Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s first prime minister, who governed the country from 1959 to 1990, passed away on 23 March 2015 at the age of 91. The purpose of this paper is to assess…
Abstract
Purpose
Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s first prime minister, who governed the country from 1959 to 1990, passed away on 23 March 2015 at the age of 91. The purpose of this paper is to assess his legacy of good governance in Singapore.
Design/methodology/approach
The changes in Singapore’s policy context during 1959-2014 are described first before analyzing Lee’s legacy of good governance in Singapore by examining his books and major speeches.
Findings
Lee Kuan Yew’s commitment to meritocracy, empowerment of the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau to curb corruption effectively, reliance on competitive salaries to attract the “best and brightest” citizens to join the civil service, and maintenance of the rule of law, constitute his legacy of good governance in Singapore.
Originality/value
This paper will be useful to policy-makers, scholars and readers who are interested in learning about Lee Kuan Yew’s contribution to good governance in Singapore.
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Bilal Fayiz Omar and Nidal Omar Zallom
This study aims to investigate the relationship between different themes of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and companies’ market value (measured by Tobin Q) for Jordanian…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the relationship between different themes of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and companies’ market value (measured by Tobin Q) for Jordanian firms listed on the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) for the period 2006-2010.
Design/methodology/approach
The annual reports of 26 companies on the ASE for the years 2006-2010 were selected for this study. Three industrial sectors were chosen: chemical; food and beverage; and pharmaceutical and medical (P&M). The CSR is measured by constructing an index consisting of four themes which are as follows: environmental 9 items; human resources 16 items; community 7 items; and products 7 items. The study adopts Tobin Q as the dependent variable to measure the market value of corporations. Two control variables were included in the regression analysis for their possible effects on the CSR and company’s market value relationship: size and leverage. This study performs a multiple regression analysis model to test the effect of the four CSR themes: environmental, human resources, community and products on the market value measured by Tobin Q.
Findings
The results revealed that environmental, community and product activities decreased market value in the food and beverage industry, while human resources activities had no effect on market value in the same industry. Moreover, the community theme was found to have a negative effect on market value in the P&M industry, while the three other themes were found to have no effect on market value in the same industry. The four themes had no effect on market value in the chemical industry.
Research limitations/implications
The current study has a number of limitations, which have implications for future research. First, the study focused only on three industrial sectors (chemical, food and beverage and P&M), which limited the results to only these industries. In addition, the CSR concept and its effect on profitability is an important issue for the financial and services sectors. Hence, it would be beneficial to investigate the CSR impact on profitability for the financial and services sectors. Moreover, the study focused only on one country, Jordan. An extension of this study could be a comparison of the CSR effect on financial performance between Jordan and other countries in the Middle East. Furthermore, the measurement of CSR is subject to criticism because it might generate bias according to subjective judgments about CSR items. The CSR items are equally weighted, which might not be acceptable because their nature and effect differ among industries. However, introducing qualitative measures for CSR that reflect various perspectives about CSR practices and implications is essential. Finally, the period chosen for this study includes the years of global financial crisis as well which had eroded the market value of many firms in different industries, and this may form a prominent limitation of this study.
Practical implications
The results of this study have given evidence of the role of CSR in Jordan. The investments in the CSR field could negatively affect or could have no effect on market value. Overall, regulators in Jordan should pay attention to the costs and benefits of CSR among companies. Companies will be encouraged to invest in CSR activities if the benefits on their financial performance exceed the costs (cost-benefit theory). Specifically, companies should select types of CSR activities that enhance their competiveness in the society.
Social implications
The results of this study provide practical implications to several users in the chemical, food and beverage and P&M industries. Managers, investors and other users may pay attention to the impact of CSR strategies on the company’s market value. For example, food and beverage managers may decrease their CSR investments around environmental, community and product activities because these decrease the market value and profitability of the company. However, the CSR investment in human resources does not affect the profitability in this industry. For the chemical industry, managers may not focus on CSR investments in the different activities (environmental, human resources, community and products) because these have no impact on the company’s market value. In regards to the P&M industry, managers may decrease their CSR investments around community activities because this decreases the market value. However, managers may not be concerned with CSR investments in environmental, human resources and products activities because these do not affect the company’s market value.
Originality/value
The relationship between CSR and a company’s financial performance has been tested broadly in the financial and management fields without any conclusive results. Some explanations for the inconclusive results are discussed. Inoue and Lee (2011, p. 791) noted three main issues that remain unresolved in the studies regarding the relationship between CSR and a company’s performance: using samples for different industries, using cross sectional observations and using aggregate CSR dimensions. The current study overcomes the main problems in the previous discussion. In particular, the study will focus on specific industries (chemical, food and beverage and P&M). In addition, the study will use multidimensional CSR measures. Moreover, financial performance will be measured by a single measure (market value) instead of using different measures of financial performance.
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This paper analyses the role of Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s first prime minister from June 1959 to November 1990, in minimising corruption by implementing a zero-tolerance policy…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper analyses the role of Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s first prime minister from June 1959 to November 1990, in minimising corruption by implementing a zero-tolerance policy toward corruption in Singapore.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is based on the analysis of Lee’s beliefs and the policies he introduced to curb corruption in Singapore.
Findings
Lee’s disdain for corruption and his beliefs in meritocracy and the importance of good leadership shaped his commitment to a zero-tolerance policy against corruption, which was enforced impartially and sustained in Singapore for the past 62 years.
Originality/value
This analysis of how Lee transformed Singapore into one of the least corrupt countries in the world would be of interest to policy-makers, practitioners and scholars concerned with minimising corruption in their own countries.
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The aim of this paper is to show that there are workable alternatives to the debt‐finance system in the form of “state credit.”
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to show that there are workable alternatives to the debt‐finance system in the form of “state credit.”
Design/methodology/approach
The example used for the practical application of “state credit” is the State Housing programme of the 1935 New Zealand Labour Government. The primary sources are mainly the pamphlets of John A. Lee, responsible for the State Housing and Labour finance policies.
Findings
The paper shows that “state credit” was used on a large‐scale for constructive purposes, which not only provided debt‐free funding for an enduring construction programme, but one that did so without accompanying inflation or other adverse consequences which are warned of by orthodox economists.
Research limitations/implications
The paper focuses on a single example of the use of state credit, albeit an important and large‐scale one.
Practical implications
State credit was used in a major way during the 1930s to overcome unemployment while constructing something lasting and of enduring social benefit. It is a method that can be reapplied in the present time at a period where debt is reaching crisis point from entire nations down to families and individual consumers; with the most common remedy suggested relief being “austerity” and welfare cuts.
Social implications
State credit is a means of achieving large‐scale public works, while reducing unemployment, and reducing taxes, rates and prices which generally incorporate into costs the servicing of debts. The social implications are wide‐ranging.
Originality/value
The 1935 State Housing programme had endured as part of an iconic New Zealand social experiment, but one of which the method of funding is now virtually unknown.
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Noel Scott, Brent Moyle, Ana Cláudia Campos, Liubov Skavronskaya and Biqiang Liu
Citizens are substantial stakeholders in every e-government system, thus their willingness to use and ability to access the system are critical. Unequal access and information and…
Abstract
Citizens are substantial stakeholders in every e-government system, thus their willingness to use and ability to access the system are critical. Unequal access and information and communication technology usage, which is known as digital divide, however has been identified as one of the major obstacles to the implementation of e-government system. As digital divide inhibits citizen’s acceptance to e-government, it should be overcome despite the lack of deep theoretical understanding on this issue. This research aimed to investigate the digital divide and its direct impact on e-government system success of local governments in Indonesia as well as indirect impact through the mediation role of trust. In order to get a comprehensive understanding of digital divide, this study introduced a new type of digital divide, the innovativeness divide.
The research problems were approached by applying two-stage sequential mixed method research approach comprising of both qualitative and quantitative studies. In the first phase, an initial research model was proposed based on a literature review. Semi-structured interview with 12 users of e-government systems was then conducted to explore and enhance this initial research model. Data collected in this phase were analyzed with a two-stage content analysis approach and the initial model was then amended based on the findings. As a result, a comprehensive research model with 16 hypotheses was proposed for examination in the second phase.
In the second phase, quantitative method was applied. A questionnaire was developed based on findings in the first phase. A pilot study was conducted to refine the questionnaire, which was then distributed in a national survey resulting in 237 useable responses. Data collected in this phase were analyzed using Partial Least Square based Structural Equation Modeling.
The results of quantitative analysis confirmed 13 hypotheses. All direct influences of the variables of digital divide on e-government system success were supported. The mediating effects of trust in e-government in the relationship between capability divide and e-government system success as well as in the relationship between innovativeness divide and e-government system success were supported, but was rejected in the relationship between access divide and e-government system success. Furthermore, the results supported the moderating effects of demographic variables of age, residential place, and education.
This research has both theoretical and practical contributions. The study contributes to the developments of literature on digital divide and e-government by providing a more comprehensive framework, and also to the implementation of e-government by local governments and the improvement of e-government Readiness Index of Indonesia.
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Corruption was a serious problem in Singapore during the British colonial period and especially after the Japanese Occupation (February 1942–August 1945) mainly because of the…
Abstract
Corruption was a serious problem in Singapore during the British colonial period and especially after the Japanese Occupation (February 1942–August 1945) mainly because of the lack of political will to curb it by the incumbent governments. In contrast, the People’s Action Party (PAP) government, which assumed office in June 1959 after winning the May 1959 general election, demonstrated its political will with the enactment of the Prevention of Corruption Act (POCA) in June 1960, which strengthened the capacity of the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) to combat corruption effectively. Indeed, Singapore’s success in curbing corruption is reflected in its consistently high scores on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) from 1995 to 2012 as the least corrupt country in Asia. Singapore was ranked first with Denmark and New Zealand in the 2010 CPI with a score of 9.30. Similarly, Singapore has been ranked first in the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC) annual surveys on corruption from 1995 to 2013. Why has Singapore succeeded in minimizing the problem of corruption when many other Asian countries have failed to do so? What lessons can these countries learn from Singapore’s experience in combating corruption? This chapter addresses these two questions by first describing Singapore’s favorable policy context, followed by an identification of the major causes of corruption during the British colonial period and Japanese Occupation, and an evaluation of the PAP government’s anti-corruption strategy.
The received wisdom on classical accounting thought is that its early stages were methodologically vacuous, while, in its “golden” age, it espoused the methods and philosophical…
Abstract
Purpose
The received wisdom on classical accounting thought is that its early stages were methodologically vacuous, while, in its “golden” age, it espoused the methods and philosophical commitments of received-view hypothetico-deductivism but actually remained methodologically incoherent. The purpose of this paper is to argue, to the contrary, that classical accounting thought possesses a coherent constitutional structure that qualifies as a methodology and unifies it as a body of argument.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on Cartwright’s metaphysical nomological pluralism, which holds that we should attend to the actual practices of successful inquiry and the methodologies and metaphysical presuppositions that support it.
Findings
The paper argues that accounting does achieve disciplinary success and that classical accounting thought, using the methodology of defeasible postulationism, provides the theoretical infrastructure that supports that success. The accounting domain is a world of “dappled realism”, in which theories are useful in the construction of reporting schemes and inform our understanding of the nature of the domain.
Research limitations/implications
Applying metaphysical nomological pluralism rescues classical accounting thought from the charge of methodological incoherence and metaphysical naivety.
Originality/value
The paper justifies a place for classical accounting theorising in the endeavours of modern accounting scholarship and moves the analysis of classical accounting thought within a philosophy of science framework towards an approach with a contemporary resonance.
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Yang‐Im Lee and Peter R.J. Trim
The purpose of this paper is to make clear how managers in Western organizations can understand the Japanese and Korean cultural value system and interpret the strategic…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to make clear how managers in Western organizations can understand the Japanese and Korean cultural value system and interpret the strategic decision‐making process that exists within organizations exhibiting a collectivist culture.
Design/methodology/approach
A literature review was undertaken and several studies, either jointly or separately undertaken by the authors, were drawn upon in order to provide depth to the analysis and interpretation.
Findings
Although there are similarities between Japanese and Korean people, there are a number of distinct differences between them. These differences have come about as a result of Buddhism and Confucianism being adopted at different points in each country's history, and the fact that these countries have developed their own unique cultural value system. The differences manifest in organizational characteristics, which provide Japanese and Korean organizations with a specific identity, management model and way of doing business. What is evident, however, is that managers in both Japanese and Korean organizations are familiar with the relationship marketing concept and actively embrace the strategic marketing approach.
Research limitations/implications
Undertaking research into national cultural value systems and organizational cultural value systems is complex and requires an interdisciplinary approach. It can also be suggested that more emphasis needs to be placed on undertaking research of this kind in both Japan and Korea. Furthermore, it is advocated that a longitudinal study is undertaken in order to provide both evidence of how organizational cultural value systems within a collectivist culture change through time, and how cultural traits influence the decision‐making process.
Practical implications
Managers in Western organizations will be able to relate to the value systems of Japanese and Korean organizations and as a consequence, will understand how long‐term trustworthy relationships are developed. This should facilitate the negotiation of business deals and result in business partnerships being developed that are based on mutuality.
Originality/value
The interdisciplinary approach adopted allowed the authors to view culture from several perspectives and to link more firmly national cultural value systems with organizational cultural value systems, and with organizational identity. By adopting this research strategy, the authors were able to explain how organizational identity is influenced by and reinforced by the concept of strategic marketing.