The role of the state in Asian business systems

This chapter of the Oxford Handbook of Asian Business Systems examines how states influence the structure of national business systems in Asia. It begins with an overview of literature on the state’s role with regard to the institutional arrangements of capitalist systems in non-Asian as well as in Asia-specific contexts. It then turns to an examination of how well existing social science and business systems theories of the role of the state map onto contemporary Asian empirical realities. The evidence indicates that further refinement of the state’s role with regard to business system structures is needed, and a novel framework is proposed. We conclude with a discussion on future areas for research. This chapter contributes to the business systems and varieties of capitalism literatures as well as to the comparative political economy and sociology literature on state structures and institutional embeddedness.