Students

ECON3020 – Asian Business Environment

2022 – Session 2, Online-scheduled-weekday

General Information

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Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit convenor and teaching staff
Lisa Magnani
Contact via email
Room 416, 4 Eastern Road
Tuesday 2-4pm
Credit points Credit points
10
Prerequisites Prerequisites
130cp at 1000 level or above including ((ECON110 or ECON111 or ECON1020) and (20cp at 2000 level or above))
Corequisites Corequisites
Co-badged status Co-badged status
Unit description Unit description

This unit provides an introduction to the patterns of business in East and South-East Asia, and to the key commercial institutions found therein. Unit material covers the entire region, but focuses on the People's Republic of China, South Korea, and Japan as exemplars of the economic characteristics and commercial practices in the region. Topics may include: the Korean chaebol; Chinese gufen and TVEs; management styles and practices; marketing strategies, and key business behaviours; the path to economic development taken by the Asian economies; economic problems faced by the region in the last two decades; problems and opportunities likely to be encountered in decades to come. The unit requires no prior knowledge. It may be useful to business and management students, and also fits well with the set of marketing units offered by the School.

Important Academic Dates

Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  • ULO1: Analyse the characteristics and business institutions of the economies of East and Southeast Asia.
  • ULO2: Critically examine and interpret research in current Asian business environments.
  • ULO3: Express ideas clearly and succinctly, using appropriate business practice, both verbally and in written format.

General Assessment Information

Late Assessment Submission Penalty (written assessments) 

Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved, a 5% penalty (of the total possible mark) will be applied each day a written assessment is not submitted, up until the 7th day (including weekends). After the 7th day, a grade of ‘0’ will be awarded even if the assessment is submitted. Submission time for all written assessments is set at 11.55pm. A 1-hour grace period is provided to students who experience a technical concern.  

For any late submissions of time-sensitive tasks, such as scheduled tests/exams, performance assessments/presentations, and/or scheduled practical assessments/labs, students need to submit an application for Special Consideration.

Assessment Tasks

Name Weighting Hurdle Due
Presentation 20% No Week 8-Week 13, starting from September 29th.
Country Analysis 20% No Due at the end of Week 13, November 6 2022, 11.59pm
Online Mid-session test 20% No Week 7, Thursday September 8
Online final examination 40% No During University Exam period, date TBC

Presentation

Assessment Type 1: Presentation
Indicative Time on Task 2: 12 hours
Due: Week 8-Week 13, starting from September 29th.
Weighting: 20%

 

Students will use their Report and research to make an Oral Presentation after the mid-session break. This will be worth 15%. The remaining 5% of marks are derived from student Q & A. This Presentation is pre-recorded and uploaded to iLearn.

 


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Critically examine and interpret research in current Asian business environments.
  • Express ideas clearly and succinctly, using appropriate business practice, both verbally and in written format.

Country Analysis

Assessment Type 1: Report
Indicative Time on Task 2: 20 hours
Due: Due at the end of Week 13, November 6 2022, 11.59pm
Weighting: 20%

 

Students will write a 1,500 word submission on a selected topic.

 


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Analyse the characteristics and business institutions of the economies of East and Southeast Asia.
  • Critically examine and interpret research in current Asian business environments.
  • Express ideas clearly and succinctly, using appropriate business practice, both verbally and in written format.

Online Mid-session test

Assessment Type 1: Quiz/Test
Indicative Time on Task 2: 8 hours
Due: Week 7, Thursday September 8
Weighting: 20%

 

A 60 minute open-book Class Test, comprising short and long answer questions, will be held mid session. The examination will be administered via iLearn.

 


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Analyse the characteristics and business institutions of the economies of East and Southeast Asia.

Online final examination

Assessment Type 1: Examination
Indicative Time on Task 2: 20 hours
Due: During University Exam period, date TBC
Weighting: 40%

 

A two-hour open-book examination, comprising short and long answer questions, will be held during the University Examination Period. The examination will be administered online.

 


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Analyse the characteristics and business institutions of the economies of East and Southeast Asia.
  • Critically examine and interpret research in current Asian business environments.

1 If you need help with your assignment, please contact:

  • the academic teaching staff in your unit for guidance in understanding or completing this type of assessment
  • the Writing Centre for academic skills support.

2 Indicative time-on-task is an estimate of the time required for completion of the assessment task and is subject to individual variation

Delivery and Resources

Students will have access to a one-hour recorded material (video and the related PowerPoint slides) prior to the one-hour online weekly lecture, to be held via zoom. Students are strongly encouraged to review this recorded material prior to the one-hour lecture every week. There will also be a one-hour tutorial in the Students' allocated tutorial time. Tutorial attendance is compulsory as part of the assessment is scheduled during tutorials. Further details will be provided on this unit's iLearn page. 

There is no prescribed textbook for this unit, but rather a list of essential readings, which will be accessible online.   

Unit Schedule

This unit is organised in three parts. Part I provides some theoretical insights and broad historical/institutional elements to critically discuss the insurgence of global crises in the context of the Asian contemporary capitalist development. We then go on with Part II where we contextualise these global challenges in relation to the specific contingencies as they have emerged in four key Asian countries, namely Vietnam, China, India and Japan. In Part III, we return to some broad reflections on capitalism and crises at the light of what we have learnt about these global challenges and they way these national contexts have tried to address these global crises. This discussion will offer insights about the economic and business environments in these key Asian contexts.  

Part I

 

Week 1

Starting on July 25

Global Challenges in context: capitalism and crises

Robinson, W. I. (2014). Global capitalism and the crisis of humanity. Cambridge University Press. Chapter 1 (Global Capital and Global Labour)

Global Challenges in the Asian context

https://www.iias.asia/the-newsletter/article/rethinking-asia-21st-century

https://www.europeanbusinessreview.eu/page.asp?pid=2418

https://www.schroders.com/en/insights/economics/the-four-ms-why-the-21st-century-belongs-to-asia/

Understanding crises in the economics context:

https://youtu.be/ejJRhn53X2M

https://youtu.be/fSQgCy_iIcc

Week 2 starting on August 1

The Demographic Global Challenge

Hester, H. (2018). Care under capitalism: The crisis of “women's work”. IPPR progressive review24(4), 343-352.

Sardak, S., Korneyev, M., Dzhyndzhoian, V., Fedotova, T., & Tryfonova, O. (2018). Current trends in global demographic processes. Problems and Perspectives in Management16(1), 48-57.

Population ageing and the challenges it poses:

https://youtu.be/x4r0S5qoIXc

https://youtu.be/8aSf6rsdvrk

https://youtu.be/0zcC9M4QKlU

 

Week 3

starting on August 8

The Ecology and Energy Global Challenge

Howes, S. and P. Wyrwoll (2012), ‘Asia’s Environmental Problems: Common Features, and Possible Solutions’, in Zhang, Y., F. Kimura and S. Oum (eds.), Moving Toward a New Development Model for East Asia- The Role of Domestic Policy and Regional Cooperation. ERIA Research Project Report 2011-10, Jakarta: ERIA. pp.55-120

 

How can population growth and resources be brought into balance?

https://www.millennium-project.org/challenge-3/

 

How can growing energy demands be met safely and efficiently? https://www.millennium-project.org/challenge-13/

 

Activity: The Ecological GC The limit to growth model (MIT, 1972)

https://youtu.be/U7Z6h-U4CmI

 

 

Week 4 starting on August 15

The Labour and Inequality Global Challenge

Jackson, T. (2019). The post-growth challenge: secular stagnation, inequality and the limits to growth. Ecological economics156, 236-246.

 

Huang, B., Morgan, P. J., & Yoshino, N. (2019). Demystifying Rising Inequality in Asia. Asian Development Bank Institute. Chapter 2

 

Rural/urban inequality

https://youtu.be/--tB7sTTmRg

 

 

Week 5

starting on August 22

The Global Mode of Production Challenge

Gereffi, G. (2018). Global value chains and development: Redefining the contours of 21st century capitalism. Cambridge University Press. Chapter 1

Whittaker, D. H., Zhu, T., Sturgeon, T., Tsai, M. H., & Okita, T. (2010). Compressed development. Studies in Comparative International Development45(4), 439-467.

Global production and value creation

https://youtu.be/2QSX6BWw21M

https://youtu.be/ktx2_Dzy3tM

https://youtu.be/GppysScJ-68

 

Week 6 starting on August 29

The Technological Global Challenge

Abeliansky, A. L., Algur, E., Bloom, D. E., & Prettner, K. (2020). The future of work: meeting the global challenges of demographic change and automation. International Labour Review159(3), 285-306.

Benanav, A. (2019). Automation and the Future of Work-I. New Left Review, (119), 5-38.

Benanav, A. (2019). Automation and the Future of Work-2. New Left Review, (120), 117-146.

 

Week 7

Starting on September 5

Mid-session exam: A 60 minute open-book Class Test, comprising short and long answer questions, will be held in Week 7. This exam will cover material from Week 1 to Week 6 included.

 

Part II

Week 8

starting on September 26

Global Challenges: India

Week 9

Starting on October 3

Global Challenges: China

Week 10 Starting on October 10

Global Challenges: Vietnam

Week 11 Starting on October 17

Global Challenges: Japan

Part III

Week 12

starting on October 24

Crises, Market Regulation and Policy

Sen, A. (2009). Capitalism beyond the crisis. New York review of books.

Narula, R. (2019). Enforcing higher labor standards within developing country value chains: Consequences for MNEs and informal actors in a dual economy. Journal of International Business Studies, 50(9), 1622-1635.

Week 13 Starting on November 1

Global challenges: crises or opportunities?

Gereffi, G. (2018). Global value chains and development: Redefining the contours of 21st century capitalism. Cambridge University Press. Chapter 13

Robinson, W. I. (2014). Global capitalism and the crisis of humanity. Cambridge University Press. Chapter 5 (Policing Global Capitalism).

 

 

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Results

Results published on platform other than eStudent, (eg. iLearn, Coursera etc.) or released directly by your Unit Convenor, are not confirmed as they are subject to final approval by the University. Once approved, final results will be sent to your student email address and will be made available in eStudent. For more information visit ask.mq.edu.au or if you are a Global MBA student contact globalmba.support@mq.edu.au

Academic Integrity

At Macquarie, we believe academic integrity – honesty, respect, trust, responsibility, fairness and courage – is at the core of learning, teaching and research. We recognise that meeting the expectations required to complete your assessments can be challenging. So, we offer you a range of resources and services to help you reach your potential, including free online writing and maths support, academic skills development and wellbeing consultations.

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Macquarie University provides a range of support services for students. For details, visit http://students.mq.edu.au/support/

The Writing Centre

The Writing Centre provides resources to develop your English language proficiency, academic writing, and communication skills.

The Library provides online and face to face support to help you find and use relevant information resources. 

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Unit information based on version 2022.04 of the Handbook