Through Thick and Thin: Ecological Modernization in Thailand's Electronics Industry

Electronics manufacturing in Thailand has undergone substantial transformations over the last two decades, including with respect to technological environmental innovation.  Business conditions in Thailand have been mightily challenged during this period, as the country has weathered multiple changes of government, mass mobilizations, torrential floods, and uncertain institutions. Situated at the lower end of global supply chains, electronics manufacturing in Thailand has persisted through this period, even if not entirely thriving. Driven by growing international regulation of hazardous materials and waste electronics and the greening of global supply chains early in the new millennium, technological environmental innovation in the industry has proceeded. Drawing on field research conducted over two decades in Thailand, as well as on available data, this paper addresses the causes and consequences of those transformations, including such questions as: How have these changes come about? What roles have domestic and international exogenous (market, regulatory, environmental) and endogenous (industry, firm, labor) forces and dynamics played in technological environmental innovation during these two decades? What has changed and not changed in electronics manufacturing in Thailand as a result? In what ways has electronics manufacturing in Thailand become more environmentally friendly since the beginning of the new millennium? The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of the experience of Thailand’s electronics industry for social theories of technological and environmental change, including Ecological Modernization Theory.