International and Area Studies Commons^™

Customer Satisfaction Index Of Singapore 2010: Full Year Overview, Institute Of Service Excellence, Smu

Research Collection Institute of Service Excellence (2007-2024)

The Customer Satisfaction Index of Singapore (CSISG) has completed its fourth consecutive year of measurement since 2007. Under a quarterly measure and release system with two out of eight sectors measured per quarter, CSISG 2010 scores of companies for the Retail and Info-Communications sectors were released in the first quarter of 2010, Transportation & Logistics and Education sectors released in the second quarter, Food & Beverage and Tourism sectors released in the third quarter, and finally the current release of Finance & Insurance and Healthcare sectors, marking the end of measurement for 2010. The CSISG 2010 national score is computed …

Changes May Mean Slaying Sacred Cows, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Changing may means slaying sacred crows

Liberalization Of Taiwan’S Securities Markets: The Case Of Cross-Taiwan-Strait Listings, Wen-Yeu Wang, Christopher Chao-Hung Chen

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The purpose of this paper is to examine the liberalization of Taiwan’s capital market regarding cross-Taiwan-Strait listing of securities. Taiwan is in an advantageous position to compete with other Asian rivals to attract issuers and capital from China. However, the long political hostility ensures that there is little regulatory cooperation on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. Assuming that the creation of a cross-strait capital market is an unstoppable trend, this paper examines from the perspective of regulatory competition several regimes that may facilitate Taiwan to overcome regulatory obstacles arising from the special Sino-Taiwan relationship. This paper argues that regulatory …

Oral History Interview With Michael Furmston: Conceptualising Smu, Michael P. Furmston

Oral History Collection

The interview covered: first involvement with Singapore and SMU, challenges and opportunities for the law school, faculty recruitment, law research, job opportunities, relationship with legal communities, internships, law building, future developments, dispute resolution.

Biography:

Founding Dean, School of Law, SMU, 2007–present

Professor Michael Furmston became the founding dean of the School of Law in August 2007. The second law school in Singapore, SMU’s undergraduate law programme has been noted for the significant proportion of business and finance courses. Its first students graduated in July 2011. In 2009, a postgraduate law programme was introduced, the juris doctor. During Professor Furmston’s tenure …

Oral History Interview With Ruth Pagell: Conceptualising Smu, Ruth Pagell

Oral History Collection

The interview covered: first involvement with SMU, new library, city campus, role and responsibilities, academic librarians, research support, digital library, PYXIS, changing role of librarians, challenges.

Biography:

Founding University Librarian, SMU, 2005–2011

Ruth A. Pagell served as SMU’s first University Librarian from June 2005 until February 2011. During her time at SMU she led the effort to create a 21st century academic library recognised for enabling university research and teaching. She oversaw the implementation of the digital library (PYXIS) and the institutional repository (InK), and the development of the oral history site. After leaving SMU in February 2011, she moved …

Oral History Interview With Arnoud De Meyer: Conceptualising Smu, Arnoud De Meyer

Oral History Collection

The interview covered: first involvement with Singapore, tertiary education in Singapore, business schools, role of university, city campus.

Biography:

President, SMU, 2010–present

Professor De Meyer became the fourth president of SMU in September 2010. A leader and well-known scholar in management studies, his research interests include manufacturing and technology strategy, management of R&D and innovation, management under conditions of high uncertainty and for novel projects, management and innovation in Asia, the globalisation of Asian firms, and e-readiness in Europe. He publishes widely in academic journals and books.

For twenty three years, Professor De Meyer was associated with INSEAD where he …

Singapore Management University Report To Stakeholders 2011 - 2012, Singapore Management University

Report to Stakeholders

“Student Life” offers exciting updates on undergraduates’ achievements; “Academic Review” shares key news about our faculty and programmes; “Global Profile” surveys how SMU is raising its international profile; and “Horizons” reviews how the University is building strong, lasting relationships with our partners. Each story is a single tile and together they form a mosaic which portrays the creativity, colour and dynamism of SMU today. Three feature articles offer in-depth analysis of the ways SMU is striding towards meeting its strategic goals. The proactive, collaborative efforts of the SMU community are explored in “SMU President’s ‘Want Something, Do Something’ Culture”. A …

Agency And Partnership Law [2010], Pearlie Koh, Stephen Bull

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

No abstract provided.

Analysis Of Singapore's Foreign Exchange Market Microstructure, Chee Wai Wan

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This paper analyses the Singapore foreign exchange market from a microstructure approach. Specifically, by applying and modifying the empirical methodology designed by Bollerslev and Melvin (1994), we examine the relationship between bid-ask spreads and the underlying volatility of the USD/SGD. Our data set comprises high-frequency USD/SGD tick data of three separate years (April-June 1989, April-May 2006, April-May 2009). We found that for the USD/SGD: i) the size of bid-ask spreads are positively related to the underlying exchange rate volatility; ii) the magnitude of the dependence on underlying volatility increases as tick volume increases; and iii) the size of the bid-ask …

Contractual Interpretation In Singapore After Zurich Insurance: Continued Refinement, Yihan Goh

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Ever since Lord Hoffmann’s authoritative restatement of the principles relating to the interpretation of contracts in Investors Compensation Scheme v West Bromwich Building Society, various common law courts and academics have weighed in with their views on two main issues: whether the contextual approach articulated in Investors in fact represents a step forward from the traditional literal approach; and, accepting the operation of the contextual approach, whether there remains room for the exclusion of certain extrinsic evidence in interpreting contracts. But the foremost consideration underpinning these issues is that of the perceived uncertainty which the contextual approach brings. The Singapore …

Making And Unmaking Of Transnational Environmental Cooperation, Yooil Bae, Dong-Ae Shin, Yong-Wook Lee

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

There has been an ongoing debate about how (or through what mechanisms) global environmental norms have influenced domestic political debates that give rise to green policy choices. In particular, effective international environmental cooperation between transnational and domestic NGOs has been recognized as a key to successful environmental movements. In this regard, the central question guiding research on the politics of environmental norms is, under what condition(s) transnational cooperation among NGOs would be more likely to be sustained so as to achieve its goals. This article proposes that one of the mechanisms missing from the debate is a bottom-up approach through …

Not Yet Married: The Implications Of Meanings Of Marriage On Youths In Singapore, Paulin T. Straughan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Marriage is a social construct that takes on different meanings as societies develop and mature. To understand why people get married, it is important that we understand what marriage means. This paper will discuss the social transformation of marriage in Asia using Singapore as a case study. To examine two demographic trends- delayed marriage, and the increasing proportion of people who remain single - this discourse also explores the constraints imposed by contradictions between traditional norms and modern expectations. In the midst of these ideological challenges, there are important implications for the practice of marriage among younger Singaporeans. We see …

Towards A Cleaner Singapore: Sociological Study On Littering In Singapore, Paulin Tay Straughan, Narayanan Ganapathy, Daniel Goh, Everold Hosein

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Keeping Singapore clean has always been the priority of the National Environment Agency (NEA). We have made much progress over the years, but as Singapore's population grows amid changing demographics, littering remains a concern.

Evolving With The Times: The Changing Landscape Of Work Life Integration In Singapore, Paulin Tay Straughan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This year, we celebrate 10 years of our journey and look toward a new chapter in our history as we communicate the relevance and increasing importance of Work-Life strategies for developing human capital today. We consolidated research studies on Work-Life Integration to date so as to understand what has been accomplished in this field and set directions and trends for future research. We commissioned A/P Paulin Tay Straughan, Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences and Deputy Head of the Department of Sociology at the National University of Singapore, to conduct this research. The study unearthed several interesting …

Responsibility Of Schools In Dispensing Equal Justice: A Singapore Case Study, Rathna Nathan

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The gap between the needs of indigents and the state subsidised legal services or pro bono legal services exist in all societies. Traditionally, the state and the legal fraternity have assumed responsibility to bridge this gap. Law schools have traditionally and culturally confined themselves to the academic instruction of the law. This paper considers whether law schools have an equal responsibility to plug this gap. Four main issues are considered. First, law schools have a professional responsibility to instill legal professionalism in law students, which includes educating students in a pro bono culture. Second, these responsibilities can be effectively discharged …

The Shareholder’S Personal Claim: Allowing Recovery For Reflective Loss, Pearlie Koh

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

An absolute application of the no reflective loss principle can result in unfairness. As such, retaining judicial discretion in the area will do much to ensure that genuine causes are not denied remedy. However, even as our courts appear prepared to allow a shareholder to recover for reflective loss, it is important that corporate autonomy is accorded due respect, and not be obscured by an overconsideration of policy concerns. To ensure this, the courts should allow recovery only if the right asserted by the shareholder is one that is separate and independent of the company’s right.

An Impregnable Fortress? Possible Attacks On The Singapore Trust?, Hang Wu Tang

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In the past ten years, Singapore has emerged as one of the most important wealth management centres in Asia.1 This development can be attributed to a number of factors. First, favourable laws were enacted to encourage high net worth individuals to ‘park’ their money in Singapore. These include changes to laws governing trust companies, confidentiality, taxation rules with regard to foreign earned income, abolition of estate duty and amendments to the Trustees Act.2 Secondly, both the private and public sectors embarked on an aggressive marketing campaign to promote Singapore as a wealth management centre.3 Thirdly, Singapore has one of the …

The Unresolved Legality Of Online Gambling In Singapore, Siyuan Chen

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This article addresses what appears to be a hitherto (legislatively and judicially) unresolved issue in a country where gambling is an established sub-culture – the legality of online gambling. The existing legislation does not provide direct answers, and as a result, the courts have not been given the opportunity to answer the question directly either. The police have previously made a few statements to the press and the media, but what should we make of them? While placing bets with unauthorised bookies (including those who operate their own website or use others’ websites) is clearly outlawed, leaving the offender with …

Maintaining Faith In Agency Under Immutable Constraints: Cognitive Consequences Of Believing In Negotiable Fate, Evelyn Wing-Mun Au, Chi-Yue Chiu, Avinish Chaturvedi, Leeann Mallorie, Madhu Viswanathan, Zhi Xue, Krishna Savani

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Negotiable fate refers to the idea that one can negotiate with fate for control, and that people can exercise personal agency within the limits that fate has determined. Research on negotiable fate has found greater prevalence of related beliefs in Southeast Asia, East Asia, and Eastern Europe than in Western Europe and English-speaking countries. The present research extends previous findings by exploring the cognitive consequences of the belief in negotiable fate. It was hypothesized that this belief enables individuals to maintain faith in the potency of their personal actions and to remain optimistic in their goal pursuits despite the immutable …

The Road To The Istana, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Assistant professor Eugene Tan highlights the vital importance of Singaporeans being given more time to know candidates who are aspiring to be the nation's next head of state.

Monetary Policy In Singapore And The Global Financial Crisis, Hwee Kwan Chow, Peter Wilson

Research Collection School Of Economics

Prior to the crisis the consensus amongst central bankers in advanced economies was that price stability, in the form of low and stable price inflation, was a top priority for monetary policy and could best be achieved by targeting interest rates (usually overnight) or monetary aggregates, such as Narrow Money (M1) and Broad Money (M2). Liquidity in the banking system could be flexibly adjusted on a daily basis through open market operations to increase or decrease the monetary base which would be transmitted to the rest of the economy through financial intermediation. Financial markets would then adjust longer-term interest rates …

Economic Transition, Higher Education And Worker Productivity In China, Belton Fleisher, Yifan Yu, Haizheng Li, Seonghoon Kim

Research Collection School Of Economics

We investigate the role of education on worker productivity and firms' total factor productivity using a panel of firm-level data from China. We estimate the returns to education by calculating the marginal productivity of workers of different education levels based on estimates of the firm-level production function. We also estimate how the education level of workers and CEO contributes to firms' total factor productivity. Estimated marginal products are much higher than wages, and the gap is larger for highly educated workers. Our estimate shows that an additional year of schooling raises marginal product by 30.1%, and that CEO's education increases …

Mate Preferences In The Us And Singapore: A Cross-Cultural Test Of The Mate Preference Priority Model, Norman P. Li, Katherine A. Valentine, Lily Patel

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Sex differences have been found in mate preferences across several decades. Especially for long-term partners, men tend to value physical attractiveness and women tend to value social status. However, the sexes both value various other traits even more highly. Such findings thus diminish the importance of the sex differences and challenge the theoretical importance that evolutionary psychologists place on physical attractiveness and social status. Using a budget allocation methodology to examine mate preferences in both the US and Singapore, we found not only the usual sex differences, but also evidence that men prioritize physical attractiveness and women prioritize social status …

Impact Of Remittances On Schooling In The Philippines: Does The Relationship To The Household Head Matter?, Tomoki Fujii

Research Collection School Of Economics

The remittance have emerged as one of the most important sources of international flows. In the Philippines, the amount of remittance receipts has more than doubled over a decade since early 1990s. As a result, the way remittances are used has become extremely important for economic development. Unlike the previous studies, we allow for the potential heterogeneity in the impact of remittances across various relationships to the head of household and take into account the potential negative effects of being guarded by someone other than the parents. We find that the impact of remittances on schooling is generally positive and …

Oral History Interview With Tan Chin Tiong: Conceptualising Smu, Chin Tiong Tan

Oral History Collection

The interview covered: first involvement with SMU, changes to concept plan, research, private university, faculty recruitment, challenges, marketing, advertising campaign, autonomous universities, collaboration with Wharton School, schools in SMU, change agent for education landscape, differentiating SMU, SMU students.

Biography:

Provost, SMU, 1999–2008, and Deputy President, SMU, 2007–2009

Member of SMU start-up team

In 1998 Professor Tan Chin Tiong was one of the first three faculty members who joined the start-up team to create what would become Singapore’s third university, SMU. Among his many responsibilities during the planning phase of SMU, he oversaw faculty recruitment, public relations and marketing, and the …

How Communist Is North Korea?: From The Birth To The Death Of Marxist Ideas Of Human Rights, Jiyoung Song

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This article focuses on the Marxist characteristics of North Korea in its interpretation of human rights. The author's main argument is that many Marxist features pre-existed in Korea. Complying with Marxist orthodoxy, North Korea is fundamentally hostile to the notion of human rights in capitalist society, which existed in the pre-modern Donghak (Eastern Learning) ideology. Rights are strictly contingent upon one's class status in North Korea. However, the peasants' rebellion in pre-modern Korea was based on class consciousness against the ruling class. The supremacy of collective interests sees individual claims for human rights as selfish egoism, which was prevalent in …

Religion In The Abortion Discourse In Singapore: A Case Study Of The Relevance Of Religious Arguments In Law-Making In Multi-Religious Democracies, Seow Hon Tan

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The article discusses the social issue on religion in the abortion discourse in Singapore. It mentions the relevance of religious arguments in law-making in multi-religious democracies. It notes that laws on abortion vary across different jurisdictions, like prohibiting abortion under all circumstances to freely allowing it without restriction as to reason.

Mapping 'Chinese' Christian Schools In Indonesia: Ethnicity, Class And Religion, Chang Yau Hoon

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Schools are not ‘‘innocent’’ sites of cultural transmission. They play an active and significant role in transmitting values and inculcating culture. Schools also serve as a site for the maintenance of boundaries and for the construction of identities. Previous studies have recognized the relationship between education and identity. Building on existing literature, this study examines the ways in which Christian schools can be a site for the construction and maintenance of religious, ethnic and class identities of the ethnic Chinese in Indonesia. The study surveys four prestigious ‘‘Chinese’’ Christian schools in Jakarta. Through a brief but thorough profiling of the …

From Peasants To Farmers: Peasant Differentiation, Labor Regimes, And Land-Rights Institutions In China's Agrarian Transition, Q. Forrest Zhang, John A. Donaldson

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The development of factor markets has opened Chinese agriculture for the penetration of capitalism. This new round of rural transformation—China’s agrarian transition— raises the agrarian question in the Chinese context. This study investigates how capitalist forms and relations of production transform agricultural production and the peasantry class in rural China. The authors identify six forms of nonpeasant agricultural production, compare the labor regimes and direct producers’ socioeconomic statuses across these forms, and evaluate the role of China’s land-rights institution in shaping these forms. The empirical investigation presents three main findings: (1) Peasant differentiation : capitalist forms of agricultural production differentiate …

Two Contrasting Approaches In The Interpretation Of Outdated Statutory Provisions, Yihan Goh

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Some statutes in operation today were passed a long time ago. Inevitably, through the passage of time, social norms at the time of enactment may now be unrecognizable. Two recent cases show contrasting approaches towards the interpretation of outdated statutory provisions. The first approach is seen in the Singapore High Court case of WX v.WW. That case concerned the interpretation of section 114 of the Evidence Act, a decidedly ancient statutory provision. The second approach was adopted by the Singapore Court of Appeal in AAG v. Estate of AAH, deceased. In that case, the Court of Appeal had to interpret …