Human resource strategies for managing knowledge workers: an Afro-Asian comparative analysis

We use the model of culture fit to determine the human resource (HR) strategies for managing knowledge workers in two socio-culturally different countries: South Africa (SA) and Singapore. The national culture of SA is ethnically more diverse. Enterprise environment, such as institutional factors, particularly ownership, organization size and industry type, has more HR impact in Singapore than in SA. We found that there were convergent effective HR strategies used for motivating and retaining, but practices were divergent for attracting knowledge workers. When most frequent and ineffective strategies were studied, there were divergent practices. This knowledge of effective strategies being transferred to the two countries from more developed economies is in line with similar HR research.     

中国与新加坡国际海上货物运输合同若干法律问题之比较

中国与新加坡的国际海上货物运输制度既有相同之处,也存在很大差异,通过对两者海上运输合同的种类及订立、承运人的赔偿责任限额等方面进行比较研究,可以更好地了解新加坡海上货物运输合同的主要特点,对于两国当事人建立海上货物运输合同关系也具有现实的指导意义.     

从FDI理论视角看新加坡企业对华直接投资的经营绩效

通过对分布在中国不同城市的新加坡投资企业的高层经理、专家学者以及中国地方政府主管外商投资服务的政府官员进行深度访谈，根据样本企业对自身在华经营绩效的评估和所有被访对象对新加坡在华投资企业经营行为的评价，分别总结了新加坡对华投资企业较为易于或难于取得满意经营绩效的四种类型，并试图分别不同情况用发达国家跨国公司FDI理论、发展中国家企业FDI理论和中小企业FDI理论进行合理的解释。     

Conduct of Conduits: Engineering,Desire and Government through the Enclosure and Exposure of Urban Water

This article scrutinizes the relationship between governmental reform and infrastructural change in Singapore. Focusing on the role of engineers, it is argued that neoliberal decentralization has occurred through the physical reconfiguration of drainage. Neoliberalization is conceived as a localized technical response to a public health crisis resulting from infrastructural enclosure, which is orchestrated on and through the material‐ecological environment. A closed drainage system consisting of trapezoidal canals and concrete culverts had produced an ideal breeding environment for dengue‐carrying mosquitoes, undermining the state's centralized approach to water governance. This article reorients Michel Foucault's analytics of government around engineering and the ‘milieu’ to consider how drainage infrastructure was consequently opened up to an emerging civil society to relieve pressure on the state and allow greater public participation in the surveillance and management of canals, pipes and culverts. Alongside landscape architects, engineers would increasingly turn to naturalized waterways and open catchment policy to encourage citizens to form an affective bond with water and to inculcate principles of individual ownership and responsibility through physical contact. The article contends that with the proliferation of integrated resource management systems, governmental power is increasingly exercised through the liveliness as well as the fetishization of urban infrastructure.     

Networks vs. market methods in high-tech venture fundraising: the impact of institutional environment

This study examines how institutional environmental factors, including cultural norm, state regulatory system and venture capital market, influence the high-tech entrepreneur's choice for using network vs. market methods when approaching prospective investors at the early stage of their new venture creation. We collected comparative data through on-site interviews and questionnaire survey with 128 high-tech entrepreneurs in Singapore (a newly industrialised economy) and 250 in Beijing, China (an emerging economy). Our findings suggest that a culture emphasising the value of social obligation, the under-development of the legal/regulatory system and the immaturity of the venture capital market increased the proclivity of entrepreneurs to use network methods. Moreover, entrepreneurs who value networks higher in social obligation than in information transfer are more likely to choose personal ties instead of business ties. This study enhances our understanding of how high-tech entrepreneurs in emerging economies choose between networks and market methods in venture fundraising, and offers suggestions on how public policy makers in these economies can improve the institutional environment of their regions to promote high-tech new venture creation.     

Turnover propensity and its causes among Singapore nurses: an empirical study

Nurse turnover has been a serious challenge to the efficiency and effectiveness of any health-care delivery system. Various antecedents of turnover are examined in this study in attempt to identify the most critical causes of the problem. One hundred and eighty nurses from a large hospital in Singapore participated in the survey. The results show that a) stress strikes throughout different stages in turnover development; b) professional commitment is a significant cause of turnover cognition, but not turnover intention; and c) organizational commitment and supervision satisfaction are among the top predictors of turnover intention. These results deviated from the apprehension of many health administrators about the causes of the nursing turnover, thus provided clues as to how to mitigate the problem. And, as they were compatible with the results of studies on Canadian and American nurses, these results contributed to the empirical generalization process. The implication of the findings is discussed in the paper.     

Positive IVOL-MAX effect: A study on the Singapore Stock Market

This paper demonstrates a positive and significant IVOL effect in the Singapore Stock Market meaning that the highly volatile stocks are showing better returns in the subsequent month. More explicitly, there is a strong positive relationship between stock’s idiosyncratic volatility (IVOL) and its subsequent month’s return in the Singapore equity market. This positive IVOL effect is stronger only for small market-statistic firms. But for the Large capital firms, the positive IVOL effect is insignificant. In addition, this paper shows that the relationship between maximum daily return over a month (MAX) and the subsequent month’s return is positive and significant in this market. However, IVOL is the true effect of this market rather than MAX.     

Institutionalization of ‘The Property Mind’

This essay discusses the idea of ‘the culture of property’ and whether it combines the economic and cultural explanations of gentrification. To explore the idea of a culture of property in the case of Singapore, it examines both what motivates Singaporeans to invest in real estate (e.g. nostalgic feelings, duty, guilt, moral economy, face, filial piety towards ancestors and a way to remember their origins as reasons for investing in properties in China), and the institutions in the property state of Singapore (e.g. the possibility of owning and selling public housing, collective sales legislation that encourages collective profitmaking and the pension system) that increase Singaporeans' appetite for property and make them watchers of the property market. Lastly, the essay discusses the consciousness of evictions and of class differences and notes the random and unfair nature of the property market. It ends with a call for further research on real estate and property development, and their role in increasing urban inequality.     

Deregulation, consolidation and banks efficiency in Singapore: Evidence from event study window approach and Tobit analysis

A three-year window analysis together with the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach is employed to investigate the effects of mergers and acquisitions on the Singapore banking groups’ efficiency. The results suggest that the merger has resulted in a higher Singapore banking groups’ mean overall efficiency. We do not find evidence of more efficient acquirers compared to the targets and that the acquiring banks’ mean overall efficiency tends to improve from the merger with a more efficient bank. The Tobit regression results suggest that bank profitability has positive impact on bank efficiency, whereas poor loan quality has negative influence on bank performance. (JEL: G21, D24) All findings, interpretations, and conclusions are solely those of the authors’ and do not necessarily represent the views of the institutions to which they belong. We would like to thank the anonymous referees for their comments and suggestions. The remaining errors are of our own.