
iii
Acknowledgements
Firstly, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor Professor Kosmas
Smynios for the continuous support of my PhD study and related research, for his
patience, motivation, and immense knowledge. His guidance helped me in all areas of
my research. I could not have imagined having a better supervisor and mentor for my
PhD study.
Besides my supervisor, I would like to thank my second supervisor, Dr. Timothy
James, for his insightful comments and encouragement.
My sincere thanks also go to the Rice millers who participated in this research and
provided me with an opportunity to access parts of their business lives. Gratitude is
also extended to the Thai government for giving me access to their rice mill population
database. Without their precious support, it would not have been possible to conduct
this investigation.
I thank Suan Dusit University for their scholarship support.
Last but not the least, I must express my very profound gratitude to my family: my
parents and my sister for supporting me spiritually throughout this journey and my life,
in general.