This edition of the Journal of WICS begins with a thought provoking article dealing with the issue of how long China’s amazing economic growth can continue. What challenges will China face in the short run and what environmental issues will China face in the longer run? The future well being of the PRC requires solving these two issues or at least ameliorating their worst aspects.
The second article addresses the questions of adaptation by foreign firms to the Chinese business environment. Will WTO membership make the PRC more Western in outlook and thereby reduce the social gap impeding foreign direct investment? Are they becoming more like us or vice versa? The third article addresses the perennial issue of intellectual property rights and China’s response to worldwide pressures to conform to international standards. Again the issue is who is becoming more like whom and whether it really matters in terms of enforcement of international standards?
The fourth article deals with the critical issue of energy and the World Bank efforts to enhance China’s use of renewable energy for power generation.
In a total change of pace the next article looks at Interpol, the international criminal police organization in terms of its organization and mission. The next article looks at US airline deregulation and offers some lessons for emerging countries. The seventh article is an impressionistic political piece that examines the legacy of former President Ronald Reagan upon US-China relations during the 1980’s.
The final piece deals with an issue of significance in the PRC – Human Resource Management. The particular aspect of HRM examined is self-directed learning as a component of adult learning. The author looks at the US experience in self-directed learning over the past 50 years. PRC interest may be focused on bibliographic sources cited in the article or a step by step approach to self-directed learning. In a society that needs to draw on the experience of developed countries, this article could help Chinese HRM specialists to develop a suitable approach for Chinese educators in this field.
Overall we have tried to cover a wide range of issues to reach a wider readership. We invite people who have an interest in the subjects we have covered to send us your comments or if you are an author, we encourage you to submit a manuscript for publication.
Anyone who has read several of our previous editions of the Journal can understand that we do not specialize in any one field of interest but rather we cover various topics that our prospective authors consider worthwhile. We choose diversity and hope this helps us reach a wide audience in the US and abroad. Thank you
Bernard T. Pitsvada, Editor
