Readiness for Sustainable Development (SD) of the one Belt Road (OBR) Initiative
Downloads
Based on information provided by Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) in September, 2017, there is an unmatched repository of globally-sourced skilled professionals and networking platform for business both within the Asia-Pacific region and beyond. Hence, a questionnaire has been designed on exploring the perception of respondents about companies’ readiness on the business opportunities of One Belt Road initiative. A pilot study was carried out to explore the perception of respondents about companies’ readiness on the business opportunities of One Belt Road initiative. In the study, 157 questionnaires were collected from university students in Wenzhou, China in September, 2017. The result of the study shows that out of the respondents, 33.8% strongly agreed the strategic value of OBOR to the company was high, 24.2% strongly agreed that there was sufficiency of data to support decision making at every level throughout the company about OBOR and 21.0% strongly agreed that regular reviews of OBOR in the company were in place. Also, 23.6% and 28.7% of them fairly agreed that project management systems on OBOR were in place for the company and the mechanism to measure OBOR expected results was established in the company, respectively. On the other hand, 22.3% showed neutral stance that emerging technologies for future business risks in relation to OBOR were applied. For the company culture affecting the overall effectiveness of OBOR, it can be explained by three major predictors in 60.9%. They are : operational risks of OBOR, regular reviews of OBOR and mechanism to measure OBOR expected results. In order to make the OBOR initiative a sustainable one, it is time to implement the rationale of UNPRME - responsibility, values, purpose, research, method, dialogue and partnership to create impacts – responsible reproduction and consumption (UNSDG12) with innovations (UNSDG9) and transferable skills (UNSDG4) . On the other hand, an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was also conducted to explore the latent factors or underlying constructs in the data. The result showed that there are two crucial independent factors, namely, i) the regulations and professional standards for OBOR, and ii) opportunities from OBOR to the companies. This implies that these are the two significant factors to be considered while a company wishes to explore business chances brought about by OBOR. Hence, policy makers and professionals need to be aware of the methods to close the gap identified and re-visit the communication modes and data sharing on OBOR initiative to make the business opportunities realized.
AlHakim, Latif and Jin, Chen (2014) Quality Innovation Knowledge, Theory and Practices, IGI Global. A volume in the Advances in Information Quality and Management (AIQM) Book Series, PA.
Fisanick, Christina (2008) Eco Architecture, Cengage Learning, MI, U.S.
Fisher, Donald (2010) “Stewardship & Sustainability-Acting responsibly with a focus on the future”, The Journal for Quality & Participation, January.
Fraenkel, Jack R. & Wallen, Norman E. (2003) How to Design and Evaluate Research In Education. McGraw Hill Companies, Inc., New York.
Freeman, Donald (1970) Boston Architecture. MIT Press. New England.
Gardner, Howard and Davis, Katie (2014) The App Generation, Yale University Press, New Haven and London.
Jencks, Charles (1980) Skyscrapers sky prickers sky cities. Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., New York.
Kitagawa, Furni (2005) “Constructing Advantage in the Knowledge Society –Roles if Universities Reconsidered : The case of Japan”, Higher Education management and Policy, Volume 17, No. 1, pp. 1-18.
Kivunja, Charles (2015) “Exploring the Pedagogical Meaning and Implications of the 4Cs‘Super Skills’ for the 21st Century through Bruner’s 5E Lenses of Knowledge Construction to Improve Pedagogies of the New Learning Paradigm”, Creative Education, 6, 224-239.
Liddy, Mags, Tormey, Roland, McCloat, Amanda and Maguire, Helen (2008) ‘Working in the action/research nexus for education for sustainable development’, International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Vol. 9, No.4, pp. 428-440.
Lo, V.H.Y., Sculli, D., Yeung, A.H.W. and Yeung, A.C.L. (2005) “Integrating customer expectations into the development of business strategies in a supply chain environment”, International Journal of Logistics: Research and Applications, Vol., 8, No. 1, March 2005, 37-50.
OECD (1995) Performance Standards in Education In Search of Quality, Head of
Publications Service, OECD, France.
O’Dell, Carla and Hubert, Cindy (2011) The New Edge in Knowledge, American Productivity & Quality Centre(APQC), John Wiley & Sons, Inc. New Jersey.
Pinho, Ana Paula Moreno, Bastos, Antonio Virgilio Bittencourt, Almeida de Jesus, Angra Valesca, Martins, Rebeca Aurelio and Dourado, Lais Carvalho (2015) “Perception of Growth Condition in the University from the Perspective of Freshman Students”, Creative Education, 6, 154-163.
Ryan, Alexandra, Tilbury, Daniella, Corcoran, Peter Blaze, Abe, Osamu and Nomura, Ko. (2010) “Sustainability in higher education in the AsiaPacific: developments, challenges, and prospects”, International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Vol. 11 No. 2, 2010, pp. 106-119
Scully-Russ, Ellen (2012) “Human resource development and sustainability: beyond sustainable organizations”, Human Resource Development International, Vol. 15, No. 4, Septameber.pp. 399-415
17. Sibbel, Anne (2009) “Pathways towards sustainability through higher education”, Interna-tional Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Vol. 10 No. 1, 2009pp. 68-82.
Szitar, Mirela-Adriana (2014) “Learning about sustainable community development”, The 5th World Conference on educational Sciences WCES 2013, Procedia Social and Behavioural Sciences 116, 3462-3466.
Yeung, Shirley M.C. (2014) “Integrating CSR and Lean Teaching for Becoming a Social Responsible Teacher”, 17th UNESCO-APEID International Conference, October, 29-31, Bangkok.
http://arc.miami.edu/news/thedesignintelligence-journal-ranks-um-soa-in-top-20-architecture-and-desi
http://www.di.net/articles/the-case-for-general-education/
http://www.johnhancock.com/corporateresponsibility/index.html
http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/leading-the-international-agenda/ education-for-sustainable-development/
Freeman, Donald. Boston Architecture. New England. MIT Press. 1970. Print.
Harris, Andre and Moore, Susan (2015) “Convergence and divergence in conceptualizing and planning the sustainable city: an introduction”, Area, 47.2, 106-109.
Jencks, Charles. Skyscrapers-skyprickers-skycities. New York. Rizzoli International Publications, Inc. 1980. Print.
Szitar, Mirela-Adriana (2014) “Learning about sustainable community development”, The 5th World Conference on edcational Sciences – WCES 2013, Procedia – Social and Behavioural Sciences 116, 3462-3466.
