Author(s): Surathan Parapornpisut, Jusana Techakana, Sunee Wantanakomol
Small and micro community enterprises (SMCE’s) are regarded as the grassroots economy of Thailand. At present, 70.01 percent of SMCE’s face a main problem of marketing strategy management because globalization has caused dynamic consumer changes (SMCE Promotion Division, 2021). The objective of this research was to study strategies for marketing management of SMCE’s to achieve sustainability. The study was a mixed research, using qualitative and quantitative methods. The quantitative research was a survey with a sample of 500 SMCE entrepreneurs.
The results showed that Strategies for Marketing Management of SMCE’s to Achieve Sustainability encompassed five factors consisting of: 1) “Community Centric”: the most important sub-item was “organizing contest activities for members in the community to participate in creating and developing new products or services”. These activities became the genesis of creative developments, 2) “Marketing Insights”: the most important sub-item was “tracking information on changes in social and cultural trends as a basis for marketing decisions”, 3) “Making Products”: the most important sub-item was “displaying important information clearly regarding directions to use and expiration dates on packages”, 4) “Selling Products”: the most important sub- item was “having specialists to be consultants for SMCE entrepreneurs on selling activities”, and 5) “Promoting Products”: the most important sub-item was “including participating in trade shows to introduce products or services to consumers”. The hypothesis testing revealed that difference in type of business between “the tangible product community enterprise” and “the intangible service community enterprise” is insignificant. The statistical non- significance of this study was set at 0.05.
The analysis of the structural equation model showed that the results passed the assessment criteria with the empirical data. The Chi-square Probability Level (CMIN- ρ) was 0.072, The Relative Chi-square (CMIN/DF) was 1.095. The Goodness of Fit Index (GFI) was 0.940. The Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) was 0.014.