Article at a glance:

Thailand's chance for no-pain gain

Improved productivity in Thailand's key industries could lead to faster economic growth, a McKinsey Global Institute study has found, and most of the needed policy reforms require no additional government spending or industry subsidies. The MGI research, analyzing and benchmarking company- and industry-level productivity against global best practices, focused on seven important sectors.

The take-away

Removing regulatory barriers to higher productivity, with a careful view to their economic and social implications, can spur growth in the gross domestic product of Thailand and bring tremendous benefits to its people. If this opportunity is missed, the country might, like Japan since the early 1990s, lapse into a prolonged period of stagnation.