New Growth Strategies of Thailand’s Big Firms in the ASEAN Economic Community Era

Akira Suehiro ()
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Akira Suehiro: Gakushuin University

Chapter 2 in Southeast Asia beyond Crises and Traps, 2017, pp 35-69 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract Thailand is going to experience the slowdown of growth due to the rise of wage level, decline of labour productivity, and poor expenditure of R&D activities. To overcome the traditional pattern of growth based on the low-cost advantage, Thailand is required to promote upgrading of technology in core manufacturing industries such as IT and automobiles. However, these industries have been under the control of foreign firms or MNCs after the 1997 Asian crisis, and the progress of innovation is now depending on the strategy of MNCs. On the other hand, if looking at movements of big local firms (leading family businesses), Thailand seems to suggest another ways to realise continuous growth. They include: shifting main business areas from core manufacturing industries to agro-industry and service sectors; development of niche products and markets rather than new products and technology; targeting regional markets including domestic market rather than 3G markets (USA, EU, and Japan); and strategic alliance with Chinese firms rather than joint ventures with Japanese and Western ones. These movements are examined in reference to the author’s original data on local firms.

Keywords: Core Manufacturing Industries; Family Business Leaders; National Economic And Social Development Board (NESDB); Middle-income Trap; Asian NIEs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:stuchp:978-3-319-55038-1_2

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-55038-1_2

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