Language,knowledge transfer and firm’s strategic assets: the strategic role of language in knowledge transfer to China

This article is intended to examine the exact role of language in intra-firm cross-country knowledge transfer from the perspective of developing firm’s strategic assets. We find that inadequate language ability can lead to communication failures and cultural misunderstanding, and has the potential to destroy the process of knowledge transfer. Hence, language is not an operational issue but of strategic importance to the transfer of knowledge within multinational enterprises. As language ability is uniquely related to the specific technical, managerial and cultural aspects of a firm, hard to substitute and imitate, it should be regarded as one of the firm’s strategic assets and be dealt at strategic level.     

The relationship between risk experience and risk response: a study of farmers and climate change

Within the existing literature, the role of experience of risk on attitudinal and behavioural risk response has been relatively neglected. Recent research that draws on the psychological distance of climate change as a concept notes the importance of local, significant experience as a driver for encouraging appropriate response. The experience of flooding was used as the stimulus in this paper, and emphasis placed on whether direct and/or indirect experience of flood risk is associated with different responses to climate change risk. In order to explore the relationship between climate change risk experience and response in the form of on-farm mitigation and adaptation, this paper draws on a case study of farmers in England, many of whom have experienced flooding. Results from a quantitative survey undertaken with 200 farmers in Gloucestershire, England are discussed. Statistical analysis found experience of flooding to be significantly associated with a heightened concern for climate change. Although also finding an association between experience and behavioural response, the sample were most likely to be taking adaptive behaviour as part of normal practice, with factors such as lack of overall concern for climate change risk and absence of information and advice likely to be the main barriers to action. Risk communication needs to further emphasise the connection between climate change and extreme weather events to allow for farmers to perceive climate change as a relevant and locally salient phenomenon, and subsequent tailored information and advice should be offered to clearly illustrate the best means of on-farm response. Where possible, emphasis must be placed on actions that also enable adaptation to other, more immediate risks which farmers in this study more readily exhibited concern for, such as market volatility.     

An interactional perspective on perceived empowerment: the role of personal needs and task context

This study examines the influence of individual needs and task characteristics on a multifaceted definition of perceived empowerment using an interactional perspective. Respondents were Hong Kong Chinese employees and most of them lower-level or nonmanagerial level workers in business organizations. We used regression analyses to test a number of hypotheses informed by social psychology theories. The significant findings indicate that perceived empowerment is predicted by individual characteristics (need for achievement, need for power), task situations (receipt of task feedback, competency-based reward system, participation in goal setting) and their interactions. Limitations of the study and implications for future research are discussed.     

Promoting justice by treating people unequally: an experimental study

Which inequalities among individuals are considered unjust? This paper reports the results of an experiment designed to study distributive choices dealing with arbitrarily unequal initial endowments. In a three-person distribution problem where subjects either know or do not know their endowments, we find impartial behavior to be a stable pattern. Subjects either compensate for initial inequalities fully or not at all in both conditions, and they do so more often when they do not know their endowment than when they know it. Moreover, the type and the size of the good to be distributed also affect the frequency of impartial behavior.     

Close to ASEAN

When looking at the process of regionalization,the birth of the Association Of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has been a great step forward.Like the EU in Europe, ASEAN plays a similar role in Southeast Asia,an area that has seen increasing in- fluence not only in Asia but in the rest of the world.     

Ready for Latin America Market?

Nobody is moving faster in Chile than the Chinese.At last count,14 different brands of Chinese cars,trucks,and commercial vehicles were on sale in Chile—with more expected to arrive by the end of the year.——Alex TaylorⅢ     

A model of the effect of affect on economic decision making

The standard economic model of decision making assumes a decision maker’s current emotional state has no impact on his or her decisions. Yet there is a large psychological literature that shows that current emotional state, in particular mild positive affect, has a significant effect on decision making, problem solving, and behavior. This paper offers a way to incorporate this insight from psychology into economic modelling. Moreover, this paper shows that this simple insight can parsimoniously explain a wide variety of behaviors.

Growing East Asia

It was a busy exchanging period of East Asia in recent days. From October 28 to 31, 2007 the fourth China-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO) and the fourth China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit (CABIS) were held concurrently in Nanning, capital city of Guangxi Province in China. In the Expo,China witnessed a turnout of over 33,000 trade visitors and over 180 investment cooperation projects with ASEAN.