ABSTRACT
Although the nature and extent of globalisation is contested within the social science literature, one phenomenon on which all sides agree is the significance of the emergence of East and Southeast Asia as a major component of the post-war global economic map. Without doubt, this has been the major change in the international division of labour. The aim of this chapter is to explore the specific role of firms from within the region itself in this process and to consider their likely future trajectories. Given the region’s economic significance, it is somewhat paradoxical that, at least until very recently, little scholarly or popular attention was devoted to East and Southeast Asian business firms, other than those from Japan. 1 Outside the sphere of Asian business organisation specialists, such firms were generally regarded as being of very limited significance. After all, it was widely believed, the East and Southeast Asian economies were essentially dominated, either directly through foreign investment, or indirectly through various forms of subcontracting relationships, by foreign firms. Even when it was recognised that some Asian firms were themselves becoming international in their scope, they were generally caricatured, rather patronisingly, as ‘Third World multinationals’ (Wells 1983; Aggarwal, forthcoming; cf. Yeung 1994a).
