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East Asia and the Pacific

Stakeholder Management in Business Registration Reforms - Lessons from 10 Countries (June 2009)

As business environment reforms expand into new areas of public policy, the intense conflicts inherent in reform are better recognized. A particular obstacle to reform lies in the active and passive resistance from stakeholders. This report provides policymakers and their advisers, with a practical set of approaches and strategies for managing stakeholder outcomes to accelerate and sustain business registration reforms. Using case studies from 10 countries, this report examines how diverse stakeholders participated in reforms aimed at reducing the costs, delays and corruption associated with the business registration functions of government. The analysis identifies how reformers can purposefully “manage” stakeholders to expand and sustain the capacity for change within the political economy.

Special Economic Zones: Performance, Lessons Learned, and Implications for Zone Development (April 2008)

This paper examines 30 years of experience in zones, reviewing development patterns and economic impacts of zones worldwide. The experience shows that while zones have been effective in addressing economic growth and development objectives, they have not been uniformly successful; success in East Asia and Latin America has been difficult to replicate in other regions, particularly Africa. To a great extent, zone initiatives have determined their outcomes from the outset, with the establishment of policy frameworks, incentive packages, and various other provisions and bureaucratic procedures. The experience suggests that maximizing the benefits of zones depends on the degree to which they are integrated with their host economies and the overall trade and investment reform agenda. When zones are specifically designed to pilot legal and regulatory reforms within a planned policy framework, they are more likely to ultimately succeed. Policymakers and practitioners in zone development may find the key considerations and lessons presented in this paper useful in planning and evaluating their zone initiatives.The end result of this project is a general framework for zone development, which is intended to help maximize future results for both host countries and investing firms.

Les équipes de réformes des pays émergeants les plus performants (Février 2008)

Qu’est-ce que le Botswana, le Cap-Vert, la Malaisie, Maurice et Taïwan (Chine) ont-ils en commun ? Ces pays appartiennent au groupe exclusif d’économies ayant réussi à sortir de la pauvreté en moins de 30 ans. Ils ont aussi en commun d’avoir commencé par prendre appui sur une petite équipe dédiée au pilotage des réformes à accomplir. Ces équipes ont bénéficié de compétences techniques du plus haut niveau, de l’accès direct au sommet de l’État et d’un important budget de développement. C’est cette combinaison de compétences, d’accès et de ressources qui leur a donné les moyens de mener à bien d’ambitieux programmes de réforme malgré les intérêts partisans et les résistances administratives.

Reform Teams: How the Most Successful Reformers Organized Themselves (February 2008)

What do Botswana, Cape Verde, Malaysia, Mauritius, and Taiwan (China) have in common? They belong to an exclusive group of economies that grew out of poverty in less than 30 years. They also initially relied on a small, dedicated team of experts to get the job done. These teams brought to bear world-class skills along with direct access to the top level of government and a large development budget. That combination of skills, access, and resources gave them the clout to steer an ambitious reform agenda through vested interests and layers of government.

Corporate Social Responsiblity in China's Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Sector - Chinese Version (2008)

The project is designed to identify and test strategies and activities that will most likely improve social and environmental conditions and also provide business benefits to the ICT supply chain. The strategy will initially focus on Shenzhen because it is a popular sourcing destination for the sector and it has already taken steps to improve its CSR environment. The project can potentially be expanded to other regions once its effectiveness is tested.