SMEs' obstacles in Thailand: the analysis of the association between the difference in size, sector, region and the problems that occur in business operations

Abstract

The number of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Thailand has increased these years. The objectives of this research were to identify obstacles in business operations and develop a guideline to promote and support SMEs in Thailand. The data was collected in the questionnaire; the respondents of this research are entrepreneurs entering the government services by the Department of Industrial Promotion between the years 2016 - 2018 with a total of 1,297 enterprises. This research used a chi-square test for independence to determine whether there is a significant association between the two variables. The results showed that the small sized beverage production enterprises (C11) need support in logistics and organization management knowledge more than other industries in the small sized production sector; the medium sized textile production industry (C13) need support in technology knowledge and need to develop more in the area of marketing problems on medium sized enterprises in the region; the printing and reproduction of media industry (C18) need support in information technology and marketing knowledge that should focus on medium sized enterprises; the production of rubber and plastic products industry (C22) need support in human resources knowledge and channels to access the government services that should focus on small sized enterprises; the medium sized electrical equipment production industry (C27) need support in technology and marketing knowledge and need to develop more in the area of marketing problems on medium sized enterprises in the region; the wholesale trade industry (G46) need support in human resources knowledge, business networking that should focus on small sized enterprises and need to develop more in the area of production problems on small sized enterprises in the region; the retail trade industry (G47) need support in technology knowledge and need to develop more in Bangkok in the area of production problems on medium sized enterprises; the wholesale, retail, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (G45) and the wholesale trade (G46) need support in human resource on small sized enterprises more than the retail trade industry (G47); the small sized food and beverage service industry (I56) need support in technology knowledge and access government funding sources; and the small sized real estate industry (L68) need support in marketing knowledge. Also, the Analytic Hierarchy Approach (AHP) showed the most suitable process used in promotion and develop entrepreneurs is consulting. The research results are expected to provide a guideline and suggestion to promote and develop SMEs in Thailand.