International workshop on SMEs in East and Southeast Asia

On 30 September to 1 October University Sains Malaysia and Asia Research Centre jointly organised a workshop on small and medium sized companies (SMEs) in East and Southeast Asia. The workshop approaches the study of SMEs from a triangulation model that examined the inter-dependency of the global economy, a national economy and its societal embedment. The workshop challenged participants to focus on the triangulation of the elements, thus critically testing the notion of decoupling any element. The purpose was to see whether it suffices to focus on the national economic performance of a given nation in East and Southeast Asia in order to understand the character of a societal and institutional embedment in that economy or whether one also has to integrate a global economic perspective when studying SMEs.

Further, the purpose was to investigate if a holistic approach compared to a decoupling approach was more applicable when studying SMEs. The triangulation model aims to relate SMEs in East and Southeast Asian countries to the functionality and level of inter-dependency of the state industrial policies, socio-cultural factors and global economic entrenchment. Employing such an approach suggests that the global economy has impact on network practices, ownership structures and strategic planning among SMEs in a national economic context. It also suggests that it is important to analyse changes in societal structures with socio-political and domestic economic constraints, and also, the irrepressible external factors. The workshop develops a structure for such a discourse to explore three main themes: (1) Economic nationalism and industrial development among SMEs in East and Southeast Asia; (2); Business strategies and processes of engagement in: locally and/or globally; and (3) Internationalisation strategies or economic decoupling in East and Southeast Asia.

A total of 17 papers and a keynote speech were presented at the workshop with participants from Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Denmark, Sweden, Spain and the United States. All papers were discussed extensively and two triangulation models were highlighted in the workshop. One consisted of the global economy, national economy and society, and the other consisted of economy, society and state. Both emphasised socio-cultural and political contexts and processes. They aim to provide a new perspective to the study of SMEs in East and Southeast Asia in the context of the changing global economic landscape. The models also aim to provide a more comprehensive approach to the present discourse on the developmental state, neo-liberalism and enterprise development in East and Southeast Asia. Enterprise development was highlighted in the keynote and discussed in the context of economic development models in these regions that have a strong emphasis on state participation. Apart from the theoretical approach, a number of case studies from various disciplines ranging from sociology, anthropology, management economy, political science, development studies and business administration were presented. The case studies, to a certain extent, provide empirical data, useful to merge with the triangulation approach. However, these are subjected to further studies. It was also recognised that a cross disciplinary approach that pays attention to the context and processes is important and that a new theory on the study of SMEs in East and Southeast Asia is emerging from the workshop.

Workshop programme

SME abstracts