Political and economic pressures
As outlined in Section 3, the Thai political environment is much more volatile than in
most Western countries. Also mentioned in Section 3 are the processes whereby the Thai
Government intervenes and influences commerce to a much greater extent than in
industrialised countries. The combination of a volatile political system and greater direct
influence on industry means that the environment for EIS development is much more
uncertain and complex than is assumed in most EIS research. One result of this
development environment is that Thai executives strongly focus on very short term
planning.
Senior executives of private corporations pay close attention to any kind of formal
and informal information delivered from the Cabinet or Government agencies. The
greater the rate of political change, the greater is the need for anecdotal information by
Thai executives. It is difficult for EIS to serve this need. Where data is available the
monitoring functions of EIS are particularly relevant. A similar focus exists in state
enterprises. The political environment affects state enterprises to a much greater extent
than private corporations. The tight controls on management and operations and the
frequent change of Board membership, as well as CEOs and other senior executive
appointments means that EIS development is even more uncertain. EIS for Thai state
enterprises need to address frequent changes of user population and frequent changes in
policy direction.