MANAGEMENT SEMINAR

Journal Summary: Ecotourism Development: Educational Media of

BY:
ANAK AGUNG AYU PRABENG NINGRUM SATYENG NINGRAT

1607521080

10

UDAYANA UNIVERSITY

2017/2018
Title: Promoting International Competitiveness for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises:
A Case Study of Chinese Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in Thailand

Journal: International Review of Management and Marketing

Volume: Journal Vol 7. Issue 3. 2017

Authors: Weihao Wu, Narissara Parkvithee

Reviewer: Prabeng Ningrum

ABSTRACT

This journal was made in purpose to explore the problem faced by small and medium enterprises
(SMEs) in Thailand, particularly among Chinese SMEs. From this journal we can figure out the
impact of those problem faced on internal and external factors which influence the business
competitiveness of these SMEs. Also by the result of the analysis the journal suggest guidelines
for promoting international competitiveness of Chinese SMEs and other ethnic subsidiaries in
Thailand.

The abstract serve us information about the overall information of the journal, start from the
purpose, the problem, the data collecting method, and also the result. So by reading the abstract
we can easily understand what the journal would be like, and also the abstract describe the journal
information very clear and effective.

INTRODUCTION

In the first paragraph, authors state that previous studies in the area of competitiveness have been
investigated in the context of Western countries and emphasized on local aspect of factors affecting
competitiveness of SMEs firm’s competitiveness, such core competence, corporate
competitiveness, competitive improvement, measuring the competitive level, international
competitiveness of manufacturing enterprises and export behavior and performance. But most of
them do not appear to focus on the internationalization of SMEs including the character of SMEs
subsidiaries of foreign enterprises that have their skin in the foreign country of operation through
their FDI.

Furthermore the authors found that the bilateral economic and trade cooperate between China and
Thailand continues to flourish and those become motivation for Chinese SMEs to enter the
Thailand market and invest in there. Although labels “Made in China” well accepted in Thailand
but they still have to compete and rivalry among local enterprises. To understand how Chine SMEs
compete in a different culture and environment so this study draws on the external and internal
determinant of institutional theory and FDI theory. Factors such subsidiary’s market orientation,
industry concentration, and ambient technology are expected to unravel things that not explained
yet among the problem faced by Chinese SMES in Thailand. This situation also expected happen
in other FDI in SMEs in other parts of Asia.

CONTENT

In order to start the discussion the authors start from literature review about international
competitiveness. There are some literature used such Wang (2006) that put the key of international
competitiveness on quality and price, IMD that state the international competitiveness of a country
represent by its own ability to create and maintain an environment for enterprise so its people can
have more value and wealth, and last is from Liu (2008) which focusing international
competitiveness on cost and product differentiation. SMEs refer to the small scale of operation in
enterprises where assets, person employed, and volume of sales are not large. Its characteristic
based on Zhang (2009) are small scale of production, limited human resources and material, the
number of SMEs is large and widely distributed, have flexible operation, and the competitiveness
of SMEs is not strong and the life is short. Talking about Thailand is one of ten ASEAN countries
and is the second largest economy in ASEAN. Thailand well known with its agricultural product
and as an export-oriented economy. Thailand is one of the fastest growing countries in Southeast
Asian regarding to Du (2007) and has had substantial increase in foreign investment. In recent
years, Chinese invested enterprises have developed very rapidly in Thailand, and due to Chinese
and Thailand’s bilateral trade than China has become the largest export country of Thailand. Thai
government was paying attention to using foreign capital to promote domestic economic
development, however in recent years the Thai government has made number of changes in the
foreign investment law and simplified it considerably. In the era of economic globalization
enterprises need to enter the international market in order to seek new sales markets and acquaint
themselves with foreign advanced technology. But along the internationalization process
enterprises should compete with other local and global firms. Therefore competitive advantages
are required, and those can be reach through innovation, product diversification, high quality
product, enterprises also should utilize its advantage of flexibility and adaptability to effectively
compete in global market. If SMEs want to survive in international market they also have to have
their own brand, and corporate culture also matters which related to business performance. Than
cross cultural management needed to solve cultural conflict and help the enterprises to create their
own competitive advantage in learning and accepting other cultural ideas. The factor that affecting
the competitiveness of enterprises in this study derived from several sources, comprise of FDI
theory, institutional theory, and other key determinant such subsidiary difference, etc. So the
purpose of this study is to identify the salient determinants that affect the international
competitiveness of existing Chinese FDI SMEs in Thailand.
In order to get the data for research so the researcher using qualitative analysis method by
conducted the interview for Chinese FDI SMEs enterprises in Thailand to obtain personal points
of view. The interview was semi-structured interview with open-ended question, because this type
of interview allow participants the freedom to be honest and articulate their true feelings in their
response to the proposition brought to their attention. The respondent Chinese SMEs were chosen
from different industries that have and bring great influence to the economy of Thailand in purpose
to get a range of views of the barriers that confront the international competitiveness of various
Chinese SMEs in Thailand. That are trading industry, manufacturing industry, auto-parts industry,
e-commerce industry, real-estate industry, tourism industry, and media and entertainment industry.
The interview questionnaire of the main focus study consist of 4 questions which seek to explore
the external and internal factors that might affect the firm’s international competitiveness, and next
3 questions are explore the problem faced by the firms regarding the external and internal factors
affecting their international competitiveness and how were they attempted to be resolved by
Chinese SMEs. The data gathered include interview, observation, recording, transcript, and
making notes in order to enhance the credibility and faithfulness of information expressed by the
respondents. In order to evaluate the content validity and the objective of the questionnaire then
the researcher would applied Item-Objective Congruence Index (IOC). The criteria of IOC used
3-point scales: “+1” means the question is congruent with the objective, “0” means the question is
uncertain to be congruent with the objective, “-1” means the question is not congruent with the
objective. The researchers then use the interview form to do a pretest questionnaire, the pilot
interview was conducted in order to ensure that the participants would clearly understand each
question item with easy and plain language. In other words pilot interview use to enhance the
dependability and confirm ability of research. Additionally, stepwise replication technique was
used at the end of each part of interview form to assure the consistency of the data and also enhance
the study’s dependability during the interview conversation process. The results of the study
exemplify that qualitative data rather than financial performance data can produce favorable
outcomes in the market environment such as better understanding of competitors, political issues,
customers, cross-cultural, managerial approaches, branding, investing and training of specialized
talents, marketing, and innovation. This study identified that these are the most salient factors for
helping established Chinese SMEs to promote their international competitiveness while operating
in Thailand’s market.

CONCLUSION

In the conclusion the authors explained the part of SMEs in global and digital economy, and also
it also tell about Thailand economic condition. After all the authors write the conclusion in a very
effective way and it was a short conclusion but still all of the information are state in this part, start
from the explanation of each terms until the result of the study.
STRENGTHS OF THE STUDY

1. The study was inform in clear way and all information are clear
2. The authors conclude the study in simple and effective way but very clear
3. The authors are very detail in any information regarding to the study

WEAKNESS OF THE STUDY

1. Sometimes the authors give too much of definition of each term although from one source
to the other source are very similar or close