Create meaningful relationships that translate to better business Access to Asia presents a deeply insightful framework for today's global business leaders and managers, whether traveling from Toronto to Taipei, Baltimore to Bangalore, or San Francisco to Shanghai. Drawing from her extensive experience and global connections, author Sharon Schweitzer suggests that irrespective of their industry, everyone is essentially in the relationship business. Within Asia, building trust and inspiring respect are vital steps in developing business relationships that transcend basic contractual obligations. Readers will find in-the-trenches advice and stories from 80 regional experts in 10 countries, including China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, and Korea. Discover the unique eight-question framework that provides rich interview material and insight from respected cultural experts Track cultural progress over time and highlight areas in need of improvement with the Self-Awareness Profile Learn the little-known facts, reports, and resources that help establish and strengthen Asian business relationships Effective cross-cultural communication is mandatory for today's successful global business leaders. For companies and individuals looking to engage more successfully with their counterparts in Asia, Access to Asia showcases the critical people skills that drive global business success.

With renewed American involvement in Afghanistan, Pakistan's growing fragility, and China's rise in power in the post-Soviet space, Central Asia-South Asia relations have become central to understanding the future of the Eurasian continent. Mapping Central Asia identifies the trends, attitudes, and ideas that are key to structuring the Central Asia-South Asia axis in the coming decade. Structured in three parts, the book skillfully guides us through the importance of the historical links between the Indian sub-continent and Central Asia, the regional and global context in which the developing of closer relations between India and Central Asia has presented itself since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the precise domains of Indo-Central Asian cooperation, and studies three conflict zones that frame Indo-Central Asian relations: the Kashmir question; the situation in Afghanistan; and fear of destabilization in Xinjiang. The international line-up of established scholars convincingly demonstrate the fundamental necessity to define the Indian approach on these issues and provide cutting-edge insights on the tools needed to understand the solutions for the decade to come.

This book discusses higher education research as a field of study in Asia. It traces the evolution of research in the field of higher education in several Asian countries, and shares ideas about the evolving higher education research communities in Asia. It also identifies common and dissimilar challenges across national communities, providing researchers and policymakers essential new insights into the relevance of a greater regional articulation of national higher education research communities, and their further integration into and contribution to the international higher education research community as a whole.

Financial inclusion is a multidimensional concept and countries have chosen diverse methods of enhancing financial inclusion with varying degrees of results. The heterogeneity of financial inclusion is particularly striking in the Asia-Pacific region as member countries range from those that are at the cutting edge of financial technology to others that are aiming to provide access to basic financial services. The wide disparity is not only inter-country but also intra-country. The focus of this paper is to take stock of the current state of financial inclusion in the Asia-Pacific region by highlighting twelve stylized facts about the state of financial inclusion in these countries. The paper finds that the state of financial inclusion depends on several factors, but a holistic approach calibrated to specific country conditions may lead to greater financial inclusion.

The Indian state till recently denied information about its functioning and decision-making to its citizens, ironically, using laws made during the colonial period. Apart from being an anomaly in a democratic set-up, it created an adverse impact on the quality of governance, accountability, and transparency. It was only in 2005, after a prolonged freedom of information movement, that this situation was finally rectified. The government enacted the landmark Right to Information Act 2005, and gave to all its citizens the right to access information held by or under the control of public authorities. This Handbook is meant to serve as a practical guide to the implementation of the Act. The book begins by locating the Act in the context of a global movement for freedom of information (FOI), and discusses the efforts made by international bodies for adoption of FOI. It also presents a detailed comparative study of FOI in five countries—the US, the UK, Canada, South Africa, and India. In subsequent chapters, the book adopting a step-by-step approach, discusses the provisions of the Right to Information Act, how citizens should make use of the right to information, the comprehensive guidelines for public authorities and their obligations under the Act, which includes relevant central information commission decisions, the role of the public information officers (PIO), who are to be appointed as per the provisions in the Act by all public authorities, the exemptions allowed under the Act, and, finally, the appellate authorities to whom a citizen can appeal in case of unsatisfactory response by the PIO.

The field of knowledge for development now occupies a top position on the agenda of all Asian governments as well as large development organizations. This book reflects this mega-trend of development towards KBEs (Knowledge Based Economies). For this 2nd edition all chapters have been thoroughly edited and data, tables and graphs have been updated to reflect the latest available statistics. Trends have been re-evaluated and adjusted to reflect recent developments in the fast-moving scene of knowledge governance and knowledge management.

As the cold war ends, the United States is being forced to reassess the dominant role it has played in East and Southeast Asia and the Pacific during the decades that followed World War II. Bringing readers up to date on policy trends in the area, the author provides a general overview as well as detailed analyses of key issues in individual nations and regions. The author concludes by placing these regional developments in the context of the ongoing debate in the United States over an appropriate foreign policy in the post-cold war world.