The Internationalization of Singapore's State Enterprise Network in the Context of Asia's Transborder Industrialization: New Evidence from Indonesia, Vietnam and China

• Main Authors: YEOH, Caroline, SIM, Victor, MENG, Genrong
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2006
• Subjects: Internationalization; State Enterprise Networks; Singapore’s Overseas Industrial Parks; Asian Studies; International Business
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/2866; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/lkcsb_research/article/3865/viewcontent/auto_convert.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

State-led, market-driven interventions have been the hallmark of the Singapore `success story’. This paper revisits Singapore’s state-enterprise strategy, in the context of the city-state’s determined efforts at internationalization, and takes a closer look at the portability of this strategy, in the framework of Regionalization21, a series of transborder industrialization experiments in Indonesia, Vietnam and China. These state-engineered projects, orchestrated to encapsulate economic space for Singapore-based firms to expand into the region, remains controversial. This strategic initiative is promulgated on the exportability of Singapore’s state credibility, systemic and operational efficiencies as well as technological competencies, to locations where these attributes are less distinct. We present evidence culled from surveys and interviews conducted in the Singapore-styled industrial-townships in these three countries. Our results show that the strategic advantage created in the industrial enclaves in Indonesia and Vietnam remains uncertain, whilst the ‘experiment’ in China is arguably a measured success, now that vested interests are aligned.