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The International Labour Organization (ILO) promotes labour standards and decent work to counter a global 'race to the bottom' in terms of job regulation. By analysing Thailand's experiences, we consider three questions: 1) How might we characterize Thai capitalism?; 2) What are Thailand's labour market contexts for human resource management and industrial relations?; and 3) What is Thailand's situation regarding decent work and how is it related to politics, ILO labour standards and labour law? We identify two Thai labour-market contexts: state-owned and private enterprises where there is unionization (Type A); and public services/smaller enterprises/informal work where unionization is negligible (Type B). We find implementation of decent work is patchy. We suggest that Thailand reforms its tripartite agency to promote decent work and improve human resource management. These steps are more likely to be more effective and sustained under a parliamentary democracy than under a military junta. Our analysis has relevance also for other economies.

[Extract] This chapter is concerned with industrial relations. It is included here because there is a prima facie case that an understanding of international and comparative industrial relations is relevant to understanding the conduct of international business. The focus is on the Asia-Pacific region, where the transformation of industrial relations and the democratisation of industrialising societies are contemporary and related issues. Within the region, where industrialisation was and is based on export-oriented enterprises, the forces of globalisation are often generalised as the context of industrial relations. The fields of industrial relations and human resource management - the criteria for delineation are contentious - together encompass the varied arrangements, methods and processes of the management of people at work. They include rules, attitudes and behaviour in and around the employment relationship. The main parties or 'actors' in these fields are: employees (workers, if you prefer) and their organisations (especially unions); employers (including managers) and their associations; the state, especially its government institutions that regulate employment matters; values, attitudes and behaviours arising from the employment relationship.

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the value of the comparative study of industrial relations with a consideration of developments in industrial relations in selected Asia-Pacific countries. Explanations of the rapid industrialisation of many Asia-Pacific countries have drawn on socio-economic approaches, the 'strong state' argument, neo-Confucian ethics and cultural 'collectivist' models (Verma et al. 1995:336). Rather than pursue cultural typologies, we follow Dore (1979) and discuss the industrial relations contexts that reflect the stages of economic development that these countries are passing through. Classifications may be somewhat arbitrary and there are many differences between the countries within the same category, but a pattern is discernible. The first category includes the industrialised market economies (IMEs) of Japan, New Zealand and Australia. Recent industrial relations reforms in these countries are in part a response to the industrialisation of other countries in the Asia-Pacific region. The second category, sometimes referred to as the 'Asian Tigers', comprises the post-Japan, newly industrialised economies (NIEs) of Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. The third category comprises the next generation of industrialising economies and includes the People's Republic of China (PRC) and Indonesia. If it maintains its growth rates of the 1990s, the PRC will achieve NIE status within the next few decades. Although Indonesia achieved relatively high growth rates during the early to mid-1990s, the effect of the 1997 Asian economic crisis has been to leave it facing a period of political and economic uncertainty.