China and India’s Comparative Response to the 2017 Rohingya Crisis in Bangladesh

The simultaneous rise of China and India has been creating significant re-orientation in the contemporary international system. Both the countries are trying to climb up in the global power hierarchy but for the first instance, they are competing with each other for the Pan-Asian leadership. As a result, their neighboring countries like Bangladesh and Myanmar are becoming hot spots for geostrategic power play between the two Asian powers. The Sino-Indian geostrategic competition intensified after 25 August 2017 when the military crackdown happened at the Rakhine state on Rohingya people. This paper illustrates the nature and dimensions of the response from New Delhi and Beijing on the 2017 Rohingya Refugee crisis. This paper adopted a qualitative method and data was analyzed based on secondary data. The findings argue that there was a qualitative difference between the responses from India and China in this crisis. India claimed to remain neutral in the crisis and provided limited humanitarian and economic assistance to Bangladesh and Myanmar. This paper also reviews why China and India back Myanmar and the international response to this crisis. Finally, this paper concludes with Bangladesh’s challenges from the Sino-Indian geostrategic interests in the Rakhine state.

Long-term orientation of South Asian leadership and organizational competitiveness and survival of Sasken Technologies Limited

PurposeThe objective of this paper is to understand the perspectives of the chief executive officer (CEO), chairman and managing director of Sasken Technologies Limited, Shri. Rajiv C. Mody who co-founded this high-technology firm, which has survived three decades of turbulence in technology and the market. This is an interview-based study focused on South Asian CEOs, with the goal of better understanding the cultural elements of strategic leadership and organizational values and its influence on organizational competitiveness and survival.Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses primary data from one in-depth interview and supplements the analyses with secondary sources of data. The literature on the cultural dimension of long-term orientation (LTO) is discussed for understanding its possible linkage with strategic leadership, organizational values and thereby organizational competitiveness and survival.FindingsThis study found that the national cultural dimension of LTO of the South Asian leadership, as embedded, nurtured and practiced in the organization's values by the strategic leadership, plays an important role in explaining the organizational competitiveness and survival of South Asian firms while facing challenges and opportunities in a turbulent global business context.Originality/valueThis paper offers the perspective of a chairman and CEO of a high-technology firm with global experience and with a South Asian base of operations. His experiences in managing the organization add value to the discussion on managing business in South Asia.

EXPLORATION OF ASIA LEADERSHIP THEORY: LOOKING FOR AN ASIAN ROLE IN THE FIELD OF LEADERSHIP THEORY

This study begins with the question of whether Western leadership theory is universal and where is Asia's contribution to this theory of leadership. Studies show that the theory of Asian leadership is local and influenced by the cultural influences of Asian local communities. Harmony and stability are the essences of Asian local culture. The leadership process is voluntary, collectivity, and is in a traditional or informal social structure. The effectiveness of traditional leadership is more concerned with aspects of guarding and achieving an atmosphere of harmony and stability. Furthermore, Western leadership theory is built from an organizational perspective that is competing to gain resources and maintain the organization's life. The West leadership process is mechanical, formal and transactional. Leadership effectiveness is the ability to win the competition and defend itself in a strong position in the competition. The differences in the approaches to Asian and Western leadership theory are in line with the concept of low-context and high-context perspective. This is also in line with the contingency approach for effective leadership. The study states that the position of Asian and Western leadership theory is the same, both groups of theories are on a practical level that emphasizes contextual conformity. The globalization paradigm has strengthened Western "influence" hegemony about effective leadership. However, this dominance will be temporary according to the human perspective or learning organization because of the contextual conformity. On the other hand, modern society has a stigma over the concept of Asian local leadership above. The things above reinforce the dim role of local Asian leadership in modern Asian society itself.

Tokyo will push to keep influence in South-east Asia

Subject Outlook for South-east Asia-Japan relations. Significance Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe meets US President Donald Trump on February 10. This follows his January 12-17 tour of the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia and Australia and new US defence secretary James Mattis's visit to Tokyo and South Korea last week. China’s assertiveness and influence in the Asia-Pacific region, and the policy uncertainties surrounding the Trump administration threaten Japan’s traditional foreign and security policy settings and East and South-east Asian leadership role. Impacts South-east Asian states will try to play China and Japan off against each other for improved infrastructure financing. Australia and Japan are now the leading countries committed to the TPP’s continued relevance. Vietnam is likely to seek deeper economic and security ties with Japan. Japan may face US pressure to conduct South China Sea freedom-of-navigation patrols.