Continuous development of local wisdom of mae pak products toward commercial competitive in Ratchaburi

Abstract

The purposes of this research were to 1) study the guideline to career building from Pah Chok Product for commercial benefits, and 2) to study the feasibility of setting up SMEs from Pah Jok handicrafts which could be a topic for training courses in competitive advantage, and to expand the marketing channels of the community business to get into the creative economy that aimed to produce quality goods, create a new brand from local wisdom arts and crafts, and respond to the state monetization policy which aimed to elevate the competency and to expand marketing channels of industrial businesses, domestic service businesses, community enterprise businesses, and also the creation of knowledge base and the continuous development of local wisdoms for commercial benefits and public, and creative economy promotion The scope of this qualitative study focused on the background and features of Pha Jok, management for commercial potential, current economic condition of Ratchaburi, and opportunities and effects of One Tumbon One products (OTOP) when joining ASEAN Economic Community. These important data would be used in questionnaire drafting, and samples from weaving communities in Tumbon Donrae and Tumbon Kubua, Amphoe Muang Ratchaburi would be analyzed. The study found general information that both full time and part-time weavers were female amounted to 10 people (100%), aged over 51. The majority was aged between 61-70 amounted to 5 people (50%), aged between 51-60 amounted to 3 people (30%), and aged over 70 amounted to 2 people (20%), respectively. Regarding the weavers’ profiles, 7 people were debt-free (70%) and 3 people were in debt (30%). All of the weavers had finished primary school, and resided in their hometown estates in Ratchaburi. The incomes earned from weaving Pha Jok were between 3,000 – 7,500 Baht per month. 6 full-time weavers hadprevious work experiences in other fields (80%), 3 people were part-time weavers (30%), and 1 person started her career as a weaver (10%). Regarding the distribution channel, most buyers purchased at the weaving places because it was necessary to pre-order as each fabric took around 1 month for textile finishing process. However it was not normally on sale in the market, if any, it would be overpriced. Currently there was no package for Pha Jok fabric yet as when weavers had finished each fabric, they would sell it to distributors or wearers immediately. Another important issue was that there was not a successor to inherit this local wisdom as the income gained was not worth the time consumed in weaving each fabric, and this eventually resulted in insufficient supply. Speaking of the idea of Pha Jok business cluster, Pha Jok weavers found that weaving activities had decreased, and there were not many weavers continuing the activities in order to inherit Ratchaburi’s reputed arts and crafts. Therefore creating commercial alliance would not occur as the process of textile finishing was time-consuming, and yielded low outputs. Hence, the objectives of this research could be concluded that Objective 1: the guideline to career building from Pha Jok Product for commercial benefits was supposed to raise awareness of the value of local wisdom for young generation and promote establishment of traditional and cultural activities, to emphasize the awareness of being local people. And there might be some public relations channels to disseminate knowledge of weaving Pah Jok to both people in and outside the community to encourage career building. Objective 2: The feasibility of setting up SMEs from Pah Jok handicrafts - the researchers found that it was possible that the community could set up small and medium enterprises from Pah Jok handicrafts by educating locals about career building from Pah Jok handicrafts for commercial benefits, establishing activities promoting inheritance of local wisdom for commercial competition, building Pah Jok entrepreneur network and Pah Jok weaving knowledge network, and encouraging establishment of a local museum as a community’s hall of fame to display lifestyle and community background. Furthermore, another important factor was the government support which could advocate steady income