The Political Economy of Greater China

Since 1979, China has made tremendous progress in its economic reforms, and in these developments Hong Kong and Taiwan have beeen most deeply involved, so much so that the three economies have been collectively called ‘Greater China’. This article investigates the integration process from the perspective of the political economy, pointing out the promises as well as the problems. The author is cautiously optimistic about the future, provided that far-sightedness can prevent any dominant urge for short-term profits and political compulsion. The logic of economic interests seems power enough to ensure that even the more formidable political barriers can eventually be overcome. As a result, Greater China looks likely to be increasingly open to the rest of the world.     

大中国经济一体化进程及其决定因素——基于平价条件差别的计量分析

本文评估了大中国(祖国大陆、香港和台湾地区)经济体之间的联系,并将之和日本、美国做了比较。真实利息平价、公开利息平价和购买力平价被分别用来测量资本、金融和商品市场的一体化程度。研究显示,没有重要的证据表明“大中国”经济体间的一体化水平强于大陆和其他两个非“大中国”经济体,经济一体化进程需要依靠政府的制度。     

Managerial Values and Practices Sharing Common Cultural Heritage: A Comparison of Cultural Values in Hong Kong,Taiwan and the People's Republic of China

ABSTRACT

This paper explores managerial values and practices in three rapidly growing economies in Asia: Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the People's Republic of China. Differences and similarities in six cultural dimensions were investigated. Although participants in the present study share a common cultural heritage, their cultural values may be very different. Implications for cross-cultural research and practical applications are explored.     

Exploring cosmetics advertising in southern China

China is now one of the largest and fastest-growing advertisement markets in the world. This research provides insights to assist advertising executives in their bid to target cosmetics consumers in Hong Kong and Shenzhen. Despite a tendency to retain certain traditional values, we find that Chinese women in these cities have increased their status and independence, and are inspired by western brands, music and images. We discover some significant differences between these markets, which suggest that some adaptations may be required in terms of advertising appeal, model selection and media focus, when designing advertising campaigns that will influence the consumer groups in these cities.     

Consumers' Attitudes Towards Professional Advertising in Hong Kong

ABSTRACT

This research was designed to investigate consumers' attitudes towards professional advertising in Hong Kong. Three hundred consumers were surveyed on their attitudes towards professional advertising by accountants, doctors and lawyers practicing in Hong Kong. The results found that, in general, professionals in Hong Kong enjoyed a high image and consumers believed that advertising would not significantly affect the current favourable image enjoyed by professionals in Hong Kong. In addition, consumers believed that professional advertising could serve as a means to acquire information. However, they also believed that advertising would increase the cost of professional services.     

Do Traditional Chinese Cultural Values Nourish a Market for Pirated CDs?

On one hand, Chinese consumers are well known for conspicuous consumption and the adoption of luxury products and named brands. On the other hand, they also have a bad reputation for buying counterfeit products. Their simultaneous preferences for two contrasting types of product present a paradox that has not been addressed in the literature. This study attempts to present an explanation of this paradox by examining the effects of traditional Chinese cultural values and consumer values on consumers’ deontological judgment of pirated CDs and the amount of social benefits they perceive they gain from them. We interviewed 300 Hong Kong Chinese consumers, and found that face consciousness increased materialism and risk aversion, thereby producing a favorable deontological judgment of pirated CDs. Face consciousness also has a direct effect on the amount of social benefits perceived in pirated CDs. Both favorable deontological judgment and perceived social benefits contributed to a strong intention to buy pirated CDs. The results are discussed in a cultural perspective.     

Are Corporate Career Development Activities Les Available to Female Than to Male Expatriates?

Despite the growing interest in female expatriates, few empirical studies have focussed on corporate career development activities available to women. Given the faltering corporate support for female business expatriates in general, one may presume that such organizational activities are less available to women than to men. To test this proposition, a large number of Western female and male business expatriates assigned to Hong Kong responded to a mail survey. Controlling for differences between the two gender groups, three significant gender differences were found, all indicating a lower availability of these corporate activities to women than to men, partially supporting expectations. These corporate career development activities were fast track programs, individual career counseling and career planning workshops. Implications of these findings for globalizing firms as well as for their female employees are discussed in detail.     

The three faces of China: Strategic alliance partner selection in three ethnic Chinese economies

It is generally understood that firm strategy is linked to both internal firm resources and external, competitive industry forces. More recently, studies have suggested that firm strategy is also influenced by the formal and informal institutions of the institutional environment. Culture and commercial conventions represent important informal institutions – the norms and values shared by a group of individuals – whereas more formal institutions include the regulatory, economic, and political forces in the environment. We explore the effects of formal and informal institutions on strategic alliance partner preferences in Mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Although the three share a broad lineage, their institutional development differs in some respects. Utilizing a policy capturing study, we explore alliance preferences of senior managers from each of the three economies to demonstrate how similarities and differences in the institutional environment can produce variation in alliance partner preferences. This paper contributes empirically by comparing alliance partner preferences in three different ethnic Chinese communities in East Asia. We add to the nascent but growing literature on institutions and strategy, with practical implications for understanding alliance partner preferences of managers in China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, which represent major centers of strategic alliance activity.     

Equity-based entry modes of the Greater Chinese Economic Area's foreign direct investments in Vietnam

In January 2007, Vietnam became the 150th member of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Vietnam is located in the heart of Asia and has a resource-rich economy, which offers it a significant advantage in attracting foreign direct investments (FDIs). The research focuses on equity-based entry mode choices adopted by multinational corporations (MNCs) in the Greater Chinese Economic Area (GCEA) for entering Vietnam. The statistical results indicate that equity-based entry modes are significant when FDI firms entering Vietnam originate from the GCEA, which includes Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore. However, the interaction results show that industry does not have a moderating effect on the relationship between location and entry mode, whereas it is not found that industrial cluster is specific to any one location. The generalized model has implications for the theoretical and managerial perspectives of both the host and the home countries.     

两岸经贸关系新发展对香港之影响及其对策

台商大陆投资规模扩张与地域转变、两岸贸易高速增长与非均衡发展以及两岸经贸人员往来规模持续增长对香港产生了重要影响,香港不仅获得了更多的发展机会,也面临着诸多挑战.香港应积极采取有效措施,提升服务水平与综合竞争力,不仅要充分利用背靠泛珠三角的地缘条件,依靠自身优势,在泛珠三角地区积极与其它各方开展合作,还要充分利用在两岸经贸交流中的中介地位,深化与台湾的经贸合作,从多层面促进经济的持续发展.     

两岸四地建立中元区的可行性研究——基于OCA指数的分析

在最优货币区理论和最优货币区指数方法的基础上,本文创建了两岸四地最优货币区指数模型,并对中国大陆、香港、澳门和台湾地区1992-2003年间的实际情况进行检验,指出影响两岸四地双边汇率波动的主要因素是实际产出增长率差异、双边贸易联系和通货膨胀差异。在这个基础上,综合评估了两岸四地实行货币合作的经济成本。结论为在两岸四地建立中元区是可行的。文章最后提出了相关的政策建议。     

The role of cultural values in green purchasing intention: Empirical evidence from Chinese consumers

Environmental problems, especially in the case of water and air pollution, are the harmful result of the overconsumption of fossil fuels as well as various forms of industrial sewage water discharge. Recently, growing environmentally friendly purchasing behaviour of consumers has become regarded as an effective method for alleviating such environmental problems. Due to concerns regarding the natural environment, consumers have increasingly begun to exhibit favourable attitudes towards environmentally friendly products, and as a result, are more likely to purchase “green” products. However, green purchasing behaviour of consumers varies across different nations and cultures. This study aims to reveal how Chinese cultural values (specifically, the Doctrine of the Mean) influence green purchasing intention of Chinese consumers. As the lifestyles of consumers will be deeply affected by their cultural values, this study examines the mediating effects of the four dimensions of Chinese lifestyle have on consumers. At the same time, environmental knowledge is considered as a moderating variable in order to investigate the relationship between the Doctrine of the Mean and green purchasing intention. The study’s data were collected from Chinese consumers. Empirical results reveal that such Chinese cultural values are positively associated with green purchasing intention, and that three dimensions of consumer lifestyle (namely leadership, cost consciousness and development consciousness), are all found to play mediating roles in the relationship between the Doctrine of the Mean and green purchasing intention in Chinese consumers. The moderating effects of environmental knowledge are exhibited in the influence of leadership as well as development consciousness on green purchasing intention. The study’s findings have theoretical implications for understanding green purchasing intention as well as behaviour of Chinese consumers further. The study’s findings also present practical implications for how to promote green purchasing intention in Chinese consumers better.     

Theoretical and Applied Relevance of Consumer Limits to Processing Advertising

Abstract

This study investigates (1) how immigrant consumers change their media consumption when they move across cultural boundaries and (2) whether media exposure relates to consumers' acculturation of the new social norms. A total of 938 respondents from four sample groups including Hong Kong residents, long-time and new Hong Kong immigrants to Canada and English-speaking Caucasian Canadians responded to a predesigned questionnaire. It was found that while the immigrant groups did not increase their total media consumption, their consumption across different media types followed both assimilation and ethnic affirmation models. This acculturation process seemed to be affected by immigrants' original media consumption behavior and language ability. Media exposure was found to relate significantly to immigrants' acculturation of the new social norms after influences due to personal characteristics were removed.     

A Cross-National Investigation of Product Perception:

Exporting to diverse markets without much informa- tion about how consumers may evaluate products from various countries calls for an investigation of the image of products made in various countries. This article looks at products made in China, Hong Kong, India, and the United States, as perceived by respon- dents from each of these countries. Respondents evaluated products manufactured in these countries along fifteen dimensions selected from the Nagashima (1970) study. Significant differences were found to exist in the perceptions of products from these test countries across the respondent groups. Implications of the findings for gov- ernments and companies interested in promoting international trade, particularly in emerging markets, are discussed.     

Small Firm Marketing in China: A Comparative Study

This paper examines the influence of Chinese cultural values on marketing practices in different socio-cultural settings and business contexts, for example the United Kingdom, Hong Kong and China. 20 Chinese small firms in China were selected and their owner-managers were interviewed. Findings of interviews undertaken by Brooksbank et al. (1992) with 20 British small firm chief marketing executives, and Siu (1997) with 26 Chinese owner-managers in Hong Kong, were collated to form a database for comparison purposes. The research results suggest that the specific marketing practices of Chinese small firms in mainland China are different from those of their counterparts, for example, British and Hong Kong Chinese small firms. A tentative model is developed explaining the factors that appear likely, on the basis of this research, to affect the marketing performance of small firms in China.     

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.     

An unrequited affinity between talent shortages and untapped female potential: The relevance of gender quotas for talent management in high growth potential economies of the Asia Pacific region

We demonstrate that gender quotas have not attracted due interest as a talent management formulation in the Asia Pacific region. Drawing on a literature review, this paper illustrates the utility of gender quotas for talent management in the context of high growth potential economies in the Asia Pacific region, i.e. China, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong and Taiwan. These five economies are characterized with talent shortages on the one hand, and untapped female potential on the other. We show the necessity and legitimacy of considering gender quotas as part of talent management strategy in the region in order to leverage untapped female potential for addressing talent shortages.     

Born to be similar? Global isomorphism and the emergence of latecomer business schools

By building on insights from institutional isomorphism, this paper investigates the development paths of latecomer business schools in Hong Kong, (South) Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan. The global isomorphic pressure prevalent in higher education (e.g. the global regime of rankings) drives latecomers to imitate the practices of incumbents in order to enhance their academic impact through business and management research. Our study argues that latecomers respond to global isomorphism by forging their own paths. Our analysis shows that business knowledge production in Hong Kong and Singapore was more responsive to coercive (research strategy) and normative (faculty recruitment strategy) isomorphic pressure than Korea and Taiwan. The response to mimetic isomorphic pressure (co-authorship strategy) was less salient in Hong Kong and Taiwan than in Singapore and Korea. Further, we find that research, faculty recruitment, and co-authorship strategies affect the academic impact (citations) of the higher education institutions across each country differently. Our study sheds new light on the role of global isomorphism in the emergence of latecomer business schools.     

粤港澳大湾区知识产权法律冲突及解决路径探析

自《内地与香港、澳门关于建立更紧密经贸关系的安排》(CEPA)实施以来,粤港澳一直将知识产权保护作为三地间实现贸易便利化、自由化过程中的一项重要任务。由于粤港澳三地间法律制度的差异,产生了管辖权、冲突法、实体法以及司法协助等诸多方面的冲突,这些差异直接导致三地间知识产权法律纠纷的发生。在粤港澳大湾区建设中,需要基于粤港澳现有知识产权法律制度,通过完善立法,强化司法和执法保护,纾解粤港澳大湾区现有知识产权法律冲突的困境,创新知识产权纠纷解决机制,以知识产权发展推动科技创新,为推进粤港澳大湾区建设营造良好的法治环境。     

中国服务企业对外直接投资活动分析

虽然中国服务企业对外直接投资起步较晚,但从2009年开始呈现加速态势.在进入模式选择上,中国服务企业对外直接投资主要采取新建模式;在区域布局上,中国服务企业以香港为中介和重要跳板走向世界其他国家和地区.同时,中国服务企业进入境外呈现明显的区域化特征,中国服务企业主要进入与我国地理相邻、文化相近的港澳台、东盟、日韩地区以及服务市场较大的北美、西欧地区.