| Author | Ramanathan, Krishnamurthy |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no. IE-79-15 |
| Subject(s) | Tariff on cement--Asia, Southeastern
|
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering, School of Engineering and Technology |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | During the last two decades many developing nations have attempted to develop their economies through regional economic integration movements. Such a recent movement is the Association of South East Asian Nations consisting of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. These nations have planned to use economic complementarity
as an instrument of national development and regional cooperation. Preferential trading arrangements have been suggested as a means of
achieving these objectives. However past experience gained from other economic integration movements have shown that firstly there exist several criteria of which at least a vast majority have to be met if such a movement is to meet with success. Secondly, it has been found that unless preferential trading arrangements are formulated with great care it
could lead to disharmony within the movement. This study then concentrates on this specific problem of preferential trading arrangements. Firstly it examines whether the ASEAN movement meets the basic criteria for successful economic cooperation. Having shown that such prospects are bright two models are developed to assist in the formulation of
preferential trading arrangements. The models are called the Tariff Adjustment Model and the Commodity Distribution Model respectively. The important characteristics of these models are that they are both metacriterion linear programming models. Although a vast range of methods are available to solve such problems, two methods namely the Conventional Method and the Simultaneous Compromise Constraint Method have been used to solve these models, The models that have been developed are illustrated by applying them to the ASEAN Cement Industry. The ASEAN Federation of Cement Manufacturers (AFCM) is an ASEAN institution consisting
of the representatives from the cement industries of ASEAN and has been greatly instrumental in formulating several preferential trading arrangements for products relevant to this industry. Both the Tariff Adjustment Model and the Commodity Distribution Model are illustrated by considering
the case of Portland Cement which is a very important product in the cement industry. Although the example chosen is specific the models are
sufficiently general and can be applied to similar problems in ASEAN or any other economic integration movement. |
| Year | 1979 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Engineering and Technology |
| Department | Department of Industrial Systems Engineering (DISE) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Industrial Engineering (IE) |
| Chairperson(s) | Pakorn Adulbhan |
| Examination Committee(s) | Tang, John C.S. ; Tabucanon, Mario T. |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Carl Duisberg Gesellschaft |
| Degree | Thesis (M. Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 1979 |