Submitted by Josiah Taylor on the 2024 Winter BUAD program in Thailand and Australia…
One thing I’ve learned out of the classroom on my trip is that Thai business relies heavily on trust. Companies prefer to see and know who they’re working with, and typically place a strong degree of trust in their business partners.
I saw this dynamic firsthand on a free day in Chiang Mai. Given time on our own to explore, a group of us wanted to go hiking in the nearby mountains. The way there proved to be more of a struggle than we expected, though. The mountains were about an hour drive away, and we were having a terrible time finding a driver willing to drive that distance. Finally, we found a nearby bus station that had trucks moving back and forth to the area. We took the nearest tuk tuk and headed on our way.
However, when telling the driver about our plans, he says, “I have a friend!” and before we know it, we’re headed off in his friends truck. The man who drove us charged us only 1000THB for the entire day (about $30) to take us an hour out, wait four hours for us to climb, and drive us straight back!
We were in disbelief. We paid the money up front, so he had every opportunity to take the money and go, but because of Thai peoples’ underlying trust, he stayed for us. This was a major culture shock coming from the US, where it would cost an arm and a leg for service of that degree. It was certainly a culture shock for us, but we all agreed that Thai trust is something American businesses could use a taste of. (Submitted on January 23, 2024)