Key success factors and competitiveness of the food processing industry: Insights from a qualitative study

Abstract

The key success factors (KSFs) are requirements for competitiveness in the food industry, especially for Thai food processing exporters. This research aims to identify and explore the KSFs that provide an operating framework of the KSFs as contributing to business success and empirically develop analytical KSFs. The methodology applied in this research was qualitative based on in-depth case-study designs with two successful Thai exporters and senior managers with varying experiences through interviews and secondary research such as media reports and internal documents. The constant comparative method analyzed the data using Corbin and Strauss’ (2008) techniques to determine and analyze the data with four stages. The results showed that the KSFs were resources (human resources, physical resources, and financial resources); capabilities (marketing capability); including competitiveness (product efficiency). This aligns with prior research, notably Ghosh et al. (2001), who asserted that these factors constitute the essential requisites for triumph in a particular market. This viewpoint is further substantiated by the works of Barney et al. (2011), and Ferreira and Fernandes (2017), which emphasize the substantial impact of tangible and intangible resources and a firm’s capabilities on both its profitability and overall market performance. The benefits from this research are enormous in successfully implementing the export management strategy, which can be applied in other contexts in Thailand’s food processing industry.