Competition Law, Regulation and SMEs in the Asia-Pacific: Understanding the Small Business Perspective

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for more than 90 per cent of all businesses in the Asia-Pacific region -- an area which is rapidly updating its competition laws and regulations to encourage greater entrepreneurship and open, dynamic economies. Yet SMEs are almost invisible when those competition policies and laws are developed and enforced. SMEs are often quite different businesses than large, multinational corporations, but their nature, significance and characteristics are often overlooked. This book seeks to rectify the relative neglect in research and policy discussions on the role of the SME sector in competition policy and law. Drawing on contributions from a wide range of competition regulators, lawyers, academics, consultants and advisers to the SME sector, it addresses such important issues as: - perceptions and views of small businesses about competition law; - regulator engagement and education of the SME sector; - the link between competition law and economic growth; - franchising, SMEs and competition law; - issues in enforcing competition law against SMEs; - the role of Chinese family firms; - trade, professional and industry associations; - country case studies from Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, China, South Korea, Hong Kong SAR, Japan and the Pacific Islands. "This book is an important step in remedying the gaps in our knowledge and policy of this important area." -- Dr Alan Bollard, Executive Director, APEC Secretariat Contents FOREWORD About the Contributors 1. Introduction: Making the Invisible SME More Visible in Competition Policy and Law Section 1: Theories And Basic Concepts 2. Smes, Competition Law, and Economic Growth 3. Competition Policy and Sme Policy: Strange Bedfellows? 4. The Competitive Experience of Uk Smes: Fair and Unfair 5. Competition Regulator Engagement with the Small 85 Business Sector 6. Developing Online Competition Law Education Tools 103 for SMEs Section 2: Smes And Competition Law 7. The Application of Per Ses to Smes: The Type 1 Error 123 No One Notices? 8. Enforcing Competition Law Against SMEs: Presumptions and Problems 9. How Competition Law May Affect Franchised SMEs in Apec Economies 10. Chinese Family Firms in Southeast Asia: Special Problems for Competition Law? 11. Trade Associations: Competition Law Advocates or 192 Offenders? Section 3: Country Studies 12. Competition Law, Regulation, and Trade: Implications for Productivity and Innovation in Singaporean Manufacturing SMEs 13. SME Law and Abuse of a Superior Bargaining Position 230 in Japan 14. Competition Law, Policy, and Smes in South Korea 15. Competition Law Implementation and Smes: Singapore’s Experience 16. Competition Law and SMEs in Indonesia 17. Smes and Malaysia’s New Competition Law: Experiences to Date 18. Competition Policy and SME Development in Vietnam 19. China’s Anti-Monopoly Law and the SME Sector 20. A New Competition Agency Learns to Deal with Smes: The Case of the Hong Kong Competition Commission 21. The Regulation of Television Programme Production 359 Contracts under Japan’s Subcontract Act 22. Small Enterprises and Competition Policy in Pacific Island Countries index Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for more than 90 per cent of all businesses in the Asia-Pacific region - an area which is rapidly updating its competition laws and regulations to encourage greater enterpreneurship and open, dynamic economies. Yet SMEs are almost invisible when those competition policies and laws are developed and enforced. SMEs are often quite different businesses than large, multinational corporation, but their nature, significance and characteristics are often overlooked. This book seeks to rectify the relative neglect in research and policy discussions on the role of the SME sector in competition policy and law. Drawing on contributions from a wide range of competition regulators, lawyers, academics, consultants and advisers to the SME sector, it addresses such important issues as: perceptions and views of small businesses about competition law; regulator engagement and education of the SME sector; the link between competition law and economic growth; franchising, SMEs and competition law; issues in enforcing competition law against SMEs; the role of Chinese family firms; trade, professional and industry associations; country case studies from Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, China, South Korea, Hong Kong SAR, Japan and the Pacific Islands

Volume 18 in the Collected Works of Erasmus series covers the period from 1 April 1531 to 30 March 1532. The most persistent theme in the letters is the fear, to which Erasmus had long been prey, that the religious strife in Germany and Switzerland would eventually lead to armed conflict.