On December 31, 2015, the ASEAN Economic Community had officially been launched. The direct impact of this policy will be on the field of Competition Law which differs from one country to another. The Competition Law plays an important role in ensuring fair and equitable business practices within the ASEAN. The ASEAN has its Regional Guidelines on Competition Policy to assist its member countries to increase their awareness about fair and equitable business practices. This policy only serves as a guideline and has not been adopted as an enforceable rule. Therefore, the business competition in the domestic market involving the ASEAN member’s company is still being regulated by each ASEAN member country. This paper examines and analyzes the role of the competition law in addressing the intra- ASEAN members’ unfair business practices and the needs for the harmonization of the competition law within the ASEAN Countries as a transition to promulgate the ASEAN Competition Law.

ASEAN’s goal of establishing a single shipping market is consistent with its desire to create a highly integrated, connected and competitive region in which cross-border, intra-ASEAN establishment and provision of shipping services is permitted. However, the measures currently being mapped out for achieving the single shipping market have not included liberalizing cabotage. This article argues that abolishing cabotage by removing the prohibition on the ASEAN ship-owners to engage in each other’s domestic shipping is a necessary requirement to fully achieve a single shipping market. It discusses the cabotage regimes in the four ASEAN States, namely Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand. It highlights the vessel registration, licensing and manning requirements of each State. Further, the article discusses the regulatory provisions that exclude foreign ship-owners from domestic shipping and the scope of the exemptions from cabotage. Finally, it makes recommendations on how the disparate regulatory provisions can be harmonized through the adoption of an ASEAN agreement on cabotage.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations(ASEAN) has been the most essential organization in Asia. In spite of the world economic crisis, Southeast Asian countries have shown fast economic growth since 2000, and they have been actively expanding investments and trades especially with major countries. Research on competitiveness in ASEAN market has spawned an increasingly large literature, but empirical research on the determinants of Korea’s export to ASEAN is limited. The purpose of this study is to draw out the determinant of Korean fisheries export to ASEAN by carrying out a panel analysis. For achieving such a purpose, pooled OLS, Hausman Test, Fixed Effect, Random Effect are performed. The last 20 years’data over the period of 1995 to 2014 concentrated on the ASEAN 6 countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippine, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam is used in this study. Amount of aquatic products export to ASEAN is used as the dependent variable; real exchange rate, real GDP, relative price level and GDP per capita are used as the explanatory variables and FTA as dummy variable. Empirical results show that fixed-effect analysis is the best model among all the models. As the fixed effect model shows, real exchange rate, real GDP, GDP per capita and dummy variable(FTA) play positive and statistically significant roles in fisheries export to ASEAN, while price variable plays a negative and statistically significant role to the dependent variable.

This paper analyzed what factors affect increased import from ASEAN agricultural products. This study uses multi-countries gravity model approach with a dataset of agricultural import for the period of 2004 - 2014 and several explanatory variables, and then estimate it using the random-effect panel Tobit. The results revealed that agriculture trade in Korea is influenced by the trade partner’s per capita GDP, population, distance from Korea, FTA preferential taxrate, trade percentage of GDP, agriculture percentage of GDP, the number of immigrants from ASEAN countries, and normal track dummy variables etc. It is found that FTA taxrate affect trade between both partners that can occur loss in agricultural industry. Therefore, applying deliberate standards strategies for normal track selection for future FTA negotiation.

Students in higher education institutions come from different walks of lives, some with a wide experience from their daily work, personal, and lifelong learning activities. To better manage their lifelong learning (informal, non-formal and formal learning) activities, these students will benefit from putting together an e-portfolio that transcribes their learning experiences into a form that is both attractive and meaningful. A short online course titled “iGraphia” was designed and developed and made available as a pilot open online course to enable students to understand the nature and importance of an e-portfolio portfolios and who will be better able to connect informal and non-formal learning experiences with formal learning experiences by mapping and linking the various experiences as a set of learning journeys. This paper will report the design and development of the pilot course and on how the learning outcomes will be achieved by those who enroll.

The Framework Agreement for the ASEAN-China Free Trade Area was initiated in 2002. It is the first ASEAN Plus pattern free trade agreement in East Asia. To understand the cultural and historical bonds between China and Southeast Asian States, and contemporary Chinese regional political economy in building the ACFTA, this paper reviews the tributary trade and ancient Chinese diplomacy between China and the neighboring States. The primary purpose of this research is to show how the ACFTA is in the interests of all parties in the course of China’s fast economic and political growth. The following article highlights the ACFTA provisions by examining trading agreements in goods, services and investment in the context of the corresponding WTO provisions. In the end, it suggests the possible resolutions for achieving a win–win and interdependent ASEAN–China Free Trade Area.

This study investigates the role of regionalisation in the endeavours of emerging economies to connect successfully to the global world economy. In the first part of the research, it summarizes connecting theories, using a multidisciplinary approach; International Relations, International Economics, Sociology (Granovetter, 1990; Li, 2003; Das, 2005; Yaquing, 2011) to discuss relationship-based versus rule-based governance as major characteristics of the ASEAN business environment. Descriptive statistical analysis is applied to identify the achievements of ASEAN-6 countries within global trade and FDI in 2000-2012. We suggest that the association examined in a broader context as ASEAN+3 (APT) did contribute to the greater integratedness of her member countries; and they have created a regional image with a common market, production base and exporting platform. Such achievements, however, can be in great part attributed to the micro-level activities of international and regional firms. In the second part of the study, marketing strategies of global companies are analysed based on empirical results in the literature to identify how they act in the ASEAN business environment when entering or expanding their presence. Two major manufacturing industries of the region, the household electrical appliances (characterised by fierce competition of Japanese and Korean manufacturers) and the Japanese dominated automobile industries are highlighted including the marketing mix elements of major market players. The Korean success can be attributed more to the relationship element, than the price factor. Upgrading of the maintenance service, sales and distribution network responding to local needs has been in focus. Rebuilding, restructuring of the entire ASEAN production/supply networks of corporations are expected to prepare for the ASEAN Economic Community 2015 environment. Localised products are designed for regional demand to obtain a competitive edge (Kabe, Ushiyama & Yamada, 2012). The first mover advantage of the Japanese car manufacturers has been kept since the 50’s through continuous product innovation with accelerated efforts into designing and manufacturing regional brands with cautious price-setting in recent years. There are important differences in marketing strategy of ASEAN-based companies investing abroad depending on the economic development level of their home country. Singaporean companies rely more on differentiation benefits, technology, product innovation, apply greater ODM/OBM (own design manufacturing, own brand manufacturing) than Malaysian ones (Sim, 2012). Movements in trade and FDI can also be observed in the evolving Asia-Europe interconnectedness with considerable scope for expansion. Our research identified promising examples of internationalizing SMEs beside the global players, which can be a further route to bridge Asia to the world. In order to investigate the role of the cultures (Hofstede, 2005), SMEs have been selected with presence both in the ASEAN and Visegrad four, the so called V4 countries (Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland) for case studies. The still very few investment cases of the V4 countries in Southeast-Asia base their marketing strategy on product or service innovation using strongly relationship elements. The research intends to shed light on the marketing strategies of ASEAN and EU-based start-up and mid-size companies when they invest in each others’ region.

수출입 검역검사 조치는 불량제품 수입을 비롯한 전염병 등이 전파되는 것을 방지하기도 하지만 자유무역에 장애가 되는 주요한 비관세장벽의 역할을 하기도 한다. 이와 같이 수출입 검역검사는 긍정적인 측면과 부정적인 측면의 양면성을 가지고 있기 때문에 국가 간의 위생검역을 위한 협력은 검역검사의 긍정적인 작용을 이끌고 부정적인 작용을 줄이는 정책으로 유도하여야 한다. 중국-아세안이 긍정적인 방향으로 검역검사 협력을 추진하는 것은 매우 중요하며 WTO 협정 및 중국-아세안 FTA 협정에 근거한 관련 검역검사 협정을 기초로 하여 중국-아세안 각국 검역검사 기관이 주체가 되어 서로 긍정적인 방향으로 진행할 필요성이 강조된다. 이러한 정책방향에도 불구하고 11개 국가로 구성된 중국-아세안 간의 위생검역의 상이한 법률, 검역검사에 대한 제도 및 운영상의 차이로 양측의 협력은 그리 순탄치만은 않다. 이에 본 논문에서는 중국-아세안 각국의 농산물 위생검역 제도와 규정을 통하여 양자 및 다자간 위생검역 협의를 살펴보고 본 협의에 있어서 중국-아세안 위생검역의 문제점과 이에 대한 대응방안이 무엇인지를 검토하고자 한다.

There have been at least twenty Summits among the ASEAN countries. They adopted about twenty basic legal documents. All these are dedicated to realizing the ambitious dream of the ASEAN countries to be developed. However, the facts went opposite. ASEAN cooperation stays slow and reaches a very narrow target. Most ASEAN people feel bored and hopeless over the state of cooperation. The slow and narrow cooperation have disposed the cooperation into a downfall image such as a fiction, or even a utopian. The downfall image could make cooperation even slower or end it altogether, as it commonly drives the belief of the people from trust to distrust and believing into disbelieving. The gap between the ‘sollen’and the ‘sein’in the cooperation shows a strong influence of undetectable causes. This article applies a law and ideological approach in searching and analyzing the cause of slowness of performance of the cooperation.

Cooperation between China and the ASEAN has become more integrated as their common economic interests have been increasing due to globalization and recent changes in Southeast Asia. The formation and operation of the CAFTA provide incentive for investment and trade between China and the ASEAN. The objective of laws regulating to investment should promote investment, which can be realized through a liberal, facilitative and transparent investment regime. The CAFTA’s investment regime continues along with the same trends of international investment agreements in general. However, in order to encourage regional integration, it needs to be improved in future practice.

As the ASEAN moves towards its vision of a ‘Community,’enforceability and consistency of legal standards, broadly the “rule of law,”have drawn attention due to their impact on the predictability of social environments, with consequences for markets, people, and policy makers. This paper draws together recent findings and suggests ASEAN States have made significant progress but remain in a state of transition. These findings support Barry Weingast’s prediction that developing countries are more likely to create consistent rules and move to“ open access orders” in line with requirements for development, rather than install artificial enforcement mechanisms before growth.

Economic globalization and regional economic integration have become the world’s two major trends of the world economy, with most countries pursuing broader economic development of space through the strengthening of national and regional economic and trade ties. The geographic proximity of China and ASEAN nations, both in terms of resources, industrial structure, and industrial and agricultural goods, among other things, is very complimentary, and the growth of economic and trade cooperation has a distinct benefit. Long-term “neighborly and friendly” strategic partnership relationships have provided a solid framework for the growth of economic and trade cooperation. The establishment of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area can achieve a win-win situation by not only complementing each other and expanding bilateral trade and cooperation on a larger scale, but also strengthening overall competitiveness and its ability to resist risks. Friendly relations between China and ASEAN will be further consolidated and strengthened to improve the Chinese and ASEAN in East Asia and the Asian region’s political status and ability to deal with international affairs. This article proposes solutions to the challenges that exist in the China-ASEAN Free Trade Zone. The establishment of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area will not only consolidate and strengthen China’s and ASEAN’s already friendly and cooperative relations, but will also further promote China’s and ASEAN’s respective economic development and regional cooperation and competitiveness. Finally, with the construction of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area, China and ASEAN will enjoy the benefits of economic globalization and regional economic integration even more, face obstacles jointly, and contribute to the growth and stability of Asian and global economies.

본 연구는 OECD 국가 대 중국, 한국, 아세안 5개국의 해외직접투자 입지선택에 미친 영향을 분석하였 다. 2003년부터 2020년까지의 연도별 데이터를 사용하여 단순고정효과와 이원고정효과 분석 방법으 로 실증분석을 실시하였다. 분석 결과는 현지국의 경제 수준이 해외직접투자에 긍정적인 영향을 미친 다는 것으로 나타났다. 새 천년 이후 중국 시장이 개방되면서 선진국과 자본 풍부한 국가들은 해외직 접투자에 대한 선택이 많아졌다. 국가 간의 무역량이 증가하면서 싱가포르의 지리적 우세를 점차 나타 내고 있다. 또한 아세안 5개국을 대상으로 단순고정효과와 이원고정효과에 대한 분석 방법을 이용하였 다. 아세안 5개국의 경제 수준은 해외직접투자 입지선택에 대한 투자 가능성을 평가하는 중요한 지표 라는 분석 결과가 나타났다.

이 글은 2003~2018년까지 16년간 중국이 아세안(동남아국가연합)에 직접 투자한 패널 데이터를 수집해 분석한 것으로, IMF의 대표적 금융기관 발전 수준을 보여주는 FI (Financial Institution Index)와 금융시장 발전 수준을 보여주는 FM (Financial Markets Index)을 채택해 ASEAN의 금융 발전 수준을 가늠 하는 변수로 삼았다. 각국의 정치적 수준을 대변하는 WGI(Worldwide Governance Indicators)와 각국의 인간개발지수를 나타내는 HDI (Human Development Index)를 채택해 아세안 사회 환경을 가늠 하는 변수로 삼았다. 이를 조절변수로 삼아 아세안에 대한 중국의 직접투자를 각각 상호작용을 하여 중국의 직접투자가 아세안의 경제에 미치는 영향을 관측하였다. 그 결과 중국의 동남아국가연합(ASEAN)에 대한 직접투자가 유치국 경제 성장에 긍정적인 영향을 미치지 않는 것으로 나타났다. 동시에 아세안의 사회 환경과 금융 발전은 중국의 직접 투자에 대해 부정적인 조정 작용을 가져온다.

This paper examines how macroeconomic variables, such as interest rate differences, inflation, exchange rates, economic growth and external debt growth, affect capital flight in the ASEAN-8 countries. We apply a panel data model with fixed effect estimation for the data for eight countries from the period 1994 to 2018. We use the residual approach used by the World Bank to measure the value of capital flight. The results show that the interest rate differences, exchange rates, economic growth and foreign debt growth had a positive and significant effect on outward capital flight. A further implication of this finding is that the interest rate differences, exchange rate, economic growth and foreign debt growth are factors that trigger an increase in capital outflow in the ASEAN-8 countries. Nonetheless, inflation rate is not considered to be the main factor influencing capital flight, as average inflation in the ASEAN-8 countries remains relatively stable. This paper will be beneficial for policymakers in the ASEAN-8 countries and encourage them to constantly pay attention to these four variables, as they significantly influence capital flight, whereas they can disregard the impact of the inflation variable that is not significant in influencing capital flight.

The neoclassical economic supporters have suggested that foreign direct investment and raw material (e.g., coal, electricity, gas, and oil) are critical economic growth inputs. Few previous studies have analyzed the relationship between foreign direct investment and energy consumption on economic growth. However, existing studies usually have applied the frequentist inference. The limitation of the frequentist inference is that, if the coefficient of the independent variable is not yet significant, then conclusions might be unreliable. By applying the Bayesian approach, the main aim of this study is to revisit the impact of foreign direct investment, electricity consumption, and urbanization on economic growth in six ASEAN countries from 1980 to 2016. The obtained outcome shows that the impact of electricity consumption is evident and positive on economic growth in both frequentist and Bayesian inferences. However, the influence of foreign direct investment is not identified by frequentist inference, while Bayesian inference provides evidence that foreign direct investment is a moderately positive impact on economic growth. The empirical result from Bayesian inference contributes to the literature on foreign direct investment modeling and could be of significant importance for a more efficient foreign direct investment attracting and achieve sustainability in the long-term.

This study aims to test empirically whether the ASEAN Corporate Governance Scorecard (ACGS) has a positive effect on Sustainability Reporting (SR) and whether the ACGS and Sustainability Reporting (SR) have a positive effect on Firm Value (FV). The study was conducted in five ASEAN countries - Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, and Thailand from 2014 - 2017. The research sample was collected from companies with the ACGS data and obtained with the help of 359 company observations. Hypothesis testing was performed using the Ordinary Least Square (OLS). The results of the study do not support all hypotheses. The ACGS has no effect on sustainability reporting. The ACGS has a significant negative effect on firm value, while sustainability reporting has a negative and insignificant effect on firm value. The ACGS and sustainability reporting are not good news for investors. This research’s limitation is that companies rarely disclose the final value of the ACGS in their annual reports, so this research uses content analysis. The weakness of content analysis is the researchers’ subjectivity so that the point of view between researchers is different. Besides, sustainability reporting for several ASEAN countries is voluntary, so not all companies can be sampled, which ultimately affects interpretation.

This study examines how the health of the banks in ASEAN-3 countries namely Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand respond to the change in exchange rates and foreign interest rates in four large economies. The transmissions of the two external factors through domestic factors in each ASEAN-3 countries eventually affects Non-Performing Loan (NPL) of commercial banks. This study uses the monthly time series data and the renowned Structural Vector Autoregressive (VAR) model comprising five variables, namely exchange rate, foreign interest rate, domestic interest rate, money supply, and non-performing loan (NPL). The results indicate that there are different effects between ASEAN-3 countries, which can be classified as short-run effect and long-run effect. In the long run effect, external factors have a dominant role in determining NPL in ASEAN-3 countries. Yuan has the biggest effect on Malaysia’s NPL, while Indonesia is more affected by European interest rates rather than the fluctuation of the US currency and China’s interest rates. Among ASEAN-3 countries, Malaysia is the one that is the most vulnerable to external factors. While Thailand’s NPL is affected dominantly by domestic factors. This study shows that the Fed Funds Rate (US official interest rate) is not always the dominant factor affecting the health of domestic banks in ASEAN-3.