THE E-BUSINESS READINESS ASSESSMENT: THE CASE OF THAI-SMES IN THE FOOD PROCESSING INDUSTRY.

Abstract

According to Thailand economic development policy, Thailand 4.0, the conversion of SMEs into an E-business enterprise is fit for responding to the policy. To respond to the policy, this paper forms four research purposes. First, to develop a blueprint to drive E-business implementation within a more sustainable way. Second, to build a questionnaire for a target company’s self-evaluation, aiding the government in understanding the status. Third, to examine the relationship of E-business internal success factors and E-business maturity in the sense of a focus industry. Last, to explore the situation regarding E-business readiness and E-business adoption of a target. The focus population is Thai-SMEs who play roles in one of a remarkable Thailand growth key, the processed food industry. The research methodology is embedded design. Ten cases of in-depth interview are collected to support the creation of a survey and quantitative data discussion. A final form of questionnaire has 42 questions. A convenience sampling method is used for collecting 200 quantitative cases. The result shows that 90% of them have adopted E-business. After describes the difference between “System” and “Information security” in E-business enterprise. It is elevated as one of the readiness characters. The developed Ebusiness adoption guideline has five company’s characters by adding the “Information security performance” from ISP10x10M into SOG-e model. There are six E-business internal success factors related to E-business readiness in this context which are Individual difference factors (age), Scope of business operations (product types, sourcing & supply channels), Awareness & Knowledge (managers’ knowledge, employee’ skill), Perceived behavioral control, Social influence or Subjective norms, and Behavioral intention to use. Currently, readiness of Thai-SMEs in the processed food industry does not meet the government expectation in every aspect. The developed model is valuable for a new player and a traditional business which aim to do online trade.