Thainess Service Language” Mind-Map for national branding in creative economy

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
ิ ค ้าระดับ
• แผนทีค
่ วามคิด “ภาษาบริการอย่างไทย” ในการสร ้างตราสน
ชาติสเู่ ศรษฐกิจสร ้างสรรค์
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.


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)
(2)
(3)

The concept of value creation to the organization often proposes.
Same characteristics of common definition are: knowledge, skills,
know-how, experiences, intangible assets, information, processes and
value creation.
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
- right speech
- right conduct
-right livelihood

Samadhi
- right effort

- right mindfulness
- right concentration

Panna
-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.