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5943 results in Economics: general interest

Page 58 of 298

  • Foreword

  • Hong Hiep Le
  • Book:
    Vietnam's Industrialization Ambitions
    Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    04 February 2020
    Print publication:
    29 January 2019, pp v-vi

  • Summary

    The economic, political, strategic and cultural dynamism in Southeast Asia has gained added relevance in recent years with the spectacular rise of giant economies in East and South Asia. This has drawn greater attention to the region and to the enhanced role it now plays in international relations and global economics.

    The sustained effort made by Southeast Asian nations since 1967 towards a peaceful and gradual integration of their economies has had indubitable success, and perhaps as a consequence of this, most of these countries are undergoing deep political and social changes domestically and are constructing innovative solutions to meet new international challenges. Big Power tensions continue to be played out in the neighbourhood despite the tradition of neutrality exercised by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

    The Trends in Southeast Asia series acts as a platform for serious analyses by selected authors who are experts in their fields. It is aimed at encouraging policymakers and scholars to contemplate the diversity and dynamism of this exciting region.

    THE EDITORS

    Series Chairman:

    Choi Shing Kwok

    Series Editor:

    Ooi Kee Beng

    Editorial Committee:

    Su-Ann Oh

    Daljit Singh

    Francis E. Hutchinson

    Benjamin Loh

  • Vietnam's Industrialization Ambitions: The Case of Vingroup and the Automotive Industry

  • Hong Hiep Le
  • Book:
    Vietnam's Industrialization Ambitions
    Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    04 February 2020
    Print publication:
    29 January 2019, pp vii-viii

  • Summary

    EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

  • • Vietnam has officially admitted its failure to achieve industrialized economy status by 2020. This failure is partly due to its inability to grow a strong local manufacturing base and develop key strategic industries.

  • • The participation of Vingroup, the country's largest private conglomerate, in the automotive industry has sparked new hopes for Vietnam's industrialization drive. The company, through its subsidiary Vinfast, aims to become a leading automaker in Southeast Asia with an annual capacity of 500,000 units and a localization ratio of 60 per cent by 2025.

  • • Challenges that Vinfast faces include its unproven track record in the industry; the limited size of the national car market; the lack of infrastructure to support car usage in Vietnam; the intense competition from foreign brands; and its initial reliance on imported technologies and know-hows.

  • • However, Vinfast enjoys certain advantages in the domestic market, including the large potential of the Vietnamese automotive market; its freedom as a new automaker to define its business strategies without having to deal with legacy issues; Vingroup's sound business and financial performance and its ecosystem; strong support from the Vietnamese government; and nationalist sentiments that will encourage certain Vietnamese customers to choose its products.

  • • If Vinfast is successful, it will boost Vietnam's GDP growth and reinvent the country's automotive industry. Its success will also contribute significantly to the realization of Vietnam's industrialization ambitions and bring private actors into the centre stage of the economy. If the company fails, however, it will cause considerable problems for both Vingroup and the Vietnamese economy.

Exploring the Trade Potential of the DFTZ for Malaysian SMEs
  • Siew Yean Tham, Andrew Kam Jia Yi
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    31 January 2020
    Print publication:
    29 January 2019
  • Malaysia established the Digital Free Trade Zone (DFTZ) to facilitate the development of e-commerce and the country's small and medium enterprises' (SMEs') exports. The data revealed thus far indicates an increasing number of SMEs coming on board the DFTZ e-commerce platforms. The publicly disclosed data focus on the value of exports achieved but do not show whether these are from new or existing exporters or whether they are re-exports. They also do not highlight Malaysia's imports through the zone. The overall trend signals that Malaysia is losing its bilateral revealed comparative advantage in exports to China, as well as an increasing use of imports for exporting to China. While the DFTZ facilitates both exports and imports, differing standards and customs processes in different export destinations, including China, will require Malaysian SMEs to know and understand the standards and customs processes governing imports in each export destination involved. Imports are also encouraged by the de minimis rule, which allows duty- and tax-free imports of up to RM800 into Malaysia. Overall, imports can help enhance the competitiveness of Malaysian SMEs, expand choices for Malaysian consumers, as well as facilitate re-exports. A clearer understanding of the role of DFTZ in facilitating trade will require more detailed data collection, and a closer investigation of the imports going through the zone, and their uses.

  • Exploring the Trade Potential of the DFTZ for Malaysian SMEs

  • Siew Yean Tham, Andrew Kam Jia Yi
  • Book:
    Exploring the Trade Potential of the DFTZ for Malaysian SMEs
    Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    31 January 2020
    Print publication:
    29 January 2019, pp 1-23

  • Summary

    INTRODUCTION

    In traditional international trade, geographical distance can affect trade negatively with trade declining as the distance between two markets increases. The concept of distance was later extended to cover subjective concepts, such as “cultural distance” as well common history, language, legal systems or even institutional dimensions such as trade agreements between trade partners. E-commerce on the other hand, differs from traditional trade in the distance dimension because the Internet is touted to have made the world flatter by reducing the time and transaction costs associated with distance. This has led to claims on the death of distance in international trade, while others deem that the role of distance has merely been reduced.

    Measuring the impact of e-commerce on exports requires a working definition of e-commerce that is quantifiable, and different proxies have been used in different studies and over time. The earlier literature focused mainly on the impact of Internet usage on international trade at the aggregate level. Clarke's cross-country study4 indicates that enterprises that are connected to the Internet, export more than similar enterprises that are not connected. Similarly, at the aggregate level, Freund and Weinhold found that increases in company's websites in a country help to explain export growth in the following year for the fifty-six developed and developing countries that were pooled together in their study. In another study, ICT infrastructure is found to be relevant for the export performance of developing countries, and its impact on exports seems to be more important as a country becomes wealthier.

    At the firm level, the relationship between the Internet and exports may not be so straightforward as it may be conditional. Lu and Julian, in a study covering a sample of 133 Australian firms found that using the Internet can help firms reduce the cost of doing international business besides giving them a competitive advantage over firms without Internet usage. The international experience of a firm is a significant factor in discriminating between high and low export-marketing performance.

    Firm-level studies focusing specifically on SMEs in developed countries indicate that the eBay platform has opened up export markets to SMEs at lower costs for some EU countries. A study of SMEs in the United Kingdom shows that ICT users are 15 per cent more likely to export, ceteris paribus.

Page 58 of 298