Rapid Economic Globalization Research Articles

A comparative study of regional strategies of Northeast Asian countries

After the global financial crisis in 2008, the US and Europe have experienced anemic economic growth, whereas Northeast Asia has become the most economically dynamic region worldwide. The region faced such challenges as rapid economic globalization and regional economic integration, in-depth adjustment of global economic and trade patterns, the Obama administration’s “Asian Pivot” strategy, and domestic economic transformations. To address these challenges, Northeast Asian countries put forward development plans and regional strategies: Japan’s “Abenomics” since 2012; China’s “Silk Road Economic Belt” and “21st Century Maritime Silk Road” since 2013; South Korea’s “Eurasian Initiative” proposed by President Park Geun-hye in 2013; Mongolia’s “Prairie Road” Plan since 2014; “Eurasian Economic Union” led by Russia since 2015; the TPP revived by Japan as CPTPP after the US withdrawal; and the “New North” policy proposed by South Korea’s newly-elected president Moon Jae-in in 2017. These projects reflect the countries’ determination to play a more active role in the bilateral and multilateral cooperation in the region. The regional strategies are shaped by each country’s specific economic conditions, geopolitical and diplomatic needs. Although these strategies are somewhat competitive in such aspects as resources and influence, they also offer more prospects for cooperation and integration of regional economies.

Impact of Nutrition Transition and Resulting Morbidities on Economic and Human Development.

Nutrition transition is an adverse outcome of rapid economic development and globalization. The present review documents the pattern of nutrition and health transition among different food groups leading to the growing global and national epidemic of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Studies published in various national and international journals were searched using PubMed and Google Scholar search engines from the year 2000 to 2015. Literature was reviewed to gather data pertaining to nutrition and health transition and economic burden of non-communicable disease (NCDs). Diets are changing globally towards higher intakes of simple and refined carbohydrates (including sugar), fat and lower intake of complex carbohydrates. The upsurge of co-morbidities arising from nutrition transition is a serious threat worldwide especially in developing countries like India, which in turn poses a huge impact on economic development of the nation. Better awareness and encouragement of using healthier diet option can help to combat the epidemic of NCDs in the developing world.

Cosmopolitanism and ethnocentrism among young consumers in emerging Asia

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate how consumer cosmopolitanism (COS) and consumer ethnocentrism (CET) may affect young populations in China (an emerging country) and Korea (an advanced emerging country) on their evaluations of Japanese brands.Design/methodology/approachThe author hypothesize that the levels and the effects of COS and CET will differ between China and Korea because of their differing levels of economic development and globalization. Surveys were conducted with 311 Chinese and Korean young individuals with comparable sample characteristics.FindingsThe research reveals a few interesting findings. First, the findings show that Chinese young consumers may be more ethnocentric and moderately less cosmopolitan than their Korean counterparts. Additionally, COS was found to have greater effects on evaluations of Japanese brands in China than in Korea. On the other hand, CET played a subdued role in brand evaluations for both countries.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings suggest that COS and CET may have reduced influences on future consumers in emerging Asia and other emerging countries as they experience increasing globalization.Originality/valueThis study addresses an under-researched issue of how consumer values may change in emerging Asia experiencing rapid economic development and globalization.

Diagnosing Training Needs in the Changing Context of Work

There is one thing that we can agree on; it is the world of work which is changing quickly. The pressing concern of everyone today is what does the future hold for work in the twenty-first century? With growing pace of technological change and rapid economic globalisation, there will be a shift that will transform the world of work, and it will keep advancing over the next 10–15 years. This drift will have implications on the future workforce and workplace, including the size, composition and skills of the workforce; the nature of work and workplace arrangements and worker compensation. In this perspective, employee competence and their constant professional development through proper training are becoming strategic factor for long-term competiveness of any organisation. Policy to invest in employee development is becoming a priority for every organisation to increase its efficiency. To develop employee, diagnosing training needs is a vital activity for the training and development function in any organisation or institution. There are numerous approaches to assess the training needs. An attempt is made in this article to contribute in the ongoing discussion on the issue of diagnosing training needs and share ideas and techniques for ensuing sustainability of organisation. In doing so, there is a likewise need to underscore on integrating the training policy and practices to face the challenges of the world of work.

Reputation as Social Control in Present China: Use, Misuse, Abuse, and Bankruptcy

AbstractAlthough reputation in general plays an effective role in social control in human communal life, this does not seem to work well in present-day China. This article discusses why “reputation as social control” malfunctions in Chinese society in view of the widespread reputation bankruptcy in various professions. Starting with China’s discredited milk industry, it analyses similar regulatory failures in the economic, judicial, academic, and political sectors, explaining the interplay between key institutions. It argues that such regulatory failures can largely be attributed to the use, misuse, and abuse of reputation as a means of social control by the Chinese Party State to maintain monopoly power in a much diversified society resulting from China’s rapid economic development and globalization. Based on the analysis of the Chinese circumstances, this article is also meant to contribute to the study of reputation as social control in general.

Hubs and authorities in the world trade network using a weighted HITS algorithm.

We investigate the economic hubs and authorities of the world trade network (WTN) from to , an era of rapid economic globalization. Using a well-defined weighted hyperlink-induced topic search (HITS) algorithm, we can calculate the values of the weighted HITS hub and authority for each country in a conjugate way. In the context of the WTN, authority values are large for countries with significant imports from large hub countries, and hub values are large for countries with significant exports to high-authority countries. The United States was the largest economic authority in the WTN from to . The authority value of the United States has declined since , and China has now become the largest hub in the WTN. At the same time, China's authority value has grown as China is transforming itself from the “factory of the world” to the “market of the world.” European countries show a tendency to trade mostly within the European Union, which has decreased Europe's hub and authority values. Japan's authority value has increased slowly, while its hub value has declined. These changes are consistent with Japan's transition from being an export-driven economy in its high economic growth era in the latter half of the twentieth century to being a more mature, economically balanced nation.

Making football global? FIFA, Europe, and the non-European football world, 1912–74

AbstractThe Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) played a major role in the transformation of association football into a global game. Between 1912 and 1974, before the era of rapid economic sports globalization, FIFA officials attempted to extend the boundaries of the football empire by creating the World Cup and trying to convert new parts of the world to the people's game. It was not an easy task since they met with resistance, obstruction, and contestation. They had to revise their Eurocentric way of thinking and be willing to negotiate. Far from being a mere imperialist process, the path to world football consisted of a series of exacting exchanges and mutual misunderstandings, especially with the South American associations. It is not clear that FIFA officials always understood the demands of the developing football world but they were often able to negotiate and adapt their discourses towards non-European national associations and continental confederations. By doing so, they helped to create, if not an equal football world, at least an international world space.

Local and Global Poverty: Insights Using a Rights-based Approach

Social workers have proposed various conceptual models to explain the relationship between structural oppressions and poverty. These models are grounded in critical social work and each provides an understanding of how systemic issues impact the sustenance and reinforcement of poverty. With rapid economic globalization and further social and economic exclusion faced by people, poverty has become even more deep and complex. This paper argues for the adoption of a rights-based framework in social work to address issues of endemic structural poverty. Grounded on the principle of the inalienability of basic human rights, the rights-based approach changes the discourse on poverty by creating accountability, equality, transparency and participation from welfare states and civil society. The paper also provides a critique against traditional human rights perspectives in poverty alleviation. The paper provides a context in which the rights-based approach could be pursued in global as well as local contexts.

Culture, Quality of Life, Globalization and Beyond

Rapid economic globalization has dramatically altered business paradigms and government policies with unprecedented effects on societies and cultures, ecosystems and health, justice and equality. Such occurrences precipitated a search for new economic, cultural, and political options in the face of conflicting world views and increasing identity assertion. Research studies focus on the rich diversity and plurality of the world and work for sustainable alternatives. This address aims to examine the role that has been done through environment-behavior researches in enhancing quality of life. The purpose is to sort out and situate the main achievements and to suggest the move onward.

Discovering the Universal in the Particular: A Vision for Christian Mission Spirituality

Christian Spirituality is not neutral. God's Reign or Kingdom is at the core of this spirituality and is political in that it informs, challenges, invites, influences, cajoles, and transforms in a life-giving way people's lives. This particular spirituality seeks out that which is transcendent and, in the light of this transcendence, offers a vision meaningful and inclusive for all. This reflection offers a vision for Christian mission spirituality going forward. The specificity of the Christian life and message has universal implications for the world. As this particular spiritual perspective engages other religious and spiritual perspectives a mutual enrichment occurs that has the potential to transform in a life-giving way individuals and communities living in an era of rapid economic, social, political, and cultural globalization. The concept of interculturation is proposed as an approach to serve the purpose of exploring a vision for an inclusive mission spirituality in an era of religious and cultural pluralism. Such a concept provides interpretive language, life-giving symbols and meaningful metaphors to understand and affirm the universality of every contextual particularity.

What Needs to Be Done by Top Leadership to Align Human Resource Capacity Development (HRCD) with The Development Vision of the Country? (In the Case of Ethiopia)

In the course of rapid economic globalization and a dynamic changing world, HR Capacity Development has become a vital need for Governments performance and country developments. It is noticeable that a well developed and motivated human resource is a fundamental factor for a country sustainable development. Human resource is the key resources that change other resources in to motion. Therefore, giving a due consideration for this critical resource is unquestionable. However, what is important here is, developing and equipping these resources and allocating them for the right place and for the right purpose. To do so, establishing accurate and feasible National Human Resource Capacity Development (HRCD) policies and strategies is critical.To develop the requisite human resources, countries must be clear on what human resources they need in terms of knowledge, skills, attitudes, networks and technological know-how. In other words, human resource development policies and strategies must be designed congruent with the vision of development in question. Therefore, this paper is intended to analyze what needs to be done by top leadership to align HRCD with the development vision of the country. This paper takes Ethiopia as its case.

Towards a global alcohol policy: alcohol, public health and the role of WHO.

In 1983 the World Health Assembly declared alcohol-related problems to be among the world's major health concerns. Since then, alcohol consumption has risen in developing countries, where it takes a heavy toll. Alcohol-related problems are at epidemic levels in the successor states of the Soviet Union and are responsible for 3.5% of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) lost globally. Substantial evidence exists of the relationship between the levels and patterns of alcohol consumption on the one hand and the incidence of alcohol-related problems on the other. Over the past 20 years, research has demonstrated the effectiveness of public policies involving, for example, taxation and restrictions on alcohol availability, in reducing alcohol-related problems. In the wake of rapid economic globalization, many of these policies at national and subnational levels have been eroded, often with the support of international financial and development organizations. Development agencies and international trade agreements have treated alcohol as a normal commodity, overlooking the adverse consequences of its consumption on productivity and health. WHO is in a strong position to take the lead in developing a global alcohol policy aimed at reducing alcohol-related problems, providing scientific and statistical support, capacity-building, disseminating effective strategies and collaborating with other international organizations. Such leadership can play a significant part in diminishing the health and social problems associated with alcohol use.

The impact of rapid economic growth and globalization on zinc nutrition in South Korea

Zn deficiency may be widespread in Asian countries such as South Korea. However, dietary habits have changed in response to rapid economic growth and globalization. Zn nutrition in South Koreans has therefore been assessed during a period (1969-1998) of unprecedented economic growth. Cross-sectional food consumption data from the Korean National Nutrition Survey Reports (KNNSR) of South Korea at four separate time points (1969, 1978, 1988 and 1998) were used to calculate Zn, Ca and phytate intakes using various food composition tables, databases and literature values. Nutrient values in local foods were cited from their analysed values. Average Zn intake was 5.8, 4.8 and 5.3 mg/d for 1969, 1978 and 1988 respectively, increasing to 7.3 mg/d in 1998 (73 % of the Korean Dietary Reference Intake). The phytate:Zn molar ratio decreased from 21 to 8 during the study period. Dietary Zn depletion due to marked decreases in cereal consumption, particularly barley which has a low Zn bioavailability, was counterbalanced by marked increases in the consumption of meat and fish, which are also Zn-rich foods. Reduced phytate consumption coincident with increased Zn intake suggests that Zn bioavailability also improved, particularly by 1998. Although total Zn intake was not greatly affected over the initial period of economic growth in South Korea (1969-1988), Zn contributions from different food sources changed markedly and both Zn intake and potential bioavailability were improved by 1998. The study may have implications for Zn nutrition in other Asian countries currently experiencing rapid economic growth.

Male and female adult population health status in China: a cross-sectional national survey.

BackgroundWith rapid economic growth and globalization, lifestyle in China has been changing dramatically. This study aimed to describe the male and female adult Chinese population health status.MethodsThe Chinese Third National Health Services Survey was conducted in 2003 to collect information about health status and quality of life from randomly selected residents. Of the 193,689 respondents to the survey (response rate 77.8%), 139,831 (69,748 male and 70,083 female) respondents who were 18 years of age or older were analyzed.ResultsAmong the respondents, fewer males than females rated their overall wellbeing as being poor or very poor (4.8% versus 6.2%), reported illness in the last 2 weeks (14.1% versus 17.4%), presence of physician diagnosed chronic disease (15.0% versus 17.7%) and at least one functional problem in seven items of the quality of life (26.9% versus 32.8%). More males than females were currently smoking (52.4% versus 3.4%) and drank alcohol more than three times per week (16.5% versus 1.1%). Physically inactive rate was similar between males and females (85.8% versus 87.0%). Fewer rural respondents reported chronic disease than urban respondents (13.0% versus 19.9% for males and 15.5% versus 22.8% for females). In all seven items of the quality of life measured, rural respondents reported less problems than urban respondents (26.2% versus 28.7% for males and 32.0% versus 34.7% for females).ConclusionMales had better health status than females in terms of self-perceived wellbeing, presence of illness, chronic disease, and quality of life. However, smoking and frequent alcohol drinking was more prevalent among males than that among females. In contrast with the social-economic gradient in health commonly found in the literature, the wealthier urban population in China was not found to be healthier than the rural population in terms of physician diagnosed chronic disease.

Post-crisis export performance: The Indonesian experience in regional perspective

This paper examines post-crisis export performance in Indonesia against the backdrop of pre-crisis experience and the comparative export performance of other Southeast Asian countries. It surveys trends and patterns of export performance, focusing on comparative experience in major commodity categories and changing revealed comparative advantage. It also examines the implications for Indonesia's export performance of China's emergence as a major competitor in world trade, considers market prospects for textile and garment exports following the demise of the Multi-fibre Arrangement, and explores the factors contributing to the post-crisis export slowdown. The findings support the view that Indonesia's poor export performance in the post-crisis era is largely supply driven. They strengthen the case for reversal of recent backsliding in macroeconomic policy reform, and for speedy implementation of the unfinished reform agenda. Prudent macroeconomic management, while necessary, is not sufficient to achieve rapid and sustained export growth in an era of rapid economic globalisation.

Labour Developments in Dynamic Asia: What Do the Data Show?

The International Labour Office constructs annual reports for Latin America and the Caribbean, but has not yet written annual reports for Asia and the Pacific. Therefore, this paper is the first draft of the 2005 annual report entitled Labour and Social Trends in Asia and the Pacific. This paper describes how labour and social conditions were managed during the region's rapid economic growth and global market integration, focusing on the 28 countries in the region since 1990. It provides evidence on how rapid economic growth and globalization affects workers. It uses data from the ILO and other sources, the paper also analyzes to what extent existing data describe the adequate development of labour and social conditions in the region.

Challenges to the sustainability of ‘development zones’: A case study of Guangzhou Development District, China

Rapid economic globalization presents major challenges to the sustainable development of ‘development zones’ in many countries. Development zones in China evolved from the concept of Export Processing Zones (EPZs) in the western world. After China’s accession to the World Trade Organisation, however, they have lost their special preferential status to the overseas investors in terms of promotion of industrialization and inward investment. With the changing global and national circumstances, spatial, economic and social transformations are taking place in these development zones. Given the vast number of development zones in China, the successful integration of these development zones into the regional and urban contexts will have great implications on the economic and social development of China. Based upon a case study of Guangzhou Development District (GDD) which is one of the earliest development zones of China, this paper examines the evolution of development zones in the mainland with particular reference to the development problems associated with their urbanisation in recent years. Although this paper primarily focuses on GDD, the findings and discussion will provide insights for other development zones of China in reviewing their development strategies as most of them are sharing similar development problems.

Is Japan Leaking? Globalisation, Reterritorialisation and Identity in the Asia-Pacific Context

After enjoying long-term prosperity since the end of the Asia-Pacific War (1945), Japan seems to be suffering rapid economic globalisation in the Asia-Pacific realm, weakened domestic socio-economic stability and increasing political unrest at the turn of the twentieth century. Along with these uncertainties, the New Right ideology, which advocates neo-liberalism (free economy) and neo-conservatism (strong state), is gaining ground in Japan. While neo-liberal economy decreases the role of the state, the state needs to be a 'strong' competitor in the international political economy. In Japan, this contradictory situation of the state appears as a series of neo-conservative policies such as the regularisation of the national flag and anthem, maritime defence action, the reinforcement of state surveillance and the reintegration of Okinawa. Drawing on the concept of the state as container and territoriality, this paper explores the rise of neo-conservatism in Japan.

The quality assurance system and market forces in Japanese higher education

This article analyzes thedevelopment of the quality assurance system andchanges in market forces in higher education inJapan. First, the article focuses on thefunction and impact of self-monitoring andself-evaluation systems as unique processesoriented towards decentralization and internalreflection. Second, the changes in marketforces in higher education during rapideconomic globalization are discussed. Third,the possibility of external evaluation by theNational Institution for Academic Degrees isintroduced as a bureaucratic approach to showaccountability in the national universitysystem. Finally, the relationship between thechanges in the quality assurance system and thechanges in market forces is addressed.

The emergence of new technology enterprises in China: A study of endogenous capability building via restructuring

This article examines the emergence of a vital non‐state sector, consisting of New Technology Enterprises (NTEs) spun off from existing R&D institutions during the economic reforms in China. Most NTEs are engaged in computer and information technology. Based on an outline of the development of the NTEs, this article focuses on an analysis of a few critical aspects of the restructuring process through which the NTEs gained entry to a sphere of innovative economic activity. The analysis shows that, while the newly emerged NTEs have to have international levels of competitiveness, the restructuring process has been highly specific to the local society. The article concludes by stressing the critical importance of the organisational innovation of the economic actors and the creation of institutions to support creative economic activities, if developing countries are to cope with the pressing trends of rapid technological progress and economic globalisation.