What Are The Antecedents to Creating Sustainable Corporate Entrepreneurship in Thailand?

Abstract

Corporate entrepreneurship (CE) is broadly seen as an essential tool for competitiveness, particularly in today’s fast-paced and complex global economy. However, there is a lack of research on the CE strategies of Asian companies in response to the Asian financial and the global financial crisis in developing Asian countries. In this study, the model of CE antecedents and effects is examined for 287 Thai managers at various levels within the targeted firms’ operating in a wide variety of industries. Specifically, the impact of internal environment factors on CE and the relationship between CE and diverse firm performance aspects is mediated by process innovation. Results indicate that only three of the five antecedents to CE have primary effects on CE as well as process innovation. CE has a significant indirect effect on company performance through the mediation of process innovation. Process innovation is found to be a predictor of innovation performance and a predictor of marketing performance, which in turn affects financial outcomes. The implications of these results for both CE theory and practice are discussed. As there is a dearth of empirical research in this area, this paper makes a useful contribution by highlighting the CE initiatives of Thai companies to survive any future crises and the stiff competition present in the Asian region. Keywords: Corporate entrepreneurship (CE), process innovation, firm performance, Corporate Entrepreneurship Assessment Instrument, structural equation modeling. To cite this document: Laddawan Lekmat and John Chelliah, "What Are The Antecedents to Creating Sustainable Corporate Entrepreneurship in Thailand?", Contemporary Management Research, Vol.10, No.3, pp.181-202, 2014. Permanent link to this document: http://dx.doi.org/10.7903/cmr.11741