Endogenous Regional Development : The Case of One Tambol One Product in the Lower North of Thailand , Location Quotient Analysis

In 1997, the financial economic crisis hit Thailand; non-government organizations and social movements criticized the negative impacts arising from capitalism, including liberalization and globalization. As a solution to the restructuring performance, the regional development concept proved to be an alternative development paradigm which prioritizes community development. There are two types of regional development approaches: exogenous and endogenous regional development. While the first one depends heavily on the promotion by governments utilizing outside resources with legal controls, technical innovation, etc., the second one relies highly on the initiative of the local people using local resources based on local biodiversity, culture, traditions, and skills. Accordingly, the Thai government established the One Tambon, One Product (OTOP) project in 2001. The program is based on the successful experience of the One Village One Product (OVOP) movement in Japan which is a remarkable example of the endogenous regional development concept. While OVOP mainly highlights some local areas for the depopulation problem, the OTOP project in Thailand draws attention to alleviating poverty. Currently, OVOP or OTOP is becoming one of the most popular terms in many developing countries, especially in Asia and Africa. There have been several studies of OTOP projects in other regions in Thailand. Much of the previous work on the OTOP projects has concentrated on the performance of each enterprise using descriptive statistical tools. The purpose of this study was to contribute to knowledge and debate on describing the structure of the OTOP production. The annual data for the fiscal period in 2015 from the Community Development Division and the location quotient method of analysis were employed. The mathematical technique indexes the region?s revenue of OTOP to a larger reference (national) scale. The study points out that the location quotient of food and textile production of the OTOP scheme in lower northern Thailand was greater than one. In contrast, the LQs of crafts, beverages and herbs were 0.77, 0.35 and 0.44, respectively. The results revealed that the first two products are concentrated in the lower northern region compared to a larger geographic area. Therefore, the economic and workforce development planners should provide the right support to make the regional economy unique.