Facets of Competitiveness

The ten countries in the ASEAN region account for approximately 5% of world gross domestic product and 8% of world population and represent the most diverse group of nations in terms of the level of prosperity, political system, culture, language, and history. This diversity in ASEAN not only helps us understand the notion of national competitiveness, but also provides important policy lessons for both developed and developing countries. This book — a collection of essays — provides insights on competitiveness challenges and policies. It provides an excellent overview of competitiveness for a group of countries at various stages of development. Written in a simple and accessible manner, this book will be of interest to students, researchers, business executives and government officials.Contents: In Search of Competitiveness Policies (A Lall) The National Competitiveness Council of the Philippines: The Human Resource Development Focus of a Public-Private Partnership (F M Macaranas) Thailand: Automotive and Auto Parts Industry (N Wongtada & T Kanitpong) Challenges of Cluster Development in Thailand (A Vongpichet) Reengineering Policies: A Singapore Case (B S Neo & S Chung) Cambodia 1998–2008: An Episode of Rapid Growth (S Guimbert) Batam, Bintan & Karimum Special Economic Zone: Attracting Foreign Investment (K K Ng) Malaysia at the Crossroads Towards Vision 2020 (M Y Cheng) Whither Vietnam's Transition? (S Q Yu) Bigger Hurdles: Brunei, Laos & Myanmar (R Joshi) ASEAN's Merdeka Moment: A New Approach to Integration (J W Schwarz) Readership: Students and academics interested in ASEAN; policy makers and general public. Keywords:Competitiveness;Economic Growth;ASEAN;Diversification;Competitiveness Policies;Competitiveness Councils;Economic Development;Clusters;Automobile SectorReview: “Facets of Competitiveness offers an insightful analysis of what it means to be nationally competitive in today's global economy. The diversity of the ASEAN countries provides the perfect backdrop against which to measure the effectiveness of various competitiveness drivers from education to government regulation.” Deborah L Wince-Smith President and CEO Council on Competitiveness “At a time when the spotlight is on China and India, it is easy to forget that there are many other powerful and highly competitive economies in the neighborhood. This essential volume is a timely wake-up call for business decision makers and policy makers to not ignore the bigger and more granular picture of the growth potential of Asia. We ignore these well-crafted and thoroughly researched essays — and their subjects — at our own peril.” Bhaskar Chakravorti Partner, McKinsey & Company Distinguished Scholar, MIT Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship Former faculty member, Harvard Business School and Author of “The Slow Pace of Fast Change: Bringing Innovations to Market in a Connected World” “Facets of Competitiveness brings out the wide range of economic, political, and geographic contexts that ASEAN displays. It demonstrates very well that competitiveness strategies must be developed individually for each country, based on each country's particular context. They cannot be copied from others. It also shows the important role the business sector must have to drive competitiveness, supported by sound government policies.” Maarten Kelder Managing Partner (Asia Pacific), Monitor Group “In the 1980s and 1990s, ASEAN economies gained global fame as having among the best performing economies in the world. Then China and India opened up. ASEAN failed to respond effectively and fell behind. Unless they move soon, China and India will leave them far behind. It is therefore timely to have a volume that examines the competitiveness of ASEAN economies and suggests why and how ASEAN policymakers should wake up and respond. Ashish Lall and the contributors deserve commendation for producing this volume.” Kishore Mahbubani Dean, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy,...