Overseas Counterparts Research Articles

To Perform or Not to Perform: Exploring the Impact of COVID‐19 on Aotearoa New Zealand's Performing Arts Sector

ABSTRACTThis article explores narratives of how COVID‐19 impacted the performing arts sector, by drawing on interviews with creative workers in Aotearoa New Zealand. Despite the late exposure to COVID‐19 and the adoption of an elimination approach that afforded opportunities for performing arts to continue to varying extents between 2019 and 2022, cultural workers in Aotearoa New Zealand, as with their overseas counterparts, experienced significant and consequential disruption to their working conditions and lives. Taking into account the specificity of Aotearoa New Zealand's performing arts sector and the government's COVID‐19 response, the article contributes to the empirical examination of COVID‐19 experiences by teasing out narratives of impact from cultural workers. The thematic analysis demonstrates how participants presented (1) COVID‐19 as responsible for financial, emotional, and psychological costs, (2) framed opportunities arising from disrupted working conditions and wage subsidy as “silver linings,” (3) were reliant on digital technologies, and (4) constructed the return to “normal” as marked by the COVID‐19 “aftermath.” The article argues that uniting these perceptions and articulations of impact is the ongoing (re)evaluations of risks and benefits by cultural workers of working conditions that predate COVID‐19.

Korean Offshore Wind Electrical Power Generation: Current Status and Prospects

Offshore wind power generation is recognized as an environmentally friendly and sustainable energy source, rapidly advancing with governmental support in many countries such as Denmark, China, Germany, and across Europe due to its high energy stability, potential, and economic benefits. South Korea has set a target of 17.7GW for wind power generation through its Renewable Energy 3020 Implementation Plan, aiming to supply 12GW of offshore wind power by 2030. However, Korea faces slower development compared to overseas counterparts due to various obstacles including lack of community acceptance, low business feasibility, complex approval processes, and insufficient supply chain. This study identifies fundamental reasons behind Korea's sluggish growth in offshore wind power generation and proposes the following solutions through comparison with leading international cases. 1) Strengthening positive communication with residents by clearly articulating the value and benefits of offshore wind power projects to address community acceptance issues. 2) Resolving low business feasibility issues through the establishment of government-led incentive programs and support measures. 3) Streamlining approval processes to mitigate delays and cancellations in project implementation. 4) Expanding domestic market size and enhancing efficient power interconnection to address supply chain deficiencies.

Japan’s quest for a sustainable, virtuous circle of growth and innovation

ABSTRACT Large Japanese corporations which have accumulated substantial reserves are now under pressure to spend them, but on what, or on whom? Should they increase their (domestic) capital and R&D expenditure, which languished between 2000 and 2020; or invest more in their employees, whose wages have stagnated; or increase their shareholder returns, which have already surged; or raise executive remuneration closer to overseas counterparts? This article examines tensions in recent developments in Japan’s political economy, from Society 5.0 to Kishida’s ‘new form of capitalism’ and Keidanren’s ‘rebuilding the middle class’, from the perspective of these dilemmas.

The Changing Fortunes of the Economic Society of Australia over the Twentieth Century

As it nears its centenary in 2025, the Economic Society of Australia finds itself not as comfortably ensconced as its overseas counterparts. Established to promote economics education, the Society was, in its formative years, largely run by university economists and business identities. As a professional grouping, the Society appealed to economists from all walks of life and commanded that status until at least the 1980s. One of the challenges facing the Society was the readability of the Society’s flagship, the Economic Record, for its membership. Another challenge was whether the Society took a proportionate share of the large numbers studying economics at university. Today the internationalisation of the academic economics profession poses a significant challenge to the Society.

The Potential of Batu City-Western Australia Partnership in the Fields of Agriculture and Livestock: Challenges and Opportunities

The objective of this essay is to assess the possibility of collaboration between Batu City and Western Australia in the field of Agriculture and Livestock. The author employed a qualitative research methodology to investigate the collaboration between Batu City and Western Australia. The study approach adopted was descriptive, focusing on providing a detailed account of the collaboration. The primary method of data gathering involved conducting interviews with government personnel from Batu City. Additionally, secondary material was gathered from reputable websites and periodicals, and subsequently examined within the concept of the Paradiplomacy. The researchers discovered a significant potential for collaboration between the two cities. Batu City excels in producing high-quality horticultural seeds that are exported to multiple countries. However, there is a drawback in the livestock sector due to the prevalence of diseases affecting animals. As a highly developed province, Western Australia has the capability to transfer technology to Batu City in order to enhance the quality and quantity of these two sectors. Regrettably, the collaboration's potential was limited to the exploratory stage due to the Batu City Government's subpar efforts in uploading the city profile. This hindered partners from fully recognizing the potential of Batu City. Hence, it is imperative to augment the human capital of the Batu City Government and enhance its systems and administration in order to effectively engage in paradiplomacy with overseas counterparts.

British Edition of the Monroe Doctrine versus ‘Com- munist Militarism’: Collisions between the USSR and the UK in Eastern Countries in the mid-1920s

The new US foreign policy concept in the Western hemisphere introduced by the American President J. Monroe in December 1823 has become a milestone both in the country’s history and in the theory and practice of international relations in general. For Great Britain, the principles of the Monroe Doctrine acquired new relevance after the end of the First World War. The prospect of unfettered Bolshevik expansion into British colonies and dependent territories in Asia and Africa became a matter of particular concern for the UK ruling circles. It was this threat that forced the military and political elites of Great Britain to turn to the experience of their overseas counterparts and develop a set of measures that can be described as the British edition of the Monroe Doctrine. These measures were directed right against the Bolsheviks’ attempts to revolutionize the national liberation movement and to use it to undermine the ‘colonial rear’ of the imperialist powers. British decision-makers interpreted these attempts as a Bolsheviks’ endeavor to revive the foreign policy practices of the Russian Empire and denoted them as ‘communist militarism’. It is through the lens of the collision of the British edition of the Monroe Doctrine and the concept of ‘communist militarism’ that this study examines the dynamics of the Soviet-British confrontation in Central Asia in the mid-1920s. Special attention is paid to the struggle that took place between the two countries in Iran (Persia), Afghanistan, northwest India, Xinjiang and Tibet. This competition for influence over local rulers took a variety of forms: from information and propaganda campaigns to rivalry in the field of infrastructure and logistics projects. At the same time, it was accompanied by a constant clash of interests of various factions within the USSR and Great Britain, which prevented them from pursuing a coherent policy in the region. Together, these circumstances endowed the Soviet-British rivalry in Central Asia in the 1920s with a number of unique features that does not allow it to be interpreted as just yet another round of the ‘Great Game’.

Does Technological Intensity Matter for Global Cross‐Border Mergers and Acquisitions in Manufacturing, 1998–2018?

AbstractDespite being a key feature of the globalising world since the 1980s, the patterns and relationships between acquirer and target firms in cross‐border mergers and acquisitions (M&As) have only gained attention in recent years. By examining the data between 1998 and 2018 through multinomial logistic regression models, this paper investigates the goodness of match on technological intensity (the closeness of technological capabilities) between acquirer and target firms and the effects of geographical, cultural and institutional proximity in global cross‐border M&As in manufacturing sectors. Our results suggest that firms are more likely to acquire overseas counterparts with similar levels of technological intensity in manufacturing. Moreover, geographical proximity is significant in the M&As of target firms in low‐tech and medium‐low‐tech sectors, while cultural and institutional proximity matter for cross‐border M&As among medium‐high‐tech and high‐tech firms. High‐tech acquirer firms in advanced economies tend to acquire their high‐tech counterparts located in larger economies, while technological intensity is more important for high‐tech acquirer firms based in non‐advanced economies, as the closeness of technological knowledge with potential target firms allows them to generate potential synergies and overcome cultural gaps and foreignness in distant host countries.

Transnational Journalism History and China Matters

As a valuable historiographical approach to investigating media and culture in the Asia-Pacific region, transnational journalism history has begun to inquire into the interconnectedness between media landscapes of Western countries and those of the Far East. This article reflects on the historical interconnectedness between Chinese journalism and its overseas counterparts, showing how China matters appeal to the growing discourse of transnational journalism history. It begins with a concise review of the rise of transnational history and its influence on media historiography. Turning focus to the Chinese context, the article explores the entanglements between Chinese journalism history and the discourse of transnational journalism history. It provides examples of media agents, networks, concepts and norms, journalistic content, and journalism education involved in the transnational projects between China and other countries. In doing so, this article envisions possible directions for future research.

International Network, Social Capital and the Role of Muhammadiyah During the 2006 Yogyakarta Earthquake

This article aims to investigate the impact of the international network and social capital on the effectiveness of Muhammadiyah’s emergency response in the 2006 Bantul earthquake. Despite paying more attention to religious and spiritual issues, Muhammadiyah, an Islamic-based social movement, plays a significant role in humanitarian issues. The 2006 earthquake in Bantul devastated public amenities, claimed thousands of people, and caused economic loss. The local government and private sectors of Bantul could not cope with the disaster. The most disaster-affected districts in Bantul Regency were Pundong, Bambanglipuro, and Jetis. Then, Muhammadiyah made an immediate emergency response to help those affected districts. In collaboration with overseas counterparts, Muhammadiyah collected humanitarian assistance. Muhammadiyah might not complete its humanitarian mission without the support of existing local Muhammadiyah in those districts. In other words, Muhammadiyah’s social capital is influential for humanitarian missions. This paper utilized two concepts to elaborate on the effectiveness of Muhammadiyah’s emergency response, namely transnational advocacy networks (TANs) and social capital. Then, this article argues that the higher level of TANs and social capital Muhammadiyah has, the more emergency response it can complete effectively. This paper discovered that three districts had different levels of TANs and social capital. In Pundong, the level of leverage politics (TANs) was higher than social capital. However, both Bambanglipuro and Jetis had a high level of social capital, whereas their leverage politics were low.

Lowering Distribution Costs: The Key to Sustainable Health Development?

Recently selected as a winner of the government of Canada’s COVID-19: Digital clearinghouse challenge, our background work has uncovered that the cost of distribution can often be significantly higher than the cost of manufacture for high consumable medical supplies, like personal protective equipment (PPE). What’s worse, all of these costs are often not realized in suppliers’ pricing schedules, as further ‘hidden costs’ are incurred when governments procure centrally but use locally, demanding after the fact ‘sub distribution’. As the public and private sector alike look to rebuild stockpiles, how can we rethink the supply chain to maintain domestic production without simple subsidization? Conventionally, domestic suppliers have been unable to compete with overseas counterparts on price point. If distribution costs can be lowered, domestic supplies could become cheaper overall, more ethical and more sustainable. The key is in circumventing the architecture of a supply chain altogether — which is only as strong as its weakest link — and enabling an adaptive net that can match suppliers and distributors to orderers, enabling centralized procurement and direct, shortest path distribution at the same time. This strategy can improve the reliability, efficiency and resiliency of supply chains with impact on health costs.

The inverted curvilinear effects of business relationships on institutional success: the moderating role of global role complexity

PurposeContrary to the widely held belief in the linear positive effects of business relationships (BRELs) on performance outcomes, the authors posit that the quality of a manager's BRELs with a foreign business partner has an inverted curvilinear effect on managing challenges arising out of institutional differences between two countries, which the authors define as institutional success. The authors further propose that managers' global role complexity (GRC) negatively impacts institutional success and dampens the inverted curvilinear effects of BRELs on institutional success.Design/methodology/approachThe proposed model is tested using questionnaire survey data from 186 senior Indian managers doing business with New Zealand.FindingsThe authors find significant support for the inverted curvilinear effects of BRELs and the negative effects of GRC on institutional success. They did not find significant results for the moderating role of GRC on the inverted curvilinear relationship between BRELs and institutional success. However, significant linear interactive effects of GRC and BREL are evident.Practical implicationsThe key managerial implication is that managers should focus on building BRELs of appropriate quality with their overseas counterparts to keep producing relational rents. They should, however, also be sensitive to when such relational rents start to be eroded by internal and external factors and treat them as a dynamic equilibrium rather than a static one.Originality/valueThe study findings challenge the assumption of linear positive effects of BRELs within the relational view. They highlight the significance of BRELs, even for emerging economy managers doing business in advanced economies.

Why do teachers believe educational neuromyths?

It is not well understood whether qualified teachers believe neuromyths, and whether this affects their practice and learner outcomes. A standardised survey was administered to practising teachers (N=228) to determine whether or not they believe fictional (neuromyth) or factual statements about the brain, the confidence in those beliefs, and their application. Although factual knowledge was high, seven neuromyths were believed by >50% of the sample. Participants who endorsed neuromyths were generally more confident in their answers than those who identified the myths. Key neuromyths appear to be incorporated into classrooms. Australian teachers, like their overseas counterparts, have some neuroscience awareness but are susceptible to neuromyths. A stronger partnership with neuroscientists would addresss the complex problem of disentangling brain facts from fictions, and provide better support for teachers. This study uncovered psychometric weaknesses in the commonly used neuromyth measure that future research should address.

The State of Smart Cities in China: The Case of Shenzhen

China is at the midpoint of its urbanisation—the largest scale in human history. The recent smart city movement is influencing the discourse and practice of China’s urbanisation, with numerous cities claiming to build smart cities and/or adopting some forms of smart city strategies and initiatives. A so-called ‘latecomer’s advantage’ is being exploited to advance their pursuit for a smart city status, not only to catch up with overseas counterparts, but to overtake them and become international leaders. This local-level enthusiasm strikes a chord with the central government’s strategy of building an ‘innovative nation’ to drive its economic transformation towards a knowledge economy. This converging central-local interest is creating a ‘smart city mania’ across the nation, which, however, has not received due attention in the international literature, and thus deserves critical examination and reflection to inform policy debates. To address this gap, this study investigates the state of smart cities in China, based on a case study of Shenzhen, China’s fastest-growing, experimental city. Shenzhen grew from a fishing village into an international metropolis in 40 years, and has now won a nickname of ‘China’s Silicon Valley’ or ‘China’s smartest city’. This study analyses the state of Chinese smart cities and the pursuit for a smart Shenzhen from the perspectives of the smart city as a concept, as an urban development paradigm, and as an urban regime, drawing upon the international smart city literature. It concludes that a technology-centric approach to smart cities in China, as illustrated by the Shenzhen case, have advanced innovation capacity and economic growth through capitalising on a ‘latecomer’s advantage’. However, this ‘latecomer’s advantage’ may translate into a ‘latecomer’s disadvantage’ for this approach’s lack of institutional adaptation, and for its insufficient attention to social and environmental problems covered under the shiny economic boom. This latecomer’s disadvantage is likely to impact the long-term sustainability of Chinese cities.

감각유산이 러브마크, 트랜스포메이션 및 고객지향성에 미치는 연구: 항공사 특화서비스를 중심으로

Today many airlines in the highly competitive airline industry seek after a strategy of fragmented high-end service and differentiation to take a new move to emphasize emotional and experiential elements, thus increasing airline event activities. The purposes of this study were to empirically analyze the influential relations of customer orientation, transformation, and components of lovemarks as well as the sense heritage of specialized airline services based on concerned previous studies. The results were summarized as follows: First of all, the sense heritage of the A airline had meaningful effects on lovemarks. Second, the greater its five lovemarks were the more influences they had on transformation. Third, the higher the perceptions of its lovemarks were, the more effects they had on customer orientation. Lastly, the greater transformation the cabin crew of the A airline showed, the more meaningful impacts it had on customer orientation. However, The South Korean Airlines have limited research on the cabin crew compared with overseas counterparts and need to do something more active research on them.

Collaborating with Management Academics in a New Economy: Benefits and Challenges

As a response to intensified globalization, international research collaboration has become common in the social sciences. This paper reports a study that examined what Chinese management academics and their overseas counterparts perceived to be the benefits and challenges arising from research collaboration with each other. Data collected with two parallel questionnaires administered, respectively, to 114 Chinese and 30 overseas management academics revealed a variety of perceived benefits relating mainly to Chinese and overseas academics’ complementing strengths. Analysis of the same data also identified an array of perceived challenges stemming from a combination of cultural, epistemological, ideological, linguistic, institutional, and relational differences. Our study generated insights to be drawn upon in policy-making and in the coordination of international research collaboration.

Internationalising Research Methods Teaching of Undergraduate Health Professionals

ObjectiveThe project aims were: (1) identifying the pedagogical impact of collaborative student experience on student understanding of research methods and (2) evaluating the perceived value of providing students with an international perspective on their professional practice. MethodsStudent cohorts from year 1 of the University of Liverpool (UoL) (n = 80) and year 2 of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University (RMIT) (n = 128) undergraduate Medical Radiation Science degree programmes participated in the intervention as part of their teaching. Students were tasked with designing, deploying, and analysing data from survey-based research projects and invited to provide feedback via an anonymous and voluntary online survey (UoL students) or an equivalent paper-based survey (RMIT students), comprising both quantitative (Likert) and qualitative (open) questions. ResultsResponses were received from 83% of RMIT and 31% of UoL students. Over 42% of respondents enjoyed the opportunity to interact with overseas peers, while 14.7% did not; 40% of respondents felt the intervention helped in their understanding of research methods, whilst 28% indicated it had not. The main positive themes were learning the research process, team working skills, networking opportunities, and understanding cultural differences. Interpreting data were invaluable; only a minority valued the engagement with their overseas counterparts. There was poor engagement with social media. ConclusionsStudents reported clear value of the innovation for learning research skills and process. The extent of research skills learning supports changes in research activity and culture in the past 10 years. With internationalisation becoming increasingly important in today's health care economy, the degree to which the students identified this aspect of the research as a key learning point highlights the benefits of the active approach. The negative appraisal of the social media support was interpreted as a response to the platform (WhatsApp) and privacy issues with sharing phone numbers.

Cardiac Rehabilitation in Australia: A Brief Survey of Program Characteristics

Defining cardiac rehabilitation (CR) program characteristics on a national level is crucial for decision-making on resource allocation and evaluation of service quality. Comprehensive surveys of CR programs have been conducted overseas, but, to date, no such profile had been conducted in Australia. A representative sample of 165 CR programs across Australia were asked to provide details on a range of program characteristics such as program location and size, program elements, and staffing profile. Australian CR programs differ from their overseas counterparts in characteristics such as program length, number of sessions, number of specialities represented and extent of outreach. The study findings point to a need for a routine comprehensive survey of CR programs throughout Australia.

Regular Source of Care for the Elderly: A Cross-National Comparative Study of Hong Kong With 11 Developed Countries

ObjectiveThis study aimed to give an international perspective of health service gaps for caring for elderly individuals and explore the role of primary care for caring for elderly individuals with chronic conditions in Hong Kong. DesignCross-sectional, telephone survey. SettingHong Kong. ParticipantA sample of 1000 Chinese participants in Hong Kong aged 60 or older. MeasurementsQuestionnaire extracted from the Commonwealth Fund 2014 International Health Policy Survey of Older Adults. ResultsSimilar to the 11 countries, more than half (about 65%) of Hong Kong respondents suffered from chronic conditions, whereas approximately one-third of them had at least 2 chronic conditions. US respondents had highest rate of having chronic conditions. Only 65% of Hong Kong respondents reported having a regular source of care and a higher proportion of elderly reported having poor self-rated health when compared with overseas counterparts. However, the proportion of elderly individuals who could access same-day or next-day medical care was higher compared with findings of other countries. Both Hong Kong and US respondents were more likely to report cost-related problems when accessing care. Waiting time for specialists in Hong Kong was much longer and coordination between regular doctors was poorer than in all other countries. Although half of Hong Kong respondents had a management plan for chronic conditions, a smaller proportion of them considered it helpful. ConclusionsHong Kong has the lowest rate of regular source of care when compared with 11 developed countries, although people in Hong Kong were more likely to be able to access same-day or next-day medical care. To cope with increasing needs of chronic disease care, there may be a need to further develop the provision of regular source of care for elderly individuals, including the development of quality primary care in Hong Kong.

Genetic and morphological analyses indicate that the Australian endemic scorpion Urodacus yaschenkoi (Scorpiones: Urodacidae) is a species complex.

BackgroundAustralian scorpions have received far less attention from researchers than their overseas counterparts. Here we provide the first insight into the molecular variation and evolutionary history of the endemic Australian scorpion Urodacus yaschenkoi. Also known as the inland robust scorpion, it is widely distributed throughout arid zones of the continent and is emerging as a model organism in biomedical research due to the chemical nature of its venom.MethodsWe employed Bayesian Inference (BI) methods for the phylogenetic reconstructions and divergence dating among lineages, using unique haplotype sequences from two mitochondrial loci (COXI, 16S) and one nuclear locus (28S). We also implemented two DNA taxonomy approaches (GMYC and PTP/dPTP) to evaluate the presence of cryptic species. Linear Discriminant Analysis was used to test whether the linear combination of 21 variables (ratios of morphological measurements) can predict individual’s membership to a putative species.ResultsGenetic and morphological data suggest that U. yaschenkoi is a species complex. High statistical support for the monophyly of several divergent lineages was found both at the mitochondrial loci and at a nuclear locus. The extent of mitochondrial divergence between these lineages exceeds estimates of interspecific divergence reported for other scorpion groups. The GMYC model and the PTP/bPTP approach identified major lineages and several sub-lineages as putative species. Ratios of several traits that approximate body shape had a strong predictive power (83–100%) in discriminating two major molecular lineages. A time-calibrated phylogeny dates the early divergence at the onset of continental-wide aridification in late Miocene and Pliocene, with finer-scale phylogeographic patterns emerging during the Pleistocene. This structuring dynamics is congruent with the diversification history of other fauna of the Australian arid zones.DiscussionOur results indicate that the taxonomic status of U. yaschenkoi requires revision, and we provide recommendations for such future efforts. A complex evolutionary history and extensive diversity highlights the importance of conserving U. yaschenkoi populations from different Australian arid zones in order to preserve patterns of endemism and evolutionary potential.

Whole Transcriptome of the Venom Gland from Urodacus yaschenkoi Scorpion.

Australian scorpion venoms have been poorly studied, probably because they do not pose an evident threat to humans. In addition, the continent has other medically important venomous animals capable of causing serious health problems. Urodacus yaschenkoi belongs to the most widely distributed family of Australian scorpions (Urodacidae) and it is found all over the continent, making it a useful model system for studying venom composition and evolution. This communication reports the whole set of mRNA transcripts produced by the venom gland. U. yaschenkoi venom is as complex as its overseas counterparts. These transcripts certainly code for several components similar to known scorpion venom components, such as: alpha-KTxs, beta-KTxs, calcins, protease inhibitors, antimicrobial peptides, sodium-channel toxins, toxin-like peptides, allergens, La1-like, hyaluronidases, ribosomal proteins, proteasome components and proteins related to cellular processes. A comparison with the venom gland transcriptome of Centruroides noxius (Buthidae) showed that these two scorpions have similar components related to biological processes, although important differences occur among the venom toxins. In contrast, a comparison with sequences reported for Urodacus manicatus revealed that these two Urodacidae species possess the same subfamily of scorpion toxins. A comparison with sequences of an U. yaschenkoi cDNA library previously reported by our group showed that both techniques are reliable for the description of the venom components, but the whole transcriptome generated with Next Generation Sequencing platform provides sequences of all transcripts expressed. Several of which were identified in the proteome, but many more transcripts were identified including uncommon transcripts. The information reported here constitutes a reference for non-Buthidae scorpion venoms, providing a comprehensive view of genes that are involved in venom production. Further, this work identifies new putative bioactive compounds that could be used to seed research into new pharmacological compounds and increase our understanding of the function of different ion channels.