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The Philippines pioneered the establishment of automotive assembly in South-east Asia in the 1950s. But Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia lead the region since the 1990s. The foremost reasons for the decline are policy incoherence and unchecked inflows of smuggled cars, which are reflected in the erosion of the domestic automotive components supply base. Japanese assemblers are increasingly sourcing them from abroad through global production networks (GPNs), which have also made the Philippines a global producer of selected auto parts. Institutional support is necessary for the Philippines to take advantage of GPNs to catching up with the leading countries.

This article examines the development of China's automotive industry. The evidence shows that integration in global production networks has stimulated upgrading of technological capabilities among automotive firms. However, the competitiveness and intra-industry analyses show mixed results. Although intra-industry trade in automotive products has improved since 2000, the trade competitiveness of completely built-up vehicles has largely remained in low value-added activities. Nevertheless, firm-level evidence shows that the industry has undergone considerable upgrading, albeit in low value-added activities. Trade integration and host-country institutional support have been the prime driving forces of technological upgrading in the automotive industry in China.

This article examines the transformation of clothing manufacturing in China with a focus on institutional support, technological upgrading and global production chains. Evidence shows that reforms and integration into global production chains have rapidly expanded China's exports but these have also driven the relocation abroad of Chinese clothing firms. Global integration has motivated clothing firms to upgrade through learning, adoption and innovation. Hence, despite improvements in technological capabilities the share of clothing value-added in manufacturing has gradually declined. Also, China has increasingly faced industrial structural change from clothing to the capital goods, real estate and high-tech sectors.

This article examines the relationship between host-site institutional support and regional trade linkages on firm-level technological capabilities in the semiconductor industry in Malaysia. An evolutionary perspective was used to measure technological capabilities using knowledge embodied in machinery, organization, processes and products. The results show that host-site institutional support, and regional trade linkages were correlated with technological upgrading. The relationship between host-site institutional support and technological upgrading was stronger than that between regional trade linkages and technological upgrading. The results show that host site institutional support is more important than regional integration in influencing firms’ capacity to upgrade their technological capabilities.

This article examines the relationships between host-site institutional support and firm-level technological upgrading, and between technological upgrading and domestic production linkages in the semiconductor industry in Singapore. An evolutionary perspective was used to measure technological capabilities using knowledge embodied in machinery, organization, processes and products. The results show that host-site institutional support is important for technological upgrading, and technological capabilities are positively correlated with domestic linkages. Also, domestic linkages rather than regional linkages were correlated with technological upgrading, which is a consequence of Singapore's sophisticated infrastructure compared to its neighbours in South-east Asia.

This article examines the relationship between institutional support and regional production linkages, and technological capabilities and firm performance in the garment industry in Laos. The evidence shows that garment firms in Laos have achieved considerable technological upgrading, and that firm performance and technological capabilities are determined by export-intensity. Firms’ technological capabilities are determined by the quality of host-site institutional support, while foreign firms have invested little to upgrade human capital in Laos. In addition, firms of all ownership structure have invested little in R&D in Laos.

This study analyses the influence of host-site institutional support, foreign ownership and regional production linkages on firm-level technological capabilities using data from automotive firms in Indonesia. The results show that host-site institutional support and foreign ownership are positively correlated with technological capabilities. In addition, regional linkages show a significant and positive link on technological capabilities. However, regional linkages and foreign ownership explain more strongly technological capabilities than host-site institutional support in automotive firms in Indonesia. This evidence suggests that the supporting high tech environment require further strengthening to stimulate higher technological capabilities in the automotive industry in Indonesia.