Cross-cultural divergence and convergence: With special reference to the family firm in South East Asia and China

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.L. Minkes ◽  
M.J. Foster

This article examines the role of culture in the workings of firms, especially family firms, with particular reference to Hong Kong and China, and by extension to South East Asia. The article expresses the view that while culture is a very important variable in understanding and hence facilitating crosscultural business transaction, it is only one part of the explanation for the behaviour of firms and the problems which they are often observed to experience. The argument draws on a number of case studies, some real, some allegorical, drawn from the authors' experience, which illustrate the relevance of factors which transcend national and societal factors. Other secondary data are also used to support the argument. The conclusions set out are: that it is likely that, where firms are engaged in cross-cultural dealings, they will be well advised to give careful attention to what they have in common with their business collaborators, so that the expected differences may be highlighted, but seen in proper perspective; that family firms can have a real choice between ‘family oriented’ styles of management and professionally oriented management; that, as foreign direct investment into South East Asia and China grows, such considerations will become increasingly important, as will the English language as a common meeting ground.

Author(s):  
Tamara Wagner

This chapter looks at the representations of the former British Straits Settlements in English fiction from 1819 to 1950, discussing both British literary works that are located in South East Asia and English-language novels from Singapore and Malaysia. Although over the centuries, Europeans of various nationalities had located, intermarried, and established unique cultures throughout the region, writing in the English language at first remained confined to travel accounts, histories, and some largely anecdotal fiction, mostly by civil servants. English East India Company employees wrote about the region, often weaving anecdotal sketches into their historical, geographical, and cultural descriptions. Civil servant Hugh Clifford and Joseph Conrad are the two most prominent writers of fiction set in the British Straits Settlements during the nineteenth century; they also epitomize two opposing camps in representing the region.


Author(s):  
Hervé Petetin ◽  
Bastien Sauvage ◽  
Mark Parrington ◽  
Hannah Clark ◽  
Alain Fontaine ◽  
...  

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> This study investigates the role of biomass burning and long-range transport in the anomalies of carbon monoxide (CO) regularly observed along the tropospheric vertical profiles measured in the framework of IAGOS. Considering the high interannual variability of biomass burning emissions and the episodic nature of pollution long-range transport, one strength of this study is the amount of data taken into account, namely 30,000 vertical profiles at 9 clusters of airports in Europe, North America, Asia, India and southern Africa over the period 2002&amp;ndash;2017. </p> <p> As a preliminary, a brief overview of the spatio-temporal variability, latitudinal distribution, interannual variability and trends of biomass burning CO emissions from 14 regions is provided. The distribution of CO mixing ratios at different levels of the troposphere is also provided based on the entire IAGOS database (125 million CO observations). </p> <p> This study focuses on the free troposphere (altitudes above 2<span class="thinspace"></span>km) where the long-range transport of pollution is favoured. Anomalies at a given airport cluster are here defined as departures from the local seasonally-averaged climatological vertical profile. The intensity of these anomalies varies significantly depending on the airport, with maximum (minimum) CO anomalies of 110&amp;ndash;150 (48)<span class="thinspace"></span>ppbv in Asia (Europe). Looking at the seasonal variation of the frequency of occurrence, the 25<span class="thinspace"></span>% strongest CO anomalies appears reasonably well distributed along the year, in contrast to the 5<span class="thinspace"></span>% or 1<span class="thinspace"></span>% strongest anomalies that exhibit a strong seasonality with for instance more frequent anomalies during summertime in northern United-States, during winter/spring in Japan, during spring in South-east China, during the non-monsoon seasons in south-east Asia and south India, and during summer/fall at Windhoek, Namibia. Depending on the location, these strong anomalies are observed in different parts of the free troposphere. </p> <p> In order to investigate the role of biomass burning emissions in these anomalies, we used the SOFT-IO v1.0 IAGOS added-value products that consist of FLEXPART 20-days backward simulations along all IAGOS aircraft trajectories, coupled with anthropogenic (MACCity) and biomass burning (GFAS) CO emission inventories and vertical injections. SOFT-IO estimates the contribution (in ppbv) of the recent (less than 20 days) primary worldwide CO emissions, tagged per source region. Biomass burning emissions are found to play an important role in the strongest CO anomalies observed at most airport clusters. The regional tags indicate a large contribution from boreal regions at airport clusters in Europe and North America during summer season. In both Japan and south India, the anthropogenic emissions dominate all along the year, except for the strongest summertime anomalies observed in Japan that are due to Siberian fires. The strongest CO anomalies at airport clusters located in south-east Asia are induced by fires burning during spring in south-east Asia and during fall in equatorial Asia. In southern Africa, the Windhoek airport was mainly impacted by fires in southern hemisphere Africa and South America. </p> <p> To our knowledge, no other studies have used such a large dataset of in situ vertical profiles for deriving a climatology of the impact of biomass burning versus anthropogenic emissions on the strongest CO anomalies observed in the troposphere, in combination with information on the source regions. This study therefore provides both qualitative and quantitative information for interpreting the highly variable CO vertical distribution in several regions of interest.</p>


Author(s):  
E. Kanaev ◽  
A. Kurilko

The 1997–1998 financial crisis brought the issue of necessity to implement deep structural reforms to the agenda in South-East Asia countries. Domestic consumption encouragement, increase of cooperation between different countries' real sectors of economy and strengthening the role of the ASEAN countries in both anti-crisis arrangements and arriving at consensus on interaction with communication partners became focus areas. The detailed specification of measures assumed by particular countries of the region to mitigate crisis effects, stabilize economy and formulate a strategy of economic growth is presented in the article.


2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (3) ◽  
pp. 495-505
Author(s):  
Elise van Nederveen Meerkerk

AbstractWith his latest book, The Making of a Periphery, Ulbe Bosma makes a successful attempt to “decompress history”. Apart from praising his work, I want to offer two critical comments and a suggestion for global comparison. First, I argue that the role of colonialism/imperialism is somewhat downplayed in the book. Second, although I am impressed by the vast body of literature cited, I believe that at several instances the book might have benefited from its arguments being underpinned by more solid empirical quantitative data. Finally, I raise the question how unique the “plantation economies” of Island South East Asia actually were, which also implies a suggestion for further research along the lines of Bosma's impressive monograph.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Duc Phan ◽  
Prem Yapa ◽  
Ha Thanh Nguyen

PurposeThis paper compares and contrasts graduate accountant skills and employers' expectations in South East Asia (SEA).Design/methodology/approachWe analyse the employers' expectation performance gap (EPG) in three countries – Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam – to provide a reflection on current professional accounting development in SEA. The study relies on data derived from multiple sources including job advertisements, CIMA “ready for business” project, Glassdoor website and other secondary data sources.FindingsThe findings indicate that over recent decades, the changing nature of the economy, state, and interest of the business sector (including the “Big Four”) have led to the wider adoption of professional accountancy qualifications. The findings suggest that graduates should be equipped with active learning activities such as project-based and work-integrated training to fill the expectation gaps between local university educators and employers.Research limitations/implicationsDrawing upon a literature review of professional accounting education, we use the results of the documentations and secondary analysis to describe the performance expectation gap of accounting education in SEA.Originality/valueThe study indicates a large discrepancy between the teachings in accounting education and employer requirements in Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia and propose different methods to fill this employability gap in South East Asia.


Aquaculture ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 495 ◽  
pp. 912-918 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mardiana E. Fachry ◽  
Ketut Sugama ◽  
Michael A. Rimmer

Author(s):  
Bruce Lawrence

Assessing the multiple ways the temporal and spatial boundaries of the Qur’an have been expanded through the interaction with culture, this chapter sets out to probe the reciprocal but also ambiguous relationship between the Qur’an and popular culture. It attempts to address the central question of how does a bound book in period-specific Arabic become a universal source of mercy in multiple dialects of Arabic but also in multiple non-Arabic languages, as also for oral cultures, semi-literate populations, and non-elite groups, all of whom draw upon and relate to its divine aura? Issues of language access/privilege, literacy in multiple registers, and the post-Enlightenment, colonial triad of reason/belief/magic—all have to be examined with attention to the central role of the Qur’an as both vehicle and transformer of popular culture, for Muslims and non-Muslims, from West Africa to South-East Asia.


Subject Private philanthropy. Significance In South-east Asia, as elsewhere, there is growing pressure on civil society, from non-profit organisations to corporations, to help address the economic distress and social dislocation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Impacts Despite government and philanthropic efforts, South-east Asia is expected to experience a severe recession. A rise in philanthropy by religious organisations will fuel religious polarisation and the risk of violence post-crisis. Indonesia’s non-profit sector will likely experience a particularly sharp funding dip as foreign donations fall.


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