือจะขออนุญาตศึกษาได้ไหมค่ะ
คุณวีรศักดิ์
:
ส่วนใหญ่มันเป็นหลักการและเหตุผลครับ
คุณหญิงฤดี
:
ได้ค่ะ
สุดท้ายท่านมีอะไรแนะน าเกี่ยวกับการศึกษาซึ่งในภาืรวมจะเป็น
Thainess
เหม่อนกับ
Mind Map
ทางด้าน
Intelligence
ทางด้านภาษา
แต่เราจะสร้างภาษาการบริการเื่่อให้คนคิดถึงประเทศไทย
ให้นึกถึงบริการที่ดีที่สุดในโลก
คุณวีรศักดิ์
:
ก่อนจะถึงมุมนั้นสอนให้เขารู้วัฒนธรรมก่อน
เืราะถ้าเขาไม่รู้จักวัฒนธรรมไทย
Background
ที่มาที่ไป
อย่างที่บอกเราให้เขายิ้มเขาก็ยิ้ม บอกให้ไหว้เขาก็ไหว้
ถ้าเกิดเขาไม่รู้ว่าไหว้ท าอย่างไร แล้วคนไทยนิสัยอย่างไร

มันอาจจะดินฟ้าอากาศก่อให้เกิดตัวนี้ขึ้นมา คนไทยมีความสุข
คนไทยไม่เร่่องมาก การบริการที่มัน
Excellent
มันค่อวัฒนธรรมที่มันสร้างขึ้นได้เอง
คุณหญิงฤดี
:
ค่อมันจะต้อง
Impress
ที่
Thai culture
ก่อน
คุณวีรศักดิ์
:
คุณจะไม่ประสบความส าเร็จถ้าคุณไม่
Impress thai culture
บางครั้งอาจจะโง่ๆ เซ่อๆ แต่คุณต้อง
Impress
มันจริงๆ
คุณหญิงฤดี
:
เรียกว่าได้รู้จัก leverage Thai culture
เราก็จะต้องสร้างคุณค่า
Value
Creation
เื่่อให้เกิด
Positioning for national branding
ในแง่การให้บริการต่อไปค่ะ
ขอบืระคุณท่านอาจารย์ค่ะ
Interview Ms Ankana Kalantananda at The Oriental Bangkok
คุณหญิงฤดี :
คุณย่ามองว่าความเป็นไทยในการให้การบริการระดับโลกมีปัจจัยอะไร
บ้างคะ
คุณย่า: 60 ปี ที่ท างานด้านการบริการในโรงแรมระดับโลก
ที่โอเรียนเต็ลืบผู้คนจากทั่วโลกที่ช่่นชมความเป็นไทย
และภูมิใจในความเป็นไทยโดยฉืาะ attitude, personality,
Diplomacy, politeness, patience
โดยสรุปแล้วอุปนิสัยคนไทยของคนไทยที่เหมาะสมต่องานบริการือสรุ
ปได้ดังนี้
1.
คนไทยมีความเห็นอกเห็นใจผู้อ่่น
2.
คนไทยเป็นคนให้อภัยง่าย
3.
คนไทยชอบสนุกสนานร่าเริง
4.
คนไทยมีเอกลักษณ์การยิ้ม (ยิ้มด้วยใจ)
5.
คนไทยมีเอกลักษณ์การไหว้
6.
คนไทยมีความอ่อนน้อมถ่อมตน ไม่ชอบโต้เถียง
7.
คนไทยชอบยกย่องคนอ่่นที่เหน่อกว่า
8.
คนไทยเช่่อเร่่องกฏแห่งกรรม ท าดีได้ดี
9.
คนไทยเป็นคนมีน้ าใจ ชอบช่วยเหล่อผู้อ่่น
10.
คนไทยมองโลกในแง่ดี มีอะไรยิ้มไว้ก่อน

11.
คนไทยเช่่อในระบอบอุปถัมภ์ คอยดูแล รับใช้ผู้ใหญ่
ผู้ใหญ่คอยปกป้องผู้น้อย
12.
คนไทยปรับตัวเข้ากับผู้อ่่นได้ง่าย ปรับเข้ากับสังคมได้ดี
13.
คนไทยมีความอดทน
14.
คนไทยเช่่อในระบบเคร่อญาติ ชอบเรียกคนอ่่นเสม่อนญาติ
15.
คนไทยชอบต้อนรับคนแปลกหน้า ใครไปใครมาต้อนรับ
Case study: Jim Thompson
The main shop o f the Jim Thompson company, on Bangkok’s Surawong road is an elegant building in the architecture style of 17 th century Ayuttaya. I opened in 1967, just two weeks before Jim Thompson disappeared. The shoeroom of the shop offers products made from Thai silk and cotton in many forms, from clothing, decorative items to home furnishings. Both Traditional and contemporary designs of Jim Thompson silks come in a variety of style to suit international customer from different cultural backgrounds and preferences.
Many styles of home furnishings and decorative items are made from silk such as upholstery and bright accent cushions, making dramatic fashion statement.
The high quality of making products and crafting methods are recognized and treasured in every production processes.
In addition, silk is not the only achievement for which Jim Thompson is recognized. Countless visitors to Bangkok visit a beautiful Thai style house where he lived and displayed his precious collection of Asian art. They come from the story of disappearing of Jim Thompson to find out the mystery.
Mystery selling concept is one of the brilliant concept to stimulate the demand of customers all around the world.