抄録
The government of Thailand has established its unique local development approaches. Those approaches were under the central government in the initial stage. However, political confusions brought a new decentralization and innovations especially in the field of local cottage industry and tourism.
The regional OTOP committee established by the central government initiative played a key role to activate the local initiative. And the central government has established a “ Geographical Indications” (GI), which are intended to designate product quality, highlight brand identity, and preserve cultural traditions. The use of geographical indications allows producers to obtain market recognition and often a premium price. The Chiang Mai local government has assigned this brand name “ Chiang Mai Brand” as a symbol to represent the high quality of the products. The reason of the usage was the increase of the travelers from Malaysia etc. In order to reach this standard, it has been necessary to focus on creating a new attitude, provincial image under the management of the Chiang Mai Brand Committee. And for food products, they created Halal food brand.
On the contrary, in the Northeast district, they have promoted cottage industries to revitalize the district especially by using One Tombon One Product (OTOP) logo for food products. Recently, the East-West Economic Corridor (EWEC) to Vietnam by using “ EWEC brand” is expected to expand the new local trade and tourism.
The economic conditions were completely different. However, there is a clear similarity, which is so called local branding strategy and innovative business environment. This case study presents the policy implication from the studies from these two districts.
JEL Classification: R58
