Globalization of production and the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises in Asia and the Pacific trends and prospects United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific

By: Material type: TextTextLanguage: ENG Series: Studies in trade and investment ; 65Publication details: New York, USA United Nations 2009Description: xii, 105 p. ill. 23 cmISBN:
  • 9789211505909
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 338.40995
Online resources: Summary: "The Asia and Pacific region has achieved unprecedented growth and development in recent decades. Asia is increasingly playing the role of a global growth pole, and fast emerging as a manufacturing and information technology hub of the world economy, yet more than 600 million people in the region still live in absolute poverty. China and India are reshaping international business and the global economy, partly through the operations of internationally competitive enterprises such as Lenovo and Infosys. Nevertheless, they coexist with far greater numbers of traditional, local micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Those smaller enterprises, confronted with the perennial challenges of gaining access to finance, technology, human resources and market information, must also adjust to the new opportunities and threats posed by globalization. This paper focuses on a key dynamic that is changing the business environment: the globalization of production, which has major implications for the growth prospects of SMEs in Asia and the Pacific. The current global economic environment is characterized by trade liberalization, rapidly changing technology, and growing and ever-mutating demand for higher-quality and differentiated intermediate and final products and services that must meet increasingly stringent international standards. Traditional SMEs find it difficult to stay competitive in such an environment, even in their domestic markets. Conversely, by facilitating linkages with foreign buyers and large multinational enterprises, the forces of globalization loosen the constraints of domestic economies and markets, and provide local SMEs with potential access to globally distributed assets, including information, technology, skills, capital and markets. So how can Asia-Pacific SMEs, policymakers and development partners seek to mitigate the challenges posed by the former trend by optimizing the latter trend? This paper seeks to provide some policy-oriented recommendations and practical initiatives that the authors believe would be of use. These include: (a) implementing a number of focused improvements to the (external) business enabling environments for SMEs, with particular emphasis on logistics systems; (b) carrying out multiple efforts to improve the sophistication of (internal) operations and business strategies of SMEs; (c) developing and supporting more enterprise “clusters”; and (d) pursuing a number of subregional cooperative actions. The paper concludes with a suggested action plan, comprising 10 specific components, designed to assist the burgeoning community of SMEs in Asia and the Pacific to become more competitive, and thereby harness the globalization of production trend to best effect."
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MAIN LIBRARY Noumea ORG UNESCAP STU Available 43070

"ST/ESCAP/2540"

Includes bibliographical references (p. 91-105)

"The Asia and Pacific region has achieved unprecedented growth and development in recent decades. Asia is increasingly playing the role of a global growth pole, and fast emerging as a manufacturing and information technology hub of the world economy, yet more than 600 million people in the region still live in absolute poverty. China and India are reshaping international business and the global economy, partly through the operations of internationally competitive enterprises such as Lenovo and Infosys. Nevertheless, they coexist with far greater numbers of traditional, local micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Those smaller enterprises, confronted with the perennial challenges of gaining access to finance, technology, human resources and market information, must also adjust to the new opportunities and threats posed by globalization. This paper focuses on a key dynamic that is changing the business environment: the globalization of production, which has major implications for the growth prospects of SMEs in Asia and the Pacific. The current global economic environment is characterized by trade liberalization, rapidly changing technology, and growing and ever-mutating demand for higher-quality and differentiated intermediate and final products and services that must meet increasingly stringent international standards. Traditional SMEs find it difficult to stay competitive in such an environment, even in their domestic markets. Conversely, by facilitating linkages with foreign buyers and large multinational enterprises, the forces of globalization loosen the constraints of domestic economies and markets, and provide local SMEs with potential access to globally distributed assets, including information, technology, skills, capital and markets. So how can Asia-Pacific SMEs, policymakers and development partners seek to mitigate the challenges posed by the former trend by optimizing the latter trend? This paper seeks to provide some policy-oriented recommendations and practical initiatives that the authors believe would be of use. These include: (a) implementing a number of focused improvements to the (external) business enabling environments for SMEs, with particular emphasis on logistics systems; (b) carrying out multiple efforts to improve the sophistication of (internal) operations and business strategies of SMEs; (c) developing and supporting more enterprise “clusters”; and (d) pursuing a number of subregional cooperative actions. The paper concludes with a suggested action plan, comprising 10 specific components, designed to assist the burgeoning community of SMEs in Asia and the Pacific to become more competitive, and thereby harness the globalization of production trend to best effect."