ANTECEDENTS INFLUENCING COMPETITIVENESS OF STAINLESS STEEL BUSINESS IN BANGKOK AND METROPOLITAN AREA
The competitiveness of business entrepreneurs is creation of benefits and growth in business operation. It enhances competitive advantage against competitors and is essential for business operation under tendency of intense and volatile competition that have constantly arisen. Consequently, stainless steel business needs to develop products and services to be qualified and to respond to consumers’ needs for business competitive advantage. This research aims to 1) examine the level of antecedents; management innovation, administrative policy, spiritual leadership, organizational climate and competitiveness of stainless steel business in Bangkok and Metropolitan Area, 2) explore the antecedents’ influence; management innovation, administrative policy, spiritual leadership and organizational climate towards the competitiveness of stainless steel business in Bangkok and Metropolitan Area, and 3) develop a competitiveness model of the stainless steel business in Bangkok and Metropolitan Area. The mixed research methodology was applied between the quantitative and qualitative ones. In view of the quantitative term, a sample group was 300 informants of the stainless steel manufacturers and distributors in Bangkok and Metropolitan Area and the sample group size was based on 20-time criteria of the observed variables through the stratified sampling. Data collection was undertaken through questionnaires and later analyzed by the structural equation modeling. For qualitative term, an in-depth interview was conducted with the targeted group of 20 management and expertise in stainless steel manufacturing and distribution. The findings revealed that 1) the antecedents’ level of management innovation, administrative policy, spiritual leadership, organizational climate and competitiveness of stainless steel business in Bangkok and Metropolitan Area were all at high level, 2) the management innovation, administrative policy, spiritual leadership and organizational climate all influenced the competitiveness of stainless steel business in Bangkok and Metropolitan Area at statistical significance level of .05, and 3) the competitiveness model of the stainless steel business in Bangkok and Metropolitan Area as developed by the researcher was called “IPCL-COSS Model ((I = Innovation, P = Management Policy, C= Organization Climate, L = Spiritual Leadership, COSS = Competitiveness of Stainless Steel Business in Bangkok and Metropolitan Area). Additionally, the qualitative findings showed that in order to succeed in stainless steel business in Bangkok and Metropolitan Area, the entrepreneurs need to maintain their standardized product quality for competitiveness. Applying innovation and new technologies for manufacturing, working process and product & service development will also help enhance effective operating results in responding to consumers’ needs in this digital age and this can be used as a guideline to define a strategy to promote stainless steel business to be more competitive at both national and international levels