ABSTRACT

Global economic integration, widening communication networks and government policies supportive of private enterprise are changing opportunities for accumulating wealth, status and power. In varying degrees throughout Asia, this process is accompanied by the development of service enterprises such as banking, insurance, legal firms and IT firms, which provide access to the resources required for a profitable connection to the wider world. This book focuses on the key role played by producer services in shaping new business areas and new patterns for social mobility, and their interdependence with the State as either a facilitator of, or an obstacle to, the emergence and flourishing of the new professions.

chapter 1|20 pages

Producer services, social mobility and the state in Asia

Lessons from Western economies

part I|87 pages

The new economy

chapter 2|17 pages

Networking for domination

The interconnectivity among business and government actors in the information technology industry of Hong Kong

chapter 3|11 pages

The status of non-banking financial companies in India

A case study from Ahmedabad, Gujarat

chapter 5|26 pages

Restructuring capitalist power in the Philippines

Elite consolidation and upward mobility in producer services

part II|76 pages

Engineering a new middle class

chapter 7|20 pages

Brokering change, changing brokers

The Chinese business elite and decolonization politics in Singapore, 1945–65

chapter 8|15 pages

Social networks and modern management style

Pawnbroking business in Singapore

chapter 9|25 pages

Establishing an enduring business

The Great Eastern—OCBC group

chapter 10|14 pages

Local merchant shipping companies in Malaysia

Expansion and diversification

part III|32 pages

Producer services in transitional economies

chapter 11|11 pages

New entrepreneurs in reform China

Economic growth and social change in Taiyuan, Shanxi

chapter 12|11 pages

12 Business services in transitional economies

The case of Russia

chapter 13|8 pages

Conclusion

Otto van den Muijzenberg