Asian Godfathers: organized crime in East Asia

¶ … role of Asian billionaires and the impact of the tremendous amounts of growth in the region. This is accomplished by looking at a number of factors from the book the Godfathers of Southeast Asia with an emphasis on: comparing this class with other societies around the world (i.e. The United States), the extent these individuals are using free trade to create wealth and if the ideas of Milton Freedman will be proven to be correct. This is the point that we can make inferences about how a host of factors will affect economic growth and the different societies throughout the region.

For many people, Asia represents an opportunity for them to experience tremendous amounts of growth. Part of the reason for this, is because the entire region has been undergoing a major transformation from globalization and initiatives to implement free market principals in various economies. However, the changes that have been taking place are uneven amounts of growth with many of the elite in society receiving the greatest benefits.

In the book the Godfathers of Asia, Joe Studwell is discussing the role that they are playing in the process, the rationale behind embracing free trade and the long-term impacts on the region. To fully understand what is happening we will examine various the changes that are occurring and impact that they are having on society. This will be accomplished by: comparing this class with other societies around the world (i.e. The United States), the extent these individuals are using free trade to create wealth and if the ideas of Milton Freedman will be proven to be correct. Once this happens, is when we will see how these individuals are influencing the tremendous amounts of growth that the Asia has been experiencing. (Studwell)

The Asian Godfathers have gotten rich and protected their wealth over time. In what ways are their methods similar to the way Americans and others who live in free market countries like the United States get rich and protect their wealth. In what ways are their methods different? In your answer, specifically consider the rise and fall of companies. monopolies, big business and government.

The Asian billionaires are focused on increasing their income and net worth as much as possible. The reason why, is because they want to use the large amounts of free trade that are occurring around the globe, to give them access to markets that were once impossible to penetrate (i.e. The United States and Europe). This is a similar strategy that is used by many of their American counterparts, who are using free trade to increase their income and profit margins for their companies. To do this they have been focusing on establishing operations in regions that have lower labor costs (i.e. China / India) and then exporting the finished product to the United States. This is a part of an effort, to be able to gain access to these markets and use the low costs of labor to increase their profit margins as much as possible. While many of the Asian billionaires, are utilizing these tactics to be able to give them access to increased amounts of financing. This is helping these individuals to become involved in a host of industries that will increase their income and total net worth. (Studwell)

These different elements are important, because they are showing how both American and Asian billionaires have similar goals. Where, they want to be able to increase the profits and use globalization to help protect their wealth. Over the course of time, this strategy has allowed these individuals to be able to achieve their objectives by benefiting directly off of their country's economic development. This is significant, because this approach has helped the ultra-wealthy to use their corporations to create large monopolies in select areas of the world. As a result, this has allowed them to be able to expand the size of their business and to become increasingly dominant in select target markets. (Studwell)

The way that they are different is in the approach they are taking is to deal with a host of social challenges. For most Asian billionaires, they are willing to look the other way at social and human rights issues. This is because they are interested in increasing their overall bottom line numbers at all costs. While, their American counterparts want to see an increase in market share and address a host of social issues. As they believe that the community is playing a vital role in helping to support the organization and its success. This is significant, because it shows how American entrepreneurs want to offer everyone some kind of program that will help to address a host of problems affecting their communities. (Studwell)

A good example of this can be seen by looking no further than Bidu.com. What happened was the firm was established by Google based on a desire to rapidly expand into China. At first, Google was considered to be the dominant player in the industry. However, the Chinese government began to impose a host of restriction on what content was available. Reluctantly, the company agreed to these restrictions even though they were against their basic philosophy. Once there was there an attempted attack on their Gmail service (which was supported by the Chinese government) is when there was a shift in the company's approach. As executive felt that these actions were inappropriate and closed their offices in the country. At the same time, they had sold the majority of their stake in Bidu. This is important, because it is showing the difference in philosophy between Asian and American billionaire. As the Americans, want to see an increase in their profit margins and responsibly address social issues. While many Asian billionaires, are not interest in dealing with social issues. Instead, they are focused on increasing their profit margins as much as possible. (Jeffires 461-475)

To what extent have the Asian Godfathers succeeded in creating wealth? To what extent have they succeeded in expropriating that wealth? To what extent have they succeeded in maintaining repressive dictatorial political regimes?

The Asian godfathers have been successful in creating wealth. This has been accomplished by attracting large amounts of foreign direct investment capital and utilizing it to help support the economy. Once this took place, they were able utilize these changes to give them greater amounts of control and influence during the process. This is when they were able to increase their overall net worth and influence where the profits were going. Over the course of time, this has allowed them to take a percentage of the large amounts of investment capital and use this to help build new businesses. At the same time, they have left the current political structure in place to prevent the redistribution of wealth. As they can use government officials, to increase their overall bottom line numbers at the expense of the general public. (Studwell)