Thai SMEs' Response in the Digital Economy Age: A Case Study of Community-Based Tourism Policy Implementation

Abstract

The goals of this study were to identify factors affecting the responses of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the digital economy age, to examine the impact of policy implementation and stakeholders' roles in the promotion of SMEs in the service sector of communitybased tourism (CBT), to analyze the competitiveness of CBT, and to reveal the gap in SMEs' service quality. The research design consisted of both qualitative and quantitative methods. It was found that independent variables, i.e., the strategic management, the decision-making process, the structural contingency, perception, and the SMEs' potential, together in the multiple regression model, could predict dependent variables. Policy actors can be divided into three levels. Politicians are at the national policy level, high-level bureaucrats are at the implementation level, and stakeholders in the community are at the local level. Policy instruments include projects to support SMEs. Local-level actors play a role in promoting SMEs through collaborative public management. The competitiveness analysis of CBT can be divided into five forces: The rivalry of CBT, the threat of new entrants, the threat of substitutes, the bargaining power of suppliers, and the bargaining power of customers. Meanwhile, there are some problems in assuring service quality.