Asian Industry Research Articles

Studija o mišićno-skeletnim poremećajima u industriji odeće

Indian Garment industry is one of the largest Asian industries. Studies show that occupational hazards can cause human, social, and economic losses. When the workers are made to work in ergonomically unacceptable workplaces, they become potent to Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSD). Preventing the MSDs can help reduce absenteeism, and early retirement, improve productivity, and promote safety at the workplace. In this study, the risk of MSDs in the sewing operators was analyzed. Initially, data on the operators were collected through physical observations, interviews, and video footage. Analyzing the videos and physical observation of the operators, critical postures of the operators are chosen for the assessment. A systematic scoring method called Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA) was used to assess a group of 43 operators. The results of the study stated that, among the 43 operators, 38 are in a medium risk level and 7 are in a higher risk level. The reasons for the risk levels included both individual and external factors. The resulting conclusions helped in understanding the risk and conveying better ergonomic intervention that can contribute to reducing the MSD in operators.

Digital Transformation Challenges in the Sales of Pharmaceutical Companies in Japan

While the pharmaceutical industry is rated as having less digital maturity than other industries, the changing environment, especially due to the COVID-19 pandemic, has been giving momentum to the rise of digital transformation (DT). This study explored the current status and background of DT on sales and how DT has been promoted in Japan based on 20 interviews with leaders and consultants in the pharmaceutical industry. The results showed that while their DT was still at an early stage, DT had been driven by external factors, including the pandemic, with commitment from top management. We identified four changing external factors and nine initiatives in relation to the new activities: three in the practical stage and six in the developing stage. An interesting aspect was that regulations might both promote and hinder DT in this industry combined with COVID-19. As there has been limited domain-specific research in DT of the pharmaceutical industry in Asia, the study is considered to contribute to both academic research and practice in Asian business.

Development Status and Trends in the Eel Farming Industry in Asia

AbstractGlobal eel production has dramatically increased over the last 30 years because of the expansion of eel farming. In 2018, 47 countries were engaged in eel production, with a total output of 277,103 metric tons and a total value of US$2.67 × 109 for eel imports and exports. To better understand the development status of the eel industry, especially in China, and to protect glass eel resources and promote the healthy development of the industry, we summarize the current development status of eel culture in terms of eel production, natural recruitment, imports, and exports. Japanese and Chinese production, imports, and exports are the main focus of this study. The eel production industry is characterized by high investment, high risk, and high returns. Since the mid‐1990s, China has been the world’s leading country for eel culture in terms of yield, accounting for over 80% of global yield. The profit margin is over 60% for eel farming in China. Japan has a long history of eel culture, and it is the dominant consumer market for eels, with 50% of the world’s consumption. Countermeasures and suggestions are proposed to promote the development of the eel industry due to severe problems, such as declines in wild glass eel recruitment since 2018, an increasing demand for eels, the excessive dependence on exports to the Japanese market, and the effects of environmental protection policies on the eel industry in China. These measures include protecting eel germplasm resources and developing other cultured varieties as well as developing international emerging markets and cultivating domestic markets to strengthen the eel brand. Furthermore, trade associations should be developed in order to provide information for farmers and strengthen interactions with the government.

An Economic History of Regional Industrialization edited by Bas van Leeuwen, Robin C. M. Philips, and Erik Buyer

<i>An Economic History of Regional Industrialization</i> edited by Bas van Leeuwen, Robin C. M. Philips, and Erik Buyer

Air Pollution Tolerence Index, Anticipated Performance Index of plants studied near selected sites at Salem, Dharmapuri District

Air pollution due to huge number of vehicles emitting toxic gas poisons both living environment affecting fauna and flora. Road side plants are affected mostly by pollution as they are primary acceptors and gets reflected in terms of tolerance and sensitivity to pollution. Hence, the present work was designed to study the air pollution tolerance (APTI) using biochemical parameters and anticipated performance index (API) of the plants collected near seven different locations. Among the plants assessed, all plants selected does not show much difference in ascorbic acid, total chlorophyll, pH, relative water content, but that slight difference exhibited variations in air pollution tolerance index. Pongamia pinnata (33.16), Ficus religiosa (34.05) Near Asian rubber Industry, Kandampatty Byepass, Salem was found to be a tolerant species, Polyalthia longifolia (8.21) as very sensitive in plants studied Near KMB Granites Pvt. Ltd. Kottagoundampatty, Salem, and the rest was found to be moderately tolerent. Since, the studied plants show lesser surface area, the amount of dust collected was also less, which might be due to the climatic condition prevailed at that time of sample collection. Likewise, the API was found to be excellent in Yercaud lake view and very good in study area Duroflex company, Karimangalam, Dharmapuri, poor in study area Thanithotty Quarry, Salem as well as in KMB granites Pvt.Ltd. and good for the remaining three locations. So, the sensitive plants has to be protected that are located in these sites to reduce the pollution load.

Industrialization in developing Asia since 1970: why technology, learning, and innovation matter

ABSTRACT The paper seeks to analyze the remarkable pace of industrialization in Asia during the past half century, even if its distribution was most unequal between countries, with a focus on selected countries described as the Asian-14. It argues that economic openness, while necessary was not sufficient. It was conducive to industrialization only when combined with sensible industrial policy that was implemented by effective governments. There was, of course, an enormous diversity in the nature of openness and the process of industrialization across countries. Yet, there were discernible patterns in the different paths to industrialization, pointing to determinants of success and factors underlying failure. The analysis highlights the importance of technological capabilities, learning and innovation, which were essential for the few countries that joined the league of industrialized nations. It concludes that this will be just as necessary for countries that follow in their footsteps or aspire to sustain their industrialization.

Unfolding Digital Asias

vi Editors’ Introduction Jonathan E. Abel and Joseph Jonghyun Jeon Unfolding Digital Asias What we call Digital Asias enfolds a series of reifications. Under the rubric of Digital Asias, we mean to encompass the digital cultures of Asia, the historical processes of their digitization, digital industries in Asia, the forms of labor that emerge and persist in its name, Asian social media, and the diasporic iterations of all these elements. To raise the issue of Digital Asias is to mark our moment in the history of computerization and to acknowledge its transnational flows and the dynamic processes through which these logics operate, but it also risks compliance with the most simplistic of “digital age” periodizations and essentializing Asia (currently home to 60 percent of the world’s population) as a coherent construct. Though our insistence on Digital Asias militates against Silicon Valley necropolitics in the guise of capitalist innovation and postsocialist planetarity, which dreams of the erasure of geopolitical divisions, we are wary of replacing one set of delusions with another. Such pitfalls notwithstanding, this enfolding is a juncture that provides some critical affordances. Too often that which goes under the rubric of the digital deals only with virtual surfaces, like the sleek graphical user interfaces of contemporary systems software, which hide machinic computational operations from human sight. It is no wonder that new technologies are often presented as empowering and in utopian terms, even as this discourse elides realities like unequal access and exploited labor. To insist on more capacious and grounded digital geographies is to reconcile the disparity between dream and realization and to uncover the hard kernels of social, economic, and political base programming that prop up the thin virtuality of cyberspace. Now is a good time for such insistence. The futuristic and fanciful claims of first-­wave computerization from the 1960s to the 1990s have long since died. The subsequent age of Editors’ Introduction vii cyberspace has similarly fallen short of early reverie. We have come to see that digitization contributes to a widening, rather than attenuation of inequality and nurtures fascism and demagoguery as much as it does democracy. And in Asia, increasingly Asian digital production seems a fuller realization of Western global capitalist predecessors rather than a subversive alternative. From this vantage point, a broader picture emerges of the manifold nature of Digital Asias. To speak of transformations born in Digital Asias is not to speak of discrete continental regimes of capital accumulation but rather to note their imbrication and variance in a global history in which technological innovation acts as an accelerant for older capitalist strategies and exploitative formations. The digital economy emerges at a moment of global deindustrialization and declining rates of profit in what is, to be sure, a combined and uneven process, and so traditional questions about the relations of labor to production nevertheless abide. If the digital (like capital itself) alienates workers from their own labor and means of production, then paying attention to Digital Asias reveals the otherwise obscured labor along with the economic, social, and geographic unevenness that constitutes the infrastructure of global digitality today. This infrastructure is difficult to see because digital technologies amplify capitalism’s ahistorical tendencies. To unfold Digital Asias involves drawing attention to these otherwise obscured geopolitical contexts, the materiality behind virtuality’s façade, the twofold nature of labor, and the nonbenign aspects of technological “progress.” Furthermore, attentiveness to the fold is not simply about making visible that which is unseen due to its being enfolded by the allure and promise of the digital; it also indexes a methodological approach that folds in together operations and processes that have hitherto been understood as discrete.1 Even the choice of the cover image for this issue presented a telling problem. In seeking images that seemed intuitively to speak to Digital Asias, we found that most of the more obvious choices also reinscribed the kind of techno-­Orientalist aesthetics (explored in greater detail later) that it is our intention to complicate. We finally settled on an image featured in Emanuel David’s contribution to this issue, The Heat/Viva La Vida (Portrait of a Female Artist at 40, Self Portrait) by Wawi Navarroza. A...

Open Innovation and Business Model of Health Food Industry in Asia

Health trends and digital technologies are of great significance for the health and wellness food market and its development in the future. This study examines whether health trends, digital technology, and market concentration influence health and wellness food consumption in the Asian market. Our analysis uses a panel dataset covering 14 Asian economies from the period 2006–2020 and a panel quantile regression technique with non-additive fixed effects. The results reveal that health trends and digital technology have positive and significant impacts on health and wellness food consumption, whereas the concentration of distribution channels has a negative and significant impact. These results also offer insights into each type of health and wellness food consumption, thereby contributing to the health and wellness food market development. Finally, this study suggests the health and wellness food business development through a consumer-driven open innovation strategy.

Recent Advances in Cybersecurity and Safety Architectures in Automotive, IT, and Connected Services

This is a special issue in cooperation with EuroSPI (www.eurospi.net). EuroSPI represents a large international network of renowned experts and annual European conference series running successfully since its foundation in 1994. From 2013 onwards, an international functional safety and from 2016 onwards a functional safety and cybersecurity workshop has been established, to which leading European and Asian industry and research have been actively contributing to. High-quality, &amp;nbsp;original &amp;nbsp;papers &amp;nbsp;about &amp;nbsp;best &amp;nbsp;practices &amp;nbsp;for &amp;nbsp;implementing &amp;nbsp;functional &amp;nbsp;safety &amp;nbsp;and cybersecurity in automotive, IT, and connected services have been selected for this special issue. They provide insights into the current state of the art implementations in automotive safety and cybersecurity, IT security, and safety in future highly autonomous self-learning vehicles.

Introduction: global queer fandoms of Asian media and celebrities

ABSTRACT In this introductory essay to the special issue “Global Queer Fandoms of Asian Media and Celebrities,” I reflect on key issues in existing scholarship and the fresh contributions and connections made by the commentary pieces. I also discuss the history of, current trends related to, and promising research directions for global queer fan studies. I show that examinations of global queer fandom require an urgent recentering of twenty-first-century Asian media and pop culture. By doing so, I propose the concept of a “globalist queer discourse,” which highlights both the norm-disrupting power of globally networked affective communities formed by gender, sexual, ethnic, and geocultural-linguistic minorities and the queer potential and problems of Asian media and celebrity industries during a drastically changing time of globalization and digitization.

The Potential of Halal Food Business in Asia and Europe with Majority of Non-Muslim Communities

The purpose of this article is to find out about how the halal food business is, what halal food restaurants are already in Asia and Europe, what is the potential of the Muslim community in Asia and Europe, and what is the potential of the halal food business in Asia and Europe with the majority non-Muslim society. In Islam, food is not only seen in terms of appearance and taste, but there are more important factors, namely whether the food is halal or not. The halalness of a food is very important as a consideration in the consumption of a food. The study results show that the halal food industry in Asia is increasing. The study results show that the halal food industry in Asia and Europe is increasing. The reason is, the existence of the Muslim population has increased growth, based on the trend of demand for halal products and also halal tourism. This is a great opportunity for business people to meet the demand for halal food. The challenge is how to improve quality and meet halal standards to meet consumer demand.

Impacts and Possible Responses Related to COVID-19 in the Textile and Apparel Industry of Bangladesh

This research work was intended to analyze the unleashed issues related to apparel trade during COVID-19 pandemic &amp; made an attempt to find the best possible responses to uphold marketing campaigns during &amp; after the pandemic situation. Apparel industries in Asia, the largest global hub of both the textile &amp; apparel import-export trade have been severally damaged by the COVID-19. Over the last one year, the global community had already realized the fact that how pandemic situation disrupted the supply chain management of textile, apparel &amp; fashion manufacturing industries throughout the world. Bangladesh, one of the top ranked garments exporter countries have been facing the burning bridges, due to the scarcity of raw materials &amp; gradual cancellation export orders. The contribution of the apparel industry is more significant for the socioeconomic growth of a 3rd world countries like Bangladesh, just because apparel contributes almost 84% of its total export income with the involvement of 4.5 million people approximately. The following research paper conveys a three-fold story. In the very beginning portion, there are some reviews &amp; analysis of the overall scenarios of the COVID-19 pandemic with presence of several business reports, academic journals, market research, manufacture's opinions &amp; stakeholders' strategies. The second phase of the research work forecasts the possible responses need to be projected during &amp; after the pandemic situation. Finally, this study predicts an ideal footprint to cope up with similar sort of situations in the future.

Development of a gene-deleted live attenuated candidate vaccine against fish virus (ISKNV) with low pathogenicity and high protection

SummaryAquaculture provides important food, nutrition, and income sources for humans. However, aquaculture industry is seriously threatened by viral diseases. Infectious spleen and kidney necrosis virus (ISKNV) disease causes high mortality and economic losses to the fish culture industry in Asia and has been listed as a certifiable disease by the International Epizootic Office. Vaccine development is urgent to control this disease. Here, a gene-deleted live attenuated candidate vaccine (ΔORF022L) against ISKNV with low pathogenicity and high protection was developed. ΔORF022L replicated well in mandarin fish fry-1 cells and showed similar structure with wild-type ISKNV. However, the pathogenicity was significantly lower as 98% of the mandarin fish infected with ΔORF022L survived, whereas all those infected with wild-type ISKNV died. Of importance, 100% of the ΔORF022L-infected fish survived the ISKNV challenge. ΔORF022L induced anti-ISKNV specific antibody response and upregulation of immune-related genes. This work could be beneficial to the control of fish diseases.

Gene Expression Profile and Co-Expression Network of Pearl Gentian Grouper under Cold Stress by Integrating Illumina and PacBio Sequences.

Simple SummaryIn this study, we investigated the liver transcriptomic responses of pearl gentian grouper towards cold stress. Some cold-related key genes and biological pathways were screened, of which energy-related metabolic pathways and genes had higher expression levels under cold stress. This suggested that energy homeostasis plays a crucial role in the physiological adjustments of pearl gentian grouper when exposed to the cold stress environment. Our results will expedite the understanding of different fishes adaptive mechanisms to profound environmental temperature changes and provide insights into the molecular breeding of cold-tolerant pearl gentian grouper varieties.Pearl gentian grouper (Epinephelus fuscoguttatus ♀ × Epinephelus lanceolatus ♂) is a fish of high commercial value in the aquaculture industry in Asia. However, this hybrid fish is not cold-tolerant, and its molecular regulation mechanism underlying cold stress remains largely elusive. This study thus investigated the liver transcriptomic responses of pearl gentian grouper by comparing the gene expression of cold stress groups (20, 15, 12, and 12 °C for 6 h) with that of control group (25 °C) using PacBio SMRT-Seq and Illumina RNA-Seq technologies. In SMRT-Seq analysis, a total of 11,033 full-length transcripts were generated and used as reference sequences for further RNA-Seq analysis. In RNA-Seq analysis, 3271 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), two low-temperature specific modules (tan and blue modules), and two significantly expressed gene sets (profiles 0 and 19) were screened by differential expression analysis, weighted gene co-expression networks analysis (WGCNA), and short time-series expression miner (STEM), respectively. The intersection of the above analyses further revealed some key genes, such as PCK, ALDOB, FBP, G6pC, CPT1A, PPARα, SOCS3, PPP1CC, CYP2J, HMGCR, CDKN1B, and GADD45Bc. These genes were significantly enriched in carbohydrate metabolism, lipid metabolism, signal transduction, and endocrine system pathways. All these pathways were linked to biological functions relevant to cold adaptation, such as energy metabolism, stress-induced cell membrane changes, and transduction of stress signals. Taken together, our study explores an overall and complex regulation network of the functional genes in the liver of pearl gentian grouper, which could benefit the species in preventing damage caused by cold stress.

Socio-economic Benefits from Applying Innovative Technologies in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry in Asia

Technology has reshaped the nature of competition in the tourism industry. Hence, the whole system of technology management rapidly dispersed throughout the tourism industry and no player can escape its impact. Although the widespread adoption of technology has deeply influenced the tourism and technology industry, still we lack a clear understanding of the process by which partners in the technology and tourism industry can co-create, and share technology-enabled value. On the other hand, technology adoption has provided both challenges and opportunities for the tourism industry. This book chapter seeks to provide a framework for the utilization of innovative management methods in tourism by adopting a strategic perspective and socio-economic benefits from applying innovative technologies in the tourism industry.

Identification of Implementation Lean, Agile, Resilient and Green (LARG) Approach in Indonesia Automotive Industry

Indonesia's economic growth, which has developed in the last few decades, has contributed to an increase in the automotive industry sector. The automotive industry continues to increase the competitiveness of the automotive industry. The Lean, Agile, Resilient, Green (LARG) approach that has been applied by several global automotive industries, is able to increase competitiveness and performance in a sustainable manner. The purpose of this study is to analyze the implementation of the LARG approach in Indonesian automotive, as one of the bases for the automotive industry in Asia. The LARG value index is conducted to determine the level of application in the automotive industry in Indonesia. The mapping of the level of importance and performance of each of the LARG sub indicators was carried out using the Importance Performance Analysis (IPA) method. The results of this study confirm that there are several LARG sub indicators that have not been implemented properly. Green has the most sub-indicators that need to be improved, namely PG1 (ISO 14000 and OHSAS Certificates), PG2 (Collaboration with suppliers and customers in protecting the environment), PG6 (Carrying out industrial waste recycling), and PG8 (Product design that can reduce consumption of energy and raw materials). The calculation of the LARG implementation index value is 4.41.

Development of monoclonal antibody against glycoprotein of hirame novirhabdovirus (HIRRV) with virus neutralizing activity

Hirame rhabdovirus (HIRRV) is one of the most important viruses of fish, posing a great threat to the fish industry in Asia and Europe. The glycoprotein (G) of HIRRV is known to play important roles in virus attachment and entry, making it an ideal target for both diagnosis and therapy. In this study, a truncated G of HIRRV was expressed as a fusion protein in Escherichia coli. Using the recombinant G protein (rG), monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) were prepared by the hybridoma technology. Subsequently, positive clones were screened by indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and further characterized by Western blot and immunofluorescence assay (IFA). ELISA results showed that two mAbs (3E5 and 4D10) could react with the rG, as well as the purified HIRRV. Western blot analysis showed that the mAbs belong to the IgG isotype and could recognize a 60 kDa viral protein, which is consistent with the molecular weight of G protein and determined to be the G protein of HIRRV by mass spectrometry. The virions in HIRRV-infected EPC could also be recognized by two mAbs in IFA. Moreover, neutralization assay showed that mAb 4D10 could significantly inhibit the proliferation of HIRRV and delay the development of cytopathic effect in viral-infected EPC cells, and in vivo neutralization assay also showed that mAb 4D10 could significantly reduce the mortality of HIRRV-infected flounder, indicating that mAb 4D10 can partially neutralize the HIRRV infection. Western blot analysis showed that mAb 4D10 could specifically bind the C-terminal domain of HIRRV-G protein. These results demonstrated that the produced mAbs could specifically recognize the G protein of HIRRV and displayed virus-neutralizing activity in vitro and in vivo, which could serve as effective detection probes and potential neutralizing antibodies for HIRRV.

Exploring Relationships among Sustainability Organizational Culture Components at a Leading Asian Industrial Conglomerate

Although it is well recognized that organizational culture is important for ensuring corporate sustainability, most existing models on an organizational culture do not have a sustainability-oriented organizational culture. While a few models about sustainability organizational culture are available, they focus on a particular aspect of the sustainability organizational culture (e.g., strategy, practice). To fill in the gap in the literature, the present study aims at developing a sustainability organizational culture model. It identifies components of a sustainability organizational culture, develops an Integrated Sustainability Organizational Culture model, and explores the model by adopting the case study approach, mixed data collection methods, and the working analytical framework. As an empirical contribution, findings indicate that, through a widely shared organizational culture, the sustainability organizational vision and values drive emotionally committed organizational members to perform corporate sustainability practices that lead to enhanced Triple Bottom Line outputs, satisfied stakeholders, and brand equity. As a theoretical contribution, the empirically endorsed Integrated Sustainability Organizational Culture model provides directions for further theoretical development. Managerial implications are discussed.

Sensitivities of Southeast Asian industries to the local and global business cycles

PurposeThis paper estimates the sensitivities of the output of the manufacturing industries of the four Southeast countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore) to both the country-specific and global business cycle fluctuations. The study investigates whether the business cycle exposures of these industries differ to their nature classified as producing durable or nondurable goods and also to booms and recessions.Design/methodology/approachUsing annual time series data on sectoral manufacturing production indices for major manufacturing industries over the period from 1999 to 2018, this paper uses the seemingly unrelated regression (SUR)–based generalized least square estimator to estimate the exposures of each industry for each of the four countries to local and world business cycle.FindingsThe individual country analysis indicates that generally the sensitivities of the ASEAN manufacturing industries to booms and recessions are different from the pattern observed in the developed countries and Russia. We do not find evidence consistent with the commonly held view among economists and business managers that demand for durable goods flourishes in booms and falls in recessions. Also, very few industries exhibit an asymmetric reaction to booms and busts. However, the analysis of panel data reveals the expected pattern of industrial sensitivities to the local business cycle only.Originality/valueThe paper makes several contributions. Firstly, the model proposed in the paper estimates sensitivities of industries to both the local and global business cycle variations. Secondly, the model enables us to explicitly test the asymmetric reaction of industries to booms and busts. Thirdly, the paper is the first attempt to estimating business cycle exposures for manufacturing industries in emerging markets.

The Alteration of Intestinal Microbiota Profile and Immune Response in Epinephelus coioides during Pathogen Infection.

Epinephelus coioides, or grouper, is a high economic value fish species that plays an important role in the aquaculture industry in Asia. However, both viral and bacterial diseases have threatened grouper for many years, especially nervous necrosis virus, grouper iridovirus and Vibrio harveyi, which have caused a bottleneck in the grouper industry. Currently, intestinal microbiota can provide novel insights into the pathogenesis-related factors involved in pathogen infection. Hence, we investigated the comparison of intestinal microbiota communities in control group and pathogen-infected grouper through high-throughput sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene. Our results showed that microbial diversity was decreased, whereas microbial richness was increased during pathogen infection. The individuals in each group were distributed distinctly on the PLSDA diagram, especially the GIV group. Proteobacteria and Firmicutes were the most abundant bacterial phyla in all groups. Interestingly, beneficial genera, Faecalibacterium and Bifidobacterium, predominated in the intestines of the control group. In contrast, the intestines of pathogen-infected grouper had higher levels of harmful genera such as Sphingomonas, Atopostipes, Staphylococcus and Acinetobacter. Additionally, we investigated the expression levels of innate and adaptive immune-related genes after viral and bacterial infection. The results revealed that immunoglobulin T and proinflammatory cytokine levels in the intestine increased after pathogen infection. Through these unique bacterial compositions in diseased and uninfected fish, we could establish a novel therapeutic approach and bacterial marker for preventing and controlling these diseases.