Affinity to the Chinese culture, personalized social networks and a firm control of ownership and management have often been considered the key ingredients for the success of many diaspora Chinese transnational enterprises in South China and Southeast Asia. In view of the recent Asian crisis and the rapid changes imposed by globalization, scholars are increasingly concerned whether these family-owned Chinese transnational enterprises would survive the challenges in the new millennium.

"A good read for anyone who wants to understand what actually determines whether a developing economy will succeed." —Bill Gates, "Top 5 Books of the Year"An Economist Best Book of the Year from a reporter who has spent two decades in the region, and who the Financial Times said "should be named chief myth-buster for Asian business."In How Asia Works, Joe Studwell distills his extensive research into the economies of nine countries—Japan, ...

A new revolution in homeownership and living has been sweeping the booming cities of China. This time the main actors on the social stage are not peasants, migrants, or working-class proletariats but middle-class professionals and entrepreneurs in search of a private paradise in a society now dominated by consumerism. No longer seeking happiness and fulfillment through collective sacrifice and socialist ideals, they hope to find material comfort and social distinction in n...

Hong Kong is among the richest cities in the world. Yet over the past 15 years, living conditions for the average family have deteriorated despite a robust economy, ample budget surpluses, and record labour productivity. Successive governments have been reluctant to invest in services for the elderly, the disabled, the long-term sick, and the poor, while education has become more elitist. The political system has helped to entrench a mistaken consensus that social spending is a threat to f...

Nearly everything you know about China is wrong! Yes, within a decade, China will have the world’s largest economy. But that is the least important thing to know about China. In this enlightening book , two of the world’s leading China experts turn the conventional wisdom on its head, showing why China’s economic growth will constrain rather than empower it. Pioneering political analyst Damien Ma and global economist Bill Adams reveal why, having 35 years of ferocious econ...

While the rise of Japan in the world economy has been widely chronicled, South Korea has been quietly growing into a major economic force that is even challenging Japan in some industries. This book examines how government in South Korea has worked with selected industries to create companies that compete aggressively in world markets. The author views South Korean growth as an example of "late industrialization," a process in which a nation's industries learn from other innovator nation...

This comprehensive and authoritative account of the development of the Korean economy combines an historical approach with a substantial treatment of the new economy. Its fresh analysis of the recent transition and systematic treatment of labour issues represent a significant contribution to the scholarship on the politics of development. It is an essential resource for students of comparative political economy and East Asian development.

Since the global financial crisis of 2008–9, central-level, state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in China have extended their reach into the Chinese economy. Some have interpreted this development as a turning point in Chinese economic development; a decision for state capitalism and a stand against slow but steady marketization. In The Advance of the State in Contemporary China, Sarah Eaton suggests that the shift is a much slower-moving process and that this particular aspect of state sector r...

Sixteen of the world's 20 most polluted cities are in China. A serious water pollution incident occurs once every two-to-three days. China's breakneck growth causes great concern about its global environmental impacts, as others look to China as a source for possible future solutions to climate change. But how are Chinese people really coming to grips with environmental problems? This book provides access to otherwise unknown stories of environmental activism and forms the first real-life ...

Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) infringement is so rampant in China that counterfeit goods - from general household merchandise, garments and media consumables to specialist products including pharmaceutical products and super computer chips - can be found in roadside stalls, markets, shops, department stores and even laboratory of leading universities. If allowed to continue these infringements may further engender a socially accepted culture of ‘fakeness’ that may seriously hamper inn...

The Korean Developmental State is a comprehensive and up-to-date analysis of processes of state and economic restructuring in South Korea since the 1997 crisis. The book distinguishes itself from previous studies by consistently arguing that structural changes in the global political economy have played a crucial role in reshaping the Korean state’s own economic project.More precisely, Iain Pirie seeks to demonstrate how the Korean state increasingly adopted neo-liberal policies fr...

China’s economic success has been founded partly on relatively cheap labour, especially in the export industries. In recent years, however, there has been growing concern about wages and labour standards in China. This book examines how wages are bargained, fought over and determined in China, by exploring how the pattern of labour conflict has changed over time since the 1970s. It focuses in particular on the city of Shenzhen where labour conflict and workers’ protests have been especiall...