Strategic Alignment in a Consortium: A Case of the Thai Seed Industry

This paper examines the case of a Thai seed consortium in which industry, university and government jointly collaborate. Some key success factors of the consortium formation and operations are identified, including the building of trust and relationships among members, the focus on the core competency of the organization, the focus on the customer, the adequacy of resources, the passion of key personnel, and the "coopetition" nature of the business. We also present the linkages between the missions of consortium members and the strategic plan of the seed consortium through the alignment matrix. Overall business improvement at the national level, as a result of the alignment, can be seen from the significant increase in the growth rate of export value of the Thai seed industry after the strategic plan of the seed consortium was put in place.