Entrepreneurial development under conditions of uncertainty through community-based mechanisms : a case study of resilience, growth, and aspiration in the food and beverage( FBI) network in Thailand | |
| Author | Monica Singh |
| Call Number | AIT Diss. no.DBA-SOM-26-10 |
| Subject(s) | Food industry and trade--Thailand Beverage industry--Thailand Entrepreneurship--Thailand |
| Note | A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Business Administration |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | This research investigates the critical dynamics of entrepreneurial resilience and growth in Thailand\'s Food and Beverage (F&B) sector, specifically examining how community-based support mechanisms function amid profound systemic uncertainty. While conventional entrepreneurship literature often prioritizes individualistic firm performance and resource acquisition, this study shifts the analytical focus toward the social embeddedness of ventures. By adopting an interpretivist conceptual framework, the research explores how founders navigate environmental volatility not merely through financial capital, but through the relational infrastructure and psychological buffering provided by supportive ecosystems.The study employed a rigorous qualitative research design to capture the nuanced lived experiences of those within the ecosystem. Primary data were gathered through in-depth, semi structured interviews with 24 purposively selected participants conducted in September 2025. This dual-cohort approach included 15 entrepreneurs (E1–E15) representing diverse stages of development within the Food Business Incubator (FBI) network in Thailand, alongside 9 key institutional stakeholders (S1–S9) such as policy architects, venture capitalists, and academic directors. The data underwent a systematic thematic analysis informed by Braun and Clarke (2006), combining deductive coding from the conceptual framework with inductive coding from emergent patterns, to identify the divergence between top-down institutional frameworks and the founders\' bottom-up operational realities.The findings reveal that productive entrepreneurship in high velocity environments is fundamentally nurtured through relational collateral and trust-based networks rather than standardized resource provision. The FBI network emerged as a vital social anchor, facilitating the speed of trust and converting necessity-driven actions into strategic growth through tacit knowledge sharing and the mirroring effect of peer-to-peer mentorship. Crucially, the study identifies significant structural frictions in which formal policies, governed by procedural logic, often fail to address entrepreneurs\' intangible assets, such as emotional resilience and social capital. The research concludes by proposing a Community-Centered Ecosystem Framework that prioritizes relational orchestration and identity transformation. By demonstrating how social mechanisms serve as an external absorptive engine to mitigate systemic shocks, these insights make a significant contribution to the broader discourse on regional economic resilience, offering a strategic roadmap for fostering more inclusive and sustainable entrepreneurial development in emerging economies. |
| Year | 2026 |
| Type | Dissertation |
| School | School of Management |
| Department | Other Field of Studies (No Department) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Doctor of Philosophy in Business Administration (Publication code = DBA-SM, SM) |
| Chairperson(s) | Ransom, Lakeesha K. |
| Examination Committee(s) | Badir, Yuosre F.M.;Vimolwan Yukongdi;Huynh, Trung Luong |
| Degree | Thesis (Ph.D.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2026 |
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