Journal of Emerging Knowledge on Emerging Markets

Welcome

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I am very pleased that India, China, America (ICA) Institute has wisely decided to start this new Journal of Emerging Knowledge for Emerging Markets (JEKEM). Under the able leadership of Dr. Ashok Roy and its first Editorial Review Board, the mission of the Journal is to encourage scholarly research (both empirical and conceptual) on emerging markets.

Introduction

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Global interaction, a perennial phenomenon among human groups, is a function of perceived need. The fact that Columbus’ contact with the New World was an accident does not discount the fact that he was seeking a new trade route to Asia—and avoiding established ones. And, this contact by that dark miracle of fate or chance altered the destiny of men and nations. Similarly, the Silk Road, the greatest land route on earth, traces trade, travel and ideas. Travel and trade, in turn, generate contact with groups beyond one’s particular culture—which, by itself, is a tumultuous journey into the unknown as mysterious, unsettling, and fraught with danger and uncertainty as any physical voyage of discovery. The cost, real or prospective, of innovation is therefore high, as is the risk. The other side of the same coin is, of course, the perceived benefit derived from successfully navigating uncharted geographic and cultural terrains. And, as evinced innumerable times throughout human history, the benefit to one group may come at the expense of another. Travel, trade and contact, in a very real, very human sense, can change the definition of what is perceived as global, as benefit, and as human. No matter how good we become, we always want to be better as thinking is our most important skill.

Chinese Scientific Socialism in Global Perspective: Geopolitical Implications for Latin America and the United States

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Western media tends to analyze the phrase "Socialism with Chinese characteristics" and its development manifestations along a continuum of capitalism, authoritarian or state to liberal, rather than analyzing the phenomenon and its parts from a socialist-communist model. A myopic analytical perspective fails to capture potentially new forms emanating from the scientific socialist prism and their local-to-global impact. This paper examines the term socialism within distinct historical contexts and the term's associated semantic shifts to situate it within the contemporary Chinese context and practice, particularly related to foreign policy. The conditions associated with hegemonic shift or dilution are also examined in relationship to China's policies and presence in Latin America.

China Rising in Latin America: More Opportunities than Challenges

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Relations between the People’s Republic of China and Latin America are characterized more by expanding trade flows and business connections than by establishing traditional political or military ties. China’s emergence in the region is peaceful and constructive. China’s rise in Latin America provides more opportunities than challenges for both Latin American and the United States, because
First, China behaves as a “responsible stake-holder” in Latin America. Compared with Russia’s “security and military-technical cooperation” with Latin American, China’s engagements have been more constructive. Indeed, China’s purchase of commodity has been the main factor for Latin America’s economic growth in the last decade.
Second, China offers an alternative model for Latin American economic development. Beijing’s emergence has prompted many Latin American countries to reexamine whether the Washington Consensus is truly viable for them. As China becomes a member of Inter-American Development Bank, Beijing can contribute even more to Latin America’s development.
Third, Latin America serves as a valuable proving ground for a “diplomatic truce” between China and Taiwan. Gestures such as allowing Taiwan’s former vice-President to attend the APEC 2008 meeting in Peru shows that China is less interested in “isolating” Taiwan in the region than establishing a workable equilibrium to promote security. The more stable the relation between Beijing and Taipei maintains, the more economic opportunity provides to Latin America and the United States.

Beyond Sanitized Rhetoric, Stale Platitudes, and Historical Accident: A look between the Scylla and Charybdis of China’s agriculture

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Much like Nabokov’s prose, China’s agricultural scene conceals more than it reveals. In most countries, including China, the road to agricultural development is lettered with sanitized rhetoric, stale platitudes, broken promises and failed strategies. The starting point in economics is the economic man --- a mechanistic homunculus with fixed patterns of attitudes and tastes. For each country, the trajectory of development in agriculture that emerges is a species of historical accident. Almost by definition, in China as in other developing countries, the agriculture sector is often the least integrated regionally and where the overlap of regions is most often complete.

China Healthcare ICT: Reinventing China's national healthcare system through electronic medical records, telecom networks and advanced IT services

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In January 2009 China announced a RMB 850 billion ($124 billion) stimulus package over three years to fundamentally reshape the nation's healthcare sector. A key element of the plan is to modernize healthcare services with digital hospitalization, electronic medical records, and next-generation information networks. The goal is to dramatically improve healthcare service quality and, importantly, to enable virtual healthcare services that can overcome service disparities between rich areas and poor. But the lack of technical standardization complicates take-up and adoption of unified e-healthcare solutions. The stakes are high for the government and for international technology companies seeking position in this large and fast-moving market.

Doing Business in China - A risk analysis

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The aim of this research is to describe the various challenges faced by western companies that plan to do business in China. In specific this document aims to explore (I) The challenges for a Western company that wishes to outsource production to China, (II) The challenges for western companies that plan to sell their products in the Chinese market and (III) The key differences and similarities in the above mentioned scenarios.

Agricultural Development in India since Independence: A Study on Progress, Performance, and Determinants

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This paper evaluates performance and progress of Indian Agriculture since Independence. In addition, this paper also analyzes sources of agricultural growth and determinants of agricultural production. We use the decomposition test to analyze sources of agricultural growth and the production function approach to analyze determinants of agricultural production over the period 1950/51 through 2005/06. The study indicates that there is scope to increase both net sown area and gross sown area. The decomposition analysis indicates that rising output per hectare is the predominant source of agricultural growth for most of the crops and crop groups. The estimation of aggregate agricultural production function with both intercept and slope dummy indicates that land significantly affected the agricultural output growth during 1950/51-1964/65 and after that land became less significant and now labour and capital are significantly affecting the agricultural output growth.

International Venturing by IT Firms: A motive analysis

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This paper examines the motives underlying recent cross border M&A activity undertaken by Indian IT firms during 2000 -2006. It hypothesizes that overseas acquisition is the IT firm�s response to a dynamic competitive landscape in which it simultaneously leveraged existing capabilities to capture new markets and acquired new capabilities through strategic asset and product seeking acquisitions. The study uses secondary firm level data to undertake a content analysis of public information establishing the multiplicity, diversity and dynamic nature of M&A motives. The study establishes the multiplicity, diversity and dynamic nature of M&A motives, establishing that they are simultaneously asset seeking and asset augmenting.

Testing the Application of H-O Theorem to Contemporary Trade Between Malaysia and Singapore

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Since members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) signed the ASEAN Free Trade Area agreement in 1992, trade between Singapore and Malaysia has continued to grow. Historically the economies of these two countries have had different characteristics, however, with Singapore known as a capital abundant country and a world financial center, while Malaysia has traditionally been relatively labor abundant and capital scarce. Because of this sharp contrast in their economies, one would expect that testing the Heckscher-Ohlin Theorem using trade data between Singapore and Malaysia would provide stark evidence of the H-O Theorem. That is to say that rather than find an exceptional case, as some past studies have done, this paper has attempted to find a country pair that seems to most closely resemble an idealized trade environment for the H-O Theorem. Thus, should a test find that the key hypotheses of the theory�namely that capital abundant countries export capital intensive goods, and �labor abundant countries export labor intensive goods�are not evidenced in the data, then a serious re-evaluation of the theory may be necessary.

The paper will first review past tests of the Heckscher-Ohlin Theorem to determine what relevant studies have been done to date. Following that, export data will be reviewed for several different sectors, dividing them up as either capital intensive or labor intensive. What we would expect is that Singapore is exporting capital intensive goods to Malaysia, and Malaysia is exporting labor intensive goods to Singapore. Further, labor intensive exports will be analyzed as a proportion of capital intensive exports to determine how the labor/capital export ratio compares to the labor/capital abundance ratio for each country.

Emerging Markets - Need for a Taxonomy

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The main objective of this brief note is to delineate the relatively new concept of "emerging markets" and outline its ramifications. In order to enable the subject area to sort itself out, there is a pressing need for a taxonomy of emerging markets, demarcating the peripheries that would help specialization in this important area. This paper also attempts to identify significant contributions already made to this new topic. Further research endeavor would enable the stringing together of such a not very homogeneous set of inputs into a coherent emerging market theme that is also epistemologically sound.

Internationalizing the University: Theory, Practice, Organization and Execution

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Leading universities around the globe have begun to internationalize their campuses. This effort is being driven by historic political and economic changes, changes in the academic and nonacademic environment, and by the strategic imperative for universities to remain at the forefront of its teaching, research and service missions. Universities are being asked to help meet major international challenges, to educate students in their disciplines with a sense of global competence and engagement, and to contribute to local and national economic competiveness. Faculty members must not only remain current in their disciplines globally but must also be aware of developments in key related disciplines since the nature of knowledge and the problems facing humanity are cross-disciplinary and global. How can leaders understand and manage these demands?

U.S. Student Teachers in Belize, China and Mexico: Patterns of Cultural, Professional, and Character Development

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The United States mainstream populace has been notably deficient in its exposure, sensitivity and understanding relative to cultures, languages and people it considers different, whether within or outside its national borders. This general deficiency extends to the professional realm, and includes U.S. teachers, who, as adults and as a group, engage with students in a long-term, planned, structural and developmental manner that exceeds by far that of any other adult group. Teachers, therefore, have a critical responsibility with respect to accumulating and effectively expressing knowledge, skills and dispositions that will inform whom, what and how they teach in their classrooms, across the panoply of courses offered throughout the preK-12 curriculum. This requirement imperative is especially salient as student diversity continues its accelerated trajectory to become the norm in U.S. schools. Thus, future teachers must be comprehensively prepared to work with the increasingly diverse student population through application of informed instruction that enhances general and individual student learning and outcomes. Teacher Education programs increasingly promote student teaching in international settings as a substantive step in serving to develop teachers who embody these new competencies and instructional practices. This paper presentation offers a framework and analysis highlighting similarities and differences among three student teaching abroad settings, Belize, Mexico and China, associated with a state university in the southeastern United States. Findings relate to cultural, professional and character development influences on participating student teachers and the overall development patterns associated with the particular country contexts, singly and comparatively.

Excellence in Higher Education in India: Way Forward

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Indian higher education is at cross roads. Since independence India has seen proliferation in terms of number of institutes of higher learning. Unfortunately, this growth has often been accompanied with compromising quality. Besides internal management issues, the external regulation has also focused on inputs rather than process or output. Resultantly Indian higher education has lost its way in terms of creating new frontiers of knowledge. The emerging global competition & commitment under GATS is likely to make the situation further complex. It is high time the policy makers look seriously into all contours of quality of institutes of higher learning.