Interest, debate, and criticism across the social sciences of theories and models that seek to describe and analyse the development and types of capitalism have a long history. We can locate the ‘Varieties of Capitalism’ (VOC) analysis within these historical and wider theories. Despite critiques of the VOC, our examination of an often ignored and under-researched example, Thailand, shows it remains a useful analytical framework when VOC is grounded in its history and when we push theory forward. We do this and add a new ‘sphere’ of ‘Context’ as historical and political background, social, cultural values, and beliefs should be part of any analysis.