July 2013—BROADSIGHT by

Broadgate Financial

BROADSIGHT by

September 2013—Issue 5

September 2013—BROADSIGHT by

Foreword

Dear Readers,

Welcome and thank you for reading the 5th edition of Broadsight, the corporate monthly magazine from the Broadgate Financial Group. As the Business Development Manager at Broadgate I am very excited to let you all know that our continued hard work in recent months is now paying off and those projects in the development stage are now moving towards implementation. This would not have been possible without a proper integration of the business and the HR strategy. Each and every individual in the company knows exactly what they are responsible for and have the necessary tools to ensure that their targets are achieved. “No one can whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra to play it.” H.E. Luccock It’s a pleasure to have this wonderful team around me that’s always there to support whenever required, so thank you very much. As the BDM, I am responsible for looking after various ongoing projects, from our innovative building technology of Litecast and Easy Panel to installing Waste Incinerators for proper disposal of Municipality Solid Waste (MSW) in our energy sector. This leads me on to formally announce the launch of our newest subsidiary Broadgate Energy who’s primary objective is to provide sustainable and renewable energy solutions for South East Asia. Subsequently, we are currently working on an important project that will directly impact on how Thailand will be looked at as a HUB for Renewable energy. Working with one of the largest LED manufacturers, we are on the verge of saving huge amounts of electricity while also meeting Thailand’s energy requirements by providing consultancy for Solar PV and Thermal installations all across Thailand. Do keep yourself updated with Broadgate as we have just started our engines and have a long way to go.

Khuram Gilani

Bussiness Development Manager

September 2013—BROADSIGHT by

News Feed

Industry News Energy

Industry News Plantations

Industry News Construction

Project News Q&A

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Retailer Contact Information

All of us at Broadgate Financial are pleased to

present you the fifth issue of our Corporate

Magazine: BROADSIGHT. We wanted to make it clear, comfortable to

read and enjoyable. That’s why in each of the

future issues you will find the same guidelines

with:

The hottest news from the previous

month along with upcoming important

issues relating to the business world in

ASEAN and beyond ;

A market report on the most important

aspects of last month’s financial news

provided by the Excelsior Worldwide Ltd

company;

Industry news related to our services in

Plantations, Construction and for the

first time Energy ;

A presentation of one new project

running at Broadgate Financial ;

A Q&A specific to our three industries ;

And finally a presentation of an

Individual Social Responsibility project

run at Broadgate Financial ;

We do hope you will enjoy this magazine as

much as we did compiling it. If you have any

questions or requests, please feel free to

contact us at

clientservices@broadgatefinancial.com.

In this issue of BROADSIGHT,

Like

September 2013—BROADSIGHT by

News Feed

News Feed

Armstrong Asset Management

commits $30 million for SE

Asia solar and biogas

The company is pairing up with developer Annex Power on the projects in Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore. “We are delighted to be expanding on our strong relationship with the Armstrong Fund whose investment objectives align very well with our own and whose experience in the renewables sector and in Southeast Asia creates many synergies we plan to build on,” said Daniel Gaefke, managing director, Annex Power. Annex has 58MW of installed PV in Thailand already with a further 30MW contracted. Singapore-based Armstrong announced the first investment from its Southeast Asia Clean Energy Fund in May this year taking a 60% stake in six solar PV projects in Thailand with a total capacity of 30MW. The fund is backed by the World Bank's private sector investment arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC). The country recently increased its solar energy target for 2021 from 9.2GW to 13.92GW with 3GW of this to be sourced from PV installations.

http://www.pv-tech.org/

Vietnam internet restrictions

come into effect

A controversial law banning Vietnamese online users from discussing current affairs has come into effect. The decree, known as Decree 72, says blogs and social websites should not be used to share news articles, but only personal information. The law also requires foreign internet companies to keep their local servers inside Vietnam. It has been criticised by internet companies and human rights groups, as well as the US government. Vietnam is a one-party communist state and the authorities maintain a tight grip on the media. Dozens of activists, including bloggers, have been convicted for anti-state activity in the country this year. The new law specifies that social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook should only be used "to provide and exchange personal information". It also prohibits the online publication of material that "opposes" the Vietnamese government or "harms national security".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/

China sets course for lunar landing this year

China set a bold new course in its ambitious space program Wednesday, when it announced plans to land its first probe on the moon by the end of the year. The country's State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence told state media the Chang'e-3 lunar probe had officially entered its launch stage and by the end of the year, China would land a space probe on a celestial body for the first time.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/

Rubber farmers warn of mass protest

Rubber farmers from northern Thailand plan to stage a mass protest on Sept 3 if the government does nothing to prevent rubber prices from sliding further. Farmers had submitted a letter to the government in April, asking it to keep prices of raw rubber sheets at 92 to 98 baht per kg and cut lumps at 85 to 87 baht/kg.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/

'World's largest building'

opens in China The superlatives in China continue -- the latest symbol of China's "bigger is much, much better" ethos is open for business. Located in Chengdu (population 14 million), capital of Sichuan province in southwestern China, the New Century Global Center is the "largest freestanding building in the world," Chinese officials say. Though the words "world's largest" usually bring to mind an image of a towering skyscraper, this project actually isn't all that tall. But it's certainly big. At 500 meters long, 400 meters wide and 100 meters high, the 1.7-million-square-meter mega-structure is capable of housing 20 Sydney Opera Houses and almost three times the size of the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. The Global Center, which opened June 28, is home to business offices, hotels, movie theaters, shopping malls […]

http://edition.cnn.com/

September 2013—BROADSIGHT by

Most equity markets were down in August, especially emerging markets.

Continued speculation around possible Fed tapering worried investors and the

possibility of foreign involvement in Syria added to the negative performance

towards the end of the month. On the macroeconomic front news was much

brighter as China seems to have overcome its recent decline and Europe posted

surprisingly positive data.

After gains in July, world stocks recorded losses on the revival of rumors that the

US Fed will soon cut back its stimulus plans. Although it strongly hinted in its

speeches that it would reduce its bond buying program, Fed chairman Bernanke

remained very evasive on a timescale. This uncertainty led to volatility in the

markets and put downward pressure on stocks. Emerging market equities and

currencies were the hardest hit as massive amounts of capital were pulled out

and repatriated to safer markets.

In contrast to the negative sentiment surrounding financial markets,

macroeconomic data was globally encouraging. The US economy proved its

resilience once again with a better than expected GDP of 2.5% and an increase in

most of its leading economic indicators. Despite federal tax increases and

budget cuts, growth is picking up.

News Feed

Market News

Market Report

Japan on the other hand, had mixed data. It grew slower than expected in the

second quarter but its consumer prices rose at the fastest pace since 2008. Prime

Minister Abe has emphasized a lot on bringing inflation back to Japan after years

of deflation and it seems his policies are bringing results.

The most encouraging news, however, came out of China and Europe. After

several months of negative indicators and clear signs of slowing down, it looks as

though China’s economy is stabilizing. Key indicators such as manufacturing,

industry, retail sales, exports and imports all rebounded sharply during the month

and pointed to the end of the slowdown. Europe also had some surprisingly good

figures. Euro zone growth hit a 26 month high while factories and services

recovered. Economic confidence hit a 17 month high. Nevertheless,

unemployment still holds at a record 12.1% and private sector loans continue to

fall.

We expect volatility to remain strong in the short term. The stimulus issue is very

much on the table and will be until the Fed makes an announcement mid

September.

Excelsior Worldwide Limited is pleased to offer the following

Market Commentary by Sebastien Le Van, head of R&D, to share

his thoughts on global economic developments, market insights

and other factors that may influence investment opportunities

and strategies.

September 2013—BROADSIGHT by

The information set out herein has been obtained from various sources and is by way of information only. The Broadgate Financial Group and Excelsior

Worldwide Ltd can accept no liability of any sort in relation thereto and readers should obtain their own verification of any statement before making any

decision which may have any financial or other impact. Neither the information nor the opinions herein constitute, or are they to be construed as, an offer or

a solicitation of an offer to buy or sell investments.

It is widely expected to announce tapering but as previously said the timescale remains elusive. Until we know more, markets will remain cautious and capital flight from emerging markets could continue. In addition, any positive macroeconomic news could have a negative impact on markets.

In the medium term we are cautiously optimistic. A stronger global economy

will inevitably lead to stronger financial markets and major economies seem

to be on the right track. Recent US data indicate the economy will improve in

the second half of 2013 and China’s recent numbers suggest it will achieve the

government’s target of 7.5% growth. Japan has had encouraging inflationary

results which it needs to build on, while Europe is showing early signs that the

debt crisis could be drawing to a close.

Despite the good news there are still obstacles ahead. The US is set to reach

its debt ceiling in October and Europe has yet to resolve its unemployment

problem which is a drag on growth.

Japan also faces a tough decision regarding a controversial sales tax hike that

could make or break Abe’s ambitious economic reform. Finally, economies

that had been resilient to the global financial crisis, such as Thailand and

Indonesia have recently showed signs of slowing down, in part because of the

withdrawal of foreign capital that these countries rely upon for growth. The

re-emergence of a strong Chinese economy could be the driver that these

emerging countries need, so we will have to monitor how their relationships

progress.

In the long term we remain confident markets will move forward.

September 2013—BROADSIGHT by

In early July, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra tried

to decrease the stress on government funds and cut

the purchase price of rice by 20%, resulting in many

revolts from the farmers in June 2013. Soon after, the

original price was reinstated early July, and Yingluck

continued the rice subsidiary program.

The government started buying rice at 15,000 baht per

ton of rice ($482), which is 50% above the market price.

This program created a loss about $4.4 billion during

the first crop year. If the market price is lower than

15,000 baht, the government makes a loss. On the

other hand, if the market price is higher, then the

government profits. The latter is hard to achieve since

15,000 baht is such a high price compared to past

prices. This monetary loss could even affect Thailand’s

Baa1 credit rating as demand for Thai rice continues to

fall. In order to raise the price of rice, Prime Minister

Yingluck decided to hoard the rice from other

countries; however, this plan failed as rival exporters

such as India and Vietnam lowered their prices while

the Philippines increased its production rates. Thus,

Thailand lost its status as the world’s largest grain

exporter to India.

“promote the sale of Thai rice via government-to-

government channels”. A trip during July to China,

Indonesia, and Iran was planned for this purpose. Once

the 15,000 baht price ends in September, perhaps

another solution for the government would be to end

the subsidiary program and change its policy.

Such a crisis shows how important agriculture is to any

country. Increasing the demand for any product would

greatly help the farmers who work tirelessly to grow

their crops. Broadgate Plantations is also contributing

by taking part in palm oil and corn production. We can

provide various services that cater to farmers as well

as investors. These services include plantation

development planning, financial planning, and

management of an existing plantation.

Kevalin Hutachinda

The Price for Rice Ain’t Right

Industry News

Plantations

Although rice is a main component for Thailand’s exports, farmers sell

their rice to traders at a low price.

The government then encountered another problem—

moldering rice. After hoarding for a long period of time,

the rice began to decay. Having so much rice going to

waste would increase the $4.4 billion loss.

In order to salvage the 17 million tons of rice, the

government decided to spray chemicals onto the rice to

reverse the rotting. These grains of rice are then sold to

Thai citizens, although they don’t know whether or not

the rice is stained with chemicals or not. People have

come up with many solutions to avoid such chemicals—

two of which include avoiding rice altogether or directly

acquiring rice from local farmers.

If the demand for rice in Thailand falls, the government

should lower the price of rice. However, lowering the

price would aggravate the farmers again as they prefer

the rice subsidiary program, which provides a better

living standard for them. Not only is rice held as a

staple for many dishes in the Thai cuisine, but it is also

highly respected as a sacred object and a cultural

identity. Nevertheless, the country’s credit rating is in

jeopardy. Commerce Minister Niwatthamrong

Boonsongpaisal said the government would try to

September 2013—BROADSIGHT by

India is a country that seems to stay out of the news

more than other nations yet looking at their economy

and construction needs it becomes shocking the size of

the numbers involved. India is the worlds 7th largest

country and 2nd most populated and 10th largest in terms

of GDP. This massive economy was achieved through

above average economic growth (5.8% over the last 20

years). However, this economic growth has not

benefited everyone; sadly India also has the highest

concentration of people living in poverty (under

$1.25USD a day). 400 million people or 32.7% of the

country lives in poverty while 96.9% or 1.2 billion people

live on less than $5 a day. Though a lot of these statistics

Implications of India’s Demographics

faster completion of projects and buildings. Not only are

these products lower cost but also much more

environmentally friendly compared to the current

construction materials used in India. The increased

efficiency allows the large housing needs to be filled

quickly and the lower cost allows them to be affordable

for the masses. The government currently has a number

of construction plans but there is still much work to be

done as not many has been completed or even began

construction.

As India’s population grows and the population migrates

to cities, it desperately needsto begin construction of not

only new homes but also affordable homes. India has the

workforce, market and a need but still needs either the

government or the business community to take the lead.

With today’s modern construction materials such as

Easypanel or various precast materials available the

housing problem can be solved in an efficient, cost

effective and environmentally friendly way.

Jason Campbell

India has experienced tremendous growth but this has been unequally shared. The country now has a number

of problems that need to be resolved but with them comes significant opportunities for the future.

seem negative it does mean that solving these problems

represents a significant opportunity for the future. One

of these areas is in construction. With a work force of

488 million people there is no shortage of workers for

infrastructure or construction projects in general. Along

with plenty of workers the market for new homes is

huge. With the middle class estimated to grow to 580

million by 2030, there are plenty of people who will have

interest and finally the money to buy new homes. This

increase in the middle class usually leads to people

shifting where they live. Traditionally a population

migration more to cities occurs. Current estimates

predict a need for 500 million new homes to be built in

the next 10 years due to population growth and

movement to cities. In addition to the future predicted

need of new housing, there is already an affordable

housing shortage of 19 million homes that desperately

needs to be filled.

This type of situation creates a lot of opportunity for

efficient building materials such as Easy Panel that can

take advantage of the large labor force but don’t require

a high skilled labor force. Another area is ready-made

construction materials like precast concrete that allow

Industry News

Construction

September 2013—BROADSIGHT by

Industry News

Energy

Incineration- A Good Investment ?

Industry News

Energy

In 2009, Thailand generated around 41,410 tonnes of waste per day and a total volume of

15.1 million tonnes. Approximately 3.5 million tones from this total is categorized as

“hazardous waste” which is to say waste that contains toxins and chemicals that can

potentially be a threat to public health and the environment. 63% of the total waste in

Thailand is carried out by open dumping, also known as landfill. With this amount of waste

being generated annually, Thailand is aware of the impending dangers and has started to

develop incineration technologies.

Currently a Thai company is planning to invest

20,000,000 THB to build incinerators among

communities that would be equivalent, powerwise to

100 kW. According to the plan, 80 percent of the total

components for constructing the incinerators would

be manufactured locally in Thailand and an intended

model would be capable of burning 6 tons of waste

per day. However, the progress of this project is still

moving in a relatively slow pace due to financial

issues and the unfamiliarity people still have with this

technology.

Building an incineration system is very expensive due

to the high capital cost and the required raw

materials for such a large facility. The construction of

the incinerators requires 15,000,000 THB five months

in advance which has left many companies unable to

complete and expand the project due to the lack of

funds. In addition, Corporations also find difficulties

in sponsoring research in relation to the development

An incineration system is the combustion of organic

matter in garbage to generate electricity. The first

operational incinerator, also called the “don

destructor”, was introduced in 1877, designed and

created by Alfred Fryer, Manlove, Alliott, and Fryer of

Nottingham, England. In 1898, engineer J.H. Maxwell

declared incinerator to be “the most sanitary,

efficient, and in many cases the only means of

satisfactory disposal”. By the mid-20th century,

hundreds of incinerators were installed in the United

States. By the1960s, New York reported the installed

incinerators successfully incinerate annually one-third

of the city’s waste. Nevertheless, it wasn’t until the

1970s when the public discovered the negative

contribution these incinerators had towards water

and air pollution. After the passing of the Clean Air

Act in 1970 the development of incinerators was

controlled because they did not meet the given

standards for the amount of chemicals a plant would

be allowed to release into the atmosphere.

and improvement of incinerators. Moreover,

developers still struggle to find trust and confidence

from people about the effectiveness and safety of

this product.

Nevertheless, ongoing research in regards to

incinerators is focused on how to reduce emissions

and get rid of the harmful ash which is produced

after burning the waste. There are proposals about

using scrubbers and baghouses to resolve these

issues. Scrubbers and baghouses have the ability to

catch and obtain fly ash and residual ash, which

prevents it from reaching the atmosphere and

adversely affecting the environment. Moreover,

studies at Brigham Young University have reported

that scrubbers can reduce up to 86 percent of the

total emissions from incinerators. Therefore, the

innovation of incinerators is still ongoing, and the

potential for making waste into energy still remains

as a viable option for the future.

One of Broadgate Energy’s projects, “Navitas”, aims

to cooperate with local authorities to construct

incinerators for Thai communities.

Chi Kit Cheong

September 2013—BROADSIGHT by

Consequently to the new

Bangkok “green” city plan

covered in the previous

article, it appears that the

construction industry will be

strongly affected in the

future. Let us introduce the

LiteCast panels technology,

Broadgate’s solution to

match the new eco-

standards promoted by the

Thai Green Building Institute.

This month, we had the opportunity to meet Ken Golby, CEO of Excelsior Worldwide

Limited, a fund management company created in 2005, based in Bahamas. Ken Golby

started in the finance industry in 1982. He then moved from consultant to a position of

Managing Director of a national independent brokerage. After some 10 successful years

onshore, Ken moved to Dubai with offshore company Finexco Ltd before finally coming to

Bangkok, Thailand.

Q

A

.

To receive a free copy of our solar fact sheet or report please email us at info@broadgateenergy.com

our consult our new dedicated website : www.broadgateenergy.com

Due to its geographic location near the equator, Thailand has a relatively high

potential to produce solar energy compared to most countries.

Solar energy generated from using 1% of Thailand’s land area is equal to 700

million tons of oil worth of energy. This can account for 400 of Thai citizens’

energy use for the year 2010. Because we are focusing on putting solar panels on

unused rooftops, we are not utilizing land that can be used for other purposes

such as agriculture, industrial, roads and etc. but instead, optimizing unused

areas on rooftops by generating energy passively.

The solar panels used on rooftops are called photovoltaic panels. Basically, these

PV panels generate electricity by using solar cells to convert energy from the sun

into a flow of electrons. Once electricity is generated it is put back into the grid

where the government will purchase it known as the FiT scheme. This FiT scheme

applies to all levels of the community from individual residence homes to large

enterprise buildings totaling 200 megawatts, where the level of tariff is classified

into three levels by the capacity of energy that can be generated from the panels.

The small capacity is at 10kWh or lower, medium at 11kWh – 250kWh, and large at

251kWh and above, where the tariff levels are at 6.96, 6.55, and 6.16 THB

respectively. The scheme will last for 25 years, which will be valid for licenses

applied before end of December 2014.

Broadgate Energy is currently in discussions with interested multinational

companies specializing in solar energy who are willing to take advantage of this

opportunity.

Ken Jayaphorn

Recently the Thai Ministry of Energy has taken the initiative to increase

incentives for solar panel rooftops by using a feed-in tariff (FiT) scheme.

Broadgate Energy has foreseen this opportunity and is now sourcing rooftops

for leasing solar panels in Thailand.

Let The Sun Shine

‘Helios Project’ by England Ireland Japan Thai mUSA Australia India

Project News

September 2013—BROADSIGHT by

Q&A

Meet Nalisa Sitabut from Nalisa Sitabut is currently the Country Manager for 88db. She has shared with us her

opinions on the future and effects of digital technology and social media.Her opinions on the

future and effects of digital technology and social media.

video consoles such as Xbox don’t require remote

control and the no touch technology even expands to

eyeglasses as Google glasses use eye gestures. That’s

how things are going to move forward with digital

technology.The process is very challenging but this

development in technology will change the way we

design our applications, our websites and our

campaigns in the future.

Information and solutions are going to be

Cloudbased. For example you don’t need to carry any

documents nor do you have problems with forgotten

hard drives or memory sticks. You can save things on

the Cloud e.g. Dropbox, iCloud and Google Drive.

However, many organizations and the management

staff need to anticipate loss of data since things will

no longer be kept on the company’s servers.

Lastly, privacy will become a bigger concern

considering that people are tracked and profiled

through their own devices, the applications they use

and their free email service providers.

How essential is webmarketing to a small business?

Very important. Webmarketing is actually a very cost

effective way to bring leads to a business.

Webmarketing is comprised of analytics, SEO,

content, design and conversion. With webmarketing

you don’t need to spend a huge amount of money

like you have to do with mass communications

through traditional media which cannot monitor or

track your ROI. Webmarketing strategies, with a good

use of tools, will allow you to check how many

responses you get from your marketing campaign,

who responds to the campaign, and how many

business leads you receive. By utilizing valuable

statistic data a business can adjust the strategies and

the content quickly to achieve better results. As well,

it has a personal touch which means you can really

target your particular audience so your conversion

rate is high while your cost of sales remains low.

What do you think is going to happen in the future in

regards to social media and digital technology?

Although many people think social media and digital

technology are the same, they are actually separate.

Social media has become a new PR channel that

businesses and organizations can utilize to develop a

strong brand; however, it will prove to be effective

when content is original and has good quality. Good

and interesting content will play a major role in the

success of your social media campaign because it can

create viral effects that people will share and curate

your content. Now in terms of digital technology, it will

become “No Touch”. Touch technology is used

presently but in the near future many devices will

require no touch. For example Siri voice recognition

and Google voice search. Technology will become

gesture based like Samsung’s Air require remote

control and the no touch technology even expands to

eyeglasses as Google glasses use eye Touch. Now even

September 2013—BROADSIGHT by

How do you think about users’ search behaviours these

days and how they may affect website development?

Basically, users search behaviours are changing. They no

longer use a broad term to find what they want, they go

for more specific terms. However, they don’t use a long-

tail one either. For example, users will not search by just

typing “coffee” or “Starbucks” but search more

specifically to what they want such as “Starbucks coffee

Sathorn area.” As a business owner you have to

understand the user’s search intent in order to

understand the keywords they will use. This change does

not make the process harder for the business owner or

the user but rather it requires comprehension of the

users.

Around five or six years ago, site owners could dictate

how the site should look or how the information should

be presented. Nowadays, users dictate how the site

should be and what contents they want to consume and

share. These concepts are called User Interface (UI), User

Experience (UX), and Content Marketing. It is important

to understand that the more people that rate and share

your content, the better your ranking is on Google.

This is the new algorithm that Google just released in Q4

of 2012. So it is now necessary to find out what users

want rather than what you want your website to be like.

The effective way to plan your website information and

interface design is to study your website statistics. Google

Analytics is one of the popular tools you can use in

analyzing your traffic data. This data tells you where the

users came from, what pages they looked at, what

languages they use, what devices they browse with and

even the bounce rate. I highly recommend that you try

not to build a perfect website containing everything you

think people would want but to build one with necessary

features. Then, you can evaluate the website’s

performance and analyze your traffic data in order to

continue to add features and improve the contents based

on users’ search terms, ranking, traffic, time spend on

sites, and conversion target.

Do you think digital technology negatively affects the

younger generations?

So far I can see three effects clearly. First is short

attention span. While students sit in a class a facebook

message pops up or a text message pops up.

Ms. Nalisa Sitabut

September 2013—BROADSIGHT by

88DB :195 Empire Tower II, 26th Floor, Unit 2610, South Sathorn Road, Bangkok 10120.

For further information, please visit their website : www. 88db.com

Their attention spans are short because of these

distractions, but I guess they can practice multi tasking.

If they are distracted but can return to their tasks without

lowering their work quality, then I think that’s fine. You

can’t stop the new generation from technology but as

parents, should show your children how to keep things in

balance and remain attentive among all the distractions

and develop multitasking skills.

Second is lack of social skill. A good example can be seen

at restaurants. Many times you walk into a restaurant

and can easily see families, couples, or friends sitting at a

table, but they are are fully engaged with their phones

online. There is no social mechanism to delay or to hold

back their reactions. Additionally, many young kids and

teenagers have also become self-conscious. They keep

taking pictures of themselves, manipulating those

pictures to look extraordinarily beautiful, sharing those

pictures on social media and then keep watching how

many people will like and share their self-portrait. They

focus so much on themselves such as how they will

look and will be perceived instead ofspending time on

developing their unique qualities such as skills,

experience, and productive attitudes.

instead of spending time talking and sharing moments

together. This is a relatively sad issue prevalent today and

seems to be on the increase.

Third is egoism and a deteriorating positive attitude. An

online channel endorses negativity. People feel tempted to

complain and share bad stories very quickly online. They do

not pay so much attention to the possibility that negativity

can affect others. Furthermore, they care very little about

the consequences. Moreover, a lot of people have a

tendency to believe and encourage negativity. Look online

and see how many negative messages go around. You will

discover a lot of young people really complain about their

schools, their friends, their relationship or even their lives

September 2013—BROADSIGHT by

I S R

The majority of Thai disabled people live in rural areas

and are commonly regarded as unemployable although

this attitude is changing. However, there are still some

organizations established to help and train them to

become more independent. One of these organizations

is Father Ray Foundation.

In 1974, Father Ray Brennan C.ss.R, an American priest

of Redemptorist order, first accepted an unwanted

baby into his care. That act of kindness was the start of

a life of devotion to help the underprivileged in Thai

society. He opened an orphanage and a vocational

school for people with disabilities. There, these people

can find a “home” that was long taken away from them.

In 2012, Minh had the opportunity to visit and provide

help to the organization for several days and especially

to the Redemptorist Vocational school where a lot of

A Day at Father Ray Foundation Father Ray Foundation is a charitable organization loacated in the Thai resort Pattaya. The

foundation provides home, education, food, and so much more for orphans and disabled

people. Minh Do Ngoc, Marketing Support Officer at Broadgate Financial, had the opportunity

to do community service there.

It includes several projects such as teaching English at

the vocational school, helping the nannies at the Day

Care Center or organizing educational activities for the

children.

Chi Kit Cheong

Minh playing with children

If you are interested in encountering a similar experience, please visit Father Ray Foundation website : http://www.fr-ray.org

young adults are taught. Skills learnt include fixing

computers, electronic repairs and English language

skills. There are more than 2,500 adults with disabilities

who have successfully graduated from the school.

Minh reported as well that she met a lot of orphans.

“You would never believe they are disabled. They have a

very strong attitude and make a lot of efforts to learn in

order to get equality and acceptance from the society”.

She also said that the children have varying disabilities,

such as autism. ‘’They can get very protective and

aggressive as people get too close to them. Therefore, I

needed to be very patient in communicating and

relating to them”.

For many years, The Father Ray Foundation has

welcomed many volunteers especially foreigners who

want to assist in improving the lives of these children.

September 2013—BROADSIGHT by

Article

Freeloading Online Retailers

The retail landscape has changed dramatically with the development of the

internet. This change has created a unique system where online retailers are

benefiting by the advertising of their competition and as a result become more

competitive. Traditional retails are beginning to fail make a alternative to the

current system desperately needed.

so willing to purchase the product on Amazon.I

would have been unable to truly see the quality of

the TV, see the comparisons next to each other,

test it, or easily ask questions to a sales person.

All of these thoughts would make me significantly

less likely to purchase a bigticket item online, but

instead I did, as a result of Amazon’s competitor.

The actions of Amazon’s competition help drive

the sales to them and allow Amazon to save

money and, thereby always have the lowest price.

This current system is very interesting; however,

for a big reason and that is the big box retailers

are starting to go bankrupt. Circuit City has

already gone bankrupt and Best Buy is currently

experiencing problems and is in need of a turn

around. Amazon does not need to pay for

The retailing space has seen a dramatic shift of

business from the once dominant big box

retailers (Best Buy, Circuit City) to the new

online companies (Amazon, Alibaba). As a

consumer, I clearly see the benefits of online

companies. They offer convenient services by

allowing consumers to browse through many

diverseproducts from home and, most

importantly, low prices. What most people,

myself included, often forget is the benefit of

the big box retailers such as the ability to see the

product, test it in use, ensure quality, and know

it is what we want. In today’s economy this

benefit provided by the big box retailers sadly

does not benefit them but instead the online

retailers such as Amazon. Allow me to provide

an example below. I want to buy a new big

screen TV and naturally want the lowest price;

thus, I go to my local big box retailer to see

what they offer and at what price. While I am at

the store,I am able to see a comparison among

different models and ask the sales person any

questions I have. After I have seen enough, I

decide I want the 80 inch Sharp Aquos ($3,799),

I return home to compare the prices between

different stores, and, as what normally

happens; Amazon has the lowest price ($3,400).

Of course I buy it from Amazon and am very

happy since I acquired exactly what I wanted for

the cheapest price. However, let’s examine

what happened here further. If I were unable to

go to a big box retailer, I would not have been

September 2013—BROADSIGHT by

box retailers. Assuming however, the demise of

big box retailers, Amazon will need to offer

some sort of program or method to improve

the customers experience or interaction with a

product prior to purchase. They will also need

to find a way to increase consumer’s exposure

to the latest and coolest electronics to help

drive demand. If Amazon does not do any of

these actions then one possible future would

be one where manufacturers sell directly to

consumers and thus can reduce prices further

and we eliminate yet another middle man in

the supple chain.

Jason Campbell

I know that without seeing the latest technology

in person and being able to test it out, I have a

significantly weaker desire to purchase the

product. Also other big-ticket items pose to be

too large of a financial risk to essentially blindly

order solely based off user reviews. The only

possible solution I can think of would involve

manufacturers setting set pricing for their

products to level the field.

This method would appear drastic and would

most likely pose little benefit to manufacturers

as much as merely tax consumers to save big

expensive store real estate, sales people, or

marketing campaigns. This current system is

very interesting; however, for a big reason and

that is the big box retailers are starting to go

bankrupt. Circuit City has already gone bankrupt

and Best Buy is currently experiencing problems

and is in need of a turn around. The reason this

is so important is due to the fact that we do not

know how a disappearance will impact Amazon’s

sales. Naturally we want to assume that the

decline of big box retailers will help the online

companies, but I do not believe this relationship

to be as clear as we like to assume.

September 2013—BROADSIGHT by

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Contributing authors :

Khuram Gilani

Sebastien Le Van

Kevalin Hutachinda

Jason Campbell

Chi Kit Cheong

Ken Jayaphorn

Do Ngoc Minh

Many thanks to :

Nalisa Sitabut

The views and opinions expressed in this magazine are those of authors and do not necessarily reflect

the official postition of The Broadgate Financial Group.