TopPreface
Since
2008, the economies of many western countries (the United States, eurozone)
have been suffering the dramatic consequences of the international financial
crisis: continuous destruction of employment, high unemployment rates
(especially among young people), the closing-down of small and medium
companies, interventions in banks by central banks, growth of the risk premiums
and intervention in some countries, like Portugal, Greece and Ireland. Spain
suffers in a critical situation too, with more than 5 million unemployed
people, the country is walking towards levels of recession and rumours about a
possible intervention, as happened in other neighbouring European countries
recently.
The earthquake and nuclear disaster that
struck Japan in March 2011 had a negative impact on the Asian economy. Japan is
the world's fourth largest economy (after the EU, U.S. and China), so its
decline would drag down the global economy. This country also hires temporary
workers from South Asian countries, who are now being laid off in droves. In
November 2011 Japan made the decision to intervene in currency markets due to
the appreciation of the yen which was putting Japan’s economic recovery at
risk.
In the Asian
Development Outlook Update 2011 published in September 2011, the Asian
Development Bank trimmed its full year forecast to 7.5% from 7.8%. The 2012
projection is also lowered slightly to 7.5% from 7.7% previously. Some of these
Asian economies observe how this inflation comes closer or exceeds the targets
of the central banks at the time that they experienced a credit boom. Also
there is the latent risk of rising prices of energy and food entering an
inflationary spiral.
Undoubtedly the Asian economies are going to
have an essential role in the economic recovery of the Euro area and USA. For
this reason to know its economic policies, models of economic development,
tendencies in management of companies and influence of the new information
technologies will be of strategic interest. But not only to look at the top
emergent markets but also to other countries that can provide surprises in the
future, as are Bhutan, Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar and Vietnam.
In most academic journals on economics and
business available in the libraries of European and North American universities
there is little research published by authors from these countries. For example,
Bhutan is developing the philosophy of the Gross National Happiness (GNH), an
index measuring the happiness of the inhabitants of the country. Also Bhutan is
implementing a tourist policy designed to attract quality tourism (“high value,
low impact” policy) and at the same time trying to maintain its ancestral
traditions and protect the beautiful natural environment of the country.
Nevertheless, there is little knowledge about these issues in Europe and the
United States. It would be very interesting to know about empirical researches
on these topics and learn from their experiences.
The main emerging markets (China, India,
Brazil, Indonesia, Philippines, Poland, Mexico, Russia, South Korea, South
Africa and Turkey) are redeeming a critical role in the economic global
recovery. Some experts point out that India may become the fastest growing
major economy in the world till 2012 and will be the 3rd largest by gross
domestic product within the next two decades, behind China and the United
States.
Nevertheless the help of the emerging Asian
markets – the two most important ones are China and India --, to getting out of
the recession in other economies, might be affected if the crisis in Europe
continues, as pointed out recently Christine Lagarde, the president of the
International Monetary Fund (IMF). The decrease of the demand from Europe and
the United States begins to be a reason to worry for Asian countries.
THE BIRTH OF THE JOURNAL
In
2010, the International Journal of Asian
Business and Information Management (IJABM) came to light. It is an
academic journal published quarterly by IGI Global. The mission of the journal
is to establish an effective channel of communication between academic and
research institutions, policy makers, government agencies, and individuals
concerned with the complexities of Asian business, information technologies,
sustained development, and globalization.
The journal provides in-depth analysis on the
globalization and sustained development of Asian commerce and management technologies
with a clear international and interdisciplinary approach. A comprehensive
resource for policy makers, government officials, academicians, and
practitioners, this journal contains a wealth of valuable research on theories
and practices which underpin successful business and management in Asia. International Journal of Asian Business and
Information Management promotes and coordinates developments in the field
of Asian studies, as well as presents strategic roles of information
technologies and management towards sustainable development with special focus
on practical aspects in Asia.
The Editor in Chief of International Journal of Asian Business and Information Management
is Patricia Ordóñez de Pablos (The University of Oviedo, Spain). The Associate
Editors are Dasho Karma Ura (Centre
for Bhutan Studies, Bhutan), W.B. Lee (The Polytechnic University of Hong Kong,
Hong Kong) and Jose Luis de Sales Marques (Institute of European Studies of
Macau, Macau).
The Editorial Board of the International Journal of Asian Business and
Information Management is formed by leading academics and experts mostly
from China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Philippines and Taiwan. The members of the
Editorial Board were chosen following a review process of CVs submitted by
those interested in joining the Editorial Board of the new journal in 2009. The
Editorial Board members are Ilan Alon (Rollins College, USA), Siah Hwee Ang
(The University of Auckland Business School, New Zealand),Rolando T. Dy
(University of Asia and the Pacific, Philippines), David S. Hong (Taiwan
Institute of Economic Research, Taiwan), Rabindra Ku Jena (Institute of
Management Technology, India), Lluís Jovell, (Universidad Autónoma de
Barcelona, Spain), Vicent Kong (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, New
Zealand), J.P. Li (CEO China, China), Mingfang Li (California State University
Northridge, USA), Jyhjong Lin (Ming Chuan University, China), Kai Meng Mok
(University of Macau, Taipa), Maria Fernanda Pargana Ilheu (ChinaLogus,
Portugal), Hong-Chi Shiau (Shih-Hsin University, Taiwan), Danchi Tan (National
Cheng-Chi University, Taiwan), Jonathan Unger (Australian National University,
Australia), Chihiro Watanabe (Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan), Wei Ping
Wu (Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong), Qingrui Xu (Zhejiang University,
China), Xi Zhang (Institute of Policy and Management, CAS, China), Xiaoyang
Zhang (The Open University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong), Jing-Yuan Zhao (Harbin
Institute of Technology, China) and Wang Zhiwei (Ministry of Education of China,
China). It is our duty to thank all of them for their generous work for this
academic journal in 2010 and we hope they continue collaborating with us in the
future.
The journal focuses on the role of business
and information technologies in Asia and its implications on Asia region,
Asia-European Union relations, Asia-Latin America relations, Asia-USA
relations, business, business ethics, competition in a global economy,
eco-tourism, entrepreneurship, globalization, education and cultural change, human
resource management, information technologies, international trade, leadership,
management, competitive, technological, social, and political environments, new
technologies and new modes of e-learning, organization structure, planning
processes, resource allocation, strategic decision processes and sustained
development.
Currently the International Journal of Asian Business and Information Management
is indexed in Bacon's Media Directory, DBLP, Google Scholar, The Index of
Information Systems Journals, INSPEC, MediaFinder, The Standard Periodical
Directory and Ulrich's Periodicals Directory.
During the first year of life of the academic
journal numerous manuscripts have been received for review. In particular, the
journal received more than 100 manuscripts, most of them written by researchers
located in East Asia and South Asia, mainly from China and India. All submitted
manuscripts were initially reviewed by the Editor in Chief or one of the
Associate Editors. If the topic of the paper fits with the aims and scope of
the journal and it offers added value to the field of research, then the paper
is sent for review to two anonymous reviewers, to follow a double-blind peer
review process. The International Journal
of Asian Business and Information Management has a pool of reviewers with
different areas of expertise. When a paper is submitted for review, our goal is
to choose reviewers experts in the topic and also with a good knowledge of the
economy, market or country where the paper is focused. After a double blind
review process, only twenty papers were accepted for publication in 2010.
CONTENTS OF THE BOOK
In
2010 four issues of the International Journal of Asian Business and Information
Management have been published. The book, Advancing
for Technologies Asian Business and Economics: Information Management
Developments, offers the collection of papers previously published and
classifies them in the following sections: A) Chinese Cultural Values and
Industry; B) Marketing in Asia; C) Economic Development and Investments and D)
Managerial Issues in China. Now we present a summary of contents of the book
chapters included in the four sections mentioned before.
Chinese Cultural Values and Industry
The
Section “Chinese cultural values and industry” offers a collection of seven
chapters that analyses the impact of Chinese cultural values on business in
China and what companies need to learn to overcome the cultural gap when doing
business in this country. Factors such as the Confucianism heritage, the
dynamics of guanxi or social networks
and the importance of reputation are key to understand the success factors of
business in China.
The chapter “Local Milieu in Developing
China's Cultural and Creative Industry: The Case of Nanluoguxiang in Beijing“
by Jici Wang, Chun Zhang, Ching-Ning Wang, and Ping Chen, all from Peking
University (China) studies the role of creative milieu and cultural heritages
in the development of Chinese cultural industry. The chapter covers a case
study of Beijing’s Nanluoguxiang, a zone where several arts institutions and
theatres are located. It suggests that the growth of local creativities in a
transitional economy needs an atmosphere of tolerant and frequent social
gathering, like cafes and bars. It also shows that the newly-built creative
parks might be useful to breed the creative products, but are not necessary.
The chapter, “Australian Businesses in China:
Strategies to Overcome the Cultural Gap,” by Mona Chung and Jane Menzies, both
from Deakin University, (Australia) points a main barrier when doing business
with China: the cultural gap. It studies the strategies that companies can use
when entering the Chinese market. With this aim, the authors develop an
empirical study with 40 Australian organisations that penetrated the Chinese
market. These strategies refer to human resource strategies, dealing with
Chinese staff, relationship building, learning and adapting to local culture,
among others.
The chapter, “Confucianism Values for
Transformational Leadership Development in the Chinese Context,” is written by
Balakrishnan Muniapan and Ee Yaw Seng both from Winburne University of
Technology (Malaysia). Transformational leadership has received a great
attention in the leadership literature during the past two decades. The chapter
examines the importance of Confucianism and its impact in transformational
leadership development. It focuses on the Analects or Lunyu - a collection of sayings by Confucius and dialogs with his
disciples). The Analects provide the essence of Confucianism to explore the
relevant transformational leadership concepts. According to the authors of the
chapter, Confucianism offers an inside-out approach to transformational
leadership development, which is self leadership first, before leadership of
others.
The chapter, “Study on Cultural
Commercialization and Public Consumption: The Case of China,” is written by
Yuhong Li, Jingyuan Zhao and Han Weixi, all from Beijing Union University
(China). The authors analyze the industrialization process of Chinese culture,
probes into the cultural consumption demand and structure in contemporary
China, and analyze the cultural consumption phenomenon of the Chinese public.
It offers advice on the destined cultural commercialization and the development
trend of cultural consumption in China.
Valerie (C. Y.) Zhu (Xi’an Jiaotong
University, China) and Linyan Sun (Xi’an Jiaotong University, China) are the
authors of the chapter, “The Interactive Relationship between Corporate
Cultures, Leadership Style and Knowledge Management.” The chapter studies the
dynamic relationship and effect mechanism between corporate culture, leadership
styles and knowledge management in organizations. It shows that corporate
culture can serve as a propeller or inhibitor in the knowledge management
strategies. For example a knowledge-sharing organizational culture has a
positive effect on knowledge management while hierarchical culture has a
negative impact. Leadership style has an impact (both direct and indirect) on
knowledge management through the formation and components of organizational
culture.
The next chapter is, “Interactive Strategies
for Cultural Heritage Tourism and Macau City Development: the Tourists’
Perspectives,” written by Aliana M. W. Leong (Macau University of Science and
Technology, China) and Jacky X. Li (Macau University of Science and Technology,
China). It analyzes the cultural heritage resources of Macau and the
development of this city. The research analyzes the condition of Macanese
cultural heritage tourism and the challenges and opportunities for its future
development. Using data from a survey of visitors to Macau, the chapter
provides understanding of the tourists’ behaviour, awareness and evaluation of
scenic spots that are part of the cultural heritage tour.
The last chapter of this section is
“Embracing Guanxi: The Literature
Review” by Jilong Zhang and Nattavud Pimpa both from RMIT University
(Australia). It studies the basic differences between Chinese and Western approaches
to business dealings, to identify the factors that make it difficult for
Western managerial practises to develop and use guanxi or social connections. It identifies the differences in the
perception of trust in both societies and how this variable leads to cultural
clashes.
Marketing in Asia
The
section “Marketing in Asia” analyses marketing issues in China. In particular
it has two papers that focus respectively in the Malaysian market and the
effect of Chinese versus German brands.
The section starts with the chapter “A Study
of Customer Satisfaction of an Automotive Company in Malaysia” written by Noor
Azlina Fakiruddin (International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), Malaysia),
Hebat Allah A. Wagih (International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM),
Malaysia), and Waleed F. Faris (International Islamic University Malaysia
(IIUM), Malaysia). It covers an analysis of the current level of customer
satisfaction on the services offered by an automotive outlet in Malaysia. It is
clear that customer satisfaction is one of the most important factors in the
achievement of a long term competitive advantage for firms and organizations.
Customer satisfaction is a dependent variable on how well the product performs.
The authors of the chapter develop a study to understand how companies and
organizations can improve the customer level of satisfaction through providing
continuous efforts to improve their level of service and product productivity.
The other chapter in this section is
“Creating a Chinese ‘Miele’? Asymmetries in the Consumer Perception of Chinese
and German Brands,” written by Cora F. Jungbluth (Heidelberg University,
Germany). It examines the country-of-origin effects of Chinese brands going
international and offers a comparative case study (Haier, a Chinese
manufacturer of white goods, and Miele, a German manufacturer). The image of
China as country of origin may still has a negative connotation. Chinese
government as well as Chinese companies are working hard to change this image.
The chapter discusses if Chinese brands could change this negative image and
how they could do it.
Economic Development and Investments
The
third section of the book (“Economic development and investments”) offers a
collection of eight chapters, analyzing key topics on investments from entry
strategies in the Chinese market to Chinese foreign direct investments.
The first chapter of this section is “Chinese
Investments in Italy: Is the Wave Arriving?” by Francesca Spigarelli
(University of Macerata, Italy). It chapter analyzes the effects of the Go
Global policy in Italy and focus on main type of Chinese investments, their
strategic motivations, as well as the role of ethnic networks. Why does Chinese
investment choose the Italian market? This country can provide an access to
western markets and strategic logistic services industries.
The chapter, “Entry Strategies into the
P.R.C. for Post Recession Wealth Management Service,” is written by Andrew Chan
(City University of Hong Kong, China), and Carlson Chan (City University of
Hong Kong, China). It states that in the current economic situation, banks
seeking to expand wealth management service in the People’s Republic of China
need to evaluate their entry strategies thoroughly to gain a competitive edge.
The authors developed an empirical study with a sample of 227 Taiwanese
nationals based in the People’s Republic of China which suggested three
managerial implications: bank entry identity, deployment of expatriates, and
brand-image position.
Fernanda Ilhéu from ISEG/Technical Universal
of Lisbon in Portugal is the author of the chapter, “Chinese Outward Foreign
Direct Investment: In Search of a New Theory.” It addresses the role of China
as the most attractive developing country for FDI flows, both short and long
term. During the current global financial crisis, China was able to resist
better than other major world economies, clearly profiting from this downturn
to implement policies to reduce its economic imbalances, such as the gap
between Chinese FDI and OFDI, which is now progressively narrowing. The chapter
also explores whether Chinese OFDI can be explained by current theories or if a
new theory is required.
Bradley J. Koch from Grand Valley State
University (USA) is the author of the next chapter titled, “No Strategy is an
Island to Itself: China First-Mover and Other FDI Strategies’ Interaction
Effects.” It examines the first-mover strategy for foreign investment to
determine under what conditions an important effect exists when it is combined
with other foreign investment strategies like partner selection, geographical
market focus, joint-venture control, and resource commitment strategies.
Through a survey data from Sichuan, the results suggest the existence of
significant interaction effects that can delete a first-mover advantage, create
a first-mover effect that previously didn’t exist, or even modify the direction
of this effect.
The chapter, “Study on the New Tendency of
the International Industry Shifts and Chinese Enterprise Implementation
Tactics,” by Jing Sun (Shenyang University, China), and Mingyou Wang (Shenyang
University, China) addresses multinational corporation international industry
shift new tendency and analyzes how China uses the international industrial
shift‘s present situation and the superiority and proposes the development
countermeasure.
The chapter, “Blue Ocean Strategy: A Vehicle
for Entrepreneurship Development and Economic Growth in Rural Areas,” by Vinay
Sharma (Indian Institute of Technology, India), Piyush Seth (Sahara Arts and
Management Academy, India), and Shujauddin Niyazi (Sahara Arts and Management
Academy, India) analyzes the role of entrepreneurship in economic development
of a society with the perspective of Blue Ocean strategy used by organizations
around the world and in particular in Indian rural markets. The chapter also
includes examples of organizations going towards uncontested rural markets and
is suggestive of the crux and the core definition of entrepreneurship in
correlation to the core philosophy of Blue Ocean strategy.
The chapter, “Study on Environmental Tax: A
Case of China,” is written by Huifeng Li (Beijing Union University, China), and
Xuanwei Zhang (Beijing Union University, China). The authors propose that to
solve problems related to ecological destruction and environmental pollution,
the implementation of environmental tax is an effective measure. The chapter
analyses the theoretical foundation of environmental taxes, international
practice and experience in environmental tax system. It also describes the status
quo of the Chinese environmental tax system, and proposes the future strategy
for building this system.
The last chapter of the, “Economic
Development and Investments” Section is “Study on Chinese Low Carbon Economic
Model,” written by Huifeng Li (Beijing Union University, China), and Xiaofang
Wang (Beijing Union University, China). Global warming is a major concerns of
nations and societies as it impacts global ecological balance, social and
economic development, energy security, ecological safety, water and food safety
In this sense, low carbon economy is a new economic development model based on
low energy consumption, low pollution, and low-emission based. This chapter
focuses on the status quo and limits of the low carbon economy in China as well
as the design and implementation strategy of this model.
Managerial Issues in China
Finally
the last section of the book, “Managerial Issues in China”, provides
interesting insights on the management of companies in China, analyzing both
success and failures in this economy. The section is formed by 3 chapters.
The first book chapter of this section is,
“Mutual Guarantee Systems of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in China: An
Application of Self-Organization Theory.” The authors Yi Yang (Beijing Union
University, China), Hong-yan Yan (Beijing Union University, China), and Ze-yun
Yang (Beijing Union University, China) argue that mutual guarantee systems
(MGS) of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) represent a complex system mainly
serving the SMEs, including the mutual guarantee institutions formed by SMEs,
financial institutions, industry associations and credit re-guarantee
institutions. The authors address the self-organization mechanisms and the
self-organization characteristics of openness, far-from-equilibrium,
nonlinearity and fluctuation of mutual guarantee systems of SMEs. It also
provides suggestions to improve the operation efficiency of these systems in
China.
The second chapter of this section is “A
Trilogy of Unfortunate Events in China: Reflecting on the Management of
Crises,” written by Zhang A. Long (China University of Geosciences, China),
William Crandall (University of North Carolina at Pembroke, USA), and John
Parnell (University of North Carolina at Pembroke, USA). The chapter analyzes
three organizational crises that recently occurred in China; the SK-II cosmetic
incident, the Sharon Stone comment on the May 2008 earthquake in China, and the
melamine milk contamination crisis. It presents an overview of each company and
the specific crisis and outlines reflections on the management of these crises
and their cultural context.
Finally the last chapter of the section is
“Implementation Concerns of Scholar-Practitioners: A Pilot Study of the Link
between Research and Practice,” by Claretha Hughes (University of Arkansas,
USA), Jai Wang (Texas A&M University, USA), Wei Zheng (Northern Illinois
University, USA), and Laird McLean (McLean Global Consulting, USA). It shows
the results of a case study with insights from seven scholar-practitioners to
help both human resource development professionals and researchers understand
implementation concerns of scholar-practitioners. The empirical evidence show
scholar-practitioners’ perceptions of their roles, the link between research
and practice, and actions they took to overcome barriers and challenges related
to integrating research and practice.
COMING CHALLENGES OF THE JOURNAL
One
of the goals of the journal for the next years is to increase the interest of
researchers and experts in economy, business, information technologies and
tourism from Bhutan, Cambodia, Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Tibet and
Vietnam, among others, so that they submit their manuscripts with the outcomes
of their recent research activities to the International
Journal of Asian Business and Information Management. Additionally, we
would also like to increase the attention and interest from researchers,
universities and research centres in Central Asia, such as Afghanistan,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and others. Related to this goal is the
organization of Special Issues focused on topics like Buddhism, regional
economics and business; Central Asian countries, geopolitics and business;
climate change, policies and economies in Asia; Confucianism and its impact on
the economies of China and Japan and other Asian countries; corporate social
responsibility and business in Asia; impact of Asian economies in global
business; information technologies and its role in the preservation on cultural
heritage in Asia; information technologies and educational development in Asian
countries; Institutional transitions and strategic responses in Asian
economies; Innovation and technology parks in Asia; and sustained development
in Himalayan countries, among others.
Special issues focused on specific countries,
like Bhutan, Mongolia, Tibet and Afghanistan will be scheduled too, addressing
the role of information technologies in the economic development of these
countries. For example, Afghanistan, one of the world’s poorest countries, has
a post war economy. When foreign spending dries up, the country may lead to
economic depression. Recently the World Bank stated that the current gross
domestic product (GDP) growth of 9% a year in this Central Asian country will
fall to 5-6%. Rapid population growth clearly indicates that, measured by GDP
per person, this land locked country will hardly get any richer in the near
future. Could information technologies based business help to the economic
development of this country that suffered wars for more than 30 years? If so,
what specific policies and actions could contribute to this development?.
Another example is a land locked country too: Lao People’s Democratic Republic.
According to the World Bank, its economy grew an average 6.4% per annum over the
last decade and poverty declined from 46% in 1993 to 27% in 2008. This small
country has undertaken reforms that undertaking reforms that are helping to
embark it on an increasingly sustainable development path. What is the role of
information technologies in this strategic process?
Furthermore we will look for top academics
and experts from these countries to join the Editorial Board of the Journal and
advice on topics of interest related to their country of origin as well as on
potential titles for Special Issues. The journal seeks to increase the current
pool of reviewers with academics from these areas of Asia too.
Additionally the International Journal of Asian Business and Information Management
wants to increase its collaboration with academic and business conferences,
summits and workshops focused on Asia to promote the journal and publish best
papers from these events.