"Given the popular belief that China's comparative advantage is its low labour cost, The Source of Innovation in China argues that the fundamental source for Chinese economic growth is its innovation. Based on qualitative case studies and quantitative surveys of 600 firms, this research describes the competitive advantages of successful Chinese enterprises and builds a theoretical framework for innovative firms and empirically tests the resulting hypothesis. The authors explore the general features of Chinese enterprise and innovation, hypothesizing that the rapid economic development in China is based on innovation. This innovation is not only about technological innovation, but also process and strategy innovation. Cases are drawn from technological innovative firms and from traditional labour-intensive industries. Moreover, the underlying source of Chinese innovation is centred on its people, and the authors discuss this by looking at the philosophical, linguistic and culture influences. They take a broad stakeholder perspective and employ social network theory to explain that, by extension, innovative people surround the organization and create organizational values. At the organizational level, they propose a theoretical framework of a High-Innovative Human System, by integrating both Western and Chinese management systems."--
Exploring the cultural politics of diasporic entrepreneurs and migrant labourers through an examination of Chinese restaurants in Johannesburg, this article presents what I call the "intra-migrant economy" amid everyday racialized insecurities in urban South Africa. I use the term "intra-migrant economy" to refer to the employment of one group of migrants (Zimbabwean migrant workers) by another group of migrants (Chinese petty capitalists) as an economic strategy outside the mainstream labour market. These two groups of migrants work in the same industry, live in the same city, and have established a sort of unequal employment relation that can be hierarchical and interdependentat once. Chinese migrants are socially marginalized but not economically underprivileged, which stands in contrast to Zimbabwean migrants, who remain economically underprivileged even though they speak local languages. Their different socioeconomic positions in South Africa are profoundly influenced by their nationality and racialization. Thisanalysis of their interdependency focuses on the economic and political structures that shaped the underlying conditions that brought Chinese and Zimbabwean migrants to work together in South Africa.
Exploring the cultural politics of diasporic entrepreneurs and migrant labourers through an examination of Chinese restaurants in Johannesburg, this article presents what I call the "intra-migrant economy" amid everyday racialized insecurities in urban South Africa. I use the term "intra-migrant economy" to refer to the employment of one group of migrants (Zimbabwean migrant workers) by another group of migrants (Chinese petty capitalists) as an economic strategy outside the mainstream labour market. These two groups of migrants work in the same industry, live in the same city, and have established a sort of unequal employment relation that can be hierarchical and interdependentat once. Chinese migrants are socially marginalized but not economically underprivileged, which stands in contrast to Zimbabwean migrants, who remain economically underprivileged even though they speak local languages. Their different socioeconomic positions in South Africa are profoundly influenced by their nationality and racialization. Thisanalysis of their interdependency focuses on the economic and political structures that shaped the underlying conditions that brought Chinese and Zimbabwean migrants to work together in South Africa.
In response to the Federal governments unveiling of its Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), to be made effective from 2010, several greenhouse gas intensive industries in Australia (such as aluminium, cement, iron, steel and glass) have expressed legitimate concern that their products will be placed at a competitive disadvantage. Such a disadvantage will arise if developing countries not participating in an international climate regime (with its potentially higher costs of production associated with carbon limits) are allowed to import cheaper products into Australia. In response, numerous unilateral trade-related measures have been proposed as a means to level the competitive playing field for Australian industries. However, trade measures can be a powerful but blunt tool for addressing competitiveness issues. The present report provides a study of the WTO compatibility of four different types of unilateral trade measures, namely: border tax adjustments (BTA), subsidies, quantitative restrictions and technical regulations and standards. Any definitive conclusion as to their legality is impossible to make at it would ultimately depend on the precise wording of the policy, and how it will be implemented. Nonetheless, there is a real possibility of conflict between the functions of these measures and the fundamental principles of the WTO. To begin with, a BTA is a taxation mechanism that allows imported products to be charged the same amount of internal taxation as similar domestic products. For our purposes, a BTA will see a tax being levied on imported goods at the border at a rate that reflects the cost that the ETS puts on domestic producers. The problem with the imposition of BTAs is that it may potentially contravene Article I and Article Ill of the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT). These two principles require firstly, that parties to the WTO treat all "like" products from all other WTO nations the same; and secondly, that all WTO parties treat imported products the same way as domestically produced products. More specifically by way of legal argument, it is unclear whether it could be successfully argued that a product produced using less emission can be differentiated (for taxation purposes) from a more polluting product even if their physical characteristics and end usage is identical. On a further technical note, it i s also questionable that an emi ssions tax can be categorized as an indirect tax (which is allowable under BTA rules) as opposed to a direct tax (which is not allowable). The second category of measures under study is subsidies. These include any forms of financial contribution made by the government that confers specific benefit on isolated industries. Within the Australian ETS context, the Green Paper has recommended the giving of free emission permits to eligible emissions-intensive industries. The giving of permits free of charge is clearly a "financial contribution". Yet the question of whether such a financial contribution is "actionable" or prohibited will be contingent upon the degree of injury ultimately caused by the subsidy. A related question is whether the criteria for selecting free permit-recipients specifically awards benefit to some industries to the detriment of others. The third category is the imposition of quantitative restrictions on imported goods that are either considered too emissions-intensive, or are otherwise not subject to an emissions-cap in their country of origin. Quantitative restrictions of any kind are prohibited under article XI of the GATT. However, this violation can be "excused" if the environmental restriction falls within one of the exceptions under either Article XX(b) or XX(g) of the GATT. The fourth type of unilateral trade measure available to the Australian government is the imposition of technical regulations or standards. Here, certain environmental benchmarks may be established as a condition of entry into the Australian market for foreign produced goods. This discussion is most pertinent to the emergence of eco-labelling practices both in Australia and abroad. However, a legal issue arises with respect to whether such environmental benchmarks are applied on a voluntary or mandatory basis. Under the Technical Barriers to Trade Agreement (TBT), mandatory technical regulations should not be more trade restrictive than necessary to fulfil a legitimate policy objective. Thus, restrictions are placed on the extent to which mandatory regulations can impact established trade patterns. On the other hand, these restrictions do not apply to voluntary standards. This means that there needs to be greater promotion of consumer-awareness of the advantages of buying products containing the voluntary environmental label over products that are unlabelled . Although it has thus far been established that each type of unilateral trade measure may be individually susceptible to violation of various WTO rules, it has been alluded to that such violations may be pardoned under either Article XX (b) or XX (g) of the GATT. These two exceptions effectively permit violations of WTO law if it can be shown that the offending policy is either: 1) necessary to protect human life or health, or 2) relates to the conservation of an exhaustible natural resources. Separate legal analytical tests apply to each exception, but irrespective of which exception is invoked, the offending policy must also satisfy the highly onerous "chapeau" requirement of Article XX. The WTO has thus far been extremely cautious in granting pardons under either Article XX (b) or XX (g) of the GATT. However, this should not imply that a well drafted, emissions-related trade measure is bound for failure. Past WTO practice should not be taken to suggest that the WTO is unable or unwilling to tackle the urgent challenge of climate change. Rather what their reluctance reflects is the institution's unwillingness to endorse the unilateral imposition of first-world environmental standards on an unwilling rest. What is important is the degree of flexibility and transparency that an emissions policy allows. The greater the use of multilateral dialogue, and the greater the flexibility of the unilateral measure in achieving its desired end, the more likely it is that the measure in question will pass WTO scrutiny.
Questioning the Herderian Ideal / Pritipuspa Mishra and Ying-Ying Tan -- Herder: Blessing or Curse for Linguistic Justice? A contemporary assessment / Helder de Schutter -- Rethinking the Principle of Linguistic Homogeneity in the Age of Superdiversity / Stephen May -- From Cultural Difference to Monoglossia: Herder's Language Trap / Tony Crowley -- Multilingualism in the United States: The Long History of Official Translations / Rosina Lozano -- A noble dream?: Hindustani and Indian Nationalism in the early twentieth century / Pritipuspa Mishra -- No Laughing Matter: Learning to Speak the "Common Language" in 1950s China / Janet Y. Chen -- Nationalism, multilingualism, and language planning in postcolonial Africa / Nkonko Kamwangamalu -- Language and National Consciousness in the Postcolonial Caribbean / Andrew Daily -- The Myth of Multilingualism in Singapore Ying-Ying Tan.
