Transnationalism and the 'Chineseness' of Enterprise Developement

The concept of transnationalism is characterised by an important contradiction. While it makes an important contribution to the literature on identity by focussing on the themes of hybridity and pluralism, when it discusses the issue of transnational capital, it falls into the trap of essentialising ethnicity. Transnational theorist argue that there exists a pan-ethnic unity among the Chinese diaspora that would enable this community to emerge as a new economic force globally. The case studies in this essay reveal, however, that transnational networks do not influence the way ethnic groups do business with co-ethnics in other countries. This study argues that there is significant competition among Chinese-owned enterprises, which explains the dynamism of these firms. There is also much evidence of inter-ethnic corporate ties involving Chinese firms. These findings bring into question the importance of common ethnic identity in transnational business transactions undertaken by the Chinese companies. Keywords: Transnationalism, Chinese Identity, Networks, Enterprise Development

Family Firms and Brand Products in Malaysia: Originality, Productivity and Sustainability

Two key questions in Malaysia's corporate history have not yet been answered. Why is it that only a small number of family firms produce brand products? Why has none emerged as a major publicly listed enterprise? This study employs concepts from family business literature as well as Alfred Chandler, Jr's business history approach to answer these questions. A blend of conceptual tools from these two bodies of literature offers insights into the evolution of these brand product family firms. By adopting this approach, this study reveals that the core issues requiring scrutiny are an enterprise's volume of investments in research and development, a skilled managerial team and an effective marketing technique. Other issues include the need for a sound succession plan and a focus on a horizontal form of enterprise development. This article also reviews the capacity of the state to enable as well as hamper the rise of domestic brand product firms

Ethnic Enterprises, Class Resources and Market Conditions: Indian owned SMEs in Malaysia

This article investigates changes in the conduct of ethnic enterprises followingthe emergence of a new generation of owners with varying class resources andas market conditions transform. The case study method is used to examinethe impact of changing class resources and market conditions on ethnicallybasedenterprises, exploring the effects of generational transitions among smallIndian owned companies in the food industry in Malaysia. The results providean insight into key changes in the evolution of Indian owned enterprises. Theyindicate that changes in class resources and market conditions have enabledIndian owned food-based companies to alter their products to fit a largermarket, while responding to the demands of a rapidly modernizing society

Kahler Moduli Inflation Revisited

We perform a detailed numerical analysis of inflationary solutions in Kahler moduli of type IIB flux compactifications. We show that there are inflationary solutions even when all the fields play an important role in the overall shape of the scalar potential. Moreover, there exists a direction of attraction for the inflationary trajectories that correspond to the constant volume direction. This basin of attraction enables the system to have an island of stability in the set of initial conditions. We provide explicit examples of these trajectories, compute the corresponding tilt of the density perturbations power spectrum and show that they provide a robust prediction of n_s approximately 0.96 for 60 e-folds of inflation.Comment: 27 pages, 9 figure

Control of anthocyanin and non-flavonoid compounds by anthocyanin-regulating MYB and bHLH transcription factors in Nicotiana benthamiana leaves

Coloration of plant organs such as fruit, leaves and flowers through anthocyanin production is governed by a combination of MYB and bHLH type transcription factors (TFs). In this study we introduced Rosea1 (ROS1, a MYB type) and Delila (DEL, a bHLH type), into Nicotiana benthamiana leaves by agroinfiltration. ROS1 and DEL form a pair of well-characterized TFs from Snapdragon (Antirrhinum majus), which specifically induce anthocyanin accumulation when expressed in tomato fruit. In N. benthamiana, robust induction of a single anthocyanin, delphinidin-3-rutinoside (D3R) was observed after expression of both ROS1 and DEL. Surprisingly in addition to D3R, a range of additional metabolites were also strongly and specifically up-regulated upon expression of ROS1 and DEL. Except for the D3R, these induced compounds were not derived from the flavonoid pathway. Most notable among these are nornicotine conjugates with butanoyl, hexanoyl, and octanoyl hydrophobic moieties, and phenylpropanoid-polyamine conjugates such as caffeoyl putrescine. The defensive properties of the induced molecules were addressed in bioassays using the tobacco specialist lepidopteran insect Manduca sexta. Our study showed that the effect of ROS1 and DEL expression in N. benthamiana leaves extends beyond the flavonoid pathway. Apparently the same transcription factor may regulate different secondary metabolite pathways in different plant species

Are Foreign Firms Privileged By Their Host Governments? Evidence From The 2000 World Business Environment Survey

Using the data from World Business Environment Survey (WBES) on over 10,000 firms across eighty one countries, this paper finds preliminary evidence that foreign firms enjoy significant regulatory advantages - as perceived by the firms themselves - over domestic firms. The findings on regulatory advantages of foreign firms hold with a variety of alternative measures of regulations and with or without firm- and country-level attributes and industry and country controls. There is also evidence that foreign firms' regulatory advantages are especially substantial vis-a-vis the politically weak domestic firms. Furthermore, the regulatory advantages of foreign firms appear stronger in corrupt countries than in non-corrupt countries

A Multi-cell, Multi-scale Model of Vertebrate Segmentation and Somite Formation

Somitogenesis, the formation of the body's primary segmental structure common to all vertebrate development, requires coordination between biological mechanisms at several scales. Explaining how these mechanisms interact across scales and how events are coordinated in space and time is necessary for a complete understanding of somitogenesis and its evolutionary flexibility. So far, mechanisms of somitogenesis have been studied independently. To test the consistency, integrability and combined explanatory power of current prevailing hypotheses, we built an integrated clock-and-wavefront model including submodels of the intracellular segmentation clock, intercellular segmentation-clock coupling via Delta/Notch signaling, an FGF8 determination front, delayed differentiation, clock-wavefront readout, and differential-cell-cell-adhesion-driven cell sorting. We identify inconsistencies between existing submodels and gaps in the current understanding of somitogenesis mechanisms, and propose novel submodels and extensions of existing submodels where necessary. For reasonable initial conditions, 2D simulations of our model robustly generate spatially and temporally regular somites, realistic dynamic morphologies and spontaneous emergence of anterior-traveling stripes of Lfng. We show that these traveling stripes are pseudo-waves rather than true propagating waves. Our model is flexible enough to generate interspecies-like variation in somite size in response to changes in the PSM growth rate and segmentation-clock period, and in the number and width of Lfng stripes in response to changes in the PSM growth rate, segmentation-clock period and PSM length