Foreign firm strategic intent and its interrelationship/alignment with Thai cultural and social values

Thailand’s economic growth and national development has characterised the country as an emerging dragon since the end of the Asian financial crisis in 1998. It became one of East Asia’s major economic performers for the period 2002-2005. Thailand has undergone a major economic transformation and has attracted continual foreign investment due to the implementation of more relaxed foreign direct investment policies as opposed to restricting foreign investor participation. Presently, the building construction sector is experiencing steady growth and the majority of foreign MNEs and SMEs in Thailand are reaping financial benefits. Businesses exist for the purpose of making profit. The difference in businesses in Asia (Thailand) and the West is the manner in which they conduct themselves. The sociocultural work environment between Western and Eastern organisations is unique such that they are both affected by shared values and beliefs in the countries of operation. This research addresses the need to understanding the influence of Thai socio-cultural milieu on foreign firm strategic decision making to achieve competitive advantage and benefits. The ability to do business in Thailand requires an understanding of Thai people and the way they conduct business affairs. It is about internalization and co-alignment. Hence, the research title, ‘foreign firm strategic intent and its interrelationship/alignment with Thai cultural and social values’. There is a lack of study that investigates the alignment of foreign firm strategic intent and Thai values. Research objectives were set in that regard to allow conducting the research within the specific context that addressed the topic area of strategy-culture fit. To investigate the interrelationship/alignment of foreign firm strategic intent with Thai social and cultural values, survey questionnaire items were developed to help understand and identify the significance of the interrelationship. The survey questionnaire was designed to target participants within randomly selected companies operating in Thailand’s building industry covering construction and building services. One hundred (100) usable questionnaires were returned, equivalent to approximately 45% return rate which was considered a reasonable return rate. SPSS software program version 15.0 was used to conduct statistical analysis on the collected data. Data analysis involved Descriptive and Frequency, Pearson correlation coefficient, Phi and Cramers V, Chi-square and Crosstabulation, Independent t-test and Factor analysis to explore relationships among variables. The statistical analysis demonstrated that an alignment exists between foreign firm strategic intent and Thailand’s social and cultural aspects. The general alignment of company strategic intent and Thai social and cultural aspects was mainly ‘harmonious’ in more than half the companies. In light of the findings of the research, limitations, future research directions, shortcomings and recommendations are also discussed. Further research needs to be conducted to evaluate and establish the better understanding of Thai values where the ratio of males to female is 50:50