Analyzing intellectual capital cluster index in Thailand's hard disk drive cluster

Thailand is now the world's largest exporter of hard disk drive (HDD) with four HDD giants (Seagate Technology, Hitachi Global Storage Technology (HGST), Fujitsu and Western Digital) all have their production bases in the country. Together with companies supplying materials to these four manufacturers, Thailand hosts almost the entire supply chain of the industry. However, there was no formal technology transfer process within the industry between multinational companies (MNCs) and local SMEs. Not until recently that Thai government established the Hard Disk Drive Institute (HDDI) to formally develop national capability on the HDD technology. With financial supports from the government through the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA), HDDI supports collaborative researches between local universities and the HDD industry. This study aims to identify key indicators to monitor the technology transfer process within the HDD cluster in Thailand. The intellectual capital cluster index (ICCI) is applied to combine these indicators. The results of this research would provide the government with guideline to monitor and create supportive policies to facilitate the technology transfer process within the cluster.