International and Area Studies Commons^™

Analysis On Factors For The Success Of China's Industrial Parks -- "Crown Model" And Its Empirical Research, Ming Qiu

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Since the reform and opening-up policy, China has systematically promoted the development and construction of economic and technological development zones, high-tech industrial development zones, and various types of industry-focused functional parks by drawing on successful international models and integrating them with China’s context. This has been carried out from the central government to local governments to foster the clustering of regional industries, facilitate industrial upgrading, drive large-scale employment, increase GDP, generate continuous tax revenue, and accelerate urbanization. These efforts have been pivotal in transforming local economies and enhancing China’s competitive advantage in the global market. The author, with 20 years …

A Study On Paths And Effectiveness Of Internationalization Of Chinese Apparel Enterprises, Xiaohong Gao

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

As globalization advances, international expansion has become a key strategy for firms to enhance their competitive edge. Nevertheless, current literature predominantly centers on developed countries, often overlooking the distinct obstacles and prospects encountered by companies from emerging markets. This gap is particularly evident in the apparel sector, where the impact of branding strategies on internationalization outcomes remains underexplored. This paper constructs an analytical framework of “internationalization context - internationalization pathway selection - internationalization performance”, combines case studies and empirical analysis to explore this research issue in depth, and applies the results of the research to enterprise practice.

This paper analyzes …

Research On The Economic Performance And Process Optimization Strategies In Chinese Agricultural Enterprises, Zili Xu

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

With the booming digital economy, digital transformation has become a key strategy for global enterprises to enhance competitiveness and optimize economic performance. This dissertation takes Chinese agricultural enterprises as the research subject and deeply explores the impact of digital transformation on corporate economic performance and strategies for business process optimization.

The dissertation first reviews the research progress on the digital transformation of agricultural enterprises. Secondly, it uses qualitative text analysis and machine learning technology to assess the digital level of Chinese agricultural enterprises and analyzes their current status and characteristics. The empirical study employs a fixed-effects model and finds that …

Breaking Up Male-Dominated Collusive Arrangements: Women's Representation In Bureaucracy And Corruption, Beomgeun Cho, Heeun Kim

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

We investigate the impact of women's representation in bureaucracy on corruption. In this study, we demonstrate how women bureaucrats' experiences in male-dominated workplaces contribute to curbing corruption. To do this, we investigate three dimensions of women's representation (average share, average rank, and hierarchical dispersion) in South Korean regional governments. Empirical evidence shows that the higher women bureaucrats are ranked, the more bureaucrats are disciplined against misbehaviors and the lower the corruption risks are in public procurement. The findings imply that having women bureaucrats at higher ranks reduces corruption risks because they disrupt male-dominated collusive arrangements and abide by ethical standards …

On/ In The Ground With Vietnamese Communists: The Cu Chi Tunnels In The Classroom, Wen-Qing Ngoei

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

Undergraduates often arrive in my classes convinced that great men, and a few exceptional women, are the ones who make history. Here, they think of power wielded by presidents, generals, and self-styled geniuses of strategy and diplomacy. (Henry Kissinger’s name invariably bubbles up in class discussions, like it or not.) Perhaps this happens elsewhere? In Singapore, this mindset likely takes root because the country’s record of benevolent authoritarianism underpins the legitimacy and influence of political elites. Equally, male citizens of Singapore perform compulsory military service before entering university and internalize, readily or grudgingly, that rank confers power—it is power—and that …

Food Self-Sufficiency And Building-Integrated Urban Agriculture: Lessons From Singapore, Tomoki Fujii, Christoph Waibel, Xinyi Du, Zhongming Shi

Research Collection School Of Economics

Singapore aims to achieve 30 percent food self-sufficiency by 2030, known as the 30-by-30 target, and this paper reviews Singapore’s changing landscape for urban agriculture and its recent progress towards the 30-by-30 goal, highlighting key challenges such as land constraints, high production costs, and resource limitations. Building-integrated agriculture (BIA), which utilizes building surfaces such as rooftops, façades, and balconies for food production within urban environments, is examined as a potential way to increase self-sufficiency through a simulation. Despite the BIA’s potential, practical issues—including regulatory concerns and infrastructure limitations—must be addressed before it can be implemented at scale. Insights from Singapore’s …

Csr As Hedging Against Institutional Transition Risk: Corporate Philanthropy After The Sunflower Movement In Taiwan, Yishu Cai, Lori Yue, Fangwen Lin, Shipeng Yan, Haibin Yang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Firms with political connections to a regime with an authoritarian history face a dilemma when the regime undergoes a democratic transition. Such connections provide an essential competitive advantage when the regime is in power but become a liability when an institutional transition brings democratic change. This study theorizes that when mass protests expose a regime’s distorted policies favoring elites over others and signal a high probability of regime turnover, firms may hedge against the risks associated with their political connections by engaging in philanthropy. We further contend that this effect is stronger for firms located in regions characterized by the …

Law, Politics, And The Academy In Asia: Navigating Constraints As Public Law Scholars, De Maartje Visser, Qian Liu, Victor V. Ramraj

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

How do academics interested in the study of legal topics that implicate the state relate to and deal with pressures that shape the space available to conduct research? This article examines the nature and impact of such pressures on Asia-focused public law scholars who must contend with a more diverse socio-political environment than the liberal democratic setting in which questions of academic freedom are typically explored. We find that the Asia-centric academy is affected by a wide range of constraints that notably extends beyond intra-institutional demands to those put in place by the state. This article also highlights how the …

Director Overseas Experience And Cross-Border Acquisitions: Evidence From China, Liu Chenxi, Mengyao Kang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This study investigates the impact of director overseas experience on firms’ cross-border acquisition decisions. We find that firms with directors who have overseas experience tend to engage in more cross-border acquisitions. This finding remains robust across various types of overseas experience. This correlation is unlikely to be influenced by omitted variable biases or driven by reverse causality, where firms deliberately employ directors with overseas experience before initiating cross-border acquisitions. Additionally, director overseas experience is associated with higher announcement returns and enhanced post-merger performance. Further analysis reveals that director overseas experience affects cross-border acquisition decisions primarily through the cultural inclusivity channel. …

How Strategic Investors Drive The Transformation And Upgrading Of China's Automotive Industry, Gongwei Wang

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This dissertation conducts a systematic study on the successful transformation and upgrading of China's automotive industry over the past decade, especially the remarkable progress made in the field of Electric and Intelligent Vehicles, and examines how China's automotive industry chain has seized the historical opportunity of the great transformation of the global automotive industry by “Four Modernizations”—electrification, intelligentization, lightweighting and modularization along the path of "Independent Innovation", and realized the overall improvement of both corporate performance and industrial strength under the synergy of strategic investors.

China has newly become the world's largest automotive exporter and successfully built up an advantageous …

Technology-Enhanced Personalized Learning: Lessons From Online Teaching At Three South-East Asian Universities, Kiran Kaur, Rohaida Mohd Saat, Lieven Demeester, Magdeleine Lew, Wei Leng Neo, Nopphol Pausawasdi, Thasaneeya Ratanaroutai Nopparatjamjomras

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic compelled many instructors to seek efficient and effective ways to stay connected with their students and improve the learning experience by using a wide range of available technologies. This multiple-case study, in three South-East Asian universities, investigated whether the use of technology in university teaching and learning during that period influenced personalized learning, and if so, how. The study also explored the kinds of institutional support for teachers and learners that led to increased technology-enhanced personalized learning (TEPL). Using a qualitative approach, the study analyzed 23 individual interviews and 3 document analyses (circulars, announcements, …

Comparing Smart City Data Protection Approaches: Digital Consent And The Accountability Framework In Singapore, Wenxi Zhang, Sharanya M Shanmugam, J.G. Allen

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Traditionally, there has been heavy reliance on formal notice and consent models for data protection regimes. However, consent (in particular digital consent) is rarely extended meaningfully in practice, due to behavioural factors including data subjects’ limited cognitive capacity, rational apathy, and dependency on the digital infrastructure around them. Synthesizing legal perspectives with insights drawn from the behavioural and social sciences, this article analyzes the consent problem in the smart city context, where it is exacerbated due to prevailing issues such as economic disincentives for ensuring meaningful consent, since essential urban infrastructure is often provided by private companies. Recognizing the shortcomings …

Managed Diversity Along The Legal Silk Road: The Asean-Asia Relationship In International Arbitration, Mark Mclaughlin

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Efforts to foster closer economic integration often focus on the alignment of standards with respect to goods and services. The harmonization of substantive regulations mitigates the inevitable friction caused by moving assets from one jurisdiction to another. In this chapter, it is argued that interna- tional arbitration plays a similar function in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-Asia relationship. By providing a neutral and reliable forum for dispute resolution, international arbitration helps manage legal diversity by creating a ‘Legal Silk Road’ on which commercial parties can engage with a familiar dispute resolution process without having to engage the local …

Data And Digitalization In Energy Efficiency Policy Design: The Case Of Singapore, Ishani Mukherjee, Diandrea Ho

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Overarching and broad policy goals for enhancing energy efficiency have existed globally over the last 50 years as a response to rising energy demands, heightening costs, and construction levels of residential and commercial buildings, and the associated rises in greenhouse gas emissions from energy use (Levine et al., 2007; World Bank, 2010). Buildings, in particular, have been widely recognized as offering the greatest potential for reducing energy use and related greenhouse gas emissions, followed by reduced energy consumption in manufacturing, appliances, electronic goods, and end-users of electricity (Levine, 2007; IEA, 2010). And while significant technological strides have been made globally …

Consumption Responses To Income Shocks Through Lottery Winning, Seonghoon Kim, Kanghyock Koh

Research Collection School Of Economics

We study the effects of lottery winning on consumption spending using newly available household survey data in Singapore. We find strong consumption responses to a transitory income shock via lottery wins. Lottery winners spend about half of their prizes within 12 months of winning. We show that consumption responses are stronger among households with more binding liquidity constraints and less risk aversion, which is consistent with the standard life-cycle model. The strong consumption response suggests that fiscal stimulus policies or other public transfer programs could be an effective means of boosting consumption spending of the economy in the short run.

Geographic Distance And State's Grip: Information Asymmetry, State Inattention, And Firm Implementation Of State Policy, Xiyi Yang, Heli Wang, Xiaoyu Zhou

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

In this study, we develop the argument that geographic distance between the state and local governments undermines the state's capacity to influence the implementation of state policies by local organizations. Drawing from information economics and the attention-based view, we propose that physical distance reduces the state's monitoring effectiveness through two interrelated mechanisms: information asymmetry and state leaders' inattention to distant issues. Using data of Chinese public firms' implementation of environmental activities between 2008 and 2016, we find that firms conduct fewer environmental activities required by the state when they are regulated by local governments that are more geographically distant to …

Producer-Oriented And Consumer-Oriented Alternative Food Networks And Rural Revitalization In China: Distinct Trajectories And Variegated Impacts, Meiling Wu, Qian Forrest Zhang

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Alternative food networks (AFNs) have been increasingly perceived as an engine for rural revitalization, yet AFNs can differ in their founding motivations, operational methods, and organizational forms, which thus produce varying economic, social, and environmental outcomes. Despite this, the complexity of AFNs in the role of rural revitalization remains surprisingly under-researched. This study, drawing a distinction between producer-oriented and consumer-oriented AFNs in China, explores the dynamics of how producer-oriented and consumer-oriented AFNs are formed and give rise to distinct trajectories of rural revitalization. When AFNs prioritize producers' pursuit of alternatives to conventional agrifood systems over merely catering to urban consumers’ …

Island Platforms And The Hyper-Terrestrialisation Of Singapore's Smart City-State, Orlando Woods, Tim Bunnell, Lily Kong

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

This paper foregrounds the importance of underlying territorial formations in realising a vision of the smart city. It argues that as a political technology of the state, territory should be understood as a platform upon which data works and the smart city unfolds. In this view, island territories – of which bordered city-states like Singapore provide paradigmatic examples – provide an integral, yet hitherto unexplored, component in the realisation of urban “smartness”. We illustrate these theoretical arguments through an analysis of how the territorial constraints that characterise Singapore’s island platform enable the state to accurately and effectively realise its vision …

Singapore Management University Report To Stakeholders 2024/25, Singapore Management University

Report to Stakeholders

Titled “SMU at 25: Celebrating Innovation and Impact”, this year’s report marks the University’s 25th anniversary alongside Singapore’s 60th year of independence. It showcases SMU’s progress in education, research, innovation and societal engagement, and how the University continues to shape meaningful impact in Singapore and across Asia.

Impact Assessment Of Uniqlo’S Neighbours Helping Neighbours, Weng Lin Ng, Dalvin Sidhu

Lien Centre for Social Innovation: Research

The UNIQLO Neighbours Helping Neighbours (NHN) is a pilot programme that redistributes recycled UNIQLO products to those in need. Preloved UNIQLO clothing in good condition are collected, washed and pressed, and then redistributed to partnered social service organisations and family service centres for donation to their core beneficiaries.

The objective of the current study is to document and evaluate the impact of the NHN programme on its beneficiaries and present evidence-based recommendations that will aid UNIQLO’s efforts to improve and scale subsequent iterations of this programme.

This report will present results obtained from the following data sources: (1) a quantitative …

Governing Intelligence: Singapore’S Evolving Ai Governance Framework, Jason G. Allen, Jane Loo, Jose Luna

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This paper provides an outline analysis of the evolving governance framework for Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Singapore. Across the Singapore government, AI solutions are being adopted in line with Singapore’s “Smart Nation Initiative” to leverage technology to make impactful changes to the nation and the economy. In tandem, Singaporean authorities have been assiduous to release a growing number of governance documents, which we analyse together to chart the city-state’s approach to AI governance in international comparison. Characteristics of Singapore’s AI governance approach include an emphasis on consensusbuilding between stakeholders (particularly government and industry but also citizens) andvoluntary or “quasi” regulation, …

How Can Chinese Culture Go Abroad? Evidence From Successful Establishment Of Chinese Academic Foreign Translation Projects, Tian Lan

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Compared to Chinese economy scale, the global understanding and recognition of Chinese culture are quite superficial, it is crucial to promote Chinese culture go abroad through academic exchanges between China and other countries. This study explores and validates the relationship and applicability of Chinese culture “Going Global” based on the translation project of Chinese academic works. Through case analysis and the development of data models, it aims to provide theoretical guidance and practical tools for relevant institutions and individuals.

The study begins with qualitative research on cases, describing and analyzing typical examples to demonstrate how Chinese Academic Translation (CAT) projects …

Risk Spillover Effect Of China-Asean Supply Chains: Insights Of Industrial Transfer, Zeyang Bian, Yuning Zhang, Keng Siau, Yaqian Zhang, Jianjia He

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

As labour costs in China increase, labour-intensive industries are migrating to ASEAN countries, attracted by lower labour costs and market potential. This shift not only affects the economies of China and ASEAN but also reshapes the global manufacturing landscape. This paper investigates the correlation and spillover of supply chain risks using production exposure indicators derived from inter-country input-output data and the R-Vine Copula model. We assess the risk spillover of each country within the global supply chain. Our findings indicate that industrial relocation can significantly alter supply chain structures, thereby affecting the concentration and direction of risks. While China's role …

Diaspora Politics And A Rising China: Ambivalent Ties Amid Geopolitical Changes, Jiaqi M. Liu

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Over the past decade, the rise of China on the global stage has witnessed the emergence of members of the Chinese diaspora as new meso-level actors in mediating Sino-Western relations. As part of China’s burgeoning “public diplomacy” around the globe, Chinese migrants organize cultural events to establish grassroots and semi-official exchanges between China and the West. This chapter provides a state-of-the-art examination of so-called “diasporic public diplomacy” whereby the Chinese diaspora plays an increasingly important role in promoting China’s soft power abroad. Based on long-term fieldwork in a prominent emigrant community, I analyse how Chinese national policies envision two specific …

China's Global Leadership Aspirations And Domestic Support For Climate Policy, Chen Xiang, Terry Van Gevelt

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

In recent years, China has pivoted towards a global leadership role in mitigating and adapting to climate change. Notwithstanding the complex political economic reasons underlying China's global leadership aspirations, we are interested in seeing whether the associated national discourse championed by the state increases domestic support for climate policy. That is, do China's international leadership aspirations foster a unifying sense of national pride among the domestic population, thereby lending support to the legitimacy of the state and expediting the implementation of costly domestic climate policies? To test our hypothesis, we enumerated a vignette experiment embedded with conjoint analysis to a …

China, Feminism, And The Legacy Of Confucius, Sor-Hoon Tan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

As the double burden of paid work and family demands leads Chinese women to think twice about marriage and children, we can rush to blame Confucianism’s sexism. But this is a mistake, writes Sor-hoon Tan. We need to separate Confucian philosophy from the oppressive patriarchal norms of its time. Confucian values of care and cultivation can enrich today’s feminism and support equal opportunities for all.

Smu At 25: Celebrating A Legacy Of Innovation And A Bold Vision For The Future, Singapore Management University

SMU Press Releases and News

Twenty-five years ago, Singapore Management University (SMU) started out as a bold experiment in transforming the higher education in Singapore. Today, it has already gained the recognition of being a globally recognized institution at the forefront of transformative education and cutting-edge research, shaping future leaders in Asia and beyond. As SMU marks this milestone, the university is not just reflecting on its achievements but charting a path forward with renewed purpose.

Smu Announces New Leadership Appointments: Mr Kuok Khoon Ean And Justice Judith Prakash, As Pro-Chancellors, Singapore Management University

SMU Press Releases and News

Singapore Management University (SMU) is pleased to announce key leadership appointments that will further strengthen its governance and strategic direction. These appointments underscore SMU’s commitment to delivering excellence in education, research, and community engagement. Effective 1 January 2025, SMU welcomes two distinguished individuals, Mr Kuok Khoon Ean and Justice Judith Prakash, as Pro-Chancellors.

Equitable Obligations And Property In Choice Of Law, Tiong Min Yeo

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This chapter argues against the unitary characterisation, for choice of law purposes, of equitable principlesas they apply to claims relating to property as either property or obligation, and that they should be characterised as property or obligation in accordance with the functions of the equitable principles in each instance.

Andrew Phang (Gen. Ed.), Pioneer, Polymath And Mentor: The Life And Legacy Of Yong Pung How, Kwan Ho Lau, Bryan Leow

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Many know the story of modern Singapore in broad outline. When the country attained independence in 1965, it was not industrialised and fishing villages still dotted the landscape. By 1990, GDP per capita had risen to around US$13,000, far exceeding its neighbours and on par with Hong Kong and New Zealand. A further three decades on, Singapore today boasts gleaming skyscrapers, well-developed infrastructure and a high degree of trust by residents and investors alike in its government.