The Development of Prototype Operations for Increasing of Performance Efficiency and Competitiveness for Small and Medium Enterprises

Abstract

The research aimed to 1) study, analyze and synthesize components of an operational prototype to increase efficiency and competitiveness of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), 2) develop an operational prototype to increase efficiency and competitiveness of SMEs, 3) evaluate the efficiency and competitiveness of SMEs, and 4) evaluate the operational prototype to increase efficiency and competitiveness of SMEs. The research has been carried out by using mixed method research design: qualitative and quantitative research methods. The subjects consisted of 9 SMEs entrepreneurs selected by using purposive sampling. The research instruments were a document analysis form, an interview form,  an Innovation Quality Assessment Form. The data were analyzed by using content analysis. The statistics used were mean ( ) and standard deviation (S.D.) The results revealed that 1) the components of the operational prototype were  prototype principles, objectives of the prototype, prototype implementation, the result of prototype implementation, 2) the operational prototype developed based on the good practices of SME entrepreneurs and specialists consisted of 4 categories with 13 items, 3) the efficiency and competitiveness of SMEs after implementing the operational prototypes were significantly higher than before implementing the operational prototype at 0.01 level of significance, and 4)  the overall satisfaction of the SMEs Entrepreneurs  on the operational prototype to increase the efficiency and competitiveness of SMEs was at the moderate level.