H. Dahles

Entrepreneurs in romance. Tourism in Indonesia.

Abstract This article addresses the extent to which the opportunity to enter into a sexual relationship with Western female tourists poses a challenge to the vast number of self-employed young men in Indonesian tourism destinations. The areas compared in this article (Lombok and Yogyakarta) differ in terms of Butlers resort area cycle. Whereas Yogyakarta is about to enter the consolidation phase, Lombok has only started to develop tourism. The position in the area life cycle affects the opportunities and restrictions that self-employed young males encounter in their participation in the informal tourism sector and, as a consequence, their expectations regarding relationships with female tourists.

Redefining Amsterdam as a tourist destination.

Abstract Tourist representations of the city of Amsterdam are capitalizing on the citys glorious past, the reputation of tolerance and liberalism, the red-light district, and the gay scene. Recent efforts in city marketing undertaken by formerly contesting actors in the tourism industry have abandoned the heterogeneous image. Rather, a polished image of the city has emerged as the national landmark of the Netherlands. This strategic choice has far-reaching consequences for cultural tourism in Amsterdam. While city marketing has become more targeted and demand-oriented, cultural tourism is still product-based. However, if demand-oriented marketing is taken seriously, cultural tourism has to be approached as a process enabling tourists to experience local life. This strategy would establish clear markers of a distinct urban identity. The future of Amsterdam as a center of global tourism is depending on the redefinition of its identity in terms of local culture.

Culture, capitalism and political entrepreneurship. Transactional business ventures of the Singapore-Chinese in China

This article analyses the transnational practices of Singapore‐Chinese companies venturing into China since the 1980s. Whereas in Western management discourse Western firms are supposed to build cross‐border coalitions on rational principles, Chinese firms are said to base their economic relations in ethnic ties resulting in a high level of cultural cohesion within their business networks. However, this vision is challenged in this paper. The question is raised whether increased investments by Singapore‐Chinese private and public companies in China have been due to shared cultural values, to capitalist profit seeking, or to the fact that governments have framed policies to support such investments. The paper argues in favour of a mix of the three perspectives. It is for cheap labour and untapped markets that Singapore‐Chinese entrepreneurs invest in China. However, other incentives also apply. Sentimental or moral reasons may encourage the Singapore‐Chinese to strengthen ties with their ‘hometown’ in Chin...This article analyses the transnational practices of Singapore‐Chinese companies venturing into China since the 1980s. Whereas in Western management discourse Western firms are supposed to build cross‐border coalitions on rational principles, Chinese firms are said to base their economic relations in ethnic ties resulting in a high level of cultural cohesion within their business networks. However, this vision is challenged in this paper. The question is raised whether increased investments by Singapore‐Chinese private and public companies in China have been due to shared cultural values, to capitalist profit seeking, or to the fact that governments have framed policies to support such investments. The paper argues in favour of a mix of the three perspectives. It is for cheap labour and untapped markets that Singapore‐Chinese entrepreneurs invest in China. However, other incentives also apply. Sentimental or moral reasons may encourage the Singapore‐Chinese to strengthen ties with their ‘hometown’ in China and other Chinese diaspora entrepreneurs in the world through economic investments. At the political level, the Singaporean government provides incentives and facilities for domestic companies to venture across borders, and acts as the main investor in trans‐border joint ventures and sponsor for trade missions in China.

Tourism, government policy and petty entrepreneurs in Indonesia

A major development in the Indonesian economy since the 1980s has been the expansion of the tourism industry. While this sector has prospered under the government policy of deregulation, the lower ...

Ethnic Chinese enterprises and the embeddedness of failure

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to aim at assessing the impacts of the embedded nature of ethnic Chinese businesses on the management of business failure in China ventures. Design/methodology/approach - Upon reviewing the key literature on ethnic Chinese transnational business ventures and, in particular, the concept of embeddedness, the paper proceeds with a description of the data based on ethnographic research among ethnic Chinese entrepreneurs in both Singapore and Malaysia and a brief portrayal of the development of their investments in China since the 1980s. In subsequent sections the empirical findings are first presented and then analyzed. The conclusions reflect on the changing nature of the embeddedness of the ethnic Chinese in diverse but shared legacies. Findings - The experience of business failure in China contributes to a reorientation among the ethnic Chinese towards both their national communities and each other – and finally affects their transnational business strategies. This process of re-embedding identity is intertwined with the diverging ethnic politics of the Singaporean and Malaysian nation states and results in the redefinition of a shared identity. Originality/value - While the literature on the ethnic Chinese business community is focusing on those factors that are conducive to business operations, little attention has been paid to the manners in which business failure is dealt with. In this paper, business failure will be investigated in terms of the impact emanating from the embeddedness of ethnic Chinese businesses in complex economic, social-cultural, and political configurations.

Firefighters across frontiers: two fire brigades cooperating in the Dutch–German borderland

This article focuses on boundaries as symbolic constructs to overcome structural impediments to cooperation in a borderland constituted by two nation states – Germany and the Netherlands – that, from a global perspective, may be regarded as close cultural neighbours. Empirically, the vicissitudes of cross‐border cooperation are analysed at the level of a Dutch and a German fire brigade in adjacent borderland villages. The diminishing visibility of borders does not necessarily lead to more openness, but gives rise to the emergence of socially constructed symbolical boundaries, which has major effects on issues of national identity and loyalty within organizations operating in trans‐border spaces. Cultural differences can complicate processes of transnational coordination, harmonization, and negotiation. However, cooperation and trust, based on an affinity with a local culture in borderlands, may provide a more stable fundament for successful common ventures than do regulations enacted by state authorities. Addressing the question of how processes of transnationalization affect inter‐organizational cooperation, this article describes and analyses the ways in which European integration, national bureaucracies and cultural similarities and differences form partly converging and partly conflicting forces in cooperative efforts in the Dutch–German borderland.This article focuses on boundaries as symbolic constructs to overcome structural impediments to cooperation in a borderland constituted by two nation states – Germany and the Netherlands – that, from a global perspective, may be regarded as close cultural neighbours. Empirically, the vicissitudes of cross‐border cooperation are analysed at the level of a Dutch and a German fire brigade in adjacent borderland villages. The diminishing visibility of borders does not necessarily lead to more openness, but gives rise to the emergence of socially constructed symbolical boundaries, which has major effects on issues of national identity and loyalty within organizations operating in trans‐border spaces. Cultural differences can complicate processes of transnational coordination, harmonization, and negotiation. However, cooperation and trust, based on an affinity with a local culture in borderlands, may provide a more stable fundament for successful common ventures than do regulations enacted by state authorities....

Institutionalising Chineseness: Legacies of Chinese Commercial Hegemony in the Cambodian Silk Industry

Abstract The Cambodian silk weaving industry shows a remarkable pattern of ethnicised positions interlocked in processes of production and trade stretching beyond Cambodia into the Southeast Asian region and into Europe and the United States. Key commercial positions in the Cambodian silk trading networks are dominated by the Chinese, at least so it seems. In contrast to the bulk of literature on Chinese capitalism, the current study addresses a situation in which the commercial positions are identified as Chinese regardless of the ethnic background of the people who occupy them. While subscribing to the institutional perspective on Chinese capitalism, this article aims to take the debate one step further by arguing that – while a particular institutional embedding is conducive to Chinese proliferation in the business sector – Chinese business practices and representations are themselves subject to processes of institutionalisation. The paper explains how they may develop into an institution that is both a model of and for conducting business.

Boundaries and Organizations in Asia: An Introduction

In Paulsen and Hernes’seminal work titled ‘Managing Boundaries in Organizations’ – an edited volume published in 2003 – the concept of organizational boundaries is comprehensively and critically assessed for the first time in organization literature. Triggered by the paradox that organizational boundaries are conceptualized in mainstream organizational theory as given, fixed and unambiguous while, at the same time, these boundaries are claimed to diminish and dissolve as a consequence of processes of globalization, Paulsen and Hernes conclude that:

A Multicultural Joint Venture Under the Post-Developmental State in Singapore

As a multi-cultural country with a British colonial past hosting many different ethnic groups including Westerners, Singapore juggles with the often conflicting forces of Westernization (holding the promise of economic prosperity) and Asianization (holding the promise of a distinct cultural identity). Although the endorsement of ‘Asian values’ by Singapore political leaders such as Lee Kuan Yew may be seen as a mere rhetoric device to either explain ethnic Chinese business success or the Asian crisis, the question needs to be raised as to the ways in which the Asian Values discourse affects both Western and Asian MNCs operating in Singapore. In order to address this question, this article investigates the participation of a European–Japanese joint venture in a large government-sponsored reclamation project in Singapore. It is a rather unique situation in which the state as paymaster has the upper hand over the partners. The investigation shows that reference to ‘Asian values’ is a significant boundary-marking strategy used by both the Singapore government and the joint venture partners to manipulate the power balances in this triangular relationship. The outcome is more often than not advantageous for the Singapore state.

In pursuit of capital: The charismatic turn among the Chinese managerial and professional class in Malaysia

This article explores a so far neglected dimension of the ongoing debate on the relationship between the politically contested position of the ethnic Chinese and their dominant role in the economies of Southeast Asia in general and in Malaysia in particular. While the prominence of the ethnic Chinese in the business life of Malaysia is ubiquitous, they also seem to be the engine of the striking growth of the Christian community, in particular the Pentecostal-Charismatic groups. This ‘charismatic turn’, it has been argued, reflects a major shift in the social position and power relations among the ethnic groups and the consolidation of the position of the Malaysian Chinese in the modern Malaysian nation state. This article critically reappraises this ‘empowerment thesis’ by analyzing the opportunities that conversion to Christianity and membership of Pentecostal-Charismatic groups offer to Malaysian Chinese business people, managers and professionals. In particular, this article identifies the forms of capital (in a Bourdieuan sense) involved and analyzes how these forms of capital are utilized and imbued with meaning in the interface of religion and business.