Page 47 - ASEAN-EU Dialogue 2018: Regional and Inter-Regional Economic Cooperation: Identifying Priorities for ASEAN and the EU

Table 8.1: ASEAN: Share of High-tech Exports in Manufactured Goods Exports, 2010-2016

Country/Year 2010 2012 2014 2016
Brunei n.a. 12.8 7.8 17.9*
Cambodia 0.1 0.1 0.5 0.4
Indonesia 9.8 7.3 7.0 5.8
Lao PDR 6.6 8.7 24.9 33.6
Malaysia 44.5 43.7 43.9 43.9
Myanmar 0.0 1.0 0.6 7.6
Philippines 55.2 48.8 49.0 55.1
Singapore 49.9 45.3 47.2 67.4
Thailand 24.0 20.5 20.4 21.5
Vietnam 8.6 20.5 26.9 n.a.
* 2015 value
Source: UN Comtrade Database

The significance of these exports would suggest that these countries have a comparative
advantage for the electronics sector. This is confirmed in Table 8.2, where the revealed
comparative advantage (RCA) coefficients for this sector are all greater than one for all
countries except Indonesia, and considerably greater than one for Malaysia, the Philippines and
Singapore. However, RCAs implicitly assume arms-length trade which global supply chain-
related trade is not. Since the decision to locate parts of the supply chain rests with
multinationals, RCAs may simply reflect MNCs’ perceptions of a host country’s comparative
advantage in respect of that part of the supply chain that the MNC intends to locate in a host
country.

Table 8.2: Selected ASEAN Countries: Revealed Comparative Advantage Coefficients for
Electronics, 2010-2016

Country/Year 2010 2012 2014 2016
Indonesia 0.37 0.36 0.35 0.34
Malaysia 1.63 1.53 1.50 1.54
Philippines 1.44 2.20 2.03 2.10
Singapore 1.85 1.77 1.75 1.83
Thailand 1.20 1.17 1.20 1.13
Vietnam 0.54 1.02 1.18 1.34
Source: Authors’ estimates.

Indicators of Domestic Technological Capability
Indicators of domestic technological capability are broadly of two types. The first consists of
country level indicators compiled by different organisations under alternative auspices. The
second deals with specific characteristics evidencing or attributes of technological capability.
Of the former, we use the Technological Readiness Sub-Index that is a component of the Global
Competitiveness Index of the World Economic Forum. Data for the technological readiness
sub-index show that outside of Singapore, which is ranked in the top decile of over 100
countries, all other ASEAN countries do relatively poorly (Table 8.3). Malaysia is the next
most highly ranked, at just below rank 40. The Philippines, the other big-hitter of high-tech
exports, ranks in the bottom half of countries.

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