Author(s): Pornthep Navakitkanok, Supavadee Aramvith and Achara Chandrachai
Recently, the development of innovation has changed dramatically due to the advancement of digital technology. The evolution of industrial development is inevitably bound to play an important role in the operations of entrepreneurs and businesses. The agro-processing industry is one of the most valuable industries in many countries. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are important groups in the development and promotion of economic progress. Entrepreneurs need to direct various orientations and operations to support the occurring changes in order to act auspiciously. Entrepreneurship models in the past have studied Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO), Marketing Orientation (MO), and Learning Orientation (LO), but not the Digital Orientation (DO) and Industry 4.0 Readiness Orientation perspectives. This study explores the development of an entrepreneurship model of SMEs’ which processes agriculture, which affects the firm performances of the digital and industry era by studying important factors explained in literature on priori entrepreneurial model. Two new factors were added, DO and IRO, which affects both financial and non-financial performances of the firm. Qualitative research was conducted through in-depth interviews with 19 people, 5 experts and 14 entrepreneurs, in the agro-processing industry, to obtain a prototype of the entrepreneurial model. A quantitative study of practitioners was considered, and 340 samples were involved. The results show the importance and necessity of entrepreneurship models with 4 orientations, Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO), Market and Learning Orientation (MLO), Digital orientation and Organization Strategy (DOS) and Industries 4.0 Adaptability Orientation (IAO). The implication of the model in this study was to assess entrepreneurship for developing entrepreneurs, who will be ready for digital and industrial 4.0 in the future.