Malaysia – Trade Policy Review 2006

The Trade Policy Review (TPR) is an important document for small open economies like Malaysia. It provides an outsider perspective of its trade policies and implementation. In this paper we provide an update of the Malaysian economy emphasising the degree of competitiveness vis‐à‐vis other Asian counterparts. We also discuss the issue of regional and bilateral trading agreements involving Malaysia with a focus on the services sector. Finally, we briefly consider the issue of tariff protection – an issue raised by many commentators of the TPR.     

China's one belt one road initiative: The impact of trade facilitation versus physical infrastructure on exports

The One Belt One Road (OBOR) project is perhaps China's most significant international relations initiative in recent times. It is based on openness, harmony, inclusivity, mutual benefit and market operations and aims to connect the economically vibrant East Asia and the developed Europe by land and by sea, and in the process, it brings growth and development to tens of countries along the modern Silk routes. In this paper, we compare the impact of the main initiatives of OBOR, namely enhancements in physical infrastructure and improvements in border administration, on the trade of countries that have signed on to this project, especially countries along the six economic corridors. We find overwhelming evidence that shows improvements in border administration has the greatest impact on exports of corridor countries. Although physical infrastructure is important for trade, the Chinese government should place equal attention to improvements in trade facilitation to ensure trade routes operate seamlessly across the various corridors.     

Selling to the urban Chinese in East Asia: Do CSR and value orientation matter?

Most multinationals have a presence in the East Asian region and target the urban Chinese population. In an effort to win over the loyalty of consumers, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has been used increasingly as a marketing strategy. This paper explores how personal values influence the attitude and behavior towards CSR among Chinese consumers. By collecting data from three major East Asian cities — Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore, and employing factor, cluster, conjoint and correspondence analyses, the authors demonstrate that Confucian value orientation can be a powerful antecedent of CSR support.     

中国能否取代新加坡成为亚洲石油贸易中心

成为亚洲石油贸易与定价中心必须有发育的市场和价格发现机制，而最主要的前提条件是市场完全开放、政府对企业不进行行政干预，竞争机制完善等。此外，信息和数据应能实现快速准确的传递。新加坡能够成为亚洲石油定价中心有多方面的原因：新加坡有100多年的石油贸易历史；位于世界主要贸易航线，且海运发达，港口吞吐能力强，转运石油非常方便，成本较低；拥有庞大的独立存储石油的能力与完善的物流系统；新加坡是极少数的政府不干预石油行业的国家，有法制的传统，在法律面前人人平等。如果亚洲炼油行业在未来几年内恢复活力，新加坡能够恢复其炼油中心的地位。因此，目前在亚洲还没有任何一个地方可替代新加坡，新加坡作为主要的石油贸易中心以及亚洲石油价格中心，其地位将继续保持。     

Diversity and innovation

Although the effect of culture on national innovation levels is well-established, previous literature assumes cultural homogeneity within a nation. In this article we analyse two aspects of diversity – ethnic and values – and their impact on national innovation output. We show that ethnic diversity or fractionalization and values diversity are distinct and while the former has a negative effect on innovation, the latter contributes positively. However, countries are bound to have both types of diversity. We find that countries that are ethnically homogenous but diverse in values orientation are the best innovators.     

China's outward foreign direct investment: Location choice and firm ownership

This article evaluates the international location decisions made by public listed Chinese firms during the period 2006-2008, using a Poisson count data regression model. Further, we categorize the firms into state-controlled and privately owned according to majority ownership. We find that the determinants of internationalization differ based on ownership. State-controlled firms are attracted to countries with large sources of natural resources and risky political environments. Private firms are more market seekers. Although all firms have strategic intent, the attraction is commercially viable technology rather than core research content. Our findings also show that existing theories can sufficiently explain the actions of private Chinese firms, but adjustments are needed to understand the behavior of state-controlled multinationals.     

The Determinants of Foreign Direct Investment in Services

This paper has two main objectives: first, to consider country specific determinants that attract services FDI, and second, to compare the importance of these determinants vis‐à‐vis traditional determinants that attract manufacturing FDI. Using OECD countries as our sample, and 1980 to 2003 as our time period, we consider the determinants of inward FDI in a panel setting. Our results provide empirical evidence to support the view that no new theories may be necessary to explain the determinants of services FDI.     

Chinese Consumers’ Perception of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

The findings of this article increase our understanding of corporate social responsibility from the consumers’ perspective in a Chinese setting. Based on primary data collected via a self-administered survey in Shanghai and Hong Kong and results of similar studies conducted in Europe and the United States, we provide evidence to show that Chinese consumers are more supportive of CSR. We also show that Carroll’s pyramid of responsibilities can be applied in China. We evaluated the importance placed by Chinese consumers on the four responsibilities of firms – economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic – and find that economic responsibilities are most important while philanthropic responsibilities are of least importance. The nature of these differences is important for firms intending to use corporate social responsibility for strategic purposes.