State entrepreneurship and regional development: Singapore's industrial parks in Batam and Suzhou

This paper examines a case of state entrepreneurship and regional development through an analysis of the Singaporean government's ‘regional industrial parks’ programme, which began in 1990. To the Singaporean government, this programme was an entrepreneurial venture because it was designed to generate profits through developing, leasing and managing industrial estates in selected locations across the Asia Pacific region. This paper examines two such regional industrial parks, situated in Batam (Indonesia) and Suzhou (China). It finds that as an entrepreneurial venture, the parks have both successes and failures. In addition, the two parks have had different developmental impacts. The paper concludes by arguing that although the entrepreneurial state's strategies are important, host governments must act on these strategies effectively in order to achieve sustained economic development.