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Asserts that foreign multinational corporations (MNCs) investing in or expanding business operations in China, South and Southeast Asia often find themselves sparring with local business groups. Draws on research and experiences with firms in the region in order to enhance understandings of competitive dealings with two business networks that dominate the Southeast Asian economies ‐ the Overseas Chinese and the Overseas Indians, collectively referred to as “the Networks”. Measures the sparring rings in Asia through the historical conditions that contributed to the Networks’ fighting stances and to Asian business environments. Proceeds to place the two Asian competitors under the spotlight by highlighting cultural differences between the Networks. Predicts the Networks’ movements by elaborating on their unique management and strategic decision‐making styles and discusses, finally, the implications of the Networks’ business practices for MNCs’ strategies and organizational restructuring in the Asian arena.

The Singaporean government has enjoyed an astounding record of success based on its ability to attract MNCs and corresponding capital. Government‐led development has involved crafting a culture that will adapt to MNCs’ needs and to fast‐changing global environments in a restructured economy. The socially re‐engineered Singaporean culture appears hierarchical, disciplined, authoritarian and a showcase for technocratic management. Yet, further crafting of the Singaporean culture along the top‐down, technocratic model seems to result in a diminishing ability to produce creative, innovative and productive workers for the knowledge economy and the MNCs that dominate it. The authors sketch the ideological bases for Singapore’s crafted culture and explore Singapore’s distinctive characteristics as well as governmental policies that have molded this culture. They proceed to highlight specific governmental policies that are designing Singapore for the restructured, globalizing and fast‐changing knowledge economy; and discuss the competing model offered by Taiwan. Finally, the authors propose some implications for civic society and cultural change in Singapore.

In the wake of post‐crisis South‐East Asia’s declining growth and declining per capita income, local companies are restructuring their operations and re‐evaluating their strategies along with multinational companies (MNCs). This article explores the winning market‐expansion strategies of two companies in South‐East Asia’s changed business environments – the MNC, Unilever in Indonesia; and the local company, Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) in Vietnam. The first section identifies how Asian post‐crisis business environments have changed. The next section explores the back‐to‐basics market strategy followed by the foreign MNC, Unilever. The ensuing section sketches the deliberate strategy of normal operations and transparency followed by the local ACB in Vietnam. Based on these case studies, the final section makes some recommendations for MNCs and local companies considering market‐expansion in post‐crisis Asia.

Emphasizes that tourism forms the largest industry in the world and the Vietnamese Government has targeted it for strategic foreign direct investment (FDI). Notes although researchers and policy makers comprehend particular aspects of tourism, they often misperceive how the variables interact within economic and political systems. Elaborates on experiences in similar and related Asian markets that indicate policies necessary to develop a sustainable, socially and ecologically‐desirable tourism industry through appropriate balancing of key stakeholders’ goals. First defines sustainable development in the context of tourism and indicates its relevance for Vietnam. Next, analyses some economic and social costs and benefits associated with tourism; also interprets recent governmental policies’ influences. Finally, provides policy recommendations for the future of sustainable and economically‐viable national tourism development in Vietnam.

This chapter proposes a quantum relational process philosophy as an approach for studying organization-in-becoming as a world-creating process. Furthermore, the quantum relational process philosophy is tied to quantum storytelling. Whereas the quantum relational process philosophy outlines a philosophy of a processual ontology, epistemology, and ethic, quantum storytelling provides the storytelling medium through which such an ontology, epistemology, and ethic emerges through articulation and actualization. As such, the two approaches are introduced as inseparable from each other.

The focus of this chapter is to unfold the ties between the quantum relational process philosophy and quantum storytelling through the perspective of the quantum relational process philosophy itself.

The proposed quantum relational process philosophy is defined as Being-in-Becoming. Thereby, this approach is suggested as an alternative to the “Being” perspective and the “Becoming” perspective or at least as a further development of the becoming perspective. These latter two perspectives present two different ways of viewing organizational change: development and transformation.

The being perspective relies on substance ontology acknowledging the existence of entities: that “which is.” In substance ontology, however, entities such as individuals and organizations are viewed as existing in themselves in fixed space-time frames. This view entails a rather static and stable ontology, perceiving the organization as a ready-made world of stable, unchanging entities. This perspective is often referred to as the approach of building the organizational world through intervention and control of change.

As a contrast, the becoming perspective relies on a process ontology while the organization is perceived as a sea of constant flux and change through which the organization emerges on the way. In this process-oriented perspective, attention is directed toward “that which is becoming.” In this perspective, the organization is perceived as a world-making phenomenon emerging through ceaseless processes of transformation. This approach is often referred to as the dwelling approach, that is, to dwell in the world-making phenomenon letting it happen. This perspective tends to ignore that which exists, that is the ready-made forms, and only focus on that which is becoming.

In this chapter, the proposed being-in-becoming perspective views the tension between being and becoming as a dialectical interplay that is decisive to organizational transformation. However, in the being-in-becoming perspective, “entities” are viewed from a quantum perspective whereby being-in-becoming differs from the substance ontology in its view of the nature of “entities.” In this perspective, the organization is viewed as a dialectical interplay between, at the one hand, the organizational form(ing) of life and, at the other hand, the aliveness of unfolding and transforming living life-worlds of being-in-the-world in fluid space and open time. This dialectical interplay is conceived as central in organizational world-creating processes.

The aim of the chapter is to develop a conceptual framework of a quantum relational process philosophy that embraces the dialectics of transforming organizations. The contribution is to be capable of understanding the performative consequences of dialectic to organizational transformation viewed from the being-in-becoming perspective of the quantum relational process philosophy.

Through the contribution of Heidegger, Hegel, Aristotle, and Boje, and further enriched by Barad, Bakhtin, and Shotter, a conceptual framework is developed for understanding, analyzing, and problematizing dialectical organizational world-creating.

This framework is called “Fourfold World-Creating.” The fourfold world-creating framework keeps the dialectic of organizational transformation at its center while it at the same time take into consideration the dialectical interplay of ontology, epistemology, and ethic. In this sense, the framework is proposed as quantum relational process philosophy. The incorporation of ethic in the quantum relational process philosophy represents an additional contribution of the chapter.

The fourfold world-creating framework is furthermore suggested to be conceived as a quantum relational process philosophy of the antenarrative dimension in David Boje’s quantum storytelling triad framework encompassing: (1) the narrative, (2) the living stories, and (3) the antenarrative. In his recent research, David Boje has a developed a dialectical perspective on his storytelling framework. Following in line with this thinking, this chapter suggests viewing (1) the narrative as the ready-made form, (2) the living stories as the living life-worlds, and (3) the antenarrative as fourfold world-creating.

In this sense, the proposed dialectical fourfold world-creating framework and its embeddedness in the quantum relational process philosophy contributes to our understanding of the research contributes of antenarrative storytelling in organizational studies.

As findings, the chapter proposes what could be considered as ontological, epistemological, and ethical key constituents in dialectical organizational world-creating. The contribution of these findings encompasses an analytical framework for (1) understanding the dialectical, transformative movements of the organization as well as (2) analyzing and problematizing the cease of dialectical tensions that seems to lock the organization in a particular state of being, only capable of repeating and reproducing its ready-made world in fixed space-time frames.

This article deals with Virtual Singapores, or Singapore’s efforts to clone itself through industrial parks in Asia’s developing countries. Through these cloned enclaves, tiny Singapore aims to control change and restructuring in Asian economic environments, and thereby its own destiny. The first section elaborates on Singapore’s regionalisation drive and Virtual Singapores. The ensuing section identifies the strategic goals for internationalizing Singapore Incorporated, the alliance of stakeholders that guides governmental policy in Singapore. The final section discusses the implications of the Virtual Singapores for competitive environments, as well as for organizational and structural changes in the Asia Pacific.

Despite close to two decades of foreign direct investment in China, and the country's enormous market potential, most US and European multinational corporations have never made a profit in that country. The distribution of profits among multinationals also seems highly skewed. The latest survey on profitability showed that five US companies accounted for one‐third of equity profits among US‐based multinationals in China. This research proposes explanations for why multinationals fail in China and strategic solutions for profitable operations.

Through in‐depth interviews with 29 CEOs and directors of major, profitable US and European multinationals, overseas Chinese companies and People's Republic of China companies, this paper proposes a model of strategic convergence for successful operations in China. The first part discusses cultural and cognitive differences between Westerners and Chinese that affect the strategies they choose. The second part proposes a strategic model of convergence, fusing the best of both Western and Chinese business practices, for strategic success in China.

Profitable foreign multinationals in China appeared to modify their management practices on eight dimensions, often adopting traditional Chinese methods of strategic planning and evaluations of effectiveness, as well as relations with key stakeholders, especially the government. Yet, these multinationals continued to retain their Western norms and values in business dealings. Conversely, profitable Chinese companies that competed with these multinationals also modified their management practices in line with Western norms

The study has implications for the management of foreign subsidiaries in China as well as the successful management of Chinese foreign direct investment in the US and Europe.

Strategic management in Asia is different. Decision‐making differs from that taught in Western, and even Asian, schools of business. In the last decade, the influence of Japanese management systems on Western management practice has become evident. Though the Japanese economy is the world’s second largest, and Japan’s population substantial, neither compares with the combined economies and combined populations of non‐Japanese Asia. The influence of the most aggressive elements of the non‐Japanese Asian business communities, the Overseas Chinese and Overseas Indian Networks cannot help to be felt on Western management practice. Explains why this difference in decision‐making styles exists, analyzes the implications of the Asian decision‐making style for managing in Asia, and discusses its implications for the future of strategic marketing management practice.