Asian Studies Commons^™

Connecting India, Sam Pitroda

Asian Management Insights

Great inventions will not be born in the absence of the will and intent to embrace change and solve wideranging societal problems.

Getting Town Councils To Raise Their Game, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Given that about 80 per cent of Singaporeans live in public housing estates, town councils are an integral part of Singapore life. Last month, the Ministry of National Development (MND) initiated a public consultation on the proposed amendments to the Town Councils Act (TCA), which was first enacted in 1988 to empower elected Members of Parliament and unelected town councillors to run public housing estates

Grab Taxi: Navigating New Frontiers, Mei Lin, Christopher Dula

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In mid-2016, Anthony Tan, the CEO of Grab, an on-demand transportation-app company serving Southeast Asia, was locked in a high stakes struggle to win the hearts and minds of drivers, passengers and regulators alike. Valued at an estimated US$1.5 billion, Grab (known among consumers as ‘GrabTaxi’) had become one of Asia’s most successful start-ups.

’A Beautiful Bridge’: Chinese Indonesian Associations, Social Capital And Strategic Identification In A New Era Of China Indonesia Relations, Charlotte Setijadi

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In Indonesia, Chinese voluntary associations took on a new level of importance after the fall of Suharto’s New Order regime in 1998 that ushered in a revival of Chinese identity politics. At the same time, Sino-Indonesian relations are blossoming, and the rise of China as a global power means that Indonesia can only benefit from stronger ties with China in the future. In this new atmosphere of cooperation, I argue that Chinese Indonesian individuals and voluntary organizations play a crucial function as trade and cultural intermediaries. Drawing on both empirical and qualitative fieldwork data, in this paper, I examine how …

Can Asians Be Creative?, Chua, Roy Y. J., Jerry Zremski

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

A crotchety American named Henry Ford invented a modern, fast and efficient way to manufacture automobiles and a Japanese man named Eiji Toyoda refined and perfected it. A series of innovators across the western world developed the television - and the tech specialists at Sony, Toshiba and a host of other Asian companies found ways to make TVs better, cheaper, faster. And an idiosyncratic Californian named Steve Jobs invented a company that made a smart phone for the masses - and then outsourced the manufacturing to China. If you detect a pattern here, you are not alone. Asia may be …

Rebalancing China, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

China’s shift towards a consumption-led economy presents threats and opportunities for Asian economies

Leader Of The Pack: What Makes The Alibaba Group So Successful, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

The 'people's platform' sells more than eBay and Amazon combined

Navigating The Maze: Making Sense Of Equitable Compensation And Account Of Profits For Breach Of Fiduciary Duty, Man Yip, Yihan Goh

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This article examines the main monetary remedies for breach of fiduciary duty under Singapore law: equitable compensation and account of profits. Both areas of law are in need of clarification, though for different reasons. The law on the account of profits appears stable and uncontroversial. There has not been an opportunity for the courts to consider more fully the proper limitations on the scope of account. However, the authorities that are on point suggest that the duty to account for profits follows almost as a matter of course from breach. In particular, causation between profits and breach is seemingly irrelevant …

Conceptual Representation Changes In Indonesian-English Bilinguals, Andree Hartanto, Lidia Suarez

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This study investigated conceptual representations changes in bilinguals. Participants were Indonesian-English bilinguals (dominant in Indonesian, with different levels of English proficiency) and a control group composed of English-dominant bilinguals. All completed a gender decision task, in which participants decided whether English words referred to a male or female person or animal. In order to explore conceptual representations, we divided the words into gender-specific and gender-ambiguous words. Gender-specific words were words in which conceptual representations contained gender as a defining feature, in both English and Indonesian (e.g., uncle). In contrast, gender-ambiguous words were words in which gender was a defining feature …

Housing Policies In Singapore, Phang Sock Yong, Matthias Helble

Research Collection School of Economics

Singapore has developed a unique housing system, with three-quarters of its housing stock built by the Housing & Development Board (HDB) and homeownership financed through Central Provident Fund (CPF) savings. As a result, the country’s homeownership rate of 90% is one of the highest among market economies. At different stages of its economic development, the Government of Singapore was faced with a different set of housing problems. An integrated land–housing supply and financing framework was established in the 1960s to solve the severe housing shortage. By the 1990s, the challenge was that of renewing aging estates and creating a market …

Catalyst Asia Issue 04, Institute For Societal Leadership

Catalyst Asia

STORIES FROM THE GROUND

Toiling Away on Land Issues

Leading the Blind

A Leading Secret

The Road Less Travelled

Migrant Rights' Fighter

Power of Youth

A Ground-up Initiative Picking Up The Pieces A Friend to Farmers Four Dollars, Well Spent Bottom-Up Revolution

IN THE HOT SEAT

The Heart of an Uncommon Leader

Help For The Exploited

When Social Revolutions Begin with #Hashtags

Lending His Magical Touch

Fighting Malaria

PERSPECTIVES FROM THE TOP

Steward Leadership

Understanding Societal Leadership

Reflections from A Work Stint with a Difference

Smu Enhances Curriculum And Expands Offering To Prepare Undergraduates For The Digital Age, Singapore Management University

SMU Press Releases

Demand for infocomm professionals in Singapore is outpacing supply with 30,000 new infocomm jobs expected by 2020. The Infocomm Media 2025 masterplan has identified salient trends that are significant for the next decade, these include Big Data & Analytics, Internet of Things and Cybersecurity. The masterplan also highlighted future key infocomm job areas: Software Development, Cybersecurity, Data Analytics, and Network Infrastructure. In response to these industry trends and demand, SMU has strengthened its undergraduate curriculum in three schools to contribute to the 'future-proofing' of Singapore. The School of Information Systems (SIS) has revised its undergraduate curriculum in response to changes …

New Skills At Work: Managing Skills Challenges In Asean-5, Kim Song Tan, James T. H. Tang

Research Collection School Of Economics

The dynamic economies of Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines (ASEAN-5) boasts a growth rate of close to 5% a year despite the sluggish global economy. However, whether ASEAN-5 can grow to be significant players in the global economy will depend critically on their abilities to train workers with relevant job skills required by growth-driving industries. This challenge requires governments and employers to work together and develop coherent policies and targeted incentive structures for workers to acquire general and job-specific skills. The report Managing Skills Challenges in ASEAN-5 provides insights and recommendations on how the ASEAN-5 countries can respond …

Mimicking Religion As Coping Strategy: The Emergence Of The Bell-Curve God In Singapore, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The importance placed on education and, relatedly, examinations, in many Asian societies is well known. The means adopted to cope with the stresses that come along with such intensity are myriad. It is in such contexts that the emergence of a “Bell Curve God” in Singapore must be understood.

A Harmonized System Of International Commercial Arbitration Within The Aec And Beyond?, Locknie Hsu

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

No abstract provided.

Multi-Stakeholder Approach Needed To Tackle Cyberthreats, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Being a hyper-connected society, our national security is also increasingly being redefined by threats in the cyberspace. Cyberattacks have evolved from a nontraditional security threat to a new domain of intense conflict, involving deception and sabotage.

Political Turnovers, Ownership, And Corporate Investment In China, Jerry X. Cao, Julio Brandon, Tiecheng Leng, Sili Zhou

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We examine the impact of political influence and ownership on corporate investment by exploiting the unique way provincial leaders are promoted in China. The tournament-style promotion system creates incentives for new governors to exert influence over investment in the early years of their term. We find a divergence in investment rates between state owned enterprises (SOEs) and private firms following political turnover. SOEs increase investment by 6.0% following the turnover while investment rates for private firms decline, suggesting that the political influence exerted over SOEs may crowd out private investment.

How To Revive Beauty Subscription Boxes In Asia, Shilpa Madan

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

After being acquired by consumer goods behemoth Unilever for a whopping $1 billion, Dollar Shave Club became the indisputable poster child of the subscription economy era. So will the next Dollar Shave Club come from Asia?

Smu Libraries: “Sensory” In Library Spaces, Nursyeha Yahaya, Salihin Mohammed Ali, Devika Sangaram

Research Collection Library

No abstract provided.

Catalyst Asia Issue 03, Institute For Societal Leadership

Catalyst Asia

STORIES FROM THE GROUND

Grooming The Bright But Underprivileged For A Better Future

A Gift From The Forest

No Ordinary Clinic

Helping The Most Vulnerable In A Thai Border Town

Fighting To Change The Fate Of Street Children In Vietnam

Voices That Must Not Be Forgotten

Giving Children A New Lease Of Life

Leading The Long Road To Recovery

Helping Girls In Myanmar Find Their Voices

Cambodia’s Growing Mental Health Problem

Saving Babies One At A Time

Gone Adventurin’ For Good

IN THE HOT SEAT

Rohingya – A Forgotten People

Want To Help, Will Travel

Coffee Against Cultural Colonisation

Empowering …

A Guide To The Singapore Constitution (2nd Ed.), Smu Apolitical

Student Publications

This primer is an introductory guide to the Constitution, its history, the legal concepts associated with it (such as the separation of powers and constitutional supremacy) and so much more. With illustrations and diagrams to aid in understanding, it is designed for readers of all ages and from all walks of life. The Constitution is the supreme law of the land. It provides for, among other things, the 3 branches of the Singapore government (namely, the executive, the legislature and the judiciary) and secures our fundamental liberties. The provisions in the Constitution are applied in our daily lives, both directly …

When To Turn To Mediation In Telco Disputes, Dorcas Quek Anderson

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The Ministry of Communications and Information(MCI) proposed the introduction of an alternative dispute resolution schemeto assist telecos and consumers in resolving their disputes. The mediationprocess is likely to be used. In response to this suggestion, Straits Times’ Tech Editor MsIrene Tham questioned whether mediation goes far enough to settle telcodisputes. This op-ed discusses the basic principles involved in the mediation process, as well as when mediation is appropriate and conversely when it is not. Recommendations are made on how to decide on the appropriate mode of dispute resolution for a particular dispute.

Market Failure And Reemergence: A Study Of Chinese Firms Listed In The Us., Hai Lu, Hai Lu, Wei Luo

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Our study documents a “Lemons” market failure of Chinese firms listed in the US in 2011 and a subsequent rebound by 2013. Our tests reveal that there was little difference in ex ante observable characteristics of fraudulent and non-fraudulent Chinese firms listed in the US prior to 2011 while entrepreneurs appear to have known their type. We document substantial costs of dishonesty and the failure of traditional market signaling mechanisms such as auditor or underwriter quality. We also show a return of Chinese firms after US and Chinese regulatory intervention in 2013 although this intervention was insufficient to fundamentally change …

Customer Satisfaction Index Of Singapore 2016: Q2 Results, Institute Of Service Excellence, Smu

Research Collection Institute of Service Excellence (2007-2024)

The Customer Satisfaction Index of Singapore (CSISG) computes customer satisfaction scores at the national, sector, sub-sector, and company levels. The CSISG serves as a quantitative benchmark of the quality of goods and services produced by the Singapore economy over time and across countries. This is the CSISG’s tenth year of measurement.

Human-Scale Economics: Economic Growth And Poverty Reduction In Northeastern Thailand, Joel D. Moore, John A. Donaldson

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Under what conditions does economic growth benefit the poor? One way to answer this question is to identify and compare positive and negative outlier areas, those that experience greater and lesser poverty reduction, respectively, compared to what was anticipated given their levels of economic growth. The more similar these areas, the more leverage there is to unearth the factors that allow the poor to benefit from growth. In this paper, we employ an inductive approach to glean possible pathways out of poverty from two highly similar underdeveloped neighboring provinces in northeastern Thailand. Using extensive fieldwork and interviews, we explore factors …

Climate Change And Vulnerability To Poverty: An Empirical Investigation In Rural Indonesia, Tomoki Fujii

Research Collection School Of Economics

Scientists estimate that anthropogenic climate change leads to increased surface temperature, sea-level rise, more frequent and significant extreme weather and climate events, among others. In this study, we investigate how climate change can potentially change the vulnerability to poverty using a panel data set in Indonesia. We focus on the effect of drought and flood, two of the commonly observed disasters there. Our simulation results indicate that vulnerability to poverty may increase substantially as a result of climate change in Indonesia.

Concepts And Measurement Of Vulnerability To Poverty And Other Issues: A Review Of Literature, Tomoki Fujii

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper reviews the growing body of literature on vulnerability. We first provide a survey of existing studies on the concepts and measurements of vulnerability to poverty by classifying them into welfarist, expected poverty, and axiomatic approaches. We then review a number of empirical studies on vulnerability to poverty in Asia and elsewhere. This review shows that poverty and vulnerability are related, but different, and that key determinants of vulnerability often include education and location. We also briefly review other areas of vulnerability analysis such as vulnerability to climate change and offer various policy implications arising from vulnerability analysis.

How Agribusiness Can Win In Partnership With Small Farms, John A. Donaldson

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Can large-scale agribusiness reduce costs and obtain less-expensive food while also reducing poverty and inequality by engaging small-scale farmers? Many conclude that such an attractive outcome is unimaginable, but innovative pilot projects hold promise that such a reality is within reach and replicable.

Lessons For Singapore From Schooling’S Win, David Chan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Joseph Schooling’s gold medal win at theRio Olympics over the weekend highlightsthe achievements of human potential andthe indomitable spirit of human nature

Financial Reporting Quality Of Chinese Reverse Merger Firms: The Reverse Merger Effect Or The China Effect?, Kun-Chih Chen, Qiang Cheng, Ying Chou Lin, Yu-Chen Lin, Xing Xiao

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

In this paper, we examine why Chinese reverse merger (RM) firms have lower financial reporting quality than U.S. IPO firms. We find that the financial reporting quality of U.S. RM firms is similar to that of matched U.S. IPO firms, but Chinese RM firms exhibit lower financial reporting quality than Chinese ADR firms. We also find that Chinese RM firms exhibit lower financial reporting quality than U.S. RM firms. These results indicate that the use of the RM process is associated with poor financial reporting quality only in firms from China, where legal enforcement and investor protection are weak. In …