Adrian T.H. Kuah

Commentary: is cost transparency necessarily good for consumers?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a critical viewpoint on the negative aspects of market, price and cost transparencies to consumers in terms of its costs. Design/methodology/approach – It adopts an inter-disciplinary approach from the marketing, economics and accounting literature. The paper explores market transparency in the ever-changing world and uses brand names like Starbucks and iPhone to illuminate instances where imperfect markets are supported by consumers. Findings – Recognizing the role that the Internet plays in promoting price transparency, it espouses how extant information can add costs and risks to the consumer’s value judgement. Finally, the paper advocates that arbitrary judgements existing in cost accounting make it difficult to compare unit cost. This could result in consumers paying extra money to benefit from cost transparency. Practical implications – This paper argues that three main issues may arise in providing unit cost to the consumers. First, transparency ent...

State of the Tropics 2017 Report: Sustainable Infrastructure in the Tropics. Report. James Cook University, Townsville.

[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. n nAlthough 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

Employers' associations in Singapore: Tripartite engagement

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). n nThe 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. n nThe 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. n nAlthough 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. n nThis 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.

Competitiveness and innovation landscapes in the tropics: a comparison of Singapore and New Zealand during 1999-2008

[Extract] Employers’ associations have received less attention in the industrial relations literature than have trade unions and government agencies. One reason for this may be that inter- country variation in the structure and functions of employers’ associations precludes general schema (Bean 1994: 72). Another is employer reticence to disclose information to researchers, resulting in researchers’ preference for more accessible information on industrial conflict and trade unions (Schmitter and Streeck 1999; Sheldon and Thornthwaite 1999; Traxler 2000). In the case of Singapore, it was recently observed that a reference to the merger of Singapore’s employers’ associations in 1980 was ‘perfunctory’ and substantially underestimated its importance (Sheldon et al. 2015: 438). Gan (2010) and Sheldon et al. (2015) have sought to remedy the apparent neglect. This chapter aims to follow them with an analysis and assessment of the structure, strategies and roles of Singapore’s employers’ associations.

Fast-Expanding “Online” Markets in South Korea and China: Are They Worth Pursuing?

Singapore-New Zealand bilateral relations are long-standing and based on a close political, economic and defence ties. Being small in economic size and population, both nations have undergone some challenges in a bid to improve their national competitiveness and innovation landscapes. This paper reviews both countries in terms of how innovative organisations are networked and organised so that they can be productive. It leads to a comparison of policies and governance orchestrating innovation. Through these instrumental cases and multiple data sources over a ten-year period, this paper concludes with some generalisation and lessons for other small emerging economies, especially those small developing countries in the tropics.