Development In Asia-Pacific Region Research Articles

Leading the Circular Future: South Australia’s Potential Influence on Circular Economy Development in Asia-Pacific Region

Circular economy is among the most influential concepts relating to the realization of Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals. Advocates of the circular economy promote its potential to achieve a decoupling of growth from material consumption. Academic critiques describe the circular economy concept as poorly defined and insufficiently concerned with other problems associated with consumerism, globalization, and inequality. South Australia has built a reputation as a first mover in waste management regulations and has recently positioned itself as a leader in the transition to the circular economy. However, the Asia-Pacific region contains a wide variety of socioeconomic, geographic, and climatic conditions that impact waste generation, resource recovery, and circular economy potentials. There are questions about the appropriateness of transferring waste strategy and technologies to different settings. Therefore, this paper explores the basis of South Australia’s leadership credentials and discusses its potential influence over the region. This research is based on an analysis of policy documents produced by the South Australian Government. This study found that while multiple South Australian policy documents highlight a desire to lead in circular economy transition, South Australia’s leadership reputation had been built prior to its adoption of circular economy ideology. The South Australian Waste Strategy 2020–2025 projects a vision of circular futures aligned to circular modernism and planned circularity. The paper concludes that any transfer of waste strategy should occur with sensitivity to existing waste management systems including the informal sector. Asia-Pacific countries, including Australia, should consider decentralized, low-tech circular economy projects to help to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

Special Issue on Collaborative Engineering

Special Issue on Collaborative Engineering

Empirical Studies on Inter-Organizational Collaborative Product Development

Collaborative product development (CPD) has become an imperative for companies to strengthen their niche values and remain competitive in the global market. However, most scholars may lack knowledge of deploying CPD in current industrial settings, and their research efforts may thus fail to fulfill practical needs. This paper presents a series of empirical case studies on distributed product development in Asia-Pacific Region. Engineering collaborations among brand-owner, manufacturer, and supplier in six product design chains (desktop PC, IC substrate, LCD monitor, bicycle, mold design, and CPU cooler) are under investigation. A systematic approach is developed that categorizes CPD into three modes based on the number of engineering BOM items and the difficulty of modularization in product design. It provides a preliminary but structured template for CPD deployment by characterizing the implications and software features of each mode. The cases also reveal values which CPD creates for the downstream supplier of a global value chain and new IT technologies enabling the collaboration process. This work is one of the early studies that analyze collaborative product development from the perspective of a manufacturer. The findings complement and corroborate theoretical studies in related research.

Japan's Environmental Initiatives and A Long-term Perspectives on Environment and Development in the Asia-Pacific Region.

Japan has taken its environmental initiatives in coping with not only domesticissues but also international ones. The first section reviews its initiativesand discusses the future role of the Japanese Government. The secondsection shows present state and perspective of the environment and developmentin Asia-Pacific region, and an outline of a project which provides alternative policy options for countries to attain sustainable development.