Fang Lee Cooke

(2011). The China price: the true cost of Chinese competitive advantage. Asia Pacific Business Review: Vol. 17, International business in China, pp. 547-548.

This study compares the patterns of women's employment in four major Asian economies: China, India, Japan and South Korea. It illuminates how the heterogeneous characteristics of political regimes, institutional arrangements and societal values are manifested in the employment system and human resources of each country. It also reveals the varying cultural, social and institutional forces that prevail, despite similar outcomes of women's employment. The contribution adds to existing knowledge of women's employment through the comparison of four major Asian countries which remains under-explored. It also contributes to the theoretical debates of gender and employment by adopting an interdisciplinary analytical framework that incorporates socio-cultural, politico-economic and institutional perspectives.

Issues related to corporate social responsibility (CSR) have been the subject of growing debate across an increasingly wide range of disciplines in social sciences and business and management studies. China has been facing mounting pressure to take CSR issues seriously especially vis a vis environmental issues and labour standards. However, issues related to CSR and human resource management (HRM) in China remain under-explored. This study investigates how managers of textile and apparel firms perceive CSR issues, what actions they are taking and what implications these may have for institutional bodies that seek to promote CSR in the country. The study concludes that firms tend to adopt a business case approach to CSR, focusing on the market rather than their employees.

This paper investigates how human resources are managed in firms of different ownership forms in India and the extent to which strategic human resource management (hereafter strategic HRM) techniques have been adopted to support an innovation‐oriented business strategy. Based on a qualitative study of 54 Indian managers from different firms, this study highlights the Indian institutional context for strategic HRM. It reveals the extent to which the Western approach to and configuration of high‐commitment/performance models of HR practices may differ from those found in Indian firms. This study also has a number of practical implications for HR professionals, HR practices, and organizations in the global context.

Strategically managing workforce diversity is a value‐adding HR function that enhances organizational performance. Managing diversity is a complex and unique HR issue in India due to its religious and cultural diversity and the use of legislation by the Indian state to tackle societal inequities and complexities. This paper contributes to existing knowledge on diversity management and strategic HRM in the Indian context through an in‐depth case study of 24 firms of different ownership forms in a number of industries in India. The main method of data collection was semi‐structured interviews with 110 managers at various levels and 102 non‐managerial employees. Each interview was conducted individually. This paper takes the U.S.‐originated concept of diversity management in the HRM context as a starting point. It uses this as a guide to investigate how the concept is understood and operationalized in several leading business organizations across different ownership forms and industrial sectors in India. Results reveal the differences between Western MNCs and Eastern firms as well as the varying views of Indian managers and employees on issues related to diversity management.