A study of rice mill innovation for using in household that effects the marketing mix satisfaction of farmers in Thailand

• Published date: 01 May 2022
• Author: Sudaporn Sawmong
• Date: 01 May 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2315

ACADEMIC PAPER

A study of rice mill innovation for using in household

that effects the marketing mix satisfaction of farmers

in Thailand

Sudaporn Sawmong

KMITL Business School, King Mongkut’s

Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, Bangkok,

Thailand

Correspondence

Sudaporn Sawmong, KMITL Business School,

King Mongkut's Institute of Technology,

Ladkrabang, Bangkok, Thailand.

Email: sudaporn_40@yahoo.co.uk

Thailand is a major rice grower and one of the top rice exporters in the world.

Thailand's rice is recognized globally for its quality and is in high demand in a large

number of countries. Milling is a crucial step in the post-production of rice. The basic

objective of a rice milling system is to remove the husk and the bran layers, to pro-

duce an edible, rice kernel that is free of impurities. This study focuses on the needs

of the farmers to obtain the final product using rice mills as a household item with

much-needed innovation. Innovation is defined as a new idea, method, or device.

This research aims to develop innovative rice mills for rice farmers, and explores the

satisfaction of innovation in rice mill, which is to be used in the households of Thai

farmers, and its effect on customer satisfaction as per the 7Ps marketing mix. The

instrument used in the survey questionnaire, which was tested by the evaluator, was

accurate and had a Cronbach alpha coefficient reliability of 0.958. The statistics used

in this study are descriptive statistics, which consist of frequency, percentage, aver-

age, and standard deviation. The inferential statistics to test the hypotheses were

multiple regression analysis for testing product innovation factors (structure, applica-

tion, quality, and value) that effect the marketing mix factors (7P's) satisfaction of

farmers in Thailand. This research found that the most sought after features in inno-

vative rice mill products for organic farmers are its size, mobility, and cost-effective-

ness. It consisted of four innovation factors, which were structure, value, quality, and

application. The research found that the farmers focus on the people (staff) most,

followed by the product, process, physical evidence, price, place, and promotion,

respectively, and that the innovation factor effect on 7P's marketing mixed satisfac-

tion was structure, application, and value of innovation, except quality.

1|INTRODUCTION

Thailand has long been a rice cultivator, also a major rice grower, and

one of the top rice exporters in the world. Growing rice in an agricul-

tural province is not difficult; however, processing it efficiently is the

trick of the trade that needs to be mastered, which this research

intends to explore. The process of getting the final product of rice is

known as milling (Dhankhar, 2014), which separates various compo-

nents to reach a consumable product. The paddy used by the farmers

is expensive (currently at a price of 20 baht per kilogram). The farmers

demand a rice mill as a household appliance within a price range of

40,000 Baht. Saraburi province, located in the center of Thailand is

suitable for cultivating many kinds of rice and organic rice, such as

“Checkchey Saohai Saraburi”. Saraburi is the area where the rice is

located. There is a large demand for rice mills in this region. For this

reason, this research aims to develop small-scale portable rice mill

machines with a price that farmers can purchase for their household

and commercial purposes as required. Currently, rice mill machines,

Received: 2 May 2020 Revised: 20 June 2020 Accepted: 19 July 2020

DOI: 10.1002/pa.2315

J Public Affairs. 2022;22:e2315. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pa © 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd 1of6

https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2315