Regulatory Responses to Large-format Transnational Retail in South-east Asian Cities

Abstract

Aggressive internationalisation by transnational chains is changing the face of the urban environment in much of emerging Asia. In south-east Asia, the period following the Asian financial crisis of 1997 provided an opportunity for the penetration of these transnational chains, particularly in the large-format retail sector-a development that has since presented planners and policy-makers with some difficult choices. This article inventories the differing policy responses of the governments of Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand in the wake of the rapid spread of these transnational retail chains into their urban areas, with the aim to understand better the relative import and impact of these nascent regulatory frameworks.