Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Urban Utopia Or Pipe Dream? Examining Chinese-Invested Smart City Development In Southeast Asia, Yujia He, Angela Tritto

Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce Faculty Publications

With increasing public–private partnership and international cooperation in smart city development across the Global South, Chinese firms are poised to take advantage of growing business opportunities, a situation that few studies have examined. This empirical case study of the Forest City, a Chinese-invested greenfield smart city project in Iskandar Malaysia, begins to fill that gap. This megaproject represents the coming together of overlapping economic development interests of the local authorities and the profit motivations of the Chinese investor. However, the project’s use of the ‘smart city’ discourse contrasts with the reality of limited technology adoption. Its visibility and considerable socio-economic …

The Belt And Road Initiative In Kenya, As Represented By The Standard Gauge Railway (Sgr), Its Effects And The Response Of Kenyans To It., Kiplangat Arap Yegon

Master's Theses

China has sought to strengthen ties with many countries in the Global South, and many African countries have signed Memorandum of Agreements(MoU) with China leading to trade treaties, foreign direct investments, loans and grants flowing into the African continent from China. This aggressive push by China into Africa has come under intense scrutiny with different actors, scholars and powers having mixed takes on the move. In my thesis, I look at the ways in which China’s Belt and Road Initiative has been undertaken in Africa. I use Kenya as a main case study in looking at the ways in which …

Where The Rainbow Ends: The Hidden Humanitarian Crisis For Members Of The Lgbtqia+ Community In International Business, John R. Krendel

Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current

Before pursuing an international career, members of the LGBTQIA+ community must be aware of the hardship that may be exacerbated by living and working abroad. This study addresses the trends in laws, including employment and anti-discrimination laws, that provide and restrict certain rights of members of the LGBTQIA+ community in eight countries. These nations, both progressive and discriminatory, include the United States, England, Switzerland, Germany, Taiwan, China, the Philippines and Kazakhstan. Eight LGBTQIA+ business professionals spoke on their experiences living and working in each of these countries and provided advice to members of the community wishing to pursue an international …

Building Relationships As An Expat In China: An Observation On How To Successfully Build And Manage Business Relations In China, Lauren Saunders

Supply Chain Management Undergraduate Honors Theses

Since opening itself to free trade in 1979, China’s economy has doubled in size on average every 8 years. With sustained growth across forty years, China now controls the second-largest economy, just behind the United States by an ever-thinning margin. Seeing opportunity, American businesses moved operations into China immediately. As China’s economy grew, America’s reliance on supply chains across China grew. 2020 U.S. trade value in goods with China surpassed 500 billion USD, with the majority trade value coming from imports to the United States. However, starting in 2018, trade war disputes, geopolitical disruption, and the largest pandemic of the …

Emergent Trends In The Chinese Counterfeit Pharmaceutical Supply Chain And Opportunities For Public-Private Reform, Mary Monk

Senior Theses

This research seeks to identify and analyze emerging trends in the Chinese counterfeit pharmaceutical trade, extending from the supply chain’s point of origin to domestic and overseas retail dispensary. To aid readability, Chapter 1 of this thesis opens with key conclusions and policy recommendations for various Chinese and U.S. stakeholders based on the shortcomings identified in Chapter 5. Chapter 2 begins with a review of international roadblocks to diagnosing the issue, such as lack of consensus on working definitions and cross-border discrepancies in pharmaceutical oversight regulation. This section also provides a general overview of existing factors driving demand for counterfeit …

Brave New World - The Rise Of Cities Globally: Urbanizationmeets Technological Innovation And Digitization, Rhonda S. Binda

Open Educational Resources

The trifecta of globalization, urbanization and digitization have created new opportunities and challenges across our nation, cities, boroughs and urban centers. Cities are in a unique position at the center of commerce and technology becoming hubs for innovation and practical application of emerging technology. In this rapidly changing 24/7 digitized world, city governments worldwide are leveraging innovation and technology to become more effective, efficient, transparent and to be able to better plan for and anticipate the needs of its citizens, businesses and community organizations. This class will provide the framework for how cities and communities can become smarter and more …

Failed Policy As Seen In The Solar Trade War, Emma Weirich

Economics Theses

Increasing protectionist policies in the United States have attempted to protect solar manufacturing jobs; however, they have created negative repercussions for the majority of the industry. This paper aims to analyze the 2018 30% US tariff on all imported photovoltaic cells and modules and whether or not it has been an effective policy to protect and encourage the solar industry. To do so, the paper will analyze similar tariffs enacted in 2012 and 2014 by the United States to understand how the tariffs have been impacting the solar energy’s labor market and photovoltaic module and cell price fluctuations. By researching …

Introduction: Understanding The Transformational Power Of China's Belt And Road Initiative, Yue Wah Chay, Thomas Menkhoff

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This book features several introductory readings about the “Belt and Road Initiative” (BRI), a strategic development initiative launched by the Chinese Government under the leadership of President Xi Jinping in 2013 to jointly build an economic belt along the Silk Road. Some of the key objectives of BRI, previously known as One Belt, One Road (OBOR) or Silk Road Economic Belt, include promoting infrastructure development, trade and investments in Asia, Europe and Africa. BRI is a gigantic development initiative whose key components include the creation of several interconnected economic land corridors (=belts): China–Mongolia–Russia; China–Central Asia– West Asia, China–Pakistan, the China–Indochina …

Financial Repression In China: Short-Term Growth But Long-Term Crisis, Guangdong Xu, Michael Faure

Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

Given Today's New Wave Of Protectionsim, Is Antitrust Law The Last Hope For Preserving A Free Global Economy Or Another Nail In Free Trade's Coffin?, Allison Murray

Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

China's Intellectual Property Rights Provocation: A Political Economy View, Shaomin Li

Management Faculty Publications

It is well recognized that intellectual property rights (IPR) violations are at the heart of the economic conflict with China. Little agreement, however, exists about the origin and solutions for this provocation. Broadly speaking, two prescriptions have been proposed: the natural evolutionary and the rule of law views. While both have merits and add to our understanding, they do not go far enough to address the more fundamental IPR policy issue: China has benefited from a rule of law overseas and a rule through law at home, manufacturing unfair advantage to its firms, many of which are owned and/or influenced …

China’S Belt And Road Initiative And Asean’S Maritime Cluster, Hans-Dieter Evers, Thomas Menkhoff

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper centres around China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and makes a case for further examining the possible effects of the complementary ‘Maritime Silk Road’ on Southeast Asia’s maritime clusters with reference to Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. Port development with “Chinese engagement” from Port Klang in Malaysia to Sri Lanka to Gwadar in Pakistan to some Gulf state ports to Piraeus in Greece provides a string of valuable pearls in the form of harbours from which adjoining areas can be serviced through feeder vessels or railway lines by Chinese government-linked companies. Whether China’s heavy investments in land and maritime …

International Energy Geopolitics, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

Overview of international energy geopolitical trends. Emphasizes the importance of the Persian Gulf, South China Sea, East China Sea, Russia, and the Arctic to U.S. and international economic and strategic developments. Stresses the continuing importance of fossil fuels in domestic and international energy consumption, the variety of energy sources being used by various global regions, the potential for military conflict over access to natural resources, and how emerging energy leaders will determine global energy, environmental, and international security developments.

Nassimbeni And Sartor, Sourcing In China (2006), Degan Yu, Mehmet G. Yalcin

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

No abstract provided.

Geopolitics Of Rare Earth Elements, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

Rare earth elements (REE) contain unique chemical physical properties such as lanthamum, are found in small concentrations, need extensive precise properties to separate, and are critical components of modern technologies such as laser guidance systems, personal electronics such as IPhones, satellites, and military weapons systems as varied as Virginia-class fast attack submarines, DDG-51 Aegis destroyers, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, and precision guided munitions. The U.S. has some rare earth resources, but is heavily dependent on access to them from countries as varied as Afghanistan, Bolivia, and China. Losing access to these resources would have significant adverse economic, military, and …

Economic, Cultural, And Political Influences Of The West In China (1940-Present), Liam Mccorry

HON499 projects

China has experienced extreme change politically, culturally and economically in a short amount of time. This paper examines the role of the West in the development of China as we know it today. It is broken into four sections: The Rise of Communism, China As a Planning Economy, Re-linking the Global Economy, and Modern China. Each period will be evaluated based upon the role that Western governments and companies have played in transforming China.

At The Intersection Of History, Diplomacy, And Domestic Affairs: Vietnam’S Difficult Position In The South China Sea Dispute, Michael Lanin

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Connecting the entirety of Southeast Asia to the Indian and Pacific Oceans, the South China Sea is among the world’s most vital commercial and strategic arenas. Robust shipping lanes funnel several trillion dollars in trade through the South China Sea annually; and lucrative fisheries and potentially vast hydrocarbon resources fill its waters. The South China Sea also hosts a tremendously complex geopolitical puzzle which hinges on overlapping maritime sovereignty claims made by Vietnam, China, Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Brunei. The ensuing multilateral dispute has escalated tensions in the region, leading to intense militarization, diplomatic gridlock, and trivialization of international law. …

Institutional Regime Shift In Intellectual Property Rights And Innovation Strategies Of Firms In China, Kenneth Guang-Lih Huang, Xuesong Geng, Heli Wang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This study develops a novel conceptual framework to understand the differential impact of formal institutional regime shift in intellectual property rights on the innovation and patenting strategies of Chinese and Western firms operating in China. We argue that to the extent that Chinese firms have been deeply embedded in China’s informal institutions, they are less responsive to formal institutional changes than Western firms operating in China. Using the major China patent law reform of 2001 as an exogenous event, we find results consistent with our key arguments: With the strengthening of the previously weak (utility model) patent protection, Chinese firms …

Multinational Firms And Cash Holdings: Evidence From China, Weijun Wu, Yang Yang, Sili Zhou

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

To adapt to globalization, Chinese multinational firms have more exploitation of cash. This paper shows that Chinese multinational corporations (MNCs) do not hold significantly more cash relative to domestic firms unless these multinationals heavily relay on the foreign sales. In addition, the multinationals of non-State-Owned Enterprises (Non-SOEs) exhibit the insignificant difference in cash holdings for non-multinationals. We also find that Chinese MNCs invest more but are less profitable, especially in non-SOE subsample. Overall, we conclude that the need of cash liquidity of multinational corporations in China is different from those in U.S.

The Impact Of The European Union’S Policy Towards China’S Intellectual Property Regime, Natalia Wyzycka, Reza Hasmath

Reza Hasmath

Tapping The Power Of Local Knowledge: A Local-Global Interactive Perspective, Shenxue Li, Mark Easterby-Smith, Majorie A. Lyles, Timothy Adrian Robert Clark

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Existing theories of international business and strategy do not fully explain how local knowledge disadvantage faced by foreign investors can be mitigated. We conducted an in-depth qualitative study into four MNCs to investigate the micro-processes of how they generated value from their dispersed sources of local knowledge in China. The results suggest an interactive model: that MNCs employed management processes encompassing three strategically interconnected efforts—global knowledge penetration, local-global knowledge blending, and local-global knowledge integration. The model highlights the interplay between global and local knowledge and challenges extant research that solely focuses on the transfer of either home-based or local knowledge.

Agents Of Change: The Role Of Foreign Financial Institutions In China’S Financial Transformation Since The Early 1990s, Anton Malkin

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

What role have foreign financial institutions (FFIs) played in China’s financial evolution since the early 1990s? My research finds that FFIs, which include foreign commercial and investment banks, as well as private equity (PE) firms, have played a role in China’s financial evolution in three respects. First, US financial institutions have leveraged their influence in the US government, their ties to other business groups, and mobilized connections with the Chinese elite, to help China to join the World Trade Organization in 2001. This outcome created a relatively open formal, legal environment to foreign actors—helping in the cause of liberalizing China’s …

Experimentation And Decentralization In China’S Labor Relations, Eli D. Friedman, Sarosh Kuruvilla

Sarosh Kuruvilla

In this introduction to the special issue ‘Changing work, labour and employment relations in China’, we argue that China is taking an experimental and decentralized approach to the development of new labor relations frameworks. Particular political constraints in China prevent interest aggregation among workers, as the central state sees this as posing a risk to social stability. Firms and local governments have been given a degree of space to experiment with different arrangements, as long as the categorical ban on independent unions is not violated. The consequence has been an increasingly differentiated labor relations landscape, with significant variation by region …

Global Dominance Potential Of Chinese Corporations, Javed A. Ansari

Business Review

Thispaper assesses the corporate strength of Chinese firms in the global market and addresses the question: does China's growing corporate strength indicate a rise in its global influence, or, in other words, what are the prospects for the emergence of capitalism with Chinese characteristics as the new dominant paradigm. It finds that Chinese corporations have significantly improved their global profit share in several sectors during 2007-2013. Many of these corporations are Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) that play a dominant role. Summarizing a recent case study of Chinese SOE strategy in the Zambian copper belt it provides evidence for close interaction …

Experimentation And Decentralization In China’S Labor Relations, Eli D. Friedman, Sarosh Kuruvilla

Eli D Friedman

In this introduction to the special issue ‘Changing work, labour and employment relations in China’, we argue that China is taking an experimental and decentralized approach to the development of new labor relations frameworks. Particular political constraints in China prevent interest aggregation among workers, as the central state sees this as posing a risk to social stability. Firms and local governments have been given a degree of space to experiment with different arrangements, as long as the categorical ban on independent unions is not violated. The consequence has been an increasingly differentiated labor relations landscape, with significant variation by region …

Getting Through The Hard Times Together? Chinese Workers And Unions Respond To The Economic Crisis, Eli D. Friedman

Eli D Friedman

How do post-socialist unions respond to market crisis? And what are the implications of this response for labor representation? Drawing on literature on post-socialist labor and union democracy, I argue that economic crisis affects not just labor – capital and labor – state relations, but also the relationship between union representatives and workers. Such a dynamic is highlighted by an empirical account of the divergent activities of workers and All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) unions in China following the economic crisis of 2008. While the union responded to mass unemployment with an administrative and policy-oriented strategy, workers took to …

Alienated Politics: Labour Insurgency And The Paternalistic State In China, Eli Friedman

Eli D Friedman

Is there a labour movement in China? This contribution argues that China does not have a labour movement, but that contestation between workers, state and capital is best characterized as a form of ‘alienated politics’. Widespread worker resistance is highly effective at the level of the firm be-cause of its ability to inflict losses on capital and disrupt public order. But authoritarian politics in China prevent workers from formulating political demands. Despite the spectacular repressive capacity of the state, the central government has in fact responded to highly localized resistance by passing generally pro-labour legislation over the past decade. The …

Insurgency And Institutionalization: The Polanyian Countermovement And Chinese Labor Politics, Eli D. Friedman

Eli D Friedman

Why is it that in the nearly 10 years since the Chinese central government began making symbolic and material moves towards class compromise that labor unrest has expanded greatly? In this article I reconfigure Karl Polanyi's theory of the countermovement to account for recent developments in Chinese labor politics. Specifically, I argue that countermovements must be broken down into two constituent but intertwined "moments": the insurgent moment that consists of spontaneous resistance to the market, and the institutional moment, when class compromise is established in the economic and political spheres. In China, the transition from insurgency to institutionalization has thus …

Brands Crossing Borders: Cross-Cultural Issues In Brand Localization In And From China, Molly Catherine Bowman

Honors Theses

As China continues to play a more integral role in the global economy, the ability to do business in, with, and from China is of the utmost importance. With the country's nascent transformation from a manufacturing economy to a value-added hub of innovation, Chinese companies face new challenges in communicating their brands and values abroad, and their Western counterparts face equal if not greater challenges in maintaining their market share on a global scale.

Communication will be the key to success in this dynamic environment. This paper will explore some of the unique China stories of prominent global organizations-- how …

China-Based Industrial Espionage, Joel Savary

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

On Oct 8, 2014 China has surpassed the United States as the world’s largest economy in terms of Purchasing Power Parity (PPP)” (IMF). My paper explores one of the instances of unlawful business practices that have contributed to China’s new world position. China based espionage undercuts American businesses and U.S. foreign policy directly, causing catastrophic economic implications for America, its businesses, and its allies. The U.S. government is grappling with the means and methods China uses to disseminate information stolen from U.S. businesses to support China based industries. Due to the lack of transparency in China, it has been difficult …