Business entertainment pays dividends: survey

A survey by United Overseas Bank has shown that building long-term business relationships is the most important outcome of business entertainment in Thailand.

Thai small and medium-sized enterprises surpassed their regional peers, where only 69 per cent said that building long-term relationships was more important than increasing sales and gaining new customers.

UOB's survey also showed that one in four Thai SMEs celebrated Chinese New Year. True to the Asian way of doing business through building deep partnerships, 34 per cent of SMEs in the region celebrate Chinese New Year with clients, followed by New Year's Eve (December 31) as the second-most-celebrated holiday at 30 per cent. It also found that 25 per cent of Thai SMEs performed above their expectations in 2012.

As such, four in 10 SMEs, predominantly from the manufacturing, hotel, restaurant and recreation sectors, will spend more on Chinese New Year celebrations this year and 52 per cent will spend the same as they did in 2012.

Gift-giving seems to be the preferred way for SMEs to wish their clients a prosperous new year. Hampers filled with festive treats and traditional delicacies such as abalone and barbecued pork jerky are the preferred gifts to wish business partners a year of prosperity and luck.

Sayumrat Maranate, executive director of business banking at UOB (Thai), said: "Business owners are feeling more confident from their business momentum in 2012 and as such are likely to spend more on building client relationships and maintaining their visibility to encourage client loyalty."