U.S.-ASEAN Relations: Implications for Business (Nanyang Business Report Series) - Softcover

Meng, Tan Teck; Meng, Low Aik; Williams, John J.; Webster, John F.

9780137898688: U.S.-ASEAN Relations: Implications for Business (Nanyang Business Report Series)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0137898681 ISBN 13: 9780137898688

Publisher: Prentice Hall, 1998

The relationship between the U.S. and the Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN), with their myriad social, cultural, religious, political and economic differences, stands as an examplar of international business behaviour for the reality of the next millennium-globalisation. In U.S.-ASEAN Relations: Implications for Business, the eighth volume in the Nanyang Business Report Series, the editors offer a mosaic of economic and social factors linked to the expanding synergism of this relationship that have implications for businesses and investors, with special emphasis on the countries of Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines.

The book traces U.S.-ASEAN investment and trade relations from the mid-1940s to 1996, overviews the financial system and related reforms of the two regions, highlights their global competitiveness and hub location attributes before it synthesises various issues underlying the East-West values debate and the imminent linkage of trade to social values and environmental protection. Throughout, these topics are braided with policy implications emanating from the agendas of major world organisations such as WTO, ILO and the World Bank, among others.

U.S.-ASEAN relations depict a remarkable partnership that is vibrant, comprehensive and dynamic - a major global force that offers huge investment and business opportunities. This book is an indispensable reference for international investors, commercial agents, merchant traders, MNCs, global entrepreneurs, researchers and students.

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From Chapter 1: Two decades ago, the four Asian nations of South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore were quietly amassing the fastest economic growth rates in the world. However, by the late 1980s, these "Asian Tigers" were surpassed in economic growth by Malaysia, Thailand and China. In the 1990s, the emerging economies of Vietnam, Indonesia, and even Myanmar have added to the spectacular economic growth of the region to produce, collectively, what many people have called the "Asian Miracle". This remarkable growth has not only shifted the economic balance of the region but it has also contributed significantly to a changing pattern of global trade and investment. Moreover, this trend has persisted even though the U.S. economy, which was presumed to be Asia's engine of growth, faltered in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Even Japan, with its fortified investments in the region, could not assume this leading role and slumped too in growth terms. But the Asian miracle has continued unabated, defying many economic experts and prompting yet others to predict its demise and eventual collapse.

Notwithstanding the dampening remarks by economists Paul Krugman and Alwyn Young on the region's non-miracle (The Straits Times, 11 December 1995) and decaying total factor productivity (Tan, 1996) respectively, the rise of the East and Southeast Asian economies has sparked new perspectives from the world community and, in particular, the U.S. which is single most powerful economic force in the world today. The U.S.' views weigh heavily on these regions whether though its role in shaping the agendas of the major international organisations, including the newly established World Trade Organisations (1 January 1995), the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, or through its commanding presence in the 18-member Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) forum which includes, among others, six out of the seven ASEAN member nations.

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