Book | Leadership area | Year 2016
 

From philosophy to business practice

by Sooksan Kantrabutra
  
  Sufficiency Thinking: Thailand's Gift to an Unsustainable World Allen & Unwin ISBN: 978-1760292911

Abstract

Most businesses in Thailand appear to embrace fundamental capitalism's obsession with maximizing short-term shareholder value--a likely reason many went bankrupt in the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis. Consequently, the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy, a more humanistic and rational alternative, has been promoted as the path to sustainable development in Thailand. However, whereas the New Theory--an agricultural version of the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy--is gaining traction in that sector, sufficiency thinking is lagging in the business sector. This chapter discusses challenges facing the adoption of sufficiency thinking in Thai businesses, cites relevant studies concerning the sufficiency Economy Philosophy's applications to business, and concludes with concrete recommendations for business seeking to follow a sufficiency path.