Women’s empowerment and nutrition status: The case of iron deficiency in India

In this paper we study the relationship between women’s empowerment in agriculture and their iron deficiency status in Maharashtra, India. This is the first time the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) has been used in association with explicit measurement of medical biomarkers for women’s iron deficiency status. Using primary data for 960 women we find that the log odds of a poor iron status in women decline as women’s empowerment levels in agriculture improve. Further, this decline is seen in the presence of multiple dietary diversity measures (dietary diversity score, share of rice and wheat in the diet, total iron intake and iron intake from iron-rich food groups – all for 24-h and 30-day recalls) suggesting that in addition to dietary pathways women’s empowerment can play a role in addressing micronutrient deficiencies like those of iron in a vulnerable sub-group of the population. It also reinforces the need to move away from the ‘staple grain fundamentalism’ that has characterized agricultural policy in India, towards more nutrition-sensitive food systems.     

Creating value through product-service-software systems in institutionalized ecosystems – The case of autonomous ships

Introducing product-service-software systems (PSSS) to the market requires forming an enabling ecosystem, which can be largely based on incumbent business ecosystems. Creating value through PSSS with autonomous capabilities will likely encounter numerous challenges related to the lock-ins in current ecosystem structure. We use institutional theory as a lens and autonomous ships as the case to shed some light on types and impacts of these barriers. We identify a set of institutional barriers pertinent to regulatory, normative and cultural-cognitive pillars of institutions. We further analyze how institutional barriers affect creating, delivering, and capturing value of autonomous ships, ultimately shaping the ecosystem formation around PSSS. The main contribution of the paper is the depiction of early ecosystem dynamics as the mutual adaptation of the PSSS value proposition and the structure of the incumbent ecosystem.     

The discursive strategy of legitimacy management: A comparative case study of Google and Apple’s crisis communication statements

Asia Pacific Journal of Management - This case study assesses how firms deployed language tactically to cope with crisis events. By applying the Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG) approach, we...     

Students’ knowledge of emerging technology and sustainability through a design activity in technology education

International Journal of Technology and Design Education - The purpose of this study is to explore whether, and if so how, a design activity could encourage students to express and develop...     

Entrepreneurial orientation and SME performance in China’s changing environment: The moderating effects of strategies

Recent research has found an inverted U-shape relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and firm performance in the Chinese context. Building on Miles and Snow??s (1978) strategy framework and Scott??s (1995) country institutional profile, we propose that prospector and analyzer strategies align better with entrepreneurial orientation to allow firms to fully benefit from their risk-taking, proactiveness, and innovativeness. Data collected from 155 SMEs in China confirmed that prospector and analyzer strategies alleviated the curve significantly. The defender strategy enhanced the curvilinearity, yet this moderating effect was insignificant. Implications for policy-makers, international businesses, and entrepreneurial firms in China are discussed.     

Shareholder value,stakeholder management,and social issues: what's the bottom line?

We test the relationship between shareholder value, stakeholder management, and social issue participation. Building better relations with primary stakeholders like employees, customers, suppliers, and communities could lead to increased shareholder wealth by helping firms develop intangible, valuable assets which can be sources of competitive advantage. On the other hand, using corporate resources for social issues not related to primary stakeholders may not create value for shareholders. We test these propositions with data from S&P 500 firms and find evidence that stakeholder management leads to improved shareholder value, while social issue participation is negatively associated with shareholder value. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Young children’s views of the technology process: an exploratory study

This paper describes an exploratory study of an aspect of the technological knowledge of two groups of five-year-old students in their first year at school. Their emerging understandings of the steps required to develop a new product were investigated through a series of interviews. A theoretical framework linking technological knowledge to ‘funds of knowledge’ from experiences outside the classroom supported the analysis. The data suggest that young children draw on a broad range of experiences and knowledge, often uncritically, in order to explain how things are made. They are able to transfer their understandings of the technological process from one experience to another particularly when they have the language and background experiences to support them. Of particular note however, is that they were often unfamiliar with the properties of materials and therefore unable to anticipate the processes necessary to convert raw materials into a final product. The research also highlighted some key considerations for working with young children in this area.     

The role of microcredit in older children’s nutrition: Quasi-experimental evidence from rural China

This article evaluates the causal impact of rural households’ borrowing, through formal microcredit, on child nutrition in poor northwest China. The analysis exploits the panel data in rural Gansu between 2000 and 2004. Unobserved differences between borrowers and non-borrowers are controlled for in a dynamic fuzzy regression-discontinuity design creating a quasi-experimental environment for causal inference. Both anthropometric and micronutrient measures of child nutrition are investigated. Borrowing formal microcredit improves parent-reported health status and weight, and alleviates anemia and zinc deficiency. All effects nevertheless appear to exist in the short-term only.     

Evidence of the practical utility of Wong’s emotional intelligence scale in Hong Kong and mainland China

Emotional intelligence (EI) has been an emerging topic for psychological, educational, and management researchers and consultants in recent years. However, there is a lack of scientifically valid measures of this concept, especially for those that have practical utility in the Asian context. Recently, a 40-item forced-choice instrument was developed for Chinese respondents in Hong Kong. We collected data in three studies to further test the practical utility of this instrument in Hong Kong and mainland China. The results provided clear evidence for the instrument’s practical utility. More research that uses this measure in Asian countries is required.

The analysis of economic performance of China’s industrial textiles and nonwovens industry during the first half of 2008

The yuan appreciation, together with the rising material and labor costs, China's industrial textiles factories feel the squeeze during the first half of 2008. But, the year of 2008 also witnessed a fast growing of industrial textiles after the snow havoc and earthquake.     

Regional differences in business ethics in the People’s Republic of China: A multi-dimensional approach to the effects of modernisation

This paper investigates the influence of modernisation on the moral judgements of 211 managers in the People’s Republic of China, based on their responses to a series of vignettes depicting potentially unethical behaviour in organisations. Since modernisation can take many forms, this paper takes a multi dimensional approach to examining levels of modernisation in different provinces in China. Three different measures are used, believed to represent different aspects of the modernisation process. These include the level of industrialisation of various provinces, the level of marketisation, or progress toward a market-based economy, and a new measure of Westernisation, or the extent to which individuals adopt aspects of Western lifestyle and materialism. This latter measure is developed and tested in the present study. Statistically significant associations between these three measures of modernisation and managers’ moral judgements were observed and the implications of these findings are discussed.     

Impact of traditional versus modern dairy value chains on food security: Evidence from India’s dairy sector

The Indian government has made significant efforts to promote dairy cooperatives to link the milk producers with consumers. Despite this, milk marketing is still dominated by traditional outlets. This paper examines the impact of modern dairy value chains on food security indicators such as net returns from dairying and consumption expenditures. Using a large, national, farm-level dataset from India and a multinomial endogenous switching regression model, results reveal that Indian dairy farmers’ integration with the modern dairy value chain has a positive and significant impact on their food security (measured by net returns and household consumption expenditures). Participation in modern milk-marketing outlets significantly increases net returns per year, regardless of whether farmers choose one outlet or a combination.     

China’s telecommunications evolution,institutions, and policy issues on the eve of 5G: A two-decade retrospect and prospect

Over the past two decades, China’s telecommunications industry has witnessed drastic market reform, steadfast institutionalization, and volatile technological changes, which have driven exponential industry expansion. This paper offers an updated longitudinal and comprehensive review on this reform process on the eve of 5G (the fifth generation mobile communications networks). First, the paper segments the two-decade reform crusade into discernible phases, each of which is embedded with different policy drives. These reform phases are then pattern-matched against the subtleties of the overall institutional, technological, and market backdrop. A series of policy issues are identified through a systematic examination of industry phenomena over the reform course. Finally, the status of research is assessed regarding China’s telecom industry and reform, based on which, knowledge gaps are identified and future research agenda suggested. Conclusions are made regarding future reform and research imperatives. The paper advances the understanding of China’s telecom reform, development, and the underlying policy issues. It updates and expands previous works on similar topics. Overall, this study provides important theoretical, managerial, and policy implications.     

The analysis of economic performance of China’s garment industry during the first half of 2008

During the first half of 2008, snow havoc, earthquake, the yuan appreciation, together with the rising material and labor costs has made the main economic benefit index in China’s garment industry decreased synchronously.     

Understanding MNEs׳ decline in the adoption of locally developed technology standard in China: A positioning and cognitive perspective

Asian countries are becoming more and more active in participating technology standard development. In this paper we study the impact of this change on multinational enterprises (MNEs) using the case of TD-SCDMA, an international technology standard of 3G mobile communications. During the development of this technology standard, MNEs׳ market share dropped dramatically. A major contribution of this study is analyzing the underlying mechanism governing MNEs׳ interpreting TD-SCDMA as a threat rather than an opportunity by integrating two streams of literature. We also discuss the possible strategies for MNEs to maintain their market leadership position when local firms are able to lead international technology standard development.     

Entrepreneurs’ resource background,innovation, philanthropy and the exit of external Investment in Private Ventures in China

Retaining external investment is an important task for private firms. However, the entrepreneurial financing literature has primarily focused on how to attract, instead of retain, start-up funding. Integrating social embeddedness, signaling, and strategic choice theories, we propose that entrepreneurs’ resource background, philanthropic, and innovative activities affect the exit speed of external investment for Chinese private ventures. In particular, we propose that external investment exits entrepreneurs with deprived resources faster than those more resourceful entrepreneurs. Yet, external investment stays longer when less resourceful entrepreneurs commit to innovative or philanthropic activities.

     

The licensing of telecommunication suppliers: Beyond the EU’s Directive

The WTO agreement on basic telecommunication services does not provide detailed guidance for giving effect to member country commitments, especially in regard to the licensing reform which will be required to permit easier market access. This is where the EU’s recent Licensing Directive takes on special significance beyond its application to Europe since it is likely to be closely examined as a potential model for multinational licensing reform. For this reason, it is important to draw attention to the shortcomings of the EU directive to help ensure that they are not transported into any model/principles of licensing reform developed to give effect to the WTO Agreement.     

The effect of government 5G policies on telecommunication operators’ firm value: Evidence from China

To lead the world's fifth-generation mobile communication networks (5G) market, China introduced several policies to support 5G industry development that will impact telecommunication operators, the main implementers in this industry. Thus, this study examines the impact of the government's 5G policy announcements on telecommunication operators' firm value in China, where the state exerts a strong influence on industry development. We find that government policy announcement in general affects telecommunication operators' stock returns negatively, and when the government announces policies with a higher level of interference, the decline in firm value is more pronounced. To understand the comprehensive impact of 5G technology on telecommunication operators, we also examine the effect of institution-driven corporate technology R&D and investment activities on firm value. We find that the firms' 5G activities also decrease their firm value, and this effect is more significant than government policy announcements. These results imply that the market has a negative evaluation of the introduction of 5G technology due to its immaturity and uncertainty. This study provides a basis for understanding the market's views on 5G technology and development policies.