Third, Thaksin has shown admiration for ideas from management gurus and
newly published management books found in any commercial bookstore. It is an
indirect way of saying to others that he is smarter and more up-to-date than
others. Thus, Thai citizens are encouraged to read what he reads because he
knows best. Fourth, the new public management (NPM) movement around the
world has also reinforced Thaksin's belief in the use of business practices in the
world of government. Management ideas are professed by some international
consultants from the World Bank and the United Nations as solutions for improving
the government bureaucracy. Finally, the diffusion of business knowledge and
practices into the public sector is rather selective, and consists of many hybrids.6
There is no single concrete business model that one can implant. Instead, the body
of knowledge is a collection of scattered ideas that allows one to pick and choose
freely. This allows the Thaksin government, a great deal of leverage to apply
business practices to government as it wishes.