Abstract
This study is expected to explore the difficulties that Taiwanese companies faced with and hopes to obtain substantial assistance from the government through in-depth interviews. The interview material are expected to provide direct benefits for Taiwanese companies which project to start a business in Southeast Asia, in addition, summarized the opportunities and challenges of investing in ASEAN countries through analyzing the interview data. The results of the study show that there are six points in terms of development opportunities: (1) large potential for market growth, (2) advantages of economic integration and trade cooperation in ASEAN, (3) innate advantages of the progression of cultural exchange, (4) industrial restructuring, (5) abundant natural resources and growing infrastructure, (6) incentive measures for foreign investment in most ASEAN countries. There are seven points in the development dilemma: (1) political systems, religions, languages vary among countries, and geographically dispersed, (2) wide gap of economic development, and ordinance regulating their own governance, (3) raising wage costs, and shortage of labor supply in urban regions, (4) rapid economic development, but lack of relevant regulations and the spirit of the rule of law, (5) high financing costs in local markets compared with Taiwan, (6) suffocated progression of Free Trade Agreement(FTA) between Taiwan and ASEAN countries, (7) lack of diplomatic relation between Taiwan and ASEAN countries, (8) loss of low-cost labor advantage.