Papers by Adrian T H Kuah (PhD, University of Manchester)
This paper seeks to review the state of knowledge to this much talked-about paradigm, first made ... more This paper seeks to review the state of knowledge to this much talked-about paradigm, first made famous by Porter (1990). Clusters are a striking and common feature in today’s economy. Nonetheless, this phenomenon is not exactly new and has been the object of attention from a wide variety of social scientists for much of this century. In the last ten years, this phenomenon has attracted renewed interest from academics, practitioners, and the British Government who have become aware of its central importance in competitive strategy. An understanding of clusters adds an important dimension to the more commonly debated role of personal contact networks in the success of entrepreneurial small business.
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Journal of Management Development, 2020
Purpose – This paper provides insights as to how a Confucian-inspired Junzi style of leadership t... more Purpose – This paper provides insights as to how a Confucian-inspired Junzi style of leadership translates into initiatives toward human capital development in Singapore. After reviewing tripartite governance in Singapore, we discuss the character of Confucian leadership: how does this value system inform the moral economy of the Singaporean corporatist model and inherently come to impact upon the conception and significance of human capital. Design/methodology/approach – The case approach was employed using multiple sources of secondary data, supplemented by interviews with high-profile informants in Singapore. Multiple sources led to data triangulation in presenting a mutually consistent set of evidence. The paper also draws from a longitudinal observation of Singapore’s industrial relations and human resource development (HRD) policies over the last 10 years since the Global Financial Crisis. Findings – Organized along two thematic areas: governance and human capital development,...
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International Journal of Economic Policy in Emerging Economies, 2014
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Thunderbird International Business Review
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Thunderbird International Business Review
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increase in online purchases, which has inevitably raised the... more The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increase in online purchases, which has inevitably raised the demand for express delivery packaging materials (EDPMs). This study proposes a reverse logistics reuse framework that extends the EDPM life cycle by drawing on insights and conclusions from a review of the literature on supply chain management and materials science to achieve a sustainable e-commerce system. A key benefit of reverse logistics is its effectiveness in exploiting opportunities for resource reuse, which is preferred to recycling. By extending service life through resource optimization, recycling, and recovery processes, the novel reuse framework based on reverse logistics can be implemented with minimal changes to existing forward logistics systems, potentially leading to more sustainable online shopping. This study proposes a novel combination of reusable packaging materials and reverse logistics as a viable and more environmentally friendly practice, in line with circular economy goals. © 2022 The Authors. Thunderbird International Business Review published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.
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Sustainability
Companies expend significant financial resources on corporate social responsibility (CSR) activit... more Companies expend significant financial resources on corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities to enhance their image. This study had two objectives. By drawing on three fundamental consumer values as moderators, the first aim was to discover how a company’s CSR engagement influences consumer–company identification (CCI) and consumers’ purchase intention for its products and services. The second was to uncover the type of consumer likely to identify with a company engaging in CSR activities. This study presents an exploratory analysis of social media postings by eight companies. An empirical study is conducted using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) based on survey data from 217 questionnaires collected in Singapore. This study is one of the first to consider what type of consumer would likely identify with a company performing CSR activities. Results show that local-community-focused CSR tends to influence the CCI of egoistic consumers, while envir...
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Digital Transformation in a Post-COVID World, 2021
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The working papers are produced by the Bradford University School of Management and are to be cir... more The working papers are produced by the Bradford University School of Management and are to be circulated for discussion purposes only. Their contents should be considered to be preliminary. The papers are expected to be published in due course, in a revised form and should not be quoted without the author’s permission.
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[Extract] Sustainable, resilient and inclusive infrastructure lies at the heart of global develop... more [Extract] Sustainable, resilient and inclusive infrastructure lies at the heart of global development. Appropriately developed and managed, infrastructure is a powerful catalyst for promoting economic growth, social inclusion and environmental stewardship. The development of sustainable infrastructure can be transformative for communities and nations, lifting people out of poverty and providing access to services, products and markets to facilitate trade and productivity, promote health and wellbeing, and improve education outcomes. Although the world has made notable progress in recent decades in delivering key infrastructure, significant gaps persist. Meeting the challenge of bridging these deficits is likely to increase as the world faces several major transformative trends. Growing human populations, increasing affluence, rapid urbanisation, and global challenges such as climate change, make the timely development of sustainable infrastructure one of the most pressing challenges of our time. Estimates of the global infrastructure deficit vary but all agree it is immense, with recent predictions suggesting the world will need to spend up to $60 trillion by 2030 to meet key infrastructure needs (McKinsey & Company 2011; OECD 2015).The importance of infrastructure development is highlighted by several recent global initiatives centred around three primary challenges: stimulating economic growth, promoting sustainable development, and addressing the impacts of climate change (Bhattacharya et al. 2016). These challenges are reflected in ambitious global targets as set out in the UN’s groundbreaking 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (United Nations 2015c), the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development (United Nations 2015a), and the landmark Paris Agreement on climate change (United Nations 2015b). The challenges and opportunities for investment in infrastructure provide are broadly recognised by both the public and private sectors. New infrastructure initiatives such as the UN’s Global Infrastructure Forum, led by multi-lateral development banks in close collaboration with the United Nations, aims to bring together multiple stakeholders to bridge the infrastructure deficit by identifying and addressing key requirements and highlighting opportunities for investment and cooperation, including through the facilitation of public-private partnerships. The most significant global challenges relating to infrastructure development are shared, but their relative importance and how they may be addressed differ within and between nations and regions. In general, developing and emerging economies face different priorities and have different constraints and challenges. Starting from significantly lower baselines their infrastructure deficits are more acute with many nations lacking basic facilities and services such as adequate transport, reliable energy supplies, and water and sanitation facilities that are taken for granted in more developed economies. While there are significant investment opportunities in developing nations, significant challenges in the enabling environment in terms of institutional capacity, technical knowledge and skills, and governance structures act as impediments to investment and development. More developed economies face somewhat different challenges including ageing infrastructure, high costs of infrastructure development and uncertainty over long term economic growth prospects impeding investment. Although they play out differently between nations and regions there are shared challenges and responsibilities, including the impact of universal transformative trends such as urbanisation, the logistical and financial challenges of provision of adequate infrastructure to people in rural areas, and the pervasive impacts of climate change that require infrastructure that facilitates mitigation and adaptation. This report explores these issues from a tropical perspective. It takes stock of the current and historical status of infrastructure development across the tropical zone by sector and explores the particular challenges and opportunities nations and regions of the Tropics face in terms of improving the provision of adequate services and facilities to their populations. In doing so, the report demonstrates that the region is becoming increasingly important, and highlights that the extent to which nations of the Tropics develop sustainable, resilient and inclusive infrastructure will in large part determine whether the world achieves its ambitious development goals.
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Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, 2020
PurposeThis paper examines cases of multiculturalism in Singapore and Malaysia. Through causal so... more PurposeThis paper examines cases of multiculturalism in Singapore and Malaysia. Through causal sociocultural mechanisms, the authors observe how two countries in proximity, with shared histories and demographic profiles, achieve differing outcomes in regard to social cohesion and competitiveness.Design/methodology/approachThe paper employs case-centric process tracing (CPT) to build a “plausible” explanation of causal mechanisms that can contribute to social cohesion and competitiveness. The authors adopt a common analytical framework to distil the nuances of generalizability and a cross-case analysis in order to ascertain factors that enable multiculturalism.FindingsDifferent causal mechanisms result in diverging outcomes in the two countries. In managing multiculturalism, Singapore has pursued policy actions emphasizing “integration and pragmatism,” while Malaysia has followed a model of “separation and preferentialism.” Judging by a selected number of established indicators, Sing...
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Journal of Business Research, 2020
Although a positive relationship is expected between consumers’ awareness of green benefits in a ... more Although a positive relationship is expected between consumers’ awareness of green benefits in a green product and their purchase intention, several studies have demonstrated otherwise. Against this back-drop, this article investigates how three personal consumption values—namely, environmental, status, and value-for-money consciousness—moderate the relationship between consumers’ awareness of a product’s green benefits and their purchase intention. From a survey of 956 consumers across the United Kingdom and China, we find a positive and significant relationship between consumers’ awareness of green benefits and their purchase intention. However, these consumption values significantly moderate this relationship. In the United Kingdom, environmental consciousness strengthens the relationship. On the other hand, status consciousness and value-for-money consciousness strengthen the relationship in China. The findings make original contributions to the literature by highlighting how to integrate individual consumption values in differing national cultures to refine green marketing theories.
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Journal of Cleaner Production, 2019
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Science of The Total Environment, 2019
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eTropic: electronic journal of studies in the tropics, 2018
The rapid pace of urbanisation in the tropics is astounding. By 2050, 2.5 billion people will be ... more The rapid pace of urbanisation in the tropics is astounding. By 2050, 2.5 billion people will be added to the world’s urban population, with nearly 90% of this increase taking place in tropical Asia and Africa. Cities such as Mumbai, Kolkata, Manila, Lagos, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Jakarta and Singapore have witnessed sharp increases in their populations. Housing this population is a critical concern of contemporary cities of the tropics. This paper highlights the case of Singapore, which has managed to provide housing to almost every person in the country through its public housing policy. Singapore’s public residential concept illustrates a successful approach to executing an urban development concept plan that optimises the use of limited land in a small country. Although such an achievement may not be easily replicated, this paper highlights three lessons that may be applicable to tropical urbanisation: implementing a sustainable housing development and urban planning policy; creati...
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Human Resource Development Quarterly, 2019
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Papers by Adrian T H Kuah (PhD, University of Manchester)
Indeed, services are hugely important to the UK making up about 75 per cent of GDP. It is a significant contribution; even allowing for the fact both business financial records and national statistics tend not to incorporate the service component of a product, leading to an under-reporting the contribution of services.
As a result, service innovation is important in terms of creating or co-creating more value from services. Yet, despite the importance and the rapid growth of the service economy over past decades, there has not been a commensurate development of policies and collection of data to support to promote innovation in business services. The reason for this is most likely because of the comparatively poor understanding of services, both in terms of the definition, classification and measurement of services,
service innovation, and service performance.
Our research set out to highlight some of the issues involved relating to the lack of clear standardised guiding policies aimed at sustaining the growth of services and in encouraging and promoting innovation practices in services. Based on our findings we also make some policy recommendations that might help maximise the contribution of services to the UK economy.