Chapter 9 Asian Business is Regional, not Global

Abstract

Of the 75 Asian firms with data on regional sales, only three are global whereas 66 have the majority of their sales in their home region. Why is this? Despite a large literature extolling the global success of Asian firms, especially the Japanese, why does the evidence suggest that most Asian firms operate regionally? This study explains how most large Japanese firms have firm-specific advantages, which are based in their home region.