Economic globalization, crisis and the emergence of Chinese business communities in southeast Asia

Globalization tendencies have fundamentally transformed the nature and organization of business communities in Southeast Asia. Chinese business communities in East and Southeast Asia have been playing a leading role in the regional economy through the extensive interpenetration of capital flows and business networks. Through their cross-border investments and global trade networks, these Chinese business communities have also facilitated the rearticulation of mainland China into the global economy. The recent Asian economic crisis, however, has seriously undermined the social and institutional foundations of Chinese business communities in Southeast Asia. At the discursive level, Chinese business communities are beginning to come to terms with a much more realistic conception of globalization as a set of contested processes creating both threats and opportunities. In material terms, Chinese business communities increasingly recognize the limits to their 'home' country-based accumulation strategies and turn to globalization as an alternative growth strategy. The emergence of Chinese business communities in Southeast Asia cannot therefore be conceived as an indigenous evolutionary process of social and institutional change. Rather, it should always be seen as contingent upon such critical external processes as globalization.