Abstract:
During the past five years, the number of warehouses for rent has increased covering the area of 3,639,097 square meters. According to the Research and Development Unit of Knight Frank Chartered (Thailand) Co., Ltd., more than 36% of warehouses for rent are located in Samut Prakarn Province than in Bangkok and its environs. This study, therefore, aimed to explore the factors for business operators decision making to select warehouses for rent. TPARK Bangplee Projects 1, 2, and 3 operated by TICON Logistics Park Co., Ltd. were chosen as the case study. The objectives of this study were to obtain general information about the business operators there and to examine factors leading to their decision to rent those warehouses. The data were collected through site visits, recording information, taking pictures, and interviewing the operators. A structured interview form was used to obtain the general information and the importance of each factor leading to their decision to rent the warehouses. It was found that the factors that the operators place emphasis on were as follows: 1) the building the space for loading cargo and the height of the building, 2) the facilities within the project parking space and security, 3) transportation network and infrastructure an express way and a seaport, 4) labor force labor recruitment and employee commuting, and 5) trading partners locations of trading partners and the distance between them and their trading partners. According to the classification of types of business, it has been found that logistics operators such as those providing services about storing chemicals and auto parts prioritize the building the space for loading their cargo and the capacity of the building to accommodate their cargo such as the weight bearing of the floor and the height, and the facilities within the project. These two factors are important for them because they would like to reduce their renting cost and maximize space use while the other group including those dealing with consumable goods and commercial electronics that are used in everyday life prioritize the height of the building because their products weigh less than those in the first group so they can stack their products vertically, and the parking space since their products are shipped from various places so there are many vehicles coming in and out of their warehouses every day. As for product distribution, both groups put emphasis on transportation network particularly the express way and the motorway. They are also concerned about the commuting and the safety of their employees so they take the transportation network into consideration in this regard too. They, however, pay less attention to the locations of their trading partners because they think that it is the responsibility of their trading partners to deliver the products to them.