The pursuit of original equipment manufacturer strategy: insights from an Asian country

The automotive sector is the major industry of Thailand's economy. This paper discusses the national strategy of Thailand toward the Detroit of Asia. In particular, the study analyses the pursuit of original equipment manufacturer (OEM) strategy in the Thai automotive industry, based on Porter's Diamond Model. A qualitative approach was adopted, using semi-structured interviews to understand the reasons behind Thailand's adoption of OEM strategy and its decisions in not following other strategic approaches. The findings provide important lessons to other developing economies in terms of adopting the right strategies to improve the national performance and competitiveness. The case of Thailand is clearly evident that the Thai government chooses not to develop its own brand (OBM strategy) but pursue the OEM path to strengthen its automotive industry.     

Innovation index and the innovative capacity of nations

This study is concerned with the development of the innovation capability index to assess innovation efficiency in an industrial innovation system. This paper presents the research results on charting the innovation index of Thailand and discusses the strategies to improve the national innovative capability. Based on the studies on competitiveness factors done by International Institute for Management Development (IMD) and World Economic Forum (WEF), the research analyses five levels of innovation capability: (1) organisation innovation capability, (2) process innovation capability, (3) service innovation capability, (4) product innovation capability, and (5) marketing innovation capability to provide overall information of the national innovation capability index. The study on innovation capability in 2007 reveals that Thailand has the innovation capability index of 2.30 (out of four level system) or equals to 57.50%. The study provides ambitious initiatives and strategic implications to promote innovation of the economy.     

National foresight in science and technology strategy development

The paper is concerned with the national foresight exercises in Thailand to devise the key science and technology (S&T) strategies. The Thai government, through the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA), has used the foresight processes to influence policy making and create national foresight programmes. The foresight exercise, covering the period from 2000 to 2020, aims to examine the potential of the Thai industry and investigate a set of development policies necessary to make the Thai industry successful by the year 2020. Three rounds of strategic conferences comprising 2677 people were set up to create a vision for the future of the industry. The results of the foresight process provide a comprehensive overview of the trends of the Thai industry. The study contributes towards the formulation of feasible technological and industrial policies, which would enhance the country's ability to improve the competitive position for tomorrow.     

The role of equity financing to support entrepreneurship in Asia—The experience of Singapore and Thailand

This paper is concerned with the role of equity financing to support entrepreneurship in Asia with a particular focus on venture capital (VC) financing policies of Singapore and Thailand. Although Singapore and Thailand adopt the government intervention approach in VC financing, the analysis has shown that Singapore is more successful due to effective use of innovation financing policies in the catch-up process to develop its economy and strong network linkages with US Silicon Valley. The case of Thailand has shown poor network linkages with redundant organizations/agencies competing on offering similar innovation financing schemes. The study offers effective innovation financing policy recommendations to support the national economic development. The research provides useful insights and lessons for other economies aimed at strengthening the entrepreneurial financing system.     

Standard competition: Is collaborative strategy necessary in shaping the smart card market?

This paper is concerned with the standard competition in the three most outstanding innovation cases of videocassette recorder [VCR; video home system (VHS)/Betamax standard competition], Windows operating system for personal computers (PC; Windows standard competition), and smart cards (smart cards standard competition). The study presents a comparative analysis of major conceptual frameworks in innovation management—the Competitive Forces Model by Porter [M. Porter, Competitive Strategy, Free Press, New York, 1980] and the Managing Migration Paths Model by Hamel and Prahalad [G. Hamel and C.K. Prahalad, Competing for the future, Harvard Business School Press Boston, MA, 1994] for empirical analysis and discussions. It is argued that the ability to establish an industry standard enables an innovator to create competitive advantage. In other words, the ability to establish an industry standard provides a platform for an innovator to excel at the innovation process by generating a continuity of commercially successful innovations. The paper evaluates the strategic management of innovations by studying the previous standard competition of innovations, to suggest the direction of smart cards. The players in the smart card industry may use this empirical analysis to define strategic approach for their plan to compete in smart card launch.