Essay Comment: Global Business in the Asian Century and Dragon Firms

This document presents a detailed comment on an essay discussing global business in the Asian century, focusing on the strategies employed by firms from emerging Asian economies, often referred to as "Dragon Multinationals," to gain a competitive edge over established firms. The comment analyzes the LLL framework (Leverage, Learning, and Linkage) as proposed by Mathews (2006), highlighting how these firms identify and exploit opportunities in the international value chain, often by focusing on niche markets and acquiring skills and resources through strategic means. The author of the comment also evaluates the strategies a CEO of a dragon multinational could adopt to compete globally, including leveraging market gaps, innovating in product marketing, and sourcing opportunities within the home country. The comment also discusses the potential for expansion through the development of intangible assets such as ethnic brands. The comment praises the essay's insights into the challenges and opportunities facing these firms while suggesting additional points regarding the expansion of new MNE’s from emerging countries in the global marketplace.

Running head: GLOBAL BUSINESS IN THE ASIAN CENTURY
Global Business in the Asian Century
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

2GLOBAL BUSINESS IN THE ASIAN CENTURY
The essay begins well by stating how firms from emerging Asian economies, known also
as Dragon Multinationals, that aim to gain an edge or competitive advantage over firms from
advanced countries, are firms that share a number of similar characteristics. In my view, the
author states with a great degree of clarity how firms from emerging Asian economies
scrutinize new and complementing areas which are currently not explored by multinational
enterprises located in the international value chain as argued by Mathews (2006), scanning the
market and capturing opportunities for the acquisition of skills and resources that such firms are
not able to gain via mergers and acquisitions. It is also stated most aptly in the essay that by
doing so, inefficiencies are transformed by the firms from emerging Asian economies, into
competitive advantage. I am impressed by how the essay then proceeds to analyze in detail the
arguments made by Mathew regarding the use of the LLL framework or Leverage Learning
and Linkage framework. The essay also points to out dragon multinationals can focus their
attention on niche markets in order to compete with firms from advanced economies by pointing
to the example of Haier in China, While this is a legitimate claim, I am compelled to point out
the negatives here, which is that new technologies often score quite low in areas such as
technology and marketing skill compared to rich counterparts from developed nations (Gattai,
2012), and the essay could have pointed to some of the ways by which these challenges can be
addressed.
It is interesting to read about the various strategies that the writer of the essay
would take recourse to if the writer were the CEO of a dragon multinational firm, in order
compete successfully with firms from developed countries in the global marketplace, by taking
advantage of the potential gaps that exist in pioneer MNE’s, locating innovative ways by which
the products and services of such MNE’s can be marketed, offering high quality services at low

3GLOBAL BUSINESS IN THE ASIAN CENTURY
rates for products where the cost structure could have been changed, and developing new ways
by which markets can be entered through the use of innovative business strategies. I am
particularly impressed by what the writer of the essay has to say about exploring opportunities
within the home country for linkage to foreign firms and establishing contracts for original
equipment manufacturing, a recommendation that is made by Lu et al. (2017), for the
same.
I am in full agreement with the strategy suggested in the concluding argument about
sourcing market gaps, developing capabilities in foreign shores for cheaper rates, and innovating
to enter new markets that are dominated by big and established firms. However, I believe the
essay could have raised a number of additional points on expansion of new MNE’s from
emerging countries in the global marketplace by talking about the development of
intangible assets such as ethnic brands which appeal to customers in both the home market
as well as in ethnic diaspora’s of foreign nations (Andornino 2012).

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References
Andornino, G. (2012). The Political Economy of Italy's Relations with China. The International
Spectator, 47(2), 87-101
Gattai, V. (2012). 10 Dissecting Chinese ODI. China's Role in Global Economic Recovery, 44,
178.
Lu, J., Ma, X., Taksa, L., & Wang, Y. (2017). From LLL to IOL 3: Moving dragon
multinationals research forward
Mathews, J. A. (2006). Dragon multinationals: New players in 21 st century globalization. Asia
Pacific journal of management, 23(1), 5-27.