Exploring Success Factors of Small Businesses: Elecon International

This report delves into the factors influencing the success and struggles of small businesses, focusing on Elecon International, a manufacturing firm in Thailand. The research examines the importance of management and leadership, human resources, and financial factors in driving business growth. The report investigates the challenges faced by SMEs, such as resource scarcity, lack of finance, and marketing limitations. The study employs a comprehensive methodology including literature review, research methodology, findings and analysis and focus group discussions. The findings highlight the significance of leadership, human capital, and creative management in overcoming challenges and achieving sustainable growth. The report concludes with recommendations for fostering small business development and provides insights into the critical elements for success in a competitive market.

Why small businesses struggle:
Factors that make small businesses
successful

TABLE OF CONTENTS
TOPIC:.............................................................................................................................................1
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................1
Research Background..................................................................................................................1
Aims and Objectives...................................................................................................................2
Rationale.....................................................................................................................................2
Problem Statement......................................................................................................................3
Dissertation Outline....................................................................................................................3
Research Methodology....................................................................................................................3
Findings & Analysis ......................................................................................................................4
Interpretation & Discussion.............................................................................................................4
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.........................................................................................4
Introduction.................................................................................................................................4
Theme 1: Factors associated with success of small business (Elecon International)..................4
Theme 2: The importance of human resource's management and leadership with small
business.......................................................................................................................................7
Theme 3: Challenges faced by Elecon International firm in there operations and functions of
management and leadership........................................................................................................9
Theme 4: Recommendations for further growth and development of small businesses in the
market place. ............................................................................................................................10
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY...........................................................................11
Introduction...............................................................................................................................11
Research Methods/Type............................................................................................................12
Research Approach...................................................................................................................12
Research Design........................................................................................................................12
Research Philosophies...............................................................................................................13
Sampling...................................................................................................................................13
Data Collection..........................................................................................................................14
Data Analysis............................................................................................................................14
Ethical Consideration................................................................................................................15

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS & ANALYSIS ....................................................................................15
Primary Research......................................................................................................................15
Focus Group Discussion...........................................................................................................27
CHAPTER 5: INTERPRETATION & DISCUSSION.................................................................28
Discussion of Focus Group Discussion.....................................................................................31
CHAPTER 6: RECOMMENDATIONS & CONCLUSION.........................................................33
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................33
Recommendation.......................................................................................................................34
CHAPTER 7: REFLECTION........................................................................................................35
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................37

TOPIC:
“To explore factors of management and leadership in success and struggle of small
business in Thailand. A study on Elecon International”.
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
Research Background
A health economy requires small business growth and sustainability. When small
businesses are healthy and prosperous, the community at large benefits and prospers too. Small
businesses are the backbone of the community along with entire economy. Small businesses are
privately owned corporation, partnership, sole proprietorship that have fever employees and less
annual revenue that a regular sized business or corporation. The types of business on small scale
are cafe, grocery shops, bakeries, translation services, care décor, medical shops, clothes and
shoes and many others which have small capital investment in the business. SME's plays a key
role in the socio-economic development of the nation (Ogunyomi and Bruning, 2016).
In terms of job creation in Thailand, Small businesses plays a great deal. The contribution
of small businesses to the economy is incredible as the Thai economy has increases SME by over
3 million in 2018 and government is also planning to increase more by 2020. There were 2.7
million small businesses that contribute over 37 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) of
Thailand is contributed by SME's as well as it also provide employment to more than 10 million
people. Thailand economy is mainly based on the export of goods and services, so government
has decided to expand the business at both level, domestic and overseas (Contribution of SME to
Thai Economy, 2018).
Leadership and Management plays a crucial role in the success of the small bushinesses
because SME's struggles a lot in achieving the success. Active leadership and management is
required for executing success because if they are not perfect than it is not possible to achieve the
heights as well as grab advantages of opportunities lead by government for business expansion.
On the other hand, Small scale businesses faces various issues and challenges in operating the
business such as scarcity of resources, lack of finance, lack of technology, bad economic
environment and lack of marketing assistance (Debroux, 2017). By these issues, they have to
struggle to survive in the market place.
Thus, Researcher will use various techniques and methods to explore the factors of
management and leadership in the success and struggles of small businesses in Thailand. The
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chosen business is Elecon International. It is small business of manufacturing switches which is
located in Silom Bangkok, Thailand. Company was founded in 1995 with the aim of becoming
leading provides of electronic devices and components.
Aims and Objectives
Aim:
“To explore factors of management and leadership in success and struggle of small
business in Thailand. A study on Elecon International”.
Objectives:
 To determine the factors associated with success of Elecon International.
 To identify the importance of human resource's management and leadership with small
business.
 To determine the challenges faced by Elecon International firm in there operations and
functions of management and leadership.
 To provide recommendations for further growth and development of small businesses in
the market place.
Research Questions
1. What the factors associated with the success of Elecon International?
2. What are the importance of human resource's management and leadership with small
business?
3. What challenges faced by Elecon International in there operations and functions of
management and leadership?
4. What are the recommendations for further growth and development of small businesses
in the market place?
Rationale
Small businesses and start-ups are the key trends in recent times because of incredible
growth and development as well as great contribution to the economy of nations. By conducting
this research, researcher will gain the understanding of importance of SME's for the success of
the economy as not only Thailand but there are many countries in which more than half of the
contribution is made by small businesses. Further, researcher will also understand how
leadership and management contribute to success of the SME's by overcoming struggle. So, the
personal interest of researcher is a reason. On the other hand, academic interest of researcher is
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another reason why researcher has chosen this topic to study, as scholar will understand the
entire research structure, research methodologies and the most important how to conduct real
survey by using survey monkey site.
Problem Statement
This present research is based on the small businesses and the factors that leads to
success of the firm. SME's face many issues and problems in operating the business. SME's
struggles for the capital requirements, government regulation, requirements of working capital,
infrastructure, cash flows, tax compliance, lack of technologies and many others. Further, due to
scarcity of money and other resources, they could not able to hire experts for effective leadership
and management styles (Morley, Heraty and Michailova, 2016). In addition to this, SME's have
calibre to gain achieve the success but because of lack of marketing assistance, they are not able
to use marketing techniques, strategies, tools because of lack of money and budget. On the other
hand, researcher also face issues in conducting the research as researcher like in evaluation of
research methodologies, selecting the structure and one of the most problematic task is filling
questionnaire from focus groups.
Dissertation Outline
Chapter 1. Introduction This chapter outlines the summary of the topic on
which research study is based on. In this present
study, scholar will focus on brief understanding of
topic of the investigation along with aims and
objectives and research questions.
Chapter 2. Literature Review In dissertation this is the second chapter where the
discussion of secondary facts along with finding from
various authentic sources will be studied. All the
sources are valid and reliable. Literature reviews will
be written on the basis of themes that is prepared by
research objectives.
Chapter 3. Research Methodology In this chapter of dissertation, researcher will provide
a critical review of and justification of the research
methods that are used in collection of data as well as
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data analysis. Researcher will also provide the
justification for selecting the research methodologies.
Chapter 4 Findings & Analysis This is most important chapter of the dissertation
because the entire study is based on this chapter. This
present chapter will present the tools for the
implication of the research.
Chapter 5 Interpretation &
Discussion
In this chapter the discussion of how the findings and
analysis link to the literature reviews that influenced
the thinking of researcher will be discussed.
Chapter 6 Recommendations and
Conclusion
This chapter provided the recommendations on the
basis of the outcomes of the result of data collection
as well as gist the entire study briefly.
Chapter 7: Reflection This present chapter is based on the personal
reflective view point of the research that included all
the own experience, learning and challenges faced
during the research.
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
Literature review is the very important chapter of the research as it helps in gaining the
insight and deep information regarding the topic by using authentic sources. It is the narrative
view of scholarly paper that includes current knowledge including substantive findings as well as
theoretical contribution. In this present section, researcher will provide the detail information on
small businesses as well as make a critical evaluation of and demonstrate application of theories,
principles and framework drawn from a range of relevant and appropriate referenced academic
and particular literature. Researcher has farmed the heading on the basis of research objectives.
Theme 1: Factors associated with success of small business (Elecon International).
As per the Saleem, (2017) small scale businesses plays a crucial role in the economy as
well as it contribute a great deal in terms of creation of job. Small businesses are said to be hero
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of modern capitalism. Owners of SME's are the virtuous strivers, job creators and the plucky
entrepreneur who drive the economy to the development and growth. It is very important for that
government should focus on providing opportunities to the businesses because they are the
drivers of the economy. Small scale businesses are achieving great heights of success because of
government support and there are many other factors which are associated with the success of
businesses. However, Storey, (2016) stated that, there is no doubt that a person who starts
businesses have a main objective to grow and develop the enterprises more and more. The
success of SME's is depends on both financial, non-financial factors and external and internal
factors. Adequate amount of working capital along with working capital is very important
element to leads the business towards success. It is because if capital requirement is not adequate
than it is not possible to conduct the activities like purchasing of raw material, paying bills,
salary to staff and all other operating activities. For example, Elecon International firm is now
leading from last few years and grown drastically because of adequate capital and cash flows as
well as optimum utilisation of the resources.
According to the Bouazza, Ardjouman and Abada, (2015) human capital is another
factors that s associated with the success of the business because if the human capital is not their
than it is not possible to achieve success. Business need skilled and knowledgeable employees
and should have suitable roles and responsibilities that they can do there best. To be a successful
it is important to have managers, admin assistance, leaders, receptionist and all other types of
business roles. However, Dunne and et.al., (2016) said that, it is not possible for the all small
firms to gave all these job roles because of scarcity of financial resources and space. There are
many small firms which are operating less than 10 staff members. As per the finding of Perry,
Rahim and Davis, (2018) human resources are the backbone of the company irrespective to its
size and scale. It is because alone an owner or any other person cannot run the firm. So, it is very
crucial to have the adequate requirement of human capital within firm.
Mohamad Radzi and et.al., (2017) stressed on another factor is creativity in management
as every small businesses needs the creative influence of an entrepreneur. Creativity involves
bringing something innovative and as a process involves a management. In today's business era,
companies either small or big are operating in a highly competitive, international environment
making creativity important. Creative management also reduces the wastage of resources and
time as well as make the operation productive. For example, Deliotte is a small start-up and with
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the creative management, it is leading in the world by having $43.2 billions revenue and 286,200
employees. As per the views of Bansal and Agarwal, (2015) economic factors is another factors
that is associated with the success of small businesses as if the economic conditions of nation is
stable than organisation have steady growth towards in the market but if the economic conditions
are not stable than it is will affect the survival of the company. In the period of high inflation, it
becomes challenging because it negatively affects the cost of input such as electricity, raw
material and fuel.
According to the Parnell, Long and Lester, (2015) customer service is another factor that
plays a key role in the success and growth of the business. Customers are key to achieve success
so, it is very important to keep customers motivated and loyal to the firm. They are the drivers of
the business. The product or services offered by SME's should able to satisfy the needs and
expectations of customers. Segmentation Targeting and Positioning is one of the best model that
is used by small scale firms to target the right audience in a right manner and achieve strategic
positioning in the market. By using this model, businesses can satisfy the customers by
identifying their needs and expectations. However, Kirchberger and Pohl, (2016) said that,
location of the business is another important factor that is associated with success of the
business. It is very important that the goods and services which offered by the firm should able
to reach the customers. In addition to this, presence on internet is also a way to reach large
number of customers. The products of Elecon International firm also have presence on internet
platform so that large amount of customers could acquire the products (switches) of the
company. But Lee and et.al., (2015) argued that, it is not possible for all small scale businesses to
operate the business on social media also, because it requires proper attention and updates to
make the customers attached to the company. Presence on internet platform also requires human
resource to manage the pages and websites which is not at all possible for all small scale
organisation.
According to the Yusubova and Clarysse, (2016) government subsidies is another most
important factor affecting the growth and development of the business. Government of all
countries are supporting the expansion of small scale businesses as the contribution made by
SME's are incredible to the economy. For example, the government has set lofty goal to raise the
contribution of SME's to 50 percent of Thai GDP under the nations;s 13th national social and
economic development plan (2012-25). In addition to this, The ministry of Commerce of
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Thailand has also planned to develop a national e-commerce platform in order to support small
and medium scale businesses.
Theme 2: The importance of human resource's management and leadership with small business.
According to the Dunne and et.al., (2016) leadership and human resource management
plays a key role in the development and growth of small scale businesses. These are the key to
achieve success because it is fact that only a single person cannot run the business. Leaders are
the one who initiate actions, provide guidance, motivate employees, build moral and drives the
entire firm towards the goals and objectives of the company. Effective leadership and
management is very crucial to run the business by gaining profitability in the business. Strong
leaders helps the SME's to ruin the business smoothly as well as achieving profitability to
achieve business goals. However, Nolan and Garavan, (2016) said that, many small business
have less than 5 to 10 employees and thus they believe that human resource management plays a
minor role. But, the fact is that even there is only single employee, business have to understand
the human resource as well as how effectively it manages the workforce within the firm. If
leadership and management is not perfect, business struggles in achieving success in the market.
Human resource and leadership management helps small business by hiring and retaining the
best possible talent within the business The truth is that Human resource is actually very
important for the SME due to significant impact on the business. Further, human resource
management also helps in strategic management as it allows improving the bottom-line of the
firm with its knowledge of how human resource capital influenced the success of the firm. They
also help in managing the entire decisions related to business expansion, working capital staffing
and all other important decisions of the firms.
As per the view of Taneja, Pryor and Hayek, (2016) leadership is the key to achieve
success as it helps to maximise efficiency and to achieve organisational goals. Leaders are those
that initiate actions when managers plan and formulate policies and strategies for completing
task or achieve desire goals. Motivation at workplace is also comes from the leaders within
organisation as they prove to be playing the role of incentive at workplace. But not only leaders
even human resource managers also keep the employees motivated within organisation by
listening their concerns. However, Goffee and Scase, (2015) said that leaders are the guide in the
organisation as they used to guide employees of the firm as they do not play the role of
supervisors. They make the employees to work in a way to they perform to raise the efficiency
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and affectivity at workplace. In addition to this, the growth of small businesses tends to slow at
the initial stage so, it is very important to keep the employees motivated as well as confident.
Leader keeps the employees motivated and confident by explaining the clear role and providing
guidance to them. They also listen the complaints and issues of employees in small businesses. It
is fact that no any businesses can achieve height of success without leadership. Leaders are the
one who build a motivated and happy work environment at workplace.
However, as per the findings of Koryak and et.al., (2015) In small businesses, directive
leadership style plays a key in small businesses because leaders knows exactly how task is
performed and what is the deadlines. This leadership ship style avoid the wastage by clearing the
goals and providing proper guidelines that results in optimum utilisation of resources. So, this
type of leaders are very important for the small businesses. But Haynes, Hitt and Campbell,
(2015) argued that this leadership style is only suited for those employees who needs close
guidance as senior employees do not waste the resources they make fully utilisation of resources.
So, this style of leadership is only appropriate with new joiners and trainers. Renko and et.al.,
(2015) stressed on the participative leadership style is one of the best style for the success of
small business as it plays a key role. It is because leaders in this leadership style involve the
opinion and ideas of all the employees that boost the innovation and innovation is the key to get
success in the market place. This leadership style is valuable for the small firms.
As per the findings of Baum, (2015) Human resource management is also one another
most essential factor in running the successful business either small or big. It has been identified
from the report that, more than 85 percent of employed Americans are leaving their jobs for the
better benefits, flexible working environment and recruitment and retaining the right talent
(Importance of Human Resource Management in SME, 2018). Even so, human resource
departments operate with the well-being of their employee as their priority and the strategies they
use might be vary as per the size of the company. In simple words. Small firms might have to
look at the human resource and it role from entirely a different perspective as compare to big
firms. However, Owen and Bakari, (2018) said that, it is very important to have the best human
resource department because in small businesses owners and managers have to wear more hats.
This means there are huge chances of overlapping the roles and responsibilities like recruitment,
formulating HR budgets, preparing financial statements, policies and managing payroll.
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Theme 3: Challenges faced by Elecon International firm in there operations and functions of
management and leadership.
According to the Krishnan and Scullion, (2017) Today the world is globally market
oriented and with that small businesses faced ample of challenges in the fast paced. When it
comes to the successful leadership, attributes like vision, integrity, communication and curiosity
never go out of style. Not only big businesses, but small businesses also needs effective
leadership and management because it is not possible got only single owner to manage the
recruitment and retention challenges, keep updated with the latest technology and exhibit
powerful business acumen. Lack of resources is one of the biggest challenges faced by small
businesses in maintaining the functions and operations of small businesses as said by Sayles,
(2017). At initial stage, they are not able to set up the whole businesses like assets and staff
members. Lack of fund is the biggest challenge that organisations have small firms faced in
managing the leadership and management within organisation. It is true that for conducting
business working capital is required along with the capital requirement. As per the views of
Masa'deh, Obeidat and Tarhini, (2016) hiring talented staff is another challenge that is faced in
managing leadership and management. For effective functions and operations, management
requires talented candidates because they take all the decisions for the company. Many small
business owners think that they will manage all the things but it is very tangled to hire right
people at right job.
As per the views of Haddock-Millar, Sanyal and Müller-Camen, (2016) technology
adaption is another issue that is faced by the small firms because it raises the cost of operations
as it is somewhat expensive for them. There are many advantages of using advance technologies
but rapid changing in technologies creates so much clashes in the firm such as installation cost,
employee resistance etc. However, Mullins and Schoar, (2016) argued that, the capacity to adopt
advance technology can awkward and expensive for all size of firms but especially for small
businesses. For example, adopting cloud technologies by switching the old storage of data as it
saves ample of resources of the firm such as cost, time and workforce. As per the views of
Hillary, (2017) change management and leadership management are two one of the
interconnected challenges that organisation faced. There are various changes that businesses
have to go through with and it is very important to adopt the changes as soon as possible to gain
competitive advantages in the market. The standardized procedure for shifting from one platform
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