The Success Factors for Small and Medium Enterprises In Thailand - Literature review Example

Research on Thai SMEs What is below the surface and what are The Underlying Success Factors For Small And Medium Enterprises (Smes) In Thailand? Chapter 2: Literature Review Overview This literature review examines what other researchers have covered and found in respect of identifying success factors for SMEs in Thailand. The historical background first provides an overview of Thai SMEs, their significance and role in the Thai economy, and the challenges they face. This is followed by a look at studies that specifically discuss potential success factors and how it can be measured including those factors that are most critical to success. The survey of most recent studies examines studies useful for our purpose more closely that have taken place over the past three years. Two particular studies, one by Vichitdhanabadee et al. (2009) and the other by Thassanabanjong et al. (2009) are used to provide some demographic details and other features of Thai SMEs and identify specific factors that could lead to their success. Finally, we consider why there is a need for conducting further research into this area. Historical Background and Challenges Wiboonchutilula’s (2002) study into Thai SMEs revealed that despite the economic crisis of 1997 (the Tom Yum Kung disease), they still account for the greater proportion of employment in Thailand. They also appear to have adapted well to the new globalized economic and business environment (Srivihok&Intrapairote, 2004) and “seem to offer a way to tap the country’s rich local wisdom and cultural heritage to produce various unique high quality products” (ibid, 2004b). For this reason, Thai SMEs have been of particular interest (Pumpaisanchai, 2004) because they are themselves a significant component of the Thai economy. Their greater resilience was demonstrated during the SARS crisis in 2003 and the tsunami in 2005. According to Yadav (2008), in 2006, SME contribution to GDP was 40& and to industrial exports was 75%.SMEs help generate employment in the economy, improve labor skills, and are able to attract foreign currency and investment.Traditionally, in the global arena Thai SMEs were perceived as impressive challengers to the high quality and low price phenomenon in developed countries by producing similar products at even lower costs. Cheaper labor is the main reason why they were able to do this although there is now an increasing focus on improving customer relations. However, Thai SMEs tend to have little if any management, administrative, marketing and technical skills. For example, they are often unable to cope with globalization and access international markets (Worthington & Britton, 2009, p. 48). Even many global SMEsare unable tosuccessfully establish ties with local networks (McNamara, 2005)such as is the case with some Japanese and Korean manufacturing SMEs operating in Thailand. This is most probably due to inadequate knowledge of the local economy, culture, laws and regulations, and access to support and resources. They tend to be “adept in adjusting to international market standards, but less skilled in forging ties with local sector networks” (ibid). Consequently, many SMEs both local and global usually have difficulty in establishing successful growth models for expanding (Li & Tan, 2004). This is discussed further on below.SMEs also attach less importance than larger enterprises to the environment (Anussomnitisam et al, 2009) but this is understandable because they have plenty of internal matters to cope with and not enough resources to tackle wider issues. SMEs also typically have inadequate access to sources of finance, which puts them at a great disadvantage (Fernandez &Neto, 2005). It severely limits their resources and the scope of activities they can engage in and therefore their future prospects. This disadvantage makes them more prone to bankruptcy as occurred in the 1997 economic crisis in Thailand. Atrill (2006, p. 276) showed that the underlying reasons are lack of knowledge of the availability of sources of finance, lack of financial skills to satisfy lenders, inability to meet rigorous assessment criteria and bureaucratic screening processes. He therefore recommended venture capital (or private equity) as one possibility for raising long-term capital (p. 277). It is believed that venture capitalists are often willing to lend to SMEs despite their perceived risk because of the potential high returns. Thassanabanjong et al. (2009) highlighted the problem of lack of training in SMEs, due to investing little time and money. This is especially acute in smaller family owned SMEs (De Lema&Durendez, 2007). The approach to HRM in general is usually much more informal than in the West (Forth et al., 2006).Kotey (2005) noted the same for management practices in SMEs in general; that they tend to be “informal, unstructured and seldom focus on strategic planning, procedures and policies.” On the other hand, as Phusavat (2007) showed, it is usually sufficient for SMEsto implement a simple system of management due to their limited finance and other resources. The Asian Foundation (2001) studied the technological dimension of Thai SMEs. Theyexamined their current and future use of the Internet and e-commerce.Their survey of 200 SMEsrevealed that 93% had at least one personal computer in their offices and 57% had access to a local area network with 76% having access to the Internet. Of the latter, over a half had their own website and over 19% planned to have one developed. These figures are most probably higher now as this survey was conducted several years ago. However, it was promising to note that over a fifth even at that time were selling their products/services online, over 35% were using the Internet for communication, a small proportion were availing themselves of Internet banking, and so on. An Examination of Potential Success Factors As Huang (2003) pointed out, SMEs possess many desirable characteristics, such as “the high usage of labor, the economic use of capital, and the high relation towards more equitable distribution of income and rural development.” However, an important issue in this study is how to measure success if we are to find ways to ensure that they succeed both for themselves and to benefit the wider economy. Dairymple (2004) for example, considered how business performance could be measured satisfactorily. He used the International Business Profile Benchmarking to help identify the strengths and weaknesses of individual SMEs. Although these were specific to SMEs in the UK, some of them can be modified for use with SMEs in Thailand. As far as devising a useful provisional list of possible success factors for Thai SMEs is concerned, the studies of Indarti&Langenberg (2004), Apibunyopas&Songmuang (2007), Garengo&Bernardi (2007), Srivihok&Intrapairote (2004a, b) and Vichitdhanabadee et al. (2009) provided the most useful information.Garengo&Bernardi (2007) for example, identified the characteristics of capital value, SME size and education and past experience of the manager as success factors. Srivihok&Intrapairote (2004b) pointed out the advantages of Internet based and electronic commerce for assisting SMEs due to their ability to lower costs, expand marketplaces, enhance competitiveness, improve business image and increase revenues. From the customer’s perspective, it allows convenient access to information, a greater range of products and the opportunity to conduct e-commerce for real-time transactions.On the other hand, not all SMEs are ready to implement e-commerce because of obstacles such as “lack of awareness, unsecured product ordering process, uncertainty about payment systems and security systems, lack of law support, poor communication infrastructure, no certification authority, and language problems” (ibid). Nonetheless, they mention that the aforementionedbenefits can help Thailand to compete in a highly competitive and globalised world. One Thai SME that has taken advantage of the Internet in this way is Oil Painting Repro (2010). The first study (Indarti&Langenberg, 2004), from which most of the success factors were identified, involved a survey of 100 SMEs in Indonesia. It was found that “marketing, technology and capital access affect the business success in a positive way, while legality does so in a negative direction”. The researchers concluded that SME owners “should pay more attention to improve marketing strategy, to advance technology, and to get capital access.” In addition, other parties with interests in furthering the development of SMEs “should also be prepared for giving assistances in those fields.” These include government agencies, universities and business service development organizations. Also recommended was simplifying bureaucracy and deregulation of legal aspects, which could equally apply to Thailand. A list of management or entrepreneurial, organizational, and other characteristics or contextual variables based on the aforementioned studies that could lead to success was given in table 1 in chapter 1. This study will look for evidence of these and other similar characteristics to identify those that are significant in contributing to the success of ThaiSMEs. A case study by Apibunyopas&Songmuang (2007) on ABC Furniture Company Limited, which won two consecutive awards for SMEs in 1998-1999, reveals useful information on the most critical of these success factors. Three areas of company focus and five critical success factors were identified. The areas of focus were knowledge of customer and market, building customer relationship and building customer satisfaction. The five critical success factors were found to be leadership, cooperation between marketing and production, the use of modern production technology, its employee training program and the high level of employee morale and company incentives program. These critical success factors all revolve around leadership and management and management practices. For example, it is leadership that ensures the marketing and production teams can cooperate, and it is the management that is responsible for implementing modern production technologies. Likewise, management has to ensure that employee morale is maintained and training is provided. Thus, performance in SMEs is greatly affected by management characteristics. ABC Furniture Company Limited was also able to expand into Japan, Europe and America after it obtained a grant from the Thai Export Promotion Department, and it now receives 80% of its sales from Japan. Its strong points are quality furniture, minimal defect and punctual delivery. Its success is also attributable to having a good knowledge of culture and codes of conduct of the foreign countries in which it operates, attending trade fairs, and its strategy for giving priorityaccording to the origination of its customers. Other important seminal works on SMEs were Madsen &Servais (1997), which examined the rise of global SMEs, Tiessen et al. (2001), which examined the new challenges posed by globalization and e-commerce, and Li & Tan (2004) mentioned earlier, which examined the business growth models of SMEs. The latter study recognized the difficulty of SMEs in transforming themselves into larger enterprises. Three SME cases were examined that had successfully emerged into MNCs. Based on the insight gathered, they then developed a framework for business growth strategies and discussed its implications for other SMEs. A suggestion by McNamara (2005) is the creation of ‘learning environments’ for SMEs to help them integrate local craft with global standards. Knowledge sharing is not a new concept but with the advances in information and communication technologies, this is something that can easily be set up and taken advantages of, and with minimal cost and great potential benefits. As McNamara puts it, “Knowledge is the key to flexibility,” so SMEs could do well to take advantage of gaining and sharing knowledge. Most Recent Studies Not many recent studies have been conducted specifically on success factors for Thai SMEsalthough a number of studies have been conducted on certain aspects of Thai SMEs and many more on SMEs in general. Case studies on SMEs include Thanitcul (2008) who enquired into competition law in respect of goods supplies to larger retail stores, Likhitvorakul&Phungrassami (2009) who examined the eco-design of a cooling tower, and Chirico (2008) who examined how family owned SMEs value organizational learning. A case study on a specific Thai SME led to the creation of the Sustainability Report of Art on Stitch Co. Ltd (2007). This report mentions the importance of creating “a harmonized working environment” and corporate social responsibility. Other success factors identified were production planning, quality control, leadership training, providing more added value products for customers, and the company’s participation in the government sponsored Productivity Improvement Program. Another specific case study was the one undertaken by Apibunyopas&Songmuang (2007) on ABC Furniture Company Limited mentioned earlier from which several critical success factors were identified.Phusavat et al. (2008) who studied current practices in knowledge transfers across Thai SMEs, found that these were in an explicit form when used for formal meetings, site visits and audits, and for specific assignments of certain persons. Other but tacit forms were story telling and social interactions. Performance management practices among some Thai SMEs were the focus of an Australian study by Vichitdhanabadee et al. (2009). The 234 SMEswere from the manufacturing, trading and service sectors in the Chang Mai province. Data gathered from a survey was combined with a few interviews, and performance was measured in terms of net profit, total sales, turnover of inventories and number of customers. Reliability tests were also performed on the data. Improved performance is also indicated by achieving set goals, meeting customer requirements, relative gains in efficiency and effectiveness, etc. (Chen, 1999). It was found that “SME owners/managers appeared to understand the importance of business performance management in day-to-day business operations but due to time constraints were often not able to give adequate attention to performance management issues”. This suggests that owner/manager characteristics have a significant bearing on business performance, which is as expected. Some of the important findings from this (Vichitdhanabadee et al., 2009) study are given below: Most of the respondents (over a half) were from the manufacturing sector whereas less than a third were from the service sector and fewer in the trading sector. Most of the business was conducted locally (over a half) while over a quarter had export customers. The present owner founded most of the SMEs (almost three quarters). Most of the SMEs (nearly three quarters) employed less than 30 people while more than half of them employed less than 16. Amount of assets were less than one million Australian dollars for under a third of the SMEs. Manager and SME characteristics such as educational background and work experience, number of employees, value of capital, etc. are significantly related to business performance. Business performance was found to be higher among larger SMEs probably because of the better management, greater use of technologies, greater number of employees, and larger budgets. Greater knowledge, work experience and higher education of the management were also found to be associated with better business performance. This is probably so because these managers are able to adapt to changes more quickly than their competitors. Most of the funding derived from personal savings and family investment rather than external sources that are usually difficult to access. There is a general lack of awareness of proper methods of maintaining financial information. There is usually little focus on managerial planning, and instead an ad hoc approach is taken. The noticeable improvement in business performance since 2007 was attributed to greater government and international support for Thai SMEs. Vichitdhanabadee et al.’s (2009) study thus highlights a number of areas for SMEs that typically need greater attention and support, and it also highlights those areas which can be seen as positive in leading to success for SME management and the SME itself. Thassanabanjong et al. (2009) conducted a study of training in urban Thai SMEsas mentioned earlier. They useda drop-off paper-based questionnaire covering demographics and questions related to training. This was supplemented by some in-depth interviews with individuals.The survey response rate was over 93% yielding a return of 438 questionnaires. The information they gathered on demographics is of interest to this study because there is very little such information available elsewhere. The pertinent points are listed below. Over 60% of the respondents were business owners indicating their prominent role in all aspects related to their business. The numbers of male and female respondents were roughly equal suggesting a different gender pattern of the management to what may be typical in the West. Nearly 50% of the respondents were in the 25-35 age group followed by a quarter in the next 36-45 age group. This contrasts with the West, which is facing an ageing workforce as its single biggest issue (Callanan&Greenhaus, 2008). 80% of the respondents were educated to university level, which is considered to be high compared to many other countries. It might be explained by the fact that many of the SMEs were family owned, which are passed down from parents to their own children. Most SMEs are concentrated in the retail and service sectors followed by manufacturing and construction. Nearly 60% of SMEshave existed for more than 5 years, which is longer than expected for some Western countries. This indicates that they are definitely more enduring, and this may be due to the family involvement more than education or skills, as suggested by Tatoglu et al. (2008) in their investigation of Turkish SMEs. More than half of the SMEs had less than 20 individuals although a large cluster (18%) of 80-100 individuals existed at the larger end of the scale. Approximately two-thirds of the SMEs did not have any designated HR positions, except for manufacturing SMEs, suggesting the absence of formal structures at least as far as HRM is concerned. Longer working hours was noted but this is expected for SMEs especially informal family owned businesses. As far as training is concerned, over 70% had OJT (on-the-job) training while over a quarter had a mixed method, and a mere 2% offered off-the-job training.OJT was more popular in the manufacturing sector and off-the-job was more popular in the service sector. Training in general took place more in larger SMEs than smaller ones, which is as expected. Expenditure on training was found to be less than 1% for over a half of the SMEs although there was a positive correlation between number of individuals and amount spent on training. Where training was offered, it was usually for up to 4 individuals and no more than 2 hours per week. These findings are consistent with the finding of others who have studied training in SMEselsewhere such as Clifford & Thorpe (2007). Two main reasons could be lack of finance, as found in Irish SMEs by Birdthistle (2006), and lack of time, as revealed by Macdonald et al. (2007). Despite the difficulties faced by SMEs, they also have a number of advantages over larger enterprises. For example, Lynch (2009, p. 186) pointed out their potential to take advantage of innovation to get an edge over larger enterprises because they are inherently more flexible and able to implement changes much quicker. What this would require however, is strong leadership with good imagination and ideas, and access to knowledge of the latest information, technologies and market opportunities that could be exploited. As for coping with globalization, a number of options are open to SMEs even if they are faced with limited finances and other resources. Worthington & Britton (2009, p. 48) pointed out the possibilities of forming strategic alliances or establishing joint ventures with other SMEs, and franchising or licensing to firms in other countries. One example of successful collaboration is the creation of an online shopping directory in December 2009 for Jatujak Market in Bangkok, which is now able to sell a range of Thai products online not only within Thailand but also to a global marketplace. Apart from initiatives by the SME itself, there still remains the need for support by external bodies such as the government and especially for the area of finance. A study by the Thai Hotel and Hospitality Management Association (THMA, 2008) for example, which surveyed the growth of the hotel industry in Thailand, the SME contribution to this industry, SME hotel entrepreneurs in Thailand and the survival factors of SME hotels, made several recommendations to strengthen SMEs financially. These included fixed low interest rates for SMEs, lenient terms of payment and providing financial advisors. This gives an idea of the kind of assistance SMEs need from other bodies and how those bodies can assist them.Yadav (2008) who enquired into financing Thai and Vietnamese SMEs presented a business model based on responsible lending and the national agenda, and in which bankers can also encourage innovative practices. This is a very structured approach to improving SMEs’ access to finance but it is something that would need to translate into workable government policy. The Need for Further Research Despite the significance of SMEs to the Thai economy highlighted at the beginning of this chapter, and the demographic data and other findings obtained from extensive recent studies such as Vichitdhanabadee et al. (2009) and Thassanabanjong et al. (2009), there is still little data available on them. This is because the SMEs were largely ignored prior to the 1997 crisis and poorly understood (Pumpaisanchai, 2004).The Thailand National Statistical Office carried out a large-scale national industrial survey in Thailand in 2000 involving over 20,000 manufacturing establishments, but this data too is now a decade old. Vichitdhanabadee et al.’s (2009) study was exclusively centered on the Chang Mai province of Thailand so this was a major limitation of this important study. Although they included SMEs from all three sectors making this study representative of different types of SMEs, the aforementioned limitation does not allow these results to be generalized to Thailand as a whole. The importance of training in SMEs in particular needs to be better understood because it is an essential component of business activity (Garavan, 2008).Thassanabanjong et al.’s (2009) study was very significant because not only did it target Thai SMEsbut also a large number of SMEs were surveyed. Specifically, this study attempted to fill a research gap on SME investment in training and their approaches to training. However, there were several limitations to this study. For example, the researchers themselves pointed out that although they found investment in training to be low, they did not attempt to explain why this was the case.This information would better be served by conducting in-depth qualitative and longitudinal studies. Furthermore, this study was of course restricted to SMEs in urban areas of Thailand so it may not be representative of SMEs in rural areas. Others researchers such as Chaminade&Vang (2008) and Intarakumnerd& Fujita (2008) have also studied training in Thai SMEs, but they took a more global approach by seeing SMEs as parts of MNC production processes. In other words, they did not focus exclusively on these small enterprises.Moreover, the latter also included SMEs in Vietnam, so the study was not entirely on Thai SMEs. As for the provisional list of possible success factors for SMEs, most of the items were taken from the Indarti&Langenberg (2004) study besides others. This study was actually focused on not Thai but Indonesian SMEs. Although there may be some socio-cultural and economic similarities between the two countries, they may not necessarily all be relevant within the context of Thailand. There could be features of the Thai business environment that are peculiar to the country or of greater or lesser significance than for Indonesia, which therefore justifies the compilation of a new list specifically for Thailand. Similarly, the identification of critical success factors in the Apibunyopas&Songmuang (2007) study pertains to a particular successful SME. Although some of these may hold the same degree of criticalness for other SMEs in Thailand, we cannot be sure without going beyond merely focusing on just one SME. The larger survey involving a large number of Thai SMEs could provide findings that are more generalizable as this study sets out to do. There is a need really to study Thai SMEs in their own right, from a geographically and economically representative sample, and not only with respect to training, managerial characteristics or other single aspect, as we have already seen there are several success factors besides these alone. 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