Political Economy and Sustainable Development of Telstra in Asia Pacific

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INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS IN ASIA PACIFIC

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Table of contents
1.0 Introduction..........................................................................................................................3
2.0 Comparison between Australian and Singaporean economy...............................................3
3.0 Political economy and its challenges...................................................................................4
4.0 Application of political economic theory on Telstra............................................................6
5.0 Other theoretical concepts and perspective..........................................................................6
6.0 General recommendations....................................................................................................7
7.0 Long-term sustainable development recommendations.......................................................7
8.0 Conclusion............................................................................................................................8
Reference....................................................................................................................................9

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1.0 Introduction
Each of the economies of the world is different from each other in terms of structure and the
relationship of the government with the agents of the economy. Each economy provides
different challenges and opportunities to the businesses and other activities. While one
economy provides a more stability other provides higher growth in terms of production and
sales to the businesses. This study is regarding the economies of Australia and Singapore
taking into consideration the case of an Australian based company Telstra in order to fully
understand the political economy and other characteristics of these two economies. Further,
the main objective of the study is to highlight the capability of the Australian economy in
providing, growth, sustainability, and stability through international trade with Singapore.
Telstra is a chosen for the analysis as this telecommunication giant based in Australia has
immense popularity in other countries as well. Singapore is one of the biggest markets for
Telstra which has around 7% market share. Given its performance in home country Australia
and the performance of the rivals in Singapore, it has an immense potential to grow in the
future years.
2.0 Comparison between Australian and Singaporean economy
The economies of Australia and Singapore are significantly different from each other from
various aspects. One of the fundamental differences between the economies of Singapore and
Australia is that the former economy enjoys a more open market compared to the latter one.
Australia is one of the biggest mixed economies of the world where both private and the
public sector contributes a significant portion towards the GDP of the country. On the other
hand, Singapore is a free market economy where the intervention of the government is
significantly low. Gilpin (2016) noted that Singapore is also considered as one of the best
destinations for business. One of the important points to note in this context is that, despite
being known as the largest FDI investors in other parts of the world, Singapore also receives
a huge amount of FDI each year due to its attractive investible sectors. According to the
figures of the year 2016, the total FDI inflow of Singapore was around 50 Billion USD which
is still more than emerging economies like Brazil. These come as an immense opportunity
for Telstra.
Furthermore, Singapore economy is also characterised with a feature of government-linked
companies that work in collaboration with each other. This helps in efficient service from the