Abstract
The main objective of this paper was to explore environmental factors affecting the success in terms of helping small scale farmers to participate in high-value market by employing Porter’s ‘Diamond model’. The environmental factors that enhanced competitiveness of the Bresse chicken cluster managed by a non-profit organization - the Royal Project Foundation - to help farmers gain income in Thailand were illustrated. According to the analysis, four favorable environmental factors consisted of factor conditions - human and knowledge resources from universities and research units, material and financial resources, and well developed infrastructure. The knowledge and requirements of customers to improve quality as well as an increase in demand were the factors in the attribute of demand conditions that had impacts on the advance of the cluster. The favorable factors in the attribute of the supporting departments consisted of the presence of a relevant cluster, and pull of supporting organizations. Furthermore, backward and forward integration and facility for joint working were the strategies that helped the project gain the advantage. The factors affecting the improvement in the cluster performance created by the government were import tariff and financial supports, and the chance that provided opportunity to the farmers to gain from this market was the growth in tourism sector. The existing environmental factors that provided opportunities for farmers to compete and participate in the high-value market resulted in an income generating.