Effect of strategic market management development on the performance of small food processing industry in Chiangmai, Thailand

Total number of small food processing firms equaled 37.33 percent of the number of all food-processing firms in Chiang Mai. Their total investment was about 920 million baht or 20.05 percent of the total investment in food processing industry. They totally employed 2,257 workers or 32.3 percent of total employment in food processing industry or 6.1 percent of the total employment in industrial sector in Chiang Mai. The proportion of the number of firms in the rural area to the city ones was 2:1. About ninety percent of the industry's input was farm produce directly bought from local individual and farmes group. Fifty six percent of the owners or managers of small food processing firms were male. Their average age was 40.69 years old. Over two-third of them finished bachelor degree or higher level. About three-fourth of the owners or shareholders were the managers of their firms. Half of the firms' managers were from Chiang Mai and surrounding provinces. Two-third of the managers had never attended any strategic management-training course. The over all strategic market management knowledge of the owners or managers was in moderate level. Strategic management training experience had a positive relation to knowledge, implying that strategic market management training could be an appropriate approach to develop the knowledge of its kind among the owners or managers of small food processing firms in Chiang Mai. Most of the owners or managers (73.8 percent) had indifferent attitude toward strategic market management Although about half of them had some strategic market management skills, they were averagely still in a very low level. Most of them performed only one or two, out of ten, necessary activities. The overall results of this study implied that strategic market management posture could be developed by means of developing strategic market management knowledge, attitude, and skills through workshop, networking development, group and individual in-house counseling program. The development of posture will then affect firm's general management and marketing development in short run, and has a tendency to affect economic development and social contribution in long run.