The role of the ideal organization in comparative management: A cross cultural perspective of Japan & Korea

It is popular to talk of the Confucian Work Ethic when explaining the successes of Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. This is not an accurate impression. The authors of this article found significant differences in management practices — both actual and ideal — between Japan and South Korea.Professors Lane Kelley, Reginald Worthley and Harry Lie are from the College of Business Administration, University of Hawaii while Professor Arthur Whatley is from the College of Business Administration & Economics, New Mexico State University.     

Foreign direct investments by Korean firms: An analysis with FDI theories

This paper analyzes data on foreign direct investment (FDI) by Korean firms in the light of eight propositions drawn from the literature on FDI which includes both the theoretical and empirical findings of studies on FDI by Third World Multinational Corporations (MNCs). The data concern FDI in manufacturing, natural resources, construction, banking and other industries. The propositions examined include the nature of ownership advantages, the trade-orientation of FDI, and motivations behind the overseas expansion of Korean banks. In addition, the geographical distribution and ownership patterns which arise as a result of these variables are also examined. The findings are generally consistent with many of those in previous theoretical and empirical studies and suggest that an eclectic approach, incorporating many explanatory variables, could adequately explain the patterns in Korean outward FDI.The authors are from School of Business Administration, The University of Michigan and School of Business Administration, Georgetown University, respectively. They gratefully acknowledge the valuable suggestions by Professors Sang Kee Min of Seoul National University and Adrian E. Tschoegl of The University of Michigan. They also acknowledge the cooperation of officers in the Bank of Korea, Korea.     

Equity diversification among the four Asian NICs

Recent studies have indicated the potential gains to U.S. investors from international portfolio diversification. Due to the rapid growth of the four Asian newly industrialised countries (NICs), namely, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan, it is believed that U.S. investors will become increasingly interested in these equity markets. The purpose of the present study is to investigate from the U.S. perspective, the prospects of diversifying across the countries. The results indicate that a diversified portfolio among these markets yields a higher return-to-risk ratio than investing in the U.S. market alone.The authors are with the School of Management, National University of Singapore.     

Risks and returns of acquiring and acquired firms in Singapore: An empirical analysis

This paper investigates the risk profiles of target and acquiring firms and the impact of the takeover process on them. It was found that corporate takeovers generally increased the systematic risk of the acquiring firms after the event while lowering the systematic risk of the target firms. There were large and statistically significant returns obtained by the shareholders of the target firms due to the takeover event. The shareholders of the acquiring firms did not suffer any negative returns.The authors benefitted from the discussions at the Academy of International Business South-east Asia Regional Conference, 26–28 June 1986, where an earlier version of this paper was presented. The authors also like to acknowledge the financial support from the National University of Singapore.     

Change and Transformation in Asian Industrial Relations

We argue that industrial relations (IR) systems change due to shifts in the constraints facing those systems and that the most salient constraints facing IR systems in Asia have shifted from those of maintaining labor peace and stability in the early stages of industrialization to those of increasing both numerical and functional flexibility in the 1980s and 1990s. The evidence to sustain this argument is drawn from seven "representative" Asian IR systems: Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, India, and China. We also distinguish between systems that have smoothly adapted (Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines) and systems that have fundamentally transformed (China and South Korea) and hypothesize about the reasons for this difference.     

Some determinants and effects of FDI in Singapore

This article analyses the microeconomic determinants of effects of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Singapore by seven propositions, using the available secondary data. Variables discussed are related to the areas of industrial structure, economic growth, trade, international competitiveness, productivity and skill intensity. It attempts to draw a pattern on the determinants and effects of inward and outward FDI in Singapore.The research for this paper was partially funded by the Centre for International Business Studies, The University of Western Ontario. This paper is a revised version of a paper presented in Bellagio, Italy in October 1983 which will appear in Dunning (1985).The author is a Professor at the School of Business Administration, The University of Western Ontario.     

Determinants of US multinational banking performance in the Asia pacific region: An eclectic approach

The Asia Pacific region has provided the fastest growing and the most profitable overseas markets for US multinational banks (MNBs) since 1975. In the region, US MNBs remain the dominant banking power despite a recent contraction in their relative market share. This paper discusses major characteristics of US MNB activities in the region and identifies empirically major determinants of MNB performance in the two key countries of the region (Singapore and South Korea) using an eclectic approach.     

Pricing strategies of transnational corporations

This paper uses data collected from 111 transnational corporations which operated 153 subsidiaries in the ASEAN region (Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines) to analyze their pricing practices in the host country markets in relationship to the corporations home country and to the structural characteristics of the host country market. The data collected in this study is thus used to analyze the determinants of predatory pricing, intercountry price discrimination, and price leadership.The author is with the Centre for International Business Studies, School of Business Administration, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.     

Measuring efficiency and ICT ecosystem impact: Hardware vs. software industry

The ICT industry is reshaping itself through convergence and coopetition across the ecosystem. In particular, many ICT companies have been trying to achieve both hardware and software capabilities to accelerate innovation. To understand the changes in the ICT industry, we empirically study the hardware and software industries using the ecosystem framework. We estimate the efficiency levels of the hardware and software industries in China, Japan, South Korea, and the United States (US) using stochastic frontier analysis and meta frontier analysis, and we examine the effects of the ICT ecosystem structure on efficiency levels using a Tobit regression. We find that the US, which is the global ICT leader, performs significantly better than other countries, with the biggest technology gap ratios in both hardware and software, and South Korea, which has the most hardware-centric industrial structure among the four countries, has the biggest efficiency gap between the hardware and software industries. Tobit results further reveal that a well-balanced ecosystem is important in achieving high efficiency in both hardware and software, and the effect is much higher in the software industry than in the hardware industry.     

Service industries as growth leaders on the pacific rim

Despite the present focus on manufacturing industries for development in the Pacific Rim, coordinated service industries development is more likely to provide the key for continued economic growth. Historical analysis, plus current economic data, show that there is an ongoing relationship between service sector activity and the high growth in the Pacific Basin.The authors are with the Department of International Studies, American Graduate School of International Management. This article is a revision of a paper presented at the Academy of International Management, December 1982, Business Meeting held in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA.     

Estimating the performance effects of business groups in emerging markets

Business groups—confederations of legally independent firms—are ubiquitous in emerging economies, yet very little is known about their effects on the performance of affiliated firms. We conceive of business groups as responses to market failures and high transaction costs. In doing so, we develop hypotheses about the effects of group affiliation on firm profitability: affiliation could either boost or depress firm profitability, and members of a group are likely to earn rates of return similar to other members of the same group. Using a unique data set compiled largely from local sources, we test for these effects in 14 emerging markets: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, India, Indonesia, Israel, Mexico, Peru, the Philippines, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Turkey. We find evidence that business groups indeed affect the broad patterns of economic performance in 12 of the markets we examine. Group affiliation appears to have as profound an effect on profitability as does industry membership, yet strategy scholars have a much clearer grasp of industries than of groups. Moreover, membership in a group raises the profitability of the average group member in several of the markets we examine. This runs contrary to the wisdom, conventional in advanced economies, that unrelated diversification depresses profitability. Overall, our findings suggest that the roots of sustained differences in profitability may vary across institutional contexts; conclusions drawn in one context may well not apply to another. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The role of ICT in Korea’s economic growth: Productivity changes across industries since the 1990s

This paper investigates the hypothesis that technological convergence has been a major driving force for the recent productivity increase in Korea. Based on the dynamic panel data of Korean industries, the direct impact of information and communication technology (ICT) on labor productivity is assessed through growth accounting, and the indirect network effect of ICT on industrial total factor productivity (TFP) is estimated. The results confirm the essential role of broadband networks for successful convergence. The policy implications for the regulatory change are drawn from the empirical analysis.     

动漫强国的发展之道

美、日、韩三国的动漫产业在动漫的不同领域占有一席之地,如以“动漫科技技术”称霸的美系,以“漫画”在国际舞台大施拳脚的日系,以“网络游戏”寻求捷径的韩系,都在不同程度上引领了世界动漫的潮流。     

Do Asian stock market prices follow martingales? Evidence from spectral shape tests

This paper examines the martingale hypothesis for five Asian stock markets using the spectral shape tests of Durlauf (1991). Unlike the variance ratio test employed in previous studies (eg, Panet al, 1991), the spectral shape tests are consistent againstall stationary alternatives to the martingale null.The spectral shape tests were applied to daily and weekly returns on the stock indices of Thailand, Hong Kong, Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan over a period of 17 years. The results show that the martingale null is rejected for most markets. There is some evidence that the rejections may be due to low frequency or long memory influences.The authors are lecturers, Department of Finance and Banking, National University of Singapore. This paper was presented at the Third International Conference on Asian-Pacific Financial Markets, September 9–11, 1993 in Singapore. We have benefited greatly from the comments of Y K Tse and other conference participants.     

Forecasting volatility in the Singapore stock market

Volatility forecasting is a major area in the pricing of derivative securities, such as stock and index options. In this paper, we compare three methods of forecasting volatility. These are the naive method based on historical sample variance, the exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) method, and the generalised autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity (GARCH) model. Out-of-sample forecasts of monthly return variances generated by these three methods are compared. The results strongly favour the EWMA method.The authors are from the Department of Economics and Statistics, National University of Singapore and the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation respectively. The views expressed in this paper are entirely personal, and do not represent those of any institution.     

Seasonality and cultural influences on four Asian stock markets

We use daily returns to identify seasonality on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE), The Stock Exchange, Bombay (SEB), the Stock Exchange of Singapore (SES) and The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET). On all four, we find strong day-of-the-week effects. Month-of-the-year effects exist on the KLSE and the SES but not on the SET or the BSE. Strong Chinese New Year effects are evident on the SES and the KLSE. The Chinese New Year effect on the SET is among small capitalization stocks. On the KLSE, we also find Islamic New Year and Vesak effects, but no Aidilfitri effect. Only weak holiday effects concerning several Indian lunar holidays are evident on the BSE. In general we find that cultural holidays evidence a stronger effect than state holidays. These results confirm the importance of cultural influences in the pricing of stocks.M. W. L. Chan is Professor of Finance and Business Economics at McMaster University, Canada, Anya Khanthavit Associate Professor of Finance, Thammasat University, Thailand and Hugh Thomas Assistant Professor of Finance, McMaster University, Canada. The authors would like to thank the Association of Deans of Southeast Asian Graduate Schools of Management for the financial support that enabled this research to be undertaken and an anonymous referee for his many insightful and constructive suggestions. Please direct all correspondence to Hugh Thomas, School of Business, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario, L8S 4M4, Canada, tel: (905) 522-6861 ext 23983 or email thomas@mcmaster.ca..     

Alternative concepts of management: Insights from asia and africa

Some Asian and African concepts including the logic of mutual benefit among heterogeneous elements, polyocular vision, self-heterogenization, ability to think in one another's mind, interpersonal aidaschaft, situational adaptability and overlapping responsibility are compared with the European and North American concepts of unity by homogeneity, individual identity, boundary, specialization, separation, opposition, hierarchy, tension and extension.The author is Visiting Professor of International Business and Business Policy at the National University of Singapore.     

The Indian broadband plan: A review and implications for theory

Given the benefits of ubiquitous broadband deployment and availability that include economic growth, participation in the Internet economy and increased competitiveness, several countries have launched major national initiatives to accelerate broadband deployment including supporting such initiatives often as a part of their fiscal stimulus plans. These include Afghanistan, Australia, Brazil, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Singapore, Sweden, UK and USA and the European Union as a whole.     

South Korea's Record Wage Rates: Labor in Late. Industrialization

Despite "unlimited labor" and political repression, real average wages in South Korea have risen rapidly, possibly faster than in any previous industrialization—including Japan's—or in any contemporary one. This study suggests that the process of industrializing late though learning, which has been especially intense in Korea, coupled with that country's special institutions, underlie the spectacular wages increases. The analysis also highlights the unique skill-set of late industrialization that high wages reward.     

Capital investment practices: A survey of large corporations in Malaysia,Singapore and Hong Kong

This paper presents the results of a survey on the capital investment practices of large corporations in Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong. Our findings are fairly consistent with those from similar U.S. surveys. However, Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong companies seem to use multiple techniques, both simple and sophisticated, in evaluating investment projects, while U.S. companies appear to make great use of discounted cash-flow rate of return. Although Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong companies often make annual cash-flow forecasts over the life of a project, they do not undertake much analysis of risk involved in the project. Moreover, there is room for improving the practice of project implementation, the post-audit of implemented projects, and the use of post-audit data.Dr Wong Kie Ann is with the School of Management, National University of Singapore; Dr Edward J Farragner is with the Department of Finance, DePaul University, U.S.A.; and Mr Rupert K.C. Leung is with the Department of Business Management, Hong Kong Baptist College.