Thai gem and jewellery industry business performance: Is continued growth dependent on Tourism?

• Main Authors: Teerapatch Varasriverachote, Assist. Prof. Dr. Puris Sornsaruht, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Prasittisak Sirijarupat
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: AfricaJournals 2019-09-01
• Series: African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure
• Subjects: Competitive advantage; firm strategy; process innovation; service innovation; tourism
• Online Access: https://www.ajhtl.com/uploads/7/1/6/3/7163688/article_36_vol_8_5__2019_thailand.pdf

Thailand’s gem and jewellery industry is world famous to both the vast assortment of international traders and the 40 million tourists which visit the Kingdom annually. Presently, the sector is third in export value, which in 2018 (including gold) reached nearly $12 billion and employed an estimated 800,000 artisans and craftsmen. Therefore, research was undertaken to determine which variables influenced a Thai gem and jewellery enterprise’s business performance (BP). From the five-level questionnaire collected from a sample of 372 entrepreneurs and managers, an initial confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted on the study’s four additional latent variables of firm strategy (FS), product innovation (PI), service innovation (SI), and competitive advantage (CA). LISREL 9.1 was then used to develop a structural equation model (SEM) path analysis. Results revealed that all the causal variables positively influenced BP as the combined variance of influence was 77% (R2). Further results showed that the variables having the greatest influence on BP were FS, PI, CA and SI, with total effect values of 0.88, 0.60, 0.16 and 0.02, respectively. There was also an extremely strong interrelationship between FS and PI as r = 1.00, the t-test value = 14.72, and p ≤ 0.01. Personal interviews with industry leaders also noted the importance of the necessity for free-trade agreements, the need for a new generation of trained craftsmen, and the need for continuing Thai government support. Finally, both domestic consumers and foreign tourists are seen as an essential market for future growth.