ABSTRACT
Our remaining focal nations – the transitional countries of Indochina – were not considered to encompass factors attractive for foreign direct investment on the part of multinationals, even prior to the crash of 1997. Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia all lack the necessary infrastructure facilities, their respective telephone and other
telecommunications systems being well below the standards expected by foreign investors. All four countries suffered negative impacts from the crisis nonetheless, primarily through the sharp decline in investment inflows that had previously been sourced from other East Asian countries.
Although still handicapped by rigid one-party systems, Vietnam and Laos have at least gained a reputation for relative political stability and economic reform over the past two decades, despite being partially crippled by the dire lack of infrastructure. But Cambodia and Myanmar remain blighted by chronic instability characterized by years of suppression of dissent in Cambodia, and a cruel and unresponsive regime in Myanmar, a somber backdrop to any potential advantages. Indeed, for all their modest economic achievements in recent years, neither country ever tends to progress through the first stages of any company’s regional market screening process as a consequence (see also Bartels and Freeman, 2000).
