Abstract:
This research aimed to study knowledge and understanding of and to
suggest communication channels which had effects on the knowledge and
understanding of, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Chonburi in using assets as
commercial collateral. This research applied a mixed method which were
quantitative and qualitative methods, subsequently. A questionnaire was used to
collect data from samples of 116 SMEs in Chonburi. Statistics for collected data
analysis were frequency, percentage, and the measure of reliability test of KuderRichardson which was applied for the findings of SMEs knowledge and understanding
aggregation result. Then the researcher conducted in-depth interview to collect data
from 3 SMEs. This data was analyzed by utilizing a phenomenology study to find the
communication channels which had effects on the knowledge and understanding in
using assets as commercial collateral for SMEs.
The findings showed that most of the samples were female, aged 36-45
years old, which had a Bachelor Degree educational background and had working
experiences for more than 20 years. In additions, most of them were in the service
business industry and had ever applied for a loan for only 1 to 3 times. Regarding the
findings from both of quantitative and qualitative methodologies, they were
identically concluded that SMEs in Chonburi had no knowledge and had lack of
understanding in using assets as commercial collateral. Furthermore, such SMEs often
had obtained the information in relation to using assets as commercial collateral by
communication via the personal channel and had opinions that communication via
personal channels and via some specialized channels would be the most affecting
channel to their knowledge and understanding in using assets as commercial
collateral as well.