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1 – 10 of 32This article aims to explain how a transnational “retirement industry” in Southeast Asia has emerged recently as a result of interplays between various national and transnational…
Abstract
Purpose
This article aims to explain how a transnational “retirement industry” in Southeast Asia has emerged recently as a result of interplays between various national and transnational forces, particularly in the domain of elderly care. “Retirement industry” refers to business operations related to the relocation of foreign retirees, primarily Japanese pensioners, who seek affordable social care and alternative retirement life.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is based on extensive documentary studies and multi‐sited ethnographic research from 2004 to date. In‐depth interviews with retirees and relevant agencies were carried out in Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia.
Findings
This article delineates how demographic and economic changes in Japan create demand for the transnational retirement industry, and how Southeast Asian countries actively promote the industry as a national development strategy. As such the boundaries between nation‐state and between the market and the state are simultaneously crossed. The industry opens new transnational routes and spaces and thus further complicates the transnationalization of elderly care in Asia.
Originality/value
Current research on social welfare remains dominated by methodological nationalism, and this article calls attention to the transnational dimension in understanding recent changes in social care. By engaging the predominant paradigm of “care diamond”, the article shows that how boundaries shift between various care providers within nation states is inextricably related to how borders are crossed between nation states.
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Mohammad Jasim Uddin, Fara Azmat, Yuka Fujimoto and Farhad Hossain
Despite considerable research and constant pressure from global media, exploitation has been a persistent problem in the Bangladeshi ready-made garment (RMG) supply chain. Yet…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite considerable research and constant pressure from global media, exploitation has been a persistent problem in the Bangladeshi ready-made garment (RMG) supply chain. Yet, the root causes of how and why exploitation still persists remain unexplored. This paper explores the reasons underlying the existence of exploitation in the RMG supply chain of Bangladesh using the theoretical lens of responsible capitalism.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on 98 interviews conducted at multiple levels of the RMG supply chain ecosystem, site visits, observation and archives, the authors unpack the underlying reasons for the existence of exploitation in Bangladeshi RMG supply chain.
Findings
Using the theoretical lens of responsible capitalism, the findings suggest the existence of exploitation as a multifaceted yet nuanced phenomenon that is a result of complex power dynamics, interdependency and interconnectedness of players at multiple levels of the supply chain. The authors extend responsible capitalism theory by adding local context as a key determinant for the RMG supply chain to be responsive, effective and sustainable. The authors further argue the need for a new business model in global supply chain that calls for a fundamental shift of businesses towards responsible capitalism via transformative actions at multiple levels for balancing power in relationships, generate profit with ethical integrity and take responsibility of the consequences of their actions.
Research limitations/implications
The authors use a contextualized case study of the RMG supply chain in Bangladesh using a critical realist approach. Although the use of contextualized case study has enabled better understanding of causal relationships between management practices and exploitation in the local context of Bangladesh, a quantitative approach to establish causality between different factors could be the focus of future research. The findings are specific to the context of Bangladeshi RMG supply chain and may have limited generalizability in other contexts. Further studies may build upon the findings to explore exploitation in RMG supply chain of other sectors and countries in the region and compare the findings to develop comprehensive understanding about the root causes of exploitation.
Practical implications
The findings call for a fundamental shift of business towards responsible capitalism via transformative actions of multiple players across different levels of the supply chains with managerial implications.
Originality/value
By drawing on empirical research, the authors provide a holistic perspective of responsible capitalism that is influenced by interactions and interconnectedness of players in multiple levels of the supply chain. The authors expand the responsible capitalism theory by adding local context as a key determinant that need to be considered for supply chains to be responsive, effective and sustainable.
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All member states of the European Union are facing the challenges of globalization and the pressures of meeting the convergence criteria for economic and monetary union. Germany…
Abstract
All member states of the European Union are facing the challenges of globalization and the pressures of meeting the convergence criteria for economic and monetary union. Germany faces an additional and unprecedented burden of integrating the former GDR politically, socially and economically. Superficially, political integration has occurred – socially and economically, little integration has been achieved. The additional strains and sacrifices are in danger of overburdening the consensus system which has represented West Germany’s distinctive strength and resilience. An apparent decline in consensus threatens above all that major post‐war innovation : the integration of German labour into a “democratised” corporatist system. The co‐operation and collaboration implicit in this system was paralleled by labour’s accommodatory practical philosophy of economic democracy. But will consensus survive? Will economic democracy wither away? Either a new politico‐industrial system is being born in Germany, or the old one will just disintegrate, with consequences extending well beyond Germany’s borders.
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Regis Musavengane, Pius Siakwah and Llewellyn Leonard
The purpose of this paper is to question the extent to which Sub-Saharan African cities are progressing towards promoting pro-poor economies through pro-poor tourism (PPT). It…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to question the extent to which Sub-Saharan African cities are progressing towards promoting pro-poor economies through pro-poor tourism (PPT). It specifically examines how African cities are resilient towards attaining sustainable urban tourism destinations in light of high urbanization.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodological framework is interpretive in nature and qualitative in an operational form. It uses meta-synthesis to evaluate the causal relationships observed within Sub-Saharan African pro-poor economies to enhance PPT approaches, using Accra, Ghana, Johannesburg, South Africa, and Harare, Zimbabwe, as case studies.
Findings
Tourism development in Sub-Saharan Africa has been dominantly underpinned by neoliberal development strategies which threaten the sustainability of tourism in African cities.
Research limitations/implications
The study is limited to three Sub-Saharan African countries. Further studies may need to be done in other developing countries.
Practical implications
It argues for good governance through sustainability institutionalization which strengthens the regulative mechanisms, processes and organizational culture. Inclusive tourism approaches that are resilient-centered have the potential to promote urban tourism in Sub-Saharan African cities. These findings contribute to the building of strong and inclusive Institutions for Sustainable Development in the Sub-Saharan African cities to alleviate poverty.
Social implications
These findings contribute to the building of strong and inclusive institutions for sustainable development in the Sub-Saharan African cities to alleviate poverty.
Originality/value
The “poor” are always within the communities, and it takes a community to minimise the impact of poverty among the populace. The study is conducted at a pertinent time when most African government’s development policies are pro-poor driven. Though African cities provide opportunities of growth, they are regarded as centres of high inequality.
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The purpose of the study is to review some of the existing gaps in the third-generation of critical environmental justice (EJ) research and then propose promising combinations of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the study is to review some of the existing gaps in the third-generation of critical environmental justice (EJ) research and then propose promising combinations of theoretical concepts by adjoining (EJ) literature with other bodies of work with the use of qualitative research methods.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is a critique of the third-generation of critical EJ literature. It demonstrates how the scope of this scholarship, particularly the third world EJ studies, can be expanded further by deploying various combinations of other theories and qualitative research methods.
Findings
Conceptually, this paper provides insights into the new directions that third world EJ theory can take by drawing from other bodies of work including the developmental state, caste, waste, informal sector and labor studies within its fold. Methodologically, the paper shows why and how qualitative research methods including single and multiple case study, participatory action research and ethnography can assist in developing these new integrations between theories.
Research limitations/implications
This research calls for the need to conduct studies in each of the new research dimension suggested in this paper in novel empirical spaces. Such studies will enable the practice of EJ and will help to advance the field of EJ scholarship forward.
Social implications
Analysis of new research combinations with qualitative research methods in new empirical spaces might create scope for practicing EJ in such spaces where various forms of environmental injustices prevail.
Originality/value
This paper identifies gaps in the third-generation of critical EJ research and proposes new research directions by combining other theories and qualitative methods.
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This paper sets out to argue for rethinking governance through the prism of Montesquieu's model of checks and balances within state powers. It aims to explore the parallel between…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper sets out to argue for rethinking governance through the prism of Montesquieu's model of checks and balances within state powers. It aims to explore the parallel between the eighteenth century concept of division of power and the current need to engage and balance the powers of the state, industry/markets and civil society in governance for global sustainability. It also takes Montesquieu's doctrine of balance of powers beyond static checks and balances into more dynamic innovation.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a conceptual paper that translates seventeenth and eighteenth century state theory into twenty‐first century governance. It also explores how models from innovation may be applied to discuss dynamic aspects of governance.
Findings
Drawing on the product‐cycle model, the paper shows how governance entrepreneurship may be explored and understood in innovation terms. The paper explores extractive industries' transparency initiative (EITI) as an illustration of governance innovation to address a gross governance and market failure in the extractive industries – the “resource curse”, particularly in developing countries. It shows how much of EITI's remarkable success in building institutional support is due to actors expanding from their traditional domains into new complementary roles. Each of the three powers – civil society, business, and politics – has exploited their comparative advantages in bringing the governance project forward.
Originality/value
Given the limitation of conventional governance models, the originality/value of the paper lie in its launch of new supplementary governance approaches and their application to the EITI case.
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Ajaya Kumar Panda and Swagatika Nanda
The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of changes in the exchange rate on long-term investment decisions of Indian manufacturing firms at the sector level.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of changes in the exchange rate on long-term investment decisions of Indian manufacturing firms at the sector level.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is undertaken on a sample of 1,222 firms from six key manufacturing sectors of Indian economy during the period 2000-2016. The non-linear relationship between real exchange rate and long-term investment is studied using the two-step generalized model of moments estimator.
Findings
The study finds a concave (i.e. inverted U-shaped) relationship between the long-term investment and real exchange rate, particularly in case of chemical, construction, machinery and textile sector, in particular, and Indian manufacturing industry as a whole. It implies that investments in these sectors increase with depreciation of real exchange rate up to a point of inflection and subsequent to which it starts decreasing if exchange rate continues to depreciate further. But consumer goods and metal product sectors ensure a convex pattern, which demonstrates that investment is decreasing at the initial stage of depreciation of the exchange rate. The study moves one-step forward in validating this nexus between investment and exchange rate with respect to the price-cost margin and the extent of financial flexibility of firms. It is found that high price cost margin and financial flexibility moderates the adverse impact of exchange rate depreciation and immunizes the long-term investments in the scenario of a weak domestic currency and induce long-term investments.
Research limitations/implications
The study measures the impact of exchange rate changes, but the impact of exchange rate volatility on investment has not been studied, which is absolutely different with different implications.
Practical implications
The study provides a clear guideline to firm managers for using the exchange rate movements in a favorable manner. The findings can be used to ensure sustainable long-term investments with respect to the core competence of firms in terms of price cost margin and financial flexibility at sector level of Indian manufacturing firms.
Originality/value
The study analyzes the non-linear relationship between exchange rate changes and long-term investment behavior of manufacturing firms from six key sectors of India. Further, the study moves one step forward to analyze this nexus under different scenarios of financial flexibility and price cost margin using dynamic panel models.
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Elizabeth Hutton, Jason Skues and Lisa Wise
This study aims to use the dual-continuum model of mental health to explore mental health in Australian construction apprentices from the perspective of key stakeholders in the…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to use the dual-continuum model of mental health to explore mental health in Australian construction apprentices from the perspective of key stakeholders in the apprenticeship model. In particular, this study explored how construction apprentices, Vocational Education and Training (VET) teachers, industry employers and mental health workers understood the construct of mental health, factors associated with the dimension of psychological distress/symptoms of mental illness, and factors associated with the dimension of mental wellbeing.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used an exploratory qualitative research design. Data from 36 semi-structured interviews were analysed using thematic analysis. Participants comprised 19 Australian construction apprentices, 5 VET teachers, 7 industry employers and 5 mental health workers.
Findings
In total, 14 themes were generated from the data set. Participants across stakeholder groups reported a limited understanding about mental health. Participants cited a range of negative personal, workplace and industry factors associated with psychological distress/symptoms of mental illness, but only reported a few factors associated with mental wellbeing.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first to use the dual-continuum model of mental health to explore the mental health of Australian construction apprentices, and to explore the factors associated with both dimensions of this model from the perspective of key stakeholders in the Australian construction apprenticeship model.
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The history of Soviet higher education was closely intertwined with the broader histories of Soviet-era general education, with science policies and research institutions, and…
Abstract
The history of Soviet higher education was closely intertwined with the broader histories of Soviet-era general education, with science policies and research institutions, and with the various models of political economy that were embraced and then altered between 1917 and the collapse of the U.S.S.R. in 1991. Such close bureaucratic control and tight policy coordination were inherent in the state socialist higher education system that allowed no private institutions or alternative models to function (Chanbarisov, 1988), and was arguably the source of Soviet higher education's greatest strengths as well as the cause of its greatest weaknesses. State support and massive public investment meant that Soviet higher education witnessed some of the most rapid and truly impressive quantitative and institutional growth in the world (Yelyutin, 1959). In other words, Russian and then Soviet higher education grew from its modest domestic influence and marginal global status in the early 1900s to become one of the largest and most comprehensive systems of higher education and research in the postwar era.