Did APEC's Trade Facilitation Action Plans deliver the goods?

This paper uses new data to examine whether APEC achieved its aim of reducing trade transaction costs by 10% over the 2002–2010 period. An inversion of the familiar gravity model makes it possible to infer trade costs based on the observed pattern of trade and production across economies. Analysis of trade costs calculated in this way shows that although intra- and extra-APEC trade costs fell during the sample period, they did not do so substantially more quickly than elsewhere in the world. Indeed, the region taken as a whole did not meet the 10% reduction goal. However, a considerable number of individual economies not only met the goal, they greatly exceeded it. Consistent with their outward oriented development strategies and leverage of global and regional value chains, some APEC economies saw very rapid falls in their trade costs over the 2002–2010 period, Viet Nam being a standout performer. Overall, about one third of the forum's membership for which consistent data are available met or exceeded the 10% reduction goal. APEC's two Trade Facilitation Action Plans can therefore be seen as having had mixed records of success.     

On globalization ‘with Chinese characteristics’?

This Commentary looks at Globalization ‘with Chinese Characteristics’ (quanqiu hua yu zhongguo tese) as revealed through the lens of President Xi Jinping’s recent speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in January, 2017. In this, he sets out a positive role for the PRC in the ‘Globalization’ stakes. He also puts himself forward as ‘Expert’, rather than ‘Red’, in the ongoing polemic on the benefits of further reductions in barriers to doing business. But whether this may be taken at its face value remains to be seen. Whilst the Chinese appear to promote more of ‘Globalization’ and the Americans seem to retreat from the model, the world economic community may well suspend its judgement.     

Unlikely Pivotal States in Competitive Free Trade Agreement Diffusion: The Effect of Japan's Trans-Pacific Partnership Participation on Asia-Pacific Regional Integration

How can a state with dysfunctional trade politics spur the negotiation of major free trade agreements (FTAs)? Using the case of Japan's participation in the trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), we develop an analytical framework on FTA diffusion that takes into account multidimensional (economic, legal and political) competitive pressures, and the ability of states to act as pivots in triggering FTA cascades. We disaggregate the makeup of a pivotal state into two main components – capability and credibility – and underscore Japan's significant latent capabilities, but also its serious credibility shortcomings. The TPP's boost to Japan's credibility raised the possibility of significant economic, legal and political externalities for specific countries which responded by accelerating FTA initiatives that had long stalled: the trilateral China–Japan–Korea FTA, a 16-state East Asian FTA and the Japan–European Union trade negotiations. This study extends the theoretical frontier in policy diffusion studies by clarifying the combination of factors that allows some states, but not others, to activate the externalities behind the dissemination of defensive FTAs.     

Spatial Pattern of Tourist Flows Among the Asia-Pacific Countries: An Examination over a Decade

The spatial dimension of tourism provides insights about travel demands and travel flows and helps destinations in planning, development and management. The last decade has witnessed a steady and rapid growth in the Asia-Pacific region's tourism industry, in terms of both inbound and outbound travel. This particular study aimed to: (a) provide information and explore the changes on the nature of travel flows as measured by the tourist arrivals among the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) member countries for the years of 1995 and 2004; (b) assess general propensity to travel among PATA countries using the concepts of Country Potential Generation Index and Gross Travel Propensity; and (c) examine the shift in the past decade in terms of the relative tourism generation power of PATA countries by comparing and contrasting the 1995 and 2004 indices. The results of the study provide an overview of the spatial patterns of travel flows and travel propensity in Pacific Asia region over a 10-year period. The study demonstrates that the functions of travel flows and indices are complementary and provide an informative picture of spatial travel behavior and demand.     

亚太地区创意产业发展及其对中国的启示

以日本和韩国为例，分析了两国创意产业的发展概况与发展模式，研究表明两国创意产业的成功发展都取决于政府对创意产业的引导以及为其创造的良好发展环境。据此，文章提出了发展我国创意产业的几点对策建议。     

Random walk and efficiency tests in the Asia-Pacific foreign exchange markets: Evidence from the post-Asian currency crisis data

This paper empirically tests the random walk and efficiency hypothesis for 12 Asia-Pacific foreign exchange markets. The hypothesis is tested using individual as well as panel unit root tests and two variance-ratio tests. The study covers the high (daily) and medium (weekly) frequency post-Asian crisis spot exchange rate data from January 1998 to July 2007. The inferential outcomes do not differ substantially between the unit root tests and the variance-ratio tests when using daily data but differ significantly when using weekly data. With the daily data, both types of unit root tests identify unit root components for all the series and two variance-ratio tests provide the evidence of martingale behavior for majority of the exchange rates tested. With the weekly data, panel unit root tests identify unit root component for the exchange rates and, the unit root tests on a single series basis identify unit root component for 10 foreign exchange markets. However, the variance-ratio tests reject the martingale null for the majority of the exchange rates when using weekly data.     

Ranking Research Productivity in Accounting for Asia-Pacific Universities

Using a set of 18 accounting journals and a sub-set of top five journals from 1991 to 2002, we rank the research productivity in accounting for a total of 119 Asia-Pacific universities. For the whole sampling period, the top five universities are the University of New South Wales, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Nanyang Technological University, the University of Sydney, and City University of Hong Kong. A number of prominent universities with long school history are not ranked in the top 20. During the second half of the sampling period, Hong Kong and Singaporean universities have shown the most improvement while some Australian universities have exhibited decline in research output. Also, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology replaces University of New South Wales as the first-ranked university in the period of 1997–2002. When compared with other North American universities, the accounting productivity of the top 20 Asia-Pacific institutions is comparable with that of leading universities in North America. The comparison is even more favorable to the Asia-Pacific universities during the period of 1997–2002.     

The impact of CSR satisfaction on destination loyalty: a study of MICE travelers in Thailand

The objectives of this research are firstly, to study the characteristics of CSR activities conducted for international business groups. Secondly, to analyze the factors that impact business travelers’ satisfaction with CSR activities, and thirdly, to analyze the influence of satisfaction with CSR activities on destination attachment and destination loyalty. A questionnaire survey was conducted with 127 business participants from three corporate meetings and one convention group. The results reveal the characteristics of CSR activities of corporate meetings and conventions in Thailand. Business travelers’ satisfaction with CSR activities is influenced by their personal altruistic attitudes and the efficacy of local service providers. Satisfaction with CSR activities has a direct impact on destination attachment and an indirect impact on destination loyalty. CSR activities could be used as tools to influence the revisit intention of corporate meeting and convention participants. A CSR activity during a business trip is a novel concept that can be utilized by destination management companies as well as national tourism organizations to develop satisfying tourism products.     

Strategic human resource management,transformational leadership organizational ambidexterity: evidence from Taiwan

This study integrates theories of transformational leadership (TFL) and organizational ambidexterity in strategic human resource management (SHRM), to examine how TFL at both the unit level and firm level influences unit-level organizational ambidexterity (OA), by transforming the unit-level trust and forming the firm-level trust climate in Taiwanese software firms in an Asia-Pacific context. The results revealed that unit-level TFL was positively related to unit-level OA, and this relationship was moderated by firm-level TFL. Furthermore, firm-level trust climate (TC) partially mediated the relationship between firm-level TFL and unit-level OA. Finally, firm-level TC further moderated the moderating relationship of firm-level TFL between unit-level TFL and unit-level OA.     

Did corporate governance safeguard investor interest in the global financial crisis? Evidence from Hong Kong SAR

The global financial crisis of 2008 aroused renewed interest in the effectiveness of corporate governance mechanisms to safeguard investor interests. In this paper, we measure the effects of the crisis from 2008 to 2009 on the share performance of 976 companies listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in the Hong Kong SAR and examine the link between share performance and corporate governance mechanisms. Our results present evidence that firms with a higher proportion of independent directors and a greater concentration of ownership had lower share performance, but lower price volatility, during the global financial crisis. These results suggest that no single corporate governance mechanism is fit for all economic environments and time frames. To strengthen investors' confidence, companies should enhance the efficiency and adaptability of their governance mechanisms in turbulent times.