Analysis of micro, small, medium enterprises: The cases of Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam

Abstract

Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) have a great importance in various economic systems in global scale. In early 2000s, the promotion of MSMEs has been a main key player in promoting economic activity in the region. As purported and pillared by the ASEAN Economic Blueprint, the main economic integration strategy will focus on the merging of local economies in the region through the MSMEs. However, theoretically and economically speaking, in order for integration to exist, the local markets should be moving sensitively with respect to other markets inside the economic bloc market. Thus, this study attempted to study the conditioning effect of the number of MSMEs, number of employment generation to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. The researchers used descriptive-causal design through panel regression model using secondary data to treat and analyze data sets. The findings revealed that there was scattered pattern of growth among numbers of MSMEs in the undistributed growth among employment generation of MSMEs. Considerably, the regression revealed through a random effect model that there are no integration or movement effects of MSME contributions to their respective GDP using Singapore as reference. The study concluded that there is no country-effect sensitivity within and among the compared countries. Hence, economic integration as a status quo is not a viable economic strategy. Thereby, the researchers recommend the internal policies within nations to intensify, promote, develop and provide safety nets to strengthen the MSMEs of their respective states.