The Oxford Handbook of Asian Business Systems

Much of the existing literature within the "varieties of capitalism" (VOC) and "comparative business systems" fields of research is heavily focused on Europe, Japan, and the Anglo-Saxon nations. As a result, the field has yet to produce a detailed empirical picture of the institutional structures of most Asian nations and to explore to what extent existing theory applies to the Asian context.

The Oxford Handbook of Asian Business Systems aims to address this imbalance by exploring the shape and consequences of institutional variations across the political economies of different societies within Asia. Drawing on the deep knowledge of 31 leading experts, this book presents an empirical, comparative institutional analysis of 13 major Asian business systems between India and Japan. To aid comparison, each country chapter follows the same consistent outline. Complementing the country chapters are eleven contributions examining major themes across the region in comparative perspective and linking the empirical picture to existing theory on these themes. A further three chapters provide perspectives on the influence of history and institutional change. The concluding chapters spell out the implications of all these chapters for scholars in the field and for business practitioners in Asia.

The Handbook is a major reference work for scholars researching the causes of success and failure in international business in Asia.

Michael A. Witt, Professor of Asian Business and Management, INSEAD; Associate in Research, Reischauer Institute, Harvard University,Gordon Redding,Professor of Asian Business and Comparative Management, INSEAD, Singapore, and the Secretary General of the HEAD Foundation, Singapore

Michael A. Witt is a Professor of Asian Business and Comparative Management at the Singapore campus of INSEAD. He is the General Editor ofAsian Business & Management, an SSCI-listed journal on business and management in the Asian context. He is an Associate in Research at the Reischauer Institute at Harvard University, and for 2011/12, he held a Humboldt Fellowship for Experienced Researchers to conduct research at the Free University Berlin. His other books include The Future of Chinese Capitalism, with Gordon Redding (OUP, 2007),Changing Japanese Capitalism (CUP, 2006), and an eight-volume edited compilation of seminal contributions on Asian business and its institutional context,Major Works in Asian Business and Management (SAGE, 2012). He has published many articles in leading journals, including theSocio-Economic Review, the Journal of International Business Studies, the Asia Pacific Journal of Management, andAsian Business & Management.

Gordon Redding is based at INSEAD in Singapore, teaching Asian business. He holds an Emeritus Professorship at the University of Hong Kong where he taught for twenty-four years, and where he founded and directed the business school. He is also Secretary-General of the HEAD Foundation in Singapore, a think-tank devoted to regional issues of social capital and development via higher education. His books includeThe Working Class Manager (Saxon House), Spirit of Chinese Capitalism (de Gruyter),The Enterprise and Management in East Asia (Centre of Asian Studies), edited with Stewart Clegg and Dexter Dunphy,Capitalism in Contrasting Cultures (de Gruyter), edited with Stewart Clegg,International Cultural Differences (Dartmouth), and Cross-Cultural Management (Elgar) with Bruce Stening. A long collaboration with Peter Berger resulted in the co-editing of The Hidden Form of Capital (Anthem).