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The purpose of this paper is to appraise the influence and challenges of direct disinvestment or through foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Kingdom of Bhutan, particularly to identify the inflow of disinterment post pandemic and how it can be improved.

The authors investigated the influence of FDI on Bhutan’s economy by analyzing secondary published data by Asian Development Bank and government agencies of Bhutan. To find out the role FDI has played in the growth of the Bhutanese Economy.

The FDI is not playing a major role in the nation’s economy so far. However, its potential cannot be ignored as there is a need for foreign currency and expertise in the country. Furthermore, government policies are directly influencing the inflow of foreign exchange that affects the Bhutan’s economy. FDI has not increased considerably because of self-imposed restrictions blocking government policies.

This research is based on the data collected from secondary sources, which could be considered as the main limitation of this study. The Himalayan kingdom is not much open to the outside world in terms of the publication and availability of the data. Researchers put their best effort in retrieving secondary data from authentic sources.

This research has direct implications from an institutional perspective on the government policies and procedures. This study throws light on the elements that might help in improving Bhutan’s economy, employment and productivity for an overall development of economy.

Bhutan and similar countries need to understand the pros and cons of having FDIs. This study might help the government and the civil society to understand the trends FDI has triggered in the nation over last 30 years, and will help them to make appropriate policies and regulations dealing with foreign investments.

This paper underwrites the influence of disinvestment on Bhutan’s economy, which can revolutionize business, entrepreneurship and institutions. This research was conducted by analyzing secondary data released by authorized agencies, which indicated the lower inflow of foreign exchange and how to improve further.

This is a theoretical paper, which aims to consider the role of strategic human resource management (SHRM) in the development of “gross national happiness” (GNH) in Bhutan.

The paper initially examines the question of what is strategic capacity building and its importance for developing nations. It then considers the story of Bhutan where the idea of GNH forms the development philosophy and approach to attaining the long‐term visions and goals for the country. Different models and structures for SHRM in Bhutan are discussed in order to determine whether it can be applied to a nation effectively and, if so, whether it will enable the attainment of GNH and the performance desired by the government.

A link between SHRM and the achievement of Bhutan's 2020 vision is identified as, if Bhutan is to achieve its national capacity, it must identify the capabilities that it needs and then the strategies to support such developments. All four of Ulrich's HRM types will be required and this will need careful management, as there is a tendency to move towards one or other within an organization. Bhutan is going through a period of extensive change and the values will be changing. What is recognized here is that not only must the SHRM develop appropriate people management strategies, it must also acknowledge its crucial role in the recognition and maintenance of appropriate value sets.

The proposed framework is currently limited to a theoretical application for Bhutan because, it is argued, that an appropriate model of SHRM will support the desired attainments, but that to do so the specific values of Bhutan will need to be identified and integrated into policy development.

The role of SHRM in supporting or driving change is considered and a potential framework for SHRM in Bhutan is proposed. There is potential to apply these ideas more widely.

This paper identifies a role for SHRM in the attainment of GNH for Bhutan, which is important in helping Bhutan to achieve its national capability.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the economic development strategies of Nepal and Bhutan to understand the economic factors that have contributed to economic growth.

After a brief discussion of each country's modern history, their economies are examined together with their development strategies during the past half century. Standard economic growth models for Nepal and Bhutan are developed and estimated. To ensure the stationarity of the data series, tests of unit root are conducted. Further, a cointegration test is conducted and an appropriate error‐correction model is developed.

The results of the estimations reveal that domestic capital has been a significant source of economic growth in Nepal whereas foreign aid has not had any appreciable effect on growth. In the case of Bhutan, foreign assistance has been a significant source of growth while domestic capital has not.

Bhutan and Nepal also differ in terms of non‐economic factors such as culture, language, politics, and religion. These factors may also help to explain the difference in economic performance of these countries. While important, these issues are beyond the scope this paper and indicate directions for further research.

It is one of the first attempts to compare the economic growth strategies of Nepal and Bhutan. It may provide useful insight to policymakers and others interested in economic growth in Nepal, Bhutan and other developing countries.

This paper aims to outline the history of libraries in Bhutan, to describe the current state of library development and to recommend priority areas for library enhancement.

The authors have worked extensively as library professionals in Bhutan and share factual details derived from their personal experience. They review the published literature, particularly the fieldwork of two scholars who studied Bhutan’s libraries and library workers. The authors use their own experience to interpret those findings and make suggestions for future development.

The paper briefly traces the evolution of print culture and the history of libraries, exploring monastic, school, college, public and national libraries. The paper examines government policies regarding education and libraries and discusses the acknowledgment of the value of libraries and the lack of actual support.

There is limited study of the history of reading culture or libraries in Bhutan. The authors document their first-hand experiences and efforts to implement systems for library resource sharing and professional development. The authors hope that this record will serve to illuminate past effort, to describe the unique information environment in Bhutan and to guide future decision-making. The authors recommend many future avenues for study, including reading habits, information-seeking behavior and attitudes toward libraries and librarians.

The main purpose of this article is to understand the motivations for Bhutanese students to study hospitality and tourism courses. The second objective is to analyse what countries are the preferred destinations for study abroad and visitation for students. This includes focussing on new course topic areas such as sustainability for business in hospitality and tourism courses.

A quantitative methodology approach was undertaken with two surveys administered to the first and second student intakes into the Bhutan Middle Management Hotel Program. Motivational and reasoned action theory form the basis of the theoretical framework to understand behavioural intentions regarding educational choices in hospitality and tourism courses.

The results of the surveys indicate that the main motivations to study hospitality and tourism are for attraction, career opportunities, status, broader benefits and aptitude. In addition, it was found that students studying hospitality and tourism in Bhutan are likely to stay in the sector for a long period of time thereby contributing to the economic and social development of Bhutan. Moreover, it was found that the United Nations Sustainable Development goals are increasingly being integrated into the tourism and hospitality sector, which is influencing students to study these topic areas.

The results of this study will help government and hospitality providers support educational training programs by focussing on new education topic areas. This study is limited to Bhutan.

The results of this study will help government and hospitality providers support educational training programs by focussing on new education topic areas such as sustainability for business management. This will enable hospitality and tourism providers in Bhutan to update their curriculum and to focus on emerging industry needs.

This is amongst the first studies on Bhutanese students motivations for studying hospitality and tourism. It will provide practical and policy advise about how to train workers in order to become less reliant on foreign training providers and the importance of integrating sustainability topics in course design.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of Non-Indian foreign aid on economic growth. In addition, this paper also investigates the importance of governance, policy and democratic institution in fostering economic growth. Planned development activities in Bhutan are mostly funded through external assistance, particularly from India. Bhutan also receives assistance from other bilateral and multilateral countries besides India.

This study adopts the autoregressive distributed lag approach to cointegration using time-series data from 1982 to 2012. To ensure stationarity of data, the unit root test is conducted. Necessary diagnostic tests are also performed to confirm that the model does not violate regression assumptions.

Findings indicate that Non-Indian foreign aid, governance and democracy are detrimental to economic growth. Policy and investment is found insignificant determinant. However, labour force and technology are found fostering economic growth.

Less number of observations restrained detailed analysis like the use of interactive terms between aid and governance, aid and policy to see its actual impact. Data on Indian aid could not be sourced from any documents. Those available were found only for few years restricting time series analysis.

This study explored the impact of various determinants on economic growth in Bhutan. These findings provide useful insights for policymakers in Bhutan to make necessary decisions. The analysis also suggests future ground for research to those scholars and researchers.

The differences in the distribution of factors associated with under-five mortality (UFM) can help explain the rural-urban inequities in UFM. The determinants contributing to UFM in rural and urban areas have not been previously explored in Bhutan. This study examined the factors associated with UFM in rural and urban Bhutan and the role of the factors in explaining UFM disparity.

The dataset of 6,398 single births (4,999 in rural and 1,399 in urban areas) from the 2012 Bhutan National Health Survey was analyzed. Logistic regression analysis accounting for the complex survey design was performed to investigate the determinants.

The UFM rate was 2.75 times higher in rural than in urban Bhutan. In rural communities, children of younger mothers, born in households without safe sanitation and electricity, and central and eastern regions had increased UFM odds. Whereas, children born to working mothers and educated fathers, and born in households with non-working household heads had lower UFM odds in urban areas. A higher number of births and smaller household size was associated with an increased UFM odds irrespective of rural-urban residence. Environmental factors were attributable for the largest portion of rural UFM disadvantage.

This study helps to understand the rural-urban differences in the factors influencing UFM in Bhutan. The findings suggest that policies aimed to improve environmental and socioeconomic conditions, women empowerment, and those aimed to enhance health utilization can help reduce the rural-urban child survival disparity and accelerate the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goal target.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the relationship between sustainable development (SD) and spirituality. Bhutan, a country believing deeply in Buddhist spiritual values has created a model of Gross National Happiness (GNH) where it is believed that the holistic evolution of human being can take place with a balance of material as well as non-material aspects of spiritual, cultural, societal and environmental. The paper critically analyzes GNH to establish the role of spirituality in SD.

The paper analyses the GNH concept using literature review. Further, personal meetings with authorities in Bhutan and interaction with citizens of Bhutan used to gather primary data. A critical approach has been applied to understand the practical implication of the concept.

Good governance, sustainable socioeconomic development, cultural preservation and environmental conservation formed the four basic pillars of the GNH index, further elaborated into 9 domains and 33 clustered indicators. The concept has been commendable in giving new direction to the understanding of SD. Nevertheless, certain discrepancies create ambiguity and limitations around the validity of adoption of the concept in other countries.

A balanced and holistic, yet practical model of SD is necessitated. Bhutan has been a pioneer to suggest the different dimensions that can be acted upon to produce a more honest and sustainable path of being in concord with nature, community and other-related surroundings.

The paper provides insights to researchers and practitioners in understanding the basic essentials required for the SD agenda. The paper derives the learnings from the GNH model which can help in understanding the areas where the western three-pillar model of development needs more refinement. At the same time, the paper also helps in creating the insights for Bhutanese practitioners and policymakers about the areas where the GNH model still needs to be worked upon to improve its efficacy.

The paper proposes that SD can only be achieved through spirituality.

This paper is to examine the factors associated with partner violence (IPV) in Bhutan.

The nationally representative National Health Survey data conducted in 2012 was used. The survey included 12,210 women aged 15–75 years. Multiple logistic regression accounting for complex survey design was performed to assess the possible association of the putative factors with physical, sexual, psychological and any IPV experienced in the past 12 months before the survey.

Alcohol consumption, quarrelling habits and extramarital relationships of husbands/partners were associated with the experience of all types and any IPV. Women performing household chores had increased odds of sexual and any IPV, and those whose husbands had low education levels were more likely to experience physical IPV. Women living in households with >9 members had reduced odds of physical and any IPV. Women married to older husbands/partners were less likely to be psychologically abused. Women from poorer wealth quintiles and who married before reaching 18 years of age also had greater odds of any IPV.

Poor relationship quality, alcohol use, household size, low education, early marriage, poor wealth status and husband’s age were factors associated with one or more types of IPV in Bhutan. Interventions to reduce alcohol use, transform social norms, promote healthy relationships and enhance female empowerment through socio-economic programs may help prevent IPV.

This study aims to conduct a comparative exploration into the effects of culture, social values and entrepreneurial motivation on the career decisions of youth in the newly liberalizing economy of Bhutan. These data should inform current efforts in that country to foster greater entrepreneurship among young people as a means to national development and enhanced levels of gross national happiness (GNH).

We surveyed 144 young people with an express interest in becoming educated in business and entrepreneurship, located in Bhutan and Canada. We measured the seven Hofstede's dimensions of national culture, two dimensions of social values from the world values survey and the three dimensions of McClelland's need for achievement construct – in all cases by reusing well-established metrics from the entrepreneurship and international business literature. The novel Bhutanese data are then compared to the equivalent data for Canada to provide context for their interpretation.

Our results show significant and wide-spread differences in the measures of culture and social values. On the measures of achievement motivation, our results show that the Bhutanese youth differ only in a significantly lower need for demonstrating mastery.

This study appears to be the first report of the widely used international measures of culture, values and motivation for Bhutan, which represents a context that differs very significantly from many of its Asian neighbors and from western countries that are the usual subjects of research into drivers of entrepreneurship. As such, Bhutan may form an important test of the generalizability of theories of entrepreneurship and national development.

Our results point to novel and clear linkages between national policy objectives of increased entrepreneurship among youth and the specific supports and obstacles that exist in the national culture and values. These linkages, along with our findings on Bhutanese levels of achievement motivation, should inform the development of training programs to support the achievement of the national objectives.

Bhutan represents a unique combination where national entrepreneurship programs are being used for economic development in the context of a highly traditional social environment based on the maximization of GHN. Our results provide a unique insight into significant effects that culture and values may have in the realization of these goals for the people of Bhutan.