International and Area Studies Commons^™

Determinants Of Urban Land Supply In China: How Do Political Factors Matter?, Wen-Tai Hsu, Xiaolu Li, Yang Tang, Jing Wu

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper explores two political factors for their potential effects on urban land supply in China: corruption, and competition for promotion. We find that standard urban economic predictions hold in the sense that both population and income increases are strongly significant determinants for the increase in urban land supply. Conditional on these demand-side factors, we find that the usage of two-stage auctions (as a proxy for corruption) is highly correlated with the increase in land supply. The corruption effects are strongest for commercial land, followed by residential land and then industrial land. To shed light on the competition motives among …

Isetan: Adapting To The New Global Retail Landscape, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

Department stores need to rethink their traditional business model and deliver value to shoppers, and it must be done with speed and imagination

Industry-University Partnership Through Experiential Project-Based Learning: A Singapore Case Study, Gary Pan, Gan Hup Tan, Yvonne Tan

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

A radical approach to preparing university students with future work skills, by combining academic with experiential learning through real projects faced by client partners. Learn how a university can create opportunities for collaborative learning and a tripartite learning relationship for academia, students and industry. Outcomes and impact of the case Post-module feedback surveys conducted over AY2015/16 showed that over 80% of the students who took an SMU-X module reported enhanced problem-solving, analytical, reasoning and communication skills, all of which were skills highly valued by employers. These results also dovetailed with SMU-X’s learning outcomes. More than 85% felt that the SMU-X …

International Volatility Risk And Chinese Stock Return Predictability, Jian Chen, Fuwei Jiang, Yangshu Liu, Jun Tu

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper investigates the predictive ability of international volatility risks for the daily Chinese stock market returns. We employ the innovations in implied volatility indexes of seven major international markets as our international volatility risk proxies. We find that international volatility risks are negatively associated with contemporaneous Chinese daily overnight stock returns, while positively forecast next-day Chinese daytime stock returns. The US volatility risk (ΔVIX) is particularly powerful in forecasting Chinese stock returns, and plays a dominant role relative to the other six international volatility measures. ΔVIX's forecasting power remains strong after controlling for Chinese domestic volatility and is robust …

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.

2017 Mlk Keynote Emory Douglas Program, Center For Social Equity & Inclusion, Emory Douglas

Martin Luther King, Jr. Series

Program for the 2017 MLK Keynote Address: Emory Douglas. An artist, educator and human rights activist, Emory Douglas served as the Minister of Culture for the Black Panther Party from 1967-80. Best known for his political drawings and cartoons in the Black Panther Newspaper, he articulated the injustices experienced by African Americans living in the inner city, the growing militancy and organization among urban black youth in the face of police violence and the need for community-based social programs. 2017 MLK Keynote, Emory Douglas discusses the process, meaning and impact of his artwork then and now.

2017 Mlk Keynote Emory Douglas Educational Foldout, Center For Social Equity & Inclusion, Emory Douglas

Martin Luther King, Jr. Series

Educational foldout for the 2017 MLK Keynote Address: Emory Douglas. An artist, educator and human rights activist, Emory Douglas served as the Minister of Culture for the Black Panther Party from 1967-80. Best known for his political drawings and cartoons in the Black Panther Newspaper, he articulated the injustices experienced by African Americans living in the inner city, the growing militancy and organization among urban black youth in the face of police violence and the need for community-based social programs. 2017 MLK Keynote, Emory Douglas discusses the process, meaning and impact of his artwork then and now.

2017 Mlk Keynote Emory Douglas Educational Foldout, Center For Social Equity & Inclusion, Emory Douglas

Martin Luther King, Jr. Series

Educational foldout for the 2017 MLK Keynote Address: Emory Douglas. An artist, educator and human rights activist, Emory Douglas served as the Minister of Culture for the Black Panther Party from 1967-80. Best known for his political drawings and cartoons in the Black Panther Newspaper, he articulated the injustices experienced by African Americans living in the inner city, the growing militancy and organization among urban black youth in the face of police violence and the need for community-based social programs. 2017 MLK Keynote, Emory Douglas discusses the process, meaning and impact of his artwork then and now.

2017 Mlk Keynote Emory Douglas Program, Center For Social Equity & Inclusion, Emory Douglas

Martin Luther King, Jr. Series

Program for the 2017 MLK Keynote Address: Emory Douglas. An artist, educator and human rights activist, Emory Douglas served as the Minister of Culture for the Black Panther Party from 1967-80. Best known for his political drawings and cartoons in the Black Panther Newspaper, he articulated the injustices experienced by African Americans living in the inner city, the growing militancy and organization among urban black youth in the face of police violence and the need for community-based social programs. 2017 MLK Keynote, Emory Douglas discusses the process, meaning and impact of his artwork then and now.

Determinants Of Urban Land Supply In People's Republic Of China: How Do Political Factors Matter?, Wen-Tai Hsu, Xiaolu Li, Yang Tang, Jing Wu

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper explores whether and how corruption and competition-for-promotion motives affect urban land supply in the People's Republic of China. Conditional on demand-side factors, we find that corruption is highly correlated with an increase in land supply. The corruption effects are strongest for commercial land, followed by residential land, and then industrial land. To shed light on the competition motives among prefectural leaders, we examine how the number of years in office affects land supply and distinguish among different hypotheses. Our empirical results show robust rising trends in land sales. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that among prefectural …

Generation "P": Philippines' Millennial Impact Entrepreneurs, Jinky Tuliao, Zen Bin, Vivienne Zerrudo

Social Space

"Millennials"—broadly defined as those born between 1980 and 2000— are a dynamic driving force behind any country’s economic progress, but particularly so in the Philippines. Making up about 50 per cent of the national population, Philippine millennials are mainly employed in micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), which in turn account for over 99 per cent of all local businesses.

The Gettysburg Economic Review, Volume 10, Spring 2017

Gettysburg Economic Review

No abstract provided.

Carbon Stocks In Shade Coffee: Strategies For Enhancing Carbon Storage In Smallholder Systems In Jinotega, Nicaragua, Vanessa Katheryn Kichline

Bard Center for Environmental Policy

Climate change has recently shifted focus to adaptation and mitigation strategies in coffee production. Shade coffee systems, already widely recognized for their contribution to biodiversity and soil conservation, are now drawing attention for their role in carbon storage. Researchers have generally assumed that high carbon storage must come at the expense of reduced crop yields, implying that farmers must choose between sustainability and profit. This study uses field inventories of 70 farms in Jinotega, Nicaragua to estimate this tradeoff in smallholder shade coffee systems. Field inventories were used to develop three typologies representing different shade management strategies in use in …

The Macro Behind Microfinance: Cambodia's Financial Inclusion Success Story, Jonathan Chang

Social Space

Financial inclusion refers to the delivery of affordable financial services to disadvantaged and low-income segments of society. However, as it also involves striking a fine balance between managing businesses’ credit risks and improving customers’ access to credit, different countries have made varied progress in their financial inclusion efforts. To date, across both developed and developing nations, SMEs and individuals still struggle in the face of limited access to adequate financing. Yet there is one country that has made considerable strides in this area: judging from the tremendous success of its microfinance sector, Cambodia seems to have found the sweet spot …

Exploring Leaders' Strategies For Employee Engagement In The South African Mining Industry, Le-Marlie Marais

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Research suggests that disengaged employees have contributed to the 28.5% reduction in the mining industry's contribution to South African gross domestic product. Some South African mining leaders lack strategies for engaging employees. Using the employee engagement framework, the purpose of this single case study was to explore successful strategies that South African mining leaders use to engage employees. The target population was mining leaders, purposefully selected because of their success with engaging employees at a typical South African mining company. Data collection was through face-to-face interviews with 4 leaders; a focus group interview with 9 employees; and a review of …

Building Gender-Inclusive Workplaces In Singapore: A Practical Guide For Companies And Human Resource Practitioners, Benjamin Tien Yong Wong, Gillian Pei Wen Loy, Claris Wan Xin Teo

Student Publications

We are a team of students from the Singapore Management University (“SMU”) Diversity Leadership Development Programme and SMU Women’s Connections. We believe that all employees are valuable members of many organisations that operate in Singapore. Companies can therefore harness the potential of stronger teams by ensuring that all employees feel safe, valued and included - regardless of one’s gender. In 2014, Singapore saw more women than men enter tertiary educational institutions. Despite this progress made, a study conducted in 2015 found that women were part of only 9.1 per cent of SGX- listed boards, with almost half of these boards …

The Role Of Project Leadership In Global Multicultural Project Success, Jamal Nassif

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Global projects have a high failure rate, with many project failures attributed to lack of effective leadership. A knowledge gap about leadership requirements and complexities in a global project management environment has increased the risks in global projects. The problem is evident in the increasing project failure rate and the struggling national strategies in the oil and gas industry in the Arabian Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The purpose of this study was to explore the role of leadership in project success and adaptation complexities in GCC. The conceptual framework consisted of complex adaptive systems and contingency theories. A qualitative approach …

How China Is Preparing For An Ai-Powered Future, Yujia He

Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce Faculty Publications

U.S. leadership in artificial intelligence (AI) research and development (R&D) may be challenged by China’s recent and centralized policy planning aimed at rapidly developing AI-related technologies. The Chinese government supports AI as a strategic area supported by high-level policies with ambitious and quantifiable targets, inter-ministry coordination, government funding for research and development, support for workforce development, and suggestions for international collaboration and expansion. Still, as a relative latecomer in the global AI race, China faces numerous challenges to implement its policy planning, including short-term skills gap and long-term institutional constraints.

Empowering Women For Economic Growth: A Measurement Of Social And Demographic Impacts On Afghan Women In Business, Tracy Taylor

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Non-governmental organizations working in conflict-prone, resource-deprived developing countries face a very unique set of challenges. Like with other non-profits, program dollars and other resources must be allocated carefully and thoughtfully so the maximum output is achieved with the inputs allotted. Unlike other non-profits, however, the political, social, and economic environment is constantly changing in developing countries like Afghanistan. Basic human needs are not being met, leaving the path to NGO program success fraught with seemingly impossible challenges. This is the case for Peace Through Business, a training and development program serving women entrepreneurs in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Peace Through Business seeks …

Strategies For Preventing And Mitigating The Effects Of Agro-Food Supply Chain Disruptions, Everjoyce Muzvondiwa

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Supply chain disruptions are detrimental to the performance of companies due to the associated loss of profitability and reduced sustainability. In 2016, organizations lost at least $1.2 million in a single supply chain disruption. Guided by the contingency theory of fit, the purpose of this exploratory multiple case study was to explore the strategies agribusiness managers use to prevent and mitigate the effects of disruptions in the agro-food supply chains. A total of 5 purposefully-selected agribusiness managers from Harare, Zimbabwe participated in semistructured interviews. Participants were senior agribusiness managers who implemented successful strategies for preventing and mitigating the effects of …

Relationship Between Corporate Governance And Information Security Governance Effectiveness In United States Corporations, Robert Elliot Davis

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Cyber attackers targeting large corporations achieved a high perimeter penetration success rate during 2013, resulting in many corporations incurring financial losses. Corporate information technology leaders have a fiduciary responsibility to implement information security domain processes that effectually address the challenges for preventing and deterring information security breaches. Grounded in corporate governance theory, the purpose of this correlational study was to examine the relationship between strategic alignment, resource management, risk management, value delivery, performance measurement implementations, and information security governance (ISG) effectiveness in United States-based corporations. Surveys were used to collect data from 95 strategic and tactical leaders of the 500 …

The Strategic Potential Of Community-Based Hybrid Models: The Case Of Global Business Services In Africa, Stephan Manning, Chacko G. Kannothra, Nichole K. Wissman-Weber

Management and Marketing Faculty Publication Series

As a latecomer economy, Africa faces persistent difficulties with catching up in global markets. This study examines the strategic potential of community-based hybrid models, which balance market profitability with social impact in local communities. Focusing on the global business services industry in Kenya and South Africa, and the practice of ‘impact sourcing’ – hiring and training of disadvantaged staff servicing business clients – we find that while regular providers struggle to compete with global peers, hybrid model adopters manage to access underutilized labor pools through community organizations, and target less competitive niche client markets. We further identify key industry, institutional …

Ownership And Identities Of The Largest Shareholders And Dividend Policy: Evidence From Vietnam, Trien Vinh Le, Trang Huyen Le

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This study investigates the relationship between the level of shareholdings and identities of the largest shareholders, and cash dividend policy. The study is conducted with a sample of 180 firms listed on Vietnam stock exchange markets from 2009 to 2013. The fixed effect model is employed to analyze the balanced panel data. The results show that the higher the level of holdings by the largest shareholders, the lower the dividend payout. Moreover, companies with the State and Foreign investors as the largest shareholders have higher dividend payout ratio than companies with local investors and managers as the largest shareholders. The …

The Gender Gap In Immigrant Entrepreneurship: The Role Of Culture And Home Country Self-Employment, Amy Ingram

CMC Senior Theses

This paper investigates the effect of culture and home country self-employment rates on immigrant self-employment in the United States, post-migration. This study analyzes the effects for both men and women, focusing on the gender gap in self-employment. The empirical results show that home country effects have a small impact on self-employment, but most of this relationship is unexplained. Because the explanatory power of home country effects is so low, it is unlikely that culture significantly influences self-employment. I find that, contrary to my hypotheses, women from countries with high female self-employment rates are likely to see a larger decrease in …

Betting On The Big: State-Brokered Land Transfers, Large-Scale Agricultural Producers, And Rural Policy Implementation, Weigang Gong, Qian Forrest Zhang

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

As rural governments have become hollowed out and detached from rural society, can they still effectively implement policies that lack popular support? This article examines a county in Hunan Province, where local governments had strong incentives to implement a national policy of increasing double cropping in rice farming. Small farmers rejected double cropping as unprofitable. Local governments’ limited capacity prevented them from either reshaping small farmers’ economic calculus or coercing compliance. They strategically selected a policy tool acceptable to most small farmers (paid land transfers) and gave new private large-scale producers incentives to double crop by providing subsidies and access …

Social Sustainability: The Role Of Ecotourism In Regenerating Cultural And Environmental Histories In Rio De Janeiro, Nia Mcallister

Pomona Senior Theses

Ecotourism is a rapidly growing global export industry that aims to uphold the ethics of responsible tourism by engaging with local communities and encouraging environmentally conscious travel. With existing critiques of the greenwashing of ecotourism and the tendency for tourism agencies to exploit host communities, I advocate for participatory community-based models of ecotourism. This thesis explores both the material and conceptual benefits of community-based ecotourism through the critical examination of community-based ecotourism projects in Rio de Janeiro Brazil. Focusing on the implementation of ecotourism in of some of Rio de Janeiro’s peripheral communities, areas that are impacted by social and …

Strategies For Reducing Microfinance Loan Default In Low-Income Markets, Patrick Mphaka

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Poor loan repayment causes the decline and failure of some microfinance institutions. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore strategies that microfinance (MFI) leaders use to reduce loan default in the base of the pyramid market. The study population included 6 MFI leaders, 12 borrower community-based groups, and 4 staff members of the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA Rwanda) who reduced MFI loan default in Rwanda. Data were collected through semistructured interviews with 3 MFI leaders, 3 ADRA Rwanda staff members, and 3 members of borrower groups. Data were also collected through focus groups with …

Social Responsibility Strategies To Improve Firm Performance, Dennis Vincent Reade

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Historical research on corporate social responsibility (CSR) and its influence on corporate financial and social results arrived at contradictory findings. Although 95% of the world's 250 largest corporations reported investing in CSR activities in 2011, some managers lack strategies to evaluate CSR effectiveness. This multiple case study explored strategies that 6 CSR managers with CSR oversight in privately owned companies in Brazil used to effectively enact CSR. The stakeholder theory was the conceptual framework for this study. Data were collected through individual interviews and supplemented with company annual reports to explore the strategies managers employed to evaluate CSR effectiveness. Member …

How Crisis Managers Define Ethical Crisis Communication In Singapore: Identifying Organizational Factors That Influence Adoption Of Ethical Stances, Augustine Pang, Yan Jin, Benjamin Meng-Keng Ho

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This study explores the veracity of the six ethical variables proposed in the contingency theory of strategic conflict management – the role of PR practitioner, the role of top management, nature of the crisis, the activism of stakeholders; government regulation/intervention; diversity to different cultures and exposure external business environments. In-depth interviews with 10 communication professionals in Singapore were conducted. In line with the patriarchal management structure, the top management plays a critical role in determining ethical stances, with practitioners playing important consultative positions. Also, the role of the relevant government almost predisposes the organization toward certain ethical stances. The study …

A Model For Understanding The Complexity Of Repatriation Into Organizations: A Systems Approach, Nancy Hennigar Reisig

Student Articles, Chapters, Presentations, Learning Objects

The expatriation/repatriation cycle is a complex system, only parts of which have been studied. Repatriation occurs within a larger system that includes the employee, his or her family, the organization’s business dynamic and Human Resources practices, and its culture. This article examines this system, reviewing key organizational factors affecting repatriation, including organizational design, development, and culture, as well as the neglected role of Human Resources management. Theories around professional employee turnover that link to the repatriate experience are also explored. The author proposes a model for understanding the complexity of repatriation. Gaps in current understanding are discussed as a basis …