My major disciplinary focus is economics. My expertise lies in trade policy and export promotion, foreign investment, industrial development and sectoral studies, particularly in Southeast and East Asia. After retiring from DEV in 2006, I moved to Japan where I became Professor of Development Economics at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (‘APU’), returning to the UK in 2008; and I remained a visiting professor at APU until March 2017. Since retirement I also have held visiting professorships at Kobe University in Japan and Soochow University in Taiwan. I serve as a member of the international advisory board of the Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy and as a subject specialist for the Hong Kong Council for Accreditation of Vocational and Academic Qualifications. I have acted as a consultant for the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, the United Nations Development Programme, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Association of South East Asian Nations, the UK Department for International Development, and with the Harvard Institute for International Development.

My current research, in collaboration with colleagues in Japan, has focused on industrial policy and the automotive industry in Asia, for which I did fieldwork in Thailand in 2010 and 2011, Malaysia in 2012, Indonesia in 2013, the Philippines in 2014 and Viet Nam in 2015. I recently completed a book on automotive industrialisation in Southeast Asia (see publications below).  

I have continued to do PhD supervision at East Anglia since my retirement, including dissertations on the Brazilian motor industry (completed 2020), competition between the Malaysian and Chinese electronics industries (completed 2016), competition between the Mexican and Chinese motor industries (2012), Japanese identity since the Meiji Restoration (2009), and foreign investment in Mozambique (2009).

I have also continued to do external examining including doctoral theses for the Universities of Oxford (2019), Bristol (2018), London-SOAS (2015-6) and Bath (2015), and for the masters programme on Urban Economic Development at the Bartlett Development Planning Unit at University College London from 2017 to 2020.

My major disciplinary focus is economics, particularly trade and industry, mainly in Asia (South East Asia, Vietnam, Japan and China), industrial development and competitiveness in Africa.

DEV Research Groups: Globalisation & Transition