ABSTRACT
The study of private entrepreneurship in general, and small entrepreneurs in particular, has been neglected in Thailand. The profile of local entrepreneurship has also been rather specific, and the role or non-role of small entrepreneurs has to be investigated in this context. Thailand's industrialization has relied on a tri-polar structure of dominant capitalists: foreign capital and state apparatus have been the driving forces, whereas pure indigenous private entrepreneurs have never played a major role. The ability to create large private groups may have helped Thailand to establish a presence, at least domestically, in sectors where economies of scale are particularly significant. Different from most other emerging economies, and despite the economic weight of a prosperous agriculture, modern industrial development in Thailand is not based on agrarian capitalism like in some old industrialized countries such as Japan or France. The secondary school bottleneck remains a major handicap to develop a wider reservoir of technicians and potential manufacturers.
