PROMOTING ORGANIZATION TO IMPROVE HALAL FOOD BUSINESS PERFORMANCE IN THAILAND: EXPLORING HALAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP, LEADERSHIP, FIRM CHARACTERISTICS, MARKETING STRATEGY FOR THAI ENTREPRENEURS

The halal business is one of the major drivers of Thailand's economy. Running a Halal business in Thailand continues to face many challenges in business operations. This research objective 1) to explores halal entrepreneurship, leadership, firm characteristics, and marketing strategy that affect the halal food business's performance in Thailand and 2) to confirm the marketing strategy model in the halal food business supported by the role of halal entrepreneurs, leadership, and firm characteristics of the business for effective performance in the halal food business of Thailand. MixedMethod Research is used as the main approach to this research. For quantitative research, the participants in this research are 615 Halal food entrepreneurs in Thailand who received Halal certification standards from the Central Islamic Committee of Thailand and Provincial Islamic Committees. The structural equation model was used to analyze the research hypothesis. For qualitative research, 13 Halal entrepreneurs were key informants for this research phase. The coding determination and data interpretation are applied in the analysis of qualitative data. The quantitative research result shown that halal entrepreneurship, leadership, firm characteristics, marketing strategy that affect the performance of halal food business in Thailand with statistical values as follows as Chi-square = 354.241, df = 141, p-value = 0.795, GFI = 0.950 AGFI = 0.910, CFI = 0.983, SRMR = 0.016, RMSEA = 0.050. The qualitative research results revealed that the key informants supported the halal food marketing strategy model encouraged by halal entrepreneurship, leadership, and firm characteristics to affect Thailand's halal food business's efficient operation. The qualitative research results are, therefore, supportive and consistent with the quantitative research results. That the models analyzed in this research are consistent with empirical data. This research also provides useful recommendations for local halal food entrepreneurs to develop further and design sustainable operations and increase their competitiveness.