BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT OF SMALL FIRM USED THE INTERNET IN THAILAND

Firm level competitiveness influence country level competitiveness. Thailand (2014), more than 95 percentages of firms is small firm (1-9 employees). Small firm used the internet to increase business activity by globalization. The use of the internet more than 19.20 percentages of all small firm. This article aims to describe business environment of the internet using of small firm in Thailand. The selected setting is northeastern region of Thailand, because majority of small firms are there. Qualitative design was done. The eligible participants were selected by snow-ball and convenience sampling. Data was collected from participatory observations and in-depth interview. The key informants were residents within establishment, owner/managers, expert academics, government and agent from Office of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunication Commission (NBTC). The results found that the driving forces of the use of the internet include: (1) Characteristic of small firm, (2) Environment of small firm used of internet. The result will be guide to define characteristics for study the competitive performance of small firm used the internet next times.