THE COMPETITIVENESS OF THAILAND IN HARD DISK DRIVE EXPORT AND FOUR ASEAN COMPETITORS

Abstract

“The Competitiveness of Thailand in Hard Disk Drive Export and Four ASEAN Competitors: Singapore, Malaysia, Philippine, and Indonesia” aimed to determine the situations of productions, exports, and to suggest recommendations for Thailand’s HDD exporters in order to enhance the competitiveness of Thailand’s HDD exporting industry. There are two sections in this study. Section 1 Quantitative Analysis. This section included analysis of competitiveness by comparing Thailand’s HDDs that were exported to the markets in the United States of America, China, and Japan. The analysis was done using Balassa’s Revealed Comparative Advantage Index (RCA). This section also included Leamer’s Constant Market Share Analysis (CMS) to compare Thailand with the four rivalling countries. The data in CMS analysis were time series data collected annually from 2003 to 2012. Section 2 Qualitative Analysis. This section presented strengths and weaknesses of Thailand’s HDD exporting industry. The analysis was done based on various sources of information including interviews with businesses that were related to HDD industry. From the analysis of RCA and CMS, using the data from 2003 to 2012, the results displayed that Thailand obtained RCA value greater than 1 in every market and also maintain significant market shares. From the study of productions and markets, Thailand is still the largest HDD producer and exporter in the world. Because of Thai government’s policy and the quality of Thai workforce that are better that those of rivalries. However, Thailand must continue to improve its weaknesses such as the research and development in technology, the dependency on importing parts, and the collaboration between government and businesses. If the mentioned areas are improved, it would certainly strengthen the industry competitiveness in the future.