From follower to leader: Strategic analysis of Thailand, the world’s largest Hard Disk Drive manufacturer

Undoubtedly in today´s competitive world, hard disk drive (HDD) is regarded as one of the most significant data storages. HDD Industry has played a significant role as one of the major markets in the world. And according to Hard Disk Drive Capital Equipment Market & Technology Report (June 2006), HDD market is still growing continuously and rapidly.Meanwhile, Thailand has built up a global competitiveness in electronics industry especially in hard disk drive sector as well. After twenty five years of having the first HDD manufacturer (Seagate Technology), Thailand has become a manufacturing location for these world´s leading HDD manufacturers (Seagate, Western Digital, Hitachi GST, and Fujitsu). The HDD Industry in Thailand has been growing strongly for the past decade. Since 2005, Thailand stands the 1st in the world ranking of hard disk exporters. Thailand´s HDD Industry is estimated to contribute 4-4.5% of Thailand´s GDP. This research has been carried out with a purpose to understand reasons behind Thailand´s success in attracting Disk Drive Manufacturers by applying two strategic analyses SWOT and Model of Societal Structure. The study found that Thailand has a lot of potential to continue to be the world´s largest HDD manufacturer in the future because of the major key success factors which are responsive and attentive government, strategic location, strong infrastructure, and excellent labor pool.