Published date: Mar 01 2018

Journal Title: KnE Life Sciences

Issue title: The 3rd International Conference on Agro-Industry 2016 “Competitive & Sustainable Agro-Industry" (3rd ICoA 2016)

Pages: 220-227

DOI: 10.18502/kls.v4i2.1675

Watcharaphong Leartsurawatfagiwpl@ku.ac.th1 Department of Agro-Industrial Technology, Faculty of Agro-Industry, Kasetsart University 50 Ngamwongwan Road. Lad Yao, Chatuchak, Bangkok 10900, Thailand Technopreneurship and Innovation Management Program, Graduate School, Chulalongkorn University 254 Phayathai Road, Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330

Amnard TaweesangrungrojTechnopreneurship and Innovation Management Program, Graduate School, Chulalongkorn University 254 Phayathai Road, Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330

Chanya JenpanichTechnopreneurship and Innovation Management Program, Graduate School, Chulalongkorn University 254 Phayathai Road, Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330

This study is a qualitative research with the use of case study methodology. This research is focused on the influence of entrepreneurial origin (opportunity or necessity) and firm’s innovation strategy (technology-push or market-pull) mixes on levels of product innovativeness in the cases of agro-industry entrepreneur (agro-preneur) in Thailand. The Origin-Strategy Mixes (OSM) model was developed from past literature to help identify possible mixes and explain the relationships. The paper used narrative approach in investigating on these relationships on three Thai organic-based agro-preneurs. The empirical study has shown that entrepreneurial origin and business strategy mixes do discordantly affect levels of product innovativeness. The study provides initial understanding on the importance of OSM influences, which can be applied to improve the competitiveness of agro-preneur in Thailand. The main limitation of this study is that only three cases in Thailand were investigated. To address this, future research should emphasize on larger sample size to improve generalization ability. The use of quantitative research to further verify the OSM model is also encouraged.

Keywords: Entrepreneur; Innovation; Origin; Strategy; Agro-industry