Most SMEs in Thailand are not ready for AEC: Poll

BANGKOK, Dec 9 (TNA) -- Dhurakij Pundit University has found from its opinion surveys on 580 small and medium-sized enterprises nationwide that 75.2% of the respondents were not ready for the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). Kiat-anant Luankaew, assistant to the university's vice president for research, said only 11.4% of the surveyed SMEs were ready for AEC as they had prepared themselves for 2.4 years on average. He said 13.4% of the respondents were not interested in preparing for AEC. Of the SMEs that were unready, 14.7% said they needed up to a year to prepare themselves, 54.2% 2-3 years and 6.3% more than three years. Regarding reasons for being unready, 53.4% said they knew nothing about marketing opportunities in ASEAN, 50.1% said the capabilities of their personnel were problematic, 43.2% said they lacked allies, and 41.4% said they could not communicate in English. The survey also found that 63% of the respondents did not reach their business targets this year and 52.5% expected similar results next year. (TNA)