ABSTRACT
With an economy of approximately GBP 200,000 million, measured in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the Kingdom of Thailand is relatively small compared to leading developed economies, such as the United Kingdom at GBP 1.4 trillion, Japan at GBP 3.4 trillion and the United States of America at GBP 9.0 trillion. Nevertheless, Thailand is considered as one of the high potential emerging markets and has been very attractive for global investors, including property developers, food and grocery retailers and a wide range of other purveyors of goods and services. Thailand has a population of nearly 70 million, roughly half of which is under 35. Many global retailers have shown their interest by joint venturing or independently investing in Thailand, such as Tesco (the United Kingdom), Carrefour (France), Casino Group (France), 7-Eleven (Japan) and IKEA (Sweden). In addition, as stated on the Tesco website, Thailand is currently its second largest international market.
