Guus van Westen, Utrecht University, The Netherlands
Bram van Helvoirt, Centre for Promotion of Imports from Developing
Countries, The Netherlands
Edo Andriesse, Khon Kaen University, Thailand
REGIONAL OPPORTUNITIES AND CONSTRAINTS
TO BENEFIT FROM GLOBALISATION: A
SOUTHEAST ASIAN PERSPECTIVE
BACKGROUND



Outcomes of two Ph.D theses:
Van Helvoirt (2009) on regional development in the
Philippines
Andriesse (2008) on regional development on the
Thailand-Malaysia border
See also: chapter 8 in Helmsing, B and Vellema, S.
(2011), Value chains, social inclusion and economic
development: contrasting theories and realities.
Abingdon: Routledge (Routledge Studies in
Development Economics).
MAIN QUESTIONS
What opportunities and constraints do regions
(sub-national areas) have to benefit from
globalisation?
 Who are the main actors: firms/entrepreneurs,
local governments or central governments?
 To what extent are regional industries inserted
in global value chains?
 How do regional elites promote/obstruct
insertion in global value chains?

THEORETICAL CONCEPTS
Regional business systems
 Institutional embedding of firms
 Ethnic entrepreneurship/Guanxi
 Institutional lock-in
 Global value chains
 Central-local ties

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
194 firm questionnaires
 Semi-structured interviews with regional and
national governmental agencies and business
associations, regional politicians and other key
informants.

RESEARCH AREAS
Bohol, Cebu and
Negros Oriental
Satun and
Perlis
RESEARCH AREAS





Satun (Thailand): a market-driven agro-industrial
economy
Perlis (Malaysia): a state driven-service economy
Philippines:
Cebu: a market-driven export manufacturing and
service economy
Negros Oriental: a post-colonial plantation economy
Bohol: a small scale farming economy
EMPIRICAL INDICATORS
Functional (chain) networking
 Territorial networking
 Societal networking

FUNCTIONAL (CHAIN) NETWORKING
Cebu
Vertical
Strong
inter-firm
insertion in
coordination GVCs
Value chain
governance
Negros Bohol
Oriental
Satun
Perlis
Regulated
hierarchical
trade, fixed
arrangements
Top-down
directed
chains,
external
links
controlled
by duopsony
Strong
insertion in
GVCs,
informal
trust-based
coordination
in fisheries
Limited,
within statedriven
economy,
both direct
and indirect
Local
captive
agro-chains
Global
buyer-driven
agro-chains
with role for
Thai firms
State
intervention
disrupts
global value
chain
formation
Global buyer National
driven
captive
chain,
agro-chains
captive local
subcontractors
TERRITORIAL NETWORKING
Cebu
Horizontal
Weak
inter-firm
informal
coordination coordination
, alleviated
by strong
formal
organisation
Negros Bohol
Oriental
Satun
Perlis
Strong
social ties,
but limited
scope for
upgrading
Strong
informal
coordination
with
substantial
business
impact
(guanxi)
Weak
informal
coordination
alleviated by
strategic
role of stateowned firms
Strong
informal
coordination
, but limited
scope for
upgrading
SOCIETAL NETWORKING
Cebu
Negros Bohol
Oriental
Satun
Perlis
PublicStrong:
private
publiccoordination private
boosterist
alliance
Exclusive:
political and
business
elite is
same
Limited:
restricted to
personal
elite
alliances
Limited:
separate
political and
business
elites
Inclusions
through
affirmative
policies
Central-local Local elite
ties
well
represented
at national
level
Planters
well
represented
at national
level
Top-down:
dole outs
and weak
representati
on
Top down:
no support
and weak
representati
on
Hierarchical
and strong:
federal
government
dominates
The role of
ethnicity
Strong:
Dominance
by mestizo
elites
Strong: local
FilipinoChinese
duopsony
Strong:
dominance
by Sino-Thai
families
(guanxi)
Strong:
ethnic
divide within
business
community
Moderate:
FilipinoChinese
entrepreneurs
CONCLUSIONS
Cebu: Globalisation and “Ceboom”
 Negros Oriental: De-globalising the sugar chain
and institutional lock-in
 Bohol: “Shared poverty” and no insertion in
GVCs
 Satun: Globalisation + exclusion of Islamic
majority
 Perlis: Federal government obstructs insertion
in GVCs

CONCLUSIONS

Regions can insert themselves in GVCs and
benefit from globalisation through formal or
informal arrangements and through three
avenues:
CONCLUSIONS
1.
2.
3.
Direct by national policy
Indirect by regional elites, although
sometimes they do not wish to change,
progress and adopt more inclusive
approaches towards regional development
Indirect by social economic policies such as
education and infrastructure
CONCLUSIONS
Regional disparities within countries could very
well widen because some regions globalise,
whereas others are subject to relative deglobalisation (Perlis as a result of federal
strategy; Negros Oriental of vested interests of
regional elite).
 So, the spatial effects of globalisation are more
complex than we thought.
