Thailand historically has been most accepting of the West, with its culture overwhelmingly grounded in Buddhist beliefs and values, but can be viewed as having unique challenges in management and international marketing. What might the challenges be when viewed from the perspective of Thai managers? With one of the fastest growing economies in Asia relatively recently transformed from one with a strong dependence on the export of agricultural products toward a clearer manufacturing base, Thailand has entered the realm of the global economy with a rush. This brings into perspective a new challenge for its corporate managers — developing the organisational, management and marketing cultural sensitivity required to successfully conduct their businesses abroad, but from the foundation of their particular world-view. This paper presents the preliminary findings of a research project — a work in progress — which is studying three manufacturing companies in Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand. All of these companies are enjoying considerable success in the manufacture and export of traditional candle incense products to markets in other parts of Asia, Europe and North America. From a business research perspective their achievements incorporate an interesting mix of factors. Firstly these companies have modeled effective transformation from the sphere of traditional handicraft based industries to one of larger scale production — interesting from a regional development perspective, particularly in Thailand which has a large number of handicraft type industries and a wealth of suitably skilled workers. Secondly these companies have demonstrated successful negotiation by Thai managers of the paths of export from a developing economy to more developed economies. This fact in itself is not remarkable but that they have done it with products which are not simply Western-market destined goods being manufactured offshore for cost-saving or other reasons, but with traditional Thai products is interesting. Thirdly, there appears to be evidence of a transition from a mindset which could be regarded as strongly culture-bound as a result of the strong religious connotations of these products, to one which has resulted in success in marketing the products in Western and other settings. The current project is studying the approaches adopted managers to ensure cultural sensitivity issues are addressed both within the organisations and in their international relations, in order to achieve success in developing their global businesses. Qualitative data has been collected. Preliminary results are presented and discussed in the paper within a theoretical framework of inter-cultural studies and international business.