Asian Clouds Have Silver Lining For U.S. Analysts See Improved Outlook For Firms Manufacturing In Asia

General Motors is gearing up to move into Indonesia in a big way. Hewlett-Packard is talking to suppliers about using more Asian-made components in its high-tech goods. And Dell Computer is trimming the price of a popular computer.

The Asian financial turbulence, which has buffeted the currency and stock markets of far-flung economies, may offer unexpected opportunities and benefits to American consumers and companies.

“The economic crisis in Asia has a silver lining,” said Greg Mastel of the Economic Strategy Institute in Washington.

Companies making goods in Asia to sell elsewhere may see sales soar because with the region’s currencies tumbling, products manufactured there will cost less. Imported goods will be cheaper, which will help keep inflation cool. And with inflationary pressures subsiding, interest rates should remain low.

Other opportunities also may emerge from the gloom.

Thailand, Indonesia and South Korea, in exchange for multibillion-dollar rescue packages from international donors, must revamp their economies. Trade barriers are likely to be torn down, allowing outsiders into their lucrative steel, auto and financial sectors.

The crisis provides “a historic opportunity for the United States to convince troublesome Asian trading partners to change their ways,” said Mastel.

However, Asian analyst Charles Morrison of the East-West Center in Honolulu cautions that “there is a danger in looking too narrowly” at any advantages offered by the crisis. “Then, there will be kind of a backlash against us. There is a simmering view that we welcome and gloat in it … without a realization of the tremendous dangers.”

To be sure, the financial turmoil that has swept through Asia since the summer poses great risks not only for that region but for the global economy as well.

A weak Asia, including Japan, the world’s second-largest economy, could stifle economic growth in the United States, and that could lead to job losses, maybe even corporate closures.

Wall Street already has been rattled by fears Asia’s woes will hurt profits of American companies.

Still, in the new global economy of increasingly interlinked - and highly competitive - industries and financial systems, there seems to be an upside for some to any downswing by others.

Dell Computer attracted notice recently by clipping about 15 percent off the price of a popular computer, thanks to unexpectedly fast drops in prices for Asian-made components.

Hewlett-Packard, which makes personal computers, printers and medical devices, says it’s talking to suppliers about boosting the Asian-made content of its machines, from monitor tubes to memory chips.

The aim is to “pass some of those cost savings on to HP customers around the globe,” said Hewlett-Packard spokesman Brad Whitworth.

Other companies are eager to gain a larger foothold in populous Asia with the expected easing of trade and other restrictions on foreigners. Moreover, with the nations’ currencies reeling, foreigners may be able to snap up local companies at bargain prices.

General Motors wasted no time in expressing interest in Indonesia after the nation’s president, Suharto, under pressure from international donors, agreed to remove tax breaks for its national car program. The protectionist measures had kept foreign automakers at bay in the world’s fourth most populous nation.

“We now stand ready to … make further investments, including the introduction of new products, as market conditions become more favorable,” said Donald T. Sullivan, president of GM’s Asian and Pacific operations.

GM also is talking with Daewoo Motors and other South Korean companies about acquiring all or parts of their operations, said spokesman Mike Meyerand.

Citibank may take advantage of Thailand’s decision to relax foreign ownership rules. The banking giant is considering a majority stake in First Bangkok City Bank, the nation’s seventh largest, said spokesman Jack Morris.

Other corporations won’t be too far behind.

Before, “it was difficult for U.S. and European companies to go in and buy a stake in Indonesia, Thailand and Korea, and now that’s changing,” said Nariman Behravesh, chief international economist at Standard & Poor’s DRI in Lexington, Mass.

Stephen Blum, a mergers and acquisitions specialist at consulting firm KPMG Peat Marwick, expects a flurry of activity once the Asian economies begin to recover.

KPMG, he said, is “already gearing up to make it easier for our clients to get introductions” to Korean and other Asian companies that may be takeover targets.

“It’s a region we don’t want to write off,” said Morrison. “They will be back.”