The purpose of this paper is to investigate the trend of transatlantic strategic convergence and policy coordination in response to Chinese trade practices and technological…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the trend of transatlantic strategic convergence and policy coordination in response to Chinese trade practices and technological competition, specifically in the critical minerals sector.
Design/methodology/approach
The research draws on primary and secondary source material to identify evidence of and examine the drivers, manifestations and prospects for effective US-European efforts to advance the shared aim of reducing vulnerabilities in critical minerals supply chains.
Findings
The interests of the USA and Europe would be best served by prioritizing their own security, diversification and resilience strategies while seeking areas of common ground and constructive engagement with China.
Research limitations/implications
The research offers a fresh perspective on the growing alignment and persistent gaps in US and European perspectives on China’s rising influence and assertive behavior.
Originality/value
The research highlights the vital role of critical minerals in national security, economic competitiveness, technological advancement and sustainable resource management. It underscores the shared recognition on both sides of the Atlantic that securing a stable supply of critical minerals – essential for maintaining strategic capabilities, driving innovation and ensuring long-term economic prosperity – necessitates tighter transatlantic coordination as well as constructive engagement with China.
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The purpose of this paper is to investigate a significant course correction in US–China policy. It examines the increasingly broad dissatisfaction with China policy, which has…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate a significant course correction in US–China policy. It examines the increasingly broad dissatisfaction with China policy, which has resulted in an apparent end the era of intensive engagement and led to a hardening of the US approach to China across the policy spectrum, as exemplified by the critique of and incipient efforts to counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
Design/methodology/approach
The research draws on primary and secondary source material to identify evidence of and examine the rationale behind the shift from the USA’s decades-long “engagement” approach toward an in intensifying strategic competition with China.
Findings
A course correction in US–China policy has been years in the making, and as most now argue is long overdue. The idea that China has emerged as America’s foremost strategic competitor is widely accepted, and indeed deeply ingrained in the thinking of most US foreign affairs professionals. It is also starkly evident in current US declaratory policy and increasingly in its operational policy as well.
Research limitations/implications
The research offers a fresh perspective on the domestic and diplomatic dimensions of China’s rising.
Originality/value
The research builds on the latest scholarship on the growth of China’s geopolitical challenge to the USA to explore the development of China–US tensions and rivalries at all levels from the Bush and Obama eras to the present.
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This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.
Design/methodology/approach
This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.
Findings
The USA and its European partners face a potential problem in accessing critical minerals. Given its implications for national security, it is important to increase supply chain resilience through diversification of sources while also establishing a basis for closer cooperation with China.
Originality/value
The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.
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Sameh Reyad, Gopalakrishnan Chinnasamy and Araby Madbouly
The purpose of this study is to identify the effectiveness of risk management and corporate governance (CG) practices followed in Islamic banks (IBs) of Gulf Cooperation Council…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to identify the effectiveness of risk management and corporate governance (CG) practices followed in Islamic banks (IBs) of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Hence, they are considered as critical performance indicators for financial institutions and IBs. Though the IBs are growing, there are still challenges associated with their operations because of Shariah noncompliance risks, governance, capital adequacy ratio and other risks.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a mixed-method approach, gathering qualitative data from senior risk managers of chosen IBs via semi-structured interviews and quantitative data from selected IBs financial reports using capital IQ resources. The information was gathered for a considerable time (2013–2019), and the CAMELS rating system was used to analyze it.
Findings
The results showed that GCC IBs manage their business risks well through effective CG except in certain areas like asset quality management and liquidity.
Practical implications
The result of this study can provide support to the banks’ top management, chief executives, regulators and government, in all practices related to risk assessment, management and mitigation.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the existing knowledge in risk management and CG practices. Furthermore, this study is a new attempt in knowing the risk management and CG practices followed in IBs in GCC countries using the mixed-method approach.
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Romi Jain and Joseph Tse-Hei Lee
This introductory essay historicizes the evolution of China’s geopolitical strategy from the Maoist era (1949–1976) to the present. It examines the Chinese strategic thinking in…
Abstract
Purpose
This introductory essay historicizes the evolution of China’s geopolitical strategy from the Maoist era (1949–1976) to the present. It examines the Chinese strategic thinking in four spatial settings: Eurasia, maritime Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent and the wider Indo-Pacific region. The Chinese strategic concerns are comparable across these regions, but the ability to pursue security interests is contingent on many circumstantial factors. This study refers to some snapshots of the ongoing regional disputes to discuss the continuities and breakpoints in China’s strategic outreach in a multipolar world.
Design/methodology/approach
This study draws on the scholarly literature and policy papers to examine the interrelated forces that shape China’s rise to regional dominance: how Beijing has co-opted a series of global and regional crises for its rise to domination; how China, the USA and neighbouring countries have adjusted and adapted to a new changing international order; and how major powers in littoral and maritime Asia respond to an increasingly assertive Chinese state.
Findings
This study documents the combination of smart, soft and sharp power that China has deployed, since the global financial crisis of 2008, to enforce its dominance against the USA across the Pacific Rim and Eurasia. It argues that General Secretary of the Chinese Communist PartyXi Jinping initially launched the Belt and Road Initiative to respond to former US President Barak Obama’s policy of rebalancing Asia, and he has expanded these expansionary projects to counter US President Donald Trump’s “America First” doctrine, thereby asserting Chinese influence abroad and tightening control against discontented populations at home.
Research limitations/implications
Many Western policy analysts are wondering whether a rising China will be a “status quo” state or a revisionist state that attempts to challenge the existing world order. The lack of clarification from Beijing has prompted Washington to shift from a longstanding strategy of diplomatic engagement to that of geostrategic containment to balance against China.
Originality/value
The strategic goals of China in the early 21st century pertain to security reassurance, access to energy resources and national image building. Since the global financial crisis of 2008, China has become immensely confident of its own socio-economic accomplishments and scornful of what it perceives as an American conspiracy to undermine its rise to power. Following in the footsteps of the USA in the post-Second World War era, Japan in the 1980s and Taiwan in the 1990s, Beijing has used international commercial activities and business contracts to achieve specific political, strategic and diplomatic objectives.
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The prospect that technological and social innovation in the use of communication and information technologies are bringing about an end to sovereignty has been a source of…
Abstract
The prospect that technological and social innovation in the use of communication and information technologies are bringing about an end to sovereignty has been a source of optimism, pessimism and ambivalence. It has captured the popular imagination and it can be found in the anxieties of national leaders about the mingling and collision of cultures and cultural products within and across their borders, and about growing awareness that environmental threats bow to no flag. According to much of this discourse, national governments are becoming increasingly powerless in their battles against real or imagined plights of cultural imperialism (and sub‐imperialism, that is, cultural imperialism within states) and capital mobility, as well as in their efforts to effectively exercise political control through surveillance and censorship. The end of sovereignty is a theme in political discussions about new pressures brought on by global regimes of trade and investment, and by unprecedented levels of global criminal networks for drug trafficking, money laundering and trade in human flesh. Social movements and non‐governmental organizations (NGOs) have reflected this by recognizing the need to match the scale of the problems they confront with appropriately scaled collective action. This article examines the discourse about the end of sovereignty and therise of new institutions of global governance. Particular emphasis is given to how advancements in the means of communication have produced the ambivalent outcomes of threatening the democratic governance of sovereign states, and serving as foundations for the assertion of democratic rights and popular sovereignty on a global scale.
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The Chicago Library system serves one of the nation's largest public libraries, one of the nation's largest public school systems, over 200 special libraries, and 52 academic…
Abstract
The Chicago Library system serves one of the nation's largest public libraries, one of the nation's largest public school systems, over 200 special libraries, and 52 academic libraries. Its Executive Director and Deputy Director describe how they outsourced and contracted for major services. Outsourced and contracted services include ownership, operation, and maintenance of a central automation site, interlibrary loan delivery services, reference services, as well as other system operations.
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Discusses the telecommunications infrastructure of the USA andissues surrounding its restructuring. Describes the role and impact ofbroadband Integrated Services Digital Network…
Abstract
Discusses the telecommunications infrastructure of the USA and issues surrounding its restructuring. Describes the role and impact of broadband Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) in applications development and the societal implications of this change. Points out that global development of broadband technologies makes personal access to multimedia applications possible and promotes new information‐sharing partnerships. Argues for an holistic, ethical approach to future development of ISDN.
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Rolien Terblanche and Dorcas Khumalo
The objective of this study is to determine how biophilic designs in study areas affect the productivity of students at the University of the Witwatersrand. The study also seeks…
Abstract
Purpose
The objective of this study is to determine how biophilic designs in study areas affect the productivity of students at the University of the Witwatersrand. The study also seeks to evaluate study areas at Wits in terms of biophilic design, determine whether biophilic design contributes to the preference of students and their study productivity.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a cross sectional study that used a mixed methodology. Five study areas were identified and evaluated in terms of biophilic design. At each study area, nine students participated in an open- and close-ended questionnaire regarding their perceptions on study areas and productivity.
Findings
The five study areas scored the following results according to the biophilic test: 29.09%, 34.55%, 36.36%, 80.00% and 85.45%, respectively. The students prefer to study in biophilic study areas as it prompts positive emotions and make them feel rejuvenated and energized. However, there are still students studying in the non-biophilic areas due to convenience or due to the biophilic areas that are noisy and lacks monitoring.
Research limitations/implications
With the small sample size, the generalizability of the findings are limited, but does create a foundation for further research.
Practical implications
Universities can learn from the findings and benefit greatly from many biophilic study areas. This could also encourage architects and interior designers to include biophilic design more so in general buildings/rooms.
Originality/value
Study areas at the University of the Witwatersrand was evaluated in terms of biophilic design, while determining whether biophilic design contributes to the preference of students and study productivity.