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Purpose This paper argues for the benefits to international business (IB) of taking a much longer view at the engagement by multinational enterprises (MNEs) with host locations. Design/methodology/approach The authors showcase a project tracking the engagement by MNEs with Australia over the past two centuries. Extensive archival work has been undertaken to identify and document modes of entry, home countries, industries, operational modes and company types among the MNEs operating in Australia. The authors also describe the shifting nature of Australia as a host location. Findings The authors demonstrate the historical and ongoing diversity of ways in which MNEs interact with a host. They show that different organisational forms have prevailed over time, and that considerable operational mode changes can best be observed when a long lens is adopted. The authors show how these mode changes interact with host country dynamics, and also the broader context of the MNE and its altering strategies. Research limitations/implications The authors urge IB scholars to embrace longer timeframes to capture the complexity of MNEs’ growth and adaptation more meaningfully. Originality/value By taking such a long-run perspective, the authors shed new light on the importance of moving beyond simple snapshots to analyse key IB constructs and phenomenon.

This article analyses trends in the development of the stock exchange in Jakarta between its stepwise institutionalisation since 1898 and its closure in 1942. The article contributes to literature on the significance of stock markets in the process of mobilising external capital for investment by private enterprise in emerging economies. It finds that the brokers participating in the stock exchange traded shares and bonds of companies operating in Indonesia and registered in Indonesia or in the Netherlands. Many of these securities were also traded on the much larger stock exchange in Amsterdam. Although formally independent, both securities markets were integrated. Based on estimates of relatively high market capitalisation during 1901–40, the article concludes that the Jakarta and Amsterdam stock exchanges together contributed significantly to the mobilisation of private investment and the development of private enterprise in Indonesia.

This paper asks why it took 10 years since a major famine in Indonesia in 1957 for Australia’s food aid to increase in greater amounts, and why food aid was so significant In Australia’s foreign aid to Indonesia during the late 1960s and 1970s. Indonesia’s reluctance to apply for food aid under the Colombo Plan is the reason for the delay. A combination of humanitarian, commercial and international relations interests converged to shape Australia’s rapidly growing food aid to Indonesia after 1966. Food aid contributed to alleviating food shortages and famines in Indonesia. It also supported Australian firms in regaining their share in the growing market for wheat-based products in Indonesia, and in building market share for Australian rice exports, in competition with US producers and the US PL480 food aid program. Food aid also allowed Australia to expand its foreign aid program to Indonesia rapidly after 1966, in support of the government of new President Soeharto and improved bilateral relations.

This article analyses the demography of 1,600 registered firms owned and/or operated by ethnic Chinese businessmen in Indonesia during 1890–1940 in search of generalisable indications of Schumpeter...

This article analyses long-term changes in the mean age at menarche (MAM) as a biological indicator of changes in the standard of living in Indonesia. It finds that MAM was about 15.5 for birth cohorts in the late-19th century, decreasing to 14.5 by the 1930s, at which level it stagnated until the gradual decrease resumed since the early 1960s to around 12.5 in the mid-2000s. The article considers that long-term improvements in nutrition, educational attainment and health care explain these trends. An international comparison of long-term changes finds that MAM in Indonesia was much lower than in Korea and China until respectively 1970 and 1990, but comparable to Japan until 1950 and to Malaysia until 1930. The article presents reasons why these differences are unlikely to be related to dissimilarities in climate and ethnicity, and concludes that they are indicative of relative standards of living.

This article uses expenditure‐based purchasing power parities (PPPs) to estimate GDP per capita in comparable prices for 12 Asian countries for six benchmark years during the period 1913–69. The article finds that in 1913 levels of real GDP per capita in several countries were comparable to those in Japan. GDP per capita in Japan and other Asian countries diverged during and after the First World War. The article questions whether Asia's ‘little divergence’ between Japan and other Asian countries dates back to the late eighteenth century. It draws attention to the different resource endowments of Japan, China, and India compared to other Asian countries, and their implications for the development trajectories of Asian countries. The article demonstrates that using historical PPP estimates yields estimates of GDP per capita that diverge from those based on retropolations of the single 1990 PPP‐converted benchmark year. It concludes that historical estimates of PPPs are needed to confirm analyses of comparative economic performance based on available GDP per capita data.

The paper discusses the major reasons for the drop in food production in Java during the period of Japanese occupation. Statistics on the acreage and production of six main foodstuff during the year 1940-1946 showed significant reduction of food production in Java after 1942. This reduction is explained as the result of several physical limitation to the production and marketing process of foodstuff. The article explicate several other factors that added to the principal reason for the fall in food production after 1942. The principal reason is laid on the control system of the Javanese rice economy that had reduced the real purchasing price of grain. This resulted in little incentive for peasants to pursue surplus production outside of their household subsistence needs. The only incentive was a negative incentive of forced deliveries.

Philips Australia, the Australian subsidiary of Dutch MNE Philips Electronics, experienced difficulties during 1942–1943, when it came close to being nationalized as enemy property. In response, the company set out to improve its reputation in the local radio parts and electronics industry and in Australian markets. Its strategy of embedding itself in Australian society served the purpose of improving company performance and influencing the government policies that guided the rapid development of Australia’s postwar electronics industry. With this strategy, Philips Australia minimized the risks and maximized the commercial opportunities it faced. The firm localized senior management, maximized local procurement and local manufacturing, took a leading role in industry associations, engaged politically influential board members, and used marketing tools to build a strong brand and a positive public profile in Australia. However, the company became aware of the limitations of this strategy in 1973, when a new Labor government reduced trade protection. Increasing competition from Japanese electronics firms forced Philips Australia to restructure and downsize its production operations. Despite increasing reliance on imports from the parent company’s regional supply centers and efforts to specialize production on high-value added products, the firm saw its profitability and market share in Australia decrease.

This chapter explores the available sources on secular changes in human growth for Indonesia. It discusses the availability of data on heights of conscripts and slaves. The richest source of published information on human heights in Indonesia concern children. The data for 1949 provide proof of sensitivity of human growth to changes in environmental circumstances. During the years 1942-1945 Indonesia was occupied by Japan and during the following years 1945-1949 a war of independence between Indonesian nationalists and Dutch troops prevented economic recovery. The comparison of the heights of Indonesian children in the 1930s with the heights of European children in the nineteenth century indicates that the Indonesians were behind in physical growth. The only readily available sources on the heights of Indonesian adults appear to be anthropological and medical publications.

The Australian subsidiary of Dutch multi-national enterprise Philips came under secret service surveillance and faced risk of government takeover as enemy property during World War II. It was also ...

The creation of the Common Market in the European Community required electronics multinational Philips to integrate production operations across European countries. This effort had consequences for its Australian subsidiary. Rather than become a regional Philips hub with the support of its parent, as intended in the 1960s, it was absorbed by addressing changes in Australian trade policy and increased Japanese imports. The parent company’s establishment of regional supply centres in Europe and Asia left no role for the small Australian production facilities in the company’s global structure. Production and employment at Philips Australia were scaled back drastically during the 1970s.

When Professor Heinz W. Arndt embarked in 1964 on establishing what has become the Indonesia Project at The Australian National University, he was uncertain about whether to include the publication...

We analyse the heights of children aged 2 to 12 in the Indonesian Family Life Survey (IFLS) focusing on the effect of the number of children in the family. Previous studies of the trade-off between the quantity of children and some measure of their quality have been much concerned with the endogeneity of fertility choices. Here we use the IFLS for 1993, 1997 and 2000 to exploit some unique institutional features that have influenced fertility. We find evidence that family size is influenced both from the supply side, as represented by components of the Indonesian family planning programme, and on the demand side, as represented by exposure to modern media. We use these variables as instruments for family size in regressions for the height z-scores. We find evidence for a significant negative effect of family size on height in the presence of a range of other influences. An increase of one sibling is associated with a decrease of one third of a standard deviation in the z-score of height. This effect is stronger among families with low-educated mothers and is present in both urban and rural settings.

Australia is currently negotiating a framework treaty with the European Union (EU) that aims at closer cooperation on a wide range of shared policy goals. The treaty is not expected to include trade-liberalisation commitments. This article queries why this is, given the importance of trade and business relations with the EU for Australia, and the fact that the EU exerts international influence primarily as a trade power, rather than a foreign and security policy power. Since 2006, the EU has also been negotiating ‘new-generation’ bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs), focusing on tariffs and regulatory non-tariff trade barriers. It has now committed itself to FTA negotiations with many of Australia's trade partners in Asia and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. An FTA and a complementary framework treaty were concluded with South Korea in 2010, and the EU is currently negotiating a similar package with Canada. As Australia and Canada are comparable trade partners for the EU, the ...

This paper quantifies the consumption and production of cotton textiles at different stages of processing in Indonesia during the Dutch colonial era (1820–1941). It discusses the main factors that impeded the development of an internationally competitive cotton textile industry, and concludes that production in the industry increased significantly in Java during 1820–71, and again during 1874–1914 and 1934–41. However, most activity involved finishing of imported cotton cloth to suit local preferences. Spinning and weaving increased only marginally, as domestic production was precluded by the high-labour intensity of small-scale production, marginal local raw cotton production, and competitive international markets for yarn and cloth. Unfavourable and fluctuating real exchange rates discouraged investment in modern spinning and weaving ventures until trade protection and technological change in small-scale weaving caused rapid growth of domestic production after 1934.

How did the biological standard of living develop in Indonesia during colonial times? Did it increase substantially after decolonization? In our study, we use four sets of anthropometric data to construct time series of average human height since the 1770s. The paper observes a significant decline in heights in the 1870s, followed by only modest recovery during the next three decades, both of which are related to a sequence of disasters. Average heights increased from the 1900s and accelerated after World War II. The World Economic Crisis, the Japanese occupation and the war of independence in the 1930s and 1940s constituted a difficult period. Average height growth thereafter is related to improvements in food supply and the disease environment, particularly hygiene and medical care.