Southeast Asia has long been a crucial hub in global value chains (GVCs), serving as a key production and export base for industries ranging from textiles to high-tech electronics and automotive manufacturing. Over the past few decades, countries like Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam have flourished under an open, investment-friendly economic model. However, the region now faces unprecedented challenges as geopolitical tensions, economic nationalism, and shifting global trade dynamics reshape the international economic landscape.
This seminar examines Southeast Asia’s evolving role in GVCs and explores how multinational corporations (MNCs) and local firms are responding to these disruptions. Key questions include how companies are adapting to the shifting balance of power between the US and China, the implications of the "China Plus One" strategy, and the challenges posed by the US-China trade war and rising economic nationalism.
As major developed economies, particularly the US, increasingly use trade barriers to pressure firms into relocating investment within their territories, multinational and local companies in Southeast Asia must rethink their strategies to mitigate risks and secure their positions in GVCs. Additionally, the role of indigenous Southeast Asian firms must be reassessed as they navigate growing trade restrictions and intensifying global competition.
By addressing these critical issues, this seminar will provide valuable insights into the future of Southeast Asia’s role in GVCs, highlighting resilience strategies and policy implications to ensure the region's continued economic relevance in an era of geo-economic turbulence.
Register to attend online. Register to attend in person.
Speaker and Chair Biographies:
Pavida Pananond is Professor of International Business at Thammasat Business School, Thammasat University, where she has been based upon completing her graduate studies at McGill University in Canada (MBA) and the University of Reading in England (PhD). Her main research interest is global strategy, particularly with reference to how companies in emerging markets develop and expand overseas. She also studies the governance of global industries and the upgrading of emerging market firms in global value chains. Pavida has authored numerous academic articles, book chapters, books, and opinion editorials in media outlets such as Bangkok Post and Nikkei Asia. Her academic publications have appeared in California Management Review and Global Strategy Journal, among others. She serves on editorial boards of several international academic journals, including as Area Editor for Journal of International Business Policy. She received the prestigious Alan Rugman Visiting Fellowship for the academic year 2024-25 from University of Reading, Henley Business School. Pavida also engages actively beyond academia. Her views are often sought from international media including Al Jazeera, BBC, Bloomberg, Chanel News Asia, and Financial Times. Pavida undertook policy researches for international organizations, such as the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and the World Health Organization. Since 2017, she has been one of the Honorary Advisers to Asia New Zealand Foundation, an authority in helping New Zealanders build their knowledge and skills to thrive in Asia. Her corporate role includes board membership of Precious Shipping Public Company Limited, Thailand’s leading dry bulk carrier. Pavida is a frequent speaker at national and international public forums and conferences.
Prof. John Sidel is Director of the Saw Swee Hock Southeast Asia Centre, and the Sir Patrick Gillam Professor of International and Comparative Politics at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Professor Sidel received his BA and MA from Yale University and his PhD from Cornell University. He is the author of Capital, Coercion, and Crime: Bossism in the Philippines (1999), Philippine Politics and Society in the Twentieth Century: Colonial Legacies, Postcolonial Trajectories (2000), Riots, Pogroms, Jihad: Religious Violence in Indonesia (2006), The Islamist Threat in Southeast Asia: A Reassessment (2007), Thinking and Working Politically in Development: Coalitions for Change in the Philippines (2020, with Jaime Faustino) and Republicanism, Communism, Islam: Cosmopolitan Origins of Revolution in Southeast Asia (2021).
LSE holds a wide range of events, covering many of the most controversial issues of the day, and speakers at our events may express views that cause offence. The views expressed by speakers at LSE events do not reflect the position or views of The London School of Economics and Political Science.