PRODUCT TYPE CHOOSING AND THE COMPETITIVENESS OF CHICKEN HALAL FOOD SMES IN SONGKHLA, THAILAND AND KEDAH, MALAYSIA

Abstract

The paper aimed to study factors influencing halal food SMEs to produce between intermediate chicken products and finished chicken products, and compare those between halal food SMEs in Songkhla, Thailand and Kedah, Malaysia. 240 samples were collected with accidental and quota sampling. The data were analyzed with technics of binomial logistic regression and t-test due to its ability to analyze binary data and compare factor differences, respectively. The findings indicated that Songkhla entrepreneurs have less average income per month three times more than Kedah entrepreneurs because Songkhla SMEs focus on producing intermediate goods only while Kedah SMEs produce both intermediate and finished goods. In addition, the funding accessibility factor has a negative correlation on Songkhla SMEs as they would invest on expanding intermediate goods rather than finished goods. The finished good price factor could lead Songkhla SMEs to increase finished goods production. In contrast, Kedah SMEs would produce goods which have higher price. For this reason, Thai government should support Songkhla entrepreneurs by funding SMEs which intent to produce finished goods as a main priority and also improve local halal finished good price. As a result, Thai halal food SMEs could move their product type from intermediate to finished goods and gain benefits from a higher price of their products.