Global Competitiveness

William Philip Wall
Global
Competitiveness
Ten Things Thai Businesspeople Should Know
Global Competitiveness
William Philip Wall
Global Competitiveness
Ten Things Thai Businesspeople Should Know
Strategies to improve competitive position and consolidate

gains at rivals’ expense
William Philip Wall
Faculty of Business and Technology
Stamford International University
Bangkok, Thailand
ISBN 978-981-16-7754-0 ISBN 978-981-16-7755-7 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-7755-7
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In the business world, the rearview mirror is
always clearer than the windshield.
—Warren Buffet
Introduction
How does a business distinguish itself from the competition? How does it develop
competitiveness strategies? How can success be defined? What is the secret to
success?
Competitive edge is sought by many countries today through higher growth rate
and lower cost of production. These countries also realize that they must be innovative
and invest to raise that competitiveness and productivity.
Through an open economy, Thailand derives approximately 60% of its GDP
from exports. While cheap labor used to provide a competitive edge in Thailand,
its surrounding neighbors and global economics have made that factor negligible.
Because of the relatively low rate of investment and minimal increase in productivity,
Thailand is in danger of being passed by in the global economic market.
Thailand is changing in many aspects. A military coup, which took power in
September 2006, has been replaced by a rudimentary coalition of democratically
elected officials. Investment in Thailand by foreign companies has slowed down due
to the political uncertainty that surrounds the laws of investment and potential for
growth and profit, while the baht has increased in strength by almost 25% against
the US dollar over the past five years and challenged the profits of export industries.
The book is written as a guide and a manual for Thai business people who look
to achieve and maintain a viable business environment in the global community. It is
not meant as a criticism, but meant to develop a better awareness of doing business
in the global economy and discuss some of the strategies Thai business people can
use to develop a more competitive edge when doing business with global partners.
If you currently have a business and are successful, then you may not feel the
need to read this book. Global competition, however, is not static and what works
today may not work tomorrow. For as competitive as you are today, there is always
someone looking over your shoulder to enter your market and take your customers.
With the onset of the WTO and liberalization of trade, global competition is not a
goal. Global competition is a never-ending journey that we must keep pace with or
face potential failure.
The ideas and contents of this book are not meant to guarantee competitive success.
They are meant to have you stop and think about what you are doing.
vii
Contents
1 Global Competition—The Battlefield . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

1.1 Scope of Business Competition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Types of Competition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.3 Forms of Competition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.3.1 Perfect Competition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.3.2 Monopoly Competition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.3.3 Monopolistic Competition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.3.4 Oligopoly Competition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.4 Dynamic Competition in the New Era . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2 Marketing—Position Yourself . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.1 Definitions of Marketing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.2 Practicing Marketing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.3 Marketing and Thai Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.4 Applying the 4P’s of Marketing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.4.1 Product . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.4.2 Price . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.4.3 Place . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.4.4 Promotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.4.5 Positioning Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.4.6 Developing a Position Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.4.7 Identifying Current Market Position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.4.8 Analyzing Competitor Positioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.4.9 Developing a Unique Position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
3 Innovate—Generate and Evaluate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.1 Business Innovation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.2 Applying the Four Types of Innovation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
3.2.1 Incremental Innovation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
3.2.2 Disruptive Innovation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.2.3 Architectural Innovation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.2.4 Radical Innovation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
ix
x Contents
3.3 The Business Innovation Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

3.3.1 Step 1: Idea Generation and Mobilization . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.3.2 Step 2: Advocacy and Screening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.3.3 Step 3: Experimentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.3.4 Step 4: Commercialization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.3.5 Step 5: Diffusion and Implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.4 Challenges to Innovation and Support Services in Thailand . . . . . . 23
4 Using Information—Leverage Resource . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
4.1 Information as a Resource . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
4.2 Existing Forms of Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
4.3 Basic Sources of Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
4.4 Leverage Business Information/Knowledge to Create Value . . . . . 30
4.4.1 Leveraging Business Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
4.4.2 Information in Driving Revenue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
4.4.3 Improving Operational Efficiency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
4.4.4 Improving Customer Focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
4.4.5 Gaining Competitive Advantage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
4.4.6 Setting Realistic Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
5 Technology—Upgrade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
5.1 Technology in Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
5.2 Steps to Follow When Upgrading Your Business Technology . . . . 36
5.2.1 Step 1: Identify Technological Loopholes . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
5.2.2 Step 2: Pilot Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
5.2.3 Step 3: Communication Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
5.2.4 Step 4: Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
5.2.5 Step 5: Preparing Infrastructure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
5.2.6 Step 6: Implementation and Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
5.2.7 Step 7: Performing Upgrade Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
5.3 Benefits of Upgrading Technology in Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
5.3.1 Increased Productivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
5.3.2 Security of Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
5.3.3 Attracting More Customers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
5.3.4 Cost Minimization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
5.3.5 Solving Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
5.4 Technology Transfer/Access to Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
5.4.1 Barriers to Technological Transfer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
6 Human Resources/Cross-cultural Communication—Breed
Success . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
6.1 Human Resource Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
6.2 Cross-cultural Communication Awareness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
6.3 Focusing HRM Communication Towards Business Missions . . . . 47
6.3.1 Strategic Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Contents xi
6.3.2 Communicating Human Resources Benefits

and Risks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
6.3.3 Functional Implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
6.4 Creating Effective Communication Within the Organization . . . . . 49
6.5 Human Resource as a Business Asset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
6.5.1 Human Capital . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
6.5.2 Possess Skills and Knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
6.5.3 Contribution to Profits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
6.6 Creating Company Culture that Breeds Success . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
6.7 Developing Cross-cultural Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
6.8 Developing of Cultural Intelligence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
7 Strategic Alliance—Strength in Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
7.1 The Spirit of Strategic Alliance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
7.2 Establishing a Strategic Alliance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
7.3 Advantages of Strategic Alliance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
7.4 Disadvantages of Strategic Alliance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
7.5 The Power of Partnerships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
7.5.1 Access to New Customers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
7.5.2 Building Brand Trust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
7.5.3 Developing New Perspectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
7.5.4 Increased Moral Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
7.6 Types of Strategic Alliances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
7.6.1 Pro-competitive Alliance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
7.6.2 Competitive Strategic Alliance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
7.6.3 Non-competitive Strategic Alliance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
7.7 Making It Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
7.7.1 Picking a Partner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
7.7.2 Structuring the Agreement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
7.7.3 Managing the Deal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
7.8 Negotiation Styles and Strategies in Thailand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
7.8.1 Cultural Considerations During Negotiations . . . . . . . . . . 63
7.8.2 Negotiation Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
8 Customer Service—Listen to What They Say . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
8.1 Active Listening to Customers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
8.2 How to Listen to Customers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
8.3 Importance of Listening to Customers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
8.3.1 Improved Relationship with the Customers . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
8.3.2 Creating New Customers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
8.3.3 Avoiding Crisis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
8.4 Keeping the Conversation Going . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
xii Contents
9 Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation—Now What Do

We Do? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
9.1 Now What Do We Do? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
9.2 Implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
9.2.1 How to Carry Out a Successful Implementation . . . . . . . . 74
9.2.2 Communication of the Strategic Business Plan . . . . . . . . . 74
9.2.3 Developing the Implementation Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
9.2.4 Developing Implementation Support Policies
and Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
9.2.5 Budget and Resource Allocation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
9.2.6 Discharging Implementation Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
9.2.7 Avoiding Business Implementation Pitfalls . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
9.2.8 Weak Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
9.2.9 Ineffective Staff Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
9.2.10 Poor Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
9.2.11 Poor Follow Through . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
9.3 Monitoring and Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
9.3.1 Developing Monitoring and Evaluation Strategy . . . . . . . . 78
9.3.2 Defining Measurable Benchmarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
9.3.3 Communicating Benchmarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
9.3.4 Developing Monitoring Plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
9.3.5 Establishment of the Review Plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
9.4 Benefits of Monitoring and Evaluation in Business Strategies . . . . 79
9.5 Challenges of Monitoring and Evaluation Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
10 Social Responsibility—Giving Something Back . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
10.1 Giving Something Back . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
10.2 Giving Back to Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
10.3 Ways to Give Back to Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
10.3.1 Getting Your Employees Involved . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
10.3.2 Setting Aside Part of the Profits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
10.3.3 Being Part of the Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
10.3.4 Building Communities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
10.4 Moral Obligation and Corruption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
10.5 Benefits of Giving Back to the Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
10.5.1 Improved Business Reputation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
10.5.2 Attracting Talent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
10.5.3 Building Connections and Widening Business
Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
10.6 The Cost of Ignoring Social Responsibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
10.7 Using Social Responsibility to Build a Sustainable Business . . . . . 87
10.7.1 Building Your Social Responsibility Strategy
Around Your Core Competencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Contents xiii
10.7.2 Recognizing the Important Social Issues to Your

Customers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
10.7.3 Motivating Your Employees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
10.8 Bottom Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Chapter 1
Global Competition—The Battlefield
Abstract This chapter discusses businesses competition and the need for firms to
understand their competition, the competitive nature of business and the need to set
your firm apart from in order to survive tough business terrain. Types and forms of
competition are discussed to show different manifestations of competition and the
dynamic nature of competition with the emergence of new technologies.
1.1 Scope of Business Competition
In many business environments, companies compete against each other for

customers, by offering cheaper or better-quality products and services, as compared
to their competitors. The survival of a company depends on its ability to successfully
compete with its rivals. As a result, the question that arises is, “what is competition?”
Inferring from Tallman et al. (2018), competition refers to the rivalry in the market-
place, by companies, which sells similar products or services, with an objective of
achieving higher revenue, profit and market share. The major thing about competition
is that is always exists in the business environment. However, some environments
are fiercely competitive while others are less competitive.
To compete effectively in the market, a business needs to be aware of what its
competitor(s) is doing. This implies the range of products and/or services offered
by the competitor, their prices, quality, and other strategies adopted in their business
operations. With that, the concerned business can compete by offering more value
to the customers as compared to the competitors. The additional value offered to the
competitor may be in form of cheaper price, after sales service, superior products
and/or services among other metrics.
In addition to being aware of the competitors, it is equally critical to be aware
of the tastes, preferences, needs and wants of the targeted customers, as well as
the changes in these aspects (Harrison et al., 2000). Conducting market research
and development and ability to offer unique, differentiated, and new products could
give a business in a competitive advantage. Once consumers purchase a product or
service and are satisfied with it, they will typically purchase the same product again.
Having a competitive advantage means that a company does something better than
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 1
W. P. Wall, Global Competitiveness,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-7755-7_1
2 1 Global Competition—The Battlefield
its competitors (Luo, 2007). Competitive advantage could be gained from adopting
and implementing various aspects such as developing and introducing a new and
needed product in the market, offering similar products at a cheaper price, offering
high quality products and/or services at the same price, better customer services, or
applying advanced technology.
1.2 Types of Competition
When we talk of competition in the business market, the next question that rings
in mind is what type of competition. There are three types of competition, or three
types of competitors:
Direct Competition—direct competition, as the name implies, is when competitors
are in the same line of business, and are offering similar products and/or services
as you are (Crowley & Jordan, 2017). These competitors are referred to as direct
competitors. When business competition is mentioned, the first thing that comes
to mind is the direct competition. However, competition revolves around anything
targeted by the competitor, such as price, service, sales point, particular product or
service attribute, etc.
Indirect Competition—Indirect competition refers to situations where competitors
offer the same product or service, but through different markets or business goals
and have adopted different business strategies in their business operations. These
competitors are referred to as indirect competitors. Their market strategies are also
different.
Replacement Competition—In this type of competition, the competitors offer
different products and services as compared to you, but the customer can opt to
purchase them instead of your products or service. In other words, ‘the customer can
replace your purchase for their purchase’. This means that you and the competitors
are competing for resources. It is the most difficult type of competition to identify in
the market.
1.3 Forms of Competition
1.3.1 Perfect Competition
Perfect competition refers to a situation characterized by many competitors offering

similar products and services. Due to the high number of competitors selling similar
products, there are many substitutes available to consumers. In this form of competi-
tion, there is no seller with any significant influence on the market, and thus prices are
determined by the forces of demand and supply. According to Azevedo and Gottlieb
1.3 Forms of Competition 3
(2017), in a perfect competition market situation, it can be assumed that the concept
of consumer preference does not exist, since the buyers have perfect information
regarding the past, present, and future products sold in the market and the prices
charged by each seller.
It can be articulated that perfect competition results in various benefits. For
instance, there are no barriers to entry into the perfectly competitive market, thus
sellers cannot create monopoly power. Similarly, the buyers in this form of competi-
tion have perfect knowledge about the products and firms selling the products, there
is thus, no need to spend on advertising (Azevedo et al., 2017). Also, due to the lack
of barriers to entry, firms only make normal profits and the producers only cover
their opportunity costs.
However, also, the perfect competition market comes with bottlenecks. For
example, operating under a perfectly competitive market does not allow for the
utilization of economies of scale by the sellers. The existence of the no barrier to
entry allows a high number of firms to operate under this form of market competition
leading to targeting of normal profits only (Azevedo et al., 2017). Similarly, in this
form of competition, the markets lack the use of innovation and technology. The
ability for sellers to share information leads to a lack of incentive to develop new
technologies and investment in Research and Development (R&D) which leads to
improved market operations.
1.3.2 Monopoly Competition
In a monopoly form of competition, the market is characterized by a single seller

with monopoly power. In this competitive situation, the single firm with monopoly
power controls the entire market and is responsible for setting prices it wishes. Under
this form of competition also, the buyers do not have control of the prices as there
are limited alternatives (Xing Li, 2015). The consumers are thus the price takers. The
forces of demand and supply are not relevant in this competitive market, making it
extremely undesirable. Similarly, there are barriers to entry enabling the firm with
monopoly power to maintain super-normal profits.
Firms operating in a monopoly form of competition accrue various benefits. Firms
with monopoly power benefit from the economics of scale, due to single firms control-
ling the resources. According to Parenti (2017), monopoly power is vital in generating
dynamic efficiency including technological advancements. Business innovation can
be achieved by large firms enjoying monopoly power compared to firms in compet-
itive markets. Benefiting from the economies of scale helps the firms to make high
profits that can be invested in research and development projects (R&D). Single firms
with monopoly power can dominate domestic markets, making it easier for them to
penetrate other markets abroad.
Monopoly competition can, however, be criticized due to its negative impacts on
the consumers. The restrictive entry to the monopoly market spells negative effects on
the consumers who have no control over the prices of products in the market (Hawley,
2015). Operating under the monopoly market also limits consumer choice, since all
products are produced by a single firm. Similarly, this form of competition restricts
the output into the market, compared to the situation under a perfect competition
market.
1.3.3 Monopolistic Competition
The monopolistic competition is considered the most market realistic scenario. The
monopolistic competition structure combines the characteristics of the oligopoly
and perfect competition structures. Under the monopolistic competition structure,
there is free entry and exit in the market by sellers, with differentiation of products
(Bertoletti & Etro, 2017). However, in the long run, the supernormal profits attract
more sellers into the market–leading to normal profits. The lack of barriers to entry
attracts many firms to the market–leading to allocative and productivity inefficiency
from the sellers.
Operating under a monopolistic competition benefits sellers, examples of busi-
nesses operating under the monopolistic competition model include restaurant busi-
nesses, consumer services including hairdressing, and hotels among other businesses.
Under monopolistic competition, therefore, the firms benefit from the limited barriers
to entry. Monopolistic markets are thus contestable by all interested businesses.
Dhingra and Morrow (2019), also argue that under the monopolistic model, the firms
are dynamically efficient in terms of innovation and development of new products
to gain a competitive edge over rivals.
The monopolistic competition model is, however, limited in various ways. Compe-
tition under monopolistic competition forces firms to perfect in differentiation to
achieve supernormal profits. Thus, firms better in brand differentiation are likely to
operate in a form of oligopoly competition and will be able to make supernormal
profits (Zeuthen, 2018). Similarly, brand differentiation in the monopolistic compe-
tition can lead to strong brand loyalty, which may turn out to be a barrier to entry to
other firms to the market.
1.3.4 Oligopoly Competition
Oligopoly competition refers to a market structure where a small number of firms have
a significant influence on the market. Some of the business types operating under the
oligopolistic competition model include the fuel retailing businesses, the banking
businesses, cinema, among other businesses. Competition under the oligopolistic
structure is characterized by interdependence. Since only a few firms are operating
under this competition, one firm’s decisions need to take into account the reaction
of the close rivals (Taylor, 2014). For instance, a single firm’s decision to lower
prices may lead to retaliatory action from rivals who may lower their prices further
1.3 Forms of Competition 5
to maintain their competitive edge. Similarly, the oligopolistic competition market

has natural entry barriers due to economies of large-scale production, control of key
scarce resources by few firms, and often predatory pricing.
In businesses, cooperation is often highly rewarding, and firms operating under
an oligopolistic competition model stand to gain in various ways. In most cases,
firms adopt a competitive strategy similar to those in more competitive markets to
their benefit (Yan, 2017). For example, firms under oligopolistic competition may
agree to compete in other areas excluding price. In addition, operating under this
competitive market leads to dynamic efficiency, since firms can invest in research
and development from the extra profits earned.
However, also, the oligopolist competition has various disadvantages to the firms
under this model. In some instances, the barriers to entry under oligopoly can be
deliberate. Often the few firms operating under a monopoly may opt to bar rivals at all
costs to their advantage including the use of government regulations with oligopoly-
based interests (Head, 2017). Other deliberate barriers to entry into the oligopolistic
competition market include operating on the economies of scale allowing for lower
prices and the high start-up costs involved.
1.4 Dynamic Competition in the New Era
Competition is inescapable during the life form of any business operation and expan-
sion. With technological advancements in the society, the nature of competition has
changed. Further developments of internet technology and the introduction of big
data to business has brought in a form of dynamism where data that was relevant
yesterday will become obsolete today with new information about the target user
demographic (Pi et al., 2017). The dynamic nature of the competition means that
has brought in a situation where firms do not know who their competition will be
in the future, new business models come up every day that challenge the traditional
forms of businesses as we know them. The big movie studios in Hollywood never
anticipated that a movie rental platform like Netflix would become the biggest rival
to studios (Feldman, 2019; Hadida et al., 2021). The challenge has seen many studios
set up similar online platforms and release movies on the internet first before studios
or release both online and for studios to minimize the impact of the competition
(Netflix).
Big data has ushered in an era of rich and comprehensive user information that
are extracted from users’ purchase history, search history, and browsing history.
This has made competition among rival firms more sophisticated and dangerously
personalized to a point that raises privacy concerns among marketing watchdogs
and regulators. In response to the dynamic nature of competition today, businesses
should optimally manage dynamic competition with competitors by understanding
the minutiae of the market segment, scaling up or downsizing to meet the needs
of your customers, and ensure resources are optimally utilized for the operation,
viability, and long-term sustenance of the business venture.
Similar competition variables are applicable when considering taxi drivers and
cab haling companies online. Taxi drivers saw each other as the competition and
would devise means such as keeping the taxi clean, using sweet smelling perfumes, or
playing music to suit their customers to attract passengers. However, the introduction
of online hailing companies like Uber and Lyft introduced a dynamism where the
competition were no longer fellow taxi drivers, but new companies that had better
looking cars, and catered to business executives and Millennials (Cramer & Krueger,
2016; YvKoff, 2020). Thus, for businesses to survive, it is essential to understand
the business and user demographic, and meet their needs accordingly.
Chapter 2
Marketing—Position Yourself
Abstract This chapter discusses marketing as a concept of positioning the firm or its
product to beat out competition. Different definitions of marketing are put forward
as well as practicing marketing. Marketing is also discussed with respect to Thai
culture and the need to understand the market segment that marketing campaigns
intend to target. The 4p’s of the marketing mix are highlighted, and the chapter ends
with how brands can position themselves in the business market.
2.1 Definitions of Marketing
In the current competitive business environment, marketing has established itself as

an indispensable tool. As a business entity, there are always various questions that
need to be addressed: What does the customer want? Do my customers trust my
products? Do customers prefer my products and/or services as compared to those of
my competitors? What are the complaints and compliments of customers regarding
my products and/or services? The answer to all the questions, among other similar
questions lies in the concept of marketing (Olson et al., 2018; Sawmong, 2020a). So,
the question that comes to mind is, ‘what is marketing?’ Various definition exists,
which have made effort to explain what marketing really is. The Oxford Dictionary
defines marketing as:
the action or business of promoting and selling products or services, including marketing
research and advertising
The American Marketing Association defines marketing as:

the activity, set of instructions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering and
exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.
On the other hand, Business Dictionary defines marketing as:

“the management process through which goods and services move from concept to the
customer.” This definition is also extended to incorporate the 4P’s of marketing, which
include Product, Price, Place, and Promotion.
There are other researchers that have made effort in expounding the concept of
marketing, such as Adel et al. (2020), who considered marketing as a systematic
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-7755-7_2
8 2 Marketing—Position Yourself
process involving the activities of planning, implementing and controlling a mixture

of business activities, with an objective of facilitating meeting of buyers and sellers,
for effective and mutually beneficial exchange of goods, services. In other words,
marketing could be considered as the process determining the needs, wants, and
preferences of the customers, to provide them with the goods and services, which
meet, or even exceed their expectations.
Inferring from a professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business
School named Theodore Levitt, it is critical for business enterprises to incorporate
effective marketing strategies in the business operations, to achieve a balanced orien-
tation. He based his recommendations both on the academic research as well as the
examination of companies that have adopted good and bad marketing strategies, and
their outcomes. In his book, The Marketing Imagination Levitt states that:
The search for meaningful distinction is a central part of the marketing effort. If marketing is
seminally about anything, it is about achieving customer-getting distinction by differentiating
what you do and how you operate. All else is derivative of that and only that. Differentiation
represents an imaginative response to the existence of potential customers in such a way
as to give them compelling reasons to want to do business with the originating supplier. To
differentiate an offering effectively requires knowing what drives and attracts customers. It
requires knowing how customers differ from one another and how those differences can be
clustered into commercially meaningful segments. The discovery of the simple essence of
things is the essence of the marketing imagination.
Marketing is inescapable in the determination of corporate results. The reason is that
marketing deals with the sources and levels of the revenues that help determine the corporate
fate. Since marketing means getting and keeping customers in some acceptable proportion
relative to competitors, it is to the marketing imagination one must look to gain differential
advantage over competitors. In business, the marketing imagination is the central tool for
deciding on what the purposes are to be. (Levitt 1983)
2.2 Practicing Marketing
Marketing involves not looking at your business as an insider. You need to ask how
outsiders—your customers and suppliers—would look at your company. What would
someone conclude and recommend after carefully looking at your business with new,
unbiased eyes? Marketing can help your company create value for your product in
a number of ways. Proper advertising and brand position can give your product a
higher perceived value. The higher the perception of value the higher your company
can price the product.
Consumer needs can be discovered and passed on to research and development
teams, who can in turn create products with a greater perceived value and to match
those needs. Research budgets can also be better allocated based on assessment
of the potential market size of a particular product or customer need. However,
while modern transportation and communication have helped to consolidate tastes
and preferences among consumers, you must always be aware of the economic and
cultural differences that continue to stop the standardization of even the largest brands
in the global marketplace. A clear example of this is McDonald’s selling a hot ham
2.2 Practicing Marketing 9
and cheese sandwich called the Croque, McDo in France and a chicken sandwich on
Arabian bread under the name of McArabia.
So your marketing strategy must incorporate how your products are perceived,
promoted, and used in relation to the country in which they are to be sold and utilized.
Local tastes and preferences differ from country to country. In addition, product and
technical standards and trade barriers may also prevent your company from selling a
standardized product to a global marketplace using a standardized marketing strategy.
It is naive to think that national marketers can dominate a global marketplace with
national products.
So what is the basic goal of marketing? It is to find a need and fill that need.
Marketing is a four-part function: product, price, place and promotion. The concept
and eventual end result is to design a product the consumer wants, price it to be
competitive, put the product somewhere that the consumer can easily find it and
promote it so the consumer knows it exists. Constant research is critical. It determines
opportunities and problems and presents information to make good decisions.
2.3 Marketing and Thai Culture
Thailand has been regarded as the home of “smiles” because of the disposition of
the people to smile not considering the circumstance. Beyond the hospitable smiles
driven in large parts by the growth of the hospitality business which has seen Bangkok
as a top tourist destination ahead of global cities like London and Paris. In divergence
with western culture where a smile denotes expressions of happiness, smile in Thai
culture conveys different meanings; it could be feelings of happiness, confusion,
anger, embarrassment or awkwardness. It is important to note that the smile regardless
of the context reflects the self-control of the Thai, and the expression is their way of
trying to assert control of the situation. This is called the “Mai Pen Rai” (It doesn’t
matter) mentality of the average Thai. The cultural justification linked to these smiles
provides insights into consumer behavior in the Thai market that businesses need to
understand and utilize to succeed (Hayes, 2011; More than Just Smiles, 2018).
Thailand is a modern country deeply steeped in tradition, and with a growing
middle-income class who are traditionally considered as the backbone of any market
as they are made up of groups that are willing to spend income compared to the
traditionally wealthy who already have their market outlined from generations or
the poor who do not have enough to spend. Analysis have shown that Thailand’s
middle-income class have a propensity to spend compared to other South East Asian
economies, and this is evident in the higher debt profile of Thailand compared to its
neighbors. This high spending habits of the Thai has been credited to their style of
living in the moment and downplaying the impact of the present on the future. The
Thais have a belief system that is largely shaped by Buddhism where emphasis is on
the present, and what has happened previously is considered as the past and should
stay in the past. Understanding concepts like this when introducing products in the
Thai market is essential because it runs contrary to western beliefs where emphasis
is placed on the past because it shapes the future.
Firms can put themselves in healthy business situations by underlining the rele-
vance of living in the moment, and providing goods and services that capture the
essence of “the now” instead “later”. The accentuation of pleasurable living in the
moment with products and services would particularly be well-suited for categories
of light indulgences. No wonder tourism industry is highly rated in Thailand where
the priority is hedonistic and pleasurable experiences. This notion is seen to be appli-
cable not just to tourism, but to other industries as well. Even though living in the
moments entails more spending than saving, the banking industry specifically The
Asian Development bank (ADB) delivered a “saving is cool” campaign targeted at
people who got their first jobs through a portrayal of being a lifestyle guru, and
characterizing “saving” as something ideal and noble.
In continuation of the living in the moment mentality, Thais consider “health” as
the most basic measure of satisfaction and happiness in life. This is why a Thai will
always pray for good health, wealth and fortune. They believe there is a relationship
between good health and financial issues which would then hamper their enjoy-
ment in the present. The need for good health among young Thais is even greater
because health is associated with appearance, and the greater majority of Thais shun
regular exercise. This they try to circumvent by patronage of healthier food vendors,
supplements and gym related business. Plastic surgery has also gained popularity in
Thailand because it is considered easier to look good by undergoing cosmetic surgery
instead of eating and exercising regularly to maintain body shape and physique.
The high shopping habit of Thais has resulted in the emergence of convenience
stores almost on every corner. The biggest convenient store chain has over 10,000
stores that service over 30 million shoppers on a weekly basis in Thailand. The
convenience stores themselves have profited largely from increasing urbanization
and chaotic traffic congestions which encourages Thais to shop at the nearest location
to avoid worsening traffic situations. The ubiquity of the internet has also helped to
increase the spending habit of over 44 million Thais who use mobile internet users
(More than Just Smiles, 2018). Understanding these variables can be invaluable to
prospective businesses and planning accordingly how to communicate and always
understand the market is important to the operation and expansion of any business
entity.
2.4 Applying the 4P’s of Marketing
2.4.1 Product
Product refers to the goods and services that you are selling or rather offering to
the market, as well as the experience of the targeted customer with your products or
services. This P(product) involves finding good answers to various questions related
2.4 Applying the 4P’s of Marketing 11
to the products or services you offer to the market, such as ‘what makes the customers
prefer your product or service rather than the competitors?’ ‘What problem does your
product or service solve in the market?’ ‘Why are the goods and/or services you offer
to the market considered attractive? Findings answers to those questions involves
conducting an extensive evaluation of the underlying elements of the product or
service offering to the market. For instance, a customer could be attracted to your
products by its name, packaging, scent, ease of use, design, quality features or even
the support services (Ackerman & Schibrowsky, 2007). It is critical to consider that
through such factors the customer may interested in a particular product, the purchase
itself would be influenced by particular factors such as buying experience.
Slater and Olson (2001) in their publication advices that it is vital for businesses
to offer a product or service that solve a particular problem in the market and create
memories with sentimental values. A product like the Thai silk will hold some value
for a tourist to Thailand, it will be one of the reminders of fond memories they
experienced in Thailand. The silk material can be made into products like scarfs,
cushion or clothing. They are usually adorned in tropical bright colors that lead
owners of such products to reminisce about the origin. Tourists looking to experience
the full Thai experience can also consider products like local Thai clothes. Thai
clothes are usually embroidered with vivid dazzling colors and animal or geometric
subjects, in an easy stylish and universal design. One of the most popular designs
with tourists to Thailand are pants embroidered with elephants pants or possibly a
sundress because it’s spacious, natural and a fit for the casual holiday outlay.
2.4.2 Price
Price is as simple as it sounds. However, the mechanism of pricing is important

in determining whether customers will purchase your product or not. You may be
offering a good product or service, having necessary features, but if it is wrongly
priced, it may be difficult to make sales. Therefore, a businessperson should not
price his products or services too high or too low, because people are more likely to
purchase a product and/or service that is priced well. There are several factors that
determine the pricing of a product. The most relevant factor is its quality. Customers
should have a feeling that they get more value from the product and/or service than
they are paying for. Other factors that significantly influence the price include the
cost of goods or the cost of production, the distribution costs, other overhead costs
that have direct influence on the price of a product. To have an effective price set
for a product and/or service, then you have to establish a mechanism to balance the
perceived value of the product, and the price set for selling the product. A product
we can consider in the Thai context is the Thai coconut oil. There are numerous
benefits to utilizing Thai coconut oil; it has been extensively applied in cosmetics
and cosmetology, cooking and spa treatments. It is paramount to choose a product
based on personal recommendations or preferences because a higher product price
does not always translate into a higher quality product. While price may be indicative
of a better quality product, this may not always be the case as with Thai coconut
oil, it serves the customer better to buy products based on personal preference or
function of the product to the customer. This ensures that customers get value for
money instead of buying an expensive item that has no value to the buyer other than
the feeling of just having an expensive item.
2.4.3 Place
Place refers to the “placement” or distribution of products. the marketing concept of

place answers the questions on how the customers will be able to find and purchase the
company’s products and services. Product placement is vital in understanding how
to market company products. For instance, if a company sells its products overseas
or regionally, then doing local marketing would not make sense. In contrast, for
local businesses, adopting a local advertising strategy will effectively save you costs.
Thus, the idea of “Placement” helps you assess the most suitable channel for a
product (Ikechi et al., 2017). Similarly, how the product is likely to be accessed by
the customer is important in the product placement strategy. The common distribution
channels under product placement include direct sales and wholesalers. However,
with the increase in the development of online stores, shaping the overall customer
experience is vital (Muangmee et al., 2021).
Analyzing the place of the restaurant business in Thailand is crucial to its survival.
The global position of Thailand as a top tourist destination means the tourists will
also need food while they are in the country. Thailand has a number of exquisite
foods which also serve as part of the draw that attracts tourists. One way Thai food
vendors have kept their clientele over the years is by selling on the street instead of
decent enclosures. What this means is that there is direct contact between tourists
and the food; both the aromatic scent and the sight of other people eating in the full
glare of the street encourages tourists to join the food party. Most of the tourists in
their own home countries may not consider street food, but because of the distance
and the low chances of running into an acquaintance, it becomes easier for tourists
to get into the Thai spirit and enjoy the various delicacies on offer. The strategy of
selling food in the open street is one that has worked and will continue working for
Thai food business owners who have thrived without fancy venues, some eat the
whole thing standing and moving from stall to stall tasting different Thai cuisines as
part of the tourist experiences.
2.4.4 Promotion
Promotion in marketing involves all the marketing strategies and techniques used to
sell products. Businesses use different ways to communicate their products to their
customers including advertising, public relations, and sales promotions among other
strategies. Inferring to Lahtinen et al. (2020) in the current marketing environment,

marketers have a broad range of advertising including online marketing with a wide
range of reach. While determining the suitable promotion strategy for products, you
should consider the cost and the targeted end-users. You should therefore ask yourself
questions such as; does it solve the needs of the customer? Is the message clear and
tailored to the target audience? Some of the recent common promotional channels
you can use may include TV adverts, social media marketing, podcasts, pay-per-
click (PPC) ads among other channels. It is vital to understand that promotion differs
from other marketing concepts as it involves only the aspect of communication to the
customers. We shall consider the promotion strategies of Thai Airways, the flagship
airline of Thailand and how their marketing strategies have positioned the brand in
the competitive airline business which has been impacted globally by the COVID-19
pandemic.
The airline services a number of destinations in the world. Thai Airways has
among its fleet aircrafts such as Airbus Boeing 777-200ER, Airbus A350-900,
A330-300, Boeing 747-400, Boeing 777-200, Airbus A380-800, Boeing 777-300,
Boeing 787-9, 777-300ER, and Boeing 787-8. Plans are underway to add newly-
developed aircrafts to replace older models of Boeing 777 aircrafts. Some of the
packages offered on Thai Airways include Royal First Class (First Class), Royal
Silk Class (Business Class) and Economy Class as a part of its promotional
efforts to market the airline globally. In efforts to market the airline to meet
with the times, digital marketing is actively employed to reach its international
customers and supported by ads in print and television. The airline has been
known to also support its customers during festive periods by increasing the
number of flights during such seasons to meet travel demands, and serving
special desserts as part of introducing passengers to Thai cuisines. The company
in addition runs a promotional campaign where visitors can select from five
events such as Traditional Thai Dancing, Making Thai-styled floral garland,
Muay Thai, Thai cooking and speaking Thai and submit to win a prize. Non-
Thai participants have the opportunity to win a month free stay or a short stay
holiday or a premium luxury adventure. Such campaigns have the potential to
increase a brands likeness visibility on social media and also create awareness
and favorability for the brand.2.5 Positioning Yourself in the Business Market.
Positioning in the business market involves influencing the customer perception
regarding your product relative to the competitors. The objective of market posi-
tioning is to develop an identity of the products through which the consumers perceive
them in a particular way. For instance, McDonald’s has positioned itself as a place
for quick and cheap meals, while Apple has established itself as a tech business with
user-friendly products. The positioning of a business in the market thus involves
various strategies including product attributes and benefits, prices of the products,
quality, product use, and application, and the competition levels (Iyer et al., 2019).
Therefore, creating an effective business market positioning requires a positioning
strategy.
2.4.5 Positioning Strategies
Businesses aiming to take a strategic position in the markets need to identify how
they want their products or services to be perceived by the consumers. There is thus
a need to create and establish a particular product image or identity in the minds
of the consumers in the target markets. As a seller, a good positioning strategy
helps you to create the successful longevity of the business (Iyer, 2019). Active
positioning also requires that the business positions itself with the right message,
values, and experience to its customers. Positioning does not cover only the strengths
of the company and products, but also those of its competitors and making sure
your message resonates with these realities is essential. Positioning should not be
focused on the product, but on the mind of the prospective customer and where they
belong when associating with the brand (Ries & Trout, 1981). This is what the brand
should strive for; every successful brand has a Unique Selling Preposition (USP).
This refers to features and characteristics of brands and products that differentiate
it from others with similar products. In the smartphones niche, Apple effectively
differentiates its products from others, you will never find an Apply operating system
(OS) IOS on other smartphones, but you can find the Android OS on many phone
brands. Effectively, if you love the IOS operating system, you can only get it from
an Apple phone. Apple has uniquely positioned itself in a way that sets it apart from
the others. Similarly, the McDonald’s franchise competes globally with thousands of
fast food brands, what they consider as their USP is the family-themed nature of their
business. They do not present themselves as the tastiest, fastest, or most affordable
brand, but rather on the orientation that McDonald’s is a place you can eat in a kid’s
friendly environment, children menu and toys, things that will make your children
love outdoor.
There are various strategies you can use to position yourself in the business market,
some of these include positioning based on product features, like electric vehicles
will be positioned as eco-friendly, Toyota will talk about their reliability on the
road, Volvo position their brand based on safety, Porsche does the same but allied
to performance. Positioning based on price where the key word is “affordable,”
something considered a must-have in every home, or for every student, or for an
age-range, it is usually mass targeted or to exploit a gap in the market by fixing your
price to cover an existing gap. Positioning can also be based on quality or luxury.
Here the target is exclusivity, and price is not a determinant here. In fact, the idea
is to exclude certain category of people and the users see themselves as an elite and
exclusive set. The preposition is to achieve success and reach this exclusive level or
by keeping up appearances by remaining in this exclusive and elite group. Mercedes
and Ferrari in the car manufacturing view themselves as elite and luxurious brands.
It’s important to note that positioning by luxury or quality does not often equate to
superiority, what is does is give the users the perception of being superior and above
others not using similarly pricey products.
2.4.6 Developing a Position Statement
A positioning statement refers to the identity that the business hopes to create in the
market. While striving to position yourself in the business market, it is vital to under-
stand the identity that your business is striving to create. The position statement,
therefore, will be the basis of the business identity, from which point you can create
a path in the business market. According to Jalkala and Keränen (2014), the devel-
opment of an effective position statement would require identification of various
market aspects and modeling them to the benefit of the business. For instance, you
need to define the target audience, which will involve the identification of the char-
acteristics of the consumers that the products will be targeted. By determining the
target consumer tastes, preferences, and needs, the business will be able to position
itself to cater to the needs and interests of these consumers.
The other aspects to consider in the development of an effective positioning
statement includes, defining the target market, and creating a value position state-
ment. For example, with the increase in online retailing, an online retail business
should consider the consumer needs for fast and convenient delivery of products. The
positioning statement therefore could be the key to business’ marketing and adver-
tising decisions (Lahtinen et al., 2020). Position statements should answer business-
marketing questions such as; does it focus on the target audience and needs? And
does the position statement offer real value? An effective position statement will posi-
tively impact the consumer’s perception of your product thus positioning yourself
well in the business market.
2.4.7 Identifying Current Market Position
Understanding your current market position is the starting point in developing your
desired position in the market. The identification of the current market position helps
in determining the new positioning path for the business that will set you apart
from your competitors (Sarmaniotis et al., 2014). The identification of the business’
current position will require answering the questions such as; what business the
company currently does? And how good the company is doing in that business?
The assessment will involve evaluation of the internal and external environments
compared to that of the competition in the market. Internal evaluation of the business
will involve primary resources that form the foundation of the business’s performance
such as, the business’ financial resources, technological resources, human resources,
and operating resources. Analysis of the internal aspects relating to the business’s
operations and success is essential in determining the strengths and weaknesses in
relation to the competition and consequently identifying your position in the market.
Effective assessment of the business helps you understand where you stand in relation
to the competition and forms the basis for proper competing for your market share.
2.4.8 Analyzing Competitor Positioning
Understanding the competition in the business market helps determine the gaps that
your business can fill. Thus, analyzing competition is critical in not only determining
the strengths and weaknesses of the businesses, but also carving a position in the
business market. While analyzing competition in the market, you need to take into
account various aspects such as the competition’s market history. As articulated
by (Cristea, 2014), sellers striving to position themselves in the market, need to
understand various historical aspects of the competition including the products and
services they offer and how they market them to the customers, their distribution
channels, and prices among other aspects. A clear understanding of the competition
in the market will help you channel a business path that will make you stand out and
well positioned. There are various ways you can learn about the competition in the
market. These include analyzing their annual reports, carrying out online research
on the businesses, and attending their exhibitions. While evaluating the information
regarding market competition, you should be able to identify market gaps in the
market that can be exploited, as well as determining the level of saturation of suppliers
in particular areas in the market (Jalkala and Keränen, 2014). Creating an effective
market position requires focusing on less competitive areas and striving to stand out
from the competition.
2.4.9 Developing a Unique Position
Effective positioning in the business market requires the development of a unique

position of your business in the market. After understanding the competition levels,
the target market, and identifying the current position in the market, you should
strive to create a unique position that sets you apart from the competition and other
players in the market to ensure success (Sarmaniotis et al., 2014). The data on the
business assessment helps you understand who you are and how you will model
yourself to be the best in your target audience. For instance, understanding the target
audience helps in the development of marketing strategies to promote your products
effectively. A business operating regionally will thus opt for regional advertising
channels and creating strong messages that reflect the positioning statement of the
business.
The unique positioning of the business requires marketing strategies that identify
the products and services in a unique way to the target market. The Audi vehicle
manufacturer company, for example, has established itself as a symbol of luxury
(Cristea, 2014). The unique positioning of Audi thus, gives potential customers the
idea that they will receive luxury products they love from the company. Develop-
ment of a unique market position will require continuous reinforcement of the target
market’s perception of the exceptional nature of your products or brand in the market.
Chapter 3
Innovate—Generate and Evaluate
Abstract Chapter three explores the subject of innovation and its impact in the
development of businesses. Discussions focused on defining business innovation and
its impact on the growth and sustenance of the business entity. Types of innovation
are addressed and the innovations process is outlined. The chapter ends with a brief
on the challenges to innovation in the Thai context and how to overcome obstacles
to innovation to achieve economic development.
3.1 Business Innovation
In business, innovation implies the practice of introducing new ideas, workflows,

methods, services, and/or products. The major objective of being innovative in busi-
ness or an organization is that it is a means of achieving the desired goals within an
organization, which are geared towards achieving the aims and initiatives of an orga-
nization. The process of innovation is born from the generation of an idea, which is
further evaluated in the brainstorming sessions, which considers the viability, dura-
bility, and desirability of the concerned idea. Sahut and Peris-Ortiz (2014) indicated
that: “Business innovation should either, solve a problem existing in an organization
and/or business, improve the quality of existing products or services, or reach to new
customers”.
The sole purpose of innovation in business is to boost the value of the concerned
business or organization. The value is obtained from generation of new revenue
opportunities, or making more revenues through already existing channels. This
could be achieved through metrics such as saving time, saving money, improving
the production process, enhancing performance or advancing the customer’s expe-
rience. Additionally, as highlighted by Morabito (2017) innovation should lead to
improvement in the competitive advantage by helping the concerned organization to
grow richer and better, meet and even exceed the set strategic objectives.
Innovation draws on your best practices used by you or your industry and has
come to be expected by both consumer and industry. Innovation encompasses many
things—development of new products, processes, organizations, management prac-
tices and strategies. Changes and improvements in products offered or practices used
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-7755-7_3
18 3 Innovate—Generate and Evaluate
need to be made periodically. It may come in many different forms—manufacturing

processes, delivery systems, new products or data communications and resulting data
capture. There is wide agreement that innovation and entrepreneurial activity are the
engines of long-run economic growth (Grossman, 1994; Sawmong, 2020b).
The first step to successful innovation management is to choose a strategy. To do
that, you must determine if there is a need for an innovation, to what degree and in
what areas. This innovation must be one that is clearly understood by all those in the
organization whether you are the CEO or the receptionist.
Some firms have found it profitable, as part of their grand strategy to take high
initial profits from an improved product or a product that has received wide consumer
acceptance. Before the profitability of that product runs out from competition and
innovation is replaced by production or marketing performance, a search for new
ideas, new products, new improvements or novel ideas must be instituted. The idea
is to reinvent or create a new product that will establish a new product cycle for you
and basically make the older product no longer useful or out of style.
While innovation of a new product may sound like a good way to beat the compe-
tition, care must be taken in the assessment of the end result. The research department
of Booz Allen & Hamilton discovered that less than two percent of innovative prod-
ucts developed by 51 companies ever reached the open market. Of 58 new product
ideas, only 12 were considered to be acceptable and in line with the firm’s long-term
objectives and mission. Seven new product ideas remained after initial evaluation of
their market potential and only three were actually able to be developed. Assessing
the remaining three new products, two showed profit potential after sample test
marketing and only one actually made it to commercial success (Booz Allen &
Hamilton, 1982).
3.2 Applying the Four Types of Innovation
Whether the business is in its initial start-up stage or it is an established organization,

innovation is inevitable, as long as it is planning to remain competitive in the market.
Basically, there are two dimensions that as a businessperson you need to consider, the
technology and market. Either you are using a new or existing technology, or focusing
on new or existing market, it determines the type of innovation to be applied. From
the two dimensions, 4 types of innovation are developed, as shown in Fig. 3.1.
3.2.1 Incremental Innovation
This is a type of innovation where you apply the existing technology and focus on
increasing the value to the customers (features, design, price, quality etc.) in your
exiting market. It is the most common form of innovation in the business world
today. It may involve making the products smaller, easier to use, more attractive,
3.2 Applying the Four Types of Innovation 19
or higher in quality or even adjusting the core functionality of the services being
offered in the market. It is achieved by increasing efficiency and effectiveness of
products and services through constant improvement. A good example is TV, whose
it’s producer has constantly improved by producing new models while the core idea
and components have remained the same.
3.2.2 Disruptive Innovation
This type of innovation is also referred to as stealth innovation. It involves using

new technology or techniques on the existing market of the concerned business. It
is considered stealthy in nature because the new technology is always considered
superior to the existing technology. The characteristics associated with the new tech-
nology include having fewer features, more difficult to use, and not authentically
pleasing. However, you can use the new technology as a means of providing effi-
cient and more accessible alternatives, as compared to the ones already existing in
the market. As a business, the disruptive innovation should be applied to meet the
evolving needs, preferences, and tastes of the customers, through development of
new value streams that were not there before.
3.2.3 Architectural Innovation
This is a type of innovation, which involves using the existing technology in a new
market. Inferring from Morabito (2017), it involves using the existing techniques,
processes, and lessons and applying them in a new different market. The main objec-
tive of this innovation is increasing the customer’s base by focusing on a new market.
As a business, your probability of succeeding by applying this technology is quite
high because the risk involved is minimal. There is less risk in terms of architec-
tural innovation since the technology being applied is already developed, tested, and
proven in the previous market (Perdomo-Ortiz et al., 2006). However, it is important
to have the technology tweaking to match the technology with the requirements of
the new market.
3.2.4 Radical Innovation
Radical innovation implies the application of new technology in a new market.

Practically, this innovation incorporates applying new products, new processes, new
services which have high levels of technological advancement and impact is intro-
duced in the new market. It you create a new product or service that was not there in
the market previously, and introduce it in the market that you were not operating, then,
you are considered to have done radical innovation. It gives birth to new industries
and revolutionary technologies.
3.3 The Business Innovation Process
Innovation processes in business aim at increasing the companies’ future values.

Businesses pursuing successful innovation processes engage in a path of trans-
lating new information into desired business solutions. Innovations involve chal-
lenges coupled with uncertainty, risk, and complexity; thus, it is critical to devel-
oping a systematic structure in the development and implementation of new prod-
ucts (Mitchell & Coles, 2004). The innovation process involves the definition of
business ideas in management from the strategic search stage to the last stage of the
market launch of the idea. Successful business innovation process can be divided into
phases, and each phase has its own characteristics. The development of the innova-
tion process stages differs from business to business, depending on the individual
requirements.
3.3.1 Step 1: Idea Generation and Mobilization
The idea generation is the starting line for the business innovation process. New ideas
in business are generated from the pressure to compete and to explore the alternative
business process to ensure success. Mobilization of new ideas happens when they are
moved to new physical and logical locations. Business organizations can promote
idea generation through encouraging flexible working conditions and the ability of
workers to explore (Geissdoerfer et al., 2017). For example, the Google successfully
promotes idea generation through giving autonomy to its employees. Giving the
employees autonomy offers them the freedom to define their goals. It encourages
job creation leading to the generation of new ideas. New innovative ideas can be in
the form of possible new markets, technological solutions, or customer requirements
among other ideas.
According to Geissdoerfer et al. (2017), newly generated ideas need different
people to move them along. Mobilization ensures that the ideas are passed to different
locations. Often, the originators of ideas may not be the marketers of the same ideas,
thus other individuals are required to move the ideas along with the innovation phases.
Through mobilization, assessment of the ideas is made based on the criteria, potential
benefits of the ideas, and feasibility of the ideas to the company. Ideas given priority
from this phase based on the assessment criteria are then given priority for the next
phase for screening.
3.3 The Business Innovation Process 21
3.3.2 Step 2: Advocacy and Screening
Advocacy and screening are the second stage in the business innovation process and it
involves weighing the innovative ideas’ advantages and disadvantages. The screening
of the business innovative ideas is aimed at weeding out ideas that lack potential,
while allowing potential ideas to progress in the process. In the second stage, the
concepts of the innovative ideas are analyzed based on the goals and expectations of
the business allowing potential ideas for further processing. Indeed, not every idea
is worth implementing in the business, screening helps determine the ideal decision
to be taken, regarding an idea’s future in the business.
According to Ciriello et al. (2016), often, most of the innovative idea generators
in businesses do not always possess the skills of advocating for their ideas. Advocacy
for innovative ideas is thus done by the management working with the innovative
employees. The managers can advocate for these ideas by providing facilities, encour-
agement, and support. Businesses hoping to develop a successful innovation process
should build a culture to support idea advocacy and screening. Successful advocacy
and screening in business innovation can be achieved through the establishment of
enough avenues for advocacy and feedback, as well as the building of transparent
screening procedures. The process of advocacy and screening is difficult and every
business should be well prepared to ensure success.
3.3.3 Step 3: Experimentation
The third step in the business innovation process involves the experimentation of
the concepts developed from the advocacy and screening phase. It is important to
understand, that while innovative ideas may have potential benefits to the business,
they may be viable in particular business environments or time. Great ideas that are
ahead of their time in the markets should not be interpreted as failures but should be
used to develop better ideas for particular markets (Frankenberger et al., 2013). The
experimentation stage, therefore, tests the suitability of potentially innovative ideas
for businesses at particular times. The experimentation process involves testing ideas
through “pilot testing” or prototypes. Experimentation of innovation ideas is done
on a limited scale to allow for a feasibility study before full-scale implementation.
For instance, new ideas in the banking designs can be experimented with within
a particular region, using few branches to determine customer response. When the
customers respond favorably, then the business can apply the new innovative designs
to other branches. Often, the experimentation phase leads to the discovery of new
ideas due to the information gathered from the implementation of the original idea.
3.3.4 Step 4: Commercialization
Just like advocacy and screening, the commercialization phase in the business inno-
vation process is vital in ensuring the success of the implementation of new ideas.
According to Carayannis et al. (2015), an innovative idea can only be considered
an innovation once it is commercialized. The commercialization phase, therefore,
involves the creation of the market value for the idea by focusing on the potential
impacts. For instance, the business should consider the customer reception towards
particular innovations and the analysis of the costs and benefits of commercially
rolling out the innovations. Ciriello and Schwabe (2016) informed that the commer-
cialization stage in the innovation process should be refined to meet the needs
of the customers. The commercialization of innovation in business involves two
phases; the introduction of the innovation and the mass production of the innovation.
Successful commercialization of innovations in business requires the establishment
of a marketing plan. The marketing plan should be able to increase the innovation’s
awareness to the customers and increase customer loyalty. An effective marketing
strategy will be able to develop a streamlined approach for the successful launch
and increase the possibility of the innovation being accepted in the market. Indeed,
the commercialization stage involves the various aspects of business and it helps in
clarifying the innovative ideas for implementation.
3.3.5 Step 5: Diffusion and Implementation
The last steps in the business innovation process involve the diffusion and implemen-
tation processes. Diffusion involves the acceptance of innovative ideas throughout
the business organization while the implementation process involves the utilization
of innovation. Acceptance of the innovations throughout the company is achieved
through the use of knowledge brokers that present the ideas of the innovations to
all levels of the organization and consequently aiding in the rapid implementation
of the innovations. Implementing innovations is a process that requires resources,
strong advocacy, and marketing to the customers (Carayannis, 2015). The diffusion
and implementation stage, thus allows the management to determine the required
resources to effectively implement the innovations and determining the next set of
needs for the customers. Often the diffusion and implementation phase offer the
opportunity for the development of future innovative ideas. Similarly, the last phase
involves receiving feedback from customers leading to the development of success
metrics of the innovations.
3.4 Challenges to Innovation and Support Services in Thailand 23
3.4 Challenges to Innovation and Support Services

in Thailand
Innovation is crucially tied to developments, and implementation of innovation

successfully within the framework and operations of SMEs has taken some signif-
icance among policymakers, stakeholders, think tanks and government agencies.
Some of the main drivers of innovation according to Mahmutaj et al. (2019) are in
budgeting, employees’ skills, top management support and handling resistance to
change by employees’. While the main challenges to innovation were highlighted to
include cost-related factors, market conditions, and non-availability of skilled human
resources that can foresee and incorporate innovation into the day-to-day operations
of the business. The implication of this is the prominence of human skills and the need
to invest in technology which is an important innovation driver, and also government
policies which in context can help improve or stifle the innovation performance of
SMEs.
Thailand as an emerging market has been on a growth trajectory fueled by innova-
tion from the economic successes of the business climate. The Thai government has
been focused on continuing economic reforms that are aimed at raising the nation’s
potential economic progression to attain and maintain high income and inclusive
growth. This was proposed in the 20-year national strategy with revamped upscaling
in budget disbursement. The major obstacles to innovation have been in the execution
of projects notably in the acquisition of land resources and shortages in skilled human
resources who have been recognized as the drivers of innovation (Ariyapruchya et al.,
2018). Human resources are fundamental because of the linkage role they play in
connecting different stakeholders such as government and SMEs, government and
international partners (foreign investors). The skill of managing human resources is
delicate and requires skilled human interface which has been in short supply.
In healthcare, Innovation is critical to effectively respond to emergencies and plan
the economic recovery as was observed during and in the aftermath of the COVID-
19 pandemic especially in low and middle-income economies. The need to attract
foreign direct investment into the Thai economy is crucial; this ensures that healthcare
country managers are proactive and innovative in proposals put forward to address the
fallout from such global challenges. Thailand like most emerging economies strug-
gled to contain the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, but have recently been able to
mitigate the impact because of the innovative approach in dealing with the pandemic
and the support of international partners who have collaborated with the Thai govern-
ment. The biggest challenge facing innovation has been getting the human labor to
anticipate and adapt innovation especially those that challenge preexisting sociocul-
tural practices and norms. It is important that such innovation are applied across
different sectors for a synergy of the efforts to produce an effect that positively rever-
berates across the economic sphere of the nation and ensure that future issues can be
averted (Kobayashi et al., 2021; Ramalingam & Prabhu, 2020).
Here are some organizations that people looking to do business in Thailand can
read about and contact if their values align;
• The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE)
The core MONRE vision is “to return the natural environment to the Thai people
and to work towards the incorporation of natural resources and the environment
in the Government’s national agenda as these provide the basis for social and
economic development”. The MONRE vision “supports proactive integration of
the administrative management of natural resources, environmental protection,
and biological diversity, based on the principles of public participation and good
governance”. Their website is http://www.mnre.go.th/en/about/content/1066.
• Thai Elephant Conservation
A “Mobile Elephant Clinic” with experienced veterinarian that has provided care
and health services for elephants in Thailand over the years.
http://www.phuket.com/conservation/elephants.htm.
• Thailand Environment Institute Foundation (TEI)
The main objectives of TEI are to recommend environmental policy; strengthen
capacity in various sectors for managing natural resources; build cooperation with
major environmental networks; and campaign to communicate information and
knowledge on the environment to society. Their website is http://www.tei.or.th/
th/about.php.
• Smiling Albino
Highland Farm & Gibbon Sanctuary Phayathai Babies’ Home Clothing, Toys, &
Other Stuff English Fun and games for children and adults.
http://www.smilingalbino.com/community/.
• Thai Solar Energy Public Company Limited (TSE PCL)
TSE PCL is a potential high-impact Thailand industry-based coalition set up in
2008. TSE PCL is the first solar power company in southeastern Asia to “effi-
ciently use state-of-the-art technology to utilize sunlight and convert it into green
energy.“ TSE PCL’s vision is to be “a leading regional global provider of renew-
able energy by means of reliable technologies in order to serve both business and
social societies.“ The mission of TSE PCL is “to establish a solid footprint in
Thailand in the solar energy industry and develop a global solar energy business
focused on the Asia-Oceania region. Their website is
http://www.thaisolarenergy.com/profile.php.
• The Environmental Research Institute Chulalongkorn University
The Environmental Research Institute is an important high impact coalition
research institute in Thailand. The Environmental Research Institute Chula-
longkorn University was established in October 6, 1974. The main mission of
this institute is to create knowledge for environmental management and resources
that are suitable for countries and regions in Southeast Asia. Their website is
http://www.eric.chula.ac.th/administrativeboard.php.
3.4 Challenges to Innovation and Support Services in Thailand 25
• Bambi
Bambi is a mother-led, non-profit group, offering support and companionship in
the early years of parenthood. They hold monthly and weekly playgroups for
babies and toddlers. They can be reached at http://www.bambi-bangkok.org/.
• Computers for Thai Kids
The organization has distributed more than 400 computers to government schools
across Thailand. They can reached at http://jeep.htmlplanet.com/.
• Freedom Wheelchairs
Foundation to Encourage the Potentially Disabled Persons, located in Chiang Mai,
Thailand. They promote and encourage the health, education, employment, and
dignity of northern Thailand’s disabled persons. More information is available on
their website.
http://disabled.infothai.com/.
• Thai Chamber of Commerce.
The Thai Chamber of Commerce is a corporation of organization both local orga-
nizations in Thailand with the aim of developing and promoting the interests of
Thai local companies and organizations and their relationships with international
firms. The members of a Chamber of Commerce are usually local and international
operating companies, including lawyers, property developers, tourism firms, airlines,
manufacturing companies, import and export companies, banks, finance companies,
legal consultants, manufacturers of information technology and electronics. The main
activities of the Chambers of Commerce include the protection of business interests,
business experiences and business activities. The organizations website can be found
at https://thaichamber.org/.
Fig. 3.1 The four types of

innovations
Chapter 4
Using Information—Leverage Resource
Abstract The discourse in chapter four centers on the significance of informa-

tion as an important resource for businesses and how its optimal utility can create
value and increase the brand worth to achieve stability and long-term success. The
chapter X-rays different forms of information, sources of information and how firms
can leverage information to drive revenue. It also discusses the optimal utilization
of information in improving operational efficiency and in customer services and
research that will give the fir a competitive advantage over its rivals.
4.1 Information as a Resource
You have access to an extensive pool of information and knowledge—whether this

is your understanding of customers’ needs and the business environment or the skills
and experience of your staff. You need to rely on information to make decisions.
Even gut feelings, derived from experience can be categorized as a form of internal
processing of the business environment. To be competitive in the global market you
need to be better positioned and be able to collect and analyze data more effectively.
A variety of information must be available to you, such as market research, industry
trends, competitor’s activity and effective communication skills in dealing with both
customer as well as consumer behavior. Information can be collected from trade
show attendance, industry specific memberships and affiliations or even your own
business systems. ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems allow you to collect
data and presentations on all aspects of a business and have a large amount of valuable
information at your fingertips. However, this information must be handled properly.
You have to remember that other companies may be already using this resource,
so you cannot afford to give those other companies any competitive edge. Do not
feel comfortable with just basic data. However, keep in mind that companies who are
strong market players pay a lot of attention to this part of their operating environment,
so to remain competitive you must do the same.
The way you collect, share and utilize this information is critical to your ability
to successfully develop. Information management can benefit all sizes of business
from a local mom-and-pop operation to an SME to a multinational firm (Belas et al.,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-7755-7_4
28 4 Using Information—Leverage Resource
2019; Kotaskova et al., 2020; Meekaewkunchorn et al., 2021; Muangmee et al.,

2021), and can be applied to determine the performance of such firms (Wall, 2021a).
All businesses have the ability to access wide range of information and knowledge,
ranging from the understanding of the customers’ needs to comprehending the skills
needed in the business environment being operated in. However, Pearlson et al.
(2019) observe that the strategies used to gather, share, and exploit the available
knowledge is critical in the efforts toward developing a successful business. This is
not only beneficial to the large companies, the aspect of information and knowledge
management is critical for all businesses, both the local small and medium enterprises
as well as large international corporations.
Because of the unique position of Thailand never being colonized by Westerners,
the business environment is still dominated by Thai culture that thrives on collec-
tivism. You are expected to share information that is vital for others to survive, a
business trend in the Western business world that would instead devalue a competitor
rather than sharing information that could be beneficial to them. In the West, the best
they do is to buy over such a firm. This would not be the case in a Thai business sector.
Knowing the importance of the survival of te business to your rival, and the fact that
it is his family means of survival and probably those of the workers employed over
there, the objective will be to save the firm rather than let it drown. It takes us back
to the principle of “Mai Pen Rai,” where Thai people are expected to be content with
what they have and exude satisfaction with what they have achieved, and making the
most out of any situation they find themselves. This principle has played a critical
role in Thailand’s development and has seen it stay afloat despite global economic
upheavals which have also affect some Southeast Asia nations in recent years.
4.2 Existing Forms of Information
Before starting a business, there are high chances you conducted a market research
to evaluate the purpose of your business, or rather, the problem your business will
be solving in the market. Actually, this is the first step in developing a business idea,
which determines the products or services your business will be offering. This is a
form of information about the market that could be tailored as market knowledge
regarding customer characteristics and types of products and services. Another form
of existing information is held in your files and documents maintained in the business,
concerning customers and suppliers. These entities hold a great wealth of information
and knowledge, which could be relevant in improving the performance of business
through development of new products and services, or improving the existing ones.
Your employees have knowledge, skills, experiences and expertise, which could
be exploited as a source of information and knowledge asset. Having employees who
are rich in information could be valuable assets that could give you a competitive
advantage as compared to your competitors. It is a critical responsibility of the busi-
ness owners or management to make sure that the knowledge, skills, and information
with the current employees are passed to their successors and colleagues whenever
4.2 Existing Forms of Information 29
possible. This could be achieved through strategies such as training courses and
documentations, brainstorming sessions among others.
4.3 Basic Sources of Information
There are various areas that a business should exploit to get business information,
and convert it to usable knowledge for the benefit of his/her organization. As a
businessperson, you should consider the following sources of business information:
Customer knowledge—this is a source of information, which requires the knowl-
edge of the needs of the customers, and what they think about the business. To tap
this information, Vallée (2001) advices that it is important for the business owner
to develop a mutually beneficial information and knowledge-sharing relationship,
by talking and caring about the future requirements and desires of the customers.
And more importantly, business owners should be concerned about their efforts to
develop and offer products and services that meet their customers’ needs, tastes and
preferences.
Employees and Suppliers Relationship—this is gaining information by developing
a good relationship with your employees and suppliers. This involves seeking the
views of the employees and suppliers. This is because they have their own impressions
and observations regarding how you and your business are performing. From their
views and propositions, critical information could be obtained.
Market Information—this is where you observe the development and activities
occurring in the sector in which your business is operating. The observation should
be carried out with a critical eye, asking relevant questions. Some of the questions
that should be asked include: How are my competitors performing in the sector?
What is the price my competitors are charging for their goods and services? Who are
the new entrants in the market? Have any new products or services been launched in
the market?
Business Environment—this is searching information regarding the performance
of the business you are operating in. Your business could be affected by various
factors in the business environment, including development in the political system,
the economic changes, technological advancements, society and environmental fluc-
tuations. Therefore, you need to keep yourself informed regarding the development
and changes in these areas. It is advisable to set up a team, which could monitor
the changes in the business environment, gather relevant information and knowledge
and advice the business management accordingly. Sophisticated business process
management (BPM) is needed if Thailand’s to maintain competitive advantage and
meet the business opportunities and overcome challenges from the onset instead of
the issues snowballing into a chain reaction, leading to more harmful events capable
of derailing positive business directory (Wall et al., 2020).
Professional Associations—this is the practice of creating a positive relationship

with the external bodies and organization, to benefit from information and knowledge
about them and their activities. These include professional associations, trade unions,
conferences, and trade exhibitions. Some sources of critical information include their
publications, publications of findings from research bodies, as well as trade and tech-
nical magazines. Attending conferences and trade exhibitions could be an effective
means of learning about the competitors, the latest innovations, and technological
advancement in the market.
Organizational memory—as long as you are concentrating on gaining more and
more information, it is crucial to have archives and store relevant information about
the business. You should be careful not to lose the information and knowledge and
skills that have already been gained by your business. There need to be an explicit
way of sharing the employee’s information and knowledge for the best ways of doing
things.
4.4 Leverage Business Information/Knowledge to Create

Value
4.4.1 Leveraging Business Information
Information leverage refers to the use of information data to create value for the
business. In the contemporary business environments, it has increasingly become
vital for the management and business owners to create, retain, store, disseminate,
and reuse information to create a competitive advantage. Businesses with a great
understanding of information leverage stand a chance of benefiting from it through
improved business results and the development of innovations that will increase the
overall business value. In the past, only large organizations were able to invest in big
data and were able to leverage the information to create value for their businesses
(Côrte-Real et al., 2020). While access to business information has improved over
the years, effective leverage of business information requires business organizations
to modify their traditional view on information and their information architecture to
create business value.
4.4.2 Information in Driving Revenue
Business information can be leveraged to drive revenue through accurate targeting

of the customers. Big data information in business gives insights into the target
customer trends and behavior vital in helping the businesses to develop accurate
ways of interacting with the customers. Information on target audiences in busi-
ness may highlight behavior such as pain points, shopping behaviors, and why the
4.4 Leverage Business Information/Knowledge to Create Value 31
customers may switch to competitors among other essential customer information.

As a business owner, you need to leverage such information by developing solutions
to the customer pain points and interacting with the customers to understand their
needs and preferences.
According to Côrte-Real et al. (2020), business information can be leveraged to
drive top-line revenue by gaining a clear understanding of the customer’s journey
and improving their experiences in the market. Customers need to gain value for
their money. Meeting the customer needs can make the difference in terms of bring
competitive advantage in the markets and consequently improving the business’
overall revenue income. Similarly, businesses can leverage information to drive
revenue through the deployment of data in the business-to-employee (B2E) model.
While business information is essential in the alignment of business products to meet
customer needs, employees also require extensive information to engage with the
customers. The information-rich employees will add value to the business through
the rapid and efficient escalation of customer issues thereby improving customer
loyalty and consequently improved overall business revenue through sales.
4.4.3 Improving Operational Efficiency
The other way business information can be leveraged to create value is through
the improvement of operational efficiencies in business organizations. Improving
operational efficiencies affects profitability. Business operations have in the past been
impacted by advancements in technology. For instance, companies operating in auto
manufacturing benefit from automated operations through robotics. Similarly, the
advancements in information computing have developed similar impacts in business
operations through the development of predictive analytics, mobile scheduling, and
routing among other services (Akter et al., 2016). Businesses can leverage such
information to improve their operational efficiencies through the development of
systems that can predict equipment lifecycle, and the periods for probable equipment
fail to schedule maintenance. The use of predictive analytic in production operations
helps in resolving critical operational issues before failure which consequently leads
to reduced operational costs and ultimately improved profitability.
Operational efficiency can also be achieved through leveraging information in the
supply chains. The big part of business information is ensuring predictive analytics.
Supply chains can improve business profitability through control of operating costs.
Leveraging business information can be used to control supply chain costs through
better forecasting of the inventory used to minimize waste. Information on inven-
tory management permits the generation of reports on inventory use and helps in the
development of detailed plans and strategies to minimize wastes and supply chain
costs (Akter et al., 2016). For instance, wastes associated with the supply of raw
materials such as tomatoes can be analyzed through routine reports on the weather
during the harvest time enabling the business to develop storage equipment to mini-
mize wastes through rotting and consequently minimizing operational supply chain
costs.
4.4.4 Improving Customer Focus
The concept of customer-centric focus creates business value through increased

percentage in profits. Studies by Campbell et al. (2020), indicated high profitability
levels of up to 60% for companies with a customer-centric focus. The quest for
information regarding customer target is thus vital for many business managers
hoping to create value for their organizations through increased profitability. Under-
standing customer focus is a process involving coordination between the business
and the customers. As a business owner, you can leverage information to create
customer focus through data collection to create a customer profile. Often customer
data collected can be stored in holistic customer profiles to monitor their trends.
Information collected from the unified customer profiles is then used in the business-
to-customer marketing strategies. The creation of unified customer profiles by the
business helps in the correction of information at every touchpoint, including online
browsing, mobile interactions, and email clicks regarding their buying journeys.
The information is then used in making decisions and strategies such as improving
products and services.
In addition, business information can be leveraged to focus on customers through
tracking their interactions across data channels. Information channels have been on
the increase with the increase in technology. Business owners need to interact with
the customers across all channels to create a better understanding of the customer
behavior and leveraging the information to create more targeted campaigns. A better
understanding of the customer behavior and trends is vital in increased marketing
strategies to the target buyers which in turn increases the return on investment (ROI)
and consequently creating business value.
4.4.5 Gaining Competitive Advantage
Leveraging business information affects competitive advantage cost and differentia-

tion. Competition in the market continues to get tough as more businesses enter the
markets. Business managers understand the importance of seeking core strengths that
separate their businesses from the pack in the markets (Grover et al., 2018). Lever-
aging information offers the opportunity to exploit changes in the competitive scope
creating a competitive edge and consequently building business value. Information
tools such as Google trends indicate the popularity of products, while social media
analytics indicate what the customers think about particular products or services in
the market.
4.4 Leverage Business Information/Knowledge to Create Value 33
According to Pavlou and El Sawy (2006), leveraging information can help your
business gain a competitive advantage by exploiting changes in the competitive scope,
for instance, information regarding competitive trends in the market may help in the
development of differentiation strategies. The aim of using leveraging the information
on the competition scope is to keep your eyes on your competitors. Business owners
should be concerned about issues such as why the competition is receiving more
media coverage and social media trends to ensure that their own business is not
being left behind. Leveraging competition information is also vital in determining
competitor changes to determine avenues for exploitation. For instance, where the
information in the market indicates that other competitors are doing better than
you, decisions to increase marketing campaigns should be made as well as product
differentiation to gain a competitive edge and consequently creating business value.
4.4.6 Setting Realistic Goals
Decision-makers in the organization play vital roles in the growth and development
of the business. Often decision-makers rely on intuition and experience to make
valuable decisions. While using intuition and experience in decision-making are
important, it is also beneficial to rely on data in affecting business decisions (He
et al., 2017). Decisions regarding business goals require the right information to set
the business on the right path for future success. Leveraging information in the setting
of realistic business goals is vital to avoid the scenario of shifting goals from time
to time. Leveraging information during the setting of business goals involves the use
of historical trends and activities in the same market to ensure clear goals from the
start.
Analyzing historical data on the business activities in the market enables you to
understand the weaknesses and strengths of the business. This enables you to know
areas you need to improve on to grow the business and where you are doing well
already and sustain your efforts thereby creating value. Similarly, clear and realistic
business goals based on data analysis often make it clear when certain goals are
not possible, thereby helping the decision-makers to concentrate their resources on
productive goals to increase business growth (He et al., 2017). Realistic goals affect
the strategic decisions in the business in the long term. For instance, making good
decisions on pricing strategies and inventory management can only be achieved
through clear analysis of historical business data on similar activities. Businesses
relying upon leveraging data are likely to report improved growth due to realistic
business goals and better decision making.
Chapter 5
Technology—Upgrade
Abstract This chapter introduces the topic that discusses upgrade of technology
and how it can be applied successfully in business. It buttresses loopholes that need
to be identified when working with technology. It also stresses the importance of
pilot operations to test the efficacy of the proposed technology, the communication
plan that outlines modalities of the technology, training for staff before deployment,
infrastructure and technical support, integrity of the technology and its security, as
well as reviewing its performance and possible upgrades as they may be required to
account of changing data and societal behavior.
5.1 Technology in Business
The manufacture and delivery or goods and/or services are a major area of concern for
a globally competitive company. If entry barriers protect a domestic company from
imports then the need for technology and subsequent upgrades can be minimal. Old
equipment can continue to be used along with inefficient processes far beyond their
projected useful life and consumers are therefore subjected to status quo efficiency
with limited or no product choice, but that is not the real world for the majority of
companies and their customers.
Today, you must constantly assess how you produce and deliver products, offer
services and keep track of data on the consumer and the competition. Upgrading,
however, can be expensive. The pitfall is that in an effort to possess the latest and the
greatest technology to stay ahead of the competition, you can find yourself carrying
heavy debt loads to finance this technology which the product or service may not be
able to support. You must make careful assessment before technological upgrades
are ordered and decisions are made for major improvement.
Using a simple question and answer format, can help with your technology
assessment process:
• Research technical upgrades, analyze and evaluate reasons and prioritize what
those upgrade goals are.
• Analyze the savings and benefits, both short term and long term, on the product
and/or service.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-7755-7_5
36 5 Technology—Upgrade
• Estimate upgrade costs and related savings on production

• Consider:
– equipment costs
– maintenance costs
– installation costs
– other cost factors
• Assess the scope of work necessary to upgrade and consider:
– technical complexities
– compatibility issues
– extra work hours
– scheduling
– other factors
• Reassess and justify any major or minor informed upgrade decisions.
• For planning in the future, document and keep all records of the upgrade analysis
process as well as all lessons learned from your assessment process.
5.2 Steps to Follow When Upgrading Your Business

Technology
Technology is constantly evolving, and this leaves many businesses in a dilemma

on the right time to upgrade to new business technologies. Every business aims to
maximize revenue; thus, any technological upgrade will only make sense if it will
help your company to grow in revenue and achieve overall business success. As a
business manager, various signs will indicate that your business is in of technological
upgrades. For instance, where your company is growing rapidly, drastic changes
need to be made to technology to better manage the possible additional departments
and new employees. In addition, where the business indicates a clear problem, then
upgrades in technology may be necessary to solve the underlying issues. In this
case, however, the process of upgrading should be based on the understanding of the
business needs by the managers and the employees. Once you have made the decision
to upgrade your business technology, there is a need to follow a step-by-step process
to ensure technological upgrade implementation is successful.
5.2.1 Step 1: Identify Technological Loopholes
The need for the installation of technology in business is to solve problems. The
decision to upgrade the business’ technology should thus solve the existing prob-
lems in the business. While shopping for new technology, you need to identify exactly
what is not working in your organization. Existing technology should be analyzed
5.2 Steps to Follow When Upgrading Your Business Technology 37
on why it is not working. For example, you should analyze why the existing tech-
nology is not working based on resource allocation, talent, and the obsolete nature
of the technology. According to du Toit (2019), consulting with the organization’s
IT department will be vital in understanding the required technological upgrades
and will help save costly mistakes of purchasing new incompatible technology. Your
IT department stays up to date with the existing technologies in the business and
has a better understanding of what will be compatible during the upgrade. Iden-
tification of technological loopholes should also involve other stakeholders in the
business, including employees and managers at all levels using the existing tech-
nologies. Involving all stakeholders from all levels will help identify the unexpected
problems that crop up during the technological upgrade process (Chaveesuk et al.,
2020).
5.2.2 Step 2: Pilot Operation
The next step in the upgrading of business technology is to run a pilot operation of
the chosen technology. There are various technologies that can be used in solving
business operations, however, as a manager, you should choose the most appropriate
technology, which is compatible with your business model and is cost-effective.
Running a pilot operation of the chosen technologies thus involves selecting a small
segment within the business to test the new technology. Running a pilot operation
will help your business to minimize risk, in case the technology is not successfully
implemented. Also, the pilot program helps in working out any kinks that may arise
before full-scale implementation of the programs (Kamariotou & Kitsios, 2017).
An example may be a business hoping to install the new Microsoft office 365 in
its operations. The pilot program will thus involve doing a free trial of the program
for thirty days before the company decides on the package it would purchase for its
technological upgrade. After any possible challenges in the implementation of the
new technology have been ironed out, you can now move to the other stages in the
implementation of a technology upgrade to your business.
5.2.3 Step 3: Communication Plan
Technologies used by business organizations serve a wide range of persons, including

internal employees and external vendors and customers. Any plans to upgrade your
business technologies will thus need to take into account how the changes will affect
the stakeholders in your business. The communication plan should be put in place to
inform the stakeholders of the proposed technological changes and allow them time
to adjust to the new programs. For instance, communication regarding changes in
the business’ technology should be sent to all stakeholders at least a month before
the proposed changes. As a manager, your communication on business technology
upgrade should include information on how the changes will affect the internal
department’s operations and how to use the new products. Also, the communica-
tions should inform the customers on the new ways of interaction based on the new
technology. An effective communication plan will help eliminate any form of confu-
sion that may arise from the technological upgrades and reduce downtime of access
from the external stakeholders such as vendors.
5.2.4 Step 4: Training
Often, some upgrades in business technology are complicated and may lead to the
complete change of the product. As a business manager, you need to answer the ques-
tion, what good is new technology if the employees are not able to use it? Installation
of technological upgrades may lead to unprecedented growth or decline depending
on the utilization of the new technological resources. Effective training on the use
of the newly upgraded technologies is vital in ensuring faster adaptation by the staff
and reducing downtimes. Training, therefore, makes the implementation of new tech-
nologies easier and user friendly by reducing any complexities associated with the
new upgrades. While providing training, you should consider various aspects that
will ensure effective training of the employees. For instance, you should ensure the
training is done using different learning styles and needs. Tailored training sessions
ensure that all types of learners among the employees are adequately informed. Simi-
larly, the training program should include employee feedback from every department
to determine the adoption rates of the new technology upgrades in the business.
5.2.5 Step 5: Preparing Infrastructure
Business technology upgrades often introduce significant changes to the operations

procedures. Often purchasing new technologies may lead to a possible increase in
production or an influx in data that may prove difficult for the current team to manage
with the existing infrastructure. To avoid the possible chaos in management due to
new technological upgrades, it is advisable for you to take stock of the existing
infrastructure and prepare the adequate infrastructure to accommodate the expected
changes. For instance, upgrading the marketing computing analytics software will
result in the analysis large of marketing data. Preparing infrastructure, in this case,
will thus require your business to invest in data collection infrastructure such as the
purchase of computer hardware used in data storage.
5.2 Steps to Follow When Upgrading Your Business Technology 39
5.2.6 Step 6: Implementation and Support
Making it to the implementation stage means you have analyzed and fine-tuned the
new business technologies. The implementation process may involve moving from
one department to another or full implementation in all departments at the same
time. However, the installation of new technologies is not always smooth and may be
marred by various vulnerabilities. Your business technology upgrade implementation
phase should therefore include contingency plans to support the new technologies’
post-implementation. For instance, some technologies take a while for problems to
arise after implementation. Technological upgrade support in business, therefore,
involves the stage of ensuring success in the integration of the new technologies.
According to Ghobakhloo (2020), your technology upgrade implementation plan
should take into account the risks involved in the running of the technologies before
they are fully integrated into the business operations. Often, supporting new technolo-
gies may include plans to keep the technologies running in case of power outages,
or cyber-attacks. As a manager, you can promote post-implementation support by
developing open channels for support. For example, employees finding challenges
in operating the newly upgraded technologies should be readily assisted by their
managers to ensure smooth integration of the new technologies.
5.2.7 Step 7: Performing Upgrade Review
After the implementation of the business technology upgrades, it is essential to review

the projects to identify what worked well and areas that may require improvement
to ensure an effective technology upgrade implementation process. Performing an
upgrade review after implementation will help you keep documentation of the process
that can be used during the next of implanting new technologies. Technological
changes are occurring at an incredible rate and making mistakes may be costly
to the overall business success. Reviews of technological upgrades offer you the
opportunity of not making the same mistakes again on processes that did not work
during the previous technological upgrades in your business. According to Radosevic
and Yoruk (2016), even the best-laid plans run the risk of going awry, however, having
a well-thought-out plan could make the implementation of the new technologies
smooth.
5.3 Benefits of Upgrading Technology in Business
Technology in business plays a vital role in operational efficiency and ensuring

customer satisfaction among other benefits. Therefore, managing a solid techno-
logical infrastructure in the business comes with the benefits of smooth business
operations, efficient transactions, and reduced operations costs. However, running

an out-of-date technological system will not only hold back your business, but will
also expose the business to security risks such as cyber-attacks. This may lead to
reduced productivity and consequently decline in overall business performance. The
increasing advancement in technology may lead to a question such as: when is the
right time to upgrade my business technologies? There is no specific timeline used
to update the business technologies, and it all depends on the size and nature of
the business you are running. There are various benefits of upgrading your business
technologies. Some these benefits are explained below.
5.3.1 Increased Productivity
Using technology in business helps in driving productivity and growth through

increased engagement of the employees. Communication technologies support
increased coordination among the workers thereby reducing time wastage and
increasing productivity. However, using outdated technologies may lead to limi-
tations in productivity levels. For instance, a business using outdated computer
hardware desktops or laptops will demoralize the workers and may limit produc-
tivity rates. According to Venkitachalam and Ambrosini (2017), using old computers
and outdated operating systems decreases the productivity levels of a business by
up to 30%. Similarly, remote working has become a developing feature since the
outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Upgrading the technology thus will offer your
employees more flexibility and functionality that will increase their daily productivity
even when working remotely. Adequate technology upgrade including updated oper-
ating systems and up to date computers will ensure you maintain the same level of
communication needed for feedback as is the case in the normal office environment.
5.3.2 Security of Data
Business information has increased its importance over the years and may determine
the business’ competitive edge. Thus, in your business, keeping secure the business
data is vital in maintaining the competitive advantage in the market. Competition in
the business world has become stiff and any mistake may lead to losing the market
advantage. Often, hackers try to infiltrate the business’ systems to steal data aimed
at damaging the reputation of the business or to make money out of selling the data
to your competitors (Praveena and Smys, 2017). Old and outdated technological
systems are vulnerable to infiltration where viruses and malware may make it hard for
the business to function. Updating the business’ technological systems will include
the installation of newer security functions that will be difficult to hack and will
ensure the protection of your business data against attacks.
5.3 Benefits of Upgrading Technology in Business 41
5.3.3 Attracting More Customers
The use of technology has changed the way people shop. The increased use of mobile
smartphone technologies has increased online shopping and the way customers
perceive businesses. A study by Groß (2015), indicate that 50% of smartphone users
search products online, and nine out of ten searches end in a purchase. A great
number of young shoppers rarely visit the physical business locations to make their
purchases instead they order the products they need through their mobile devices to
be delivered to their locations. Attracting these customers thus requires upgrading
your business to accommodate smartphone users. For example, you can upgrade
your business by optimizing the business website for mobile use. Similarly, you can
develop a mobile phone app to enable smartphone users to access your business and
consequently increase your customer base.
5.3.4 Cost Minimization
Technological changes are inevitable as technology is always changing. It is thus

common for old technologies to wear out as the technologies they use become obso-
lete in the market operations. Sometimes, as a business owner, you may realize
that one of the things costing you money is sticking with the old technologies. For
instance, using old technologies may necessitate constant repair, which increases the
costs of operations. Upgrading to new systems may thus be a form of cost mini-
mization, as some of the new technological gadgets have been developed to be cost-
efficient such as being energy efficient. Similarly, change is constant, and trying to
keep up with the technological changes may be costly for your business. Upgrading
the existing technologies is a cheap way of operating using up-to-date technologies.
5.3.5 Solving Problems
The greatest reason for incorporating technology in business operations is to find solu-
tions for underlying business problems. For example, if your company has communi-
cation problems. Developing a secure communication channel using technology can
help ease such problems, thereby increasing coordination and consequently overall
productivity. Different business technologies come with different problem-solving
capabilities. For instance, a business hoping to integrate its departments to enable
effective decision-making may require upgrading its ERP systems (Barth & Koch,
2019). Installing some technological systems may be costly in the beginning, but
will prove to be beneficial in the long run. In case your current technologies do not
support the desired growth in your business, making changes through upgrading the
technologies may prove to be beneficial in the long run.
5.4 Technology Transfer/Access to Technology
The paper by Sripaipan (1991) chronicles the evolution of science and technology in
Thailand and the different stages through its development and agencies involved in
the regulation of technology. Technology transfer is built around funding of Research
and Development (R&D) units in organizations. However, most Thai firms have been
found to rely mostly on existing technology instead of investing in new technology
initiatives that will broaden the horizon of technology towards innovations that will
improve society. New technologies have been known to arouse optimism and anxiety
simultaneously, leading to what Servaes (1990) describes as the opposite “boom”
versus “doom” situation. Gibson and Smilor (1991) identified technology transfer as
a frequently anarchic, disordered process that involves individuals and groups may
have divergent opinions regarding the significance and potential usefulness of the
technology. They stated that technology itself is often times not ascribed any absolute
denotation or value.
Chung (2001) considers technology transfer as the transmission of knowledge
and expertise to suit local settings, with efficient incorporation and transmission
both within and beyond the borders of a nation. Autio and Laamanen (1995) provide
a broader context by suggesting that technology transfer is intentional, objective-
focused interface between two or more individuals or groups, through which the
assemblage of technological know-how are kept stable or increased via the transfer
of one or more constituents of technology. The process of technological transfer is
not built only on the concept of transmitting technology from one entity to another,
but also on the capability of the receiving entity to absorb, process and utilize the
technology it is receiving. Based on this concept, the process of technology transfer
can be viewed from two dimensions, production of a new product and secondly, the
enhancement of an already existing product towards making its performance optimal
(Das, 1987). Depending on the industry, these technologies abound both the new and
improved versions of technologies. The technology producers are usually the western
nations and receivers are mostly the developing low-income and middle-income
nations of which Thailand is among.
5.4.1 Barriers to Technological Transfer
Barriers to technological transfer can be broadly classified into domestic and external
barriers. They can be considered from the point of view of recipient/supplier or in the
context of international relations. Domestic barriers in Thailand could come in the
form of infrastructural deficiencies, lack of skilled manpower, poor inter-government
agency cooperation, and poor information network and database systems especially
technical information. Some of these deficiencies were exposed critically during the
outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic; most government agencies were struggling
with the scope of infections showing an apparent lack of technological know-how
5.4 Technology Transfer/Access to Technology 43
to manage the fallout of the pandemic. It is paramount to frequently update and

distribute technical information to the related agencies, stakeholders and the public.
A regular update of information requires highly trained personnel in information
management and a good international communication background.
The key point to note is that internal barriers to technological transfer deter national
development of capacity building and technological transfer. The private sector also
have an important role to play in technological transfer, unfortunately, they are less
motivated because of the huge costs involved in acquiring technology and the need
for them to make profit, which is overriding above any other interest. It is challenging
to foresee a transfer of high cost advanced technology without public policy support.
Technology transfer is too crucial to be dependent on profit as a motivation for their
acquisition. Some technology may not make profit for people who adopt them, but
are critical because of the value they add to the advancement of humans.
External barriers are regarded as more significant to beneficial technological
transfer. Because developed nations are mostly the suppliers of these innovative
technologies, and there is a big likelihood of them sending outdated or unsuitable
versions of technologies that do not take into account the local vagaries of the recip-
ient country. To forestall such predicaments, nations that have or intend to have
external technological transfer with supplier nations should a strong binding agree-
ment that specify exact deliverables to recipient nations. To avert shortage of skilled
manpower to operate, maintain and regulate such technologies, agreements must
include capacity training of nationals from the recipient nation so they can handle
technical challenges arising from the glitches from the use of the technology as more
variables are introduced into the system. This instance is of particular interest to Thai-
land that is mostly a recipient nation, sufficient information should be made available
to ensure the country chooses the appropriate technology that will work under the
dictates of the cultural, political and socioeconomic conditions of the country.
Sripaipan (1991) suggested strategies that are to be implemented for a successful
technological transfer and what is required of countries to realize such strategies:
– Assist and inspire private sector participation in the nationwide adoption of tech-
nology in business operations through enabling a competitive environment by
providing fiscal incentives to motivate firms at the forefront of R&D in technology
transfer.
– Government agencies should ensure that information on available technology
is disseminated to the sectors concerned and make regulations to boost the
development of precise technology for specific industries.
– Advance the adoption of modern technological tools and management to enhance
output, lower costs through stabilized pricing of mechanized agricultural tools
and encourage cooperation among farmers, furthering extension services to reach
inaccessible rural farmers, and amplify the role of the private sector in technology
transfer .
– Enhance the effectiveness of acquisition and transfer of technology to reinforce

bargaining power, promote the dissemination of imported technology, upgrade the
technological infrastructure and capability of government agencies, and oversee
large scale technology transfer initiatives.
Chapter 6
Human Resources/Cross-cultural
Communication—Breed Success
Abstract This chapter discusses the relevance of human resources and the
interconnection with cross-cultural communication. It highlights the role of human
resources management communication in the business objectives. It also makes
emphasis on how strategic communication can benefit any organization, its functional
implementation, benefits and risks associated with such a communication strategy.
Overall, it does justice to discussion on human resources as a business asset, human
capital, and its contribution to the viability of an organization. The communication
culture of an organization is a function of its human resources unit, and the
interactions lead to cross-cultural effect that can be harnessed to benefit the business
entity or organization.
6.1 Human Resource Development
What you need most importantly to facilitate operational methods and the processes
of operation are trained, skilled employees. You need to be able to be supported by a
strong educational base that provides graduates with a strong curriculum that is based
on the real demands of business today. Education today has migrated online therefore
extending the reach of learning beyond the walls of an educational institution (Khalid
et al., 2021), this is more so with the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic (Khalid
et al., 2021). Employees no longer have a reason for non-capacity development.
Successful companies will tell you that a large part of their success is attributable to
their employees. Valued employees are a successful company’s most valued asset and
these companies invest large amounts of time, money and other resources to properly
train and retain them. Successful companies always have an easier time attracting
the best people and you must do the same. Success breeds success. Companies need
to have programs in place that will attract the best people in their business. You need
to attract the best people but cannot expect to keep them if they have no programs
in place. One of such programs is Employee stock ownership plans (ESOP). ESOP
involves encouraging company ownership by employees, bringing commitment and
a level of pride to employees to strive for success and therefore creates a win–win
relationship between you and your employee.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-7755-7_6
46 6 Human Resources/Cross-Cultural Communication—Breed Success
“The manager is the dynamic, life-giving element in every business” according

to Peter Drucker in his 1993 book The Practice of Management. While this may
hold true in a strictly top-down form of management, many business firms rely on
teamwork and employee and also believe that customer feedback is critical to being
competitive.
In a globally competitive situation, you need to assess your ability to succeed in
global management. You need to make yourself (or your multicultural team) more
effective. You must pay close attention to skills needed to succeed in a culturally
diverse environment.
Some of those issues include a self-knowledge to understand your own cultural
values and how they affect your behavior and attitudes. You need to stay informed
about global events especially in those areas that you are or plan to market to. Cultural
behaviors of others must be looked at in a non-judgmental way. In the same way,
you need to be flexible and be able to adapt to a variety of operational practices,
business styles and social environments, making people from different backgrounds
feel relaxed and comfortable, understood and valued for their perspectives.
Interpersonal communication skills must allow you to express yourself
persuasively while listening genuinely to hear what others are saying to you. In this
way, you will inspire your employees or team to take responsibility and be initiators,
to collaborate and contribute the creativity of their differences. All of these skills will
take patience and you need patience to work with other people’s needs and schedules,
as well as in focusing on long-term goals, without wasting time on goodwill in order
to get immediate results.
6.2 Cross-cultural Communication Awareness
A major challenge for a company competing in the global marketplace is their

integration and understanding of the wide cultural diversity that is encountered when
producing a product, offering a service and communicating with customers. Products
and/or services that address specific cross-cultural requirements of customers need
to be considered. To this end, cross-cultural communication is a necessity today for
staying competitive and attracting a broad base of customers.
Cultural backgrounds and behavior are exhibited in some ways that are obvious
and others that are very subtle. Things like appearance, names, language, and
accents are all visible and quite apparent. Less apparent are attitudes toward time,
commitments, success, status, authority, planning, negotiation, teamwork, personal
boundaries and body language and social interactions.
Some of the most frequently encountered cultural issues are listed and explained
within the text that follows.
Verbal or Visual cultural backgrounds and behavior deals primarily with the
following issues:
6.2 Cross-cultural Communication Awareness 47
• Appearance
• Names
• Language
• Accents
Non-Verbal cultural backgrounds and behavior can take many forms and need
a higher degree of skill level to perceive and understand. These are such things
as:
• Commitments
• Success
• Status
• Authority
• Planning
• Negotiation
• Teamwork
• Personal boundaries
• Social Interaction
• Time [Interact effectively with people who seem to have a completely different
sense of time].
Beyond the actual product and/or service provided, employees of your company
must always be adequately prepared to deal with cross-cultural issues and be able to
communicate effectively while dealing with the nuances of a global population. They
must be capable of more than just effectively communicating verbal information in
a customer’s native language. To be a truly valuable resource to your company’s
success, you must also be able to recognize these signals from the customer in their
reaction to a product and/or service.
6.3 Focusing HRM Communication Towards Business

Missions
Communication is a vital aspect in every business and the human resource

management component can utilize it to breed success in business organizations.
As a human resource manager, contributing to the business overall success included
learning how to effectively communicate with the employees. The HRM department
communicates with employees on various levels, focusing these communications
towards the business’ mission, and vision will lead to a more focused workforce and
increased overall productivity (Schiemann et al., 2018). There are various ways that
you can utilize HRM to communicate the business mission.
6.3.1 Strategic Communication
The HRM department is among those responsible for defining the organization’s
strategic growth strategies. Businesses design mission statements that are aimed at
ensuring increased productivity and business success. Top HRM management thus
has the opportunity to communicate strategic HR guidelines that will ensure creation
of productive and engaged workforce to ensure business success (Van Mierlo, 2018).
As a top human resources manager, you can strategically communicate the return-
on-investment HR activities with the top management by linking them to the business
mission and ensuring overall business success.
6.3.2 Communicating Human Resources Benefits and Risks
Employees play an important role in business success, these ranges from production
to being the face of the business. Effective handling of the employee’s affairs may
determine the deference between business success and failure. As a manager, effective
communication through the HR leadership is vital in minimizing the liabilities
that may arise from the company’s unfair employee relations. Unfair treatment of
employees may lead to disgruntled employees and consequently lead to liabilities
in form of lawsuits, and declined productivity. Communicating effective human
resource practices based on the business’s mission will lead to increased productivity
and bring about overall success of your business.
6.3.3 Functional Implementation
The HRM function in business can also focus the communication on the business
mission through demonstration of the best HR practices in the organizational
operations. Ensuring functional implementation of HRM practices in your business
may include communicating to the human resource staff on how best to serve the
needs of the employees towards the attainment of the business mission and goals
(Al-Sarayrah et al., 2016). For instance, communicating the understanding that the
employees are the business’ internal customers will effectively align the HR practices
with the business’ strategic goals.
6.4 Creating Effective Communication Within the Organization 49
6.4 Creating Effective Communication Within

the Organization
Organizational communication entails formal and informal communication in the

organization involving the employees and the management. Communications in
an organization may be in various ways, including; communication to employees,
with employees and from employees to the management. Creating a comprehensive
communication strategy helps in the ensuing communication of consistent messages
as well as affective delivery of messages from the top management with elaborate
organizational mission, vision and culture (Gochhayat et al., 2017). Creating effective
communication within the organization will thus be a big leap into the maximization
of employee performance and overall business success.
Successful organizations employ various communication strategies to achieve
efficiency. Creating an open communication environment is one way of building
trust and ensuring effective communication within an organization. As a manager,
creating an open communication environment will help your employees to be free
to share any interesting ideas on organizational issues as well as criticize any issues
that may hinder performance. It is also advisable to ensure that the organization’s
communication procedure is two-way. Two-way communication process occurs
either in the vertical or horizontal communication process and this allows even
the workers at lower levels to transfer information to other senior employees.
Other ways you can create an effective communication within an organization may
include encouraging feedback from the workers on organizational operations to
demonstrate that their opinions matter and focusing on listening when interacting on
the one-on-one basis with the employees.
Effective communication in the organization should be the target of every manager
as it contributes to the overall success of the organization. Effective communication
is your organization will positively impact the employees by boosting their morale,
fostering job satisfaction and engagement in organizational operations. Creating an
open communication environment, for instance, offers the employees a voice to
air their opinions and criticisms where necessary concerning the operations of the
organization and consequently improving the employee satisfaction.
6.5 Human Resource as a Business Asset
Human resources in business organization have proved to be intangible assets in

the business. Indeed, often, employees leaving an organization may be replaced
physically; however, their skill sets and knowledge may prove a challenge to replace.
According to Al-Sarayrah et al. (2016), the employee skills account for three-quarter
of the company’s assets, and their efficiency determines the success rate in any
business. Thus, like other assets in the business, your company’s human resources
comprising the employees can be used to produce earnings and form an important
resource in the business. There are various ways your business can use the human
resources as assets that will drive the success of the organization.
6.5.1 Human Capital
Considering the human resources as human capital indicates that the employees are
viewed as assets and not costs. Every business aims to maximize its capital efficiency
while minimizing costs. Consequently, in managing your human resources as assets,
you need to maximize their efficiency through employee protection (Merriman,
2017). Protecting your workforce as business assets involves understanding the
employees’ priorities and to ensure that their needs are met. Managing employees
in a manner that indicate that they are expendable will lead to a decline in employee
morale and productivity, consequently turning into costs.
6.5.2 Possess Skills and Knowledge
Every business maintains assets that cannot be matched by their competitors

to maintain their competitive advantage. Similarly, the human resources in your
business possess particular skills and knowledge in specific areas of the business’s
operations and an understanding of the business culture. Managing your employees
as the business’ assets safeguards the skills and knowledge of your company’s
operations that may be difficult to operate (Merriman, 2017). Safeguarding your
human resource’s skills and protection knowledge thus helps in improving efficiency
and maintaining the competitive advantage for business success.
6.5.3 Contribution to Profits
Business assets contribute to the overall business profits and worth. The business’
human resources contribute to profits in many ways and are consequently considered
as assets. Employees in your business offer commitment and dedication, resulting
to business success. The view of the employees as valuable employees therefore
should involve managing their needs to improve their efficiency and productivity.
For example, improving the remuneration will improve employee motivation and
will result in improved productivity and success of the organization.
6.6 Creating Company Culture that Breeds Success 51
6.6 Creating Company Culture that Breeds Success
Organizational culture involves shared beliefs that support the company’s strategy
and structure. A company with a strong organizational culture benefits through
the employees’ understanding of the management needs, and an understanding of
the company values and the expected responses. Multinational organizations are
often exposed to different national cultures in their areas of operation. Creating
an organizational culture therefore will help your organization to set particular
expectations for the employees on how to behave and work as a team to achieve
the organization’s set goals.
The strongest organizational culture is based on values of human nature, the
organization’s relations with its environment, appropriate emotions and effectiveness.
Thus, creating your organization’s company culture will involve the laying the
foundation to fuse the culture with the values. According to Tosti (2007) creating
company culture takes time and aligning them with your company’s mission, vision,
and values will help your employees to take time and effort to realize these
values. For example, if your company seeks excellence through innovation and
integrity, then the values should be part of the company’s hiring process and the
business operations. Similarly, you can create company culture through engaging
the employees. Employees play a vital role in productivity, thus incorporating their
culture would be a good start to creating the organizations’ culture. Engaging the
employees can be achieved through conducting of regular culture surveys.
Creating a strong company culture will benefit the organization through improved
brand reputation. Often, the way the community views your business has the
power to improve your brand recognition and consequently improved business
success. Positive brand recognition will make more customers want to patronize
your business (Al-Alawi et al., 2007). Similarly, creating a strong company culture
can breed success through increased employee retention and improved productivity.
Incorporating the employees’ opinions in the development of your company’s culture
will build a happier workforce and lead to increase in productivity. More workers
are likely to show up consistently and are likely to take up fewer sick leaves. This
will boost productivity and overall success of the business.
6.7 Developing Cross-cultural Communication
The increased globalization in the markets has led to increased diversity in

many workplaces and other business shareholders. Organizations conducting global
business need to understand the complexities of cross-cultural communication
in the workplaces to ensure success. As McLean (2010) observes, cross-cultural
communication presents an understanding of how different persons from different
cultures communicate, and perceive their business environments. For instance,
silence between a question during business communication may be considered a sign
of good listening skill in the Asian culture, while it may be viewed as an awkward
moment in the American culture. Developing a cross-cultural communication
strategy is thus critical in ensuring business success.
Increasing diversity awareness is one of the steps towards developing cross-
cultural communication in your organization to breed success. As a human resources
manager, creating diversity awareness involves the understanding that different
employees come from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds and they may
interpret different communications in different ways. For instance, the use of
particular slang in an organization may be harmful in some cultures where the
language may convey hatred. Similarly, cross-cultural communication can be
encouraged to promote business success through strengthening of individual culture
knowledge. There are different diverse cultures and it may be difficult to know
when to communicate appropriately to your employees or customers. Thus, training
your supervisors to understand the different cultural interactions will be vital in
improving the cross-cultural communication process and consequently increasing
organizational success. For instance, supervisors with good understanding of the
different cultural interactions will be more sensitive to the different ways of
interacting with employees.
Developing a cross-cultural communication process in your organization comes
with the benefits of building trust between the management and the employees.
Respecting the different cultures is vital in establishing an efficient working
relationship among the employees, and this is a necessary condition for success in
business. Enhanced cross-cultural communication also helps in improving the quality
of communication within the organization (Wall, 2021b). The top management is
able to deliver its message concerning its mission, vision and values effectively. This
encourages understanding of organizational goals, and teamwork thereby improving
productivity. Also, employee morale can be improved through enhanced cross-
cultural communication. Employees from different cultures will feel appreciated
and are likely to increase their productivity levels.
6.8 Developing of Cultural Intelligence
Apart from communicating cultural differences in business operations, developing

a high cultural intelligence among the employees creates a competitive advantage
for the business leading to unprecedented success in the global markets. It is also an
indication of high performance in a new culture. For businesses operating in overseas
markets, the human resource may play a vital role in accelerating the development
of cultural intelligence among the employees through training.
Establishing a global mindset is one of the ways you can use to develop cultural
intelligence among your employees. A global mindset entails approaching the cross-
cultural work with an open mindset. Developing a cultural intelligence entails training
the workforce to work effectively with different groups from different cultures to
achieve the set business goals and mission. Achieving these goals is vital in breaking
6.8 Developing of Cultural Intelligence 53
operational bias in all levels of the business and preventing any form of wrong
assumptions that may be culturally inappropriate. According to Setti et al. (2020),
there are various ways of raising the cultural intelligence among the employees. For
instance, creating an enabling environment to learn about other cultures will motivate
the workers to know more about cultures alien to their environment. Similarly,
communication situations arising from the inappropriateness of one’s culture may
serve as learning outcomes about other people’s culture, providing an avenue for
further learning and unlearning, thus improving their cultural intelligence through
contact with other cultures and value system.
Expatiating on the cultural intelligence of Thailand, the Thai society is styled as
collective, cohesive, free and open environment, which has the country remain a top
tourist destination over the years. The societal values has seen it as one of the most
alluring and captivating places to visit and conduct business globally. The cultural
values are underpinned by Buddhism is the faith which is practiced by about 95
percent of the Thai population. Thai people share a rich ethnic and cultural diversity
with the Tai, Khmer, Laotian, Chinese, Mon, Indian and Malay, this blend has resulted
in no one laying claim to be 100% Thai. More than 80% of all Thais are in some
way connected with agriculture, whose influence can be seen in cultural festivals
and religious ceremonies which add to the distinctiveness of Thailand as a free and
culture-rich nation. Payutto (2003) contextualizes that the influence of Buddhism
permeates the Thai culture and its principles are enshrined in the Thai society. This
is observable in the teachings where great emphasis is placed abhorring vices like
hatred, greed, lust, delusion and self-gain. The teachings of Buddhism counters these
vices with the right information and knowledge about self and the community, with
knowledge, it the mind will be equipped to make the right choices and understand
that greed and accumulation of wealth are meaningless as they have no significance
here or in the hereafter, religious tenets are prioritized instead.
The postulates of Thomas and Inkson (2004, 2005, 2006), three characteristics
are tied to the acquisition of cultural intelligence; they are integrity, openness and
hardiness. They buttress that integrity involves the attainment of a finely honed sense
of self and a thorough understanding of how one’s own belief and value system
influences human behavior. Openness according to them involves demonstrating
reverence and courteousness when engaging with others and at the same time
revealing a desire to inculcate values from them. They viewed hardiness as sturdiness,
valor, fearlessness, and the ability to survive inclement situations whether natural
or man-made. The correlation of the three characteristics that enhance cultural
intelligence has a close affinity with Buddha’s main teachings. Juxtaposing this with
the traditional Thai society, the observations are not too far from what is obtainable.
Buddha’s core tenets instructs adherents to always do good in the society, encourage
them to help others as much as possible, sympathize and empathize with those in need
and undergoing adversity, and support the society within their means. The teachings
of Buddha encourage the development of human resources, and it begins with self-
development, self-training including the physical aspect and through mentors. The
teaching enjoins that those who develop themselves are likely to gain more cultural
intelligence over those who abstain from self-development.
Chapter 7
Strategic Alliance—Strength in Numbers
Abstract Strategic alliance is beneficial to businesses. From historical contexts,

evidence abound of how strategic alliance turned the tide of great battles, so also,
this is applicable in running businesses. Having the right alliance can make a huge
difference between profit and losses, or the liquidity of a business entity. This chapter
discusses advantages and disadvantages of alliances, and how alliances can be lever-
aged to build trust and gaining new insights in business. Types of alliances are also
addressed, things to consider if an alliance is to be successful, and ensuring the right
agreement that is favorable to both the organization and its strategic allies.
7.1 The Spirit of Strategic Alliance
Whether we call it ‘symbiotic relationship’ the ‘search for synergies’ or simply

creation of ‘strategic alliance’ it is evident that there is strength in numbers. No
business enterprise or firm could be considered an “expert” in all areas of business
functionality. However, it is vital for all business to master the core operational areas
such as producing, packaging, distributing, logistics, marketing and advertising, and
human resource. According to Nguyen and Tran (2019), the complexity of business
and the inevitable and new-found spirit of sharing has led to the development and
adoption of the spirit of ‘strategic alliance’.
Survive together, die alone. Partners working together can achieve more success
through an effective company alliance. Sometimes this type of alliance can be very
beneficial for a company. A smaller company may benefit from an alliance with
a stronger partner. A good example of this is providing anything from a simple
distribution arrangement of a product to being a source of production, which could
be very beneficial if, for instance, you are looking to export a product. Using local
expertise in your target market could be a direct benefit to you rather than having to
develop your own expertise in that same market. Better purchasing power and access
to a bigger customer base are a few of the other benefits of such an alliance, resulting
in the opportunity for stronger and better customer service. According to Jianyu et al.
(2018), “a strategic alliance is a multifaceted relationship among companies that seek
sharing for business development purposes”.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-7755-7_7
56 7 Strategic Alliance—Strength in Numbers
The authors pointed out that we often think that only the non-competitive business
enterprises could engage in a strategic alliance. However, as a businessperson, it is
not only beneficial, but also healthy to engage into strategic alliance with both the
competitive and non-competitive firms. The major aspect of strategic alliance is
considered to be honesty, integrity and the consideration that the alliance is vital for
the growth and success of the business.
7.2 Establishing a Strategic Alliance
Strategic alliance presents a platform in which the members can share their resources,
establish strong management expertise, as well as enhance their competitive posi-
tions. However, it is critical for a business to evaluate the partners before entering
into a strategic alliance. Below is a check-list that you can apply before entering into
a strategic alliance:
• Similarity of the long-term and short-term objectives, goals and ambitions
• Similarity of the organization cultures and styles of management and leadership
• Similarities of the business positions and adopted philosophies
• Compatibility of the business assets, skills sets, weaknesses and efficiencies
• Deployment of the strategies that fit
• The compatibility of the financial situations
• Existence of a synergy among aspects of services, products and markets
• The respect and willingness to honor others reputation and business image
Relying on a self-contained strategy of a new unknown market could waste
precious time, money and involve costly research and staff effort with an end result
that could in fact be detrimental to your company and its reputation or be a total
failure. Another drawback of new market development could also be product obso-
lescence by the time the product is brought into the market. Strategic alliances are
basically cooperative agreements between potential or actual competitors. They can
be formal ventures for a long term with equity positions or the can be short term
agreements, where two or more companies cooperate on a specific task for a spec-
ified period of time. While competitors’ collaboration may be attractive in some
circumstances, even fashionable by today’s standards, it has its positive and negative
points. You may collaborate with your competitors, either actual or potential, for
various strategic purposes (Ohmae, 1989; Kale et al., 2000).
7.3 Advantages of Strategic Alliance
There are four major advantages of strategic alliances:

7.3 Advantages of Strategic Alliance 57
1. Strategic alliances may help you to enter into a foreign market more quickly
than you could have done on your own. Having a local partner can help you
better understand business conditions, environments and give you immediate
access to good business connections.
2. The cost of developing and establishing a new product or offering a new service
or process can be shared through alliance. This may help you manage your
bottom line with a proportional investment rather than subject your company to
total development costs and the potential risk of new product/ service failure.
3. Strategic alliances can also bring you together with companies that provide
skills and assets not currently offered by or available to your company. This
saves you time and money in the development cost of those skills and prevents
a drain on company assets.
4. Alliances can give your company’s product or service credibility in the market-
place by affiliating with a known industry leader and thereby establishing that
product or service as an industry standard.
7.4 Disadvantages of Strategic Alliance
While strategic alliances can be many ways as noted above, there are some
disadvantages to take note of:
1. Sharing your new knowledge with a competitor could lead to giving your
competitor access to a new, low cost way to enter a market and accumulate
technology in products or service that you have spent valuable resources on to
develop (Kale, 2000).
2. Alliances can cost your company of its developing and processing skills that are
the basis for your competitive success. While short term profits may be attractive,
the long term result is to leave you with little or no competitive advantage in
the global marketplace. Your competitor may be protecting high-paying jobs
and value-added positions, while taking valuable development and technology
out of your company leaving you with little more than a shell of what you were
before.
7.5 The Power of Partnerships
It is inevitable that “Businesses Are Better and Stronger Together”.

Strategic partnerships are vital in improving business outcomes. While some
business owners believe that the success of a business is a function of their busi-
ness strategy and competitive advantage, most businesses are currently embracing
the idea of partnerships to reduce increased competition for the same customers and
collaborate to stay stronger together (Clinton et al., 2016). Business entities engaging
in partnerships often broaden their relevance in the markets and increase strengths.
Businesses opting to work together benefit from the strengths and offering each orga-
nization brings to the table that extends to the businesses themselves, employees, and
the customers. There are various ways in which your organization can stay stronger
in partnership by helping grow your business.
7.5.1 Access to New Customers
Strategic partnerships involve both parties sharing their strengths to enable them
to grow together. Getting into a strategic partnership has the benefit of extending
your business’ reach to a wider variety of customers than previously explored. For
example, a strategic partnership between a local coffee shop and a book store will
help both businesses reach for new customers who enjoy both their products. A book
store can even accommodate a small coffee kiosk in its business, and the coffee shop
develops a small book section in its business, thereby growing their business stronger
together.
7.5.2 Building Brand Trust
Getting into partnerships helps businesses grow in many ways, including increased
attention to your business brand. Often, brand trust is achieved through successful
business partnerships. The challenge, therefore, involves choosing the right partner
during partnership development. The outcomes of your business partnership have
an effect on your business brand. According to Arslan (2018), individuals observing
your business partnership working well will be interested in ways of generating
profits out of similar partnerships and consequently building your brand trust.
7.5.3 Developing New Perspectives
Strategic partnerships in business can be described as “symbiotic” agreements where

each partner is set to benefit from the other. A business engaged in strategic partner-
ships is likely to grow stronger together, exploring new perspectives to their busi-
nesses by learning from each other. As a business owner, you may have blind spots,
while conducting your business alone; however, a strategic partnership may bring
a new perspective that may help in spotting what your business may have missed
leading to increased growth.
7.5 The Power of Partnerships 59
7.5.4 Increased Moral Support
Operating business entities can be challenging, and you may need moral support
whenever you encounter setbacks. Choosing the right partner may offer the opportu-
nity to brainstorm, develop new ideas and cope with any business frustrations neces-
sary for rejuvenation and increasing productivity (Al-Tabbaa et al., 2019). Operating
as a single entity can be frustrating during tough business challenge encounters;
a trusted partner will increase the value of the business by acting as a business
companion, thus accelerating growth together.
7.6 Types of Strategic Alliances
Business partnerships and alliances are fundamental to business growth; however,

it is not all business strategies that lead to business success. Strategic alliances help
the agreeing businesses to improve their core business strategies and increase their
competitive advantages. Such alliance also helps the partnering companies to achieve
increased growth better than they could have achieved on their own. Choosing the
right type of alliance, therefore, is key to your business success. There are various
types of business alliances that you can form in a bid to increase your business
growth.
7.6.1 Pro-competitive Alliance
The pro-competitive alliance involves businesses working together without merging

their capitals. Some of the pro-competitive alliances in business involve distribu-
tion and manufacturing businesses. As a business owner, forming this alliance will
benefit your business from minimal interaction in the business operations and low
conflicts (Eunni et al., 2006). A pro-competitive alliance takes advantage of vertical
integration, and forming such an alliance will benefit your business by creating value
through improved operations. An example of the pro-competitive strategic alliance
includes the collaboration between DuPont and Sony in the development of optical
memory storage products.
7.6.2 Competitive Strategic Alliance
Often businesses operating in the same industry get into a competitive alliance to
establish new markets. The competitive strategic alliance in business is characterized
by high interaction levels with high possibilities of conflict. Huda et al. (2019), notes
that forming a competitive alliance with business in the same industry would benefit
your business through maintenance of your competitive advantage by abating entry
of new competitors into the business industry. For example, the competitive alliance
between Sony and Panasonic to produce new generation TVs was aimed at changing
the competitive environment to prevent another player from entering the business
operation line.
7.6.3 Non-competitive Strategic Alliance
The non-competitive alliance is another strategic collaboration that your business

in order to achieve success. The non-competitive strategic alliance in business
involves collaborative operations between businesses that are distinct from each
other. Forming a non-competitive strategic alliance for your business will be char-
acterized by high interactions between your businesses and record low levels of
conflicts. Non-competitive alliances are suitable for businesses in the same industry
but do not consider themselves direct competitors. For example, a non-competitive
alliance exists between General Motors and Isuzu to develop low-cost cars. The two
businesses do not consider their alliance competitive.
7.7 Making It Work
Like any other business, business partnerships experience challenges that may hinder
their growth. Thus, making business partnerships work requires you to choose the
right partners with common business vision and strategic direction (Gompers &
Lerner, 1996). As a business owner dreaming of creating a successful business
partnership, there are various aspects that you need to take into consideration.
7.7.1 Picking a Partner
Choosing the right business partner may be the difference between your business’
success and failure. A good business partner should bring the skills and experience
that will support your own in achieving business success. For instance, a prospective
partner needs to:
(i) Have Shared Vision
While forming a strategic alliance for your business, there is a need to pick
a business partner that shares your vision for the business venture. Running
a collaborative business will involve communication between the involved
parties and decision-making activities. Having a partner with a shared vision
7.7 Making It Work 61
will make it easy for your business to demonstrate effective communication

processes. Business success depends on the operations towards the business’
strategic vision and mission. It will thus, be easier for you and your partner to
reach the set goals when working towards the same vision.
(ii) Skills and Experience to Achieve Set Goals
Business goals play an important role in helping the focus of the operations
towards the desired outcomes. Picking the right partner during a strategic
alliance should consider the required skills and experiences that will achieve
the set goals. Indeed, a single business may not possess all the skill set and
experience required to run the business. While picking the partner, you need
to consider the skill set and experiences of the prospective business partner’s
employees and how they will help you achieve your goals.
(iii) Respect Fair Play
• Fair play is a code of conduct in business and ethics. Fairness in business
involves treating people with dignity and respect in the business operations.
• Picking a partner who respects fair play in your business would require
trust. The right partner, therefore, would be the one you can trust and
would be able to fulfill their roles in the partnership arrangements.
• The other criteria to consider while picking the right partner for the busi-
ness involves legally getting information on the potential partner. Informa-
tion regarding the potential partner will describe the character traits of the
individuals. This is necessary to avoid future conflicts in the alliance.
• Information on the potential partner can also be obtained from former
partners, the financial community, and former employees. Also, having a
face-to-face meeting is necessary to personally understand the potential
partner’s vision and goals before getting into a partnership.
7.7.2 Structuring the Agreement
After satisfactorily picking the right partner, you need to move to the next step of
structuring the agreement. Partnership agreements need to be equitable, efficient,
and mutually beneficial. Often, a business partnership can be hard to sustain; thus, to
ensure the safeguard of your business in case of fallout, you ensure the safeguarding
of critical business procedures, including product development processes and trade
secrets (Gompers & Lerner, 1996).
There are various business partnerships, and in a competitive alliance, there is a
need to write your business safeguards into an agreement to avoid future misunder-
standing in case of competition. One of the important aspects of strategic alliances
is honesty. Getting into a partnership means you stand to mutually benefit from each
other. Thus, agreeing to freely share product knowledge and skills should be included
in the structuring of the partnership agreement. Similarly, partnership contributions
are another important aspect that you should clearly include while structuring your
partnership agreements (Gompers & Lerner, 1996).
Partners’ contributions in businesses vary, and may include time, resources, and
capital. It is important that you clearly outline in the agreement the terms of antic-
ipated contributions. Getting acceptable commitment in advance will help promote
trust with your potential partners.
7.7.3 Managing the Deal
Effective Management of a business partnership leads to successful business

outcomes. A good partnership can scale up your business to new unprecedented
heights. Once you have entered into a strategic partnership agreement, paying atten-
tion to the cultural differences and effective Management of the resulting manage-
ment styles is vital in ensuring better partnership relationships (Kale et al., 2000).
Managing cultural differences may include ensuring effective communication in your
business to increase accountability and encourage increased communication of new
ideas and approaches from both businesses. Effective communication would build
strong interpersonal relationships between the two businesses leading to success.
Learning from your alliance is another effective way of managing a successful
partnership deal. Businesses have different capabilities; thus, learning the strengths
and weaknesses of your partners will help in focusing on how the partnership will
work together to achieve the common goals of the business. For instance, if your
business has a partner better in sales and another in closing sales, then determining
how to work differently with your partners to achieve success would be a vital step.
Similarly, the purpose of forming a business alliance is to achieve the level of
success that you could not achieve on your own. Thus, better management of the
partnership deal would involve to learning from your partners and applying the
knowledge in your own business for better outcomes.
7.8 Negotiation Styles and Strategies in Thailand
The negotiation styles and strategies in Thailand is tied to their cultural and historical
background. As the only country in Southeast Asia to never have been colonized by
foreign powers, Thai consider themselves authentically free, and this freedom is made
evident in just about every form of activity you find ethnic Thais including business
negotiations. Thailand has a population comprising of about 80% ethnic Thai and a
minority dominated by Chinese. Among business owners, many are from the Chinese
minority, and most times with ties back in China, making it quite common to find
businesses being negotiated on multiple fronts; in Thailand and China or wherever the
business owner has strong family connection which can impact business decisions.
Statistics indicate that 95% of the Thai population is Buddhists and a majority of the
remaining 5% is Muslims. The history of Thailand shows that what we have today
has its origins in two former kingdoms; Thai Lann in the North of the country and
7.8 Negotiation Styles and Strategies in Thailand 63
Siam in the South, the division of power among the political elite still follow this
structure, and business negotiations often times find themselves also negotiating on
these two fronts negotiating separate deals.
7.8.1 Cultural Considerations During Negotiations
Business owners and government officials notably those outside of Bangkok have
limited exposure to other cultures, this can lead a situation of people expecting
that things should be done according to their way, the culture they grew up with,
and has been associated with those that were in the same business before them.
There are, however, variations when dealing with businesspeople or officials who
are exposed to cultures beyond Thailand or younger people who are more open to
doing things in different ways because they have been exposed to other cultures
either from traveling or the ubiquitous features of the internet which brings people in
contact with other cultures. You can literally Google any business in any part of the
world, or watch YouTube videos of different negotiation styles and practices. Those
who have experienced other cultures either in person or through the internet would
be more amenable to inculcating foreign ideas into their business and negotiation
styles.
Culturally, Thais are group-oriented with little room for individualism. They
consider conformity to the group as a way of maintaining harmony within the group
which can strengthen bonds within the collective, because trust is essential in Thai
culture and is paramount before concluding any business negotiations. Thai people
will hardly enter into negotiations with people they do not trust even if it costs
them the business connection. Thus, trust creates knowledge and awareness of the
values of the potential business relation, Thais will only do business with people they
know, who value and respect their culture. The relationship usually extends beyond
the business; business associates are considered family in a sense. This perspec-
tive exposes an interesting take, when the business is between two businesses, it is
important for Thai people that the business contacts remain relatively unchanged,
in as much as the business is between two business entities, what drives it is the
trust between the touchpoints of the organizations. Drastic changes in touchpoint
personnel tend to have an effect on the business because it has taken time to gain
the trust of an individual, starting afresh with a new teal leading negotiation requires
time and effort as the bonding and trust building process will be repeated, and until
the people involved are comfortable with the new personnel, the relationship may
hinder continued business between the two firms.
Respect is equally important in business perception in Thailand. The respect
accorded an individual depends mostly on the age and rank of the individual within
the organization. You are expected to introduce yourself and greet older people first,
with hands being held together in the form of praying when greeting your nego-
tiating counterparts. According less respect than normal can lead to reputational
damage. Hence, it is quite difficult for Thais to engage in business with people
whose age or rank within an organization is unclear. To avoid reputational damage,

Thai people regard “saving face” acts as essential for maintaining concord in the
relationship. Emotional outbursts are strongly discouraged; partners are expected
to exhibit maturity that avoids creating embarrassing situations for others during
negotiations. Openly criticizing someone especially someone older or higher in rank
within an organization can create irreparable discord capable of leading to a break-
down of negotiations because someone has been caused to “lose face” by the actions
or comments of another. Thais are naturally friendly and regarded as people who are
always smiling not minding the situation, they see life as something to be appreciated
and enjoyed with a positive attitude, which they expect business associates to exude
during negotiations.
Ethnic Thais prefer being addressed in the order of their names, which is first
name and then last name, adding Khun or Phee before the first name is acceptable
within the Thai culture. Using Mr. or Ms. Before the first name may cause some
confusion especially to Thais with little or no exposure to cultures beyond Thailand.
For Thais with Chinese ethnic background, they will prefer being addressed with
their surname first as is done in Chinese culture. Where the first name is made up
of two names, the generational name is mostly preferred. The two names are mostly
hyphenated but usually spoken and written as one. Other Thai people adopt a foreign
first name for convenience, when this happens; they usually introduce themselves
with their westernized name first followed by their family name. Professional and
academic titles must be used where concerned because Thais place a high value on
such titles.
After the greeting and introduction pleasantries, offer your business card to all
that are present using your right hand, not having one or enough for everyone present
is considered unprofessional even though they may not reciprocate the gesture. In
case they reciprocate, always accept using the right hand, with a smile, and examine
the card with care. Thais may interpret not reading their business cards as an insult.
Also, never put it in the back pocket or write on the car in their presence, this
is considered disrespectful. The business cards are expected to be of high quality,
printed in English and the reverse side translated in Thai. Your business card should
state your professional and academic titles where applicable. Small talks are allowed
for the negotiators to gauge the mood of the others and acquaint themselves with
each other; it is advised to allow the local party to decide the direction of the small
talk so as not to cross cultural boundaries concerning topics that are permitted for
discussion in public spaces. If this is the first meeting, the main goal really is to
become acquainted with each and build trust between the negotiating entities. Show
some patience and do not expect very decision to be solved during the first meeting.
Make your presentations and material lucid and self-explanatory, it is advantageous
to include Thai translations of English documents, it connotes someone who is very
professional and helps in accentuating the content of communication.
7.8 Negotiation Styles and Strategies in Thailand 65
7.8.2 Negotiation Styles
Understanding your position in business negotiations is fundamental. In Thailand,

negotiations are considered as meetings to come to an agreement over mutually
beneficial ventures. The positions they occupy depend on the commodity on offer,
but mostly, the buyer is considered superior, but it behooves on the negotiating parties
to come to a binding agreement that satisfies all the parties involved. In committing
to agreements, the business entities hope to agree to long-term agreements with
beneficial terms for those involved. Thais naturally negotiate using a cooperative
approach, where both parties should be open to some form of compromise in order
to advance the negotiation, best described as a win–win situation. When negotiating
with Thais from a Chinese background, the style of negotiation might also change to
take into account some Chinese cultural influences. Thais rarely disclose information
about business during negotiations because they consider as giving up part of the
trade secrets which would put them in a position weakness, nonetheless, sharing
information during negotiation can increase the level of trust between the negotiating
parties.
Negotiations are also expected to be slow and prolonged as this allows for bonding,
trust building and relationship formation between the parties involved. Thais are
less conscious of time compared to Europeans or North Americans who expect
agreements to be reached as soon as agreeable. Settling deadlines or “take it or
leave it” offers may be ineffectual in these circumstances, the key word is patience
and perseverance until an agreement is reached. Katz (2017) describes this as the
polychronic style of work; pursuing multiple actions and goals at the same time.
They look at the issues as a whole, jumping from one topic to another in haphazard
manner. It is important to keep your eyes on the ball during this non-sequential order
of addressing sticky points of negotiations, do not show irritation, instead, relax and
try to understand the disposition of your counterpart. Instead, you can try to refocus
by emphasizing on already secured agreements. If they continue stalling on trivial
issues, then it is most likely there may be an issue they are not willing to share
or it might also be a negotiation tactic to obtain more concession. When in doubt,
ask open questions politely to find out what might cause hesitation on the part of
your negotiating counterpart. Also remember that Thai people love bargaining and
haggling and see it as an essential part of negotiation to obtain concession with
prices moving significantly from the initial positions between 40 and 60% less in
some situations.
Thai negotiators avoid assertive and uncompromising stances during negotiations,
its is best not to put them under this type of situations to avoid “face saving situa-
tion” already discussed earlier. Making them lose face is irreparable and can bring
negotiation to a halt. Instead, you can make personal appeals for them to reconsider
their stance based on prevalent conditions. Gratification during negotiation is to some
extent generic in both the public and private sectors of Thailand. Depending on who
is involved, minor payments can be regarded as gratitude for a successful outcome
and expectation instead of a bribe. This is a slippery slope as the lines between a
bribe and a gift can be become blurred especially for those coming from the western
background where every payment is disclosed in company documents, and in most
cases, employees are not allowed to accept gifts from firms that conduct business
the employee’s organization. However, do not make the mistake of expressing your
feelings about things you consider unethical based on your own culture, this could
also create a face-saving situation where Thai negotiators may have no choice but to
terminate negotiations.
Chapter 8
Customer Service—Listen to What They
Say
Abstract Chapter eight of this book details the relevance of customer service in
running businesses. This is part of the feedback that enables businesses to refocus
and review operations by listening to what their customers have to say about their
interactions with the brand. Businesses that neglect this very important message
usually have short life spans because rivals take advantage of some of these feed-
backs as part of opposition research. The chapter runs through some of the important
components of feedback mechanism including the process of active listening, how to
listen to customers feedback, and ways of improving customer experience based on
the feedbacks received. Businesses are enjoined to keep the channels of communi-
cation open as feedback is an ongoing process that continues as long as the business
operations are ongoing.
8.1 Active Listening to Customers
The success of customer services is the primary goal of every business organization.
Having satisfied customers makes the difference between the business’ success or
failure. Thus, the process of satisfying customers comes down to the understanding
of the customer needs from the basic level with each encounter when the individuals
make contact with your business (Itani, 2019). Active listening in customer service,
thus involves a process of being totally focused on what the customers say and
addressing the needs of these customers.
As a business owner, there is a need to understand that customers want to be
heard. It is a human experience to express thoughts and feelings regarding particular
issues. However, people also have a poor listening ability as they can only process
few words per minute compared to the number of thoughts during the same time.
Therefore, understanding the customers’ needs requires that you try to understand
their thoughts and feeling towards your business, products, and services and use them
to promote business growth. According to Weger et al. (2014), 60% of the business’
problems result from poor communication between the customers and the business
owners. Listening to the customer’s needs is vital to providing a great customer
service experience and, more importantly, increased business growth.
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68 8 Customer Service—Listen to What They Say
Similarly, active listening plays an essential role in understanding the customer’s

needs and wants. Active listening helps create a channel where the customers will
communicate what they want you to sell to them. Listening to your customers’
opinions and feelings can be achieved through listening to customers’ opinions online
through social media platforms or through gathering feedback surveys regarding your
products and services. As a business owner, every customer feedback influences the
business in a particular way, and reacting to the customer feedbacks may be a pivot
to business success. Addressing the needs of your customers expressed through
interaction feedback will make the existing customers to appreciate your business
and also attract new customers.
Active listening also fosters empathy and understanding. Often most interaction
between the customers involves problems on particular products or services. When a
customer contacts your customer service, they expect to have their problems solved,
and any failure may lead to loss of customers. There is thus a need for customer service
to exhibit patience and calmness while addressing the customers’ concerns (Weger
et al., 2014). Active listening is thus vital in situations where the customers express
frustration and hostility. Trying to understand the customers’ concerns, especially
through showing empathy and relaying back to the client’s situation, makes the
customers feel their problems are being addressed and will lead to increased trust.
8.2 How to Listen to Customers
There are various approaches that you can use to actively listen to your customers.
These include:
• Focusing on what the customer is saying as opposed to the response you will
give. Paying undivided attention can be achieved by putting aside any distracting
thoughts.
• Encouraging the customer by showing that you are tracking his or her conversa-
tion. The encouragements may include the use of short verbal feedbacks or body
language such as nodding.
• Avoiding interruptions while the customer is talking, unless only when you need
clarification.
• Focusing your attention on the client by avoiding destructions and creating a calm
environment.
• Paraphrasing the statements that the customers make by repeating them in your
own words. Paraphrasing help make the customer understand that you are paying
attention to what they are saying.
• Avoiding arguments when interacting with the customers. Offering opinions may
be negative, especially where the customer is not happy. It is advisable, therefore,
to remain silent and only offer opinions when the customer requests.
8.2 How to Listen to Customers 69
• Asking guiding questions. Often, rephrasing what the customer has said in your
own words will help in staying in the same line with the customer’s needs. If you
do not understand correctly, the customer will have the chance to clarify.
• Understanding that it is possible to talk much, but it is rarely possible to listen too
much. The customers need to be heard, and thus respecting this rule will require
you not to be afraid of being silent.
8.3 Importance of Listening to Customers
Understanding the process of actively listening to your customers helps meet their
needs and consequently leads to improved business in various ways. As a business
owner, you need to improve your listening skills to understand the customer’s opin-
ions about your products and how you can improve your products and services (Place,
2019). Thus, the benefits of active listening to customers affect the overall growth of
the business. These are discussed below.
8.3.1 Improved Relationship with the Customers
Business organizations cannot exist without customers, thus meeting the client’s
needs plays a fundamental role in the growth of the business. Often, customers
interact with your business with different needs, from purchasing to sorting out
their problems. Sorting out the customer needs in case of a problem helps improve
the customer relations with your clients and may lead to the creation of customer
loyalty (Place, 2019). In business, if you do not treat your customers well, there
are other businesses that may treat them better. Solving the customer needs through
active listening improves the customer relationships by making them feel that they
can depend on you and become loyal. A strong customer value is vital in ensuring
business growth.
8.3.2 Creating New Customers
Customers are the best promoters of business through word of mouth. Positive inter-
actions between your business and the customers may lead the regular customers to
spread words regarding their experiences from your company, and this will conse-
quently attract new customers, if the words spread are positive. With the advance-
ments in technology and the growth of social media platforms, clients are always
talking about their experiences and are more likely to promote their positive experi-
ences on the social media. Gaining new customers can be achieved through joining
70 8 Customer Service—Listen to What They Say
the online customer conversations and letting them know that you value their opin-
ions. You can join the customer’s conversations online by searching for hashtags and
or using the relevant tools to notify you when discussions about your business occur
online.
8.3.3 Avoiding Crisis
While the business customers play a role in promoting the business, it is not always
that your business may get the positive words. Customer interactions with your
business may occur in different ways. Prompt action in times of complaints may avert
a possible business crisis that may hinder business growth. For instance, customer
reviews on your business website and social media page may not always be positive,
and a quick reaction may avoid a business crisis (Florea & Duica, 2017). While
interacting with your customers online, it is important that you search all social
media platforms and respond promptly to any customer frustrations and complaints.
Quick response to customers on social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook
helps increase the customers’ confidence in your business and the assurance that they
can rely on you.
8.4 Keeping the Conversation Going
Active listening to your customers involves the development of deep trust with
your clients and the creation of long-term loyalty. Having a clear understanding
of your customers’ needs also requires keeping an ongoing interaction to achieve a
deeper understanding. Meaningful conversations can be achieved through face-to-
face conversations; however, with the increased online interaction, they can also be
achieved through social media interactions. As a business owner, there are various
ways you can use to keep the conversation going to gain a better understanding of
the customers’ needs. For instance, asking for recommendations. The customer’s
opinions and feeling about particular products and services play a vital role in under-
standing their needs (Reed et al., 2016). As a business, keeping the conversation going
may include asking questions on opinions and thoughts about products and services
to better improve and meet the customer needs. Interacting with your customers
online may include asking your followers for recommendations on your business.
The responses will offer an insight into your customers’ thoughts, preferences, and
behaviors.
Similarly, promoting community events can keep the conversation going. Busi-
nesses can also keep the conversation with their customers going through attending
or hosting community events. Naturally, individuals will tend to be associated with
people or businesses they like. Asking your customers if they will attend a local
8.4 Keeping the Conversation Going 71
football match will keep the interactions going and may lead to meaningful interac-
tions that will make a difference in your business. For instance, sharing stories of
communities pulling together will align your business with community needs and
will help increase your customer base.
Chapter 9
Implementation, Monitoring
and Evaluation—Now What Do We Do?
Abstract This chapter highlights steps to be undertaken once the business operation
is up and running. After all the planning, meetings, agreements, and personnel have
been put in place, the next stage is to implement all the grand ideas and see how
they would run in the field. Once implementation has occurred, the process has to be
monitored for compliance and evaluated to find out steps and policies that should be
continued, those to be modified and the ones to be halted and a new direction for those
that do not go according to plan. Some details to consider during implementation
are also discussed such as budgeting and allocation of resources, communication
strategies, challenges and benefits of monitoring and evaluation.
9.1 Now What Do We Do?
After developing the various business strategies that can take our business to the next
level, the question that arises is: “Now what do we do?” In the previous eight chap-
ters, this book has discussed various aspects and strategies that the businessperson
should consider adopting and implementing—global competitiveness, marketing and
positioning yourself, innovation, using information and leveraging resources, tech-
nology, human resource and cultural communication, strategic alliance and customers
services. However, these strategies need to be put into practice in order to benefit the
organization. That brings us to the answers to the question posed at the beginning
of this paragraph. The answers as to what we should do lie in these three words:
implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
Implementation implies ‘the practice of carrying out, execution of a plan, an idea, a model,
a specification, or a standards policy for the purpose of achieving a particular set objective”
(Grover et al., 2018).
Implementation is the stage where all the planned activities are put into action.
Before the implementation of a project, you, along with any other project committee
or executives, should identify your product’s strengths and weaknesses (internal
forces), opportunities and threats (external forces) through a basic SWOT Analysis.
On the other hand, monitoring and evaluation provides information on how the
adopted strategies are performing, what the intervention implemented is doing, and
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74 9 Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation—Now What Do We Do?
whether the targeted goals and objectives are being achieved or not. It also provides a
guidance for future intervention activities, as well as it is considered as an important
aspect of achieving accountability for funding agencies and stakeholders.
By definition, monitoring refers to the “regular observation, assessment, and
collection of information regarding the implemented project or strategy”. It is used
to demonstrate whether things are going as they were planned, keeps track of the
project inputs and outputs, such as activities, reports and documents, financing and
budgeting, as well as supplies and equipment. You should consider monitoring
activities as an everyday activity.
Evaluation is a business activity, which “seeks to evaluate and find out whether the
business is achieving the objectives it was set to achieve” (Pearlson et al., 2019). It
assesses the difference before and after implementation of a recommended strategy or
idea. It even goes further to determine why the why the observed difference actually
occurred.
9.2 Implementation
9.2.1 How to Carry Out a Successful Implementation
Business implementation turns the plans and strategies into action to achieve the
set goals and objectives. Conducting business strategy implementation is essential,
just like the strategic plans themselves. Having a great business plan will amount to
nothing if you do not take action to implement the plan. According to (Candido &
Santos, 2015), many businesses fail due to failure to implement their strategic plans.
Failure to implement the business’ strategic plans is often due to the failure to link
the organization’s strategic plans to budgeting as well as linking the organization’s
employee incentives to the strategic plans. Successful implementation of strategic
plans involves understanding the implementation process and the stakeholders. As a
business owner, you need to address the who, where, when, and how to implement the
strategic plans. To ensure the successful implementation of your company’s business
plan, you need to follow various steps in the process.
9.2.2 Communication of the Strategic Business Plan
Although the strategies are communicated during the strategy formulation, it is also
important to communicate the plan before you implementation. The communication
should address issues with respect to initiatives, budgets, and expected performance.
In this first step of implementation, you need to clarify your business goals and
strategies to all members involved and the strategies that will be used to achieve the
set plans (Ramsing, 2009). Communicating the business plan and the strategies to be
9.2 Implementation 75
used in implementing the plans has the effect of boosting employees’ morale. As a
business owner, you need to review the outcomes and performances of the strategic
business plan to determine the possible success and failures. Past experiences should
be used to communicate what success should look like.
9.2.3 Developing the Implementation Structure
The next step in ensuring the successful implementation of your business strategy will
involve the creation of the structure that will guide the implementation. The imple-
mentation structure process requires that you build out a road map for achieving the
strategy expectations of your team to eliminate implementation confusion. Essen-
tially, you need to determine the roles and responsibilities to be performed by your
team in implementing the strategic plan as well as the skills required to have the
tasks done. In this phase also, there is a need for you to establish the coordination
mechanisms between the teams involved in the implementation of the strategic plan.
The establishment of the coordination mechanisms will help facilitate the delegation
of duties and responsibilities among the teams.
9.2.4 Developing Implementation Support Policies

and Programs
Developing the implementation support policies aims at encouraging and aiding the
strategy implementation process. As a project manager, some of the support programs
you may establish will include the performance tracking systems to evaluate the
progress of the implementation strategies. Also, it is vital to establish performance
management systems to encourage the teams working on the projects. For instance,
the performance management systems should be developed to encourage employee
involvement Ensuring successful implementation of your business strategy will there-
fore require the establishment of support programs to evaluate progress through daily,
weekly, and monthly reports.
9.2.5 Budget and Resource Allocation
Allocating resources towards the implementation of the business strategies is one of

the most important steps towards successful implementation. It enables the teams
to perform their tasks and functions well. In implementing your business plans,
therefore, you need to allocate resources to the departments involved based on the
budgetary requirements from each department, and also maintain checks and balances
to ensures all teams are working within budgetary limits.
9.2.6 Discharging Implementation Activities
After performing the implementation planning and allocating budgetary resources,

the last step to successful business implementation would include putting the strate-
gies and tactics into action. Discharging of the implementation tactics and action
would require the participation of your organization’s leadership. As a leader in your
business, there are various leadership styles you can employ to ensure better imple-
mentation of the business strategies. For instance, engaging with the employees in
implementing the projects will help in understanding their strengths and weaknesses
and, where necessary, provide training for successful project implementation. Simi-
larly, at this level, it is important to enforce control measures in the performance of
the tasks.
9.2.7 Avoiding Business Implementation Pitfalls
Every business needs a strategic plan and hopes for the successful implementation of
these plans. However, in some cases, the implementation of the business strategies
does not always turn out successful. According to Kaplan (2005), 90% of business
organizations fail in the effective implementation of their strategic plans. As a project
manager, there is a need to understand the common challenges that could lead to busi-
ness implementation failures and how to avoid them to ensure success in your project
implementations. Acknowledging the common challenges in strategy implementa-
tion is essential in ensuring successful business implementation strategies. There are
various reasons that lead to business implementation failures. Some of those reasons
are discussed below.
9.2.8 Weak Strategy
A strong strategy is a roadmap to effective business plan implementation. Having a

weak strategy will lead to unclear timelines and poor objectives which will likely
to lead to failure. Often, poor strategy objectives are as a result of not investing
enough time in setting up the strategy. As a project manager, drafting up a strong
strategy should be a priority to ensure strategy success. For example, you need to
focus on the business objectives instead of trying to make everyone happy through
vague objectives. Also, setting up strong business strategy objectives can be achieved
9.2 Implementation 77
through the use of the SMART concept which involves the setting up of specific,
measurable, achievable, realistic and timely results of the objectives.
9.2.9 Ineffective Staff Training
Business employees play an important role in the implementation of the set busi-
ness strategies. For a strategy to get off the ground, the employees are expected to
effectively execute set roles and responsibilities to ensure success. However, lack of
proper employee training may be a recipe for sluggish strategy implementation that
may lead to failure (Ivančić, 2013). As a project manager, understanding the need
for proper business learning for the employees is vital just as having skilled staff
for effective implementation. You can avoid the challenge of ineffective employee
output by providing the right training and learning opportunities among the staff
and following up to ensure that the workers employ the learned skills in their daily
workflows.
9.2.10 Poor Communication
Communication plays an important role in various business operations. In the imple-

mentation of business strategies, communication is vital in the execution of the plans
and should be initiated from the top-down. Poor communication leads to poor coor-
dination between project teams and leads to widespread uncertainty in the business
strategy. As a project manager, you can avoid the challenge of poor communication
during the execution of business strategies through the practice of transparent and
honest communications concerning the implementation of the business strategy. A
clear understanding of the possible strengths and weaknesses in the project plans
will motivate the employees to ensure implementation success.
9.2.11 Poor Follow Through
Execution of new business strategies needs to be evaluated from time to time. Poor
implementation follow-through, therefore, occurs when the project managers fail to
routinely review the execution activities. Executing business strategies involves the
incorporation of various departments and teams to get things done. Thus, getting
off track can be easy with little distractions, and this will lead to implementation
failure. While managing your strategic implementation processes, you can avoid
the challenges of poor follow-through by holding regular reviews to determine the
progress of the implementation processes. The availability of big data is a resource
firms should actively explore towards scaling up to maximize business potentials

(Chaveesuk et al., 2020).
9.3 Monitoring and Evaluation
As outlined in the implementation process, business strategies are a process, and

successful implementation requires continuous review to determine performance
progress. Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) thus are processes that enable the review,
analysis, and understanding of strategic plan performance during implementation
(Dos Santos, 2014). The aim of conducting the monitoring and evaluation process on
business strategies is to ensure the improvement of the current and future management
of the project’s outputs and outcomes. As a project manager, you need to develop a
monitoring and evaluation plan at the beginning of every strategic business program
to ensure a clear program is in place to monitor and evaluate the progress and ensures
the success of the plans.
9.3.1 Developing Monitoring and Evaluation Strategy
Developing an Effective monitoring and evaluation strategy set the framework for the
correct and accurate improvement of the business strategies. Project managers need
to conduct research before developing effective monitoring and evaluation strategies.
Some of the steps in the development of the M&E strategies are discussed below:
9.3.2 Defining Measurable Benchmarks
The business projects’ progress can only be evaluated based on set targets. Thus,
while designing an effective monitoring and evaluation program, you need to
define the requirements and targets that the actual project results are going to be
compared against (Crawford & Bryce, 2003). Setting benchmarks for evaluation can
be achieved through the use of the historical data prior to the implementation of the
project or conducting a consultation process to determine how the project is expected
to impact the business stakeholders.
9.3.3 Communicating Benchmarks
The monitoring and evaluation strategies involve various stakeholders, including

the employees. Effective monitoring and evaluation processes serve as the quality
9.3 Monitoring and Evaluation 79
controls to the business’s strategic plans. Communicating the benchmarks to your

employees is thus vital for them to understand the quality controls that will be used
in evaluating the strategic business plans (Crawford, 2003). As a project manager,
however, you need to take into consideration the validity of the benchmarks. Effective
monitoring and evaluation benchmarks should take into account the current industry
performance to ensure the relevance of the program.
9.3.4 Developing Monitoring Plans
The monitoring plans form the basis of the monitoring and evaluation strategies.
Every strategic business project requires different monitoring and evaluation style.
However, there are specific monitoring requirements that every strategy should be
based on. Some of the monitoring requirements you should consider while devel-
oping the M&E plans should include reporting requirements needed for communi-
cation. Also, the strategy will need quality requirements to be used as a basis for
evaluating the business strategies. The other requirements will include the business
requirements, risk, and client needs.
9.3.5 Establishment of the Review Plans
A review of the monitoring and evaluation plans offers an analysis of the actual
performance against the set benchmarks. In establishing the review plans, you may
need to conduct evaluation reviews after every project under the strategic business
plan. At this stage, you need to consider issues such as how the M&E processes will
be communicated to the employees (Crawford, 2003). Also, during the establishment
of the reviews, there is a need to determine how the evaluation processes can be used
by the workers to ensure the efficiency of the strategic business plans. As a project
manager, you need to understand that reviewing involves the analysis of the reasons
that may lead to deviations from the set benchmarks of the strategic business plans.
And once the strategy is developed, it needs to be implemented to achieve the desired
results.
9.4 Benefits of Monitoring and Evaluation in Business

Strategies
The development of monitoring and evaluation programs for strategic business plans
plays an important role in offering management insights, including resource allo-
cation, business growth, and future business projections. Often, the development of
the M&E process takes into account the historical data on similar business strategies
(Zwikael, 2018). The historical data can be retrieved from previous monitoring and
evaluation reports and can be used by the project managers to determine the growth
and progress of the business.
Also, the development of the monitoring and evaluation strategies is vital in iden-
tifying possible problems in the strategic business plans and helps the management
to address them before they can escalate (Zwikael, 2018). Monitoring and evaluation
reports are done at the end of every business project. The routine reporting makes
it easy to detect any strategic plan anomaly or problem and makes it easier to solve
problems so detected compared to the annual reporting of the business strategies
progress.
Similarly, developing monitoring and evaluation strategies is important in high-
lighting possible opportunities to the business projects that may help the business
to grow. Development of the strategic business plans forms the benchmarks that the
business process needs to achieve; however, effective strategies may lead to other
opportunities that may ensure expanded business growth. For instance, routine moni-
toring and evaluation can highlight the business process that worked well and can be
used in future strategies to ensure growth.
9.5 Challenges of Monitoring and Evaluation Process
While the incorporation of the monitoring and evaluation processes in strategic busi-
ness plans leads to unprecedented success, there are various challenges that affect
the effective implementation of the processes. For instance, many organizations try
to minimize costs while maximizing their profits; thus, incorporating monitoring and
evaluation programs on the business’ strategic plans may be considered costly (Dos
Santos, 2014). Limited financial and staff resources thus come out as a challenge in
the establishment of effective business and monitoring programs.
Similarly, the establishment of effective M&E processes may be challenged by
gaps in knowledge and experience in the definition of the performance indicators. The
establishment of business projects monitoring and evaluation processes is continuous,
and every new project requires specific performance indicators. Many organizations
thus are challenged by lack of experience from their staff requiring new training
programs, which may be costly to the business organizations. Lastly, the project
timelines also constitute challenges to the effective establishment of monitoring and
evaluation programs. Large organizations have multiple strategic programs that may
take years to develop effective monitoring and evaluation systems. Thus, racing
against time to develop effective M&E programs for the various business strategic
programs can be challenging.
Chapter 10
Social Responsibility—Giving Something
Back
Abstract The final chapter dwells on social responsibility and how firms should
always have a program dedicated to social responsibility functions. The sole focus
of business entities should not only be profit, but also societal good and how to help
individuals and organizations whose goals align with that of the firm and contribute
to a better society. These could be community groups, rights groups, student groups,
or some other social justice non-governmental organization. The chapter details ways
of giving back and how to get employees involved, and recommends what part of the
profit to invest in social responsibility. Benefits of social responsibility are outlined
and strategies to be deployed. The firm should consider itself as part of the community
by contributing to causes and developments that benefit the society.
10.1 Giving Something Back
No matter how big or small your business is, there is one thing that is quite hard
to ignore, the business environment and society in which the business is carried
out. It is important and equally beneficial for business owners to retrospect and ask,
“How should we give back to the society?” This brings in the concept of social
responsibility. By definition, social responsibility implies the business practice that
involves participating in the initiatives that benefits the society. It is also referred to
as the social conscience or social citizenship. They include the initiatives that are run
by the businesses in order to evaluate and take the responsibility of the impact they
have caused to the society, covering the issues, which range from environment to the
human rights.
Social responsibility is a self-regulatory mechanism, which is usually included in
the business plan, with an objective of focusing on achieving the economic, social
and environmental benefits for all the stakeholders involved, including: employees,
consumers, investors, suppliers, customers as well as the society at large. Environ-
mental scanning must also be utilized to identify factors that could affect marketing
success. This process is especially important in determining opportunities and threats.
Today, the Internet is probably the most important global and technological change
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-7755-7_10
82 10 Social Responsibility—Giving Something Back
in the determining product environment. Customer databases are more readily avail-
able to companies so that products and services can be developed to more closely
match those customers’ needs. Environmental scanning can also help you monitor
and maintain social trends and the ability to maintain close relationships with your
customers in areas such as growth or shifts in population as well as monitor compet-
itive and economic environments. There are various ways in which a business could
give back to the society. These include:
• Employee education and training
• Social Activity
• Environmental control
• Employee relations, benefits and satisfaction with work
• Safety and health care for employees
A business could also assume responsibility towards:
• Customer
• Employees
• Shareholders
• Communities
• Environment
10.2 Giving Back to Business
Giving back to the society is important in supporting the growth and well-being of
the community, as well as keeping the business doors open. It is a means of indirectly
supporting the growth of the business. As a business owner, one of the evident and
benefits you can derive from the social responsibility is the business promotion. It
is a means of promoting the business, which bears beneficial fruits in the long-run
(Taylor, 2014). Your contribution activities to the society forever remain at the hearts
and minds of those who were both directly and indirectly affected by them. This has
a long-run positive image to the business.
Another considerable positive effect of social responsibility is that it generates
new business opportunities. Charity activities are a great way of developing business
network. When business comes together to carry out a charity work, they create great
opportunities for collaborations and development of business partnerships. These
create new business opportunities.
10.3 Ways to Give Back to Society
The practice of social responsibility comes with various benefits to the business,
including attracting the right talents and building a positive business reputation, and
increased consumer appeal to your business, among others. Thus, it is evident that
10.3 Ways to Give Back to Society 83
the practice of giving back to society through social responsibility practices plays
an important role in business success. With the growing competition in the markets,
businesses need to understand the best way to practice giving back to society. As a
business owner, there are various ways your company can give back to society and
ensure overall business growth.
10.3.1 Getting Your Employees Involved
Employees play an essential role in social responsibility as they are the face of
your business. Among the benefits of participating in social responsibility, activities
include attracting the right talents to your business. According to Camilleri, (2017),
34% of the millennial workers are motivated to work in organizations involved in
community charitable activities. Similarly, a majority of millennial workers are ready
to contribute to a company that positively impacts society through social responsi-
bility practices. Thus, getting your employees involved in social responsibilities
as a way of giving back to society may involve giving your employees a way to
contribute to society. For example, you may involve your employees in volunteer
donations towards a positive community activity or choosing a day during a month
to encourage and have your employees participate in community activities. Using
various options to get your employees involved in community work will make them
feel part of a noble cause and will also attract new talents to foster business growth.
10.3.2 Setting Aside Part of the Profits
One way of ensuring your business gives back directly to the community is through
the establishment of a scheme that sees part of profits from sales set aside for donation.
There are various social activities that a business can get engaged in on a yearly basis,
and without proper planning, it may seem a big challenge to achieve the entire all the
planned activities. The best way to set aside part of your profits for donations back
to society can be in the form of a percentage of your sales. For example, the TOMS
shoe business has a scheme that sets aside a percentage from the sale of each shoe
towards charitable activities. Setting aside a small percentage of your sales, such as
5% towards charitable community activities, may seem a small amount; however,
every little bit towards a charitable cause always goes a long way in ensuring social
benefits and resulting in social responsibility benefits.
10.3.3 Being Part of the Community
The other important way of giving back to society as a business is through being part
of the community. Often, giving back to the community does not necessarily require
offering financial aid, but may include being involved in activities that contribute to
the greater benefit of the society. As a business, therefore, you need to determine ways
your business may be involved in community causes aimed at the greater benefit of
all (Rafique, 2020). For example, if you run a dry-cleaning business, you can engage
in community charitable events like cleaning donated clothes for the less fortunate in
society for free. Your business can also serve as a collection point for donated clothes
to be distributed to the less fortunate, especially coats during the winter season. Being
part of the community includes being involved in already existing community events
that could use your input and facilities.
10.3.4 Building Communities
Often, many startup businesses hoping to give back to the community may find it hard
to offer the financial assistance offered by other established businesses in the market.
Thus, to successfully give back to the community, such organizations need to think
creatively to benefits from the social responsibility practices. As a start-up business
owner, it is important to understand the community that you operate in and the best
ways to give back to society. For instance, creating a community aimed at building
connections and maintaining a cordial relationship with the community through
quarterly fund-raising events will go a long way to build your social community.
10.4 Moral Obligation and Corruption
Based on the concept of social responsibility, every business has a moral duty towards
the society in which they operate. Corruption in business involves the misuse of
positions of power to gain unfair business advantage. Often corruption activities
involve accepting bribes, diversion of business funds, double-dealing, among other
activities. Businesses operating in environments with widespread corruption have the
moral obligation to take firm stands against corruption. According to Lopatta et al.
(2017), stakeholders, including customers and business investors, put a high value
on ethical behavior in corrupt environments. Similarly, the international monetary
fund estimates corruption to amount to about 2% of the global output.
Resisting corruption in business helps in increasing the competitive advan-
tage and ensuring sustainable growth. There are various ways that businesses can
strengthen their practices against corrupt practices. For instance, defining clear
roles for the business’ top management makes it easier for the business to practice
10.4 Moral Obligation and Corruption 85
anti-bribery and anti-corruption policies (Crane et al., 2019). Similarly, companies

can embed a culture of compliance within their operations. Embedding a culture
that values ethics and compliance will involve your business engaging in compli-
ance programs, training, and standard communication regarding compliance to the
business’ operations.
Widespread corruption often distorts the market competition, while creating cyni-
cism among society members. Businesses can use their social responsibilities to
combat the increasing nature of corruption activities in business through the institu-
tion of anti-corruption and anti-bribery policies. While many businesses have put in
place anti-corruption policies, the implementation of these policies makes a differ-
ence in combating corruption. In a business firm, you have the moral obligation
to make sure the business staff understands the rules and expectations surrounding
bribery and corruption.
10.5 Benefits of Giving Back to the Society
Business activities involving giving back to society are often done without expecta-
tions of direct financial rewards; however, social responsibility activities are certainly
not without rewards. Many business owners that engaged in charitable social prac-
tices derive satisfaction from the pleasant feelings of connectedness and being part
of the greater good of the community. Even so, businesses engaged in giving back
to the community experience various intangible benefits responsible for fostering
business growth and ultimately overall business success. There are various ways in
which your business can benefit from giving back to society.
10.5.1 Improved Business Reputation
Participating in charitable business activities aimed at supporting the local commu-

nities in which your business operates helps in creating a good relationship with
the customers. As a business operating in a particular community environment, it
is easier to identify the local needs that your business may target its efforts to give
back to society (Verčič & Ćorić, 2018). In return, the community will tend to support
your business. Building a good relationship with the community has the benefit of
building a strong business reputation that will increase the value of your business.
Having a great business reputation is vital in increasing your business’ value and
ensuring that the community will be able to support you in the future.
10.5.2 Attracting Talent
In the current competitive business markets, having the right workforce determines
the chances of success or failure of a business. On the other hand, also, talented
workers choose to work with companies that take into account the employee needs
and participate in responsible community activities. Thus, the best way to attract
talented workers to your company would be through incorporating strategies of
giving back to the community. According to Verčič and Ćorić (2018), engaging
in activities that make your business a force in community activities has the power
to improve your employees regard for the business and helps in retaining talents.
Similarly, employees require motivation to improve their productivity, giving back
to the community creates a good reputation of your business that will motivate the
employees to be part of the greater picture and consequently improve productivity.
10.5.3 Building Connections and Widening Business

Networks
In business, valuable connections are an important resource that contributes to busi-

ness growth. Participating in charitable business activities offers your business the
opportunity to establish trust with other players in the industry that may be good
business connections in the future. Often, great charitable events and activities are
organized by influential individuals in the business industry. Engaging in activities
aimed at giving back to the community, therefore, gives your business the opportunity
to engage with these individuals and organizations that may become opportunities
to expand your business. Improving your community through giving back activities
will place you on the path of influential people such as political figures and busi-
ness moguls. That will go a long way in expanding your business networks and
consequently increase growth.
10.6 The Cost of Ignoring Social Responsibility
Social responsibilities in business are moral practices that businesses undertake to

ensure a positive influence on society. Some of the activities promoting social respon-
sibility may include minimizing environmental externalities, donating to charity, or
promoting volunteerism in businesses. Ignoring social responsibility practices may
be highly detrimental to the business. For instance, social responsibility activities
promote a better public image for the business. Shunning these activities will paint
a negative picture about the business among the consumers and investors due to the
unethical reputations, and this may lead to negative effects on your business’ compet-
itive advantage (Sprinkle, 2010). Similarly, ignoring business social responsibilities
10.6 The Cost of Ignoring Social Responsibility 87
may lead to the risk of reduced employee motivation and lack of self-interest. Poor
social responsibility activities may demotivate talents in your company and may
lead to struggles in retaining talents. In the current information age, the business’
commitment to community plays a great role in influencing the decision of workers
to choose particular companies to work for.
10.7 Using Social Responsibility to Build a Sustainable

Business
Social responsibility activities are increasingly becoming essential in business today

and can be achieved through activities such as reducing carbon footprints, product
donations, charity work, employee community service, and environmental policies,
among other ways. While socially responsible activities aim to benefit the community,
these activities also impact the business operations in the present and future needs.
Building business sustainability involves engaging in activities that meet the present
business needs without compromising the future ability of the business operations to
ensure success. Therefore, as a business owner, implementing the appropriate social
responsibility strategies is vital in the creation of a sustainable business.
10.7.1 Building Your Social Responsibility Strategy Around

Your Core Competencies
There are various socially responsible activities that businesses can engage in to give
back to the community. However, as a business leader, there is a need to determine
the most appropriate activity which is in line with your business’ core competen-
cies (Ashrafi et al., 2018). Indeed, business social responsibility activities may be
viewed by business leaders and risk mitigation activities. Engaging in any socially
responsible activity mitigates your business’ risk of being viewed as a socially irre-
sponsible venture. However, socially responsible activities can also be opportunities
to creating a sustainable business. For instance, a company that has researched and
developed strength in the particular business area should build its social responsi-
bilities to support similar causes for the benefits of the community and long-term
benefits for the business.
10.7.2 Recognizing the Important Social Issues to Your

Customers
Consumers are increasingly interested in business social responsibilities. According

to Camilleri (2017), consumers play an important role in business growth and devel-
opment. Business leaders hoping to develop sustainable businesses take into consid-
eration the needs of their customers both socially and through their preferences. The
majority of millennial consumers purchase business products based on the company’s
social responsibility reputation. Often, consumers reward socially responsible busi-
nesses through increasing their brand loyalty and being engaged in the business’ char-
itable activities for the greater good of the community. However, similar consumers
can go to extreme extents to punish socially irresponsible businesses through product
boycotts and negative business publicity. As a business manager aiming at developing
a sustainable business, it is important to recognize social issues that matter to your
customers.
10.7.3 Motivating Your Employees
Another way of using social responsibility to build a sustainable business is through

development of socially responsible initiatives that motivate your employees. Busi-
ness managers understand that one of the greatest assets that a business could have are
motivated employees. Majority of current workers take into account the levels of busi-
ness engagements in socially responsible activities. According to Verčič and Verčič
(2018), 76% of millennial workers attach great importance to a company’s social and
environmental commitments. Building a sustainable business would require your
business to develop strategies of retaining your productive workforce as well as
attracting new talents to ensure improved future business growth. Thus, developing
social responsibilities can be used to attract and motivate employees and consequently
leading to sustainable growth.
10.8 Bottom Line
The bottom line of every business is to minimize costs while maximizing profits.
Building a sustainable business should therefore take into consideration the busi-
ness’ relation of profits. While developing business social responsibility activities,
it is important that you take into account how the activities s will affect the busi-
ness’ bottom line (Suganthi, 2020). For instance, in developing socially responsible
activities such as engaging in recycling activities to rid the community of pollution,
the activities should also be cost-effective for the business to ensure reduced costs
and maximization of profits. Often, socially responsible activities can be favorable
10.8 Bottom Line 89
for the business’s bottom line and ensuring sustainable business development. For
example, switching to environmentally friendly lighting such as using solar power
can be socially responsible while supporting business sustainability.
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William Philip Wall

Strategies to improve competitive position and consolidate

ISBN 978-981-16-7754-0 ISBN 978-981-16-7755-7 (eBook)

1 Global Competition—The Battlefield . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

3.3 The Business Innovation Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

6.3.2 Communicating Human Resources Benefits

9 Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation—Now What Do

10.7.2 Recognizing the Important Social Issues to Your

1.1 Scope of Business Competition

In many business environments, companies compete against each other for

1.2 Types of Competition

1.3 Forms of Competition

1.3.1 Perfect Competition

Perfect competition refers to a situation characterized by many competitors offering

1.3.2 Monopoly Competition

In a monopoly form of competition, the market is characterized by a single seller

1.3.3 Monopolistic Competition

1.3.4 Oligopoly Competition

to maintain their competitive edge. Similarly, the oligopolistic competition market

1.4 Dynamic Competition in the New Era

2.1 Definitions of Marketing

In the current competitive business environment, marketing has established itself as

The American Marketing Association defines marketing as:

On the other hand, Business Dictionary defines marketing as:

process involving the activities of planning, implementing and controlling a mixture

2.2 Practicing Marketing

2.3 Marketing and Thai Culture

2.4 Applying the 4P’s of Marketing

Price is as simple as it sounds. However, the mechanism of pricing is important

Place refers to the “placement” or distribution of products. the marketing concept of

strategies. Inferring to Lahtinen et al. (2020) in the current marketing environment,

2.4.5 Positioning Strategies

2.4.6 Developing a Position Statement

2.4.7 Identifying Current Market Position

2.4.8 Analyzing Competitor Positioning

2.4.9 Developing a Unique Position

Effective positioning in the business market requires the development of a unique

3.1 Business Innovation

In business, innovation implies the practice of introducing new ideas, workflows,

need to be made periodically. It may come in many different forms—manufacturing

3.2 Applying the Four Types of Innovation

Whether the business is in its initial start-up stage or it is an established organization,

3.2.1 Incremental Innovation

3.2.2 Disruptive Innovation

This type of innovation is also referred to as stealth innovation. It involves using

3.2.3 Architectural Innovation

3.2.4 Radical Innovation

Radical innovation implies the application of new technology in a new market.

3.3 The Business Innovation Process

Innovation processes in business aim at increasing the companies’ future values.

3.3.1 Step 1: Idea Generation and Mobilization

3.3.2 Step 2: Advocacy and Screening

3.3.3 Step 3: Experimentation

3.3.4 Step 4: Commercialization

3.3.5 Step 5: Diffusion and Implementation

3.4 Challenges to Innovation and Support Services

Innovation is crucially tied to developments, and implementation of innovation

Fig. 3.1 The four types of

Abstract The discourse in chapter four centers on the significance of informa-