China's megatrends : the 8 pillars of a new society [book]

Authors: John and Doris Naisbitt

"Reveals that China is not only undergoing fundamental changes but also creating an entirely new social and economic model—what the Naisbitts call a "vertical democracy"—that is changing the rules of global trade and challenging Western democracy as the only acceptable form of governing. The Naisbitts have identified 8 pillars as the foundation and drivers of China's new society:

Emancipation of the Mind

Balancing Top-Down and Bottom-Up

Framing the Forest and Letting the Trees Grow

Crossing the River by Feeling the Stones

Artistic and Intellectual Ferment

Joining the World

Freedom and Fairness

From Olympic Medals to Nobel Prizes"

Find it at: 330.951 CHI 2010 or
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A Better Approach to China's Markets (journal article)
By Max Magni and Yuval Atsmon
from Harvard Business Review Vol. 88 Issue 2 Mar 2010, pp. 30-31
"The article discusses market entry strategy for international business enterprises and domestic companies in China. The idea of organizing groups of cities into market clusters that produce at least one percent of China's gross domestic product is discussed. The social and economic similarities of clustered cities that define China's markets are noted. An illustration shows the 22 basic Chinese clusters, their population data, their projected growth, and the status of consumer confidence. The clusters include Chengdu, Kunming, Nanning, Huhehaote, Jingjinji, Shanghai, and Shandong Byland."

Taking Asia Seriously (journal article)
By Martin Griffiths
from Australian Journal of Political Science Vol 45 Iss 1 Mar 2010, pp. 13 - 28
"Australia has traditionally relied on two diplomatic strategies in its attempts to 'engage' Asia. The first has been to couch engagement diplomacy within broader global trends and developments, such as the response to the communist threat during the Cold War or the general move towards the 'new regionalism' after the Cold War. The second strategy has been a dogged prudentialism, building on shared (usually commercial) interests. The shortcomings of both strategies became apparent in the lead up to the 2005 East Asia Summit, during which Australia faced a diplomatic exclusion not as the specific policy choice of another country, but as the unintended by-product of rivalries among Asia's great powers. That the success or otherwise of Australia's regional engagement will be shaped by such rivalries in future was reinforced by the sensitivities aroused over the Prime Minister's trip to China in 2008. Perhaps the bigger lesson is that Asia's rivalries are no longer sub-sets of global dynamics. We may be entering an era in which Asia's rivalries drive broader global dynamics, which in turn will pose severe challenges for Australia's regional diplomacy."

Beyond Cricket: Australia-India Evolving Relations (journal article)
By Peter Mayer
from Australian Journal of Political Science Vol 45 Iss 1 March 2010, pp. 133 - 148
"Australia's relationship with India stands in apparent contrast with its relations elsewhere in Asia. Most accounts of Australia's links to India liken them to recurrent bouts of amnesia, arguing that Australia has not put the same efforts into engaging with India that it has into fostering ties with Japan, China and Indonesia and that, like a patient with injury to the hippocampus who has lost the ability to lay down long-term memories, Australia appears to approach each episodic moment of contact without recollection of the past. Australia's relationship with India has passed through distinct phases, from a brief moment of warmth in the years immediately after India achieved independence, through frosty decades of the Cold War. In contrast to many other accounts, the paper argues that since the 1980s Australia has sought with considerable consistency to engage with India and that the tenuousness of the relationship is primarily due to Indian indifference. Recent bilateral issues, including the supply of uranium to India and attacks on Indian students, have led to an enlargement of contacts which may signify that the engagement is at last becoming a mutual one."

OECD Economic Surveys : China [online]

Author: OECD

"Finds that China's spectacular expansion has continued in recent years, making for impressive improvements in living standards. The slowdown associated with the global financial and economic crisis was contained by massive fiscal and monetary policy stimulus, which has boosted domestic demand. This survey includes chapters on recent achievements and prospects, monetary policy, financial reforms, product market regulation and competition, inequality, the labour market, old-age security and the health care system. " - abstract.

Australia and the global economy [book]

Editors: Tony Ciro, Bruno Mascitelli, Siva Muthaly

"Re-examines the importance of international trade and globalisation to the Australian economy. In 2008-2009 the world witnessed a spectacular collapse of confidence in financial markets. Many thought that the world would re-enter into a Great Depression. Fearing the worst, governments, central bankers and policy makers devised stimulus measures designed to increase consumer spending and industrial production." - cover.

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Call number: 337.94 AUS 2009

How China's leaders think : the inside story of China's reform and what this means for the future [book]

Author: Robert Lawrence Kuhn

"Draws on personal, candid conversations with over 100 Chinese leaders across all sectors to delve into the way Chinese leaders think. Author Dr. Robert Lawrence Kuhn presents an insider's view of how those who lead China feel about their country's growing global strength - in trade, business and finance; in diplomacy, defense and security; in science, technology and innovation; in culture, media and sports - and how this impacts the world." - from publisher.

Find it at: 951.06 HOW 2010 or Click here, and request a copy from the library!

What's not to like? - The economy (article)
by John Langmore
from Inside Story. 06/01/2010
"American Nobel economics laureate Paul Krugman argues that a financial transaction tax “would be a trivial expense for people engaged in foreign trade or long term investment; but it would be a major disincentive for people trying to make a fast buck (or euro, or yen) by outguessing the markets over the course of a few days or weeks.” “What’s not to like?” he asks. Critics claim that it would be avoided, but the centralisation of such transactions makes them relatively easy to monitor – if there is a will to do so. The tax is one way of shrinking bloated financial sectors and of raising revenue from those who have benefited most from the explosive growth in the volume of international financial transactions."

On the last day of Copenhagen, world leaders gave to me… no meaningful negotiated outcome (article)
by Alex Desbarres
from Datamonitor, 21/12/2009
"In its pre-Copenhagen White Paper, Datamonitor argued that significant efforts would be made to reach an ‘international agreement’ at Copenhagen; efforts which would undoubtedly be acclaimed as a resounding victory for all nations involved and for the prospects for greater long-term international co-operation between developed and developing nations. However, Datamonitor also predicted that such efforts would fall short of a binding international framework that would curb climate change to the extent that scientists deem necessary, and that the conference could not deliver a final agreement on a new, credible and meaningful climate change framework. As originally suspected, the conference has only managed to forge a rough international ‘understanding’ which is to be finalized in the many months and years to come."

China's new place in a world in crisis : economic geopolitical and environmental dimensions [online]

Editors: Ross Garnaut, Ligang Song and Wing Thye Woo

"How have China's growth prospects been affected by the global crisis? How will the crisis and China's response to it affect the prospects for progress on the great internal issues in China's development? How will the crisis and the international community's response to it affect the rapidly emerging new international order, in which China and other major developing countries have much larger roles?" - page 8.

Doing business 2010 : reforming through difficult times [book]

Authors: World Bank; International Finance Corporation

"Presents quantitative indicators on business regulations and the protection of property rights that can be compared across 183 economies ... and over time. Regulation affecting 10 stages of the life of a business are measured: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, employing workers, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, and closing a business." - contents.

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Immigration policy change and the International student industry (journal article)
by Bob Birrell and Bronwen Perry
from People and Place, Vol 17, No 2 2009
"Enrolments of overseas students have grown sharply, especially in hospitality courses in the Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector. Most VET sector students undertook their studies with the expectation that their qualification would lead to a permanent residence visa in Australia. However, since late 2008, changes to Australia’s migration policy mean that few will gain this outcome. This article explores the numbers of students affected and their options for staying on in Australia on a temporary or permanent basis. It argues that to be sustainable, the Australian international student industry must focus on providing qualifications that overseas
students can take back to their country of origin with profit."

Glimpses of heaven and hell (journal article)
by Hilary McPhee
from Griffith Review, Edition 25: After the Crisis
"The news that Dubai, like everywhere else in the over-developed world, was feeling the force of the global recession was endlessly repeated. The real-estate bonanza had indeed slowed; some of Dubai's more spectacular projects were on hold, their indentured labour redeployed or returned to Pakistan and Bangladesh. But the tall tales about the end of the world rapidly assumed the shape of a manga: three thousand luxury cars abandoned at the airport, keys in the ignition, their owners fleeing to avoid jail; once-rich wives deserted, selling their bling and sleeping in the dunes in their SUVs; empty apartment buildings as far as the eyes could see; every second business retrenching staff and dishonouring contracts; not a crane moving on the horizon. And, through the cracks in the edifice, the desert sands had started to creep across the highways.
Emiratis and the professional expatriate community fought back as best they could on blogs and in interviews to Arab media, which was more inclined to listen. Dubai will not be allowed to fail, said the World Bank's Tariq Yusef on Al Jazeera. Dubai, he said, has become a model of accelerated growth for others in the region; its belief in itself as a grand hub of trade routes and ideas is an ancient one which the Arab world celebrates and intends to realise again. A failure of Dubai would be a failure of the whole United Arab Emirates."

Chic Is Out, Cheap Is In (journal article)
by Hiroshi Makioka
from Far Eastern Economic Review, November 2009
"Japan’s economy once again is growing, albeit slowly, but the road back from the nation’s longest recession since World War II is rocky. With the job market still unsettled and the Yen dropping in value, wary consumers are not returning to their old shopping habits. A different breed of Japanese consumer has emerged in the wake of the global financial meltdown and may be here to stay. Once known for their mass consumption of luxury goods, they now are getting a reputation as avid discount shoppers. As traditional department store revenues plunge, discount retailers are enjoying a surge in popularity. Take Wal-Mart. For the first time since it entered Japan seven years ago through its Seiyu subsidiary, the world’s largest retailer expects to generate a profit in Japan in 2009."

Working smart and small : the role of knowledge-based and service industries in growth strategies for small states [book]

Authors: Mahvash Qureshi and Dirk Willem te Velde / Commonwealth Secretariat

"Suggests how small states can reposition themselves in the global economy and move into knowledge based and service industries. It provides an overview of general factors stimulating or constraining the development of services sector and trade in services. It also identifies key trends and provides analysis. Six case study examples are presented of how some small states have promoted knowledge based and service industries in their economies (including Botswana, Mauritius, St Lucia, Singapore, United Arab Emirates and Vanuatu). The studies cover the performance and supporting factors in five service sectors: the financial sector, information and communication technologies, education, professional services and tourism. The policy implications are also considered." - from publisher.

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Rethinking China (journal article)
by Clinton Dines
from The Deal, November 2009
"ntil recently, the author was BHP Billiton's top man in China and has spent 30 years living and working there. He urges Australia to avoid the conventional wisdom."

How countries compete : strategy, structure, and government in the global economy [book]

Author: Richard H. K. Vietor

"Shows how governments both set the direction and create the climate for a nation's economic development and profitable private enterprise ... Separate chapters highlight important countries - including China, India, Japan, Singapore, and the United States, as well as Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and Italy - and reveal the unique social, economic, cultural and historical forces that determine a countries trajectory." - cover.

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How to Jump-Start the Clean Tech Economy (journal article)
By Mark W Johnson and Josh Suskewicz
from Harvard Business Review Vol. 87 Issue 11 Nov 2009, pp. 52-60
"Billions of dollars worldwide are pumped into the search for clean technology and renewable energy. So far, however, most investment has been in companies that are using conventional business models to fit new technologies into existing systems. A far better approach, say Johnson and Suskewicz, is to create whole new systems. The authors propose a framework for thinking about clean tech that consists of four interdependent components: an enabling technology, an innovative business model, a careful market-adoption strategy, and a favorable government policy. Two recent experiments show how this framework can be applied: Better Place, founded by the software executive Shai Agassi, has a network of battery-recharging and -switching stations to support its electric cars and a business model based on selling electricity (miles) rather than vehicles. It has a foothold market in Israel, where gas- powered cars are taxed far higher than electric ones. Masdar City, now under construction in Abu Dhabi, will be a carbon-neutral incubator of clean technologies, supported by the investment, manufacturing, strategy, and academic units of a government initiative. The city is itself a foothold market and will benefit from government subsidies, "free zone" status, and favorable regulations. Both enterprises provide hope for supplanting the oil-based economy."

Will China fail? : the limits and contradictions of market socialism [book]

Author: John Cheong Seong Lee / Centre for Independent Studies (Australia)

"Looks at the profound and mounting contradictions, tensions, and dysfunctions within Chinese economy and society and why the country's problems are getting worse. It also examines the impact of the global financial crisis on China's economy and assesses the Chinese Communist Party's response to the crisis." - cover.

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China's Top Ten Companies (journal article)
from Fortune, October 2009
Energy, power and banking lead the list of the nation's - and some of the world's - biggest companies.