Journal of Organizational Change Management: An Asia perspective

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REGIONAL EDITORIAL COMMENT
Journal of Organizational Change Management
(Publishing date: Volume 9, Number 6, 1996, pp. 5-6)
Dr. Usha C. V. Haley, Regional Editor (Asia Pacific)

I have been appointed Regional Editor, Asia Pacific for the Journal of Organizational Change Management. As Regional Editor, I hope to solicit articles on the region and from the region for the journal. Two major factors contribute to the interest in the Asia Pacific, broadly defined as Asia, Australia and New Zealand, from business people and researchers every where. First, the region will likely account for half the sales growth, over the next decade, in virtually any industry from cars to power stations. According to the World Bank, in the decade prior to 1994, Thailand (with 8.2% average annual growth) constituted the fastest growing economy in the world, followed by South Korea (7.8% average growth), China and Singapore (both 6.9% average growth). Second, the Asia Pacific is experiencing a Darwinian struggle between different forms of capitalism, some of which have only just begun to venture outside their home. Two of the main protagonists, Western and Japanese multinational corporations (MNCs), display well-studied and relatively well-understood competitive behaviors. The third, the bamboo network of Overseas Chinese family businesses, has less familiarity for Western managers and researchers: consequently, it causes both fascination and fear. Similarly, local governments that aggressively promote regionalization present yet another of the less-understood main protagonists: Asian governments have been portrayed as catalysts of the Asian miracle and conversely also as purveyors of bubble economies by economists such as Paul Krugman and Alwyn Young.

Theory development in the Asia Pacific has stressed pragmatic features. As a response to local conditions, ranging from governmental control to cultural issues such as saving face, theories on Asian organizations de-emphasize critical thinking. Yet, theory development is desperately needed in this region to guide future investment and to influence present business operations. As Regional Editor, I hope to encourage research and submissions that draw on varied levels of analysis to explore organizational strategies of change, and responses to new and diverse pressures, in the rapidly growing Asia Pacific region. The changes in the Asia Pacific have realigned coalitions and redistributed benefits and costs among stakeholders. I encourage articles that discuss the effects of some of the large-scale changes in the Asia Pacific on organizational stakeholders. I also encourage use of non-traditional formats and methods such as interviews, thick descriptions, archetypal stories, innovative uses of metaphors and analogies and critical perspectives to explain organizational change in the Asia Pacific. Additionally, articles, or cases, should propose implications for successful and effective organizational strategies in the Asia Pacific and suggestions for further research on the region. I am currently Guest Editing a special issue on Strategic Dimensions of Organizational Change and Restructuring in the Asia Pacific and welcome submissions (deadline December 31, 1996). Prospective authors may obtain more information through the special issue's WWW page at the following URL
http://www.apmforum.com/aplit/mcb5.htm
I obtained my doctorate from New York University, Stern School of Business, in International Business and Management, as well as graduate degrees in Political Science and Journalism from the University of Illinois at Urbana and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I have taught Strategic Management and International Business at New York University; American University (Washington, D.C.); the Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (Monterrey, Mexico); and, the National University of Singapore. Additionally, I have taught in major corporate and universities' executive-development programs, for top and middle managers, in the United States, Mexico, Italy, India and Singapore. I use a political approach, emphasizing redistributions of benefits and power among stakeholders, to understand organizational change issues. I have a practical interest in changing organizations and worked for a year with Olivetti's consulting and training division in Florence, Italy -- Elea. Most of my research explicitly incorporates different points of view and diversity: for example, I have built several stakeholder models to explain phenomena that include corporate charitable contributions; MNCs' exits from South Africa; and, Singapore's regionalization drive through Singapore Incorporated -- the metaphor has been subsequently used by the government to market itself in the region and to explain policies. I also strongly believe that a good theory proves a useful theory -- ideally both explaining and influencing -- and hope to bring this perspective, as well as a viewpoint that interprets international business through studying shifting coalitions, to the Journal of Organizational Change Management.
Usha C. V. Haley
June 1996
Singapore

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