(The) Liberalization of Thailand Medical Services Industry : Case Study between Thailand and South Korea

Woraset, Khoonthaweelapphon 서울대학교 대학원 2019 국내석사

The medical service industry has emerged as one of the lucrative business services in the twentieth-first century due to the wave of medical tourism from the globalization across the globe. This research captures the essence on how the developing countries such as Thailand was able to use liberalization as its advantage for creating a competitive private sector in the medical service industry which make Thailand establish itself as the leaders in this sector. On the other hand, the study also compares such development toward the country with a closed system where it is trying to limit the role of private sectors and result to the medical service business in the country unable to compete with others. Upon closer examination, the research found that Thailand’s business was able to achieve such growth was due to development of private hospitals and government policy that help contribute to the strength of country medical care such as the quality and price competitiveness. Moreover, the diversification of private firms which did not only concentrate on hospital business but other health-related business has allowed the company to increase its value and diverse the risk. Furthermore, the government policy that adapted through the liberalization at both global and regional levels helps increase further attractiveness and strength toward the industry. By comparing Thailand with South Korea which remained restrictive toward open up the medical service, the study found that South Korea was losing out and unable to compete at South Korea’s subsidies into the industry has resulted into increase in real price for foreign patients. Although South Korea possess a high and advance medical service, yet, to entering into global competition the country needs serious reform in its healthcare structure. By using the qualitative and comparative approaches, this research was able to provide evidence and the prospect that could be recommended for countries that want to develop or entering this niche markets.

An analysis of FTAs’ impact on Thailand’s exporting sectors : the case of textile and garments, electronics, and auto sectors

사미정 서울대학교 국제대학원 2014 국내석사

본 논문은 태국의 수출에 FTAs가 미치는 영향력을 분석하며, 세 개의 주요 수출부문 – 즉, 직물과 의류, 전자장치 및 자동차 부문에 구체적으로 초점을 맞춘다. 연구 대상인 FTAs는 아세안자유무역협정 (ASEAN Free Trade Agreement), 아세안-중국 자유무역협정 (ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement), 아세안-인도 자유무역협정 (ASEAN-India Free Trade Agreement), 아세안-일본 자유무역협정 (ASEAN-Japan Free Trade Agreement), 아세안-한국 자유무역협정 (ASEAN-Korea Free Trade Agreement), 태국-호주 자유무역협정 (Thailand-Australia Free Trade Agreement) 및 태국-뉴질랜드 긴밀경제협력 (Thailand-New Zealand Closer Economic Partnership)이다. 본 조사에서, 두 개의 주요 연구질문에 대답하기 위해 두 개의 분석이 진행되었다. 먼저, 상이한 FTAs가 태국의 직물과 의류, 전자장치 및 자동차의 수출에 미치는 영향력을 알아내기 위해, 프랑켈, 슈타인 및 웨이 (Frankel, Stein, and Wei) (1995)가 사용한 모델에 기반한 수정된 중력모델이 적용되었다. 두 번째 분석에서는, 태국이 상이한 FTAs에 참여함으로서 달성할 잠재적인 무역이득을 알아내고 이와 동시에 태국과 FTA 참가국들 간의 경쟁수준을 분석하기 위해, 세 개의 무역지표 – 즉, 수출경합도지수 (Export Similarity Index), 산업내 무역지수 (Intra-Industry Trade Index) 및 현시비교우위지수 (Revealed Comparative Advantage)가 적용되었다. 중력모델의 사용을 통한 첫 번째 분석의 결과는, 직물과 의류의 경우를 제외하고, 경제규모, 소득수준 및 거리가 전자장치와 자동차의 수출량을 결정하는 데 관계가 있음을 입증한다. FDI는 또한 전자장치와 자동차의 수출에 상당히 긍정적인 영향력을 가진다. 반면에, 상이한 FTAs의 영향력은 부문별로 다르다. 직물과 의류 수출에 대한 FTAs의 영향력은 예상한 바대로 미미하다. 한편, AFTA와 ACFTA는 전자장치의 수출에 상당히 긍정적인 영향력을 발생시키는 반면, 다른 FTAs의 영향력은 미미하다. 마지막으로, 자동차 부문의 수출이 FTAs – 특히, AFTA, TAFTA 및 TNZCEP로부터 가장 많은 혜택을 얻었다. FTAs의 특혜관세율과 MFN 관세율 간의 근소한 차이, 원산지 규정의 제약으로 인한 낮은 특혜활용, 그리고 전통적인 무역파트너들과 일부 개인파트너들에 대한 높은 수출편중도가 FTAs의 미미한 영향력에 대한 이유들로 사려된다. 무역지표들로부터의 결과는 태국의 직물과 의류 수출부문이 일본, 한국, 호주 및 뉴질랜드와의 FTAs에 참여함으로서 이득을 얻는 반면, AFTA, ACFTA 및 AIFTA는 회원국들 간의 경쟁 – 특히, 중국과 인도와의 경쟁을 심화시킬 가능성이 존재한다는 것을 나타낸다. 전자장치 부문에 대해서는, 태국이 기존의 모든 FTAs 내에서 잠재적인 이득을 가진 것으로 여겨질 수 있지만, 태국은 하드디스크 드라이브의 세계적인 주요수출국들이기도 한 싱가포르, 필리핀 및 말레이시아와 같은 아세안 국가들과 경쟁해야 할 것이다 (하드디스크 드라이브는 태국의 주요 전자장치 수출품목이다). 마지막으로, 자동차 부문에 대해서는, 태국의 높은 수출잠재력이 AFTA, AIFTA, ACFTA, TAFTA, 및 TNZCEP를 통한 무역을 통해 이득을 초래할 것이다. 반면에, AJFTA와 AKFTA는 상대적으로 높은 수출잠재력을 가졌음으로 그것들로부터의 이득은 최소한이 될 것이다. This paper analyzes the impact of FTAs on Thailand's export, which specifically focuses on three major exporting sectors, namely textile and garments, electronics, and auto sectors. FTAs under study include ASEAN Free Trade Agreement, ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement, ASEAN-India Free Trade Agreement, ASEAN-Japan Free Trade Agreement, ASEAN-Korea Free Trade Agreement, Thailand-Australia Free Trade Agreement, and Thailand-New Zealand Closer Economic Partnership. In this study, two analyses are conducted to answer two main research questions. Firstly, modified gravity model based on the model used by Frankel, Stein, and Wei (1995) is applied to find out the impacts of different FTAs on Thailand's export of textile and garments, electronics, and auto. In the second analysis, three trade indicators namely Export Similarity Index, Intra-Industry Trade Index, and Revealed Comparative Advantage are applied to find out the potential gains from trade that Thailand would achieve through participation in different FTAs, and at the same time, to analyze the level of competition between Thailand and its FTA partners. Through the use of gravity model, the results of the first analysis show that, except for the case of textile and garments, economic size, income level and distance do matter in determining electronics and auto's export volume. FDI also has significant positive impact on the export of electronics and auto. On the other hand, the impacts of different FTAs vary from sector to sector. FTAs impact on textile and garments export is, as expected, insignificant. On the other hand, AFTA and ACFTA generate significant positive impact on electronics’ export, while other FTAs’ impacts are insignificant. Lastly, the export of auto sector received most benefit from FTAs, particularly AFTA, TAFTA, and TNZCEP. The small margin between FTA’s preferential tariff rate and MFN tariff rate, low preferences utilization due to restrictiveness of Rules of Origin, and a high degree of concentration of export to tradition trading partners and to some individual partners are considered to be the reasons for the insignificant impact from FTAs. The results from trade indicators indicate that there exists possibility that Thailand’s textile and garments export sector would gain benefit from participation in FTAs with Japan, Korea, Australia, and New Zealand, while AFTA, ACFTA, and AIFTA would intensify competition among members, especially with China and India. For the electronics sector, the potential gains for Thailand can be seen in every existing FTAs, however, Thailand will have to compete with ASEAN countries such as Singapore, Philippines, and Malaysia which are also world's major exporters of hard disk drive (HDD is Thailand's major electronics export). Lastly, for auto sector, Thailand's high export potential would result in gains from trade though AFTA, AIFTA, ACFTA, TAFTA, and TNZCEP. On the other hand, the gains from AJFTA and AKFTA are the least, due to their relatively higher export potential.

Value chains and the middle income trap : the case of the sugar industry in Northeastern Thailand

최우혁 서울대학교 대학원 2014 국내석사

For several decades, Thailand has successfully accomplished economic development. Rapid growth has started since early 1980’s and Thailand could be one of the leading countries in the Southeast Asian Region. However, this development trajectory is questioned in various perspectives. One of it is the Middle Income Trap. Even though the term ‘Middle Income Trap’ is not precisely defined, there are doubts Thailand is whether trapped in the middle income status or not. Another aspect is regional disparity. It is already well known that Bangkok and suburban areas are prospering while other regions, especially Northeastern are lagging behind. As the Middle Income Trap is usually adopted for macro scale and Northeastern is the most underdeveloped region in Thailand, this paper attempts to scrutinize the Middle Income Trap in another perspective. Sugar Industry which is prevalent in Northeastern Thailand is chosen to analyze how the aspects of the Middle Income Trap are revealed in the industry and region. To research on this subject, Global Value Chain framework is adopted. Specifically, this study focuses on the upstream sugar value chain and scrutinizes the relation between the sugar cane farmers and the millers. Fieldwork was performed at the sugar cane fields, rural villages and weighing stations of Khokpochai and Manchakhiri district. It is found that upstream sugar value chain can be termed as ‘State-led Markets value chain’. Price is highly controlled by government body, so price cannot be a proper signal to coordinate the agents within the value chain. The upstream sugar value chain shares several aspects of the Middle Income Trap; low level of investment and R&D activities, labor shortage and weak institution. Several implications are described for these problems within the value chain. Even though this study cannot be generalized, it is meaningful to ‘think’ the Middle Income Trap not only in a broad scale but in regional and industrial context.

Increasing Korean investment into Thailand : evolution and main determinants

Trairatrangsee, Suneeporn Graduate School of International Studies, Korea Un 2013 국내석사

Foreign direct investment (FDI) is one of the most important factors for improving and developing the Thai economy. This research aims to study the main determinants of Korean FDI in Thailand. Korean FDI in Thailand has a long history. However, the investment volume has been noticeably increasing recently. Although the investment volume of Korean FDI has been rather small in scale, it seems to illuminate the attractiveness of Thailand as a FDI destination. This research provides fresh evidence regarding the determinants of Korean FDI in Thailand. The determinants were based on a survey of Korean multinational corporations (MNCs) in Thailand in 2012. In addition, the survey also asked the Korean MNCs about their further investment plans over the next few years. The findings suggest that the main determinants for Korean MNCs in Thailand are market-seeking and cost-reduction, and especially labor cost reduction. A low skilled workforce and differences in work culture are the top concerns for Korean investors in Thailand. The research results show support for the current trend of increasing Korean FDI in Thailand and further indicate that this trend will continue in the future.

A Study on the Characteristic Analysis of Independent Chinese Outbound Tourists Flow Using Social Network Analysis (SNA : - Focused on Thailand

왕효천 세한대학교 일반대학원 2022 국내박사

Abstract Thailand, known as the "smiling country," is one of the best tourist destinations in the world. Thailand has a superior geographical location, beautiful natural environment, rich and colorful cultural landscape, delicious food, and relatively excellent tourism infrastructure. These characteristics have attracted countless tourists from all over the world for sightseeing and vacation. Among them, Chinese tourists contribute the most to tourism development in Thailand. However, the academic circles do not know enough about Chinese tourist flow characteristics and driving force to Thailand. The discussion of this problem can help discover the rules of Chinese tourists to Thailand, which has inspiration and reference for Thai tourism management departments and tourism enterprises to formulate marketing strategies for China's tourism market and improve the quality of the tourism experience. This paper takes the digital tourism footprint of Thailand on Mafengwo's online travel platform as the data source, constructs the tourism flow network of independent Chinese tourists to Thailand, and studies the overall morphological and structural characteristics of the network by adopting Social Network Analysis Method and Gephi9.0 software. In addition, this study uses the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) model to analyze the departure point concentration of independent Chinese tourists to Thailand through six indicators: population, economy, transportation, scenic spots, hotels, and travel agencies, which broadens the ideas for the study of tourism flow. The results show that:(1)From the characteristics of the sample data, the seasonal difference of independent Chinese tourists to Thailand is not particularly obvious, which reflects the situation that the seasonality of independent Chinese tourists to Thailand is not obvious and the off-season and peak seasons are balanced;Most independent Chinese tourists stay in Thailand for 6-9 days, with the largest number staying for 7 days;The per capita consumption of Chinese tourists to Thailand is between 4001-6000 yuan, followed by 7001-8000 yuan and 9001-10000 yuan; Chinese tourists come to Thailand to travel in a variety of ways, and the proportion of traveling with friends is relatively high. (2)Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Tianjin, Xiamen, Chongqing, and Nanjing occupy an essential position in the network, which indicates that these cities are the main departure places of independent Chinese tourists to Thailand. (3)The top ten cities for independent Chinese tourists to Thailand are Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Tianjin, Chengdu, Xiamen, Nanning, Wuhan, Chongqing, and Nanjing. (4) The preferred cities for independent Chinese tourists to visit Thailand are Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, and Phuket. Secondly, Krabi, Ko Samui, etc. (5) The critical nodes in the tourism network, such as Grand Palace, Train Night Market Ratchada, Wat Arun, Phra Phrom, and ICONSIAM, have very high degree centrality, closeness centrality, and betweenness centrality. It shows that most independent Chinese tourists will go to the well-known attractions in traveling to Bangkok, but they have a strong pioneering spirit of adventure and seeking differences, and they will explore new places to visit. (6) Tom Yu Kuang is at the center of the Bangkok food network with solid cohesion and radiation effect. Other delicacies include Kao Neaw Ma Muang, Puu Pud Pong Karee, Patai, Laeng Saeb, Load Chong Sing Ka Po, Cha Yen, Kao Pud Sub Ba Rod, and Kao Ka Muu are also popular to independent Chinese visitors. (7) By combing the sample information and analyzing the network structure of independent Chinese tourists flow to Thailand, Japan, South Korea, and Vietnam, it can be seen that independent Chinese tourists travel to Northeast Asian countries with specific seasonal differences. At the same time, there are no apparent characteristics of low and peak seasons in Southeast Asian countries. Moreover, the tourists have shown different preferences in each country; capital cities and famous tourist cities occupy an important position in the tourism flow network; In addition, due to geographical advantages, Nanning, Qingdao, Tianjin, Changchun, Shenyang, Hong Kong, and Macao are important departure and transit places for independent Chinese tourists to travel abroad. In terms of data collection, although this article collects the full sample data of travel digital footprints of Mafengwo Travel Network Platform, it ignores some small-scale travel sharing websites and travel blog portals, so free travel data can be further supplemented. In the future, with the integration of multiple research methods and interdisciplinary research, as well as the application of big data and cloud computing platforms, the theoretical system related to tourism flow will be gradually improved.

IMPACT OF FDI ON THAILAND'S ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT : A Comparative Study of FDI From China, Japan and South Korea in Thailand

ARISSARA BUREESIRIRAT 고려대학교 국제대학원 2013 국내석사

Foreign direct investment (FDI) has long been regarded as one of significant driving forces underlying economic development. Thailand, as in other developing countries which lack capital accumulation, has engaged in FDI activities with the view to developing domestic industries and stimulating local economies. As this type of investment has been welcome through various supportive policies by the government, Thailand became an attractive destination for foreign investors, from Northeast Asian countries in particular. This research attempts to explore different trends of FDI inflows from China, Japan and South Korea to Thailand as well as to analyze the implications of FDI from the aforementioned countries on Thailand’s economic growth by using Multiple Regression analysis. The results will show that although FDI from China and South Korea in the past decade has insignificant impact on Thai economic development, FDI from Japan on the other hand has significantly affected the economic growth of Thailand.

A Study on Thailand’s Strategy of South-South Cooperation towards Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam : 태국의 對 캄보디아, 라오스, 미얀마, 베트남 남남협력 전략에 관한 연구

Minkyung Kang 서울대학교 대학원 2015 국내석사

This thesis aims to identify Thailand‟s strategies of development cooperation as the country is emerging as a major donor in South-South cooperation. The term South-South cooperation refers to a paradigm in the field of international cooperation that pursues horizontal partnerships and solidarity within the South, which has long been the core of Thailand‟s foreign policy for its neighboring countries. Thus, the unique features and patterns of Thailand‟s development cooperation with Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam were thoroughly examined. In addition, this research investigated how Thailand‟s strategies of South-South cooperation have been evolving and are being threatened amidst increased tensions in Southeast Asia, due to hegemonic competition between the U.S. and China concerning economic cooperation and the South China Sea dispute. Through the analysis, it was found that the patterns of Thailand‟s development cooperation with its four recipients clearly differed from one another. Its development aid was not only based on humanitarian purposes but was also aimed at preserving a superior position in economic cooperation, as well as enhancing the country‟s status and security in Southeast Asia. Acknowledging the shortcomings of previous studies, this thesis tried to make a contribution to the field of Thailand‟s development cooperation.

태국의 경제사회 개발계획과 개발재정에 관한 연구

고홍명 한양대학교 대학원 1976 국내박사

한국의 소프트파워와 태국과의 문화교류 연계성 연구 : K-POP을 중심으로

벤자군 낫가몬 한국외국어대학교 대학원 2023 국내석사

According to Joseph Nye, soft power is the power to use cultural attraction to voluntarily motivate other nations to do as they want. Soft power is one of the public diplomacy methods. The vision of Korean public diplomacy is 'Amazed the world with Korean attraction'. The purpose of the study of this paper is to study the strategies, goals, and details of Korean cultural soft power. It focuses on K-POP and summarizes the process of cultural exchange between Korea and Thailand through soft power. In addition, it separates limiting factors and opportunity factors to measure the limitations and opportunity factors of cultural exchange between Korea and Thailand. Since 1990, when the Korean wave (Hallyu) began to enter Asia, the term K-POP has been widely used. K-POP is so successful on a global scale because of the rapid development of social media. This is the main reason why K-POP has fans all over the world. As the Hallyu wave enters Thailand, K-POP gains more attention. It caused the consumption of cultural products from Korea to increase. Simultaneously, as tourism between the two countries became active, the interest in the Korean language, music, tourism, economy, science, and technology also increased. South Korea has a Monoethnicity concept and Confucian culture. Thailand has been influenced by Buddhism, which is India’s main culture. But when a large number of Chinese immigrants came to Thailand, they brought Confucianism with them. Although Korea and Thailand are different in their cultural roots, Thailand has a concept of being open to foreigners. Therefore, this is another factor that Korean cultural exports are highly accepted by Thai people. Due to many factors, Thailand has become a huge K-POP market in Southeast Asia. Thailand has a high consumption of KPOP media. Hence, Thailand has the potential to become a K-POP base overseas. However, some factors may make it difficult for Thailand to base K-POP overseas, for example, Facilities such as public transport in Thailand are not comfortable, political instability in Thailand, etc. However, there are limitations affecting cultural exchange between Korea and Thailand, for example, language differences, Korean media consumption expenses, etc. On the other hand, there are opportunity factors that make Hallyu successful in Thailand as well. In terms of culture, when Hallyu first came to Thailand, there was a lack of cultural understanding between the two countries as it was a new phenomenon. But as time passed, the Korean Wave infiltrated Thailand. Thai people are becoming more familiar with Korea and the perception of Korea is also increasing. These opportunity factors suggest that the popularity of K-POP and Hallyu among Thais may continue despite some limitations. The reason why K-POP is so popular in Thailand besides the artist's attraction is the collaboration between the Private sector and the Korean government to focus on the development of K-POP and use K-pop as a factor in expanding the soft power. As a result, Korea has been able to maintain the popularity of K-POP for more than 10 years and it can be expected that K-POP will continue to be popular in Thailand for a long time. Finally, Korea has invested in the cultural industry and promoted Korean culture all over the world to expand the power of soft power, especially since the Korean Wave has gained a lot of attention in Thailand. Thailand's perception of Korea has been positively assessed and the K-POP market is growing exponentially in Thailand. This brings Korean culture, language, tourism, and fashion to Thailand. This shows that Thailand and Korea have strengthened their relationship through Korean cultural exchange influenced by soft power.

The New Southern Policy: An Analysis of Thailand’s Perspective

칸티차 분와닛 서울대학교 대학원 2022 국내석사

The New Southern Policy (NSP) refers to the Republic of Korea’s foreign policy toward ASEAN and its member states under the initiative of President Moon Jae-in’s administration. As Thailand is one of the NSP’s target countries, this research aims to investigate Thailand’s perspective regarding South Korea’s engagement with Thailand through the NSP implementation under President Moon Jae-in’s administration from 2017 to 2022 and to make an assessment of the two countries’ cooperation progress under three pillars: “People,” “Prosperity,” and “Peace.” This research was conducted using qualitative methods and descriptive analysis. The data collection relied on document-based research and in-depth interviews. The concept of national interest, developed by Charles O. Lerche, Jr. and Abdul A. Said, was used as the analytical framework to identify Thailand’s national interests based on its foreign policy. Then, Thailand’s foreign policy and its national interests were used to match with South Korea’s NSP to examine how Thailand perceives the NSP. The findings reveal that four out of five measures of Thailand’s foreign policy and South Korea’s NSP share common national interests. Therefore, they were able to cooperate with each other smoothly. Nonetheless, only one measure of Thailand’s foreign policy and South Korea’s NSP does not share a common national interest, but they still had some cooperation. Regarding the two countries’ cooperation progress under the three pillars, the findings indicate that Thailand and South Korea made more progress in terms of input to enhance the cooperation in the economic domain under the Prosperity Pillar, while the socio-cultural cooperation and people-to-people exchange under the People Pillar made more progress in terms of the output from the outcome of the cooperation. The study concludes that, overall, Thailand has a positive perception toward the NSP. 신남방정책 (NSP) 은 문재인 정부 주도하에 아세안(ASEAN)과 그 회원국에 대해 시행된 대한민국의 외교정책을 의미한다. 본 연구는 신남방정책 대상 국가 중 하나인 태국에 대하여 2017년부터 2022년까지 문재인 정부에서의 신남방정책 구현을 통한 한국과 태국의 관계에 대한 태국의 관점을 조사하고 '사람', '번영', '평화'라는 3대 축으로 양국의 협력 진전을 평가하는 것을 그 목적으로 하고 있다. 본 연구는 정성적 방법과 기술적 분석을 사용하여 수행하였다. 연구를 위한 데이터는 문서 기반 조사와 심층 인터뷰를 통해 수집하였다. 외교 정책을 기반으로 태국의 국익을 식별하기 위한 분석 프레임워크에는 Charles O. Lerche, Jr.와 Abdul A. Said가 개발한 국익 개념을 사용하였다. 그런 다음 태국의 외교정책과 국익을 한국의 신남방정책과 비교하여 태국이 신남방정책을 어떻게 인식하고 있는지 살펴보았다. 그 결과 태국의 외교정책과 한국의 신남방정책은 5개 항목 중 4개 항목이 공통의 국익을 공유하고 있는 것으로 나타났으며, 이로 인해 서로 원활하게 협력할 수 있었음을 알 수 있었다. 그리고 태국의 외교정책과 한국의 신남방정책에 있어서 5개의 항목 중 하나의 항목만이 공통의 국익을 공유하지 않는 것으로 나타났음에도 불구하고 이 항목에 대해서도 양국은 여전히 어느 정도 협력이 이루어졌음을 알 수 있었다. 또한, '사람', '번영', '평화'라는 3대 축에 따른 양국의 협력 진도를 살펴보면, 태국과 한국은 '번영'의 축에서 경제 영역의 협력을 강화하기 위한 "투입" 측면에서 더 많은 진전을 보인 반면, "사람"의 축에서 사회문화적 협력과 인적교류는 협력의 "성과"에서 더 많은 진전을 이루었음을 알 수 있었다. 본 연구를 통해서 태국은 신남방정책의 전반적인 측면에 대해 긍정적인 인식을 가지고 있음을 확인할 수 있었다.