The study of regional competitiveness in Batam, Bintan and Karimun

Abstract

National and regional competitiveness is one of the requirements to achieve a sustainable growth. This article examines the Indonesian competitiveness especially in Batam, Bintan and Karimun (BBK) islands by looking at the determining factors of competitiveness and its performances. We choose BBK because the government treats them as a special economic zone, where practices were adopted similar to those in 'free trade zones' and 'export processing zones' in foreign countries. On top of that, BBK also categorised as the oldest and reported as the most contributed FTZ area in Indonesia. This research applies both quantitative and qualitative approach. The result shows that BBK proximity to Singapore becomes the most influencing variable of region competitiveness. The degree of importance is followed by human resources and institutional factors.