The Ideals of Industry

Abstract

On Monday 10 May 1993 a fire swept through the toy factory of Kader Industrial in downtown Bangkok, killing 189 unskilled workers and eliciting an outcry about labour conditions prevailing in foreign-owned manufacturing in Thailand. Some 2000 Thai labourers lost their jobs during the after-math of the fire while the complex ownership structure of the factory made it exceedingly difficult to establish who was to assume responsibility for the casualties. Kader Industrial (Thailand) appeared to be a joint subsidiary of Taiwanese investors and KCP Toys which in turn was owned by Lyre Terrace in Hong Kong together with the Sino-Thai conglomerate Charoen Pokphand (FEER 24/6 1993). The calamity at Kader Industrial highlighted the dark side of what, was supposed to be yet another example of how FDI could make a substantial positive contribution towards the industrial restructuring of the Thai economy. Here, standardized production for exports took place under the most deplorable of labour conditions precluding any other lasting benefits than sizeable profits for the primarily foreign owners. This chapter considers contemporary FDI in Southeast Asia within the wider context of the regional quest for economic growth and industrialization.