Thai manufacturing small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) face intense competition in domestic and foreign markets. Given their importance to the economic development of the country it is important to have a clear understanding of their readiness to face the rigors of international competition, including the barriers and specific problems that they face. This study uses a stochastic frontier analysis (SFA)
This paper employs a stochastic frontier (SFA) and data envelopment analysis (DEA) to analyse inefficiency effect models for 3,894 Thai manufacturing and exporting small and medium size enterprises (SMEs), using 2007 Thai Industrial Census data. Thai manufacturing and exporting SMEs experience decreasing returns to scale even though their technical efficiency in production is found to be relatively high. Results from estimations using both approaches also reveal that firm age, medium-sized enterprises compared with small-sized enterprises, firm location in Bangkok, foreign investment and government assistance are significantly and positively related to firm technical efficiency. Focusing on the technical efficiency of SMEs exporting to different destinations, those exporting to OCEANIA perform the best, followed by SMEs exporting to ASEAN, East Asia, and North and South America, while SMEs exporting to Europe experience no significant effect upon their technical efficiency from doing so, where SMEs exporting to the rest of the world is the base exporting SME group. The results also reveal that SMEs in the chemicals and related products sector perform the best, followed by SMEs in the machinery and transport equipment sector, where the miscellaneous manufactured articles sector is used as the base sector. The manufactured goods sector and food, beverages and tobacco sector are also found to perform better than the miscellaneous manufactured articles sector. Finally, the paper also provides useful evidence-based policy recommendations aimed at enhancing the technical efficiency and competitiveness of Thai manufacturing and exporting SMEs. Material published as part of this publication, either on-line or in print, is copyrighted by the Informing Science Institute. Permission to make digital or paper copy of part or all of these works for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that the copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage AND that copies 1) bear this notice in full and 2) give the full citation on the first page. It is permissible to abstract these works so long as credit is given. To copy in all other cases or to republish or to post on a server or to redistribute to lists requires specific permission and payment of a fee.
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This study emphasizes the contribution of sources of finance to the export participation and export intensity of Thai manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and manufacturing firms in aggregate. It also elaborates on other key factors contributing to SME manufacturing firm export activity. The empirical results presented confirm that the Export–Import Bank of Thailand (EXIM Bank) and the Department of International Trade Promotion (DITP) both play a significant role in enhancing Thai SME and all manufacturing firm export participation and export intensity. Local and foreign commercial banks, however, are not found to have a significant correlation with their export participation and export intensity. In addition, SMEs and all manufacturing firms receiving funds from friends and family are found to participate less in foreign markets compared to those SMEs and all manufacturing firms in aggregate which do not receive any funds from their friends and family. With respect to the importance of type of ownership for export activity, foreign ownership can help promote the export participation and intensity of Thai manufacturing SMEs and all manufacturing enterprises. Technological innovation activity also helps them to participate in foreign markets. The empirical evidence also points out that financial institutions in Thailand remain reliant on collateral-based lending and financial transparency. A key finding from this paper is that manufacturing SMEs are likely to perform worse in terms of export participation, export intensity, and access to finance compared to large manufacturing enterprises.
It is anticipated that e-commerce will contribute to achieving the 17th Sustainable Development Goal, which seeks to improve implementation mechanisms and revitalize global partnerships for sustainable development. However, MSMEs still face a digital gap compared to large enterprises, which affects their e-commerce sustainability. The study’s objective is to examine the factors and barriers affecting the e-commerce sustainability of Thai micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) based on a survey of retail and food and beverage (F&B) service MSMEs in metropolitan Bangkok. Estimations confirm the significance of the TOE framework for Thai MSMEs. Internal e-commerce tools (i.e., smartphones and websites) and external e-commerce platforms (i.e., social media, e-marketplaces, and food delivery platforms) can enhance e-commerce sustainability. However, the age of firms and owners (CEOs) affects e-commerce sustainability negatively. Exports, B2B e-commerce, and e-commerce experience can promote the e-commerce sustainability of Thai MSMEs. However, they perceive that many consumers are still not literate in using e-commerce. In addition, Thailand still has insufficient security to prevent hacking and malware. Therefore, Thai entrepreneurs’ e-commerce literacy is insufficient to enhance their e-commerce sustainability. On the other hand, sustainable e-commerce can increase customer satisfaction, loyalty, and trust through customer support, leading to more long-term online shopping. Hence, this study focuses on e-commerce sustainability-based economic dimensions, as measured by the percentage of e-commerce sales to total sales (e-commerce utilization/intensity).
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