The contribution of entrepreneurship and innovation to Thai SME manufacturing performance

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) play a pivotal role in accelerating Thai economic development. SMEs provide backward linkages for large enterprises through supply of goods, services, information and knowledge. Despite SMEs obvious significance, they face several severe difficulties that act as obstacles to their further development. The primary motivation of this study is to upon identifying: 1) the role, significance and contribution of Thai manufacturing SMEs to the Thai economy; 2) entrepreneur characteristics (age, gender, education, work experience); and (3) innovation (new products, processes, organization structure).