International workshop on SMEs in East and Southeast Asia jointly organised by Universiti Sains Malaysia and Asia Research Centre, Copenhagen Business School
30 September to 1 October 2010
Call for papers!
Title: ‘Global Economics and the SME Business Environment in East and Southeast Asia: Opportunities and Constrains’
Due to the increasingly inter-dependency between the global economy, a given national economy and its societal embedment a triangulation between the three elements seems a promising approach if processes and thus inter-dependencies between the three points in the triangle are to be understood. This workshop challenges the participants to focus on all three elements, that is, the global, the national economic and the societal elements of this triangulation to test whether such an approach is capable of illustrating the inter-dependences thus critically testing the notion of decoupling in any of the three points in the triangulation. The purpose is 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 the societal and institutional embedment in that economy or whether one also has to integrate a global economic perspective in this context when studying small and medium size companies (SMEs).
Furthermore, the question is whether such a holistic and relational perspective on the political economy of a given nation compared to a decoupling approach that tries through sector determined studies to decide on the level of connectivity between global and national economic determinants thus trying to detect whether there are potential fault-lines between the two thus delinking them is the most applicable when studying SMEs. As the latter are the empirical point of departure in this workshop it might be rewarding to investigate how various SMEs within an East and Southeast Asian context relate to various governmental industry policies, how various socio-cultural factors impact on this context, and how the level of global economic entrenchment affect all of these factors thus testing the functionality and level of inter-dependency between the two other aspects.
Such an analysis could take its point of departure in, for example, how global economics impacts on network practices, ownership structures and strategic planning among SMEs in a national economic context. Employing such an approach might suggest that it is not enough to concentrate on how a given SME community is organised or structured vis-à-vis other industrial sectors in which it is engaged. It might also be important to analyse the structural changes within that community given the fact that it is not only dependent on domestic socio-political constrains, but also constrained by external factors over which it has no control. In order to develop a frame for such a discourse, the organisers suggest three main themes for the workshop to explore:
1. Economic nationalism and industrial development among SMEs in East and Southeast Asia
a. Small is beautiful: assessing the impact of SMEs on
national economic set-up: case studies from East and Southeast Asia
b. State intervention and SME survival strategies during the financial
crisis: case studies from East and Southeast Asia
c. SME versus MNC? On industrial flexibility and adaptability in a global
economy: Testing a triangulation approach
d. Economic nationalism and local industrial decoupling: a viable solution
for SMEs?
2. Business strategies and processes of engagement: locally and/or globally
a. Impact on and responses from SMEs towards the current
global financial crisis: case studies from East and Southeast Asia
b. Enhancing SME competitiveness through university-industry collaboration:
open innovation versus networked innovation: case studies from East and
Southeast Asia
c. On categorizing SMEs: domestic marked oriented, supplier oriented,
sub-contracting oriented, export oriented or born global? Identifying
the drivers of change and diversity within the SME community in East and
Southeast Asia
3. Internationalization strategies or economic decoupling in East and Southeast Asia
a. SME internationalization strategies: diasporic linkages
or truncated network practices in the global market place?
b. Developing new strategies of growth for SMEs: 1) going international
by itself, 2) engaging in business alliances when engaging the global
market, or 3) take the ‘safe’ way, becoming a supplier or
sub-contractor to a resident MNC?
c. Chinese owned SMEs versus non-Chinese owned SMEs in an East and Southeast
Asian context: strategic decoupling or aggressive internationalization
strategies? Some case studies
Deadlines:
As mentioned above the workshop is to take place on September 30th to October 1st 2010. It is jointly organised by Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) and Asia Research Centre, Copenhagen Business School (ARC/CBS). The organisers, Dr. Chin Yee Whah (USM) and Dr. Michael Jakobsen (ARC/CBS), have set the deadline for submitting a working title and an abstract on June 18th 2010. This would give the organisers amble time to flesh out a final workshop programme that the participants will receive by July 1st 2010. As soon as we have the critical mass of participants a detailed practical workshop guide will be send out. The organisers are currently negotiating with pertinent international journals for a special issue based on the outcome from the workshop.
Where?
The workshop is to take place at the Asia Research Centre, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark.
Contact details:
Dr. Michael Jakobsen (mj.int@cbs.dk), Asia Research Centre (http://www.cbs.dk/forskning/institutter_centre/institutter/arc), Copenhagen Business School. Porcelaenshaven 22. 2000F. Denmark. Phone: 0045 3815 3396.
Dr. Chin Yee Whah (ywchin@usm.my), School of Social Science, University Sains Malaysia. 11800 Penang, Malaysia. Phone: 604 653 4609.