China’s Contingencies: Critical Geopolitics,Chinese Exceptionalism and the Uses of History

This paper examines the intimate relationship between narratives emanating from China and their uses of Chinese history, and how such perspectives inform China’s geopolitical positioning and practices in lieu of its purported ‘rise’. Taking inspiration from the deconstructive impetus of critical geopolitics, this article contends that these historical claims to China’s rise constitute deterministic accounts, hinging on the notion of Chinese exceptionalism to provide discursive backing for a Sinocentric geopolitical order in the coming decades. This in turn downplays ‘alternative’ historiographies that can shed light on how the nature of China’s emergence may be more dependent on and shaped by the external environment than previously acknowledged. Building on the historical-geographical expositions related to the idea of contingency, this article demonstrates how China (whether it be in the past or present) cannot be seen as operating in a vacuum but has to constantly negotiate and adjust its strategy of engagements/interactions based on the specific demands imposed by world politics. Specifically, by elucidating these dimensions through cross-strait relations between China and Taiwan, it is argued that understanding China’s contingencies can raise important questions for us to critically appreciate the contextual actors, processes and relationships that differentially impact on China’s engagements in the world.     

Localization and overseas R&D activity: the case of Taiwanese multinational enterprises in China

This study investigates the determinants of overseas research and development (R&D) and the influences of various aspects of localization on affiliates' R&D intensity. Using a dataset of Taiwanese multinational enterprises (MNEs) in China, the empirical estimations find that MNEs with a larger firm size, more R&D expenditure, and a higher outward foreign direct investments intensity tend to undertake R&D. Host regions' characteristics, particularly market size and R&D resources, do matter for attracting MNEs to conduct R&D locally. Crucially, affiliates' R&D intensity is related to the degree of localization. The degree of market localization and localization of the R&D network has a positive association with affiliates' R&D intensity. From the perspective of R&D policy, a country with healthy R&D infrastructures helps attract the establishment of R&D labs of MNEs.     

To blow or not to blow the whistle: the effects of potential harm,social pressure and organisational commitment on whistleblowing intention and behaviour

This study uses a rational ethical decision‐making framework to examine the influence of moral intensity (potential harm and social pressure) on whistleblowing intention and behaviour using organisational commitment as a moderator. A scenario was developed, and an online questionnaire was used to conduct an empirical analysis on the responses of 533 participants. The mean age and years of work experience of the respondents were 31 and 8.2 years, respectively. The results show, first, that while moral intensity is correlated with whistleblowing intention, only the potential harm is positively correlated with such intention. Second, potential harm and social pressure differentially affect whistleblower choice of using an internal or external channel. Third, organisational commitment has a moderated mediation effect among moral intensity, whistleblowing intention and behaviour. Fourth, whistleblowers may be grouped into four conceptual types: indifferent, rebel, mature and spoil. Finally, theoretical and managerial implications of the findings are discussed.     

Popular Geopolitics,Audiences and Identities: Reading the ‘War on Terror’ in the Philippines

Audience research has traditionally been neglected within the subfield of popular geopolitics. However in recent years, geographers are increasingly focusing on the making of geopolitical meanings by audiences as they consume popular culture and related texts. Drawing on recent assemblage thinking in geopolitics, this paper argues that audiences form part of the animators of a network that links the human body with places, environments, objects and discourses related to geopolitics. By investigating Filipinos’ critical readings of and engagements with the ‘war on terror’ in Mindanao as represented through the national newspaper, the Philippines Daily Inquirer, the agency and power of audiences in the creative enactments of geopolitics and geography are illuminated. As such, understanding the complex interactions between popular media and its audiences can prove useful in casting insights into the everyday, geopolitical ‘playing out’ of issues of terrorism, violence and peace in the Philippines context and beyond.     

Optimal Multiperiod Asset Allocation: Matching Assets to Liabilities in a Discrete Model

Investment and risk control are becoming increasingly important for financial institutions. Asset allocation provides a fundamental investing principle to manage the risk and return trade‐off in financial markets. This article proposes a general formulation of a first approximation of multiperiod asset allocation modeling for institutions that invest to meet the target payment structures of a long‐term liability. By addressing the shortcomings of both single‐period models and the single‐point forecast of the mean variance approach, this article derives explicit formulae for optimal asset allocations, taking into account possible future realizations in a multiperiod discrete time model.     

The Effect of Scarcity on the Purchase Intentions of Prevention and Promotion Motivated Consumers

This study investigates the influence of consumers’ motivational orientations (“prevention” vs. “promotion”) on their susceptibility to demand‐based versus supply‐based scarcity, measured by purchase intention scores. Prevention‐focused participants were more inclined to adopt a product when it was perceived to be demand‐scarce rather than supply‐scarce, while those who were identified as promotion‐focused responded positively to scarcity attributed to supply shortfall. In addition, products that could be associated with a prevention motive enhanced purchase intentions when presented as demand‐scarce but not if perceived to be supply‐scarce; conversely, products associated with the promotion motive scored better if the scarcity was seen to be supply‐generated rather than demand‐generated. Lastly, messages focused on prevention were more effective than those focused on promotion in the case of perceived demand scarcity, whereas the converse holds true for supply scarcity. These findings highlight the importance of understanding the motivational differences underlying the effectiveness of scarcity appeals. They furthermore suggest the strategic implication that improved intention to purchase occurs when the regulatory focus evoked by a scarcity‐related message is compatible with the appeal it communicates.     

Examination of the health‐belief model to predict the dietary quality and body mass of adults

We examined the ability of the health‐belief model to predict individuals’ dietary quality and body mass among a nationwide sample of 1319 adults in the United States. Simultaneous estimation of the structural equation model found acceptable goodness‐of‐fit to the data. Explained variance in dietary quality and body mass, however, were moderate to weak. The model included three types of nutrition knowledge: basic facts, diet–health awareness and ability to accurately self‐assess nutrient intake. None of these variables had a strong effect on dietary quality or body mass. We speculate that lifestyle characteristics, cultural habits, community infrastructure, and the politics of food production and retailing – variables found in other studies to affect dietary quality and body mass yet not available in our data – might outweigh the effects of nutrition knowledge and sociodemographic factors on estimating dietary quality and body mass. We suggest that future research and intervention programmes focus more on social, cultural and political context than on nutrition knowledge. Current collaborations among life and social scientists to design foods to improve human nutrition might also prove effective in reducing the prevalence of overweight and obesity.     

The politics of ethnic integration in Singapore: Malay ‘regrouping’ as an ideological construct

Research on ethnic residential patterns is overwhelmingly empiricist in focus. The discursive context surrounding the socio‐spatial phenomenon needs to be acknowledged since it can have concrete impacts on the practice of urban social planning as well as the spatial behaviour of individuals and groups. Using Henri Lefebvre's insights into the production of social space, this article looks at how a dominant representation of space is constructed, with its implications for ‘lived’ spaces and the spatial practices which circumscribe them. The case of Singapore is examined, where the government has appropriated the discourse surrounding ‘ethnic regrouping’ in an attempt to legitimize the unpopular policy of ethnic quotas in public housing. Alleging that ‘ethnic regrouping’ had been taking place during the 1980s, this was portrayed as undesirable and contrary to the ideal of integration. The imposition of ethnic quotas was thus justified as necessary and appropriate. Systematic analysis using the index of dissimilarity, however, problematizes this representation of space. The rhetoric surrounding ethnic regrouping is revealed to be a means of social discipline whereby the government imposes a particular representation of space and seeks to manipulate the social landscape via technocratic means. Les recherches sur les modèles résidentiels ethniques débordent d'empirisme. Or, le contexte discursif du phénomène socio‐spatial doit être reconnu puisque celui‐ci peut avoir des incidences tangibles sur l'exercice de l'urbanisme social, ainsi que sur le comportement des individus et groupes dans l'espace. A partir des idées d'Henri Lefebvre sur la production de l'espace social, l'article analyse comment s'élabore une représentation dominante de l'espace, avec ses implications sur les espaces ‘vécus'et les pratiques spatiales qui les délimitent. Dans le cas de Singapour, le gouvernement s'est approprié le discours autour du ‘regroupement ethnique’ dans le but de légitimer la politique impopulaire des quotas ethniques dans les logements publics. Sous le prétexte que le ‘regroupement ethnique’ s'était déroulé dans les années 1980, il a été présenté comme indésirable et contraire à l'idéal d'intégration. Les quotas ethniques ont donc été justifiés comme nécessaires et pertinents. Cependant, une analyse systématique utilisant l'indice de dissemblance remet en cause cette représentation de l'espace. La rhétorique entourant le regroupement ethnique apparaît comme un outil de discipline sociale grâce auquel le gouvernement impose une représentation particulière de l'espace, cherchant à manipuler le paysage social par des moyens technocratiques.