Asian Eclipse. Exposing the Dark Side of Business in Asia

423 Pages·1999·60.781 MB·English

by  Michael Backman

Exposing the
Dark Side
of Business
in Asia
Michael Bock non
John Wiley & Sons (Asia) Pte Ltd
. .
Singapore New York (cid:127) Chichester Brisbane (cid:127) Toronto (cid:127) Weinheim
Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons (Asia) Pte Ltd
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Back ran, Michael, 1967
Asian eclipse: exposing the dark side of business in Asia/
Michael Baclunan.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-471-83530-7 (cloth). - ISBN 0-471-83553-6 (pack._)
l. Corporate culture - Asia. 2. Industrial management Asia.
3. Business enterprises - Asia. I. Title.
HD58.7.B342 1999 99-12262
338.095 -dc2l CIP
ISBN 0-47i-83530-7 (cloth)
ISBN 0--471-83553-6 (paperback)
Typeset in 10/12 point, Palatine by Linographic Services Pte Ltd
Printed in Singapore by Craft Print Pte Ltd
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Dedication
For Lance and Betty Chinner

t ents
Acknowledgments ix
Notes X
Introduction 1
SECTION 1 THE FRAMEWORK 7
Chapter 1
The Business of Asian Values 9
Chapter 2
Bureaucrats, Bribery, and Bankruptcy 23
Chapter 3
Auditing Asia 42
Chapter 4
Asia's Corrupted Business Media 52
SECTION 2 FAMILIES, FIRMS, AND FORTUNES 63
Chapter 5
Merchants of Menace? Conglomerates Asian-style 65
Chapter 6
Asia's Conglomerates and their Banks 80
Chapter 7
Lambs to the Slaughter- Investing in Asia's Stock Markets 104
Chapter 8
Polygamy and Family Squabbles 125
vii
CONTENTS
SECTION 3 ASIA'S TWO GIANTS 137
Chapter 9
What's Wrong with Iapan? 139
Chapter 10
China: Rising Star or Black Hole? 173
SECTION 4 THE MINORITY THAT COUNTS 205
Chapter 11
Asia's Overseas Chinese 207
SECTION 5 KINGS, CRONIES, AND FRESIDENTS 231
Chapter 12
Royal Business 233
Chapter 13
President of the Country; Chairman of the Board 255
Chapter 14
President Soeharto and the Fortune 500 288
Chapter 15
Other Politicians; Other Businesses 300
Chapter 16
Seeking Political Access in the West 323
Chapter 17
Shopping for the American President 332
SECTION 6 ASIAN ECLIPSE? 359
Chapter 18
Asian Eclipse and Beyond 361
Endnotes 381
Bi bliography 399
Index 405
viii
Acknowledgments
-
any people have helped me with the research for this book, but
most' spoke to me on the presumption of anonymity and so
-cannot be identified. Instead, I would like to thank several
people not necessarily for their direct assistance in my preparation of this
book but for their ongoing interest in my work. They are Anne Richter,
John Taylor, Judith Laffan, Jim Carlton, De Smith, Francis Ghesquiere,
and Salil Tripathi.
Thank you also to Jeannie, my wife, for all her ideas, advice, and
positive criticisms on this venture, and more generally for her constant
support and enthusiasm for whatever it is that I want to achieve. A lot
that I have experienced in Asia she has experienced with me and, like
this book, I simply could not have done it without her.
Nick Wallwork, my publisher at John Wiley &: Sons, and the other
Wiley staff have been a pleasure to work with. Nick enticed me away
from another publisher and did so in less than a week (contract and all)
and thus reminded me that big need not necessarily mean bureaucratic.
-
Nor does size need to conflict with independence the contents of this
book are a testament to that.
Thank you also to Robyn Flemming for her copy-editing. Robyn
recognized my preferred style immediately and ran with it, and sought
-
not to change but to improve surely the mark of any good editor. The
copious legal advice provided by Geoff Miles of Haldanes and the
numerous reviewers are also greatly appreciated.
I have followed conventional practice annum suited newspaper and
magazine articles that I have drawn upon by noting the names of the
publication and the date and title of the articles, only. However, among
the many articles that I have referred to, I found that time and time again
they were the work of Henny Sender and Bruce Gilley of the Far Eastern
Economic Review, and Peter Waldman of the Asian Wall Street IourrzallWall
Street Journal. I consider that these three are among the best there is when
it comes to reporting on Asian business.
ix
NE
I he book covers corporate practice in East Asia, and most
particularly in Singapore, Burma, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan,
China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines, and
Brunei.
Much of the Western media spells the name of the former president of
Indonesia as 'Suharto.' I have chosen to spell it how he himself spells his
name, 'Soeharto,' notwithstanding the colonial Dutch overtones this
rendering conveys.
I have chosen to use 'Burma' rather than 'Myanmar', simply because
the former is what is commonly used and thus recognized around the
world.
Monetary amounts have generally been expressed in U.S. dollar terms
and at the exchange rate that was relevant at the time when the given
transaction occurred.
x