1. TAWEESAK THEPPITAK - Faculty of Logistics, Burapha University, Thailand.
Today, logistics industry is increasingly recognized as important role for economic growth in Thailand. As truck business facilitates door-to-door transportation, and it is fierce competition. In Thailand, it has currently 823,820 trucks as most of them are small and medium enterprises (SME). They have many problems and barriers to operate in dynamic businesses. The paper examines problematic situations and evaluate competitiveness of Thai truck companies. It also analyses factors influence to enhance their competitive advantage. The literature is reviewed in area of truck performance and competitiveness. The questionnaire survey is conducted through 280 samplings and 232 returned with response rate at 82.8 percent. In-depth interview is conducted through 35 owners and top management. The validity and reliability are examined. The result reveals that most of them are SMEs and sufficiently lack logistics knowledge and skills, including access to financial resource and business networks. The study shows that knowledge, standard, network and professional are key success to increase their competitive advantage. As a result, they would effectively facilitate cost reduction, increasing responsiveness and higher service quality to customers. It also provides recommendations to facilitate Thai truck entrepreneurs to develop their higher standard and performance, including enhancing competitiveness.
Truck, Performance, Measurement, Competitiveness, Thailand.