Trade and Economic Integration in the Asia-Pacific Region

In 2021 New Zealand will chair APEC within a very different AsiaPacific economy than was the case when New Zealand last chaired APEC in 1999. The Asia-Pacific production network is now much more intensive, covers more economies and is a much larger and more influential part of the international economy than was the Japan-led ‘flying geese’ model of the years before 1999. The single most important change is China’s increasingly pivotal role in both the Asia-Pacific and the global economy, despite continuing challenges. United States dominance of the international framework is more constrained. Adaptation, which has always characterised global and regional governance, will continue as China and the US contest technological leadership and the formulation of international rules and norms, especially in response to the digital revolution

Factors associated with family carers’ fall concern: Prospective study protocol

Background: Family carers are important in preventing community-dwelling older people from falling. Family carers’ concerns about older people\u27s risk of falling could affect their own physical and psychological health, lifestyle, and burden of care. While there are many studies exploring factors associated with fear of falling among older people, there is no research on family carers’ fall concern of older people (care recipients) who are hospitalised. Aim: This paper describes a prospective study protocol exploring the relationship of fall concern, psychological distress, and quality of life of family carers when their care recipient is hospitalised and after discharge. Methods: The study will recruit 180 family carers and older people. Family carers providing support for an older person without cognitive impairment who has been admitted to a private metropolitan hospital in Western Australia and assessed to have a risk of falling will be included. Data will be collected using an interviewer-administered survey. All participants will complete the survey within 48 h before the patient\u27s discharge, follow-up one week later (only for family carers), and again 30 days after the patient is discharged. Data related to falls, fall concern, psychological distress, and quality of life will be obtained from family carers and care recipients. Discussion: This study will provide deeper understanding about the factors affecting fall concern among family carers of older people during hospitalisation and after discharge. This will help healthcare professionals better support family carers to implement fall prevention strategies for older people whilst in hospital and in the community

Partner alignment and governance in it software alliances

This study investigates the effect of partner alignment on the choice of using equity versus non-equity alliance governance mode in information technology (IT) software alliances. Using 485 IT software alliances established in six developed Asia Pacific countries in the period 1998 to 2004, this study proposed and found that non-equity governance mode is adopted when the partners are of the same nationality and when the number of partners in the alliance is smaller. The choice of governance mode is however not affected by whether the partners come from similar or related industries and whether the alliance is established in the same industry as the partners. These results partially support the behavioral uncertainty arguments in transaction cost economics (TCE), as opposed to the need to maintain control and protect knowledge and technologies. This observation can be partially attributed to the nature of activities in the IT software sector where ex ante specification of activities is difficult and thus the need to maintain flexibility to allow for uncertainty and emergent opportunities. Various implications are discussed

Country-of-origin effect of VC investment in biotechnology companies

Biotechnology companies can access financial and management resources through venture capitalist (VC) firms. An analysis of 1,490 VC investments shows that country-of-origin (CO) of biotech companies has an effect on the participation by VC firms in various biotech subsectors. Specifically, it is found that US biotech companies tend to have higher amount received per VC firm, greater number of VC firms investing in them and greater biotech investment experience of the investing VC firms. Asia-Pacific biotech companies have consistently less VC firms investing in them and these investing VC firms tend to have less biotech investment experience. VC firms with greater biotech investment experience are also investing in European biotech companies more than those from the Americas less US. CO also correlates with outcomes in the four of the six key biotech subsectors studied. These findings suggest a strong CO effect of VC investment in biotech companies

Development of a flight control system using modern control techniques

The objective of this research project is to develop a practical bank-to-turn (BTT) missile autopilot system. BTT steering is preferred as it is capable of increasing the lift-to-drag ratio, thus increasing the magnitude of acceleration. A survey done reviewed that the majority of today's autopilots, both in missile systems and aircraft, are designed using classical control methods. With increasingly stringent mission requirements, there is a need to develop a high performance missile autopilot by using advance control techniques.Master of Engineerin

Competitive intensity and collaboration: Impact on firm growth across technological environments

This article investigates the impact of competitive intensity and collaboration on firm growth across technological environments. I propose that competitive intensity determines the likelihood of firm collaboration, and that the interaction of competitive intensity and collaboration influences firm growth. These relationships are, in turn, moderated by industry-level technological intensity. Analyzing 1,004 firms and 378 collaborations from the manufacturing sector in Singapore, I find that firms facing high or low levels of competitive intensity collaborate less often than those facing moderate levels of competitive intensity. Industry technology intensity moderates this relationship, with a stronger inverted-U-shaped association between competitive intensity and collaboration in more technology intensive industries. Collaboration leads to higher growth for firms facing lower levels of competitive intensity than for firms facing higher levels of competitive intensity only in more technology intensive industries. In technologically less intensive industries, collaboration leads to higher growth for firms facing higher levels of competitive intensity as compared to those facing lower levels of competitive intensity. These findings have important implications for competitive and collaborative dynamics for firm growth in different technological environments. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

The strategies and success of government linked corporations in Singapore

Research Paper Series (National University of Singapore. Faculty of Business Administration); 1998-0061-4

Competition, diversification and performance

In this paper, we argue that the competitive intensity that a firm faces is related to the diversification strategy it adopts. Specifically, higher competitive intensity is associated with less related diversification and more unrelated diversification, and performance from adopting these diversification strategies improve as competitive intensity rises. We find support for our hypotheses using a sample of manufacturing firms operating in the United Kingdom. The findings provide a deeper explanation of the relationships between the competition that a firm faces and its diversification strategies