Innovation adoption in Thai SMEs
Creators: name: Mingmalairaks, Phoommhiphat
Publisher: name: RMIT University
Year: 2024

description: This is a study of the factors that impact on successful innovation adoption in selected industry clusters of Thai SMEs. The objective of this research is to investigate the technological, organisational and environmental factors that contribute to successful innovation adoption in Thai small and medium sized companies in exemplars in the Parawood, Car Materials, First Craft Bangkok, Leather, and Petchkasem Textile and Garment industry clusters in Thailand. This research addresses one major research question: “What are the factors that contribute to the improved business performance of Thai SMEs?” <br><br>The five business clusters were selected with assistance from government officers in the Thai Ministry of Industry. The government officers suggested these five business clusters as they had been established for over two years and were recognised to have potential for growth. <br><br>A qualitative approach using in-depth interviews has enabled the researcher to gain a detailed understanding of the factors that impacted on successful innovation adoption and of understanding how SMEs survive in their industry contexts. <br>The research shows that various and differentiated organisational, technological and environmental factors impact on successful innovation adoption in Thai SMEs. The organisational factors identified were: the size of the organisation, organisational culture, organisational structure, management style, and innovation capability. The technological factors that emerged were: relative advantages (benefits) that accrued, design or available technologies, compatibility with the business, and the capacity of their machines. The environmental factors identified were: competition within the industry and the role of information intensities. As expected, the organisational factors are shown to lead to organisational innovation and the technological factors to technological innovation. The research also shows that once an innovation is adopted in an organisation, there is an improvement in understanding how business owners can operate their business at improved levels of performance.<br><br>This research contributes to our understanding of the nature of Thai SMEs, and specifically the organisational and technological innovation factors that lead to perceptions of successful implementation of innovation leading to improved business performance in Thai SMEs. The research identifies the relationships between organisational innovation and the various types of technology. It shows that product offerings, service development and product development are important in organisational innovation; and that transformation of technology, knowledge management and technology development are important for technological innovation. The research provides the Thai government sector with information about the characteristics and needs of Thai SMEs and will assist the Thai government to develop appropriate policies that better support Thai industries, which will help Thai SMEs survive in the present fiercely competitive environment.