Study of the potential of community enterprises in the Northeast of Thailand (Thai)

Abstract

This research studied the potential for success of community enterprises in North Eastern Thailand. The purpose of this research was to firstly verify the problems and obstacles facing community enterprises, and secondly to investigate the internal and external factors that could affect the success of community enterprises, the internal factors (i.e., the characteristics of the population) and the external factors, which increase the potential of community enterprises. The research participants were leaders of community enterprises in the northeastern region of Thailand, separated into two groups, namely Food Production and Handicraft Production. Two instruments were used in the investigation: a questionnaire and an in-depth interview. Results revealed that, based on the characteristics of the population, the participants showed individual potential with respect to the management of the community enterprises. Moreover, financial support and technical knowledge input from both private and public sectors provided opportunities for members. Thus, it can be concluded that the majority of the community enterprise members had extensive knowledge of general management, which could be applied and combined with local wisdom to strengthen the enterprises. However, the members had little financial or marketing knowledge and were generally unable to apply what knowledge they did have. Accordingly, this was the reason why the majority of community enterprises were not able to achieve their full potential. In addition, a lack of capital and markets for the products were obstacles that the members were unable to resolve. This problem directly affected the overall potential and the success of the enterprises. The researchers' view is that the problems could be resolved if both the public and private sectors made available additional funding and also provided marketing training and encouragement in its application.