The Responses to Regionalism in East Asia: Japanese Production Networks in the Automotive Sector (Palgrave MacMillan Asian Business)

This book is a timely examination of the impact of deepening regional economic integration and regionalism in East Asia on corporate strategy in the Japanese automotive sector. The book presents new knowledge by drawing on empirical research undertaken with corporate executives, public officials and academics. It offers a cogent analysis of the post-crisis transformation of the region and of Japan's pivotal role within this. Contents......Page 8 List of Tables......Page 9 List of Figures......Page 12 Acknowledgments......Page 14 Abbreviations and Acronyms......Page 16 Map of the Region......Page 19 1 Introduction: East Asia, Regionalism and Foreign Direct Investment......Page 20 Part I: Theory and Approach......Page 32 2 Foreign Direct Investment, Regionalism and (Japanese) Production Networks......Page 34 Part II: Establishing the Context......Page 68 3 The Transformation of the East Asian Political Economy......Page 70 4 Japan and the Transformation of the East Asian Political Economy......Page 106 5 Japanese Foreign Direct Investment in East Asia: The Automotive Sector......Page 155 Part III: Responses to Regionalism in the Automotive Sector......Page 180 6 Responses to Regionalism: General Strategy and the Organisation of Production and Management in East Asia......Page 182 7 Responses to Regionalism: The East Asian Investment Environment......Page 205 8 Responses to Regionalism: Regional Production, Trade and Economic Integration......Page 233 9 Conclusions......Page 253 Appendix......Page 258 Notes......Page 261 Bibliography......Page 268 E......Page 283 J......Page 284 R......Page 285 Y......Page 286 "The interaction between regionalism and regionalization, between state and private actors, is a key dynamic of the East Asian political economy today. Taken together these forces amount to a transformation of the regional political economy which, this book suggests, necessitates a re-evaluation of the way in which we can examine the activities of the multinational enterprise in East Asia. The central question of this study, then, is to what extent has this transformation impacted on the strategies employed by Japanese multinationals in their East Asian operations. Drawing on recent empirical data, this book explores how these firms have responded to regionalism."--BOOK JACKET In the decade following the Asian financial crisis, the East Asian political economy has experienced a radical transformation. This book thus investigates the responses of Japanese automotive makers to the processes of regionalism and regionalization by locating firm-level analysis in a broader political economy context.