Taking into account these figures, it seems fully justified to ask what the major competitive factors are
of the diamond and jewellery exporters in both countries, which is the topic of the present paper.
The comparison between Belgium and Thailand is not as far-fetched as might appear at first sight and
is particularly interesting from another angle.
To maintain their competitiveness, which in Belgium was affected by increasing labour costs, a number
of Belgian diamond companies relocated their cheap segment activities to low wage countries and
focused their activities in Belgium on the high quality segment . Whereas in 1961 the Belgian diamond
business still employed 19010 workers their number had decreased to 3831 by 1992. Thailand was
apparently a favourite host country for the new production facilities of Belgian firms. Apart from the
wage difference - in 1989 Thai wages were one sixth of Belgian wages - this can be explained by the
experience of Thailand in the polishing of precious stones. By 1993, 60 to 70 % of Thai diamond polishing
was controlled by Belgian firms (Bernard et al. 1994).
Our attempt to identify the factors of competitiveness and to point to similarities and differences between
Thailand and Belgium is based on the results of a survey of diamonds and jewellery companies,
conducted in 1997. This is obviously an indirect way of getting such information, as it is exclusively
based on the companies’ perceptions of their strengths and weaknesses, and of the role played of the
marketing mix, but it is extremely difficult to obtain sufficient valid objective data on the performance of
individual exporters or on their strategic behaviour