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The economic crisis of 1997 called East Asia's economic miracle into question and generated widespread criticism of the region's developmental models. However, the crisis did little to alter the growing economic integration of American, Japanese and Chinese firms who have created cross-border production networks. This book addresses the changing nature of high-tech industries in Asia, particularly in the electronics sector, where such networks are increasingly designed to foster and to exploit the region's highly heterogenous technology, skills and know-how. Michael Borrus is Co-Director of the Berkeley Roundtable on International Economics (BRIE), at the University of California, Berkeley, and Adjunct Professor at Berkeley in Management of Technology. Dieter Ernst is Research Fellow at Copenhagen Business School, Denmark and Senior Research Fellow at BRIE. Stephen Haggard is Professor at the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies, and Research Director at the Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation at the University of California, San Diego.

This book addresses the changing nature of high-tech industries in Asia, particularly in the electronics sector. Its up-to-date findings will be invaluable to those involved in management, production networks and corporate strategy

The Business of Culture examines the rise of Chinese cultural entrepreneurs, businesspeople who risked financial well-being and reputation by investing in multiple cultural enterprises in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Rich in biographical detail, the interlinked case studies featured in this volume introduce three distinct archetypes: the cultural personality, the tycoon, and the collective enterprise. These portraits reveal how rapidly evolving technologies and growing transregional ties created fertile conditions for business success in the cultural sphere. They also highlight strategies used by cultural entrepreneurs around the world today.

This title examines the importance of cultural meaning in the creation and utilization of economic value. The authors demonstrate that micro-scale entrepreneurship in insular Southeast Asia is culturally embedded, and suggest theoretical convergences between economic anthropology and economic sociology.

One of humanity's most important milestones was the transition from hunting and gathering to food production and permanent village life. This Neolithic Revolution first occurred in the Near East, changing the way humans interacted with their environment and each other, setting the stage, ultimately, for the modern world.Based on more than thirty years of fieldwork, this timely volume examines the Neolithic Revolution in the Levantine Near East and the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. Alan H. Simmons explores recent research regarding the emergence of Neolithic populations, using both environmental and theoretical contexts, and incorporates specific case studies based on his own excavations. In clear and graceful prose, Simmons traces chronological and regional differences within this land of immense environmental contrasts-woodland, steppe, and desert. He argues that the Neolithic Revolution can be seen in a variety of economic, demographic, and social guises and that it lacked a single common stimulus.Each chapter includes sections on history, terminology, geographic range, specific domesticated species, the composition of early villages and households, and the development of social, symbolic, and religious behavior. Most chapters include at least one case study and conclude with a concise summary. In addition, Simmons presents a unique chapter on the island of Cyprus, where intriguing new research challenges assumptions about the impact and extent of the Neolithic.The Neolithic Revolution in the Near Eastconveys the diversity of our Neolithic ancestors, providing a better understanding of the period and the new social order that arose because of it. This insightful volume will be especially useful to Near Eastern scholars and to students of archaeology and the origins of agriculture.

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate e-commerce as a new means to ensure that the urban demand for food can be met during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak. Because a number of COVID-19 e-commerce models have emerged, this paper discusses whether and (if so) why and how e-commerce can ensure the food supply for urban residents if social distancing becomes a norm and the transport and logistics systems are hindered.Design/methodology/approachThis study used qualitative research methods following the lack of empirical data. The authors referred to relevant literature, statistical data and official reports and comprehensively described the importance of e-commerce in ensuring the safety of food supply to Chinese urban residents under the impact of the epidemic. Corresponding to the traditional case study, this study presented a Chinese case on ensuring food supply through e-commerce during an epidemic.FindingsThe authors found that three e-commerce models played a substantial role in preventing the spread of the epidemic and ensuring the food supply for urban residents. The nationwide e-commerce platforms under market leadership played their roles by relying on the sound infrastructure of large cities and its logistics system was vulnerable to the epidemic. In the worst-affected areas, particularly in closed and isolated communities, the local e-commerce model was the primary model, supplemented by the unofficial e-commerce model based on social relations. Through online booking, centralized procurement and community distribution, the risk of cross infection could be effectively reduced and the food demand could be effectively satisfied. The theoretical explanation further verifies that, apart from e-commerce, a governance system that integrates the government, e-commerce platform, community streets and the unofficial guanxi also impels the success of these models.Originality/valueLessons from China are drawn for other countries struggling to deliver food to those in need under COVID-19. The study not only provides a solution that will ensure constant food supply to urban residents under the COVID-19 epidemic but also provides some reference for the maintenance of the food system of urban residents under the impact of a globalization-related crisis in future.

This title is part of an initiative by the World Bank to develop standard indicators to measure the performance and soundness of the financial sector in the South Asia region and help pinpoint where performance is strong and where improvements are most needed. Phases I, II, and III, completed with active support and assistance from regulatory authorities in South Asia, compiled a standard set of finance indicators for five countries: Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. This first formally published volume encompasses Phase IV of the study, which updates all indicators under the four categories of access to finance, performance and efficiency, stability, and corporate governance, and adds two new categories: capital market developments, and market concentration and competitiveness. The addition of these measures provides a new and more holistic perspective on getting finance in South Asia, and also helps improve our understanding of the financial systems in South Asian countries. Countries in South Asia have undertaken reforms to reduce government ownership of financial institutions, bring prudential regulations in line with international norms, and strengthen banking supervision. These reforms have borne results. This volume shows that commercial banks in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka generally expanded access to finance and improved their performance and efficiency, stability, corporate governance, and market concentration and competitiveness over the period from 2001 to 2006. But results vary widely across and even within these areas, as shown by the countries' rankings on the indicators, which show that, with the notable exception of India, South Asian domestic debt markets are still at an early stage of development.

The fisheries industry has been one of the most immediate and severely impacted sectors by the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns in particular. This study aimed to gather detailed information about the new initiatives that, preferentially on an online basis, emerged worldwide to trade fish and seafood. A special focus was applied on the usefulness of the digital tools in Portugal, which was considered as a case study. From a global view, the European countries resulted in being especially active to launch nationwide campaigns promoting the domestic consumption of fishing products. A total of 122 digital initiatives, distributed among 48 countries, mainly in America, Southern Europe, southeast Asia, and Oceania, were recorded all over the world to sell fish and seafood. Social media (33.6%), mainly though Facebook, WhatsApp, phone, and e-mail (25.4%) were the main channels used for this purpose. In Portugal, the entity responsible for the first-sale of fishing products allowed free access to the five online auctions that operate nowadays in this country. As expected, in 2020, this digital space experienced an increase in both users (94%) and volume of traded products (121%) compared to the previous year. Moreover, eight Portuguese online shops specializing in fresh fish and seafood, operating exclusively on an online basis, were identified in this study. In general, all of them reported an increase in new users during the first lockdown and were required to recruit additional employees to fulfil the added demand. In parallel, questionnaire surveys conducted in this study revealed that only 33% of the Portuguese fisher associations and producers organizations looked for new technologies as a valuable tool during the pandemic situation, being significantly more valued in the Northern region compared to the rest of the country. Aligned with this perception, 57% of fisher trainees in the Northern coast of Portugal opined that the pandemic changed their view on how the fishing catches can be traded, one way being the use of digital tools considered by the majority as an asset to face the arisen challenges. In conclusion, the key role globally played by digital tools to overcome many of the limitations posed by the pandemic, particularly for the small-scale fisheries, is evident. This recent open-minded environment for technological transition is an undoubted advantage for the future generation of fishers to modernize the classic trade channels into more functionally diversified supply chains.

Electronic commerce (e-commerce) is one of the fastest-growing businesses in the retail sector, especially in Asia. Owing to intense competition, retailers seek to consolidate all customer touchpoints into a single channel to enhance customer shopping experience. The omnichannel has emerged as a key strategic weapon in e-commerce retail business because its adoption hinges on customer perceptions of omnichannel logistics service quality. By drawing on an integrated importance-performance analysis, and a three-factor theory framework, this study examines how customers perceive and assess this quality. A leading e-commerce retailer in Thailand was used in the empirical study. Through a comprehensive literature review, 19 omnichannel logistics service quality attributes were determined based on customer shopping journeys. The attributes were categorized into four quadrants using importance-performance analysis and three-factor theory. As a result, attributes in each quadrant required different management schemes. Furthermore, performance benchmarking in customer satisfaction with omnichannel logistics service quality attributes between the case study and its best competitor was conducted using a performance ratio analysis. This study contributes to the omnichannel logistics literature in terms of assessing customer satisfaction; for e-commerce retail businesses, it provides insights into how managers can win customer satisfaction in the omnichannel logistics competition. Other business sectors that aim to improve customer satisfaction can also apply the framework proposed herein.

Purpose This paper aims to explore FinTech and its dynamic transitions in the banking industry. In particular, the study analyses the systemic innovation nature of FinTech-based innovations. The main contribution of this research study is the development of systemic innovation model which can be used as a dynamic tool to track the progress and pattern of technology development and diffusion. The research also discusses the latest financial innovation of PromptPay FinTech – the e-payment system in Thailand. Design/methodology/approach This research uses the case study approach to analyse the systemic innovation characteristics of FinTech-based innovations. This research offers a new systemic innovation model which is developed and can be used as a dynamic tool to track the progress and pattern of technology development and diffusion. The study uses FinTech-based innovations as case study samples to gain a better understanding concerning the systemic characteristics and the pattern of technology diffusion under the analytical framework of systemic innovation model. This research involves qualitative interviews with five major commercial banks in the financial services industry of Thailand. Findings The analyses of findings show the systemic characteristics of FinTech-based innovations in the banking industry, both at a global scale and Thailand case. The analyses have shown that systemic characteristics of the innovation process are the outcome of interactions between the complexity of the innovation and the capabilities of innovators in managing the innovation. The insightful implications on the systemic nature of innovation give the trend and direction of FinTech-based innovation development in the banking industry. Originality/value The main contribution which shows originality and value of this paper is the development of systemic innovation model. This research study develops a systemic innovation model to analyse the systemic characteristics which can be applied to all innovations in any industry. The model can also help track the progress and pattern of technology development and diffusion. Therefore, the model can be used to project the trend and diffusion of innovation competition in the banking industry.