International and Area Studies Commons^™

Navigating Conversational Flows, Abhilash Murthy

Research Collection Institute of Service Excellence (2007-2024)

Abhilash Murthy of Bus Uncle explains the importance in developing a delightful user experience in the realm of chatbot design.

Unpacking A Sustainable Concept, Florence Tay

Research Collection Institute of Service Excellence (2007-2024)

Florence Tay, Co-Founder of UnPackt, breaks down how community building and education can lead to a more enduring zero-waste journey.

Getting Personal, Ching Yann Ho

Research Collection Institute of Service Excellence (2007-2024)

Ho Ching Yann of Triceratops shares how being candid and sincere with customers sets her apart from the competition.

Practising Empathy, Kate Low

Research Collection Institute of Service Excellence (2007-2024)

Kate Low of Perk by Kate talks about how prioritising customer relationships has kept her at the forefront of Singapore’s lingerie scene.

Creating Conversations, Sharon Tan

Research Collection Institute of Service Excellence (2007-2024)

Sharon Tan of The Projector speaks about the privilege of amplifying community voices through diverse programming.

Service For Millenials, Joan Chang

Research Collection Institute of Service Excellence (2007-2024)

Joan Chang of Lloyd’s Inn relates the importance of branding for a younger audience and the changing landscape of service in boutique hospitality.

Repackaging Convenience, Min Ling Leow

Research Collection Institute of Service Excellence (2007-2024)

Leow Min Ling of Anthony The Spice Maker reflects on updating her family business to preserve Singapore’s traditional flavours.

Scaling For The Masses, Junting Ang

Research Collection Institute of Service Excellence (2007-2024)

Ang Junting of Hai Sia Seafood traces the journey of updating a traditional business in a demanding trade to attract and retain talent.

Comparing The International Commercial Courts Of China With The Singapore International Commercial Court, Zhengxin Huo, Yip Man

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The article critically reviews the litigation framework of the Chinese International Commercial Court("CICC') using a comparative approach, taking as a benchmark the Singapore International Commercial Court ("SICC')--another Asian international commercial court situated within the Belt and Road Initiative ("BRI') geography. It argues that the CICC, despite being lauded as a visionary step toward an innovative, efficient and trustworthy dispute resolution system, does not live up to those grand claims on closer scrutiny. The discussion shows that the CICC is in many respects insular and conservative when compared with the SICC. The distinctions between the two litigation frameworks may be explained …

Understanding The Connection Of Performance And Z-Scores For Manufacturing Firms In South Korea, S.L. Foo, Shaakalya Pathak

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

South Korea is a key leading economy in the Asia Pacific region. This study examines the relationship between the financial health, as measured by the Altman Z-Score, and corporate performance, as measured by the Return on Equity (ROE), of listed manufacturing companies in this market. A linear regression has been conducted between these variables to determine the magnitude and direction of their relationships. The trends of Z-Scores over a five-year period have also been analysed. The analysis covers the period from 2013 to 2017 (inclusive) and yields a statistically positive correlation between ROE and the Z-Score for the market. South …

Cooling Measures And Housing Wealth: Evidence From Singapore, Wolfgang K. Hardle, Rainer Schulz, Taojun Xie

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Excessive house price growth was at the heart of the financial crisis in 2007/08. Since then, many countries have added cooling measures to their regulatory frameworks. It has been found that these measures can indeed control price growth, but no one has examined whether this has adverse consequences for the housing wealth distribution. We examine this for Singapore, which started in 2009 to target price growth over ten rounds in total. We find that welfare from housing wealth in the last round might not be higher than before 2009. This depends on the deflator used to convert nominal into real …

Fractured Lives, Newfound Freedoms? The Dialectics Of Religious Seekership Among Chinese Migrants In Singapore, Orlando Woods, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This paper explores the negotiations involved in the process of Chinesemigrants converting to Christianity in Singapore. For many Chinesepeople, migration involves being exposed to religion for the first time,and for some, it involves them converting to Christianity. In Singapore,the conversion of Chinese migrants to Christianity occurs in a context of‘shared’ Chinese ethnicity, which can provide both bridges and barriersto the formation of Chinese Christian identities and communities. This‘shared’ ethnicity causes many Christian groups in Singapore to targetChinese migrants in their evangelisation efforts, which can result inmigrant and non-migrant Chinese communities being formed andfractured through religion. Drawing on qualitative data, four …

More Uplifting Singapore Story Needed To Boost Baby Confidence, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In a commentary, SMU Associate Professor of Law Eugene Tan discussed the reasons why Singaporean couples have consistently preferred to have few children since the 1970s. He opined that there is a need to have a discussion of how the prevailing traits and narrative of Singapore might have created a climate where young couples choose to have fewer children, and to have a more uplifting Singapore story as well as promote gender equality to boost baby confidence.

Building A Market Economy Through Wto-Inspired Reform Of State-Owned Enterprises In China, Weihuan Zhou, Henry S. Gao, Xue Bai

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This paper responds to the widespread view that existing WTO rules are insufficient in dealing with China’s state capitalism, which has been further emboldened by its latest rounds of state-owned enterprise (“SOE”) reforms. Through a careful review of WTO agreements and jurisprudence, the paper argues that, we do not necessarily need new rules, because the unique challenges created by China’s state capitalism can be sufficiently dealt with by the WTO’s existing rules on subsidies coupled with the China-specific obligations. Thus, a more realistic approach would be to push China back to the path of market-oriented reforms through WTO litigation based …

Google’S Keyword Advertisement In Taiwan: No Use Of Trademark, But Obviously Unfair, Kung-Chung Liu

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Taiwan IP Court in its capacity as the first instance court with a single-judge panel has in a 2012 Min-Shan-Su-Zi 22 decision (decided on 24 January 2013) for the first time dealt with the legal liability of a search engine, namely Google, in its keyword advertisement practice concerning one famous trademark in Taiwan.

Reform Of Singapore's Foreign Judgment Rules, Adeline Chong

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

On 3rd October, the amendments to the Reciprocal Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act (“REFJA”) came into force. REFJA is based on the UK Foreign Judgments (Reciprocal Enforcement) Act 1933, but in this recent round of amendments has deviated in some significant ways from the 1933 Act. The limitation to judgments from “superior courts” has been removed. Foreign interlocutory orders such as freezing orders and foreign non-money judgments now fall within the scope of REFJA. So too do judicial settlements, which are defined in identical terms to the definition contained in the Choice of Court Agreements Act 2016 (which enacted the …

Obstacles To Accessing Pro-Poor Microcredit Programs In China: Evidence From Penggan Village, Guizhou, Deborah Shu Yi Tan, Track Tze Tuan Tan, Shao Tong Ling, John A. Donaldson

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Why do poor farmers not take up microcredit loans, even when the terms are designed to be pro-poor? Fieldwork in a village in China’s Guizhou province revealed a puzzle: although the county government had designed a loan program that was intended to be unusually pro-poor, only three of the 349 eligible households had successfully applied. This article analyzes three potential hypotheses: farmer failure (risk aversion or financial illiteracy), market failure (lack of viable or stable market opportunities), and institutional failure (structural or institutional barriers precluding taking up loans). Based on evidence from intensive interviews, we reject the first hypothesis, and …

Customer Satisfaction Index Of Singapore 2019: 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 13th year of measurement.

Predictors Of Returning Filipino Expatriates' Job Success, Ramon Borrero Segismundo

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This dissertation research investigated the potential predictors of returning Filipino expatriates’ and their sustainable job success. This research investigates the extent of firm level differences such as a companies’ global engagement, repatriate support programs and individual differences such as the repatriates’ compensation, alignment of their personal goals with organizational values, and the level of patriotism to predict their job success upon return to the Philippines. The research employed a grounded theory approach to develop the hypotheses and was executed using a survey methodology. The results were analyzed using a variety of quantitative and statistical techniques. A total of 141 respondents …

The Interplay Between Real Estate Prices In Shenzhen, Dongguan And Huizhou, Zhituan Su

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

In recent years, the Chinese government has proposed a national development strategy for the construction of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, which has been beefing up the trend of integrated development of Shenzhen, Dongguan and Huizhou, frontiers of the reform and opening up. Among many other topics, the evolution of the real estate prices in Shenzhen, Dongguan and Huizhou has become a front-burner topic.

In this dissertation focusing on the real estate price in Shenzhen, Dongguan and Huizhou, we have conducted in-depth analysis of the interplay between the real estate price in Shenzhen, Dongguan and Huizhou from such perspectives as …

Urban Complex Value Study Based On Management Practice Of China Central Place, Chao Fang

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

In recent years in China, with the rapid development of China’s economy, the acceleration of urbanization, the extension of city size and the rapid growth of urban population, living conditions, traffic and environment in the cities are getting worse and worse. Under this background, urban complex integrating a series of functions like “living, business, office, tourism, culture and entertainment etc” has become popular with the urban administrators and developers in many cities. According to relevant statistics, by the end of 2015, there had been more than 2000 urban complexes (including the ones which have been completed, the ones which are …

Thailand’S 2019 Vote: The General’S Election, Jacob Ricks

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Thailand's March 2019 ballot was the first for the country since 2011, and for many it signaled the potential end of the military junta's five-year rule. But was it truly a return to democracy? This essay argues that the election was far from a democratization event. Instead, it was a highly orchestrated exercise to ensure authoritarian longevity. The junta employed techniques of institutional engineering as well as managing the election's outcomes in an effort to extend the premiership of Prayuth Chan-ocha despite increasing pressure for a return to civilian rule. The results of the election suggest that Thai society continues …

An Examination Of Corporate Performance And Altman Z-Scores Of Indian Manufacturing Firms, See Liang Foo, Shaakalya Pathak

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

India is a key leading economy in the Asia Pacific region. This study examines the relationship between the financial health, as measured by the Altman Z-Score, and corporate performance, as measured by the Return on Equity (ROE), of listed manufacturing companies in this market. A linear regression has been conducted between these variables to determine the magnitude and direction of their relationships. The trends of Z-Scores over a five-year period have also been analysed. The analysis covers the period from 2013 to 2017 (inclusive) and yields a statistically positive correlation between ROE and the Z-Score for the market. India registered …

Studying The Relationship Between Japanese Firms' Corporate Health And Results, See Liang Foo, Shaakalya Pathak

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Japan is a key leading economy in the Asia Pacific region. This study examines the relationship between the financial health, as measured by the Altman Z-Score, and corporate performance, as measured by the Return on Equity (ROE), of listed manufacturing companies in this market (the Tokyo Stock Exchange). A linear regression has been conducted between these variables to determine the magnitude and direction of their relationships. The trends of Z-Scores over a five-year period have also been analysed. The analysis covers the period from 2013 to 2017 (inclusive) and yields a statistically positive correlation between ROE and the Z-Score for …

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 …

Counselling Referral For University Students: A Phenomenological Study From The Teachers’ Perspective, Poh Yaip Steven Ng, Yee Lin Ada Chung

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This small-scale pilot study analysed the input of two university teachers regarding their approaches, attitudes and understanding regarding counselling referrals for students in a university setting in Singapore. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis, four main categories of themes were defined from the findings: referral procedures, challenges/difficulties, support and awareness. The academic teaching staff has an important role in the holistic development of students by helping them obtain counselling referrals. The key issues raised are outlined for consideration by policymakers, academic teaching staff and practitioners both within and outside of Singapore. The findings are discussed, including …

The Theoretical Foundations Of Judicial Review In Singapore, Wei Yao, Kenny Chng

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Thetheoretical foundation of judicial review of administrative action has been thesubject of fierce debate among English scholars: the source jurisdiction ofmuch of public law in Singapore. In contrast, there is comparatively littleattention paid to the question of the particular theoretical foundations ofjudicial review in Singapore. Indeed, there is an inclination in Singapore caselaw and academia towards importing English theories of judicial review. Accordingly,this paper aims to contribute to the formulation of a proper theoreticalfoundation for judicial review in Singapore. It argues that with a proper understanding of the competing Englishtheories of judicial review, it will be apparent that they are …

Singapore Company Law And The Economy: Reciprocal Influence Over 50 Years, Vincent Ooi, Cheng Han Tan

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

A strong reciprocal relationship has existed between Singapore Company Law (SCL) and the economy since Independence in 1965. Swift Parliamentary responses to economic events and successful implementation of Government policies has made it possible to clearly attribute cause and effect to statutory amendments and economic events in turn, proving the reciprocal relationship between the two. The first theme of this article seeks to explain the fundamental characteristics of SCL that have resulted in such an unusually strong reciprocal relationship: (1) Autochthonous nature of SCL; (2) Responsive nature of legislation; and (3) Government control at multiple levels of implementation. The second …

Taxing "All Other Income" In Singapore And Malaysia, Vincent Ooi

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Section 10(1)(g) of the Singapore Income Tax Act is a ‘sweeping-up’ provision which catches all income not falling under sections 10(1)(a)–(f). More than 50 years after its introduction, the application of section 10(1)(g) is still unclear despite the test laid out in IB v CIT. This article notes that the current jurisprudence is limited to cases involving gains or profits from the disposal of assets. It argues that the reliance on the Australian Myer Emporium test in IB v CIT was misplaced and that the section 10(1)(g) test should not have a sole focus on intention. Rather, it proposes a …

Indigenous Perceptions Of Climate Anomalies In Malaysian Borneo, Terry Van Gevelt, H. Abok, M. M. Bennett, S. D. Fam, F. George, N. Kulathuramaiyer, C. T. Low, T. Zamane

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

Local perceptions of climate anomalies influence adaptation behaviour. Specifically, perceptions that are more accurate and homogenous at the community-level are more likely to facilitate the collective action required to adapt to the local effects of climate anomalies experienced by many indigenous communities. We combine primary data on perceptions of climate anomalies from 200 individuals in six Penan villages in Sarawak, Malaysia with instrumental climate data. We find that perceptions of climate anomalies vary substantially in terms of occurrence and magnitude, and do not generally correlate with instrumental climate data. We operationalise the Penan forest sign language (Oroo’) as a measure …