International and Area Studies Commons^™

Isca Pre-Budget Roundtable 2015: Pace Of Restructuring, Sze Yee Chan, Clarence Goh, Perrine Oh

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Held for the sixth consecutive year on 13 January 2015, the ISCA Pre-Budget Roundtable 2015 served as an invaluable platform for gathering the views and insights of business leaders on both Budget 2014 and the upcoming Budget 2015. As Singapore celebrates SG50 this year, it is an opportune time not only to reflect upon our past achievements but also to look forward to the future with confidence.

Singapore: From Knowledge City To Start-Up 'Hub', Thomas Menkhoff, Hans-Dieter Evers

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

No abstract provided.

Leader Humility In Singapore, Burak Oc, Michael R. Bashshur, Michael A. Daniels, Gary J. Greguras, James M. Diefendorff

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The theoretical development and empirical testing of the effects of humility in the organizational sciences is surprisingly rare. This is especially pronounced in the study of leadership in Asian contexts. To address this we employ a qualitative approach to examine the conceptualization of leader humility in Singapore and assess whether this conceptualization differs from other emerging conceptualizations of leader humility. In Study 1, using semi-structured interviews of 25 Singaporeans, we identified nine major dimensions of humble leader behaviors and explored our participants' beliefs about culturally-based differences in leader humility. In Study 2 (N = 307), we generalized our findings …

Leader Humility In Singapore, Burak Oc, Michael Ramsay Bashshur, Michael A. Daniels, Gary John Greguras, James M. Diefendorff

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The theoretical development and empirical testing of the effects of humility in the organizational sciences is surprisingly rare. This is especially pronounced in the study of leadership in Asian contexts. To address this we employ a qualitative approach to examine the conceptualization of leader humility in Singapore and assess whether this conceptualization differs from other emerging conceptualizations of leader humility. In Study I, using semi-structured interviews of 25 Singaporeans, we identified nine major dimensions of humble leader behaviors and explored our participants' beliefs about culturally-based differences in leader humility. In Study 2 (N = 307), we generalized our findings to …

An Anatomy Of State Control In The Globalization Of State-Owned Enterprises, Hao Liang, Bing Ren, Sunny Li Sun

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Integrating agency theory with institutional analysis in international business, we propose a state-control perspective to analyze government-control mechanisms in emerging economies’ globalization of state-owned enterprises (SOEs). We identify two types of state control that influence SOEs’ globalization decisions and the degree of globalization: state ownership control and executives’ political connections, both of which are contingent upon the home country’s evolving institutional environments. Using a two-step corporate globalization decision model and 17,272 firm-year observations of non-financial, Chinese-listed companies, we find a strong impact of both types of state control on SOEs’ globalization, although the impacts differ between the periods before and …

Singapore Budget 2015: Building Our Future, Strengthening Social Security, Clarence Goh, Felix Wong

Research Collection School of Accountancy

Our Budget for FY2014 is expected to record a slightly smallerdeficit than what we had estimated a year ago. We had budgetedfor an overall deficit of $1.2 billion (or 0.3% of GDP). We nowexpect a very small deficit of $0.1 billion, close to a balancedposition.

Creating Inclusive Workplaces In Singapore: A Corporate Guide For Companies And Hr Practitioners, Benjamin Tien Yong Wong, Muhammad Hafiz Kasman, Tye Wei Lee

Student Publications

We are a team of students from the Singapore Management University (SMU). Our team recognises that LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) individuals – as with all employees – are valuable members of many organisations that operate in Singapore. We therefore believe that companies can harness the potential of stronger teams by creating diverse and inclusive workplaces for its LGBT and LGBT-affirming members. While we acknowledge that diversity and inclusion ought to proactively encompass a spectrum of strands such as gender, race and socio-economic backgrounds, management literature concerning LGBT issues in Singapore remain relatively unchartered – a gap that this …

Foreign Investment In Eastern And Southern Europe After 2008. Still A Lever Of Growth?, Béla Galgóczi, Jan Drahokoupil, Magdalena Bernaciak, Petr Pavlinek

Faculty Books and Monographs

Editors:Béla Galgóczi,Jan Drahokoupil, and Magdalena Bernaciak

Chapter, Foreign direct investment and the development of the automotive industry in central and eastern Europe, authored by Petr Pavlinek, UNO faculty member.

This book investigates the role that foreign direct investment (FDI) in central-eastern and southern Europe has played in the post-crisis period, comparing patterns across countries and sectors.

An overarching objective of this publication is to assess the extent to which FDI can still be seen as a key driver of economic development, modernisation and convergence for Europe’s low- and middle-income economies, taking into account also the risks and limiting factors associated …

Individual Strength-Based Assessment For Adult Empowerment Ngos, Ashley T. Turner

MA IDS Thesis Projects

The purpose of this culminating comprehensive project is to advise adult empowerment focused NGOs on the importance of identifying and leveraging the strengths of the individuals they serve. Given the evidence that all individuals innately have strengths, it is important to be aware of them in order to properly engage such assets. Character strengths are studied in this paper as one of the main pillars in the field of positive psychology. This culminating comprehensive project reviews the literature on positive psychology to best understand how empowerment can be achieved. Accompanying this research is a sample resource guide that was designed …

Models Of Faith: The Role Of Faith-Based Organizations In International Development, Mara Hochberg-Miller

MA IDS Thesis Projects

Faith-based organizations make up a large percentage of organizations doing development work both domestically and internationally. Faith-based development organizations (FBDOs) can be successful because they have spiritual drive to work for the social good, and large religious organizations to support them. However, not all FBDOs practice good development, and in the past many of them have undertaken development projects that proved to be damaging and detrimental to the host communities. The purpose of this research is to explore how different FBDOs conceptualize and operationalize their faith while doing development work abroad. Through exploring different models of faith-based development and analyzing …

Examining Industrial Interdependence Between Japan And South Korea: A Favar Approach, David D. Selover, Takeshi Yagihashi

Economics Faculty Publications

This paper investigates the economic relationship between Japan and South Korea by incorporating disaggregated output measures. Using a factor-augmented vector autoregression (FAVAR) model, we conduct several experiments to test the nature of the interdependence, both in the aggregate and by sector. We find that South Korean output shocks affect the Japanese economy in a significant manner, whereas Japanese output shocks have a limited effect on South Korea. By further examining the transmission mechanism of sectoral output shocks and comparing them with the direction of sectoral trade, we find evidence of cross-border production sharing, which explains the asymmetric results seen in …

Enhancing Workplace Productivity And Competitiveness In Trinidad And Tobago Through Ict Adoption, Kennedy Jerome Swaratsingh

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The productivity of Trinidad and Tobago's public sector workplaces is related to their absorptive capacity for technological adoption. Guided by the technology acceptance model, which suggests that individuals' and institutions' use of technology increases in relation to perceived ease of use and apparent value, this case study explored how Trinidad and Tobago used information and communications technology from 2001 - 2010 to improve public sector workplace productivity. Study data were collected from 22 individual interviews with senior executives from the government of Trinidad and Tobago, members of the e-business roundtable, and local industry experts, and from reviewing the archives of …

Factoring As A Financing Alternative For African Small And Medium-Sized Enterprises, Robert Lumbuye Tomusange

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the main drivers of economic growth and employment. African SMEs are constrained by a lack of access to finance. In line with the pecking order theory, capital-constrained SMEs are expected to seek external finance. However, due to credit rationing, African SMEs have limited success raising finance. Factoring could enable African SMEs to gain access to finance, as underwriters mainly place the risk on the receivables as opposed to the firm itself. Despite its benefits, factoring has not taken root in sub-Saharan Africa. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the obstacles and …

Government Senior Executives' Perceptions Of Brain Drain On Leadership In The United States Virgin Islands, Shurla Jeffers-Knight

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Highly qualified individuals are leaving the Caribbean and relocating to the United States and other developed countries. Researchers describe this resulting flight of human capital, or brain drain, from the Caribbean as a problem which has no clear definition or immediate solution. This phenomenological study explored perceptions of government senior executives in the United States Virgin Islands (USVI) of the cause and impact of brain drain. Burns' and Bass's transformational and transactional leadership theories were used as the framework for this study. Data were collected through a demographic questionnaire and semistructured interviews with a snowball sample of 10 participants. Data …

How Product Attributes Influence Internationalization: A Framework Of Domain- And Culture-Specificity, Terence P. C. Fan, Alex Tai Loong Tan

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper introduces two important dimensions of product attributes in the context of internationalization: domain- and culture-specificity. Products can be high or low in domain- or culture-specificity, thereby being one of four broad categories in a two-by-two matrix. This framework of product attributes helps explain a series of gradations on how cultural difference influences the difficulty of selling a product internationally. By examining four cases, one from each of these categories, this paper shows that different product attributes affect the difficulty or ease with which the products of these firms were internationalized. While all four cases were able to derive …

Continuing Professional Development In The Accounting Profession: Practices And Perceptions From The Asia Pacific Region, Paul De Lange, Beverley Jackling, Themin Suwardy

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Drawing on research in the sociology of professions as a reference point, this study examines the practices and perceptions of professional accountants towards the requirements of IES7 on continuing professional development (CPD). Responses from 1310 accountants in the Asia Pacific region suggest while increasing globalisation has led to more unified standards of professionalism, the perceptions of these standards are not uniform across the region. While there is some consensus that the ongoing development of accounting as part of globalisation, significant differences were identified in perceptions towards CPD offerings between professional accountants in developed economies, compared with emerging economies. Differences in …

Communicating Corporate Social Responsibility In Singapore: Towards More Effective Media Relations, A. Pang, Angela Ka Ying Mak, Joanne M. H. Lee

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Organizations face several impediments when it comes to communicating their corporate social responsibility (CSR) engagement to the public via the media. This paper examines practitioners’ and journalists’ perception of CSR communication using the agenda-building model (Qiu Q, Cameron GT, Communicating health disparities: building a supportive media agenda. VDM Verlag, Saarbruecken, 2008) by examining news coverage of how practitioners and journalists understand CSR, what types of CSR stories get covered in the media, and how are CSR stories portrayed in the media. News coverage of Singapore’s mainstream publications, The Straits Times, The Business Times, and The New Paper, were analyzed. The …

The “Other” Side Of Wall Street: Banking, Policies, And Adaptive Methods Of U.S. Migrant Workers, Cassandra Rae Decker

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Migrant farmworkers' social and economic mobility is frequently constrained through the denial of basic resources, such as access to the formal financial sector. This thesis ethnographically examines banking policies as they apply to low-income, mobile, populations that temporarily reside in Florida. It utilizes participant observation, interviews, and participatory mapping with migrant farmworkers. It also considers how policymakers and service providers in the formal and informal financial sectors rationalize control of resources and the effects on mobile populations. Particular attention is paid to adaptive practices in the alternative financial sector – cash checking services, carrying cash, and remittances. By utilizing the …

The Business Of Creative Industries, Chong, Mark

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Creative industries worldwide are an important driver of economic growth and cultural influence. In addition to creating numerous jobs for the economy, creative industries can also shape public perception of countries, regions and cities (and hence place brand). Singapore, too, understands the potential for creative ideas to transform the economy. Among its more high-profile projects include attracting Lucasfilm and video gaming giant Ubisoft to set up base in the country.

Asset Allocation In The Chinese Stock Market: The Role Of Return Predictability, Jian Chen, Fuwei Jiang, Jun Tu

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

In this article the authors investigate asset allocation in the Chinese stock market from the perspective of incorporating return predictability. Based on a host of return predictors, they find significant out-of-sample return predictability in the Chinese stock market. They then examine the performance of active portfolio strategies—such as aggregate market timing as well as industry, size, and value-rotation strategies—designed to profitably exploit return predictability. Strong evidence is found by the authors that these portfolio strategies incorporating return predictability can deliver superior performance—up to 600 basis points per annum and almost double the Sharpe ratios—compared with the passive buy-and-hold benchmarks that …

Reputation Building Through Failure, Huan Wang, Yi Zhang

Research Collection School Of Economics

In China, many entrepreneurs receive strong supports each time their business fails. This contradicts existing literature and differs from rare revival elsewhere. The major explanation lies in China’s unfriendly and unstable policy environments, due to which business failure per se cannot discern competence. Therefore, entrepreneurs failing because of policy shocks have the incentive for extra efforts to build reputation of competence and trustworthiness. This mechanism prepares a pool of seasoned entrepreneurs who can help alleviate damages of not only policy shocks, but also such system shocks as business cycle and sector upgrading, and therefore makes the economy more adaptable.

Within & Without: Singapore In The World; The World In Singapore, Eng Fong Pang, Arnoud De Meyer

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Contents: We, the Citizens of Singapore by Priscilla Chia, Trenton James Riggs; Birth of a Nation: Ways of Celebrating by Celine Alexandra Fogde, Diana Khanh Nguyen, Paul Antoine Victor, Shu Chong Chen, Teo Yi Heng; Building Cross-cultural Bridges by Vani Shriya, Timoteo Marra, Svenja Nicole Schulte, Seow Guan Wen, Niklas Miro Utrobicic; Faces and Facets of Singapore by Felix Brockerhoff, Elizabeth Fong Lin, Kevin Ng Boon Kiat, Racheal Wong Shu Yi, Tam Zhi Yang; Missing the Forest for the (Super) Trees by Nick Chiam Zhi Wen, Teo Yi Heng; Singapore: The Country Where You Cannot Chew Gum? by Felix Brockerhoff; …

A Mixed Methods Study: Dimensions Of Cross-Cultural Professional Success: Experiences Of Western Women Living And Working In Eastern Cultures, Tami J. France

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

In this world of global interconnectedness women continue to develop cross-cultural careers and their experiences impact and influence global scholarship and practice. Through this study, the relationships, resources, and characteristics that support female expatriate success were explored, with additional focus on the role of mentor and coach relationships. The mixed-methods study was conducted using a sequential approach to research that began with one-on-one semi structured interviews with ten professional women from the United States and Canada working or formerly working in China and Hong Kong. A survey was designed based on the interview findings. Professional women from western countries working …

Acknowledgements/Image Credits, Molly Lynde-Recchia

Transference

No abstract provided.

Nông Thôn Mới And Rural Development In The Mekong Delta: A Comparative Study Of Bàu Môn And Hòa Phụng C Hamlets, Alex Lintz

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Vietnam’s Nông Thôn Mới or New Rural Development program is a relatively new target program introduced in 2010. As of yet there has been little research done on its effects on the economies in rural areas. This paper attempts to analyze the economic situation in the Bàu Môn and Hòa Phụng C hamlets with a particular emphasis placed on income and factors that affect income in terms of Vietnam’s Nông Thôn Mới or New Rural Development program. In order to assess the economic situation in the hamlets, a survey was administered to 25 participants in each hamlet and leaders from …

Index-Based Insurance And Risk Management Among Nomadic Mongolian Herders , Kelsey Larson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Mongolian herders must contend with the risk of dzuds, harsh winters that can kill large numbers of livestock. To do so, they use a mixture of formal financial tools and traditional risk mitigation techniques. This paper is a study of the interaction between the Mongolian Index-based Livestock Insurance Program and traditional informal risk mitigation techniques. The researcher interviews herders in Bulgan soum, Arhangai aimag and Galuut soum, Bayanhongor aimag to compare the IBLI program’s impact in a community that has had IBLI since 2006 and one that only received IBLI in 2012. This study finds that insurance purchase is positively …

Nepali Corporate Culture Of Giving: Investigating Practices Of Corporate Social Responsibility, Taylor Knoop

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The purpose of this research is to explore corporate Nepal’s definition of corporate social responsibility (CSR), how these definitions influence corporations’ activities and the motivation and rationale behind giving. Multiple factors are impacting the practice of CSR, such the historical influence, personality of industry sector, post-conflict recovery efforts, and trust and transparency in giving. However, corporations’ definition of CSR contradicts the type and level of activities they engage in. The rhetoric is often stronger than the action undertaken, although there is slight trend towards a more incorporated social responsible business model, particularly in the financial and tourism industries. The primary …

Curbing Corporate Inversions: A Study Of National And International Efforts To Establish Corporate Tax Equity, Scott Novak

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In recent years, the number of U.S. companies trying to merge with a foreign company and thereby reincorporate themselves in countries with a lower corporate tax rate – a practice known as corporate inversion – has skyrocketed. The public outcry in 2014 against corporate inversions led the U.S. Treasury to release a series of new anti-inversion regulations, and more policy changes are in the process of being debated. At the same time as this national discussion on the harmful effects corporate inversions have on the U.S. tax base is progressing, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is in …

La Educación Y El Lucro No Se Mezclan: Un Examen De Las Políticas Y Las Consecuencias De Los Colegios Particulares Subvencionados En Chile / Education And Profits Don't Mix : A Review Of Policies And The Consequences Of Subsidized Private Schools In Chile, Sophie Sharps

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

With the arrival of the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet in Chile (lasting from 1973-1990) came the implementation of a neoliberal economic model based on tenants such as privatization, deregulation, growth of a free market economy, and a passive government to uphold the private sector. This economic model manifested itself through structural reforms that distinctly changed the function of all institutions, including the educational system. Due to a series of changes in laws and ideology, a new educational sector (referred to as “particular subvencionado”) arose, and has only strengthened and augmented since the end of the dictatorship. In this sector, individuals, …

Financial Literacy And Financial Inclusion Of Women In Rural Rajasthan, Emily Levi-D'Ancona

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Financial inclusion is an important step in development, as access to finances can help the poor build money and lift themselves out of poverty. In many parts of the developing world, and especially in India, microfinance is seen as a new approach to fighting poverty by bringing financial services, including low-interest loans, to the poor so that they can afford to start a business or invest and eventually gain self-sufficiency – in other words, a method of financial inclusion for the poor. However, microfinance in India cannot sufficiently reach the poor populations, especially those in rural India, and many of …