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Abstract
This dissertation addresses a gap in prior research, which does not fully specify the key processes essential to innovation in developing countries and long-term industrial growth. This research is an extension of the national innovation system concept, which is employed to identify and compare the keys to industrial technology development in developing countries over time. The dissertation develops two unique research findings to fill gaps in academic and policy literature. First, a structured framework of analysis for the National Innovation System (NIS) model is developed. The NIS model specifies the flow process and interactions between components in the national innovation system, building upon the theoretical foundations identified in previous research. Second, empirical evidence of the processes and problems of innovation of the Thai automobile, textile, and electronics industry is analyzed to validate or challenge the assumptions implicit in the NIS model. This dissertation employs pattern analysis methodology, using the NIS model and multiple case studies as tools to test the propositions that national idiosyncrasy matters in industrial innovation and that within a national concept two major variables in the macro environment, government policy and international conditions, are the biggest contributors to technology development. The hypotheses prove correct for the case studies of specific Thai industries. Positive impacts from a favorable local content requirement policy and liberalization pressure from macro factors drove positive interactions of the national variables in industry structure and suppliers' network that resulted in better technology outcomes in the Thai auto industry. Unbalanced and inconsistent policies triggered a chain of negative impacts on system linkages and a subsequent dearth of innovative supply, which turned the liberalization trend into a threat to the Thai textile and electronics industry. The detailed description of the three industries' innovation processes and component interactions provides a foundation for future policy remedy and prescriptions. This dissertation shows that industrial innovation results from macro variables, specifically domestic government policy and international conditions, which obviously affect the microenvironment, shape competitive conditions, and eventually drive the demand that triggers technology supply. The interactive influences of the system components on flow of innovation processes validate the importance of national characteristics for Thai technology development.
