Technology Learning in Automobile Industry: Comparative Study between Thaiand Korean Companies

Background:Currently, the issue of the company’s innovative development is relevant in all areas of activity. Automobile industry, which has one of thedevelopment vectors such as an innovative component, poses for itself the task of achieving high competitiveness through active innovativelearnings and technology transfer. This direction is influenced by technological factors, which should be taken into account while developing andimplementing the company's innovative technology transfer strategy.Automobile industry in Thailand appears to be a successful story as it plays an important role in the national economy and becomes a car-manufacturing hub of Southeast Asia as called “Detroit of Southeast Asia”. Thailand is a world-class vehicle production base such as Ford, Toyotaand Nissan. However, the growth of industry depends on the performance of MNCs, which remains unclear whether Thai automobile industrycould sustain the same position with its own technology capability alone. Aim:This paper aims to develop the suggesting on the technology learning transfer of automobile industry in Thailand based on Korea’s experience. Ianalyze the evolution of the automobile industry of Thailand and South Korea to identify the key drivers of auto industry’s development throughlearning from macro level to the firm level of the two countries.Objective:The study aims at investigating technological factors which influence innovative learning development of transport company and evaluating theirinterdependence using correlation-regression analysis. Methods:The correlation-regression analysis and comparative approach were used to develop the model. Results:Two automobile corporations from Asian region were investigated. Technological factors influencing learning development of these corporationswere found; significant in explaining the factors’ interdependence was discussed. Conclusion:Different groups of technological factors influence on innovative learning development of automobile companies in Asia. These findings can beused as information for managers to develop strategic programs to improve knowledge transferring process in Asian automobile companies.