Opportunities and Challenges with Doing Business in Asean

Opportunities and challenges with doing business in ASEAN

Association of Southeast Asian Nations or also known ASEAN is a geo-political and economic organization that consists of ten countries located in Southeast Asia. ASEAN was established in 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Since then, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam have also become members. ("History - ASEAN | ONE VISION ONE IDENTITY ONE COMMUNITY")

 South East Asia has one of the most attractive markets right now with a lot competitive prices, which creates business opportunities for foreign investors. ASEAN helps create opportunities domestically by introducing free flow of goods and services, which in turn equals lower transaction costs.

South East Asia is also one of the biggest tourist destinations in the world and this is a very attractive market for ASEAN to explore. However global warming may harm this market and this is a challenge for ASEAN.

The close physic distance between the countries in ASEAN enables them to easier exchange knowledge and resources and thus creating business opportunities together. However the physic distance to western countries can be a challenge because of transportation costs and different custom regulations. Also different laws and political views can create challenges not only outside ASEAN but also within the organization itself.

South East Asia is experiencing rapid change and developing strong economic strongholds, which creates opportunities but also challenges as laws and regulations may not change as rapidly and thus slow down the development of these countries.

Also some countries have reached a higher development then other countries within ASEAN, which may create a challenge for ASEAN to keep members interested to stay in the organization.

Another challenge for ASEAN and especially Indonesia is the mass corruption that is deeply integrated in their system, the government loses a lot of revenue due to this corruption and it may scare of potential “good” investors and attract “bad” ones.

All in all ASEAN has succeed very well with organizing their trade and bring peace and prosperity, however there is still a lot to do and ASEAN has a lot of challenges ahead of them to be able to create even more business opportunities.