The main purpose of this paper is to assess the suitability of the “outward foreign direct investment, OFDI” promotion scheme in helping further develop the electrical and electronic industry in Thailand. In this study, we will primarily emphasize the long-term benefits of using such OFDI on the industrial development. From the theoretical models of the OFDI, we synthesize the six roles of OFDI that would serve the industrial needs and would help further develop the industry: (1) marketseeking, (2) resource-seeking, (3) labor allocation, (4) value-chain upgrading and technological acquisition, (5) tax incentive, and (6) production network risk-reducing. The current OFDIfigures of Thai electrical and electronic industry show that there is an uneven pace of development between Thai-owned firms and foreign multinational firms. While the Thai-owned firms are currently on the initial stage of outward investment in which the market-seeking is the main driving force of such investment, the foreign multinational firms are in the more advanced stage of development and tend to use outward investment for upgrading their value-chain and acquiring new technology. We find that the impacts of using the outward foreign direct investment in addressing the problems depend on the role in which the OFDI is served. The relative importance of the problems is distinguished into three classes: urgent problems that require immediate response, medium-to-long term problem, and insignificant problem. The analysis on the current government policies shows that while many policies are relevant and properly addressing the problem. Some policies may be misleading or even unrelated to the problem of the industry.