Management strategies of the major local auto-parts firms in Thailand
Dr. Yoshimi Une (Hiroshima University), e-mail: [email protected]
03/Oct./2010
Prof. Dr. Atsushi Taira chaired the SIEM research group meeting at the 2010 AJG conference in autumn 2010 at Nagoya University. Many young active researchers participated in the meeting of the research group and performed a fruitful discussion on the presentation about operations of local automotive parts’ companies in Thailand by Dr. Yoshimi UNE (Hiroshima University / National Institutes for the Humanities). He reported that the Thailand automotive industry has been growing since 2000, because some Japanese assembly firms began to consider Thailand as the export center in the global market after the Asian financial crisis of 1997. Japanese firms have been playing a key role in the automotive and parts production for forty years in Thailand. On the other hand, local auto-parts firms also have been growing in recent years. His presentation aims to clarify the management and location strategies of the major local auto-parts firms in Thailand. The major three groups – Summit Group, Thai Summit Group and AAPICO Group – are taken as case studies. The results are summarized in following five points.
1) Each group founder had the know-how to produce and sale the auto-parts, and the foresight for the business potential.
2) Those three groups have obtained the advanced technology through establishing the joint ventures or joining in a technical tie-up with Japanese firms.
3) They employed many foreign engineers and staffs to make international business smooth.
4) They built new factories near the Japanese assembly factories, located in the suburban area of the Bangkok Metropolitan Region. This action led to the expansion of the agglomeration of automotive industry in the region.
5) In recent years, they are positively expanding their business abroad, such as China, India and Southeast Asian countries.
