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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.

In the coming decades, East Asian economies must face the challenges of an increasingly globalized marketplace. This book explores the changing parameters of competition in East Asia, and argues that success ultimately will depend on the ability of the region’s firms to harness the potential of global production networks and to build their own innovative capability. Presenting the latest findings on global production networks and the evolution of technological capabilities, it provides researchers, students, and policymakers with in-depth information and analysis on key issues related to growth and development in East Asia. East Asian firms must not only achieve greater efficiency but also become more innovative, offering differentiated products in order to vie with other first-tier suppliers of multinational corporations. These firms will also need to develop a technological edge if they are to compete with corporations from the leading OECD countries and form their own global production networks. Global Production Networking and Technological Change in East Asia argues that a development strategy linked to technological advance will be necessary to foster the growth of innovative national firms that can remain competitive in global markets.

Why, from the eighteenth century onwards, did some countries embark on a path of sustained economic growth, while others stagnated? This text looks at the kind of institutions that are required in order for change to take place, and Ringmar concludes that for sustained development to be possible, change must be institutionalized. Taking a global view, Ringmar investigates the implications of his conclusion on issues facing the developing world today.

InReforming Asian Labor Systems, Frederic C. Deyo examines the implications of post-1980s market-oriented economic reform for labor systems in China, South Korea, the Philippines, and Thailand. Adopting a critical institutionalist perspective, he explores the impact of elite economic interests and strategies, labor politics, institutional path dependencies, and changing economic circumstances on regimes of labor and social regulation in these four countries. Of particular importance are reform-driven socioeconomic and political tensions that, especially following the regional financial crisis of the late 1990s, have encouraged increased efforts to integrate social and developmental agendas with those of market reform. Through his analysis of the social economy of East and Southeast Asia, Deyo suggests that several Asian countries may now be positioned to repeat what they achieved in earlier decades: a prominent role in defining new international models of development and market reform that adapt to the pressures and constraints of the evolving world economy.

East Asian economies of the 1980s and 1990s were among the most competitive exporters of manufactured products and sustained growth rates far higher than those of other countries, developing or industrial. But the crisis of 1997-1998 uncovered weaknesses in the system, and faith in the potential of the region to sustain growth was shaken.The next decade is likely to be decisive for East Asia. The region will maintain and augment its past economic successes only if individual countries pursue a three-stranded formula for growth, through policies that provide the macroeconomic stability and the institutional foundations needed for a growth spiral led by innovation. The future performance of East Asia’s middle-and high-income countries rests on their creating a competitive environment keyed to knowledge-based activities supporting innovation and the commercialization of new ideas.

Soil-related problems have grown up to be a major threat to human society. Scientific evaluation is helpful to understand the status of soil pollution and provide reference to further work. In this situation, Liaoning Province, a typical industrial and agricultural province in Northeast China, was selected as a case study region. It reviewed 200 studies published between 2010 and 2020 and recorded related data of soil heavy metal. It used model method and index method to evaluate the agricultural region. The comprehensive assessment score of Liaoning pollution level was 0.8998. Dalian was 0.9536, ranking first among the 14 cities. Huludao and Jinzhou were 0.7594 respectively, ranked the last. Heavy metal accumulation in different cities stemmed from different sources, including weathering of parent materials, industrial wastes, sewage irrigation, and mining activities. In general, the pollution level of heavy metal in Liaoning was at low risk level, but it still needs to pay attention to the health risk of heavy metal and the input of heavy metal into the soil, especially cadmium (Cd). This study provides a comprehensive assessment of soil heavy metal pollution in Liaoning, while identifying policy recommendations for pollution mitigation and environmental management.

This paper examines how compensation systems impact peer effects and competition in collocated sales teams. We use department store sales data to show that compensation systems influence worker incentives to help and compete with peers within the same firm, which in turn changes the capability of the firm to compete with rivals. Compensation also affects how salespeople impact peers at collocated competing firms, thereby impacting market competition. Moreover, compensation influences how salespeople strategically discount prices in response to peers. Our results suggest that heterogeneity in worker ability enhances firm performance under team-based compensation while hurting individual-based firms and that peer interactions are critical considerations in designing sales force incentive plans and broader firm strategy. This paper was accepted by Bruno Cassiman, business strategy.

We explore how changes in ownership affect the productivity and profitability of producers. Using detailed data from the Japanese cotton spinning industry at the turn of the last century, we find that acquired firms' production facilities were not on average less physically productive than the plants of the acquiring firms before acquisition. They were much less profitable, however, due to higher inventory levels and lower capacity utilization—differences that reflected problems in managing the uncertainties of demand. After acquisitions, less profitable acquired plants saw drops in inventories and gains in capacity utilization that raised both their productivity and profitability levels.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations is a miracle. Why? In an era of growing cultural pessimism, many thoughtful individuals believe that different civilisations-especially Islam and the West-cannot live together in peace. The ten countries of ASEAN provide a thriving counter-example of civilizational co-existence. Here 625m people live together in peace. This miracle was delivered by ASEAN. In an era of growing economic pessimism, where many young people believe that their lives will get worse in coming decades, Southeast Asia bubbles with optimism. In an era where many thinkers predict rising geopolitical competition and tension, ASEAN regularly brings together all the world's great powers. Stories of peace are told less frequently than stories of conflict and war. ASEAN's imperfections make better headlines than its achievements. But in the hands of thinker and writer Kishore Mahbubani, the good news story is also a provocation and a challenge to the rest of the world.