Italian firms in ASEAN countries: direct investment and non-equity linkages between Asian and Italian firms

Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Southeast Asia and in ASEAN countries, in particular, has increased conspicuously in the last decade. However, unlike the United States and Japan, the EU countries seem to be rather reluctant investors in the region. As pointed out by many European and Asian observers and scholars, the EU countries have collectively not established a significant corporate base in Asia and Europe remains, or seems to remain, a laggard in the region (for example, see Lim, Chow and Tsui 1994).