In addition, I would like to thank Assistant Professor Dr. Chan Yieankamomsingu who gave me important advice about OTOP products and expanded the scope of this research. In addition, I would like to thank the 10 respondents who gave me their valuable time to interview OTOP products and gave me such a great comment that allowed me to interact with them in a pleasant moment. BRAND INVESTIGATION AND PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT FOR ONE TAMBON ONE PRODUCT (OTOP) IN THAILAND JIRANUCH CHOONCHAROEN 5649002.
Therefore, in this research, together with the strategy of OVOP, the theory of branding and product development will be used, Japan will be illustrated as a good example for OTOP, Thailand for the effective improvement of OTOP products. The methodology of this research would be a qualitative method to gather information from experts as industry insiders and 10 respondents who are familiar and unfamiliar with OTOP products. In-depth interviews would be an excellent opportunity to further seek various feedbacks from experts and respondents for the further development of OTOP products.
Recommendation will be suggested to improve OTOP products to be standardized, enabling OTOP products to sell successfully at international level.
INTRODUCTION 1
- Problem Statement 3
- Research Question 4
- Research Objectives and Research Scope 4
- Expected Benefit 4
Furthermore, 5-star Thai OTOP products are mainly exported to China, which were food, beverage and spa products and they tend to grow continuously in 2015 (Community Development Department, 2014). Thus, brand and product development have become main important tools that enable Thai OTOP products to be internationalized, which can be categorized into six main groups (Otop5star.com, 2014): food, beverages, clothing. Therefore, it can be seen that Thai OTOP products have a high market potential, which can generate a number of incomes for individual producers, local communities and the country respectively.
Due to Thai OTOP manufacturers having insufficient knowledge of branding and product development such as technology, product quality management planning, manufacturing and packaging design, it affects Thai OTOP manufacturers to be unable to compete effectively with global brands (Troit P., 2008) . How Thai OTOP products can be developed by improving branding and product development to effectively compete with the global brand. The purpose of this research is to study branding and product development towards Thai OTOP products that encourage consumers to increasingly purchase the products, as well as to enable OTOP products to compete with global brands accordingly.
The research will provide some insightful information on branding and product development for Thai OTOP products, allowing local communities to apply the knowledge for their own interests.
LITERATURE REVIEW 5
- Branding and Brand Strategies 5
- An important of brand equity and brand personality 10
- Product development strategy 12
- One village one product (OVOP), Japan 15
- Proposed framework 17
According to Figure II below, Keller K. 2013) illustrated a brand system model consisting of four main elements and influencing brand extension, which are the company's actions, what customers think and feel about the brand, what customers do about the brand. and impact on the financial market. What customers think and feel about the brand is the second element, which is interpreted as attitude towards the brand and perception of brand recognition and association. OTOP products also need the OTOP logo mark on the packaging, which is part of the branding strategy, for greater consumer awareness and product recognition.
Therefore, an importance of brand equity focuses on the "Added Value" of products to increase the market share of a brand, which is beneficial for further results of reduction of promotional activities, perception of positive attitude towards the customer and benefit of competitive advantages in the long term. As a province Chiang Mai is a well-known handicraft production and one of the most attractive tourist destinations in Thailand. According to Figure III, the five dimensions of brand personality, which influence human personalities, are illustrated.
It allows OTOP producers to implement value-added products and export activities based on OTOP Product Champions (OPCs), who have been appointed to select and research the best OTOP products to increase consumer awareness and recognition globally (Igusa K., 2013). It is also related to the added value factor of OTOP products and services, which enables consumers who are willing to constantly pay for these products and services. Therefore, branding and product development will be explored to investigate how consumers perceive OTOP products and how to improve the products to gain competitive advantage in markets globally.
METHODOLOGY 18
Research method & data collection 18
Sample size 19
Highly involved with a number of OTOP producers and sellers in all parts of Thailand, helping them develop brands and products to complete with private labels in both Thai and foreign brands. It will mostly be based on 4ps strategy, which allows us to explore their perception towards OTOP brand and product developments. Five respondents will be familiar with OTOP products with the age between 25-35 and 36-45 years old.
Another five respondents aged between 25-35 and 36-45 will be unfamiliar with OTOP products. The reason behind these selective target groups is that I would like to accurately discover the most suitable solutions to encourage consumers to purchase OTOP products more often. Furthermore, this research will ensure an in-depth understanding of OTOP products, allowing the products to be efficiently sold to different target groups in both the Thai and international markets in the near future.
Thus, consumer behavior will ultimately change, increasingly influencing the purchase of OTOP products across the globe.
Question of interview 20
In terms of business, what should OTOP manufacturers do to increase consumer behavior and decision making of OTOP products?. Most OTOP products do not have standard control because the government does not take serious measures to control the product. As a result, it affects OTOP products that cannot be sold in global markets because foreigners do not trust the quality of OTOP products.
OTOP products must be sold at distribution centers, which assist them free of charge. The government should establish the standardization of OTOP products by supporting free design and printing. Finally, the Thai government should promote OTOP products to foreign countries in order to increase global awareness of OTOP products.
Most OTOP respondents are concerned about reliability, purity, packaging design and safety factors when purchasing OTOP products. 5 known OTOP respondents also require assurances from the Food and Drug Administration to ensure that OTOP products are good enough to buy. Then, they will look for exotic products, which attract them to try OTOP products such as food and beverages.
They wouldn't buy for their family or friends because they don't trust OTOP products." Also, if they go out of town, they won't buy for adults as a souvenir because they don't trust the actual products, so they don't want to discredit themselves by buying OTOP products. Therefore, if they know where and when OTOP products are sold, they will certainly attend the events.
Nowadays, there are many OTOP products in all parts of Thailand and it seems that there are too many of them. In addition, the government should promote OTOP products abroad to gain awareness of OTOP products.
RESEARCH FINDING 22
Two OTOP specialists
- No standard of quality, safety and reliability 26
- Examples of good OTOP products 26
- OTOP VS OVOP 27
- Thai government & OTOP products 29
Both specialists gave the same answers that "We can find local OTOP products everywhere and they are not unique at all". The government should promote OTOP products consecutively by holding events such as in Bitec Bangna or Impact, Muangthong Thani continuously as before, because there are key factors to increase customer awareness and effectively increase OTOP quality from local producers. However, they should choose 5-star products to build positive customer perception around the world and improve local OTOP products to compete with global brands.
5 connoisseurs and 5 non-connoisseurs of OTOP products between the ages of 25-35 and 36-45 based on the 4ps strategy. The research showed that 10 respondents who know and do not know OTOP products gave very similar results. Bangkok, they will buy some OTOP products as a souvenir for their family and friends because they will look for special OTOP products from these provinces.
As we can see, the beverage category appears to be the lowest price rage in terms of OTOP product choice for both OTOP respondents. They would love to go to any OTOP event because they mentioned, "You could find many fresh and cheap OTOP products at an OTOP event." However, they regret that there are not many OTOP events these days, so they cannot find good OTOP products compared to special OTOP events.
Some of them mentioned that they would like to buy OTOP products in the distribution center because they feel that there is a variety of OTOP items, which are fresher and have more choices than the products sold in the department stores. For example, font design should not be difficult to read, because if customers cannot read the name and logo, OTOP products will not be able to reach customer awareness, which affects consumers, those OTOP products easily ignore. The government can make cooperative stores available only for OTOP products at no cost and it should be standardized in every part of Thailand, benefiting the local community to increase their income and improve the way of life.
According to the survey result, many respondents answered that they know OTOP products from the event at the Queen Sirikij Center because they heard about the news. However, OTOP products must be selected to be sold at the event, to ensure that once buyers go to the event, they can usually find good quality products, making them royalties for customers. Therefore, if the Thai government has paid serious attention to promoting well-selected OTOP products abroad, it can be assured that most OTOP producers will continuously improve their own products. products and pay attention to every production step to effectively supplement with global brands.
The further research of this study will collect data from OTOP owners in many parts of Thailand to find the most common result of OTOP products.
