ABSTRACT

Since the 1950s, Thailand has embarked on industrialisation. It started with import substitution and shifted to export promotion during the 1980s. Foreign direct investment (FDI) played a very important role in the process. After the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997, transnational corporation and large domestic firms started to invest more in more technologically sophisticated activities like advanced engineering, design, and research and development (R&D). Several small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that survived the crisis emerged much stronger and paid more attention to technological development. There was also emergence of new start-up firms with high technological capabilities and product or process innovations. This chapter highlights three leading industrial sectors in Thailand: the electronics, automotive, and food industries. The present challenge is how to create a critical mass of innovative firms to spearhead the next round of industrialisation amid much fiercer international competition, more demanding customers, and global rules.