Exploring the mismatch between skills and jobs for women in Saudi Arabia in technical and vocational areas: the views of Saudi Arabian private sector business managers

Saudi Arabia’s rapid development has highlighted the shortage of national technical manpower and the subsequent need to recruit non‐Saudi technical workers, on the one hand, and the difficulty of replacing these workers with qualified Saudis, on the other. Therefore successive Development Plans have tried to raise the quality and quantity of technical and vocational education for both men and women. In 1995/96 only 5 per cent of Technical and Vocational Education (TEVT) enrolled students were female. This compares with an average of 29 per cent in other Islamic countries and 45 per cent in Japan (UNESCO, 1997, 1999). Part of this may be due to the preferences of female students in education, part due to the structure of TEVT in Saudi Arabia, part due to the availability of technical and vocational jobs available for women after completing their training and part due to the natural place of women in Saudi society. The Seventh Development Plan (2000–2004) assumes that the private sector will play a very significant role in employing a Saudi labour force including both men and women. As part of a comprehensive study concerning the factors affecting women’s employment in the Saudi private sector private sector business managers in four large cities were surveyed to see what factors they felt were important. The main factors affecting employment of women in technical and vocational education were seen by the managers as those relating to the structure of TEVT education in Saudi Arabia rather than preferences of women or pressures from society.     

Where have All the Educated Workers Gone? Services and Wage Inequality in Three Asian Economies

The wage returns to college have risen relative to those to secondary education in many developing economies. In India, the Philippines and Thailand, this is related to the expansion of services employment. We show this using decompositions connecting shifts in the returns to education to changing job opportunities. High‐skill services employment grew slowly while relative demand in the sector shifted from secondary to college graduates, pushing workers with secondary education into low‐skill intensive services. These polarizing trends in services employment account for the growing convexity of the Mincerian wage profile, and may constrain governments seeking to use educational expansion to alter the wage distribution.     

HRM in Thailand: a post-1997 update

This essay updates an earlier study of human resource management (HRM) practices in Thailand, focusing specifically on HRM in the post-1997 Asian financial crisis. HRM in Thailand has undergone gradual, but significant, change, with movement away from more traditional styles of HRM and management rooted in personalism and social relationships, toward more flexible employment systems in which employment opportunities are based on merit and performance rather than connections and personal characteristics. These changes are clearly more pronounced in subsidiaries of multinational corporations, particularly those based in Western countries.     

E-commerce entrepreneurship as a national priority: the case of Thailand

Thailand has been one of the most successful developing countries. This progress came to a sudden halt in 1997 when the Asian financial crisis hit this country. Thailand responded by creating a favourable environment for business incubation as a high priority at the national government level. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the steps taken by the Thai government to encourage e-commerce entrepreneurship as a key component of its successful reaction to the economic crisis of 1997 and e-service as a source for its future national competitiveness.     

Technical and non‐technical education and the employability of engineering graduates: an Indian case study

India's substantial growth in recent years has resulted in a significant increase in demand for engineers. Information technology companies, now a major part of the Indian private sector, have been prominent in such recruitment, but the competences they seek in engineering students appear to be different in terms of priorities from those sought by engineering firms. Against this background, and Indian employers' general dissatisfaction with graduates' skills, the present study aims to investigate the importance of technical and non‐technical education, respectively, in the employability of undergraduate engineering students. Employability was determined according to students' success in campus recruitment drives by information technology companies, that is, whether they received an offer of employment. The study used a sample of two cohorts consisting of more than 500 undergraduate engineers in total, drawn from one of the leading engineering colleges in South India. Independent variables consisted of marks scored at the higher education admission stage, grades in engineering at graduation and performance in non‐technical education. The last named comprised verbal reasoning, logical reasoning and soft skills. The dependent variable was whether or not they were offered employment. The results, obtained through correlation and ordinal regression, revealed that the performance of students in non‐technical education was a stronger predictor of employability than was grade obtained in technical education. The findings will be of relevance to engineering colleges because they can be used in the formulation of a strategy to improve the employability of their students. The context is a concern in many countries that those leaving higher education are not properly equipped for the world of work.     

Inaccuracy in foreign trade statistics of LDCs: The case of the ASEAN area

The foreign trade statistics of developing countries are relatively abundant and generally considered more reliable than data on their national accounts. This study reports the results of an accuracy test applied to export and import data from five developing countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand), all members of ASEAN, a grouping which offers a particularly interesting sample of developing countries for this type of investigation.     

Determinants of efficiency in South East Asian banking

This paper explores the efficiency of banks in five South East Asian countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam) using the non-parametric data envelopment approach and Tobit regression. The results indicate that efficiency has significantly declined over the period 1998–2004 indicating that the post-1997 crisis restructuring had a negative influence on bank performance. In line with the established literature on emerging markets, foreign banks appear to be more efficient than the domestic counterparts. However, state-owned banks exhibited greater efficiency than their local private sector peers. Among country-level factors, national banking development shows a strong and positive link with bank efficiency. The results are robust to different assumptions of bank inputs, outputs, technological changes, and national banking convergence.     

An Examination of the Cross-Cultural Transferability of Traditional Training Principles for. Optimizing Individual Learning

A general survey on perceptions of national management style was given to 452 managers representing diverse industries from the three Asian countries of Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Thailand. Mean responses on eight of the survey items related to four traditional principles of managing training and adult learning revealed clear differences, suggesting important reservations in the cross-cultural transferability of these wi ely recommended principles.     

Exchange Rate Volatility and Exports: New Empirical Evidence from the Emerging East Asian Economies

This paper examines the impact of bilateral real exchange rate volatility on real exports of five emerging East Asian countries among themselves as well as to 13 industrialised countries. We recognise the specificity of the exports between the emerging East Asian and industrialised countries and employ a generalised gravity model. In the empirical analysis we use a panel comprising 25 years of quarterly data and perform unit‐root and cointegration tests to verify the long‐run relationship among the variables. The results provide strong evidence that exchange rate volatility has a negative impact on the exports of emerging East Asian countries. In addition, the results suggest that the pattern of bilateral exports is influenced by third‐country variables. An increase in the price competitiveness of other emerging East Asian countries has a negative impact on a country’s exports to a destination market, but the magnitude of the impact is relatively small. These results are robust across different estimation techniques and do not depend on the variable chosen to proxy exchange rate uncertainty. The results of the GMM‐IV estimation also confirm the negative impact of exchange rate volatility on exports and suggest that this negative relationship is not driven by simultaneous causality bias.     

Distorted Agricultural Incentives and Economic Development: Asia's Experience

Earnings from farming in many low‐income countries have been depressed by a pro‐urban bias in own‐country policies, as well as by governments of richer countries favouring their farmers with import barriers and subsidies. Both sets of policies reduce national and global economic welfare. The rapid development of many Asian emerging economies has been accompanied by a gradual reduction in their anti‐agricultural policies, but many distortions remain and some countries have moved from negative to positive assistance for farmers, following the earlier examples of first Japan and then Korea and Taiwan. Drawing on results from a new multi‐country research project, this paper examines the extent of these changes relative to those of other developing countries over the past five decades. It concludes by pointing to prospects for further policy reform in Asia.     

Gender disparity in job satisfaction of Western versus Asian managers

This study is to shed more light on gender disparity in job satisfaction in the context of Western versus Asian managers. It addresses the “gender paradox of the female contented worker” and takes a position that the paradox does not apply to female managers in Asia. Data were collected from Thailand as representative of Asian countries and from the U.S. as representative of Western countries. The data show that the gender paradox phenomenon is suspect at best. The results suggest that there is gender disparity in job satisfaction in both countries. There are also significant gender disparities in lower-order quality of work life (QWL) and organizational socialization in Thailand, but not in the U.S. There is no significant gender disparity in higher-order QWL in both countries. These results imply that gender disparity in job satisfaction in Thailand is driven mainly by significant gender disparity in lower-order QWL and organizational socialization.     

Exchange Rate Pass‐through and Currency Invoicing: Implications for Monetary Integration in East Asia

Exporter's price‐setting behaviour and currency invoicing play a key role in the literature on the new open‐economy macroeconomics. This paper estimates exchange rate pass‐through coefficients for the exports of four ASEAN countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand. In addition, previous estimates of pass‐through as well as invoicing behaviour in East Asia are discussed in the context of regional integration. The new pass‐through coefficients are estimated under two alternate specifications for up to 34 goods for each of the four ASEAN countries destined for up to 13 major markets. The results suggest: (a) little pass‐through is occurring in Southeast Asia and (b) this lack of pass‐through is more likely attributable to the fact that they are small countries in a relatively integrated market, rather than evidence of pricing to market. The implications for regional monetary integration of this apparently low degree of pass‐through are detailed.     

Factors affecting Modern Apprenticeship completion in Scotland

Completing an apprenticeship has been shown to be critical to an individual’s future employment, earnings and career development when compared with apprentices who do not complete. International research, notably in England, Australia and Germany, has identified factors specific to the apprentice, employer and training provision that are associated with a higher chance of completion. However, to date, there has been no comparable research in Scotland, which operates its own distinct and well‐established apprenticeship system. Based on the factors identified in other countries, logistic regression was conducted on records of apprenticeship leavers in Scotland, covering the period from 2007 to 2015. Data for a total of 78,952 leavers were analysed, consisting of 59,737 completers and 19,215 non‐completers. It was found that women are more likely to complete an apprenticeship than men, while those from deprived areas are less likely to complete. Apprentices employed by a large employer, those receiving training from public sector organizations and those studying for selected technical subjects are more likely to complete, as are apprentices living in an area with a high local unemployment rate. The paper considers the reasons why some apprentices are more likely to complete than others and discusses the implications for apprenticeship policy in Scotland and beyond.     

从人民币升值对区域贸易结构的影响看全球经济失衡

通过对美国贸易逆差的区域贸易结构及人民币升值和以泰国、菲律宾和马来西亚为代表的其他亚洲国家出口的关系的分析,得出结论:亚洲国家,尤其是中国不应该为美国贸易逆差承担主要责任,亚洲国家应团结起来指明当前全球经济失衡的根本原因以维护亚洲国家的整体利益.     

ASEAN's role in Japan's economic policy in East Asia

Although Japan's economic and trade policy with the United States and Europe has been widely researched in such works as Tyson (1992), relatively less research has been done on Japan's recent trade and economic policies towards other East Asian countries such as Korea and Taiwan. Since the mid-1980s, because of rising labor costs and appreciation of the Japanese yen, Japan has increased manufacturing production in ASEAN countries such as Thailand and Malaysia. The purpose of this short article is to discuss Japan's increased economic focus in Asia, and implications for East Asian countries such as Korea and Taiwan. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Women in Management in Thailand: Advancement and Prospects

Thailand has experienced rapid economic growth over the past two decades. Economic expansion has contributed to an increase in demand for managers and professionals. Changes in legislation to promote gender equality in employment and educational opportunities for women have been implemented. These changes have contributed to Thai women's improved status. The aim of the paper is to assess this progress of women in management in Thailand. There is some evidence suggesting that social class, in addition to education, may play an important role in explaining Thai women's advancement to managerial positions. The contribution examines the changes in legislation and the influence of cultural values, education, and gender on women's access to managerial positions. It identifies the barriers to women's progress and pays attention to social class as another key determinant of women's advancement in management.     

How institutions and gender differences in education shape entrepreneurial activity: a cross-national perspective

Previous studies offer evidence that human capital obtained through education is a crucial explanation for cross-national differences in entrepreneurial activity. Recently, scholar attention has focused on the importance of education in subjects such as science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) for the promotion of entrepreneurial activity. To our knowledge, empirical evidence for this link is scarce, despite the emphasis made in the literature and by policy makers on the choice of study at the tertiary level. Given that differences in STEM education are particularly large between men and women, we utilize data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor for 19 European countries and the USA. We study the role of these differences in STEM education at the national level for three stages of the entrepreneurial process: entrepreneurial awareness, the choice of sector for entrepreneurial activity, and entrepreneurial growth aspirations. We also test whether the effects of gender differences in education is moderated by the nature of the institutional environment in which entrepreneurs operate. Our findings show that individual-level explanations including education account for the gender differences during all three stages of early-stage entrepreneurial activity. Moreover, countries with greater gender equality in science education are characterized by higher entrepreneurial activity in knowledge-intensive sectors and high-growth aspirations. Thus, next to individual-level education, closing the gender gap in science at the national level can benefit a country as a whole by stimulating innovative entrepreneurial activity.     

An Asian Currency Unit: Simulations for Its Effects on East Asia

An Asian currency unit (ACU) is necessary to deepen Asian financial markets and to convert national currencies into a single monetary policy. However, the experiences of the European Currency Unit and the European Exchange Rate Mechanism crisis in 1992–93 have indicated the danger of the so‐called gradual approach. This study evaluates the effects of welfare should the ACU indicator become a long‐term constraint of the People's Republic of China and Japan, the big two in East Asia. Our results indicate that the constraints of countries’ own baskets (e.g. real effective exchange rates) are still better before the launch of a true single currency. That is, pegging to an ACU indicator could hardly be sustained in the long‐run if East Asian countries have not reached a consensus about a regional monetary union.     

The Asian Drivers and Africa: Learning from Case Studies

(1248) Andrea Goldstein, Nicolas Pinaud, Helmut Reisen and Dorothy McCormick When the OECD Development Centre launched research in 2005 to document the economic, political and social impacts of China’s and India’s economic growth on sub‐Saharan African (SSA) countries, the arrival (or resurgence) of new important players had triggered concerns among traditional donors. Accusations ran from free riding on Western debt relief over violation of governance standards and unfair company competition to fragmentation of aid delivery. At the same time, there was a tendency to neglect the diversity of SSA in terms of resource endowments, trade links and industrial development. It was time then to promote African voices from various backgrounds to reflect Africa’s heterogeneity. The introductory section presents a summary of findings about the economic impact of the two Asian giants in SSA countries by Africa‐based economists, with three practical conclusions. First, African countries should favour strategies that minimise areas of direct competition with the Asian giants. Second, industrialisation strategies are required to exploit opportunities complementary to the Asian development path. Third, sectors of mutual interest should be identified in order to develop long‐term views on how to cooperate with China and India and these views should be mainstreamed into national development plans.     

中国在东亚生产网络中的分工地位检验——基于贸易增长途径的视角

运用贸易增长分解方法,将东亚各国对中国的出口增长分解为广度增长、数量增长与价格增长,从贸易增长途径这一新视角探讨了中国与东亚各国的相对分工地位。研究结果显示,日本、韩国、新加坡和马来西亚四国对中国的出口以价格增长为主,而菲律宾、泰国和印度尼西亚三国主要以数量增长带动对中国的出口贸易。这说明中国并非位于分工体系的底端,而且其分工地位将逐步提高,因为在东亚七国对中国的出口贸易中,数量增长表现出了趋于主导的态势。由此看来,中国在东亚生产网络中的分工地位处在上升阶段,并逐步向分工体系的高端收敛。