The global economy is currently going through a period of transformation that has seen Asia emerge as the most rapidly growing, industrializing and modernizing region in the world economy. Whilst the rest of the world struggled during the financial crisis of 2007-9, Asia played the role of a linchpin for global economic recovery. This book analyzes the growth of key Asian economies in the latter half of the twentieth century, followed a little later by China. Notwithstanding the diversity in the region, rapid growth was instrumental in integrating the Asian economies initially in a market-led manner. Dilip K. Das focuses on the interactive dynamics and the process of integration in the region, exploring the synergy created as well as the resulting symbiotic growth among the Asian economies and China. Written in a clear, comprehensive and critical manner by a world class expert in the field, this book brings together the contemporary academic and policy debates on the issues under examination. As such it is an essential read for students and scholars of economics, international political economy and Asian Studies as well as MBA students.

The 25 years leading up to the international financial crisis have been depicted as ‘capitalism unleashed’, containing deregulation, privatisation, demutualisation and financialisation. Yet remarkably, given this economic and political context, co-operatives and mutuals appear to have been gaining ground in many countries, albeit modestly, even before the international financial crisis and the resulting global recession, from which the global economy is still only slowly recovering. The 2007-2008 international financial crisis called into question how appropriate the shareholder-owned model is, certainly if it is allowed to dominate the financial services sector. However the International Co-operative Alliance is determined to make the mutual and co-operative sector of the economy a dynamic, sustainable and increasingly important sector of the global economy. This book looks at the contribution of co-operative, mutual and employee-owned firms to the Asia Pacific economy - both currently and prospectively – and the challenges the standard ‘Western’ model faces regarding employment and output. It also looks at the role of Governments, the nature of co-operatives in China and the role of the state, and the future prospects for cross-border growth of co-operative and mutual business within Asia Pacific, and more widely. This book was originally published as a Special Issue of Asia Pacific Business Review.

This book is based on the review of literature on different themes related to business and management in the Asia Pacific context. All seven chapters included in this book explore the past, present and future of business and research. They cover diverse topics in the Asia Pacific context ranging from different ways of thinking to innovation implementation and efficiency, responsible tourism, internal marketing to leadership. This book will be useful for researchers, practitioners and policy makers. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the Asia Pacific Business Review.