As East and Southeast Asia continue to modernize and urbanize, their demand for energy will soar. Besides seeking to import fossil fuels from the Middle East, Africa, the Caspian Region, Russia, Latin America, Australia, etc., it is imperative for these Asian countries to cooperate in...

There are two striking conventional wisdoms about the status of regional trading blocs in East Asia. The first is that the only formal regional arrangement in the area, ASEAN, does not in fact function as an economic bloc. Trade among the members is thought to be very low. The second is that...

This chapter contains the sectoral case study on the textiles and clothing (T&C) in Bangladesh. The objectives of the chapter were to clarify value chain development in the export-oriented T&C sector of Bangladesh and the factors responsible for its development since its inception in the early...

This chapter contains the sectoral case study on the Indian automotive sector. The automotive industry in India has thus undergone a transition, from comprising a few auto manufacturers, virtually no auto components makers and only low-quality auto ancillary producers to the league of global...

This chapter contains the sectoral case study on the Thai hard disk drive (HDD) industry. The HDD industry in Thailand was first established during the early 1980s. By 2008, Thailand had become the second-largest HDD exporter in the world, accounting for about 17.4 per cent of world exports....

This chapter contains the sectoral case study on the automotive industry in China. The objective of this chapter is to consider the role, if any, of RTAs in the growth of IPNs in automobile sector in China. Without a doubt, IPNs preceded RTAs. However, with the uncertainly associated with the...