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Models of Success

Examples of the People practicing the Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy at different stages

          The proof of the applicability of the Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy for various sectors of the people is the results of the contest of the best practices in Sufficiency Economy organized by the Office of the Royal Development Projects Board in honour of His Majesty the King on the occasion of the celebration of his Eightieth Birthday Anniversary. The contest was held in different categories: individuals, the New Theory farmers, the large entreprises, the medium entreprises and the small entreprises. 


 

The Category “Individuals”

          The winner of the category “individuals” was Mr.Sanmun Intrachaiya, a farmer and community leader of 52 years of age of Udon Thani Province in the Northeastern Region of Thailand.

          In the past, he had been through difficulties in life. Once he had to become labour for about 2 years in order to earn an income to pay off debts. After clearing all the debts, he returned home and started integrated farming. He was fond of learning and joining training courses. He always applies the knowledge gained to improve his farming and serves as a model for his community. He is a key figure in strengthening the community and making it self-dependent. He participates in the formulation of community plans and setting of rules and regulations for the use of the natural resources and environment. He plays a key role in establishing the herb garden group which encourages the people to jointly grow herbal plants four times a year.  

 

          Mr. Chantee started the New Theory farming practice in 1998 to solve the family’s crisis. He owns about 3.52 hectares (22 rai) and tries to utilize his land in a diversified manner. He has 6 labour force all of whom are the members of his family and so does not require to hire labour from outside. He allocates 1.6 hectares (10 rai) of his land for growing rice in which after the rice season maize, beans and seasame are grown. Along the banks of his rice fields, he grows trees the branches of which are cut for use as mulching under other trees to provide fertilization. He has 3 large ponds and 8 small ponds where fish are raised. He grows fruit trees, vegetables and herbal plants in an agro-forestry system by adhering to the principle of “growing crops to provide for consumption all the year round” and natural diversity. He also processes some of his farm produce; for example, producing fruit juice from passion fruit and coconut and makes use of it as natural fertilizer and insecticides. Apart from proper management of his farm, he also practices proper conduct by carrying out a simple and moderate life, not being greedy and refraining from indulging himself in debts. He forms a group with other farmers to share food and jointly plan on the selling of the farm produce in the local market. He is accepted as the local intellect of his village and serves as lecturer on the topic of Sufficiency Economy for the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives.

 


The Category “Large Entreprise”

          The winner of this category is the Siam Cement Group which was established since 1913. Its business includes production of chemical products, paper, cement and construction materials. At present, the SCG is a big conglomerate with more than 100 subcompanies, 24,000 employees and 64,000 products. In 1997, when the country faced an economic crisis, the company was severely affected. The company then turned to His Majesty’s Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy to survive the crisis. It focused on moderation, improvement of its field of expertise, using its full potentials in running business, consistently evaluating both internal and external factors, not expecting the optimum benefits, setting prudent monetary measures and diversified business strategies with plans to deal with emergency and adverse situations as well as practicing cooperate good governance and promoting “smart but good and ethical employees”.

 

The Category “Medium Entreprises”

          The winner of this category is the Siam Cement Group which was established since 1913. Its business includes production of chemical products, paper, cement and construction materials. At present, the SCG is a big conglomerate with more than 100 subcompanies, 24,000 employees and 64,000 products. In 1997, when the country faced an economic crisis, the company was severely affected. The company then turned to His Majesty’s Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy to survive the crisis. It focused on moderation, improvement of its field of expertise, using its full potentials in running business, consistently evaluating both internal and external factors, not expecting the optimum benefits, setting prudent monetary measures and diversified business strategies with plans to deal with emergency and adverse situations as well as practicing cooperate good governance and promoting “smart but good and ethical employees”.

 

The Category “Medium Entreprises”

          The winner of this category is a resort called Chumporn Cabana. The resort was built in 1982 in Chumporn Province starting with 7 bangalows. Then in 1987, the number had increased to 40 and water activities were launched e.g. boat trips to islands and diving. Later, the resort wanted to expand its business by borrowing money to build a three-storey hotel building and anticipated that it can pay off the debts in 1997. Unfortunately at that time, Thailand was hit by a big economic crisis. Due to devaluation of Baht currency, the resort’s debts had increased 30-40% and it lacked cash flow to support the operations. The resort then adopted the Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy to survive the crisis.

          In implementing sufficiency economy, the resort practices self-dependence by producing its own hotel utilities and toleteries such as coffee, soap, detergents, fabric softener, biodiesel oil etc., making use of all the left-over resources and using mainly the locally-available materials to save costs. The resort also sticks to its field of expertise or core business, restructures the organization to suit simple and incomplicated management and focuses on local employment. It also gives the services that match the demands of different target groups and builds networks with other businesses through touristic activities while educating the employees about the concept of Sufficiency Economy. Besides, the resort provides some suitable welfare services to the employees and encourages them to work with honesty and morality by helping one another as well as helping the community.