1.

Environmental Factors
SWOT Analysis of Pokka
STRENGTHS

Pokka is rated as the number one

Green

WEAKNESSES

tea brand,

boasting

Pokka

should

improve

their

market share of around 70% in

products by getting a more unique

Singapore.

and appealing packaging.

Pokka

in

Singapore

targets

Pokka new products like Gabu

consumers health as tea has the

Gabu and Planet Cola failed badly

benefits of helping consumers

in local market after investing a lot

calm down and lead good and

to compete in the carbonated

healthy lifestyles.

category.

Pokka Company achieved high

profitability

and

revenue

by

sustaining double digit revenue

growth in 2008 (Pokka Annual
Report,2008)

Pokka

group has successfully

expanded overseas in more than

50 countries.
OPPORTUNITIES

With high growth rates, Pokka is able

Threats

Facing fierce competitions from other

to venture into new market like

Food and Beverages company like

Thailand or Vietnam.

coca cola subsidiary Heaven & Earth

Food and Beverages is a growing

and F&N seasons trying to gain larger

industry in Asia pacific region.

piece of the pie.(Oishi),

Income level and standards of living

is constantly increasing,

Production and labour cost are

increasing, meaning lower profit
margin.

Government regulations when

entering new market.

PESTLE Analysis
6.1.1 Political
Thailand is one of the few countries still functioning under the monarchy system.
Bhumibol Adulyadej, constitutional monarchy under the parliament democracy
since 1932 which provides service for the residents as the head of state
(Bunbongkarn 2014). There are 3 groups of government in Thailand, the
executive, legislation and constitutional courts. Based on the Corruption
Perception Index 2013, Thailand shows sign of corruption with an improved
ranking of 102 among 175 and with a corruption index of 35 (Country economy
2013).
Thailand currently has 45 classes of control goods for importation. The
importation of goods requires an application to be made to the Ministry of
Commerce for an import license. 75% of the countrys GDP are from exports.
Some of the main exports are rice, sugar, corn and other agriculture products are
the countrys richest resources (International Business Publications 2013).
Thailand Labour Law stated that the minimum wages for employees is 300 Baht
per day in every Thai province. Under the Labour Protection Act, termination of
employees will result in severance pay. Temporary workers are to be entitled

holidays; leave and severance pay the same as full time staffs (Business
Information Centre 2009).
The Corporate Income Tax (CIT) has decreased over the years from 30 percent
in 2011 to 20 percent currently. The Tax decrease this will attract investor to
venture into Thailand. Whereas, the country average tariff rate current is currently
at 5.0 percent.
6.1.2 Economics
Thailand economy suffered a blow toward the end of second quarter in 2014
after political protests were demonstrated, as the civilians are unhappy with the
corruptions within the government (Paul 2013). These events result in decrease
of 1.9 percent in Thailand GDP.

Figure 1

The Bank of Thailand predicts that inflation is average about 2.2 percent in 2014
and a decrease of 0.1 percent the year after (Focus Economics 2014).

Figure 2
Consumer Price Index (CPI) in Thailand decreased to 107.32 index points in October
2014 from 107.43 index points in September 2014. The average score is 62.04 and the
record high of 107.9 in May 2014 and record low in the start of 2014 (Trading
economics 2014). An increase in CPI index score means consumer or household will
have to spend more dollars to maintain the same standard of living; that is mostly bad
news for the consumer but great news for business and the government. The national
currency used is Thai Baht with a current exchange rate of 32.28.
6.1.3 Socio-Cultural
The current estimated population of Thailand is 67.8 million. Referring to the
Figure 3, it shows that the population is dominated by age 0-45 range. It is
important for country like Thailand that has a younger population to invest more

in building schools and creating jobs for them that could result to unrest (Index
mundi 2014). It is categorized as upper middle income nation with a GNI per
capital of $5210.

Figure 3 Age index

Majority of the population in Thailand is Buddhism, which can be an advantage
as Buddhism is very open to other religions and could benefits incoming
businesses from different background. Thai people are generally strong in work
ethic, they usually get the job done and adapt very well to changes.
Thailand does not have high standards of safety according to Crime Index for
country 2014. Thailand has a crime index of 37.56 and 62.44 for safety index
compare to Singapore having 21.35 and 78.65 respectively. Political unrest and

riots are some of the events that resulted to the poor rating that Thailand has
achieved (Numbeo 2014).

6.1.4 Technology
It is important for businesses to know about technology improvements because
they are the driving factors to the business in improving quality and reducing
time. Social media is on a rise, it was said that Thailand is the hottest playground
for social networking platforms an astonishing of 95.5 million mobile phone user.
Bangkok Post reports, there are a total of 13.6 million Facebook users in
Bangkok city and in 2013 there were more than 1.7 billion tweets in Thai
language. With a large scale of individuals actively on social media companies
can take advantages by getting information across to their target market (Ghedin
2014).
Educations in Thailand continue to fall after spending nearly 20% of the national
budget on education more than any other sector. The result is clearly
disappointing as other Asean countries that spent lesser achieve better results.
World Economic Forum ranked Thailand a dismal 83 rd in terms of its health and
primary education (The Economist 2012).

6.1.5 Environment

Thailands locals are no strangers to natural disasters. One of the most

devastating events that took place was the tsunami that destroyed many urban
structures and took away many lives. The World Bank warned Bangkok faced a
high risk of natural disaster in massive flooding that could cause huge economic
losses. According to Bert Hofman, the World Bank Chief economist commented
that cities in Thailand including Bangkok faced increasing risk of disasters due to
bad urban planning (Poovijitsuthin 2014).
BBC News reports that Thailand has one of the worst traffic jams in the world.
The government introduced a policy to refund tax for first time buyer in 2012,
since then Bangkoks traffic have been getting worst. The traffic was so bad that
it will take you almost an hour to travel 50-60 km into Central Bangkok
(Vadrakchit 2012).
6.1.6 Legal
Thailand legal rules include consumer law, nation safety standards and labour
laws. Companies should understand all these law before venturing into the
nation.

Hofstedes Cultural Dimensions

Figure 4: Comparison of cultural dimensions between Singapore and Thailand

Source: (The Hofstede Centre 2014).

6.1.7 Power Distance

Thailand has a power distance score of 64 as compared to Singapore of 74. This
shows that Thailand and Singapore have quite a similar population of individuals
who obeys their direct superiors orders. Both countries work on a tall
organization structures.
6.1.8 Individualism
Both Thailand and Singapore share the similar scored of 20 for individualism.
This illustrates that individuals in both countries prefer to work alone rather than
working with a group.

6.1.9 Masculinity
Singapore achieved a rating of 48 for masculinity, shows Singaporeans are in the
middle of both successes driven and also place value on relationship and quality
of life. Whereas, the dimension shows the Thai locals are more towards feminine
culture.
6.1.10 Uncertainty Avoidance
Singapore scored 8 under uncertainty avoidance as conpared to Thailand with a
score of 64. This illustrates that the Thai locals are more emotional and they
usually try to avoid the occurrence of uncertainty and ambiguity by implementing
rules or laws. Singaporeans are comfortable with changes under unstructured
situation and prefer lesser rules as possible.
6.1.11 Pragmatism (Long term vs Short term orientation)
Singapore scored 72 as compared to Thailand with 32. Singaporeans believes in
long-term investment such as saving and drive towards rewards. The Thai
believes in short-term orientation, whereby they respect for tradition and fulfil
social obligation.
6.1.12 Indulgence
This dimension illustrates the extent to which members try to control their desires
and impulses which both nations are in common when it comes to indulgence
with a slightly equal score of 46 and 45.