Strategic Position and Action Evaluation (SPACE)
The SPACE matrix determines whether you should use an aggressive, conservative, defensive, or competitive approach for your business strategy. As you learned about in Unit 2, internal and external organizational analysis is necessary to use this tool. As you read through this section, think about the advantages and disadvantages of each. The SPACE matrix is yet another tool to help you determine your potential strategy. After you read this content, you will be able to identify the internal and external strategic positions to consider when using this tool.
Introduction
Without proper and clear strategic position, or long-term measures, the pineapple industry in Chiang Rai will continue to face periodic uncertainty in dealing with oversupply, which often cause prices to drop and farmers suffer. Until now, most measures are short-term basis, i.e.,government setups emergency funds, and makes use of its institutional structure in the province to purchase pineapples for sales at various department stores and shops.
There are many reasons, but mainly due to unorganized or systematic strategic management effort of the industry. Reasons often cited are that there are no local sales or collective points to help distribute the over-supplied pineapples, and further argued that the farmers are required to travel long distances to reach pineapple manufacturers, such as those in the eastern province of Rayong or the province of Prachuap Khiri Khan in the upper southern region. Associated with the far-distance on logistics and lacking of the financial ability of the farmers to hire workers for harvesting, many farmers are forced to leave their pineapples to ripen and rot in the fields. Albeit the inherent weaknesses unresolved, Thailand is still one of the largest producers and exporters of agricultural products that are acceptable to international markets, and pineapple industry is among the leading potentiality. Fig. 1-2 show that pineapples lead other agricultural product exports from Thailand.
Fig. 1: Export Volume of Fruits in Thailand
Fig. 2: Export Value of Fruits in Thailand
Thailand occupies about fifty per cents of the global market share in the production and export of pineapples, mainly contributed by the Southern part of the country. Ranked among the pineapple by-products exported are canned pineapples, at USD 615 million in 2016, followed by juice, frozen and dried pineapples.
The objective of this study is to provide a snapshot of some representative manufacturers and traders of pineapples in A. Mueang of ChiangRai in terms of their perceived competitiveness states in the industry, and suggest strategy position posture that could help them improve their business performances. Along with this objective, a comparison of their perceptions, in between manufacturers and traders, and their managers and workers, is presented. In addition, a relationship of organizational factors in support of workforce contributed organizational performance, is examined, which is further linked to the resulting perceived competitiveness states, both internally and externally.