Since the economic crisis in 1997, most of large companies in Thailand were overwhelmed with huge foreign debts and as well as high NPLs. With quagmire of problems in large corporations, the Thai government has turned to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) as one of the main engines for sustainable economic growth. Realizing their importance and potentials, the government has initiated a package of policies, aiming to foster SMEs development by reducing various problems facing SMEs in marketing, human resources and management, technology, infrastructure and regulations, and financing.
At Present, Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Thailand are very important to economic growth and considerably essential to generate employment as in many other developing countries. Therefore, the future of the Thai economy depends to a great degree on the success of SMEs as in many other developing countries. Thai SMEs are facing a series of external and internal factors that have significant adverse effects on their growth and additionally there are challenges for them to make a greater contribution to the economy (OSMEP, 2007 a; World Bank, 2009). Some of the external and internal obstacles that Thai SMEs are facing are deficiencies in management capabilities, marketing, technology and innovation, problems arising from global economic, social and environmental changes, new stipulation of international rules, change in consumer behaviour, the government efforts in promoting SMEs, lack of competitive advantage and the access to credit as among the greatest barriers to their operation and growth