Women's Magazines: Construction of Identities and Cultural Consumption in Hong Kong

Consumption is an integral part of contemporary capitalistic society. By means of a textual analysis of letters to the editor of a women's magazine in Hong Kong, as well as in-depth interviews with readers and editors, this paper examines how women's cultural consumption creates, constructs and circulates women's identities. Results reveal that the processes of identification can be constructed on three equivalent consumption levels. Firstly, women readers identify certain "imaginary communities" through reading the magazine, and by modeling the behaviors and styles of the communities they feel they are sustaining their relationship with them. Secondly, women identify with an idealized community-constructed beauty and seek to consume products which collectively suggests this idealized beauty for them. Thirdly, women regard the "communities" as providing shelter for rapport and comfort from the emotional and relational problems of real life. In sum, structured identification-consumption has shaped working class women into an identity, which conforms to society's dominant capitalist logic. Despite these findings, however, there are always a few women who attempt to seek alternative lifestyles.     

A Cross-Cultural Perspective on Management in Kenya

ABSTRACT

The management discipline is largely populated by models embedded in western cultural views and values. This paper addresses the generally misplaced confidence of management scholars in utilizing western culture-based models of management to analyze management practices and perspectives in African countries. This paper starts with the premise that management is, at its core, a cultural practice that is derived from a cultural value system. As such, exporting US/western management models and practices abroad requires adaptation to local cultural dynamics and socioeconomic conditions. Furthermore, with western management models using nation-state as a unit of analysis to analyze culture, there is an assumption that all peoples (and localities) within a national culture are isomorphic in their value systems. From a cross-cultural management perspective, this is not only misleading but problematic because, by implication, international managers ignore internal cultural differences and dynamics and how various cultural groups interact with foreign businesses. This study argues that an informed understanding of a nation's sociopolitical history, economic conditions, geography, and internal cultural dynamics is crucial for international managers working in Africa. Using Kenya as an example, the study discusses the misplaced application of western culture-based management models and proposes a culturally-integrative framework of management.     

汉英经济文化环境差异下的英语教学思考

汉语和英语属于不同语系的非亲属语言,它们之间具有一定的差异性和异质性。通过对汉英颜色表达法的教学实践,说明民族文化对语言的形成和表达具有深远的影响。在语言学习、研究和教学中要注意中西民族不同的社会文化背景,既不能望词生意和单纯类推,也不能仅靠词典释义,如此才能真正领会其语言的内涵和精髓。     

文化扬州建设与扬州历史文化名城保护

城市是传统文化的重要载体。扬州作为我国首批历史文化名城之一,其深厚底蕴展示了中国古代文化的发展脉络。在全球化进程不断加快、我国经济快速发展的今天,打造“文化扬州”有着特殊的战略意义,历史文化名城建设和保护面临着机遇与挑战。     

How does cultural intelligence influence the relationships between potential and realised absorptive capacity and innovativeness? Evidence from Poland

Cultural intelligence underpins the interaction between firms and their cultural environments as the domain of external sources that are explored and utilised for innovation through absorptive capacity. This research seeks to answer the question of if and how cultural intelligence moderates the links between innovativeness and potential and realised absorptive capacity. We test our hypotheses based on data from 215 firms operating in Poland. We demonstrate that cultural intelligence strengthens the linkage between potential absorptive capacity and innovativeness that highlights cultural intelligence as an important enabler of exploring new and diverse external knowledge sources. We discuss cultural intelligence concept in relation to strategic management and reveal its contingent role in innovativeness.     

会计舞弊文化背景分析

本文在对比中西文化的基础上,从会计偏好、制度移植、会计规则制定及执行、企业内部不对称信息的流动等方面,分析了文化背景对会计信息质量的影响,认为文化对会计信息质量的影响是基础性的,文化中的消极因素在特定条件下会强化会计舞弊的动机及后果。     

管理浮动汇率制背景下人民币名义汇率波动分析

本文运用描述统计方法比较了1994年1月至1997年12月、2005年7月至今管理浮动汇率制背景下两个不同阶段内人民币/美元汇率波动的情况,而后结合中国实际、采用自回归分布滞后方法建模,分析了2005年汇改新政之后影响汇率波动变化的因素。     

乡城移民的乡土文化认同及其影响机制——基于全国流动人口监测数据的分析

基于2014年全国流动人口动态监测八城市社会融合数据,文章分析了影响乡城移民乡土文化认同的三种机制：市民化、社会排斥与乡土联结。结果表明,总体上,三种作用机制共同影响了乡城移民的乡土文化认同。其中市民化机制降低了移民的乡土文化认同,而社会排斥机制则提高了移民的乡土文化认同,与家乡的互动联系也提高了移民的乡土文化认同。进一步的分析发现,不同市民化能力的移民,其乡土文化认同的影响机制存在一定差异。     

广东珠玑古巷文化旅游符号传播提升研究

通过调查问卷对珠玑古巷文化旅游符号当地居民和游客的认知度进行调查,利用SPSS软件对所得数据进行分析,确定珠玑古巷最具代表性的十大文化旅游符号,针对珠玑古巷文化旅游符号传播存在的问题,提出完善珠玑古巷文化旅游符号传播系统、建立官方符号传播平台、丰富符号传播方式、优化旅游符号空间建设等传播提升建议。     

Localizing management in foreign-invested enterprises in China: practical,cultural, and strategic perspectives

The business case for the rapid localization of management has often been argued. This paper takes a critical look at the assumptions underlying such arguments. This exploration utilizes data gathered from a variety of Japanese, Korean, Hong Kong, and European ventures in China. Evidence from these case studies is incorporated within a broader exploration of Chinese cultural values and attitudes derived from ethnographic research and approaches to the strategic management of multinational enterprises. It is suggested that localization is likely to proceed at a much slower pace than its main advocates may wish or anticipate, and that there are practical, cultural, and strategic factors which may, and perhaps should, inhibit rapid localization. Such factors range from the lack of suitably qualified local managers, to control and surveillance functions and expatriates' roles as trainers, co-ordinators, and relatively neutral 'outsiders'. It is proposed that the development of a core of culturally literate expatriates can become a valuable resource for MNEs and that their selection, support, and compensation packages should be considered as an investment in firms' long-term strategic development.