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Glen Robinson
DIRECTOR
Your business partnerfor Australia and Asia
Corporate Advisory ServicesMergers & AcquisitionsRegional RepresentationDirect Investments
Asean Focus GroupPty Limited
A.C.N. 050 058 672A.B.N.24 050 058 672
Level 37,Grosvenor Place225 George StSydney NSW 2000Australia
Phone +(61-2) 9258-7878Mobile +61 412 229 664Direct +(61-2) 9258-7828Fax +(61-2) 9258-7888
glen.robinson@aseanfocus.comhttp://www.aseanfocus.com All Correspondence to:-
G.P.O. Box 3271Sydney NSW 2001
BANGKOKCHENNAIHANOIHO CHI MINH CITYHONG KONG JAKARTAMANILAMUMBAINEW DELHISHANGHAISINGAPORESYDNEYVIENTIANEYANGON
ASIAN PERCEPTIONS
THE RESULTS OF A SURVEY ON THE VIEWS WHICHASIA FOCUSSED BUSINESS PEOPLE HOLDON THE BUSINESS CLIMATE IN ASIA
This survey was conducted during December 2008, with the objective to evaluate theperceptions which business hold on the business climate in various Asian countries. It isone in an ongoing series which allow the perceptions to be monitored over time.The survey was conducted by Glen Robinson and Mitchell Brown of Asean Focus Group.Glen Robinson is a founder and has been an executive director of AFG for over 17 years,and as such has advised and assisted many companies which wished to establish orenhance a commercial presence in Asia. He can be contacted onglen.robinson@aseanfocus.com.
ASEAN FOCUS GROUP ASIAN PERSPECTIVES
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................... 3
1.
POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC BACKDROP .................................................................................................. 3
2.
LOCATION OF OPERATIONAL HEAD OFFICE ............................................................................................ 4
3.
SECTORAL PROFILE .................................................................................................................................. 4
4.
COMPANY SIZE ........................................................................................................................................ 5
5.
COMMERCIAL ACTIVITIES ....................................................................................................................... 5
6.
COMMERCIAL EXPANSION PLANS .......................................................................................................... 7
7.
ATTRACTIVENESS OF VARIOUS COUNTRIES ............................................................................................ 8
8.
FREE TRADE AGREEMENTS ..................................................................................................................... 9
9.
BILATERAL BUSINESS COUNCILS. .......................................................................................................... 10
10.
SUMMARY & CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................... 11
ASEAN FOCUS GROUP ASIAN PERSPECTIVES
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INTRODUCTION
Asean Focus Group undertakes an annual project designed to gauge the perception which businesspeople have towards Asia as a commercial target for investment and trading, which may be different tothe official position of the company. It has been undertaken for the last six years and is so constructedthat some year by year comparisons can be made.This year for the first time, we have broadened the geographic base of our target participants, and thishas been particularly successful. Additionally, there has been sufficient response for us to categoriseresults into various subcategories.As is usual, we have applied the minimum of interpretation to the results, just providing the facts as wefind them and preferring to leave it to the reader to provide the interpretation in the light of hisexperience.We believe this is an important study because there is little empirical information which provides insightsinto the experiences and perception of business people who operate in a number of Asian environmentson a day today basis. Given the global focus of companies, the ethnic and geographic boundaries arebecoming quite blurred, as it is perfectly logical to have a Norwegian owned company with a regionalhead office in Bangkok, an operating company in Indonesia which is staffed by Filipino executivesOverlay these ethnic considerations with the American-based financial crisis which has occurred over thelast 18 months, and is at least to some extent effecting decisions and operating practices around theworld. We chose not to focus on this financial phenomenon on this occasion, given that there is aplethora of commentary, but we chose instead to continue to focus on the target countries of Asia.We offer our thanks for the cooperation and assistance given by the various Australian and New Zealandbilateral Business Council's, the Chambers of Commerce, but importantly the individual participants whotook the trouble to complete the survey information.We trust the results are of interest and a useful to you in your organisation in developing its forwardplans.
1.
POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC BACKDROP
This year has been an extremely interesting one both politically and economically. The American financialcrisis which has permeated the globe, the bombings in India, the very confident moves to establish theAsean Charter, have dominated the international news, but there are many other, more localised matterswhich have dominated local news
•
Continued deregulation of the Indian economy
•
the contraction of the economy in Vietnam partially due to overloaded infrastructure.
•
Continued political upheaval in Thailand
•
interesting move to free trade arrangements, both within and external to the region
•
the ongoing political turmoil in Thailand
•
growing confidence and interest in the Asean CharterThere were other more localised events which certainly had an impact on the various local economiesand the attractiveness of that economy to investors.
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