Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop a benchmarking framework for identifying different indicators and their importance in forming the strategic position of Thai bond markets in competitive economies using Strategic Position and Action Evaluation (SPACE) matrix framework. Design/methodology/approach The Delphi approach is deployed for indicator selection and the framework validation. A questionnaire survey is then used to assess the importance of different factors determining the strategic bond market development and competitiveness using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) model. Findings A group of experienced bond market experts assign different levels of importance for each key factor under a given dimension to reach consensus. The results reveal that there are 17 factors affecting the strategic development and competitiveness of the bond market. Among four aspects under the framework, the financial strength dimension is considered by the experts as the most dominant aspect to strategic bond market development, followed by competitive advantage, industry strength, and environment stability, respectively. Practical implications The benchmarking framework developed in this study is useful for guiding measurement and assessment of the strategic position of bond markets in the competing environment. Originality/value The author proposes for the first time a conceptual framework based on macro-level data to assess the strategic bond market development and competitiveness using SPACE matrix method. The study employs the Delphi’s technique and in-depth interview with bond market experts to build indicators for each dimension under the framework. Second, this paper also applies the AHP to discover the order of relative importance for the indicators identified by the experts through pairwise comparison to reach consensus, which has never been conducted before.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study the competitiveness of the stock markets in ASEAN 5, which are the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), the Singapore Exchange (SGX), Bursa Malaysia (BM), the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX), and the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE). Design/methodology/approach – This research applies Porter’s (1990) diamond model to analyze the competitiveness and the data were collected from World Economic Forum, International Institute for Management Development, the World Federation of Exchanges database, and DataStream. Findings – The results show that SGX is the most competitive exchange in ASEAN 5 region. It dominates other exchanges in every dimension. It gains its reputation for being the region’s most prominent exchange, followed by BM, SET, IDX, and the PSE, respectively. Practical implications – The results of this investigation provide rank for competitiveness of stock exchanges among ASEAN 5 and identify the way to improve its competitive position. Social implications – It is useful for public and private sectors involved in the development and policy making to promote funding and investment efficiency of the exchanges. It will be benefit to establish the well-planned development strategy and policy to build up the competitive advantage of the nations. Originality/value – Identifying and benchmarking the competitiveness of the stock markets in ASEAN economies. By using Diamond Model, the authors propose indicators to assess the competitiveness of the stock markets in ASEAN 5 countries. Assessing the competitiveness of the ASEAN stock markets in this paper will lead us to better understand about each country’s strengths and weaknesses and to promote a mutual collaboration among the region toward ASEAN Economic Community.

Abstract-This paper proposes indicators to assess the development of the stock markets in ASEAN-5 countries, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. The results show the distinctions among these equity markets. The indicators in this research separate these stock markets into two tiers. The results indicate that SGX, SET, and BM have higher level of development comparing to other stock markets in the same region. Their main strengths are in their accessibility. SGX has higher level of development in most aspects, specifically in size when measured by market capitalization. BM gains its advantage on access dimension. SET is outstanding in stability dimension. The other group is IDX and PSE. The latter equity markets need to improve in most aspects. These findings convey important messages to less-developed stock markets to establish the well-planned strategy and policy to build up the development before full participation of ASEAN Economic Community in 2015.Index Terms-ASEAN economic community, equity market, market development indicator, stock market development.