Why is it that so many officials (especially) assume that small businesses only make handicrafts or grow potatoes? Small companies do, of course, create all sorts of fantastic products including handicrafts. But they also do so much more. Even in developing countries and least developed countries, small firms deliver services and create products that can be incredibly sophisticated and complex. The idea that micro, small and medium sized enterprises (MSMEs) only operate in handicrafts and basic agricultural products warps policy responses. Policy that accommodates just two types of outcomes for smaller firms leaves huge swathes of MSMEs outside policy frameworks. Government ends up crafting programs and solutions to problems that may be completely inappropriate or potentially counterproductive for the majority of firms in the marketplace.

As Bloomberg reported yesterday, rising trade tensions have made it more imperative than ever that companies remain engaged in crafting sensible trade and regulatory policies. Getting that job done, however, is unusually challenging in Asia. While there are many excellent organizations at different levels in the region—within some individual countries, across ASEAN and within APEC—what has been lacking is an institutional framework to collectively gather business input from Asia as a whole. Hence the need for a new grouping—the Asia Business Trade Association (ABTA). ABTA is a non-profit society, registered out of Singapore, to unite large and small firms from all across Asia in crafting a collective voice for companies on trade and regulatory issues.

MSMEs: Not Just Baskets and Potatoes

Organizing Business: The Launch of the Asia Business Trade Association (ABTA)