Abstract:
The purposes of this research were to study the influence and importance of
the external environment, business growth, and the participation and marketing
capability of community enterprises and the impact of these factors on business
expansion. The research was quantitative in nature and the sampling group consisted
of community enterprises in eight provinces in the upper north of Thailand. A total of
500 board members of the community enterprises were asked to complete
questionnaires distributed by post. Six types of community enterprises were
investigated, including producers and manufacturers of food, drinks, clothing and
accessories, woven products, herbal products, and gifts. The data were analyzed
using descriptive statistics i.e. percentage, average and standard deviation, and
inferential statistics via Amos software analysis. The research results revealed that
marketing capability was the most important factor, followed by the growth of the
community enterprise, the level of participation in the enterprise, and the external
environment. All these were rated as having a rather high level of importance. The
structural equation modeling of the growth of the community enterprise model
showed consistency with an empirical fit (X2=4.339,X2/df=1.522,
p=16,GFI=0.082,CFI=0.998, RMR=0.023 and RMSEA=0.028). The results of the
analysis showed that the external environment had the most direct effect on
marketing capability, followed by participation and the growth of community
enterprises. Participation and marketing capability had an indirect effect on the
growth of community enterprises.