Abstract:
The rubber latex industry of Thailand plays a significant role in the country income. However, most rubber latex is exported as a raw material which is extremely low value compared to that of product. Therefore, Thailand should increase the rubber latex product manufacturing industry in order to generate sustainable income for the country. To achieve this, the introducing of the innovation to the rubber latex industry is one possible way. Nevertheless, according to the insufficient innovation performance of the Thai rubber latex industry, this research aimed to study the current status of the innovation of Thai rubber latex industry and the factors affecting the innovation situation in order to design the process model for the innovation development of rubber latex products in Thailand. The study method is questionnaire distributing among the natural rubber latex product manufacturers, namely rubber gloves, condom, rubber thread, and rubber balloon. Besides the 87 questionnaires which had been distributed and 30 responded back, the data also gathered from in-depth interviewing with two rubber glove manufacturers. Then the obtained data were analyzed in order to develop a process model. According to the result from the study of the current status of the Thai natural rubber latex products, the degree of innovation of the manufactures was divided into 3 groups through Cluster analysis: high, medium and low innovation. Meanwhile, the innovation development was affected by both internal and external factors. The internal factors consisted of the performance of innovation development, the investment of innovation and research and development, the performance of product and process activities, and Intellectual Property Protection. While the external factor was only from the support of innovation development from the external agency. Assessing the developed process model acceptance found that the entrepreneurs agreed with the structure of model and believed that if Thai rubber latex product groups have the distinct process model, it will bring the success of the innovation development to their groups in the future.