RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.3 Setting and Sampling
3.3.1 Locating the Sites
As the basic profiles of China Customs and Thai Customs demonstrate, two Customs administrations take a three-level structure. In the perspective of organizational studies, both are “large-scale or complicated organizations” (Gulick, 1937). Due to the available time and resources, it was infeasible and unnecessary for the researcher to approach all Customs branches, offices, and checkpoints. Thus, the
12Though Shanghai Customs College (SCC) where the researcher is currently working is part of China Customs, faculty members in SCC mainly concentrate on education, training and researcher matters and are not responsible for Customs administration and enforcement.
researcher had to make a choice on which Customs districts/regions and Customs houses were to be selected for data collection.
For China Customs, the selection criteria are contingent on three conditions: 1) Customs districts/houses should be closely involved with the CBP arrangements.
Under the GACC, it is well agreed that Shanghai Customs District and Pudong Customs House have long establishments in this respect.; 2) At the level of Customs districts, they should reflect the patterns of economic development level, trade volume. Definitely, Shanghai is the centers of economy, trade, finance and logistics in China, and Shanghai Customs District is handling the biggest workload and amount of cargo all across China.; 3) Accessibility to these sites and possible support from the leaders were necessary. Since the researcher works in Shanghai and has intimate working relationships with Shanghai Customs District, access is not a problem. In this regard, potential informants at each level of China Customs are located (see Table 3.1).
Table 3.1 Locating Sites: China Customs as the Case
Level of structure Department/
Customs houses
Considerations
Head -quarters
GACC Leadership:
- Certain members of Leading Board
- Retired leaders if possible Department:
- Department of Policy and Legal Affairs
- Department of Audit-Based Control and Risk
Management
- China Customs Brokers Association (CCBA)
- Leaders set the direction for Customs policy and development.
- The two departments were selected because they are more involved the CBP policy making.
- Customs Brokers Association of China was selected because they serve as a communication bridge between Customs brokers and Customs.
Customs District
Shanghai Customs District
Divisions:
- Division of Legal Affairs - Division of Customs Audit
- Shanghai Customs is No. 1 in terms of trade volume and revenue collected among all the 42 Customs districts.
Table 3.1 (Continued)
Level of structure Department/
Customs houses
Considerations
- Division of Supervision of Enterprises
Customs houses:
- Pudong Customs House
Also it is a typical Customs on the east coast, where the economy is the most developed in China.
- The selected divisions are directly responsible or involved in enterprise management and implementation of the CBP programs.
- Strong support from leaders with Pudong Customs House
For Thai Customs, similar criteria were applied. The researcher consulted a leader in Thai Customs to gain insiders’ views. In 2009, Thai Customs started to group all the 46 Customs Houses into four Regional Customs Bureaus. Unlike the Customs districts in China’s Customs, these Regional Bureaus mainly serve a coordinating and monitoring role and not much substantial work is involved on the CBP. Therefore, the data collection was conducted mainly at two levels; namely, at the headquarters and at the La Chambang Customs House (see Table 3.2). It was worthy to mention that strong support from Mr. Paisal Chuenjit, then Director La Chambang Customs House, was a major consideration for the researcher’s decision.
His personal accompanying me to visit the selected companies were both helpful and necessary.
Table 3.2 Locating Sites: Thai Customs as the Case
Level of structure Bureaus/Customs houses
Considerations
Head -quarters
Royal Thai Customs
Leadership:
- DDG in charge of Customs processing and PCA
Bureaus:
- Customs Standard Procedures & Valuation Bureau
- Planning & International Affairs Bureau
- Post Clearance Audit Bureau
- Other key persons involved in the CBP matters
- Leaders set the direction for Customs policy and development.
- These bureaus were selected because they are responsible for policy making and control of the Customs-business relationship.
- The directors at the mentioned bureaus were approached.
Customs Region
Regional Customs Bureau 3
Checkpoints
- La Chambang Customs House
- Biggest Customs House in terms of trade volume and cargo value in Thailand
- Strong support from leaders with Pudong Customs House
Source: Adapted from Thai Customs, 2012.
3.3.2 Sampling for Interviews
3.3.2.1 Sampling among Customs Informants
For the key informants in the China Customs and Thai Customs, purposeful and snowball sampling was applied. Key informants at the headquarters, Customs districts/regions, and Customs were approached at each level. Managers at divisions or sections who are directly or closely involved in the policy and implementation of the CBP are the main potential informants. For China Customs and Thai Customs respectively, around 10 Customs officials were approached for interviews.
3.3.2.2 Sampling among the Business Informants
For business, snowball sampling was used. To gain a more balanced opinion, the organizational characteristics which have influence on their relationships and interactions with business were taken into consideration. These characteristics include the size (big or small), ownership (domestic or foreign), AEO status and industry (importers, exporters, Customs brokers, freight forwarders and the like).
Generally, for the selected companies, two categories of informants were approached.
First, the researcher would identify the leader who always interacts with Customs on policy or strategic matters. Second, the representative who regularly deals with Customs at the operational level like trade compliance manager or Customs broker, and it is assumed that this kind of informants can generate uncovered “know-how” or tacit information regarding Customs-business interactions.