Analysis of the economic development role of sectoral business associations: in the rubber, electronics and electrical and automotive sectors in Malaysia, Thailand and Viet Nam

This paper focuses on functions that drive economic, enterprise and employment growth as well as skills development in terms of managing technological change and offers a comparative exploration of sectoral business associations (SBAs) in three sectors, namely rubber, electronics and electrical (E&E) and automotive in Malaysia, Thailand and Viet Nam. The findings reveal that SBAs are relevant for addressing the challenges of improving sector-specific performance as they represent the wider needs of all enterprises in the sector at the policy level in a fashion that individual enterprises cannot.