Essay Instructions: Asia Pacific Business
4000 words
All assignment questions for this course will be assessed on the same basis. Each question is to be answered in essay format, not exceeding 2000 words (please provide the word count for each essay). The criteria for assessment will be based on the student?s ability to:
Address the subject matter of the question (weight 25)
Consider the concepts behind the question (weight 25)
Illustrate their arguments with examples (weight 25)
Write in a manner that is readable, correctly formatted, uses correct citation referencing, is well researched and of the correct format (weight 25).
Question 1
Compare and contrast the characteristics of industrial and institutional environments in one of the nine (9) Asia Pacific countries identified by Lasserre and Schutte with those of Australia. (20%)
Question 2
?South Korea has adopted a similar business system and institutional framework as that applied successfully by the Japanese.? Discuss this statement providing relevant examples that support your arguments. (20%)
Notes on Asia Pacific Countries from Lassere and Schutte pages 1-4
The Strategic Importance of Asia Pacific
Asia Pacific as a region
From the Far East to Asia Pacific
During the first decades of the twentienth century, Asia was still called the Far East and was seen as being very far away, if not on the periphery of a world dominated by the European colonial powers and the USA.
The Far East provided raw materials. In exchange some manufactured goods were shipped to the region. Daring trading houses (which has started operations during the last century) expanded, and the first manufacturers sent their own representatives to Japan, China and other countries in order to set up factories. Despite these activities, the Far East did not gain much importance in the world economy, or at least not in the minds of those whose thinking was influenced by a colonial mentality and centred on the Atlantic.
Japan became an industrial country in the 1920?s and 1930?s, by which time it was already exporting massive quantities of cheap watches and textiles to the West. In 1941 Japan felt it had sufficient technical capabilities to attack the world?s most powerful nation, the USA; but Japan was the exception in the region. China, hundreds of years previously a leader in many technologies, was in a shambles, and most other Asian countries were being exploited rather than developed by their colonial masters.
After the war, at the beginning of the 1950?s Japan?s manufacturing base was destroyed and half of its workforce was employed in the agricultural sector. Shanghai had been taken over by the communists under Mao, and entrepreneurs were driven out to Taiwan and Hong Kong, Korea with an average income below that of Sudan, saw a devastating war which led to the division of the country. Manila, Rangoon and Saigon, however, were flourishing and promised a new era in Asia.
Much has changed since then. Japan has become highly developed country challenging American leadership in a number of industries. The group of Newly Industrialised Economies (NEIs-South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore) became the most successful economies in the world with sustained growth rates of 7-8 per cent over long periods, doubling the size of their gross national product (GNP) each decade and leaving the leading the Latin American countries such as Brazil and Argentina, far behind. In 1998, in spite of the recent financial crisis, the NIEs represent probably the only economies in developing world, which seem likely to catch up with the industrialised countries of Europe and North America in terms of technology, infrastructure and income per capita in the foreseeable future.
Behind the NIEs, four member countries fo the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) ? Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia and to some extent the Philippines ? have shown a consistently good economic performance which is matched by very few other developing countries in the world. By reducing their dependency on raw materials and agriculture, they have built up substantial manufacturing capacities and capabilities, backed up by an improving infrastructure. Today, the standard of living in these countries compares favourably with that of the overwhelming majority of people living in the Third World. Vietnam, which most recently joined the ASEAN group, has shown equally high growth rates in the 1990?s and is trying to catch up with the other members.
Comparing its own stagnation with economic developments in neighbouring countries, China decided at the end of the 1970s to open up and welcome foreign technology, foreign traders and foreign investors. With pragmatism increasingly overruling ideology, China became the fastest growing economy in the region during the 1980s and 1990s (though admittedly starting from a very low base).
Japan, the NIEs, the five ASEAN members, the four mentioned above plus Vietnam (the ASEAN 5), and China represent for us Asia Pacific. It is this group of countries which enticed a number of observers to talk about the coming ?Pacific Century?. This group of countries is slightly broader than that of the high-performing Asian economies which the World Bank used for its major study of The East Asian Miracle.
The term Asia Pacific is now widely used by economists, journalists and business professionals, though it is often unclear which countries are referred to. Admittedly, it stretches geographic credibility considerably to imply that Singapore lies on the shores of the Pacific, while it is in fact thousands of miles away, but the overall acceptance of the term is convenient for this book.
The eleven countries in our definition of Asia Pacific do not cover the whole geographic area of Asia which is closest to the Pacific, North Korea, Laos, Cambodia, Papua New Guinea, Brunei and Macao have been omitted from this study either because their economies are too small or because the experience of foreign firms in them is too limited.
The division of Asia Pacific into the four groups (Japan, NIEs, the ASEAN 5 and China) reflects economic development patterns rather than political affiliations. Singapore is a member of the ASEAN, but has characteristics more like those of a newly industrialised country. We therefore group this nation together with South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong, though the latter are increasingly considered parts of what is called Greater China.
Asia Pacific by no means represents a group of homogeneous economic or political systems. National and business cultures vary significantly and macro-economic data show extreme differences. In 1996 Indonesia had 197 million people with an income per capita of US$1080; neighbouring Singapore had a population of three million people with an income per capita of US$30 550. Japan represents 17 per cent of the global economy, but has only 2.2 per cent of the world?s population; China?s population, on the other hand, makes up more than one fifth of the world?s population but contributes only 3.0 percent to the world?s economy. Officially at least, government socialist principles, still determine the fate of the Chinese economy, while Hong Kong?s laissez-faire policies have turned its economy into capitalist?s paradise.
In no other part of the world does one find such variations, whether in Europe, Latin America or Africa; yet despite all these differences, common characteristics can be found. First, in all societies there is the will to improve the individual?s economic well-being through one?s own efforts. This can be seen in a high degree of entrepreneurship in the region, an apparent determination to progress, high savings rates and substantial private investment in assets and in education. Second, business-orientated and outward-looking governments support wealth creation through moderate intervention and economic growth-orientated policies. Third, effort and results are shared within the nation, the local economy, the firm or the family. This is documented in relatively even income distribution (compared with Latin America, for example) and achieved through consensus-orientated policy making mechanisms. Fourth, there is a vaguely defined emerging feeling of ?Asianness? which can be best described as not being Caucasian, African or Latin America. The increasing cultural, economic and political links among Asian societies support this trend, which is facilitated by regional media and growing contacts between the various communities.
It is this cultural dimension, which justifies the exclusion of Australia and New Zealand from the Asia Pacific region. Economically, these two countries have become deeply intertwined with the region but cannot claim to be Asian in culture or to show many of the other characteristics of Asia Pacific. On the other hand, because of its lack of close economic and political ties with the region India is not considered part of Asia Pacific, and in geographical terms its inclusion would create conceptual problems, too. Like China, India has been inward-looking for many decades and has opened up towards the outside world only fairly recently. Lacking the extensive family ties of the Chinese across Asia, however, India has not shown much interest in becoming more closely involved in the developments of Asia Pacific.
Western firms, like economists, find it difficult to determine which countries to include in the region. Some follow our rather narrow definition of Asia Pacific, whereas others include Australia and New Zealand (although less linkages). Alternatively, the much broader term of ?Asia? is used. There is no consensus, however, on what comprises such a region geographically, politically and economically. For some European observers Asia begins with Turkey and ends with New Zealand to the south of Japan or even Siberia to the north. If new nations such as Kyrgystan and Kazakhstan are included, this could be taken as Asia in the broadest sense. From a business perspective such a definition does not seem to be practical.
Two main resources to be used for this subject are:
Lasserre, P & Schutte, H 1999, Strategies for Asia Pacific: beyond the crisis, Macmillan Education Australia, South Melbourne
and
Mahoney, D, Trigg, M, Griffin, R & Pustay, M 2001, International business: a managerial perspective, 2nd edn, Pearson Education Australia, French's Forest NSW
List of helpful journals
ASEAN economic bulletin, Expanded Academic ASAP/ProQuest 5000 International
Asia Inc., CQU Library
Asia Pacific financial markets, Kluwer Journals Online
Asia Pacific journal of human resources, EBXCO host EJS
Asia Pacific journal of management, ProQuest 5000 International/ Kluwer Journals Online
Asia Pacific journal of marketing and logistics, ProQuest 5000 International/Emerald Fulltext
Asia Pacific law review, Kluwer Journals Online
Asia Pulse, LexisNexis Academic
Asia Today, LexisNexis Academic
Asia today international, ProQuest 5000 International
Asiamoney, ProQuest 5000 International
Asian affairs, an American review, Extended Academic ASAP/ProQuest 5000 International
Asian Banker journal, LexisNexis Academic
Asian Business, ProQuest 5000 International
Asian law journal, LexisNexis Academic
Asian-Pacific law and policy journal, LexisNexis Academic
Asian review of business and technology, ProQuest 5000 International
Asia studies review, Australian Public Affairs Fulltext
Asiaweek, Expanded Academic ASAP
Far Eastern affairs, ProQuest 5000 International
Far Eastern economic review, ProQuest 5000 International
International business Asia, Expanded Academic ASAP
