Associate Professor Pierre van der Eng

RSM

Research School of Management

Position

Associate Professor and Reader

pierre.vandereng@anu.edu.au

Phone number

+61 2 612 55438

Office

Room 1096, LF Crisp Bld (26)

Research areas

Business history
International business & strategy
Economic history
Development economics

Biography

Pierre van der Eng is Associate Professor and Reader in International Business and Business History. In 2021 The Australian Research Magazine nominated him Australia's research field leader in economic history. His areas of research specialisation include economic and business history, international business and development economics. He has published on a wide variety of topics, including various aspects of economic and business development in Indonesia, economic and business history of Australia, European economic integration and EU-Australia business relations. Pierre’s research has been funded by the Australian Research Council’s Discovery and Linkage Project schemes and by organisations including the Shibusawa Foundation (Tokyo). He has written widely in his areas of specialty, with his works published in the top journals in his field. Pierre has conducted consultancies for the Australian Agency for International Development, AusAID.

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Research publications

Selected publications in recent years

Business history

(2024) Attracting manufacturing firms to South Australia: The case of Philips in Hendon, 1946-1980, Asia-Pacific Economic History Review (in press) (with Martin Shanahan).
(2024) Antecedents of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Indonesia, in Janet Hunter et al. (eds.) Ethics, Business and Capitalism: Thailand and Indonesia in An Asian Perspective. (Singapore: NUS Press) 187-209.
(2022) Securities trading in an emerging market: Indonesia, Financial History Review, 29(2) 219-246.
(2022) Chinese entrepreneurship in Indonesia: A business demography approach, Business History, 64(4) 682-703. Database is here.
(2021) ‘Send them a shipload of rice’: Australia’s food aid to Indonesia, Australian Journal of Politics & History, 67(1) 50-66.
(2020) The role of the Engineer-in-Chief in the introduction of foreign hydraulic dredging technology and river conservancy into China, Frontiers of History in China, 15(2) 234-267 (with Yi Wei and Long Denggao).
(2019) 从长期视角观察印度尼西亚的华商企业规模 [A long-term perspective on the scale of Chinese business in Indonesia] in Wang, Huiyao and Kang, Rongping (eds.) 世界华商发展报告2019 [Overseas Chinese business development report 2019]. (Beijing: Social Sciences Academic Press) 100-115 (with Hao Shaoli).
(2018) Les voies multiples du developpement en Asie [The multiple tracks of development in Asia], Entreprises et Histoire, 90(1) 1-24 (with Michel-Pierre Chélini et al.).
(2018) Turning adversity into opportunity: Philips in Australia, Enterprise & Society, 19(1) 179-207.
(2017) European integration and Australian manufacturing industry: The case of Philips Electronics, Australian Economic History Review, 57(2) 217-238.
(2017) Managing political imperatives in war time: Strategic responses of Philips in Australia, Business History, 59(5) 645-666.
(2015) International food aid to Indonesia in Touwen, Jeroen and Schikker, Alicia (eds.) Promises and Predicaments: Trade and Entrepreneurship in Indonesia. (Singapore: NUS Press) 244-258.
(2013) Why didn't colonial Indonesia have a competitive textile industry? Modern Asian Studies, 47: 1019-1054.
(2010) Networks and business development: Convict businesspeople in Australia (with Leanne Johns), Business History, 52: 812-33.

International business

(2024) Business in Indonesia since Reformasi: New opportunities for CSR and ethical capitalism, in Janet Hunter et al. (eds.) Ethics, Business and Capitalism: Thailand and Indonesia in An Asian Perspective. (Singapore: NUS Press) 253-276.
(2023) Taking the long view of the multinational (with André Sammartino, David Merrett and Simon Ville), Multinational Business Review, 31(1) 1-18.
(2017) Australia and the EU: Partners in the New Trade Agenda (with Don Kenyon) in Elijah, Annmarie et al. (eds.) Australia, the European Union and the New Trade Agenda (Canberra: ANU Press) 257-276.
(2015) Do Japanese MNCs use expatriates to contain country risk in Asian host countries? (with Marion Dovis and Jean-Pascal Bassino), Asia Pacific Business Review, 21(3) 383–402.
(2014) Australia-Latin America trade and business relations (with Don Kenyon), in Carr, Barry and Minns, John (eds.) Australia and Latin America: Challenges and Opportunities in the New Millennium. (Canberra: ANUPress) 111-140.
(2014) Australia and Latin America: Shared experiences and prospects for a new partnership (with Don Kenyon), in Carr, Barry and Minns, John (eds.) Australia and Latin America: Challenges and Opportunities in the New Millennium. (Canberra: ANUPress) 141-166.
(2014) Defining the relationship between Australia and the European Union: Is the framework treaty enough? (with Don Kenyon). Australian Journal of International Affairs, 68: 225-242.
(2012) Multilateral, plurilateral and bilateral approaches to fostering business relations between Latin America and Australia (with Don Kenyon), Asian Journal of Latin American Studies, 25: 1-34.

Economic history

(2024) Mortality from the 1944-1945 famine in Java, Indonesia, Asia-Pacific Economic History Review, 64(2) 192-212.
(2020) The biological standard of living in China during the 20th century, The China Quarterly, 241: 191-213 (with Kitae Sohn).
(2020) Asia's 'little divergence' in the 20th century: Evidence from PPP-based direct estimates of GDP per capita, Economic History Review, 73(1) 185-208 (with Jean-Pascal Bassino).
(2020) Peraturan dan pengendalian:Menjelaskan penurunan produksi pangan di Jawa 1940-1946 dan kelaparan 1944-1945 [Regulation and control: Analysis of the decline in food production in Java 1940-1946 and the 1944-1945 famine], Lembaran Sejarah, 16(4) 3-24.
(2019) The biological standard of living in Indonesia during the 20th century, Economics & Human Biology, 34(3) 216-224 (with Kitae Sohn).
(2016) After 200 years, why is Indonesia's land cadastre still incomplete? in McCarthy, John and Robinson, Kathy (eds.) Land and Development in Indonesia. (Singapore; ISEAS) 227-244.
(2015) Mixed blessings: Mining in Indonesia's economy, in M. Badia-Miro, V. Pinilla and H. Willebald (eds.) Natural Resources and Economic Growth. (London: Routledge) 226-247.
(2013) The institutionalisation of macro-economic measurement in Indonesia, Masyarakat Indonesia, 39: 551-578.
(2013) Government promotion of labour-intensive industrialisation in Indonesia, in G. Austin and K. Suguhara (eds.) Labour-Intensive Industrialisation in Global History. (London: Routledge) 176-200.
(2013) Biological standard of living and body height in Indonesia (with Mojgan Stegl and Jörg Baten), Journal of Bioeconomics, 15: 103-122.
(2010) Sources of long-term economic growth in Indonesia, Explorations in Economic History, 47: 294-309.
(2010) Market responses to climate change: Rice in Java, Australian Economic History Review, 50: 62-79.

Development economics

(2025) Pakistan's economy: Fallout of 2022 economic distress magnified the need for structural reforms, Asian Economic Policy Review, 20(1) (in press).
(2018) Fertility and the health of children in Indonesia (with Tim Hatton, Robert Sparrow, Daniel Suryadarma), Economics & Human Biology, 28(2) 67-78.
(2013) Total factor productivity and economic growth in Indonesia, in D.S. Prasada Rao and B. van Ark (eds.) World Economic Performance: Past, Present and Future. (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar) 193-226.
(2011) Assessing economic growth and standards of living in Asia, in A.J.H. Latham and H. Kawakatsu (eds.) The Evolving Structure of The East Asian Economic System. (London: Routledge) 134-145.
(2010) Top incomes in Indonesia (with Andrew Leigh), in A.B. Atkinson and T. Piketty (eds.) Top Incomes: A Global Perspective.(Oxford UP) 171-219.
(2009) Capital formation and capital stock in Indonesia, Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, 45: 345-71.

Other

(2024) Missing millions: Java's 1944-45 famine in Indonesia's historiography, Modern Asian Studies, 58(2) 563-583.
(2019) 20世纪40年代以来澳大利亚与印度尼西亚基于高校的合作研究 [Australia-Indonesia university-based cooperation since the 1940s] in Hong Wei and Xiu Jusong (eds.) 中国与印度尼西亚人文交流发展报告 [China-Indonesia people-to-people exchange development]. (Beijing: Social Sciences Academic Press) 252-285.
(2017) オーストラリアとアジア新国際秩序の形成 [Australia’s role in Asia’s new international order], in Watanabe, Shoichi et al. (eds.) 冷戦変容期の国際開発援助とアジア [International development assistance and Asia during the Cold War]. (Kyoto: Minelver Shobō) 207-241.

Some recent working papers

(2024) The decline of child stunting in 122 Countries: A systematic review of child growth studies since the nineteenth century (with Eric Schneider et al.) SSRN Paper. Rochester NY: Social Science Research Network.
(2023) Corporate social responsibility in Indonesia: Historical experiences, 1900s-1950s. ANU Centre for Economic History Discussion Paper No.2023-06. Canberra: ANU College of Business and Economics.
(2023) Mortality from the influenza pandemic of 1918-19 in Indonesia. Working Papers in Trade and Development No.2023/06. Canberra: Arndt-Corden Department of Economics, ANU Crawford School of Public Policy.
(2022) Securities Trading in an Emerging Market: Indonesia, 1890s-1950s. ANU Centre for Economic History Discussion Paper No.2022-06. Canberra: ANU College of Business and Economics.
(2021) The First East Asian Economic Miracle: Wages, Living Standards and Foundations of Modern Economic Growth in Southeast Asia (with Jean-Pascal Bassino). Centre for Economic History Discussion Paper No.2021-05. Canberra: ANU College of Business and Economics.
(2019) Long-term Trends in Gross Domestic Expenditure in Indonesia. Centre for Economic Institutions Working Paper No.2018-19. Tokyo: Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
(2019) Indonesia-Australia University-Based Cooperation since the 1940s. MPRA Paper No.122621.
(2018) Japan and the Asian Divergence: Market integration, climate anomalies and famines (with Jean-Pascal Bassino). Centre for Economic Institutions Working Paper No.2018-18. Tokyo: Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
(2017) Dealing with liability of foreignness: The case of Philips in Australia. Centre for Economic History Discussion Paper No.2017-06. Canberra: ANU College of Business and Economics.
(2014) Mining and Indonesia's economy: Institutions and value adding. PREMCED Discussion Paper No.57. Tokyo: Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
(2014) The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership: Implications for Australia and the Asia-Pacific. (with Don Kenyon and others) ANU Centre for European Studies Briefing Paper No.5/4.
(2013) Asia’s role in the global economy in historical perspective (with Angus Maddison) ANU Centre for Economic History Discussion Paper No.2013-11. Canberra: ANU College of Business and Economics.

Some recent conference and seminar presentations

(2023) Missing millions: The victims of Java's 1944-45 famine, Indonesia Study Group seminar, ANU Crawford School of Public Policy, 22 November 2023.
(2023) Banking and finance in colonial Indonesia: Institutions, long-term capital, Seminar Nasional Sejarah Bank Indonesia, Bank Indonesia Institute, Jakarta, 26 July 2023.
(2022) Jakarta’s first stock exchange: Operations and significance, Indonesia Study Group seminar, ANU Crawford School of Public Policy, 16 March 2022.
(2021) Did public policy shape the patterns of inward foreign direct investment in Australia? World Congress of Business History, Nagoya (Japan), 9-11 September 2021 (with Simon Ville and Claire Wright).
(2020) Output effects of infrastructure investment and use in Indonesia. Arndt-Corden Department of Economics seminar, ANU Crawford School of Public Policy, 2 June 2020 (with Denny Irawan).
(2019) Antecedents of corporate social responsibility in Indonesia, Indonesia Study Group seminar, ANU Crawford School of Public Policy, 6 November 2019.
(2019) Real effective exchange rate volatility and long-term economic growth in Indonesia, Chen Daisun Lecture, Tsinghua University, Beijing (China), 11 June 2019.
(2018) Active land markets despite ‘fuzzy’ property rights in Indonesia, Asian Historical Economics Conference, University of Hong Kong, 21-22 September 2018 (with Yutaka Arimoto).
(2018) A case of liability of foreignness, or something else? Continental European MNEs in Australia, World Economic History Congress, Boston (USA), 29 July - 3 August 2018.
(2018) Exchange rate systems, foreign trade and economic growth in Indonesia, World Economic History Congress, Boston (USA), 29 July - 3 August 2018.
(2018) The expansion of Chinese FDI and Chinese firms in Indonesia, Forum Kajian Pembangunan, Institute for Economic and Social Research, University of Indonesia, Jakarta (Indonesia), 8 May 2018.
(2018) Complementarity and contention in the China-Indonesia trade and investment relations. Research School for Southeast Asian Studies, Xiamen University (China), 12 April 2018.
(2017) Trade imbalances between emerging economies, do they matter? The case of China and Indonesia, China Society of Emerging Economies Conference, Guangzhou (China), 3-5 November 2017.
(2017) Business demography of overseas Chinese firms in Indonesia, International Conference on Chinese-Indonesian Studies, University of Indonesia, Jakarta (Indonesia), 22-24 August 2017.
(2017) Change in the standard of living in China: Evidence from the age at menarche (with Kitae Sohn). International Symposium on Quantitative History, Kaifeng (China), 16-17 July 2017.
(2017) Divergence and convergence in Asia: An endogenous growth approach (with Jean-Pascal Bassino). NYUAD-CEPR Workshop on Economic Divergence: Institutions, Geography and Technology, New York University Abu Dhabi, 12-14 March 2017.
(2016) CSR by foreign firms in Indonesia. Academy of International Business Southeast Asia Chapter conference, Guangzhou (China), 2-4 December 2016.
(2016) China-Indonesia economic relations, China Society of Emerging Economies conference, Guangzhou (China), 4-6 November 2016.
(2016) Foreign investment and corporate social responsibility in Indonesia. Gappon Capitalism and Emerging Markets in Southeast Asia symposium, Chulalongkorn Business School, Bangkok (Thailand), 22-23 September 2016.
(2016) When did Indonesia de-industrialise? Long-term trends in industrialisation. Asian Historical Economics Conference, Seoul National University (South Korea), 2-3 September 2016.
(2016) How did Indonesia's first national business association and its members perceive corporate social responsibility? World Congress on Business History, University of Bergen (Norway), 25-27 August 2016.
(2016) Perpetual Dutch Disease: Indonesia's long-term path of industralisation, Center for Chinese Entrepreneurship, Tsinghua University, Beijing (China), 11 April 2016.

More complete listings of my publications can be found here:

Research grants and awards

Selected Research Grants (information is drawn from ANU ARIES):

2022-2025 Indonesia Project Phase V (Secondary Investigator)
2020-2022 ARC Discovery Project A History of Foreign Multinational Enterprises in Australia from Federation (Primary Investigator), with Simon Ville (University of Wollongong), David Merrett and André Sammartino (University of Melbourne).
2016-2020 Indonesia Project Phase IV (Secondary Investigator)
2009-2013 ARC Linkage Project Australia and the European Union: A study of a changing trade and business relationship (Primary Investigator) with Don Kenyon (ANU) and others.

Research engagement and outreach

Contributions to public discussion

(2024) Dutch company Van Leer produced packaging materials in Australia’s capital cities. Dutch Australian Cultural Centre, Sydney (17 April 2024).
(2024) Foreign debt will be Pakistan’s economic touchstone in 2024. East Asia Forum (5 March 2024).
(2024) Heineken beer has been on tap in Australia since 1884. Dutch Australian Cultural Centre, Sydney (9 February 2024).
(2024) Philips factory in Newcastle produced almost all Australia’s electric lamps for 70 years. Dutch Australian Cultural Centre, Sydney (24 January 2024).
(2023) More than 150 Dutch companies established subsidiary operations in Australia. Dutch Australian Cultural Centre, Sydney (13 December 2023).
(2022) Philips Electronics Pty Ltd was the largest company from The Netherlands in Australia, Dutch-Australian Cultural Centre (12 November 2022).
(2021) Consuls, envoys and ambassadors of the Netherlands in Australia since 1853. Dutch Australian Cultural Centre, Sydney (10 December 2021).
(2020) Pelajaran dari pandemi flu Spanyol 1918-19 di Indonesia untuk menghadapi COVID-19 [Lessons from the 1918-19 Spanish flu pandemic in Indonesia in relation to dealing with COVID-19], The Conversation (24 April 2020).
(2020) How will the coronavirus affect the Australian economy? Lessons from the Spanish flu, ANU College of Business and Economics News (2 April 2020).
(2020) Will Indonesia’s stimulus packages spur its COVID-19 affected economy? East Asia Forum (31 March 2020).
(2020) The role of public policy in Indonesia’s COVID-19 response, East Asia Forum (30 March 2020).
(2019) Asia’s ‘little divergence’ in the 20th century, The Long Run - EHS Blog (16 August 2019).
(2019) Underage marriage in Indonesia may worsen, The Jakarta Post (29 March 2019).
(2019) Academic interest in Indonesia’s economy accelerates in China, Asian Currents (11 February 2019).
(2018) Mempertanyakan jumlah perusahaan China di Indonesia [Questions about the number of Chinese companies in Indonesia], CNBC Indonesia (12 December 2018).
(2018) Chinese investors in Indonesia seem to be tightening their belts, East Asia Forum (28 September 2018).
(2018) The new trade agenda, mutual recognition and Brexit (with Don Kenyon), APEC Currents (June 2018).
(2018) China harus lebih terbuka terkait investasinya di Indonesia [China should be more open about its investment in Indonesia], ABC News (9 May 2018).
(2018) Limiting foreign aid, but increasing reliance on China, The Jakarta Post (23 January 2018).
(2017) Why does Indonesia seem to prefer foreign aid from China?, East Asia Forum (2 December 2017).
(2017) Cina, Indonesia, dan bantuan luar negeri [China, Indonesia and foreign aid], Republika (15 November 2017).
(2017) New trade agenda to shape Australia-EU FTA (with Don Kenyon), Australian Outlook (13 November 2017).
(2017) Jokowi between BRICS and a hard place, The Jakarta Post and The Straits Times (4 September 2017), The Nation (Thailand, 5 September 2017).
(2017) Chinese FDI lower than critics fear or governments want, The Financial Times (15 June 2017).
(2017) Mixed messages of Chinese investment in Indonesia (with Tao Kong), East Asia Forum (18 May 2017), Asia Times (23 May 2017), and 令人费解的中国对印尼投资信息 ChinaGoAbroad (18 May 2017).
(2017) Seberapa banyak sih investasi Cina di Indonesia sebenarn ya? [Actually, how much Chinese investment in Indonesia?] (with Tao Kong), Republika (3 April 2017).
(2016) Ragam mata uang Indonesia selepas proklamasi kemerdekaan [A variety of currencies in Indonesia after independence], Republika (22 August 2016).
(2016) Indonesia's unprecendented productivity growth, The Jakarta Post (24 June 2016).
(2014) Lessons from the corporate archive (with Mark Wilson and John Tang), Margin (Winter 2014).
(2014) Australia and the EU: Beyond the Framework Treaty (with Don Kenyon), Australian Outlook (27 March 2014).
(2013) Australia needs new Eurovision (with Don Kenyon), Australian Policy Online (27 November 2013).
(2012) What is special about the EU's interest in FTAs in Asia? (with Don Kenyon), EastAsiaForum (20 December 2012).

Recent visiting academic positions

2016-2019 Data Center of Management Science, Institute of Social Science Survey, Peking University, Beijing, China
2016-2019 Center for Chinese Entrepreneur Studies, Institute of Economics, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
2016 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China
2016 Hitotsubashi Institute for Advanced Study, Tokyo, Japan
2013-2018 Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo, Japan
2013 Lyon Insititute of East Asian Studies, University of Lyon, France
2012 National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, Tokyo, Japan
2010 School of Business and Economics, Maastricht University, The Netherlands
2010 Center for International Research on the Japanese Economy, Graduate School of Economics, University of Tokyo, Japan

Current academic associations

Research associate, ANU Centre for Economic History
Academic staff member, ANU Indonesia Project
Advisory board member, ANU Indonesia Institute
Research associate, ANU Centre for European Studies
Academic staff member, ANU Australian Centre on China in the World
Affiliated expert, Groningen Growth and Development Centre
Honorary fellow, Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences (KNAW)

Some past professional responsibilities

2012-2015 Editor, Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies (ISSN 0007-4918)
2012-2015 Senior Research Fellow, ANU Crawford School of Public Policy
2011-2012 Deputy Director, ANU Centre for European Studies
2009-2014 Vice President, Australia and New Zealand International Business Academy (ANZIBA)
2000-2006 Editor, Australian Economic History Review (ISSN 1467-8446)
1997-2016 Executive member and Treasurer, Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand (EHSANZ)

Current professional responsibilities

Australian Research Council Detailed Assessor
Editor of SeaDelt, SouthEast Asian DEvelopment in the Long Term data site, with Jean-Pascal Bassino (ENS de Lyon) and others

Current ANU administrative responsibilities

Member ANU Appeals Panel
ANU Research Integrity Advisor
Member ANU European Reference Group
Convenor of the Bachelor of International Business degree

Teaching

Research supervision:

I am an ANU-registered Higher Degree Research supervisor.

I supervised the research projects of 26 students who used quantitative and qualitative research methodologies to examine a variety of topics in international business and business history, including:

internationalisation of Australian small- and medium enterprises
subcontracting and development of small and medium enterprises in Indonesia
internationalisation of the operations of enterprises in Indonesia
psychological contract breach due to outsourcing in Australia’s IT industry
activity, organisation and impact of national export credit agencies
impact of EU trade liberalisation on textile and apparel industries in Turkey
use of electronic information technology in Australian companies, 1960s-1980s
outward FDI by Australian firms in the 1920s
trade relations between colonial Australia and imperial China 1860s-1880s
entrepreneurs and business networks in 1820s colonial Sydney
use of banknotes and economic change in prewar China
soybean production and marketing in Indonesia 1920s-1970s

Teaching, semester 1, 2025:

on leave

RSM