Thai community enterprises (CE) have proliferated in recent years and yet despite so many being created the reality is that few are able to achieve sufficient scale so as to become not merely financially self-sufficient but also able to realise local community objectives and be better guardians of the local environment in which they are situated. These CEs are involved in social innovation while they may not even necessarily be aware of such terms, they are nevertheless crucial not only to Thailand’s economic development but also in enhancing the quality of life for the local communities in which they are embedded. A significant body of work and theories have emerged within the domains of social entrepreneurship, social innovation, dynamic capabilities, and creating shared value which have demonstrably shown that entities that adopt such policies can become more sustainable not only financially but also socially and environmentally. Given the strength of the evidence but divergent theoretical strands this research seeks to present an augmented conceptual framework embracing these various models. It then through an exploratory study, rather than explanatory, to look at the case of Thai community enterprises in the Agriculture sector to see how far they have adopted these proven principles and more crucially where they have not. This was achieved through a quantitative research design using a questionnaire as the principal research instrument distributed to Thai community enterprises utilising the Thai Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives database. The results provide support for the model fit and the value of the augmented conceptual framework as well asidentifying gapsin practice among CEs that if addressed may lead to improved performance of such enterprises. It strongly supports the inclusion of Creating Shared Value (CSV) as an integral construct for delivering sustainability. Thus, the significance of this research is two-fold. First it adds to our conceptual theoretical understanding of social innovation and sustainability in the context of community enterprises and secondly it generates practical actionable recommendations for such CEs to become not only more financially sustainable but potentially to better realise social and environmental imperatives

Dissertation (D.B.A. (Business Administration)) -- University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, 2023.