Changes in the amount of attention Australian companies and managements
paid to Asia over the period 1986-92 are assessed by counting the frequency
of references to Asia in companies' annual reports over this period. The
number of references to Asia are also compared with the number of references
to Europe and North America. It is found that attention to Asia increased
significantly over the period while attention to Europe and North America
remained constant, so that by the end of the period Asian references exceeded
those to the other two regions. There was also evidence of emerging industry
differences in Asian focus over this period and an association between
company performance and extent of Asian focus. The sample for the study
comprises 68 large Australian organizations.
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