However, there is a dearth of evidence on Thai manufacturing SMEs particularly in terms of their entrepreneur and innovation, technical efficiency and their determinants. The primary motivation of this study is to upon identifying: (1) key factors contributing to the technical (in) efficiency of these SMEs such as entrepreneur characteristics (age, gender, education, work experience) and innovation, (2) the technical efficiency performance of Thai manufacturing SMEs, and (3) policy measures aimed at improving the technical efficiency of Thai manufacturing SMEs.
In doing so this study will facilitate: (1) identification of entrepreneur characteristics and innovation impacting upon the technical (in)efficiency of overall manufacturing SMEs, (2) a clearer understanding of the technical efficiency performance of Thai manufacturing SMEs, utilising the most substantive and most recently available cross‐sectional firm‐level data from the World Bank Enterprise Survey, (3) identifying the role, significance and
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Teerawat Charoenrat and Charles Harvie
contribution of Thai manufacturing SMEs, (4) identification policy measures likely to be most effective in enhancing SME technical efficiency performance.