31

The Influence of Regional and Local Characteristics on Sustainable
Consumption and Production Patterns in Southeast Asia:
Literature Review and Discussion
Tomohiro TASAKI1* and Michikazu KOJIMA2
1

Material Cycles Division and Social Systems Division, National Institute for Environmental Studies,
16-2 Onogawa, Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki 305-8506, Japan
2
Inter-disciplinary Studies Center, Institute of Developing Economies, JETRO,
3-2-2 Wakaba, Mihama-ku, Chiba-shi, Chiba 261-8545, Japan*E-mail: tasaki.tomohiro@nies.go.jp

Abstract
Sustainable consumption and production (SCP) patterns are inevitably based on human endeavors,
including business models and lifestyles. Hence, regional and local characteristics are important factors in
identifying SCP patterns and formulating SCP policies; however, SCP policies that originated in developed
countries have tended to take a cosmopolitan or context-free position and neglect this aspect. In this study, we
reviewed literature about cultural and geographical differences as well as the results of two workshops about
SCP in Southeast Asia. We then discussed potential factors that affect SCP patterns and policies in Southeast
Asia from a societal (context-dependent) approach. Factors identified include climate and nature, the existence
and functions of business and infrastructure, economic growth and regional disparity, policy and regulation,
religious rules, the relationship between government and industries, international trade, and people’s cultural
mindset (e.g., traditional versus secular, acceptance of inequality, self-expression and cultural context). We
proposed a model structure to indicate how regional/local characteristics affect the constituents of consumption
and production (CP) patterns (CP preferences and CP enablers) and SCP policies (policy needs and policy
preferences). We then suggested CP-related regional/local characteristics and policy-related regional/local
characteristics in Southeast Asia, presenting four general points regarding regional/local characteristics: thatthey are relative; that they are dynamic, historical and highly interrelated among each other; that culturalist
approaches make meaningful generalizations difficult, necessitating a context-dependent societal approach; andthat local characteristics can have a variety of influences on CP patterns.
Key words: cultural difference, policy design, policy transfer, sustainable consumption and production (SCP),
Sustainable Development Goal 12 (SDG 12), sustainable lifestyles

1. Introduction
Since the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
were agreed upon at the UN General Assembly in 2015,
ensuring sustainable consumption and production (SCP)
patterns—the SDG 12 goal—has drawn global attention.
Asia is a key region for this movement because its
economies have been growing rapidly, and the resulting
environmental pressures are large (c.f., IRP, 2019;
PECoP-Asia, 2018). To ensure SCP in Asia, many efforts
have been made. For example, Thailand (2017) developed
its SCP roadmap for the period 2017–2036, and the
SWITCH-ASIA program of the European Union has
funded approximately 130 SCP projects across the region
to date. However, according to the United Nations (UNGlobal Environmental Research
25/2021: 031–042
printed in Japan

ESCAP, 2019), progress on SDG 12 in Asia and thePacific has lagged relative to the other SDGs in the region.
Therefore, effective SCP policy implementation isneeded.
SCP patterns are inevitably based on humanendeavors, including business models and lifestyles.
Hence, regional and local characteristics are importantfactors in identifying SCP patterns and also formulating
SCP policies. According to Hantrais (2007),
contextualization plays a central role in cross-national
comparative research, and there are three research
approaches: universalist (context-free), culturalist(context-bounded: the context cannot be changed and is
the object of study), and societal (context-dependent: thecontext serves as an important explanatory variable and2021 AIRIES32

T. TASAKI and M. KOJIMAan enabling tool). SCP policy has tended to take auniversal or context-free position. For example, theUnited Nations Environment Assembly did not mention
local or regional characteristics in its resolution on SCP(UNEA, 2019).
In the field of policy science, Dolowitz and Marsh(2000) discussed types of policy transfer and the reasons
behind the increase of policy transfer. They also
distinguished three types of failure in policy transfer:
uninformed
transfer,
incomplete
transfer,andinappropriate transfer. Failures caused by uninformed
transfer are caused by biased/insufficient information
about a transferred policy. Incomplete transfer occurs
when important elements of a transferred policy are
neglected. Inappropriate transfer results when not enoughattention is paid to different values and contextual factors(cultural, political and/or economic) as well as the aims ofpolicy targeted at a transferred area. Combinations of thethree types of failure are also possible. Consideration ofregional or local characteristics is therefore important toprevent failures in SCP policy, too. Minkman et al. (2018)
constructed a detailed conceptual framework of policy
transfer and identified groups of factors and subfactors
related to policy transfer. These include the environment(circumstances of policy transfer) and adoptability, which
consists of suitability (institutional fit and flexibility ofpolicy), (adopting) capacity, (policy) resources, andability to change policy course. However, concrete
regional and local characteristics have yet to beconsidered in SCP policy transfer in the Asian context.
In this study, we therefore reviewed literature related
to cultural and geographical (local/national/regional)
differences and discussed important factors that could
affect SCP patterns in Southeast Asia taking the societal
approach. The structure of this article is as follows. In
Chapter 2, we review literature about cultural andgeographical differences. We also look at specificexamples of regional, national or local characteristics(hereinafter, referred to collectively as “local
characteristics”) from workshops about consumption andproduction (CP) patterns in Southeast Asia (Tasaki et al.,2021). In Chapter 3, we discuss important localities that
influence SCP patterns in Southeast Asia based on theinsights from the previous two chapters. Chapter 4 is theconclusion.

2. Literature Review on Cultural andGeographical Differences
2.1 Cultural Differences
First, we reviewed studies about cultural differences.
Cultural differences between different geographical areas
have been pointed out by many practitioners and would
appear to be the most important difference. The meaningof culture is, however, complex and its definition isdiverse. For example, according to Kroeber andKluckhohn (1952), who reviewed 164 definitions ofculture and extracted the central idea, culture “consists ofpatterns, explicit or implicit, of and for behavior acquired
and transmitted by symbols, constituting the distinctive
achievement of human groups, including theirembodiments in artifacts; the essential core of culture
consists of traditional (i.e., historically derived andselected) ideas and especially their attached values.” As
the definitions made by scholars (c.f., Kluckhohn, 1951;
Kroeber & Kluckhohn, 1952, Geertz, 1973; Kronenfeld,
2008; and Kronenfeld, 2018) denote, culture is a
dynamically formulated pattern inherited and transmitted
over a long time. The definition of culture is thus abstract,
so we need to proceed to literature that more concretely
explains cultural differences.
An early study that addressed cultural differences isHall and Hall’s Understanding Cultural Difference (1990).
They compared three different cultural worlds based on
their understanding that culture is communication, andidentified common threads (categories): speed ofmessages (e.g., a headline is a fast message and a poem isa slow message), context in communication (high or low;
how much information is enough to convey), space (e.g.,wide or narrow personal space/territory), and time
(monochronic or polychronic [doing many things at thesame time]; past-, present-, or future-oriented). They also
pointed out differences in terms of being fast or slow to
respond to and interface with different cultures.
Research groups led by Ronald Inglehart and Geert
Hofstede conducted intensive global surveys. The World
Value Survey (WVS) founded by Inglehart has been
investigating social, political, economic, religious andcultural values of people throughout the world since 1981.
The latest (seventh) ongoing survey covers 80 countries.
The famous “Inglehart–Welzel cultural map” has two
major axes of cross-cultural variation—traditional values
versus secular-rational values (the vertical axis) andsurvival values versus self-expression values (thehorizontal axis). It is based on their concept of two major
modernization processes: secularization of authority andemancipation of authority (Inglehart & Welzel, 2005). The
latest map (WVS Association, 2020) shows that Asian
countries are located around the center of the horizontal
axis, between many Western countries on the right andorthodox European and African-Islamic countries on theleft. A difference among Asian countries is that East Asian
countries such as Japan and South Korea are located insecular areas, while other countries from the southeast to
west are located in between secular and traditional. That
is, Southeast Asian countries are characterized as having
weak self-expression and a mixture of secular andtraditional values.
Hofstede’s cultural survey originated from apersonnel survey at an international company, IBM, andwas then extended. Hofstede et al. (2010) asserted six
dimensions of national culture: power distanceRegional/Local Characteristics in Southeast Asia

(acceptance of unequal power distribution), individualism,masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, long-term orientation,and indulgence (against restraint). Table 1 shows index
values for these six dimensions for Southeast Asian
countries as compared to the world average. These
countries tend to have notably higher power distancevalues, lower individualism values (i.e., stronger
collectivism) and lower uncertainty avoidance values than
the world average. The uncertainty avoidance andlong-term orientation values, however, are relatively
diverse.
Other researchers and practitioners have also madeefforts to elucidate cultural differences. Meyer (2014)
presented eight scales of cultural differences:
communicating (low-context (simple and clear) vs.
high-context (messages are between the lines)), evaluating(direct negative feedback vs. indirect negative feedback),
persuading (principles-first vs. applications-first), leading(egalitarian vs. hierarchical), deciding (consensual vs.
top-down), trusting (task-based vs. relationship-based),disagreeing (confrontational vs. avoiding confrontation),and scheduling (linear-time vs. flexible-time). For
example, Americans, Australians and Netherlanders are
low context while Japanese, Korean, and Indonesian arehigh context. Negative feedback tends to be direct for
Russians, whereas it is indirect for Japanese, Thai and33

Indonesian people. Trust tends to be based onrelationships in India, China, Thailand, and Japan. People
in Indonesia, Japan, and Thailand tend to avoid
confrontation while those in Singapore tend to be between
confrontation and avoiding confrontation.
Kosaka (2008) explained differences between theWest and the East. As shown in Table 2, practical,
adjustable, holistic and less self-centered features of theEast are described. Koren (1994) also pointed out
differences between the modernized Western thinking andan Eastern way of thinking, a so-called wabi-sabi
perspective. The differences respectively contrast logicaland intuitive, absolute and relative, mass-produced andone-of-a-kind, faith in progress and no progress, control
over nature and the uncontrollability of nature, adapting tomachines and adapting to nature (in this group, the second
element of each pair is a feature of the Eastern way).
The AsiaBarometer survey is the largest comparative
survey in Asia and focuses on the daily lives of ordinary
people based on the bottom-up principle (Inoguchi &Fujii, 2013). Inoguchi (2005) used principal component
analysis on data from 10 countries and identified threemajor dimensions: (1) general trust, (2) trust in
merit-based utility, and (3) trust in the social system. He
asserted that the results were related to (1) a Confucian
heritage, (2) English speaking, and (3) communist or

Table 1 Hofstede’s six indices of national culture and their values in Southeast Asia.
Index value (0 to 100)
Uncertainty
Masculinity
avoidancePowerdistance

Individualism

Indonesia
Malaysia
Philippines
Singapore
Thailand
VietnamAvg.
σDifference from world avg.

78
100
94
74
64
70
80
±14
(21)

14
26
32
20
20
20
22
±6
(−23)

46
50
64
48
34
40
47
±10
(−2)

World average
Japan
China
South Korea

59
54
80
60

45
46
20
18

49
95
66
39

Long-termorientation

Indulgence

48
36
44
8
64
30
38
±19
(−29)

62
41
27
72
32
57
48
±18
(3)

38
57
42
46
45
35
44
±8
(−2)

67
92
30
85

45
88
87
100

45
42
24
29

Data retrieved from Geerthofstede.com (2015), with averages calculated by the authors. East Asian countries are presented at the bottom for reference.

Table 2 Kosaka’s dichotomization of Western and Eastern philosophy (Kosaka, 2008; summarized and translated by the authors).
West
Philosophical motivation
Realism
Tendency to think separately
With and without
Positive and negative
Inner and outer

Theoretical interests
Tendency to think metaphysically
Reductionism
Thought of existence. The concept of“nothing” means to lack (something).
Affirmation of human nature
Nature should not be undeveloped

East
Practical interests in life
Tendency to think intrinsicallyHolismThought of nothingness. “Nothing” can takeany form and is not negative.
Denial of human acts
Humans should follow nature

34

T. TASAKI and M. KOJIMA

former communist government, respectively. Furthermore,
Inoguchi and Fujii (2013) categorized 28 Asian countries
into five groups based on factor analyses. The threefactors used for the categorization were: materialist(consisting of housing, standard of living, householdincome, education and job), post-materialist (friendship,
marriage, neighbors, family life, leisure and spiritual life),
and public-sphere (public safety, condition of theenvironment, social welfare system and democraticsystem). Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar were in thegroup of countries whose primary factor was materialist
and whose secondary factor was the public-sphere. The
Philippines was the sole country whose primary factor
was post-materialist and secondary factor was the
public-sphere. In both of these two groups, the states
exercise strong power and have the potential to influence
SCP policy. Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam werecategorized as countries with salient post-materialist
features.
2.2 Other Regional/Local Differences
Some scholars have studied regional/local differences
other than cultural ones. These include differences indemographics, family type, context, governance and othersubjective factors as explained below.
Hoffmeyer-Zlotnik and Warner (2014) summarized
demographic variables used to compare different
countries. Suggested variables were sex, age, legal marital
status,consensual
union,
ethnicity,
education,
employment, household size and household income.
Esteve and Liu (2013) described a steady decline inhousehold size in Asia from 1980. According to PRB(2020), household size was still relatively large at 4.1
persons/household in Southeast Asia in 2019, ascompared to 2.4 and 2.6 persons/household in Europe andNorth America, respectively. Extended (large) families are
more common in Southeast Asia. Macromill (2020a, b, c)
elucidated differences between generations (age groups)
in purchasing behavior in Thailand, Indonesia andVietnam (Table 3). Although differences exist in people’s
ages in the generational categories, many commonalities
can be seen among the members of the same generation.
Hantrais (2007) put forward the most frequently
examined contexts in comparative research. These arepolitical institutions, administrative structure, economic
system, legal framework, social institutions and structures,social protection system, the physical environment andinformation technology in addition to culturalenvironment and socio-demographic variables. Kawabata(2005) asserted seven contexts in which to consider retailbusinesses in Southeast Asia. These were climate,race/population, religion, market distribution, history,
policy and income.
Family systems form the basis of society. Todd
(1999) categorized family structure in different countries
into seven types based on two axes: liberal or
authoritarian for the relationship between parents andchildren (and equal or unequal among siblings) andacceptance of internal marriage. More authoritarian (orhigh power distance from Table 1) is a family
characteristic in Asia, and Todd classified families inJapan and Korea as stem families (authoritarian families
with unequal siblings) and those in China and Vietnam ascommunity families (authoritarian families with equal
siblings). Families in Southeast Asian countries such as
Indonesia, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Laos, thePhilippines and Myanmar were categorized as anomic
families, somewhere between liberal and authoritarian.
Itao and Kaneko (2020) demonstrated through the use of asimulation model that countries with stem and community
families corresponded to countries with social democracy
and communism, respectively.
The World Bank publishes a set of governanceindicators ranging from −2.5 to 2.5 (the world average iszero). Governance is related to policy adoptability, which
is an important factor of policy transfer failure (Minkman
et al., 2018). Table 4 shows six indicators for several
Southeast Asian countries. The average of the voice andTable 3 Differences in purchasing behavior of four generations in three Southeast Asian countries.
Generation
ThailandIndonesia
VietnamBaby boomers (founders of modern
Independence War generation, born
War era generation, born up to 1976,
1st
Thailand), born 1940–1964, prudent
1945–1964, seek supplementarystable-minded and prudent
shoppers
income, frugal
Generation X (political instability
Orde Bal era generation (Suharto
Doi Moi era generation (Generation
generation), born 1965–1979, strong
System generation), born 1965–1974,
X), born 1976–1989, strong consumer
consumer motivation and conspicuous
not thrifty but spend conservatively,
motivation and conspicuous
2nd
consumers, open to buying online but
potentially high spending
consumers, prefer multinational brands
prioritize the opinions offamilies/friends
Millennials, also known as Generation
Millennials, born 1975–1998, use
Millennials (free trade era), born
Y (technology generation), born
services rather than things, digitally
1990–1999, preference for product
3rd
1980–1999, hybrid of Internet and real friendly
functionality and green products
consumers
Generation Z (uninterested
Generation Z, born 1998–2002,
Post-Millennials (Generation Z), borngeneration), born after 2000, native
self-centered and impulsive
after 2000, practical and technology
4th
digital consumers
consumption behavior, technology
savvy, driven by price andsavvy, digital natives
convenience
Retrieved from Macromill (2020a–c) and summarized by the authors.

Regional/Local Characteristics in Southeast Asia

35

Table 4 Governance indicators of Southeast Asian countries from 2017 to 2019.
Worldwide Governance Indicators (−2.5 to +2.5)
Country
Singapore
Brunei Darussalam
Malaysia
ThailandIndonesia
Philippines
VietnamLao PDR
Myanmar
Avg.
Factor analysis
Factor 1 (4.63)
Factor 2 (1.14)
Japan
China
Korea, Rep.

Voice andaccountability

Political stability
and absence ofviolence/terrorism

Government
effectiveness

Regulatory
quality

Rule of law

Control ofcorruption

−0.14
−0.91
−0.17
−0.96
0.16
0.05
−1.41
−1.76
−0.86
−0.67

1.55
1.19
0.16
−0.69
−0.51
−1.05
0.18
0.45
−1.20
0.01

2.22
1.24
0.97
0.36
0.13
0.02
0.02
−0.61
−1.09
0.36

2.13
0.68
0.68
0.12
−0.11
−0.01
−0.34
−0.74
−0.78
0.18

1.85
0.63
0.54
0.06
−0.33
−0.46
0.02
−0.89
−1.01
0.04

2.16
0.77
0.20
−0.40
−0.31
−0.53
−0.53
−0.99
−0.59
−0.03

0.16
0.92
0.99
−1.52
0.77

0.88
−0.31
1.63
0.47
1.21

0.94
0.28
1.35
−0.19
1.09

0.92
0.38
1.55
−0.25
1.20

0.96
0.22
1.47
−0.29
0.61

0.92
0.28
1.07
−0.25
0.47

Data retrieved from World Bank (2020); three-year averages were calculated. The global average is zero. Values in parentheses next to the two factors indicate
eigenvalues. East Asian countries are presented at the bottom as reference.

accountability indicator, which indicates participation in
selecting the government, freedom of expression andassociation, and a free media, is notably low (−0.67). The
authoritarian culture of Southeast Asia is reflected in thisindicator. The other five indicators range from positive tonegative and do not show a large general deviation fromthe world average. Our factor analysis showed these fiveindicators form a different factor from the voice andaccountability indicator, and have strong correlations witheach other (correlation coefficients of greater than 0.9,
except for political stability, whose coefficients are
0.69–0.76).
2.3 Specific Groups of Local Characteristics
Influencing CP patterns
The previous sections highlighted many points ofview about general cultural, geographical and other
differences. In this section, we review the results of twoworkshops showing specific groups of local
characteristics that are directly linked to CP patterns.
Tasaki et al. (2021) held two workshops to discuss SCP
patterns in Southeast Asia and obtained 170 local
characteristics that could affect SCP patterns of six
activity domains: cooling, doing housework, eating,moving short distances, purchasing, travelling andworking.
Table 5 presents 14 categories of local characteristics.
The local characteristics in each category are more
specific perceptions and attitudes than those reviewed in
the previous sections. Culture and customs, industry, andinfrastructure were the top three major categories of local
characteristics, each accounting for more than 15% of the

170 local characteristics, followed by climate and nature.
It would be difficult to identify cultural characteristics
without extensive local knowledge. The same is true of
local industry. Even if outsiders (non-local people) can
observe the existence of industries directly linked toconsumption and production, it would be difficult forthem to identify the industries’ functions in a society. In
contrast, outsiders may be better able to identify someareas, for example, infrastructure, climate/nature andeconomic growth. These may be taken for granted byinsiders (local people) and be relatively difficult for them
to become aware of. Both views—internal andexternal—are required to gain a precise understanding of
local characteristics.

3. Discussion on Local Characteristics
Influencing SCP Policy
Based on the knowledge and insights gained from
reviewing the literature and workshops, we discuss local
characteristics in the context of SCP policy in this chapter.
We can distinguish two different types of local
characteristics. One influences CP patterns that areformed in certain countries/areas (targets of SCP policy),and the other influences the choice and implementation of
SCP policy (hereafter referred to as “CP-related local
characteristics” and “policy-related local characteristics,”
respectively).
These
local
characteristics
have
complicated interrelationships. To structure thiscomplexity and facilitate our understanding anddiscussion, we put forward a simple model of the

36

T. TASAKI and M. KOJIMA

Table 5 Local/regional characteristics presented at the two workshops on SCP patterns in Southeast Asia.
Category*

Main identifier**

Culture/custom(37%)

Insider (+6%)

Industry(21%)

Insider (+8%)

Infrastructure(18%)

Outsider (+11%)

Climate/Nature(9%)

Outsider (+8%)

Public policy(8%)

Insider (+9%)

Immigrants and unregistered workforce; Working support services(co-working spaces, free Wi-Fi, childcare); Inflexible working rules;
Commuting time
Cheap street food for low-income people; Relatively low cost ofliving; Electricity cost

Working(7%)
Commodity
prices(6%)
Economic
growth(5%)
Technology
(4%)
Human
resources(4%)
Demography(4%)
Pollution andsafety (3%)
Politics andsociety (2%)
Sanitation(2%)

ExamplesMain focus
Actual behaviors andRole of wife as “good cook, good housekeeper”; Relaxed (flexible)
perceptions
attitude about time; Easy going; Dangerous driving behavior; Set
temperature of air conditioners too low (e.g., 18°C); Service mind(“Siam Smile”); Care about their social image; Buddhist spirits; Less
walking; People value face-to-face communication; Cars as status
symbol; Culture of eating-out, even for breakfast; Chili fish sauce
Existence and non-existence
Traditional, no meal delivery system; Non-material consumption(massage etc.); All variety of foods available; Street food available 24 of certain industries, including
their functions in society
hours; Too many food stalls; Informal transport sector;
High-value-added brand bicycles
Quantity and quality ofGreener transport; Easy access to food and free Wi-Fi; 5G(telecommunication); High CO2 intensity of electricity; Bad pavement infrastructure
conditions; Narrow roads; Comfortable public space (green space);
Conventional well-ventilated houses; Traffic congestion; Power
shortage; No parking spaces for bicycles on sidewalk
Hot weather; High humidity; Heat island effect; Existence of rainy
Climate conditions and theirseason; Abundant tropical foodservice functions
No license needed to become a housekeeper; No strict law
Existence and non-existence
enforcement; Plastic bags/containers not allowed in national parksof certain policies as well as
their effectivenessWorking and non-working
conditions
Low prices and low incomes

Outsider (+8%)

Increasing wealth; Increases in ownership of electronic equipment;
Expansion of urban areas; Income gap

Growth itself and its
consequences

Insider (+9%)

Undergoing innovation; Improvement in automatic translation; Use ofchemical substances; Adoption of new technologies
Lack of education; Digital literacy; Lack of knowledge about specifictopicsExistence and social
acceptance
Knowledge level and abilitiesof people and workers

Population; Population density; Increasing immigrant population;
Many white-collar/high-income workers
Emissions from fuel combustion (e.g., PM2.5); Air pollution fromoutdoor cooking; Cost considered over environment
Trust among neighbors; Resistance from individuals to change;
Communist government
Some street venders are not safe or clean; Food safety (diarrhea)

Population and class changes
State of pollution and control;
people’s attitudes
Government and governanceProtection against viruses andbacteria* The percentages indicate frequency among all local characteristics raised at the two workshops (Tasaki et al., 2021).
** This column indicates the main group identifying the local characteristics. Insider and outsider refer to local and non-local people, respectively. The
percentage values in parentheses indicate differences in the frequency rate between the two workshops in Thailand and Japan (no insiders attended the one
in Japan); only differences >5% are shown.

relationships between CP patterns and SCP policy as
shown in Fig. 1. It is based on two types of questions
about what and how, with reference to theattitudes-facilitators-infrastructure (AFI) framework for
SCP (Vergragt et al., 2014); five components of CP
patterns (production, provision, consumption, products
and services; Tasaki et al., 2021); and a policy cycle
model (Cairney, 2012). This model shows the fourconstituent parts of CP patterns and SCP policy: CP
preferences, CP enablers, policy needs and policy
preferences.
3.1 CP-related Local/Regional Characteristics
CP preferences are influenced by local/regional
characteristics. For example, family styles, such as
extended (large) families and two-income families, allow

family members to have different consumption patterns ofeating (cooking or dining out) and purchasing (more orless). People’s mindsets about satisfaction andmaterialistic/post-materialistic values also drive them todifferent consumption patterns. In Thailand, the former
King, Bhumibol Adulyadej, advocated the idea of a“sufficiency economy” in which sufficiency meant a
middle way—not too little and not too much—implying
both self-reliance and frugality (Millet, 2011; Merle et al.,2017).
Climate and nature influence CP patterns. Southeast
Asia has a hot, humid climate (the monthly average
highest temperature is above 30°C all year), and it
influences regional cuisine, for example, through the useof various spices, fish sources and aromatic ingredientseven though food preservation technology andRegional/Local Characteristics in Southeast Asia

Fig. 137

Model of the relationships between CP (consumption and production) patterns and SCP(sustainable consumption and production) policy, including their constituents (in ovals).
Local/regional characteristics influence all the constituents as shown by the double arrows.

globalization have made a variety of cuisines available.
Climate also leads people to use more air-conditioning
and energy, which is a concern of the IEA (2019). The useof air conditioners has spread to rural areas wheretraditional stilt houses can still be found, and even thoughpeople in rural areas tend to limit the time and period ofuse, younger generations tend to use air conditioners morethan their elders (Yoshida et al., 2020). People inSoutheast Asia regard cooling as a luxury and tend to set
the temperature low. Kawabata (2005) explained featuresof markets in Southeast Asia as follows: there are noseasonal markets; clothing shops do not have to adjust
their inventory as the seasons change (i.e., there are no
winter clothes); people avoid walking even short distances(150 m is the average size of the trading area of
convenience stores in Manila, whereas it is 500 m inJapan); and shopping centers with air conditioners are notjust for shopping, but rather they are part of the urban
space for daily life.
Businesses
providing
products/services
andtechnology can be localized and regionalized; that is, they
are directly influenced by local characteristics. For
example, people living in rural areas in Southeast Asia
have more contact with the soil in their daily life, andwashing machines sold in rural areas have equipment forhand-washing clothing on the top (Watanabe et al., 2019).
Street food venders enable people to eat out casually andsupport dual-earner families (c.f., Trafialek et al., 2017).
Existing businesses’ attitude towards competition or
co-existence with new businesses is an important type of
local/regional characteristic in forming a CP pattern. For
example, conflicts between taxi businesses and new ridehailing/sharing services such as Uber and Grab and othermobility services prevent emergence of a new CP pattern(c.f., Ackaradejruangsri, 2015; Narupiti, 2019). Existenceof an informal sector and relatively large secondhand andrepair markets, a typical regional characteristic ofdeveloping countries, influences possible CP patterns
there. Kobayashi and Fukushige (2018) proposed a“living-sphere approach” to incorporate region-specificsatisfiers for basic needs into product design.
Availability of infrastructure can limit or expand thenumberofoptionsthat
consumers
andproducers/providers can use. For example, in urban areas,
public transportation infrastructure is very important. If
public transportation is limited, citizens are likely to use
automobiles and motorcycles, which may cause roadcongestion and increase carbon dioxide and otherpollutant emissions. Without mass public transportation
infrastructure, it is difficult to commute in anenvironmentally friendly manner in large urban areas. The
same can be applied to electricity. Availability ofenvironmentally friendly electricity is needed for a city totransform its SCP patterns. The percentage ofenergy-efficient housing stock in an area also determines
the level of energy consumption in a city. Digital
infrastructure can serve as an enabler for digitalized CP
patterns such as servicizing and sharing, and digitalconnection quality is a determinant of such CP patterns.
Participants in the workshops mentioned in Section 2.4
discussed not only conventional kinds of infrastructure(e.g., roads and waste collection systems) but also
alternative types that would be able to support new SCP
patterns and lifestyles. Examples were roads for specificpurposes such as walking and bicycling, open public
spaces, and digital infrastructure such as online platforms
and digital currency. Infrastructure transformation is thus
important for SCP.
Rapid economic growth and the resulting regional
disparities constitute underlying regional characteristics inSoutheast Asia. Compressed development, a term coinedand characterized by Whittaker et al. (2010), resulted in

38

T. TASAKI and M. KOJIMA

workforce shortages in urban areas and an increase inmigrant workers (Rattanapan, 2015). Availability of acheap labor force (i.e., migrant workers) both enables and
impedes SCP patterns; for example, proper protection of
migrant workers is often insufficient and long-term
poverty is a possibility. Such disparities occur
geographically. According to Kawabata (2005), regional
disparities in Southeast Asia have formed a mosaic pattern
rather than a monotonically changing pattern. Coexistenceof different levels of development and their geographicaldistribution/pattern thus can be a local characteristic in
Southeast Asia. Oizumi (2011) pointed out anotherexample of local characteristics of government: increased
taxation is a key to development in rural areas in Asia
because funding is required, whereas decreased taxation isa key concept of development in urban areas because of
market competition.
Religion is also a local/regional characteristic
affecting CP patterns. For example, religion can trigger
changes in people’s behaviors. Several temples inThailand are calling on believers to donate secondhand
goods and recyclable waste. The collected secondhand
goods and recycled resources are sold to dealers andrecyclers. The revenue is then used for temple
maintenance and other contributions to society, such as
scholarships for the poor. The Indonesian Ulema Council,
Indonesia’s top Muslim clerical body, has organized acampaign to use reusable bags to reduce the number ofsingle-use plastic bags in collaboration with Greenpeace
and the Ministry of Forestry and Environment (Nugraha& Purwaningsih, 2018).
Various existing regulations can hinder or promote
adoption of new SCP patterns. Ride hailing/sharing
services such as Uber and Grab are not popular in Japanbecause it is difficult for new service providers to fulfill
the requirements of the Road Transportation Act and thePassenger Vehicle Transportation Business Act.
Collection and recycling of end-of-life vehicles arepromoted by the automobile tax structure and theAutomobile Recycling Act in Japan, whereas they arehindered in countries without similar regulations or laws.
Other examples of regulations hindering or promoting
adoption of new standards include the following: Halal
standards set by the Malaysian government prohibit thereuse of packaging materials previously used on
non-Halal products, and regulations for food contact
containers in Thailand prevent bottle-to-bottle recyclingof PET resin.
3.2 Policy-related Local/Regional Characteristics
People’s mindsets affect their relationships with thegovernment and public policy as well as people’scompliance with public policy. As noted in Chapter 2,
local characteristics in Southeast Asia include a mixtureof traditional and secular, an acceptance of inequality (ahigh power distance), a relatively low level ofself-expression, a high-context culture, relationship-based
trust, low uncertainty avoidance, holism and a preference
for real practices over transcendental theory/rules. By
reflecting upon these tendencies, we came upon thefollowing policy implications. First, the traditional
authoritarian view places importance on the government.
People therefore tend to follow what the government
decides, and government officials tend to perceive a low
need for public participation in policy decisions ascompared to Western countries. SCP policy can thus bestringent; however, the goals of SCP policy can deviate
from people’s needs, and policy decisions may not fit
stakeholders’ situations. Second, people tend to neglect
impractical rules and to use double standards. This is atactic of respecting authority while practicing one’s own
life and business. Implementation of SCP policy in thissense can be problematic in Southeast Asia. In addition, ahigh-context culture does not help explain whether aperson or institution will comply or not with any given
policy. Third, insufficient institutionalization, which istypically observed in developing countries, increases a
government’s difficulty in putting policy decisions into
force. The size and capabilities of municipalities inSoutheast Asia are still small. It is therefore difficult to
introduce the same municipal policy used in developed
countries in these areas.
There is often a preference to adopt an ambitious
policy agenda without considering its local feasibility. Aidreceivers in the context of international cooperation canurge governments to accept a donor’s preferred policy. In
addition, rivalries between ministries and agencies tend tolead them to pursue new policy areas where the governing
institution has yet to be determined.
Trust between industries and government can be
weak in Southeast Asia. As noted previously, governments
often make policy decisions without consulting industries.
In addition, policy decisions are often not followed up
with implementation. Moreover, some industries do notview the domestic market as important if it is small, andinternational cooperation influences policy decisions.
Thailand is an example of a country where relationships
with industries and inter-ministry coordination are
relatively good.
Business enterprises are also important actors for
SCP, and business activities have drawn more attention,
especially since the SDGs were agreed upon. In a study
about corporate environmental management in Japan,
Thailand and Vietnam (Yagi & Kokubu, 2021), the mostimportant stakeholders were buyers and investors in Japan,
whereas they were the community and employees inThailand and Vietnam. That is, community-oriented
management was observed in these Southeast Asian
countries. This characteristic is in line with the cultural
position of Thailand and Vietnam on the
Inglehart–Welzel’s cultural map where its position is in
between traditional values and secular-rational values. In

Regional/Local Characteristics in Southeast Asia

the late 1990s, Shimizu (1998) pointed out that Japanese
corporate management that was originally based onhumanism, collectivism and trust had shifted towards
Anglo-Saxon management based on individualism andmarket competition, but that it would not become exactly
the same as Anglo-Saxon management. Thailand andVietnam are more oriented to community and traditional
values than Japan. Therefore, their community-oriented
management probably would not be shifted towards
Anglo-Saxon management so easily.
Physical and perceptual distance between producers
and consumers (i.e., the international market structure)
may affect the process of finding SCP solutions. In
economically large countries, the trade dependency rate(the ratio of exports and imports of products and services
in gross domestic product) is usually low. For example,
the trade dependency rates of Japan, China, India andIndonesia are around 40% (calculated from the WorldBank’s World Development Indicators database). On theother hand, the trade dependency rates of Singapore andVietnam are 319% and 210% in 2019, respectively. The
rates of Malaysia, Cambodia, and Thailand also exceed
100%. Producers tend to pay attention to the preferencesof consumers in large markets, neglecting consumer
preferences in small markets. This could be a barrier for
consumers and governments in the promotion of SCP.

39

3.3 Local Characteristics Reconsidered
Figure 2 summarizes the relationships and patterns
discussed in the previous sections. Several points arenoteworthy here. First, local characteristics are relative.
Some local characteristics mentioned in this study are
truly local ones, but they also are common at the global
level. An example is the 5G telecommunication
infrastructure in Bangkok. This is unique to Bangkok
when compared with the infrastructure in other cities andtowns in Thailand, but not when compared with otherleading capital cities in the world. That is, local
characteristics are identifiable only when a reference isprovided and can vary depending on the reference point.
The reference point can be either the whole (e.g., “A isunique among...”) or in comparison (e.g., “A ismore...than that in...”). In other words, the criticism that“it is not a local characteristic” is not sufficient if thereference point is not mentioned.
Second, local characteristics are dynamic, historicaland highly interrelated among each other. Some local
characteristics have causal relationships. For example,
people use air conditioners because of the humid and hot
climate, and weak policy enforcement has resulted in ahabit of breaking rules and the emergence of the informal
sector. In addition, local characteristics have a dynamic
nature. On-going change in a certain local characteristic
brings about changes in other localities. Once a CP patternFig. 2 Example of structured relationships between/among local characteristics and SCP constituents in Southeast Asia. The
relationships between CP patterns, SCP policy and SCP constituents at the top are simplified. See Fig. 1 for the precise
relationships.

40

T. TASAKI and M. KOJIMAor SCP policy is established, it influences culture,business and public policy. Therefore, localities cannot beclearly and precisely categorized.
Third, only local characteristics related to SCP
patterns and policies are targeted by this study. As argued
by Hantrais (2007), culturalist approaches makemeaningful generalizations very difficult as they tend toillustrate diversity and divergence rather than similarity
and convergence. In this study, we took acontext-dependent societal approach and focused only on
factors influencing SCP patterns and policy to guide SCP
practitioners (including factors that would play animportant role in the future). The SCP localities we
discussed are thus not the same as thecultural/geographical differences discussed by culturists.
Fourth, local characteristics include both (1) thosethat act as a promoting/hindering factor influencing
individual CP patterns and (2) those influencing whether acombination of multiple CP patterns can occur. For
example, local regulation and local market conditions(including stakeholders’ perceptions) can influence
whether or not private cars, taxis, ride hailing/sharing,
public buses and trains compete or coexist.

4. Conclusion“Cultural difference” is a very convenient term to use.
However, it prevents us from developing a deeper
understanding of local characteristics and SCP policies.
CP patterns are formed more or less in a regional andlocal context, and SCP policies have to be adjusted tothese contexts to be effective and also to avoid policy
transfer failure. This study reviewed literature about
cultural and geographical differences and workshop
results. We then discussed regional/local characteristics tobe considered in SCP policy from a societal approach
position. We proposed a model structure to indicate how
regional/local characteristics affect the constituents of CP
patterns (CP preferences and CP enablers) and SCP
policies (policy needs and policy preferences). Our
discussion
basedon
CP-related
regional/local
characteristics
andpolicy-related
regional/local
characteristics in Southeast Asia identified the following
factors: climate and nature, existence and functions ofbusiness and infrastructure, economic growth and regional
disparity, policy and regulation including religious rules,
relationship between government and industries,
international
trade,
people’sculturalmindsetcharacterized by a mixture of traditional and secular, highpower distance (acceptance of inequality), relatively low
self-expression, and high-context culture. These can beentry points for policymakers and practitioners to consider
SCP policies and actions that are fitted to the
local/regional context in Southeast Asia and that canenhance the effectiveness of SCP policies/actions.
Although these insights are informative for SCP

practitioners in raising awareness about local
characteristics and helping appropriate caution to be
applied in policy transfer, we do not think they are
sufficient as a rationale for taking specific actions. Everyaction has a specific context and has to take into accountvery specific elements of CP patterns and stakeholders. As
discussed, local characteristics are relative and it isdifficult for only insiders or only outsiders to be aware of
all local characteristics. This can result in failure of SCP
policy implementation. SCP practitioners need both tohave a basic perspective and to make individual efforts tograsp regionalities/localities when designing andimplementing SCP policies.
Acknowledgements
The authors express their gratitude to Eiko Kojima, aformer colleague at the National Institute forEnvironmental Studies (NIES) who currently works at theJapan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), for
putting together Inglehart and Hofstede’s literature anddata in 2016. We also cordially thank all of theparticipants of the workshops. This study was supportedby the Environment Research and Technology
Development Fund (JPMEERF16S11600) of theEnvironmental Restoration and Conservation Agency ofJapan.
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Tomohiro TASAKI
Tomohiro Tasaki is head researcher of theMaterial Cycles and Social Systems Research
Section of the Material Cycles Division, and a
researcher in the Social Systems Division at the
National Institute for Environmental Studies(NIES), Japan. He leads Theme 2 of the
PECoP-Asia
research
project
for
SCP
in
Asia
(see
http://www.susdesign.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/s-16/). His academic backgroundincludes both systems engineering and policy science. His current work
focuses mainly on the following three themes: establishing a regime
inclusive of future generations and sustainability indicators, transitioning
to sustainable consumption and production patterns and sustainable
lifestyles, and evaluating and analyzing 3R (reduce, reuse andrecycle)/circular economy policies and waste treatment systems in an eraof population decline/aging. He holds a Ph.D. from the Graduate Schoolof Yokohama National University, Japan.

Michikazu KOJIMA
Michikazu Kojima is chief senior researcher at
the Institute of Developing Economies, JETRO.
He is a member of Theme 1 of the PECoP-Asia
research project for SCP in Asia. He has studied
environmental policies on waste management,
recycling, international trade of recyclable waste
and marine plastic issues in Asian countries. He was seconded to the
Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia from March 2018
to September 2020. He has contributed to various international
cooperation programs, such as the Expert Working Group ofEnvironmentally Sound Management under the Basel Convention and theTechnical Expert Committee for Green Industry Platform organized by
the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). He
has also served as a course leader on JICA training courses on recycling
policy. He holds a Master of Science in Agricultural and Resource
Economics from the University of California, Berkeley.

(Received 26 May 2021, Accepted 4 August 2021)