The object of the study was.to investigate the feelings .and
reactions of the senior managers of multinational corporations,
(mcs), to the development of the Association of South East
~sian Nations, (ASEAN).
ASEAN is a regional grouping of six developing nations formed in
1967 primarily to promote economic cooperation among member
states, Though the Association is now in its 20th year of
existence, the level of ASEAN economic corporation is currently
superficial at best.
In recent years however, ASEAN governments both individually and
collectively are increasingly turning to the private sector for
new leadership to speed up the development of ASEAN as a regional
economic force. These new governmental initiatives are
important to ASEAN. This is because not only is the increased
pace of private sector investment critical to the health
of the economies of the individual member states but more
fundamentally, the successful development of ASEAN as a regional
force in international trade would help project ASEAN as a
more credible economic grouping.
In the private sector, MNCs, because of their access to large
investment funds and their international networks, are vital
forces for ASEAN development. Besides the traditional strengths
of mcs, this study hypothesised that organisations whose senior managements in the region were supportive of ASEAN could make
greater contributions to ASEAN development
