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Interim Management
now in Pattaya
Managing the workforce needs can be very difficult. In
today’s somewhat problematic industrial climate, there is an even greater
need for people with special skills or experience in a specific function for
a limited period of time.
 Barry
Willmore,
MD SE Asia, Brooklands Executives.
It was this “limited time” factor that led to ‘Interim Management’ in
industry. The concept of Interim Management is not new, having originated in
the Netherlands in the 1980’s, then becoming an accepted part of the UK
management scene. Since then it has spread, growing in the UK by 25 percent
a year, and now Brooklands Executives, a well established UK company, has
opened an office in Pattaya, and is already making its presence felt.
Barry Willmore, managing director of Brooklands Executives in Thailand,
whose parent company has been trading very successfully since 2001, has over
9,000 executives on its books in the UK. These fall basically into two
categories, says Barry. “The first are the senior executives who are looking
for part-time contracts to be able to utilize their talents, but do not wish
at their age, for a long term commitment. The second group are those
executives who enjoy the freedom in lifestyle that short to medium term
employment offers them. Six months and then three months holidays. These are
the adventurous types.”
Barry is looking for American, European or Australian companies which have
Thailand bases as well. These are the companies that often need short term
Interim Management executives, generally anywhere between three to nine
months. These are also the companies that understand the principles of
Interim Management.
Many of the 9,000 executives on the UK books wish to come to Thailand, but
Brooklands is also looking to confidentially enroll senior executives who
are already working in this country.
Brooklands Executives is the sponsor of the British Chamber of Commerce
Thailand networking evening on Friday June 19 at the Royal Cliff Beach
Resort.
Pattaya is for
(Chinese) lovers
Vimolrat Singnikorn
Get the honeymoon suite ready, the Pattaya Businessmen and Tourism
Association wants to bring 10,000 Chinese couples to Thailand to get married.
PBTA President Jamroon Wisawachaipan laid out the latest effort to rebuild
Pattaya’s tourist base at a June 10 meeting at the Green Park Resort.
 Tammy
Chang, project director of 3 M Organizer Co., Ltd.
Tammy Chang, project director of 3 M Organizer Co., Ltd., said the plan, backed
by the Tourism Authority of Thailand, Ministry of Industry and Thai-Chinese
cultural groups, is to have Chinese couples come to Pattaya, Chang Mai and
Phuket for Thai-style weddings. Pattaya hopes to host 100 couples in July.
TAT Pattaya office Director Niti Kongkrut said numerous packages would be
offered to cater to couples wanting, for example, luxury hotels or natural
settings. The hope is that if they enjoy the honeymoon, they’ll come back for
holidays later on.
AFG looks at history
and e-communication
Dr. Iain Corness
The revamped and resurgent Automotive Focus Group (AFG) met at the Royal Varuna
Yacht Club, and once again had an enthusiastic roll-up of members who are
involved in the local automotive scene.
Committee member Klaus Kinzelmann showed a very interesting documentary on the
history of BMW from its early days in aviation, through to the present,
including the later marques of Rolls-Royce and Mini, now under the BMW brand.
Uli Kaiser displayed the AFG blogsite and the ease in which he could access all
the current information on the Thai auto industry, claiming it was so easy he
could do it with one hand, with the other supporting the laptop computer. Of
course, in line with all computer whiz types, Uli found it difficult to imagine
that there were still people using Windows 1946 as their operating system (like
me). However, I did note carefully when he typed in his password and I can now
reveal it to the world at large - it is five large black dots. The electronic
directory of members (now 51) was also shown, and a hard copy ring binder is
also being given to the members in the near future.
Committee member Klaus Kinzelmann also gave a short background on the AFG, its
objectives and its relationship to the American Chamber’s Auto Council.
The next meeting of the AFG will be July 10 and the venue will be revealed
closer to the date. You can contact the AFG through the secretariat
[email protected].
PCEC visits live in fun city
The regular Sunday meeting of the Pattaya City Expats Club
got underway at the Amari’s Henry J. Bean Restaurant on Sunday, June 7 with
Master of Ceremonies (Emcee) Richard Silverberg officiating. After the usual
announcements, Emcee Richard introduced our featured speaker Michael Baird.
Michael is originally from England and now lives in Pattaya. Although many may
not recognize his name, most will recognize his initials, MJB, as they appear on
the cartoons about living or visiting Thailand that he draws for the Pattaya
Mail.
 Cartoonist
Mike Baird shares the lighter moments of life in Thailand that he has recorded
in print.
Before retiring in Thailand, Michael worked for 35 years hand painting huge
outdoor illuminated P.V.C. displays for the U.S.A. and England (P.V.C. stands
for Poly Vinyl Chloride, which is a material that is tough and chemically
resistant). Michael said he got his start at a young age. He said his older
brother did drawings and he took some to school and showed his classmates. His
classmates liked them so much, they wanted to buy them. So, Michael took them
back home, drew copies, and brought them back to school for sale.
Michael said he first got started in painting by using the black scratch method,
which he explained was using a solid black color and then scratching out the
black to make a drawing. Subsequently, he got into using paints. All of this was
done as a hobby. He got into it as a vocation when he went to work for a company
that did large outdoor advertising displays.
As time went on, he learned various techniques from other artists employed by
the company. Early in his career, he traveled extensively as a touch up artist.
Since the displays used paint, the panels often stuck together. When they were
put up for display, they were smudged and needed to be touched up.
At one point, he said his company became aware of a company in Barcelona, Spain,
that was doing excellent displays using air brush painting. He was sent to
Barcelona to look at how they were doing it and brought the technique back for
use by his company. He said it was hard to believe that one could do such
quality work using an air brush. Michael showed pictures of some of his air
brush art work, noting that one was a sixty by fifteen foot display.
Michael commented that he had always been impressed by the art work of Norman
Rockwell and started making copies of his work. This led to a side career as a
copyist; not only of works by Rockwell, but other famous artists as well. He
said he became one of England’s top copy artists painting murals, portraits,
landscapes, and masterpieces. Michael’s pictures of some of his copies elicited
a lot of oohs and aahs from the audience. He said he got into doing murals by
happenstance. One day he was driving when a Rolls Royce flashed its lights at
him. The man in the Rolls then asked him if he could paint a mural in his
bedroom - Michael’s picture of the mural hand painted onto wardrobe doors was
quite stunning.
 Richard
Silverberg MCs a lively PCEC meeting.
However, Michael said that he did his first cartoon after retiring to Thailand.
He said he was approached by a magazine publisher and asked to draw some
cartoons. His first efforts were in black and white. Over time, he improved his
drawings and started doing them in color. These cartoons most often reflect life
in Thailand - the humorous side of it, e.g., a picture of a Thai lady
introducing another large breasted lady to a farang man as “her brother” or one
showing the rear end of a large elephant under a sign saying “No Elephants
Allowed in Town.” The cartoon shows the silhouette of a farang asking, “”If the
police come, where do you hide such a huge elephant?” and the Thai replying
“Behind a 500 baht note.”
Michael said most of his inspiration comes just from sitting and watching what
goes on around him. Michael’s then showed several pictures of many of his
cartoons, which elicited much laughter from the audience. Michael displays
several of his cartoons on his website, www. amuzingthaicartoons.com/. He said
he changes them about every two weeks. Michael also offers three downloadable
guides (bars hopping, hotels, and restaurant) at www.pattaya barguide.com/.
Michael concluded his talk by saying that moving to Thailand was the best thing
he ever did.
Following Michael’s presentation, Emcee Richard updated everyone on upcoming
events and then called on Hawaii Bob to conduct the always informative and
sometimes humorous Open Forum.
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