About Northmere
Helping companies enter Thailand with clear thinking and steady guidance
We are a small advisory practice based in Chiang Mai's Nimman district. Our work sits at the point where a company's ambitions meet the practical considerations of a new operating environment.
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A practice built from the questions companies kept asking
Northmere came out of a straightforward observation: overseas companies approaching Thailand for the first time were spending months researching without arriving at a clear picture. The information available to them was either too general to act on, or highly specific to sectors that did not match their situation.
The founders — a team with backgrounds in regional operations and commercial development — had spent years helping multinationals navigate Southeast Asia from the inside. In 2019 they shifted toward advisory work, initially with companies in the European manufacturing and technology sectors, and later across a broader range of industries.
Northmere now works with a mix of mid-sized companies and larger organisations using Thailand as a first step into the region. The work is structured, documented, and deliberately modest in scope: we focus on the commercial and operational matters that we can address well, and we are straightforward about where other professionals are better placed to help.
Our Purpose
To give overseas companies a well-organised basis for deciding whether and how to enter the Thai market — and to support the operational phases that follow a commitment to proceed.
How We Work
Every engagement starts with a direct conversation to understand where your company stands. We do not apply a fixed methodology to every situation — the scope and format are shaped by what is actually useful at your stage of planning. Deliverables are written, not verbal, so your team retains the output.
Where We Are Based
Our office is on Nimmanhaemin Road in Chiang Mai, a district that has become one of the more active commercial hubs outside Bangkok. Being based here — rather than operating remotely — means our understanding of the local business environment stays current.
The Team
The people behind the work
A small team with direct experience in regional operations and commercial development across Southeast Asia.
James Hartley
Founding Advisor
Fifteen years working in regional commercial development across Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam. Leads client engagements and the Entry Options Study format.
Supaporn Klahan
Advisory Lead — Operations
Background in supply chain and operational design for international companies establishing Thai subsidiaries. Oversees the Expansion Advisory Engagement format.
Marcus Prentice
Research & Briefings
Specialises in market research and the production of written briefing materials. Manages the Market Orientation Briefing format and maintains the firm's regional knowledge base.
Standards & Practice
How we maintain the quality of our work
Written deliverables, every time
We do not close an engagement with a verbal debrief alone. Every format produces a documented output that your team can reference, share internally, and build on.
Direct advisor access
Clients work with the advisor responsible for their engagement, not with a general support function. Questions get considered responses rather than routed replies.
Clear scope boundaries
We are explicit about what falls outside our scope — legal, tax, and financial matters specifically. We do not overreach, and we point clients toward appropriate professionals when those areas arise.
Confidentiality as standard
Client information — plans, financials, and strategic considerations shared in conversation — is held in confidence and not used in materials for other clients or published in any form.
Current regional knowledge
Operating on the ground in Thailand means our understanding of the local business environment is refreshed through direct observation and ongoing professional relationships, not solely through secondary sources.
Scope agreed before we begin
The parameters of each engagement — what is included, what is not, and what a successful outcome looks like — are agreed in writing before work begins. This avoids scope ambiguity on both sides.
Approach & Expertise
What shapes the way Northmere works
Market entry advisory in Southeast Asia is a practitioner's discipline. The factors that determine whether a company's first year in Thailand goes well — channel selection, partner identification criteria, operating structure decisions, pace of local hiring — are not the kind of thing that can be settled from a head office. They require familiarity with the operating environment and the judgement that comes from having navigated comparable decisions before.
Northmere's approach is deliberately non-prescriptive. We do not begin an engagement by applying a fixed framework and fitting the client's situation to it. We start by understanding what the company already knows, where the gaps are, and what a useful output looks like for the specific team that will be acting on it. The format of the engagement — and the written deliverables it produces — are shaped by that starting conversation.
Thailand's business environment rewards companies that take the time to understand it before committing to a specific structure. The regulatory environment for non-Thai entities, the role of local relationships in commercial processes, and the differences between Bangkok and regional markets are all considerations that affect how a company should plan its entry. Northmere helps overseas teams build that understanding in an organised, efficient way.
We work in English and maintain clear communication throughout each engagement. Clients are not expected to navigate Thai-language materials independently; where these are relevant, we provide context and summary in plain English. Our goal is to help your team make better-informed decisions — not to create a dependency on ongoing advisory support beyond what your situation actually calls for.
Work With Us
Have a conversation about your situation
Tell us where your company is in its planning, and we will suggest a practical next step. No obligation to proceed beyond the initial conversation.
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