Making Sense of the Asian Success Story: An Integrative Framework

• Main Authors: WEE, Chow Hou, TAN, Gilbert
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 1997
• Subjects: Asia; Economic Development; Competitive Advantages; Asian Studies; Strategic Management Policy
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/2699; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/lkcsb_research/article/3698/viewcontent/MakingSenseAsianSuccess_1997.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

The article focuses on Asian countries that have experienced economic growth over the past 50 years including Hong Kong, China; Japan; Singapore; South Korea and Taiwan. With the exception of Hong Kong, the economic success of the Asian countries has been attributed to the interventionist framework. Export-orientation is one strategy that is most associated with the success of the five Asian countries. The export-oriented strategy helped the five Asian countries in many ways. The ensuring growth of employment enabled the country to save and accumulate capital for reinvestment. The export-oriented strategy also positively affects the competitive advantages of the country. There are other non-economic factors, such as culture, the need to survive, strong government, historical factors and even luck, that could have helped in the development process of these countries. Policy-makers must know how to use the total-systems approach to solving economic problems. In other words, policy-makers must know how to analyse their economies as complex systems.