Recommending Books for Purchase (Bulletin 97 - Aug 2020): Asian Business

Interpersonal relationship (guanxi) is one of the major dynamics of Chinese society. Guanxi has been a pervasive part of the Chinese business world for the last few centuries. It binds literally millions of Chinese firms into a social and business web. In China's new, fast-paced business environment, guanxi has become more entrenched than ever, heavily influencing Chinese political landscapes, social behavior, and business practice.This book delineates social and cultural principles and philosophies underlying guanxi dynamics, along with guanxi's social norms that have been long embedded in the Chinese society. Although guanxi is embedded in almost every part of social life in China, companies demonstrate different needs and capacity toward guanxi cultivation. Chinese firms develop guanxi as a strategic mechanism to overcome competitive and resource disadvantages by cooperating and exchanging favors with government authorities and other stakeholders. This book presents an integrative framework about guanxi development according to institutional, strategic, and organizational factors. It further articulates how foreign firms adaptively develop their own legitimate and effective guanxi in China's highly dynamic and complex environment.Guanxi is really dynamic that its practices have been constantly changing and its normative and cognitive legitimacy is shifting as the social and economic structures in the society are drastically transforming. For this reason, this third edition of the book has added numerous new and emergent issues such as moral degradation and guanxi, qualitative and quantitative review of guanxi studies, and guanxi ties between organizations.

eBook Price : $118

Political leadership styles in East Asian states are shaped and influenced by a number of domestic factors. These factors include the type of political system that an East Asian state adopted from their days of independence and decolonization. There is a diverse array of political systems in the region, ranging from Western-style liberal democracies like Japan and South Korea to autocratic one-party states like North Korea. Most other East Asian countries adopt systems somewhere in between these two polar ends. This volume begins with a macro-political perspective of leadership. It then looks at case studies of political leadership and the factors that influence the shape and outcome of leadership styles in the region.The book also examines the concept of community leadership and its impact on community well-being. Several specific case studies are examined in depth. While examining political leadership from a macro theoretical and empirical perspective, the book also adopts historical-anthropological perspectives to analyse case studies. The case studies also examine policy formulation and implementation to look at the role of government in handling community-level issues.Finally, the book focuses on economic leadership in international political economy and global business.

eBook Price : $88

What are the political and economic challenges facing Myanmar as it opens to the world? And what are the opportunities and responsibilities for the international community to influence and also invest in the country?This book aims to provide readers with an assessment that integrates analysis with on-the-ground experience and insights, drawn from closely engaging with Myanmar since the country began to move toward democracy and open to the world. In order for readers to appreciate emerging trends and developments, the book evaluates the efforts of the recent Thein Sein administration and current National League of Democracy government up to the present day. It also identifies key events from the colonial period through to the decades when the country was under military rule, cut off from much of the international community. The on-going crisis in Myanmar's Rakhine State and the controversial situation of the Rohingya are examined at length, with an effort to contextualize these events in wider challenges of geo-politics and national reforms to rehabilitate the government and the economy.The book presents readers with a clear view of how the country might progress beyond current obstacles, and highlights the opportunities that remain for those willing to engage constructively for the longer term in the opening of this frontier economy and once-pariah state. As Myanmar moves ahead with its transition to democracy and with economic development, this book is recommended for both those who watch the country with interest and those who consider the ways in which the international community interacts with the region and Myanmar.

eBook Price : $45

Silk Road: The Study of Drama Culture is the translated edition of the Chinese academic book of the same title written by Professor LI Qiang from Shaanxi Normal University, China. The book breaks through the concept of regarding Han Drama as the center, yet elaborates the Silk Road drama as an inclusive culture and a prevailing literary art form in human civilization. Relying on his extensive experience and broad vision, the author conducts the thorough study by means of literature, artifacts and academic fieldwork. The book studies the drama culture of all ethnic groups from Asia, Europe and Africa and touches upon the cultural exchanges between China and its neighboring countries, between the East and the West. The carefully presented details in this book are aimed to explore all the related fields such as dramaturgy, philology, phonology, religion, history, geography, archeology, ethnology, and folklore between the East and the West from the perspective of cultural anthropology. The explanations in the book contribute to an in-depth study on the origins of the Silk Road and the drama culture along the Silk Road.

eBook Price : $198

In the past 30 years or so, reform and opening-up are the two major themes for China's economic and social development. Since the beginning of the 21st century, China has made great explorations in the depth and breadth of opening-up. This book provides a comprehensive overview of some issues and policies of mutual benefit and win-win strategies, which include China's foreign trade and technical barriers to trade, China's technology progress, China's service outsourcing industry, China's direct investment and RMB internationalization. It is an important reference book for Chinese policy-makers, Chinese businessmen and foreigners.


eBook Price : $148

Unlocking Hidden Potential: Strategic Transformation and Value Creation at Mandarin Orchard Singapore and Mandarin Gallery showcases the successful transformation of a major hospitality project, now called Mandarin Orchard Singapore and a niche shopping mall known as the Mandarin Gallery. Based on detailed discussions and in-depth interviews with senior management, the monograph provides valuable insights on the transformation journey, detailing key business practices and decisions that contributed to the rise of both assets from under-utilised investments into profitable and contemporary developments. Introducing the transformational change model, the book provides a chapter-by-chapter discussion of the broad drivers of change that contributed to the transformational change of both Mandarin Orchard Hotel and Gallery.

eBook Price : $148