Cooperation between the government and the Young Entrepreneur Chamber of Commerce (YEC), in the local economic development A case study of Samut Sakhon Province

Abstract

The purposes of this study were to find the formation, characteristics, integration, roles of the Young Entrepreneur Chamber of Commerce (YEC), in the development of the local economy including the cooperation model of the YEC with the government and the factors involved that will assist the YEC group. This study was a qualitative research. The supporting information includes utilizing primary and secondary evidence to analyze case studies in Samut Sakhon Province. The primary evidence was derived from interviews conducted with three groups of people, namely, the Samut Sakhon YEC group, government officials, and community groups in Samut Sakhon province. The secondary evidence was derived from the establishing documents of YEC group and news articles that appeared in the local newspaper. Data were jointly analyzed based on collaborative governance theory and civil society concepts.

It was found that the Samut Sakhon YEC group was formed in 2015 based on the policy of the Thai Chamber of Commerce. In 2020, the number of members has reached a total of 128 members. The role of the Samut Sakhon YEC group is similar to the provincial chamber of commerce, i.e. to strengthen Samut Sakhon’s economy and provide value to local products, e.g. process common salt into becoming salt for spas, provide development of the Benjarong porcelain products, tourism development. Working together with various government agencies in Samut Sakhon province and eventually developing a variety of new working formats, such as joint committees, unincorporated associations, and cooperation which is to establish a joint venture with the public sector, known as the Pracharath Rak Samkkee Samut Sakhon (Social Enterprise) Company limited. The success factors for the cooperation between the Samut Sakhon YEC group and the government sector, is the ability of the YEC group leaders, and the availability of the various resources and potential which differs from the government sector, thus making each party wanting to rely on each other, as the YEC has the full support from the Samut Sakhon Chamber of Commerce. In addition, the YEC group has an incentive to cooperate due to non-monetary rewards, such as acceptance, appreciation, and obtaining new networks in the province.

The cooperation between the government and private sector in Samut Sakhon has developed into the Samut Sakhon Network, which is a collaborative partnership from various sectors (collaborative governance), and has become a new model of local economic development (Co-Management of Development), i.e. “the private sector leads, the state follows, the public benefits”, which may be considered as a customized partnership with Thai characteristics.