ASEAN Panel

Integration for Effective Competition

When the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was formed, one of its goals was to accelerate economic growth, social progress and cultural development through joint ventures and partnerships in order to strengthen the foundation for a prosperous and peaceful community of Southeast Asian nations. Recently, ASEAN took another step toward this goal by accelerating the integration of eleven priority sectors, which included the healthcare, electronics and automotive industries. The objective of this is to attain deeper economic integration of ASEAN as well as to increase its competitiveness.

The ASEAN Panel of the 15th Asian Business Conference invites you to join us for a panel discussion with speakers from the Sampoerna and Lamoiyan Corporations. Our speakers will share their insights and experiences of doing business within ASEAN. We will also discuss how deeper integration will help companies in ASEAN compete more effectively with other Asian countries and with the rest of the world.

Cecilio Pedro
Chief Executive Officer & President, Lamoiyan Corporation

Cecilio Pedro is the Chief Executive Officer and President of Lamoiyan Corporation, recognized as the Most Outstanding Toothpaste Manufacturer by the Consumer's Union of the Philippines for seven years. The company was also recognized by the Personnel Management Association of the Philippines as having the Most Outstanding Program for Equal Employment.

An advocate for the hearing-impaired, Cecilio has been the Chairman of Deaf Evangelistic Alliance Foundation Inc. since 1992. He was recognized by Department of Education, Culture and Sports for the continuing efforts of D.E.A.F. providing education to the hearing-impaired in alleviating the conditions of and provide adequate education for the hearing-impaired.

Yos Ginting
Sampoerna Corporation

Born in Cilacap, Indonesia, on the 19th of January, 1969, Yos Ginting obtained his doctoral degree in Computational Chemistry from University of Tasmania in Hobart, Australia, in 1997.

Upon graduation, he took a job with the Pulp and Paper division of Sinar Mas, an Indonesian conglomerate, as Strategic Alliances Manager. In December 2000, he took the position of Vice President of Trade Alliance, a joint venture corporation between Sinar Mas, Nissho Iwai and Commerce One in Singapore.

Then in April 2002, Yos Ginting took the position of the Organization Development Specialist of PT HM Sampoerna Tbk, a major kretek cigarette manufacturer in Indonesia with more than 35,000 employees. Currently he holds the position of HR Director responsible for overseeing the people's aspects of the company.

Linda Lim (Moderator)
Professor of Corporate Strategy and International Business, Ross School of Business

Linda Lim is Professor of Corporate Strategy and International Business at the University of Michigan Business School, where she also directs the Southeast Asia Business Program, is a member of the executive committees of the Center for International Business Education and the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, and is a faculty associate of the Center for Chinese Studies, the Center for Japanese Studies and the Center for South Asian Studies. She has also served as Associate Director of the University's International Institute, and is a board member of the Knight-Wallace Journalism Fellows at the University.

A native of Singapore, Linda obtained her degrees in economics from the universities of Cambridge (BA), Yale (MA) and Michigan (PhD). She has authored, co-authored or edited four books and published nearly 100 other monographs, journal articles and book chapters on trade, investment, industrial policy, labor and business in Asia. Her most recent publications are The Globalization Debate: Issues and Challenges (for the International Labor Organisation, 2001) and State Power and Private Profit: the Political Economy of Corruption in Southeast Asia (for Asia-Pacific Economic Literature, 2002). Her current research is on the transformation of the developmental state in Singapore, on information-technology-enabled outsourcing in Southeast Asian transitional economies, and on the role of business in regional economic integration between ASEAN, China and India. She is the founder and editor of the refereed Journal of Asian Business

Linda teaches MBA courses and executive education sessions on The World Economy and Business in Asia. She has conducted executive workshops on Asian business, politics, economics and culture for multinational and Asian companies and associations including Coca-Cola, Texaco, Lockheed Martin, Corning, Textron, Holderbank, Indofood, Motorola, Thomson TV, Delphi Automotive, the Chief Executives Organization and CoreNet Global. She has also done training and briefings for the U.S. State Department Foreign Service Institute, and the U.S. Trade Representative, has testified to the U.S. Congress House Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific, and has addressed the United Nations General Assembly (Economic Committee) twice.

Linda has consulted for many organizations, including various U.S. companies, private think tanks, United Nations agencies and the OECD. She was a trustee of The Asia Society, and is a director of NASDAQ-listed Woodhead Industries, an industrial communications provider. She is frequently quoted in the international business press, including recent (2000-2004) citations in the Far Eastern Economic Review, New York Times, Detroit Free Press, Chicago Tribune, Business Week, Fortune, Forbes, The Asian Wall Street Journal, The Straits Times and Business Times (Singapore) and The Wall Street Journal, and appearances on the Lehrer News Hour (TV) and NPR public radio.