Cluster Development Consulting & Facilitating

Program Area overview

Methodology

Kenan Institute Asia focuses on improving national competitiveness through initiatives including value chain and cluster development that help lead to sustainable improvements in competitiveness. K.I.Asia believes that both improved value chains and more effecitve business clusters can build competitiveness of developing country enterprises. Improved competitiveness leads directly to sustainable increases in productivity and profitability. More effective value chains and business clusters can bring a range of benefits to both business and the wider economy. These include increased levels of inter-firm learning and co-operation; potential for economies of scale by joint purchasing, joint marketing, and specialized production within the cluster; strengthening links leading to the creation of new ideas and new businesses and enabling improvements in professional, educational, legal, financial, market research and other specialist services. Effective business clusters can contribute significantly to improvements in government policies that affect competitiveness. They can also promote overall cluster strategies that can focus attention and resources on the issues most important for long-term competitiveness.

Services

K.I.Asia’s services under its cluster competitiveness program include providing seminars and training to disseminate information, increase knowledge, and build understanding of competitiveness and cluster competitiveness concepts and processes. K.I.Asia consultants provide hands-on expertise in facilitating the development of clusters. These experienced consultants help clusters to build more formal structures, identify their challenges, explore their opportunities and implement strategies to increase their productivity. K.I.Asia consultants help companies build stronger value chains by improving communication, raising standards and attracting new business partners. K.I.Asia also assists government agencies in understanding the competitive challenges faced by business clusters and identify the most valuable assistance government can provide to respond to the needs of business in competing globally.

Partners, Tools, and Approach

K.I.Asia typically performs these services under public-private partnerships by working with value chain and business cluster stakeholders. K.I.Asia has worked closely with leading international competitiveness consulting companies, such as J.E. Austin Associates and Nathan Associates. The K.I.Asia team uses tools such as Porter's diamond model, cluster mapping, competitive positioning, industry structure, benchmarking, gap-analysis, and value chain analyses. We combine these international tools with strong local knowledge of business in Southeast Asia. The K.I.Asia approach makes a distinction between "operational" productivity-- doing things better, and "strategic" productivity -- doing better things. Strategic productivity improvements often require product innovation or market repositioning. Our approach emphasizes productivity that focuses on increasing profit margins and providing higher value rather than on reducing inputs such as labor. The objective is sustainable increases in income and improved quality of life for all stakeholders.

Target groups

Private sector - private firms, private sector institutions, business associations
Public sector - government offices
Public institutions
Academic institutions

Projects in 2008

• Beef Cluster Project
The project is an upstream development from the Leather Product Cluster Project completed in 2007 that aims at developing competitiveness for the beef industry in the western and northeastern regions of Thailand. This project is supported by the Department of Trade Negotiation, Ministry of Commerce under its FTA Fund to assist industries adversely affected by the country’s various free trade agreements.

· Cluster Training Project K.I.Asia’s competitiveness team providesnationwide training to officials of the Provincial Industry Offices of the Ministry of Industry on cluster development basics and methodology. The attending officials are tasked with developing cluster and building competitiveness for focus industries in their respective provinces.

Projects in 2006-2007

• Handicraft Cluster Project
With funding support from the Department of Industrial Promotion, Ministry of Industry (MOI), K.I.Asia is helping to establish a handicraft cluster in Bangkok and surrounding provinces. The competitiveness team is helping a core group of cluster stakeholders overcome some serious obstacles to build a viable cluster in a 6-month project timeframe. The cluster has already been able to formulate a strategic plan complete with development activities and respective action plans to achieve their common competitiveness goals.

• Leather Product Cluster Project
This project is an attempt to build and enhance competitiveness for the leather product industry in Bangkok and surrounding areas. With funding from the Department of Industrial Promotion, the project helped establish a leather product cluster complete with a strategic plan and activity action plans. The efforts receive further funding support from the Office of SMEs Promotion through the Federation of Thai Industries in its second year to implement one of many activity plans to train cluster development agents to help move the cluster closer to their collective objectives.

Projects in 2005-2006

• Cluster Mapping Project
The project gathered information on business clusters in Thailand and assessed their potential. This project is sponsored by National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) more...

• Chantaburi Gems Center Project
This was part of an effort to promote the Chantaburi gems and jewelry cluster under the “Chantaburi City of Gems” campaign. K.I.Asia built on its earlier work with this cluster to design a Gems Center and develop an effective management system for it. The project was sponsored by Chantaburi Province more...

• Chantaburi Gems Entrepreneurs Capacity Building Project
As another part of the “Chantaburi City of Gems” campaign, K.I.Asia designed and implemented capacity building for Chantaburi gems entrepreneurs. The project wassponsored by Chantaburi Province more...

Cluster Competitiveness Since 2001 we have engaged with no less than ten business clusters, varying from agriculture to information technology, that make significant contributions to the national economies of Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. These included
• Western Provinces High-Value Agricultural Produce Sector (HVAP)
• Chiang Mai Tourism Cluster
• Bangkok Digital Content Cluster
• Chanthaburi Gems Cluster
• Songkhla Marine Food Cluster
• Korat Silk Cluster
• Southern Oil Palm Cluster (Chumporn, Surat Thani, Krabi)
• Cambodia Fish Cluster
• One Tambon One Product Initiative (OTOP- Udon Thani Initiative)
• Phuket Tourism Initiative

To see details of cluster development assisted by K.I.Asia click here more...

Useful links

Office of National Competitiveness Committee, NESDB

Thailand Competitiveness Website

JE Austin Associates

Thai Cluster

The Competitiveness Institute (TCI)

Harvard Business School, Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness (ISC)

World Bank Institute (WBI)

United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)

World Economic Forum

Wikipedia

Download cluster-related documents