Search results

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has evolved into ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), which aims to pursue a single market and production base to transform ASEAN into a dynamic, competitive and global region. ASEAN is inherently heterogeneous that potentially could promote further economic integration, fundamentally, through the interactions between intra-regional outward foreign direct investment (OFDI), export trade and economic growth. Hence, this paper attempts to explore the causal relationship between intra-ASEAN OFDI, intra-ASEAN exports and economic growth of ASEAN-10 countries.

This paper attempts to explore the causal relationship between intra-ASEAN OFDI, intra-ASEAN exports and economic growth of ASEAN-10 countries, using regional panel data based on Dumitrescu and Hurlin (2012) non-causality analysis, which allows us to take into account of the heterogeneity in terms of causal relationships.

The empirical study shows bidirectional causality between intra-ASEAN export and intra-ASEAN OFDI, a bidirectional causality between intra-ASEAN export trade and intra-ASEAN economic growth and a unidirectional causality running from the real GDP of ASEAN-10 countries to intra-ASEAN OFDI.

The findings have implications for the extent of intra-ASEAN production fragmentation, policy formulations for furthering intra-regional OFDI, and trade to achieve the ASEAN integration agenda.

The main contribution of the current study is to use the panel causality analysis for an emerging dynamic region, specifically, the AEC. As far as we know, this is the first study ascertaining whether there is a causality relationship between intra-ASEAN OFDI, intra-ASEAN export trade and economic growth of ASEAN-10, which is a longstanding objective of ASEAN integration agenda.

While demand for many products has become more homogeneous across countries, cultural factors have strongly inhibited this change as well. In a multicultural world, cultural heterogeneity will continue to remain the most significant barrier to one global market. Cultures are resilient and enduring and so is the concept of global multiculturalism. At the global level, trading blocs may be viewed as a cluster of geographically close countries that share abstract and/or material culture in varying degrees. It is interesting to note that the three major regional trading blocs (i.e. the European Union, North American Free Trade Agreement, and the Association of South East Asian Nations) can be characterized by significant differences in culture. With the rapid emergence of trading blocs in the multicultural market, our paper attempts to meet several objectives. First, we discuss the growing importance and underlying motives of regional trading blocs in a multicultural setting. The level of trading arrangements between nations is described and a brief overview of the three major trading blocs is then presented. The level of heterogeneity of each trading bloc is examined with implications for market segmentation. The critical role of strategic alliances in the context of regional trading blocs is discussed next. Finally, we recommend marketing strategies for firms marketing to countries within its trading bloc as well as to countries outside its trading bloc.

This chapter analyses the how, who, where and why of rapid rise in intra-regional investment by companies from ASEAN since 2009.

The chapter analyses the push and pull factors of intra-regional investment in ASEAN, the resulting patterns of foreign direct investment (FDI) and the accompanying rise of strong regional players.

The region’s FDI landscape is changing in terms of investment sources, players, FDI trends and dynamics of the region. This trend is strongly affected by stepped up efforts by ASEAN governments to encourage their national companies to invest in the region and the influence of the ASEAN Economic Community.

Regional integration and emerging business opportunities are providing an impetus not seen before in driving intra-regional investment. As more ASEAN companies position and prepare for AEC 2015, this intra-regional investment wave is likely to gather force.

The chapter lists the regional and global ‘footprint’ of the top 50 largest ASEAN companies by revenues. The thus identified companies include companies operating in oil and gas, mining, agri-business, telecommunications, food and beverages, manufacturing, banking, power generation, infrastructure, real estate and healthcare services

This paper explores the impact of both the increase in foreign direct investment inflows and the increase in information and communication technology infrastructure investments on exporting in ASEAN nations (the trade bloc of which is known as AFTA) compared with two other major trade blocs: CEFTA and LAIA. The analyses are based on data from a cross section of countries (26 emerging markets from three trade blocs) over time (from 1995 to 2000). The results show that the increase of investments in ICT infrastructure yields positive and significant returns in the national exporting level only for the ASEAN/AFTA and CEFTA sample. Interestingly, the impact of the increase of FDI inflows on export is significant only in the CEFTA and LAIA samples. These results are discussed in the light of the different economic experiences of these trade blocs, noting that variations are typically present between individual countries. Overall, reflecting the results from this study, research concerned with the determinants of national exporting level should be conducted independently, along with regional and national characteristics.

Although real estate investment decisions are among the most important managerial decisions, such decisions are usually made in an ad hoc fashion in Southeast Asia. The purpose of this study is to present a two-tier multi-criteria decision-making model for real estate investment decisions across three rapidly growing but significantly understudied Southeast Asian countries: Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam.

Using three data sources (secondary data, two surveys and nearly 100 experts and senior executives), the authors applied a combination of the Analytic Hierarchy Process and the Simple Additive Weighting (or weighted sum) methods as two special cases of multi-criteria decision-making to assess nine real estate investment projects across Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam.

The results of this study indicated that Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar were the first, second and third most preferred countries for real estate investments, respectively. Moreover, the results clearly show a trade-off between perceived country risk and financial returns, indicating that a higher perceived country risk can be compensated for with higher financial returns.

Real estate investment decisions are usually made in an ad hoc manner in Southeast Asia. This study helps investors make more informed decisions when investing in real estate projects across three rapidly growing but significantly understudied Southeast Asian countries: Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam.

Industrial development in ASEAN is closely related to structural changes and industrial adjustments taking place in the industrial countries and the other developing economies in the Asia‐Pacific region. Some activities which have been edged out or phased out in the process of industrial restructuring in Japan and the NICs have migrated to the ASEAN member countries through foreign direct investment channels. Therefore, this paper aims to examine the “flying geese” paradigm and discusses the extent to which this pattern has generated a mutually reinforcing, harmonious process of industrialisation in ASEAN.

The purpose of this paper is to estimate the economic impact of reducing logistics cost on the demand for port throughput in the context of Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ (ASEAN) regional economic integration and to realize the potential economic gains of the maritime logistics reform in the region.

The main part of this paper is to formulate conversion coefficients for containerized cargo to estimate the impacts of logistics reform on the demand for port throughput. These conversion coefficients, then have been used into a dynamic computational general equilibrium model using Global Trade Analysis Project database to explore the impact of logistics cost.

The study demonstrates that logistics efficiency is a challenge for ASEAN economic integration, providing significant implications for maritime logistics reforms.

This study assumes uniform improvements of 5 and 10 percent in the logistics sector for all countries due to lack of detailed data on the logistics sectors in ASEAN countries.

The findings of this study could help ASEAN policymakers for deeper understanding of efficient maritime logistics in realizing the economic gains from its regional economic integration initiatives.

Although there are many descriptive studies on the importance of logistics efficiency in improving international competitiveness in a country or a region, these are not supported by quantitative assessment in the case of ASEAN. This study addresses the dearth of empirical evidence based on real data on trade and maritime cargo flows. This study contributes to highlighting that ASEAN countries should reform their logistics policies and practices.

The purpose of this paper is to explore theoretical predictions and empirical investigation with respect to bilateral and third‐country determinants of Intra‐Association of Southeast Asian Nations Foreign Direct Investment (ASEAN FDI).

Theoretically, the augmented knowledge‐capital model of Baltagi et al. is refined by additionally assuming the presence of tariffs and economic integration. Subsequently, the theoretical predictions are hypothesized to be driven by numerical simulation of a derived general equilibrium model. Afterwards, bilateral and third‐country characteristics and economic integration influencing FDI in ASEAN are investigated using a spatial panel data technique, namely maximum likelihood estimator.

Using data on ASEAN inward FDI stock over the period of 1995‐2006, the results indicate that third‐country effect and economic integration are significant determinants of Intra‐ASEAN FDI. In addition, vertical FDI is proved to be the most effective investment strategy.

Some policy implications of investment policy and legislation in ASEAN economies are also provided. It is suggested that ASEAN investment policies should pay attention to how to enhance vertical FDI rather than the others.

The paper is useful to advance the theory of multinational enterprises. It assists Intra‐ASEAN investors for tracking FDI and location decisions in ASEAN countries.

This paper explores the issue of developing and enhancing intra-ASEAN international student mobility given the context of ASEAN integration, regionalization of ASEAN higher education and the various intra‐ASEAN student mobility schemes currently implemented.

It explores higher education policies, available higher education and international student mobility data, as well as the various intra‐ASEAN (and relevant) student mobility schemes to present the current status of intra‐ASEAN student mobility, challenges and opportunities to further enhance student mobility within the ASEAN region.

Aside from showing that intra‐ASEAN student mobility is significantly low compared to outbound student mobility from ASEAN countries, the paper also highlights the relationship between a country’s income status with choice of intra‐ASEAN or extraASEAN student mobility. Finally, it recommends developing a comprehensive intra‐ASEAN mobility scheme taking the merits of the various intra‐ASEAN mobility schemes currently implemented and guided by developments in the European ERASMUS mobility programs.

This is probably the first (in fact, it is an exploratory) paper that address the issue of intra‐ASEAN international student mobility, which aims to explore relevant issues to address the development of a comprehensive ASEAN mobility scheme.

This paper aims to empirically analyze the role of FDI technology spillover effects in the development patterns of ASEAN.

The paper is based on the analytical framework of Borensztein by utilizing time‐series data between 1990 and 2008 in ASEAN countries. Models (1)‐(3) estimate parameters by adopting OLS, and Model (4) uses dummy saturation methods in PC Give, Oxmetrics 6 to determine significant dummy variables automatically. By judging the overall significance of each variable and the model, Model (4) has a substantial improvement, and is finally selected to judge the education threshold of each country.

The empirical results render support to the existence of technology spillovers in ASEAN. The regression results also suggest that it is necessary to combine FDI technology spillovers with domestic human capital, that is, in the process of promoting economic development. China's FDI in ASEAN requires lower education threshold, and also has positive effect on economy growth in six countries of ASEAN.

As this paper investigates data from many countries, there are some unavoidable differences in the statistical sources and the calibre of data. It is inevitable to have some inaccuracies. This paper tries to process the data into similar calibres and units.

The paper examined whether total FDI, intra‐ASEAN FDI and FDI from China have played exactly the same role in ASEAN countries. Accordingly, the paper put forward suggestions after combining the characteristics of FDI from China with different local situations of ASEAN host countries.

The paper, respectively, takes data of total FDI, intra‐ASEAN FDI, FDI from China into the FDI variable in the model, and get three sets of results for each country. The year dummy variable is newly added to the original framework of Borensztein in order to test whether the dependent variable can be affected to a large extent by potential great changes in macro‐economies.