The Services Sector as a Driver of Change: Indonesia's Experience in the ASEAN Context

By various performance indicators, the Indonesian services sector ranks below those of its main ASEAN neighbours. This is concerning for Indonesia, given the the increased attention worldwide on the services sector as a likely source of growth, the contribution of the services sector to the competit...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inBulletin of Indonesian economic studies Vol. 52; no. 1; pp. 27 - 53
Main Authors Findlay, Christopher, Pangestu, Mari
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Canberra Routledge 02.01.2016
Taylor & Francis LLC
Subjects
Competition
Employers
Foreign investment
Indexes
policy reform
productivity
Reforms
Reputations
Services
services sector
Indonesia
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:By various performance indicators, the Indonesian services sector ranks below those of its main ASEAN neighbours. This is concerning for Indonesia, given the the increased attention worldwide on the services sector as a likely source of growth, the contribution of the services sector to the competitiveness of other sectors, and the opportunities available for capturing the gains from innovation and change in services. There is scope, we argue, to increase the number of formal jobs in the sector and to dispel its reputation as the employer of last resort. We find that a restrictive policy regime contributes to the sector's poor performance, leading to an argument for reform. We discuss a potential strategy for such reform, focusing on four factors: increasing transparency and policy information; capturing the opportunities from international commitments; and exploring the potential of, one, new technology, and, two, urbanisation.
ISSN:0007-4918
1472-7234
DOI:10.1080/00074918.2016.1161499