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Prof. Murray Hunter | Friday, August 17, 2012, 12:46 Beijing
The Dominance of “Western” Management Theories in South-East Asian Business Schools: The Occidental Colonization of the Mind
5
We don’t need no thought control.
No dark sarcasm in the classroom.
Teacher, leave them kids alone.
Hey, Teacher, leave them kids alone!
Pink Floyd — Another Brick in the Wall
After the Second World War many South-East Asian nations had
to work hard for independence from their colonial masters. After
more than 50 years of self government in some cases, many of
these nations have developed relative urban affluence where
consumerism and enterprise dominates life. Career development
and upward mobility often requires a diploma, degree, and post
graduate qualifications.
However, a colonial hangover and psychological dependence still lingers on. All these awards,
especially within the business, entrepreneurship, and management disciplines are heavily based
upon “Western” theories and ideas, embedding the occidental mindset within the South-East Asian
“psych”.
The dominance of occidental intellectual thought, particularly within economics, entrepreneurship,
management, and organizational disciplines displays all the hallmarks of neo-colonialism through
the backdoor.
Although governments of South-East Asia espouse their own respective national values and ‘ways
of doing things’, the fact is that students are taught predominantly “western” ideas and values
through local college and university systems.
Occidental sourced knowledge is accepted into South-East Asian societies without questioning.
This is the last bastion of colonialism, the subliminal way the “west” imposes values upon others,
without overtly being aware of it. What more, people pay for the indoctrination of these values.
No country can be truly independent until it espouses, teaches, and promotes its own indigenous
ideas and values. South-East Asia may stand independent politically, gone a long way in achieving
economic independence, but today still trapped within the syndrome of intellectual colonization. As
business schools steadfastly stick to occidental business curriculum, former “western colonial
masters” still dominate their ex-colonies, this time intellectually.
The spread of management education in South-East Asia
Business, entrepreneurship, and management courses are the fastest growing areas in South-East
Asian education. Along with ICT, these are the most popular areas within both the private and
public higher education sectors. The relatively low overhead and operational cost per cohort is a
financial windfall for colleges and universities. Business education has become the cash-cow of
colleges and universities within the region.
What makes these courses financially lucrative is the relatively low cost of teaching resources for
basic courses compared to other disciplines. Very little infrastructure aside from classrooms and
lecture theatres are required. A great number of business schools develop curriculum around an
array of “international” edition US sourced textbooks on offer by the major educational publishers,
strongly competing for business.
Consequently the intelligentsia of many business schools has looked inwardly, focusing their
concerns upon quantity and numbers. The organization of the majority of regional business schools
is based upon the best of what both Weber and Taylor had to offer.
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They are bureaucratic diploma factories based upon single textbook unit courses, orientated
around exams that at best measure memory and retention rather than creativity and the potential of
the student to be innovative.
To cap it all off, these schools are burdened down with quality assurance processes at
administrative and teaching levels. With the high time commitment needed to adhere to these
processes, mediocrity is ensured through the rigidity these systems create. South-East Asian
educators have succeeded in building the most ugly images of the western functionalistic
organization, replicating organizations that existed in the industrial revolution.
The leaders and teaching staff of the region’s business schools have a preference for the imported
hype of management gurus who are popular in the media, even if these positivist instruments are
not directly suited to the different contexts and varied business situations within the local
environment.
Consequently there is a blindness and adverseness for locally developed ideas and thinking. The
majority of management and business consultants, speakers, and trainers either franchise, or copy
western management tools and instruments they use. Perhaps it would not be exaggerated in
saying that local academics educated in the “western” paradigm locally or abroad are mesmerized
by international management gurus.
The great paradox of South-East Asian business and entrepreneurship education is that local
higher education institutions espouse values within their respective cultural frameworks, but what is
actually taught is distinctly “western”.
There is also a double paradox here. Although “western” techniques are taught, so many business
practices are influenced by indigenous cultural considerations.
What is taught is directly threatening to many local business owners. This is the source of much
generational conflict as the children of many successful Chinese businesses return home to
Jakarta, Bangkok, and Manila after studying overseas and disagree with the way their parents
operate the family business.
In addition many innovation management methods are seen to challenge the perceived right of
“management prerogative” of Chinese owned and operated businesses.
The poor fit – cemented into the wall
There has been little debate about the fit between “western” management thinking and the make-
up and behaviour of local corporations, entrepreneurs, and the general environment. As a
consequence, the relevance of many theories has been accepted without question.
For example in the theory area, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is accepted into management
curriculum where there may be many other more suitable theories and meta-theories that could be
advanced. In the contextual area, the legal system, supply chain, where the emphasis on particular
marketing tools should lie, interrelationships between people, which all could be described ‘as the
way of doing things’, makes applying ‘western management theory’ challenging to say the least.
For example, human relationships among the ethnic Chinese in South-East Asia were once built
upon trust based principles of personalization and quanxi[1]. This was considered necessary in
developing South-East Asia where legal codes and contract enforcement were still in their infancy.
The effect of this was to slow down the state of progress and limit the incorporation of new comers
to an industry. This also restricted the input of new ideas and technology into firms within the
region, a situation described in few textbooks.
The preference for the ‘latest popular’ management knowledge often leads to misinterpretations, as
very few management and entrepreneur instructors actually have much first hand business
experience. Thus rigid interpretations of management still influence entrepreneurship courses.
Many entrepreneurship courses advocate market research through focus groups, which are not
suited to new to the world products in developing markets. Business plans are almost always at the
central core of any curriculum where there is little evidence that planning leads to success in
entrepreneurship[2].
Further business schools base much of the curriculum upon general misconceptions that both the
media and imported textbooks that have evolved over the last 15 to 20 years have created.
Entrepreneurship has been glorified by media stories, biographies of successful entrepreneurs, and
events like ‘entrepreneurship week’, ‘business plan competitions’, and ‘entrepreneurship awards’.
Course curriculum is shaped in the mold of the media made myths of hi-tech and high-growth
entrepreneurs[3].
Business schools have developed inspiring spiels about becoming an entrepreneur. Many
assumptions about firm behaviour, entrepreneurship, and innovation are based on myth rather than
grounded research[4]. Some of these myths encapsulated within foreign textbooks infer that firms
are perpetually entrepreneurial, when the concept of entrepreneurship is really only a description of
firm start-ups and early growth period.
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Contrary to the multitude of media stories and books on high tech entrepreneurship, very few start-
ups are based upon innovation. Research has indicated time and time again that the majority of
new firms are of a non-innovative nature. The average start-up is much more likely to be a
cafeteria, sandwich bar, coffee shop, computer retailer, or some other form of retail outlet than
something high tech.
Business curriculum largely ignores the importance of emotion in decision making. For example,
identifying an opportunity and exploiting it may have as more to do with inner personal needs i.e.,
recognition, love and affection, power and control, self esteem, or grandeur, etc., as with any
rational thought processes[5].
Case studies are usually about highly successful growth companies like Apple, Google, and Yahoo,
etc. Students develop the belief that this is the norm rather than the exception. This is the
‘entrepreneurial growth myth’, the idea that firms need to grow into large firms in order to survive.
This ‘grow or die’ syndrome has been adopted by business schools around the region, making
many small businesses feel pressured to seek expansion and strain the stability of the enterprise
[6]. Proprietors of small or micro SMEs tend to be branded as un-ambitious failures with little
relevance to society and considered part of the informal economy.
Today, like the ‘west’, South-East Asian society equates success with size[7]. The reality is that
most firms have very little intention to grow.
The human race has sent a man to the moon, cured many diseases, mapped the human genome,
descended to the deepest parts of the world’s oceans, but nobody can really be too sure of the
reasons why one business is successful while another business fails. There are many types of
businesses where it is extremely difficult to identify the elements of success, e.g. restaurants,
boutiques, and spas, etc.
They rely on very tight (but not necessarily apparent) formulas for success, which the entrepreneur
may not even understand. Also quite often what looks like a solid and viable opportunity appearing
very straightforward and even gathering very favorable market research results, may fail dismally in
the marketplace [8].
Some examples of spectacular market failures include Federal Express’s launch of ZAP Mail
facsimile service in 1984, The Coca Cola Company’s launch of New Coke in 1985, and the launch
of 3G video calling around 2003.
Management theories that have 10 rules, habits, or points that claim to lead to success, do not
prove cause and effect. The mentioned elements may exist and correlate with success, but we
aren’t really sure about causation. So many books mention the same companies, that it can’t be
possible that all these companies are utilizing all these theories at once.
These positivist theories miss out on the complexities of organizations and the environments they
exist within, and most often the points and issues that influence success and failure.
Implementing management theories as a checklist is potentially very dangerous. Checklists are just
like putting a net into the ocean to see what can be picked up, where we assume that what is
picked up is actually the essence of the ocean.
As W.Edwards Deming once said “you can only measure 3% of what matters.” Problems and
opportunities arise out of imperfections and theories don’t handle imperfections well. Occidental
management theory has reduced business thinking down to the lowest common denominator
rather than preserved the complexity.
Business literature in South-East Asia is primarily US based which reflects the needs of a post
industrial society rather than a developing economy[9]. This is partly responsible for one of the
biggest tragedies of entrepreneurship education in the region.
Very little if any focus is given to various technologies that a potential entrepreneur will require in a
new business. The acquisition of technology is one of the greatest difficulties SMEs in developing
countries face and little is done within the education sphere to solve this problem.
A graduating student may have acquired some general business skills but has little or no
knowledge or access to the means to acquire the knowledge to develop a farm, a small
engineering shop, a food manufacturing operation, or a cosmetic manufacturing operation.
One can see around the ASEAN region that it is the non-business schools that show innovation
with their outreach programs while business schools fall into the trap of cashing in on their BBA,
MBA, and now DBA programs.
US textbooks are based upon the premises of the US secondary school system which is very
different in content and method than schools in the South-East Asian region. In addition, due to the
different stages of economic and social development the types of industries and contemporary
issues are different between the ‘west’ and South-East Asia[10].
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Where elements of creativity are added to a course, tools like Edward De Bono’s Six Thinking Hats
are introduced with very little application to the real world problems that an entrepreneur might
face.
Entrepreneurship has become seen as a ‘quick fix’ in providing a career[11]. Business schools in
the region have structured curriculum in a way that may build false hopes within the student cohort.
For example subjects like entrepreneurial finance and business plan give students the impression
that institutional finance is accessible, where current lending practice in developing countries is
extremely risk averse and primarily collateral based lending[12].
Business schools teach the paradigm of growth where research clearly shows that the majority of
entrepreneurs are not seeking to develop high growth business models.
The resulting errors and mistakes – “I don’t need no arms around me”
Evolving South-East Asian business and entrepreneurship curriculum has followed the post
industrial models with a number of errors and mistakes. Due to the developing nature of most
South-East Asian economies, there should be an emphasis on manufacturing which should include
new product development and manufacturing line and system development.
However ‘cut and paste’ curriculum from business schools in post industrial societies have largely
dropped manufacturing from their curriculum due to the cohort interest in the services sector, where
opportunities exist. This leads to a mismatch of what South-East Asian business schools offer and
what business and entrepreneurship students need.
As a result business and entrepreneurship graduates flood out into the market place without any
technology skills[13], crowding the services sector which is not creating extra employment or real
economic growth. Business and entrepreneurship graduate employability is a major issue facing
South-East Asian economies today.
Today many ‘roundtable’ discussion forums on business and entrepreneurship are run by major
universities around the world with the objective of disseminating the latest information on theory
and pedagogy. Many of these are focused upon method and delivery of entrepreneurial education.
However at the time of writing very few South-East Asian business schools have benefitted in the
classroom from these ‘roundtables’. South-East Asian delivery methods are still very much lecture
orientated with textbook content, with a few, but increasing number of adjunct activities.
These two issues, technology and pedagogy require some deep thinking on the part of the
intelligentsia of South-East Asian business schools. Content and delivery espoused and
demonstrated at ‘roundtables’ need to be closely examined, experimented with, and utilized with
close adaptation to the needs of South-East Asian cohorts.
This is the challenge that requires a large investment in time and staff resources to create the
curriculum and delivery methods necessary to meet the needs of the students and nation.
To compound the above, governments and corporations have a positive disposition for foreign
advisors and consultants, shunning their own. There is a negative disposition toward ‘locals’.
Foreign advisors and consultants are most often sort in the misconception that their advice will be
superior to local advisors and consultants, even though foreigners may have little real
understanding of local context. This doesn’t occur because of any vacuum in knowledge and
wisdom of local academics.
In fact many South-East Asian academics are very successful in other universities around the
world. Some have written very sound academic dissertations and hypothesis but fail to get them
published through the publishers that can bring them to mass popularity. Rather they sell a few
hundred copies and can be found gathering dust on library shelves.
Part of this preference for foreign expertise is based on the belief that something imported is better,
an old colonial hangover. However the cost of this hangover is holding back indigenous intellectual
development and preserving the state of neo-colonialism at a time when the US and Europe are far
from possessing a monopoly of new ideas.
The irony of it all – “If you don’t eat your meat, you can’t have any pudding”
Asian business and management has been of great interest to many ever since the rise of Japan
Inc. During the 1980s, a multitude of writers, some of them top academics and management gurus
espoused Asian management ideas to the ‘west’.
Japanese success in the US and European markets was explained by numerous authors as well
thought out marketing strategies[14], a strategic mindset[15], superior productivity[16],
organizational culture[17], specific cultural practices and a shared commitment[18], a special nexus
between government, business, and the banking system[19], and innovation[20].
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Asian authors like Kenichi Ohmae brought intuitiveness into strategy at a time it was becoming
overly analytical. In addition he provided a reorientation towards the customer in the firm’s strategy,
at a time when marketing theory was becoming too structured.
This interest in Asian management extended into the 1990s where many authors espoused the
reasons for success of the Asian tigers due to work ethics, culture, low cost base, rising levels of
innovation, government sponsored capitalism, the role of the overseas Chinese[21], quanxi[22],
growing domestic markets, and well thought out strategies[23].
Most literature on Asian management was positivist and instrumentalist rather than reflective which
could be seen with the titles using words like ‘how’, ‘new competition’, ‘success’, and ‘challenge’,
etc. Culture and philosophy had been superficially mentioned and a multitude of books about
‘Confucius’[24], ‘Sun Tzu’[25], ‘Buddhist management[26]’, and ‘Islamic business[27]’, were
published.
A second generation of business and management books focusing upon China and to a lesser
degree India is upon us. Books in this latest era are focused upon the nouveau entrepreneurs of
the region, who they are, how they organize themselves and became successful[28]. In essence
there has been no shortage of “Asian” ideas in management going across to the ‘west’.
During the 1980’s and 1990’s many academics became interested in the connections between
Confucianism and the spectacular rise of the Asian Tigers.
Some argued that Confucius was opposed to modernization as it didn’t advocate individualism,
common to the Western characteristics of entrepreneurship, was too dependent on guidance,
emphasized an all round development of personality to harmonise with the environment, which
discouraged aggressiveness and encouraged traditionalism, rather than modernisation[29].
However Tu suggested that individualism is a Western mode of capitalism and East Asian had
developed another model based on relationships to develop change through consensus and
networks, with a sense of personal discipline[30]. Confucianism was criticized for lack of profit
motive, as his philosophies discouraged self-motivation and that merchants were not included in
Confucius set of key relationships.
However, through responsibility and obligation to family, other motives exist, such as their well-
being[31], and treatment of those inside and outside an individual’s universe of relationships will be
different, i.e., outsiders treated with respect but caution, more adversarial, rather than brotherly
relationship.
Confucianism is also criticized for its lack of innovation, whereas the reality of Chinese business
has been to seek ways to control an existing market, rather than create new value through
innovation[32].
However there are two interesting concepts within Confucianism that are very relevant to corporate
wisdom, a concept that will most probably have a revival in popularity in contemporary
management thinking in the near future.
The first is the Tao, the way of life and Te, potency and self-sacrificial generosity with humility, with
the moral power of attraction and transformation, associated with these qualities. The humanistic
attribute required to achieve the above is through Ren, which means love, kindness and goodness,
qualities of the perfect individual.
This is the essence of what makes humans different from other members of the animal kingdom.
Failure to develop Ren would lead an individual to quickly develop foregone conclusions,
dogmatism, obstinacy and egotism, which would block wisdom and prevent people from making
new insights and discoveries, as one’s mind must remain open to become wiser.
Li is the expression of Ren in a social context through norms, rites and rituals governing
ceremonies according to one’s social position. Through Li, the individual expresses his respect and
reverence for others[33].
Another important aspect of Confucian thought mentioned above is Yi or righteousness. This is
where self interest is subservient to organizational interest. Yi is practiced through cultivating ritual
and etiquette and eventually becomes second nature.
Zhi or wisdom is the ability to apply the above virtues into life situations which implies an
understanding of the Confucian worldview above. Zhi is therefore much more than knowledge.
Finally one must possess Xin or trustworthiness to safeguard the mission of the organization.
Romar suggested that Confucian ethics are very similar to the ideas developed by Peter Drucker
[34].
The tremendous economic growth in Asia after the Second World War was labeled as ‘Confucian
capitalism”[35]. Hofstede postulated that culture is a prime determinant of performance and
Confucianism dictates hierarchical organizational structure, preserving values, and thrift, which
were all seen as organizational drivers of economic growth[36].
One of the side effects of Confucianism is nepotism and thus the creation of lack of transparency,
corruption, and inefficiency[37]. Some scholars labeled this as one of the prime reasons of the
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1997 Asian financial crisis[38][39]. Interest in Asian business and management declined with the
Japanese bubble bursting and the Asian financial crisis of 1997.
This occurred at a time when there was a small re-emergence of US industry where the Asian myth
was broken and it was back to business as usual[40]. US industry became equipped with new
paradigms that would solve all their competitive problems packed up in new management
philosophies that would bring a new arrogance in executive management, thinking they were
envisioned for the future.
Tools and slogans like the ‘Value Chain’, ‘Strategic alliances’, ‘Strategic innovation’, ‘Lean
Manufacturing’, ‘Business Process Re-engineering’, ‘Balanced Score Card’, ‘Benchmarking’,
‘TQM’, ‘branded derivatives’, ‘Quality Management Systems’, ‘Zero defects’, ‘Performance
Measurement’, ’Excellence Model’, and ‘Six Sigma’ instilled new found confidence.
Many of these ideas developed as a ‘quick fix’, within a rapidly growing consulting industry.
Another example of Asian influence on the ‘west’ is the claim that Chinese business success is
related to the doctrines of Sun Tzu[41]. This may have some positive bearing in the business
strategies of some businesses, which are quoted as examples in books[42], and Sun Tzu’s
philosophies have certainly influenced writers[43].
But as other authors have commented in the Asian SME context, most businesses start out finding
the correct business strategies by nothing more than trial and error until they find a successful set
of strategies for their businesses[44].
Very few business entrepreneurs in Southeast Asia until recently have been educated past
secondary school and although Sun Tzu is known to Western business scholars, it is highly
doubtful whether many Chinese are familiar with his works on strategy.
However there is some evidence that the educated Chinese public service over the centuries did
use these texts in forming the strategies of Chinese state[45]. It is claimed that Sun Tzu’s doctrine
influenced Admiral Yamamoto in planning the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Mao Tse-Tung’s
philosophies, the Vietnamese General Vö Nguyên Giáp’s strategies that led to victories over the
French and American forces in Vietnam, Che Gueverra’s revolutionary and guerrilla tactics in South
America, and the Gulf war campaigns and resulting insurgencies[46].
It also appears that the doctrines of Sun Tzu were studied by Western military scholars[47] and the
early business schools took some interest in The Art of War in the 1950s and 60s when the
concepts of business and corporate strategy was being pioneered.
Strategy as a war paradigm became very popular in the United States with a number of
‘bestsellers’ like Barrie James ‘Business War Games’, and Al Ries and Jack Trout’s ‘Marketing
Warfare’[48] in the 1980s and has become part of contemporary marketing terminology[49].
In addition Sun Tzu has become part of popular culture influencing films like the Star Wars Trilogy,
Wall Street, The Sopranos (HBO), The Art of War, and Die Another Day. The influence of Sun Tzu
on Asian business has probably been through these western influences, rather than direct
knowledge and education in the region itself.
There is very little evidence of direct influence of Buddhist Dharma upon business in Asia. Many
studies mix Buddhist and Confucian philosophies which although bear some similarities, are also
contrastingly different[50]. Although some cases are reported[51], the Buddhist business is more
myth than reality.
This is partly because there is very little consensus about what a Buddhist venture would actually
be like. The only visible evidence is the belief and practice of a degenerated form of corrupted
Buddhism, mixed with superstitious rituals, artifacts, ceremonies, giving donations to the temple for
positive Karma, and praying to Bodhisatvta for wealth and prosperity.
However, Buddhist Dharma has influenced Western psychology significantly. The teachings of the
Abhidhamma Pitaka have inspired and influenced many psychoanalysts and psychologists[52],
including Carl Jung, Erich Fromm, Albert Ellis, Jon Kabat-Zinn and Marsha M. Linehan. There has
been a great leap forward in humanitarian and transpersonal philosophical influence in therapy[53].
Dialogue between philosophy theorists and practitioners of East and West has led to mutually
influential relationships between them[54]. This has led to new insights into therapies and new
schools of thought on both sides[55].
Many of these practices are being used in modified forms for therapy today[56].Aspects of Buddhist
Dharma are also incorporated in the works of Western philosophers including Caroline A. F. Rhys
David and Alan Watts.
Applying Buddhist philosophy to organization and management in “Western society” is also not
new. Writers have focused upon the quantum analogies of Buddhism[57], ethics[58], and humanist
views[59].
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The concepts within the wheel of Samsara provide insight that emotions play a major role in all
organizations[60],where occidental organization theories have tended to ignore the role of emotion
in organizations until quite recently[61].
The concepts of dependent origination through systems theory and a reframed ‘Eightfold Path’ is
similar to many of the concepts within the learning organization. Peter Senge is the Director for
Organizational Learning at the Sloan Business School at MIT in Boston.
He was one of the high profile academics during the 1990’s and propelled the concept of Learning
Organization into the management vocabulary. Senge defines the learning organization “where
people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and
expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where
people are continually learning to see the whole together[62].”
Such organizations according to Senge will be able to face the rapidly changing environment with
flexibility and adaptation, driven by peoples’ willingness and capacity to learn at all levels. However
current organization structures and form are not conducive to learning and people although having
great capacity to learn, do not have the tools needed[63].Senge and his team spent many years
developing this process.
The irony is that Asian ideas have more influence on ‘Western’ management thought than in Asian
management thinking. The only probable exception is Confucianism which could cautiously be
associated with the structure, process, and strategies of family owned Chinese businesses in
Southeast Asia[64].
Although Sun Tzu’s ‘The Art of War’ and Buddhist Dharma originated in the Asian region, it has
primarily been ‘Western’ management thinkers who have applied the respective philosophies to
management, at least in these contemporary times. Although the Islamic ‘Tawhid’ is 1500 years
old, it is probably only now that it is being considered seriously as a management philosophy.
Before now, Islamic thought has had negligible influence on contemporary business, but the market
may change that; although Islamic society itself has not taken Islamic concepts onboard into
business until this time. The nature of Muslim consumers and the rapid growth of the Halal market
globally will be a driver of change here.
Why? – “Don’t think I need anything at all”
As mentioned in the introduction of this article, South-East Asian business schools have been
unquestionably built upon Weberian models. School management tended to overzealously enforce
structure, systems and procedures that create immense rigidities. In addition, deans tend to play
the role of a patriarch rather than a chairman of the board, which often degrades into crude
authoritarianism.
Consequently major positions within the hierarchy tend to go to those are liked and favoured, rather
than those who have worked meritoriously, successfully, and are qualified for the job. Although
these appointed subordinates know their role and operate with a certain degree of autonomy,
deans may take the prerogative over decisions he or she may have some interest in.
This centralized decision making should increase the ability of schools to make quick decisions and
adapt to the changing environment, but usually the opposite occurs due to complacent
conservatism or a general reluctance to make decisions. Personal relationships become a major
part of decision making, where organization performance becomes very subjective.
This most often leads to suboptimal performance. Because of the nepotistic nature of the school,
disempowered staff seek satisfaction and reward through their personal work or from outside the
school.
Consequently many business schools in South-East Asia fall into Morgan’s political organization
paradigm where power is the prize and Machiavellian behavior is the norm. Motivation among staff
at the school will most probably be very low.
There is a drastic shortage of business and entrepreneurship lecturers within the region. Stringent
criteria in the employment of lecturers eliminate the potential to employ mature, experienced
practitioners or practademics. For example under the regulations of one aspiring university in
Malaysia that portrays itself as the “Harvard of the East”, it would not be able to employ people like
Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and the late Steve Jobs, even as adjunct, due to issues of
qualifications. Thus those that gain employment within the region’s colleges and universities have
formal qualifications, usually without much, if any experience.
South-East Asian business and entrepreneurship academics consequently tend to lack the depth
of knowledge about what they teach and rely on textbooks and popular management books as the
basis of their teaching. This lack of depth of knowledge in many fields leads to a lack of confidence
to develop curriculum outside the familiar textbooks they have available to them, thus inhibiting the
ability to provide an education according to local needs. With this comes a reinforcement of an
unconscious bias towards ‘western’ literature as local literature is still rare and far between and in
many cases just a translation of existing foreign textbooks. Any original local material usually lacks
peer acceptance due to the lack of ability of many to critically appraise it.
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South-East Asian business schools have developed into a rut of pursuing quantity for the windfall
incomes they can accumulate through popular products like the MBA. Foreign universities through
setting up branches or strategic alliances are also cashing in on the rapid growth of business
education in South-East Asia, further perpetuating the myth that foreign business theories are the
first class product. They have adopted the classic post colonial market strategy of importing their
product into a local market with minimum modification and exploiting the market to the maximum.
This rut manifests deep into the structure and processes of local colleges and universities. ISO
quality accreditations and their logos are prominently displayed as symbols of quality, even though
they have little or no relevance to the actual standard of the courses provided. ISO standards make
no claims about product quality or relevance whatsoever and only mislead the public. The
resources needed to implement these useless ISO standards are taken from potential academic
development resources. This leaves a single textbook approach to courses, predominately
delivered through formal lectures, rigid assessment and examination criteria and reliance on
outdated curriculum development tools like Bloom’s taxonomy, when there have been many
advances in pedagogy over the last few years; all in an unquestioning manner. The result of this is
a sanitized teaching paradigm which doesn’t reflect the real business environment, leaving
students ill-prepared for the outside world. This ‘cut and paste’ culture without questioning and
adaptation is holding back the development of business education in the region.
Of late, universities have realized the need for research to build esteem and gain a ranking.
However this has been turned into a meaningless chase of KPI figures. Many new academic
journals are cashing in on this unhealthy focus on SCOPUS indexing and now offer ‘pay for
publishing’ arrangements, rather than the traditional ‘double blind peer review’ system. To date,
most local research has tended to emulate other research, applying theory to local contexts, rather
than developing indigenous hypotheses. This lack of originality is preventing the rise in international
stature of local business academics and is the loss of a great opportunity to develop Asian based
management knowledge.
Finally, local South-East Asian academics have not asked whether “there is a distinctively Asian
type of management based upon traditional philosophy?” and perhaps “can the focus on these
ancient philosophies and religions really bring any revelations to Asian management thinking
today?” Management theory has been something secular in Asia in contrast with the ‘west’ where it
has been tainted with spiritualism. Asian academics have preferred to keep both issues in separate
boxes. Whether this is on the assumption that Asian academics believe there is nothing to learn
from their heritage, so emotionally, psychologically, intellectually, and professionally separate
meaning of their personal lives with their professional lives. May be it is just from lack of confidence
to think outside their trained discipline and merge new ideas into their existing knowledge.
Conclusion – “Another brick in the wall”
The education gap between South-East Asia, Europe, Australia, and the US is going to be felt for a
long time. Part of the problem is the inept ability and resistance to change. Part of the problem is
the lack of skilled, experienced and knowledgeable people. However the rigidity of educational
institutions is something that can be solved, through some visionary thinking.
There is also another problem. It is apparent that creativity is an important aspect of education,
which is deeply lacking in Asian curriculum throughout the whole school system. In business and
entrepreneurship creativity is vital in the areas of opportunity recognition and construction, strategy
development and execution, marketing, new product development, and solving general problems
related to entrepreneurship. If we accept entrepreneurship as a behavior, then entrepreneurial
behavior is related more to creativity than intelligence; entrepreneurship can then be taught.
Entrepreneurship will no longer be based upon innovation, but value – value for both the consumer
and members of the enterprise, much more closely aligned with the reality of the needs and
abilities of entrepreneurs in developing economies. Creativity, rather than intelligence appears to
be a more critical factor in achieving success. Therefore education curriculum will need to focus on
creating value through offering alternative business models rather than the traditional business
tools that that the MBA graduate is familiar with.
This is in stark contrast to the major objective of ‘western’ education system to nurture creativity
and assertiveness from a young age. There is a cultural hindrance here where questioning is
encouraged in ‘western’ classrooms but considered disruptive in ‘Asian’ classrooms. Without
solving this problem at primary and secondary levels, tertiary institutions have extra challenges to
bring up and develop the caliber of local students. This is actually a disadvantage that can be
eliminated without great need of any capital expenditure.
There are indeed a rich number of paradigms that business and entrepreneurship can be
considered through, and many of these can add practically to the development of ethical business,
human relations, conflict management, organizational learning, and even creativity development.
There are rich models for psychology, motivation theory, and organization behavior from Buddhism
and Islam that have been totally ignored. Marketing books are incomplete as they don’t explain the
deep textures of the South-East Asian market environment. Using local paradigms will assist in
understanding the various paradoxes and contradictions of business in Asia.
One of the issues is interpretation. Max Weber interpreted Confucianism as a negative force to
economic growth and William Ouchi probably understated the influence of Confucianism in
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Japanese business hierarchy and decision making. Using single ‘western’ metaphors provides a
biased insight[65], but when local metaphors are used, we can see much deeper layers of
meaning. There is no shortage of potential paradigms such as the ‘Taoist tradition’ which may
have an important insight into Chinese cognition in South-East Asia[66], Hinduism which heavily
influences the nature of business[67], ‘feudalism’, ‘developing nation’, government sponsored
capitalism’, ‘adventurism’, ‘Sufism”, ‘Sikhism’, ‘Shinto traditions’, ‘Machiavellism’, and ‘diplomacy’,
etc., that can bring new ways of learning. These can be developed into relevant meta-theories and
interchanged to shed more understanding of the dynamics of Asian business and economy.
It could be argued that Asia’s failure to develop their own contextually relevant theories and the
corresponding positivist practices, where instead culturally unsuited practices are utilized, is a
missed opportunity to develop new forms of new dynamic capabilities and competitive advantage
within the region. This is the challenge to management academics and practitioners in South-East
Asia. It is the task of looking through the rich history, culture, society, stories, and philosophies of
the region for the inspiration to develop and construct homegrown management ideas, rather than
importing ideas developed in other parts of the world, which are suitable for those parts of the
world. Confucian, Buddhist, Strategy, and Islamic institutes exist all over the region, but there has
been little focus on developing these philosophies as management paradigms. Today there is an
intense vacuum of original management thinkers in the South-East Asian region.
True independence from colonialism only comes through original thought as a means to act in an
intellectually free manner. It will be the content and spirit of the curriculum taught in South-East
Asian business schools that will determine how the region does things in the future.
[1] Redding, G., (1995), Overseas Chinese Networks: Understanding the Enigma, Long Range
Planning, Vol. 28, No. 1, P. 61.
[2] Honig, B., (2004), Entrepreneurship Education: Toward a Model of Contingency-based Business
Planning, Academy of Management Learning & Education, Vol. 3, No. 3, pp. 258-273.
[3] Volkmann, C., Wilson, K., E., Mariotti, S., Vyakarnam, S., & Sepulveda, A., (2009), Educating
the next wave of entrepreneurs: A report to the global education initiative, Geneva, World
Economic Forum,
https://members.weforum.org/pdf/GEI/2009/Entrepreneurship_Education_Report.pdf, Galloway, L.,
& Brown, W. (2002), Entrepreneurship education at university: a driver in the creation of high
growth? Education & Training, Vol. 44, No. 8/9, pp. 398-405.
[4] Hunter, M., (2012), On some of the misconceptions of entrepreneurship, Economics,
Management, and Financial Markets, Vol. 7, No. 2, pp. 55-104.
[5] Hunter, M., (2012), Opportunity, Strategy, & Entrepreneurship, A Meta-Theory, Vol. 1, New
York, Nova Scientific Publishers, see Chapter 3.
[6] Expansion often requires a firm to take risks and enter parts of the market that have marginal
revenue potential than the current areas the firm occupies. This can be seen in the expansion of
many Malaysian family owned supermarket groups where a financially solid group of 3 or 4
supermarkets can come under cash-flow strain because the family opened another outlet in a
marginal market. If this problem is not quickly remedied by closing the new outlet, the cost of
overheads eats heavily into the cash-flow of the financially healthy outlets.
[7] Walters, J., S., (2002), Big Vision, Small business, San Francisco, Bennett-Koehler Publishers,
Inc., P. 3.
[8] Schindler, R.M. (1992). The Real lesson of New Coke: The Value of Focus Groups for
Predicting the Effects of Social Influence, Marketing Research, December, pp. 22-27.
[9] Mudge, C., Yang, Tae-Yong, & Kim, Wonjoon, (2006), Entrepreneurship Education in Asia, 26th
October, accessed at http://ree.stanford.edu/archives/archive06/usa/notes/EntEdAsia.pdf
[10] Dana, L., P. (2001), op. cit.
[11] Schawbell, D., (2011), How social media has created false hope for future entrepreneurs, 18th
August, http://www.fastcompany.com/1774544/why-social-media-has-created-false-hope-for-future-
entrepreneurs
[12] Kartiwi, M., & Macgregor, R., C. (2007), Electronic commerce adoption barriers in small to
medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in developed and developing countries: A cross country
comparison, Journal of Electronic Commerce in Organizations, Vol. 17, No. 3, P. 38.
[13] Amornvivat, S., (2012), The worrisome state of the Thai workforce, Bangkok Post, 15th August,
http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/307665/the-worrisome-state-of-the-thai-workforce
[14] Kotler, P., Fahey, L., & Jatusriptak, S. (1985), The New Competition: Meeting the marketing
challenge from the Far East, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, Prentice/Hall International.
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[15] Ohmae, K. (1982), The Mind of the Strategist: The Art of Japanese Business, New York,
McGraw-Hill.
[16] Schonberger, R., J. (1982), Japanese manufacturing techniques: Nine hidden Lessons in
Simplicity, New York, Free Press.
[17] Pascale, R., T. & Athos, A., G., (1982), The Art of Japanese management: Applications for
American Executives, New York, Warner Books.
[18] Ouchi, W., (1982), Theory Z: How American Business Can Meet the Japanese Challenge, New
York, Avon Books.
[19] Ouchi, W. (1984), The M Form Society: How American teamwork Can Capture the Competitive
Edge, New York, Perseus Books.
[20] Morita, A., (1987), Made in Japan: Akio Morita and Sony, London, William Collins & Co. Ltd.
[21] Backman, M. (2004), The Asian Insider: Unconventional Wisdom for Asian Business, New
York, Palgrave Macmillan.
[22] Studwell, J., (2007), Asian Godfathers: Money and Power in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia,
New York, Grove Press.
[23] Lasserre, P., & Schūtte, H., (1995), Strategies for Success in Asia Pacific: Meeting New
Challenges, New York, Palgrave Macmillan.
[24] Rarick, C., A., (2007), Confucius on management: Understanding Chinese Cultural values and
management Practices, Journal of International Management Studies, Vol. 2, No. 2, Available at
SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1082092
[25] There are so many texts about Sun Tzu. One of the author’s favorites is Sawyer, R., D.,
(1994), Sun Tzu: The Art of War, Bolder, Westview Press.
[26] Witten, D., & Rinpoche, A., T., (1999), Enlightened management: Bringing Buddhist Practices
to Work, South Paris, ME, Park Street Press.
[27] Dr. Chapra in an on-line interview was very critical of the development of Islamic economic and
business theories claiming they were unbalanced in their approaches. He was reported to state that
“Primary attention has been given so far to Islamic Finance. This has led to the false impression
that interest-free finance is all that Islamic Economics has to offer. Since most of the governments
in Muslim countries are not yet convinced that interest-free finance is workable, excessive
emphasis on it has created a resistance in official circles against Islamic Economics. They find it to
be of little value. This is unfortunate. We must blame ourselves for this. Islam is a complete way of
life and is capable of solving the problems of not only Muslim countries, but also of mankind”. In the
same interview Dr. Chapra said that it was the responsibility of Islamic intellectuals to show how
Islamic economics could solve the socio-economic problems that humankind faced. This is in great
need because there is a distinct lack of theoretical and empirical analysis to show that an Islamic
strategy can help solve economic problems, particularly with the current state of the Islamic world,
where there is decline in moral values, exploitive financial systems, illegitimate governments,
landlordism, lack of education, absence of justice and ineffective operation of incentives and
deterrents. Dr. Chapra believes that there is great repetitiveness in what is written about Islamic
economics which is not serving any cause. An Islamic alternative needs to be spelt out, which can
only really be done after the real position in Islamic countries is analysed, i.e., how individuals,
families, firms and governments actually behave, so the gap between ideals and reality can be
measured and Islamic remedies developed. See: Islamic Voice, ‘Islamic Economics Offers the Best
to Mankind’, http://www.islamicvoice.com/june.2003/ine.htm, (Accessed 20th December 2006).
[28] See for example: Engardio, P. (2007), Chindia: How China and India are Revolutionizing
Global Business, New York, McGraw-Hill, Yang, K., (2007), Entrepreneurship in China, Aldershot,
Ashgate, and Nie, W., Xin, K., & Zhang, L., (2009), Made in China: Secrets of China’s Dynamic
Entrepreneurs, Singapore, John Wiley & Sons.
[29] Chen, M., J., (2001), Inside Chinese Business: A Guide for Managers Worldwide, Boston,
Harvard Business School Press, P. 23.
[30] Tu, W., M., (1984), Confucian Ethics Today: The Singapore Challenge, Singapore, Federal
Publications.
[31] Tu, W., M., (1995), ‘Is Confucianism Part of the Capitalist Ethic?’, Stackhouse, M., C., (Ed.),
On Moral Buwsiness, Grand Rapids, MI., William B. Eerdmans Publishing, pp. 409-411.
[32] Fairbank, J., K. and Goldman, M., (1998), China: A New History, Cambridge, MA., Belknap
Press of Harvard University.
[33] Koller, J. M. (1984), Oriental Philosophies. New York: Macmillan.
[34] Romar, E. (2004), “Managerial Harmony: The Confucian Ethics of Peter F. Drucker,” Journal of
Business Ethics 51(2): 199-210.
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[35] Tu, W., (1991), A Confucian Perspective on the Rise of Industrial East Asia, Confucianism and
the Modernization of China, Mainz, Hase & Koehler Press, P. 31.
[36] Hofstede, G., (1991), Cultures and Organizations: Software of the mind, London, McGraw-Hill,
Franke, R., Hofstede, G., & Bond, M., (1991), Cultural Roots of Economic performance: A
Research Note, Strategic Management Journal, Special issue, Global Strategy, pp. 165-166.
[37] Redding, S., (1993), The Spirit of Chinese Capitalism, New York, Walter de Gruyter.
[38] Pye, L., (2000), Asian values: From Dynamos to Dominoes?, Culture matters: How Values
Shape Human progress, New York, basic Books., Seong, H., C., (2003), myth and reality in the
Discourse of Confucian Capitalism in Korea, Asian Survey, Vol. 43, No. 3, P. 485.
[39] However another explanation is that institutions are more a product of their stage of
development rather than the cultural context, which negates the Confucian influence. See: Singh,
K., (2007), The Limited Relevance of Culture to Strategy, Asian Pacific Journal of Management,
Vol. 24, P. 421.
[40] Krugman, P., (1994), The Myth of Asia’s Miracle, Foreign Affairs, Vol. 73, No. 6, pp. 62-78.
[41] Min Chen, (2004) Asian Management Systems, 2nd Edition, London, Thomson.
[42] Chen, M., J., (2001), op. cit.
[43] Ohmae, K., (1990), The Borderless World: Power and Strategy in the Interlinked Economy,
London, Collins.
[44] Gomez, E., T., (2004), op. cit.
[45] Tung, R., L., (2001), Strategic management Thought in East Asia, In: Warner, M., Comparative
Management: Critical perspectives on Business and Management, Vol. 3, London, Routledge,
[46] Cantrell, R., L. (2003), Understanding Sun Tzu on the Art of War, Arlington, VA, Centre for
Advantage.
[47] McNeilly, M., R., (2001), Sun Tzu and the Art of Modern Warfare, Oxford, Oxford University
Press, pp. 6-7.
[48] James, B., G., (1986), Business Wargames, London, Penguin, and Ries, A., & Trout, J.,
(1986), Marketing Warfare, New York, Paperback,
[49] Terms such as offensive, defensive, flanking, and guerrilla marketing strategies have become
very common in marketing expression.
[50] Weber, J. (2009), “Using Exemplary Business Practices to Identify Buddhist and Confucian
Ethical Value Systems,” Business and Society Review 114(4): 511-540.
[51] Prayukvong, W. (Undated), “A Buddhist Economic Approach to a Business Firm: A Case
Study,” accessed at http://www.eco.ru.ac.th/eco/necon6/papers/g3/3.4.pdf (16th March 2012).
[52] Trungpa, C. (1975), Glimpses of Abhidharma: From a Seminar on Buddhist Psychology.
Boston, MA: Shambhala Publications; de Silva, P. (1991), “Buddhist Psychology: A Review of
Theory and Practice,” Current Psychology: Research and Reviews 9(3): 236-254; Claxton, G.
(1990), “Meditation in Buddhist Psychology,” in West, M. A. (ed.), The Psychology of Meditation.
Oxford: Clarendon Press; Epstein, M. (1995) Thoughts without a Thinker: Psychotherapy from a
Buddhist Perspective. New York: Basic Books.
[53] Goleman, D. (2004), Destructive Emotions and How We Can Overcome Them: A Dialogue
with the Dalai Lama. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
[54] Safran, J. D. (2003), “Psychoanalysis and Buddhism as Cultural Institutions,” in Safran, J. D.
(ed.), Psychoanalysis and Buddhism: An Unfolding Dialogue. Boston, MA: Wisdom Publications, 1-
34.
[55] Grossman, P. (2004), “Mindfulness Practice: A Unique Clinical Intervention for the Behavioral
Sciences,” in Heidenreich, T., and Michalak, J. (eds.), Mindfulness and Acceptance in
Psychotherapy. Berlin: DVTG Press, 16-18; Safran, J. D. (2003), “Psychoanalysis and Buddhism
as Cultural Institutions,” in Safran, J. D. (ed.), Psychoanalysis and Buddhism: An Unfolding
Dialogue. Boston, MA: Wisdom Publications, 1-34; Sherwood, P. M. (2005), “Buddhist Psychology:
Marriage of Eastern and Western Psychologies,” www.sophiacollege.com/publications/Buudd%
20pschoz.pdf (accessed 20th October 2009).
[56] Epstein, M. (2001), Going on Being. New York: Broadway Books.
[57] Low, A. (1976), Zen and the Art of Creative Management. New York: Playboy Paperbacks.
[58] Field, L. (2007), Business and the Buddha: Doing Well by Doing Good. Boston: Wisdom
Publications.
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4Print
Further DECLINE in CREDIBILITY
Ratings for Most Global Mainstream
News Organizations
[59] Larkin, G. (1999), Building a Business the Buddhist Way. Berkeley: Celestial Arts.
[60] Hunter, M. (2012), Opportunity, Strategy, & Entrepreneurship: A Meta-Theory., Vol. 1, New
York, Nova Scientific Publishers, 255-271.
[61] One of the first books on emotions within organizations was Fineman, S. (ed.) (2000),
Emotions in Organizations. London: Sage.
[62] Senge, P. (1990), The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization. New
York: Doubleday, 3.
[63] Ibid., Ch. 2.
[64] However even the influence of this paradigm is declining as ‘occidental management
paradigms’ learned by ‘Gen Y’ children of patriarchal leaders return home from study abroad with
new ideas. Yet this does not mean the disappearance of Confucianism as an influence on
management as the cognitive and ethical aspects may enjoy a renaissance in China this century.
See: Bell, D., A. (2006), China’s leaders rediscover Confucianism – Editorials & Commentary –
International Herald Tribune, The New York Times, Sept. 4, accessed online at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/14/opinion/14iht-edbell.2807200.html (16th March 2012).
[65] Morgan, G., (2006), Images of Organization, (Updated Edition), Thousand Oaks, CA, Sage
Publications, P.4.
[66] Spencer-Rogers, J., Peng, K., & Wang, L., (2010), Dialecticism and the co-occurrence of
positive emotions across cultures, Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, Vol. 41, No. 1, pp. 109-
115.
[67] Rai, H., (2005), The role of Hinduism in Global India and her business ethics, In; Capaldi, N,
(Ed.), Business and religions: a clash of civilizations?, Salem, MA, M & M Scrivener Press, pp. 379-
389.
Prof. Murray Hunter
Tags: China education Sun Tzu War
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