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Short-sea shipping (SSS) plays an important role in regional transportation networks by supporting regional trade and improving inter-modality. In particular, countries in north-east Asia, such as China, South Korea and Japan have been served well by local SSS services. While SSS markets in Northeast Asia (NEA) have been developed by bilateral routes with sub-markets, the market structure of each sub-markets varies depending on concentration and competition levels as well as government intervention. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the market structure of SSS markets in the Northeast Asia.

Herfindahl–Hirschman Index (HHI) and concentration ratio are adopted to measure the market concentration from 2013 to 2017 for SSS markets in NEA. Additionally, the balance between supply and demand is investigated by measuring the capacity utilisation factor (CUF) based on slot capacity.

The market structure in the NEA SSS markets is influenced by firms’ behaviour under different levels of governmental intervention. Shipping firms in a market with more governmental intervention in market entry tend to focus on balancing supply and demand rather than increasing market share, whereas firms in a market with less intervention (and more competition) tend to increase their market share by pursuing efficient capacity management.

The period of data set is limited to 2013–2017. Furthermore, prices or revenue for specific routes are not available.

This paper sheds light on the market structure and behaviour of players in SSS market. In addition, the work has value to measure capacity utilisation based on slot capacity.

This chapter explores the cultural interest and needs of Thai group tourists undertaking specific tours. The perspectives of a specialist Thai tour operator in choosing routes and conducting tours for these tourists in Europe provide the basis for the points identified. The special appeal of themes linked to Thai life is emphasized. The development of a group travel itinerary is documented as a pragmatic exercise in matching the expectations and the spending power of the participants with the business goals of the tour provider. The wider pan-Asian implications of the work include the need for a high level of personal care and the necessity to explain and interpret often little understood historical facts.

In this Industry 4.0 era, third-party logistics (3PL) industries face huge cost pressure to deliver their service. With increase in competition among the players, constant mergers and acquisitions (M&A) have been taking place to sustain competitive advantage. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the growth dynamics among the 3PL service providers.

In this research, the system dynamics methodology was applied to the study of the growth of 3PL industry in Singapore. A population growth model incorporating the predator–prey interaction is developed to account for growth through M&As among 3PLs and their interaction phenomenon are modeled through modified Lotka–Volterra method. The two-species system model consisting of small and medium logistics service providers (SMLSPs as the prey) and the lead logistics providers (LLPs as the predator) are gauged according to the firm size.

Results from the baseline model indicates that Singapore’s logistics industry looks very optimistic for SMLSPs for another 6 years from 2018, while the LLP population will achieve a peak at about 12 years from 2018. Further sensitivity analysis through macroeconomic and microeconomic changes reveals increase in trend of M&As. By varying competitive pressures between firms, results indicate that the LLP population experiences a decreasing rate of increasing SMLSP population falls.

The research provides guidance for logistics and supply chain managers to better understand the critical factors that impact and determine competitive dynamics. The paper further recommends managers to build sustainable logistics strategies to retain competitive advantages.

The research contributes to both economic and social dimensions of logistics sustainability of how resilient the industries are during uncertain conditions. Some of the limitations of this research include the geographic coverage of the study region and other methodological aspects. The research value thus helps policymakers for developing strategic policies for sustainable industrial growth.

States that since the mid‐1980s, substantial deregulation and competitive liberalization of the South‐East Asian economies in their trade and investment regimes has resulted in greater integration of their economies with the North‐East Asian economies. Proposes that, together with the rising purchasing power of the expanding middle class, massive infrastructural development, as well as the expansion in intra‐regional trade and investment, East Asia has emerged as an independent centre of growth in the global economy since the early 1990s. Presents empirical evidence on the rise of this autonomous growth momentum. Contends that, no longer a mere wagon hitched to the locomotive of the US and European economy, East Asia′s emerging independent engine of growth has tremendous implications for executives of multinationals keen to expand market share and form strategic alliances with companies in East Asia. Submits that it also has implications for fund managers in the OECD countries keen to look to the region for asset diversification and higher returns.

This paper examined the future prospects of China’s economic development and its impact on the East Asian Economy and the economic integration of the region. The key issue to China’s economic growth is the contradiction between the socialist political system and a market-based economy. The overall assessment is that China will be able to manage the transformation of the nation into a steadily growing market economy.

We also found that China is the key country forming a triangular trading block which has implemented the international division of labor in the North-East Asian region. China’s rapid export growth and increased market share in the world economy is not a threat but a new opportunity for the East Asian countries. The rise of China will certainly be accompanied by an expansion of a consumer market, which will also broaden business opportunities for East Asian.

Despite the interdependence between East Asian countries, a regional trading bloc embracing East Asia has not been created yet. The future prospects for realizing the vision of a regional free trade agreement in East Asia in the foreseeable future is not bright, either.

Arrangements for regional economic integration, under the WTO system, have unexpectedly dominated globalization. In fact, countries that have realized economic arrangements, such as the EU 's monetary union, are further expanding their efforts to achieve political integration. Regional economic integration is now considered an exigency of national affairs. North East Asian countries are also affected by this global predicament, but the issue involves greater structural complexities in this region. The emergence of China has forced Japan and Korea to contemplate difficult structural adjustments. For example, while the Korean government recognizes the importance of stronger intra-regional economic cooperation, by pursuing these arrangements it simultaneously faces the dilemma of maintaining traditional partnerships, such as those with the USA and Japan. If Korea actively supports regional economic arrangements, this action would be perceived as a bias toward China, consequently damaging ties with the US. Thus, rather than depending on public initiatives to establish economic ties in North East Asia, China, Japan and Korea should rely on market friendly projects initiated by the private sector that endorse gradual integration through non-political activities and exchanges among the citizens of the respective countries. This paper first proposes the founding of a North East Asian United University Community composed of students, professors and campuses of the three countries in the initial stages. Secondly, it proposes the development of unique Asian commodities, a concept similar to that of 'Airbus. ' Finally, it proposes utilization of retired Japanese, Korean and Chinese engineers and technicians to speed up the overall level of technology, which is critical to overcoming backwardness in this region.

The 12^th South Asian Games were held in India in Guawhati and Shillong in February 2016, after repeated rescheduling. There were a number of challenges to organizing the games such as lack of infrastructure, legacy of corruption from past games, shortage of time etc. However, the games were held within 90 days of the announcement of venues and final dates. Sri Yadav, the Secretary, Department of Sports wants to understand the key drivers of success behind organizing the event. He also wants to understand how the success of Indian athletes at SAG could be leveraged for success at larger events.

This chapter investigates the evolution of cross-strait economic relations and Asian regional integration and its implications for future development in the region. Trade and investment in Asia is fundamentally market-driven, and cross-border FDI is the major driving force. This investment-induced trade explained the cross-strait economic relations and intensive trade in intra-industry and intra-regional trade in Asia. The rise of China in 1990s with the assistance of Taiwanese firms further accelerated the trend of integration by forming regional production networks. However, after 2000 institutional arrangement like bilateral or plural-lateral FTA emerged to normalize and institutionalize the de facto economic integration. RCEP and TPP have evolved as the two major platforms for Asian regional cooperation with two key players, China and the United States, on each side. We argue that in the long run the win-win solution that the two platforms will further merge into FTAAP, which benefits all participants including China and the United States. However, in the short run, based on its 50 years of developmental experience, Taiwan can play an important role to promote and consolidate Asian regional integration as a technology provider and resource coordinator for the region and a risk buffer for entering Chinese market. We thus propose a roadmap for Taiwan and China to jointly participate in regional integration process. In the intermediate run, Asian economies need to change the structure toward more regional-centered trade in final goods through domestic consumption market in order to reduce the dependence on Western markets and mitigate any loss may arise from external shocks.

The purpose of this paper was to explore whether organisational diversity is associated with minority employee attitudes (i.e. job satisfaction and organisational commitment) in Taiwan and to illustrate if macro-structural inquiry is applicable in the Asian context.

This paper utilised a quantitative methodology which consisted of a self-administered survey developed using relevant information from the existing literature. A total of 305 valid surveys were received from the 22 participating Taiwanese hotels and the target population was composed of hotel employees from all departments within the hotels. Descriptive data analysis using SPSS were performed to analyse the data.

The findings illustrate that ethnic diversity levels in hotels predict more of the variation in employee attitudes than the remaining types of organisational diversity. In organisations with high and medium levels of organisational diversity, indigenous employees reported significantly higher levels of job satisfaction than did non-indigenous employees; female employees ranked organisational commitment significantly higher than male employees.

The paper is limited in its findings and explanations to a group of employees in Taiwanese context, and the research findings may not be applicable to all Asian countries. However, this paper displays considerable evidence of the positive impacts in a North-East Asian setting of organisational diversity suggested by literature derived from a Western context. Additionally, the current research did not investigate the impact of diversity policies on employee attitudes. The future research could examine whether equal opportunity and affirmative action are achievable in attracting or retaining ethnic and other minority employees.

One implication is that organisations should have human resource management policies and training programs (e.g. conflict resolution, problem-solving and team capacity building) that recognise natural differences in groups to capture the positive consequences of heterogeneity. In other words, conflict among diverse employees in the organisation should be managed to enhance the positive effect of diversity on performance.

The results of the research provide evidence for managing diversity by increasing levels of heterogeneity in the workforce. This paper also argues that organisations need to incorporate equal opportunity requirements, training and education programs into policy and strategic initiatives. This paper displays considerable evidence of the positive impacts in a North-East Asian setting of organisational diversity suggested by literature derived from a Western context.