BUSINESS GROUPS AND THE THAILAND ECONOMY: escaping the middle-income trap

Cover -- Half Title -- Series -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- List of figures -- List of tables -- Preface -- Acknowledgements -- Abbreviations -- Introduction -- Part I Theory and issues -- 1 Catch-up industrialization theory -- 1.1 Advantages of backwardness and technological leap -- 1.2 Flying-geese pattern and limitations -- 1.3 Catch-up theory revisited and technological creep -- 1.4 Unravelling structural change challenges -- 2 Middle-income trap -- 2.1 Definition of middle-income trap -- 2.2 From East Asian miracle to innovative East Asia -- 2.3 When was Thailand caught in the middle-income trap? -- 2.4 Catching-up problems -- 2.5 Comparing China, Malaysia, and Thailand -- 3 Developmental states and business groups -- 3.1 Developmental state political economy -- 3.2 Latecomer nation domestic business groups theory -- 3.3 Four types of Thai family business groups -- 3.4 Theory of management critical points -- 4 Dependency theory and multinational corporations -- 4.1 Dependency theory -- 4.2 MNCs and human capital investment -- 4.3 BOI and target industries -- 4.4 Exploitation of foreign direct investment -- Part II Policies toward innovation-driven growth -- 5 Upper-middle-income development model -- 5.1 The 1960s and 1970s import substitution industrialization -- 5.2 The 1980s and 1990s export-oriented industrialization of and the Asian financial crisis -- 5.3 Economic performance of Thailand -- 5.4 End of the low-cost advantage era -- 5.5 Low R& -- D activity levels -- 6 High-income development model -- 6.1 The 2000s-2010s economic revitalization and ASEAN Economic Community -- 6.2 The 2020s economic rearrangement to identify a high-income nation model -- 6.3 From creative economy to new S-curves -- 7 EEC plan and foreign investors -- 7.1 Eastern Economic Corridor Plan -- 7.2 Belt Road Initiative of China.

"'Business Groups and the Thailand Economy' examines the role of business groups, specifically state, local and foreign capitals in the economic development of emerging economies and highlights why business groups are essential in helping a country break out of the middle-income trap. Yabushita reviews Thailand's industrial and economic growth strategies through the local and international investors and explains why business groups are one of the key drivers of economic advancement and why they help to avoid the middle-income trap. The author also examines their business power expansion methods, including selection and concentration, political influence, mergers and acquisitions, outward FDI and business alliances. The book concludes with policy recommendations of how the government can engage business groups to accelerate high tech industrialization and create jobs. The middle-income trap issue faced by Thailand would be of interest to many emerging economies especially scholars and policy makers researching on Asian business and management, Asian economies, developmental economics, political economy, policy studies, corporate governance, entrepreneurship, and private company strategic management in emerging countries."