Announcing: Azavedo, Mark and John Walsh, “Motivations of Bangkok’s Food Truck Owners during the COVID-19, Disrupted Supply Chains and High Inflation of 2020-2023: An Example of Resilience from Bangkok’s Informal Economy,” Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences Studies, Vol.6, No.5 (May, 2024), pp.97-107. DOI: https://doi.org/10.32996/jhsss.2024.6.5.14.
Abstract: This study considers the motivations of food truck owners and prospective owners in Bangkok during a difficult period both locally and globally. Plans for Bangkok’s future development were opaque. Inflation was rising rapidly, particularly food and energy costs critical to the industry. COVID-19 continued throughout the research. The aim was to stress-test motivation and commitment within the industry. The study asked participants what motivates them through qualitative and quantitative techniques, the former subject to thematic content analysis. Further, there was discussion with stakeholders and observation. Stakeholders particularly included training providers in the industry. Vendors requested more help so they could sustain themselves and prosper in the industry. Food trucks were of interest because of the relatively casual labour that found a place during COVID-19,although the number of trucks had declined before the pandemic. The study found that food truckers are still highly motivated and eager to help shape Bangkok’s food truck industry going forward and, thereby, the urban landscape and economy of the city. Demotivating factors suggested by the participants themselves focused on murky city planning, which became a major element in the study. Clearly, a transparent path forward must be negotiated between relevant stakeholders in determining the future development of the city.
Keywords: Changing city, city planning, food trucks, informal economy, resilience, street food, Bangkok
In the lands of the Apt, the Wasp Empire is on the march. The black and gold armies have a seemingly endless appetite for conquest and they are continuing their campaigns against the lowlands. Inspired by the possibilities of living in a lawless age of aggression, some of the ant city states are willing to expand their own domains and do what they do best, which, as it is stated in the text, is killing other ants. Crucially, ants want Collegium, a city of beetle scientists and artificers where Stenwold Maker, one of our principal heroes, is rallying the defences against what will be a hugely superior army of enormously well-disciplined ants – what one can see, all can see and when one can hear an order then all immediately obey.
Dragonfly Falling is the second in Adrian Tchakiovsky’s Shadows of the Apt series. It has been several years since I read the first one, Empire in Black and Gold but, with the aid of a brief two-page glossary of characters, places and organizations and the skillful prompting of the author, it was as if I had never been away. We are at once immersed in the little band of protagonists who are going to do their best to stop the war or, at least, warn those complacent communities that have become familiar with peace that this time it is all really going to kick off. They include various beetle kinden, fly kinden, moths, mantids and so forth. At some stage in the past, a mysterious and possibly magical event or set of events took place that enabled some of these creepy-crawlies (they are not all insects) to become ascendant, i.e. intelligent, probably human-sized – although this is not clear – and with agency over their own lives. The apt creatures retain some of their previous features: wasps can shoot stinger energy bolts, those with wings can fly to various levels of ability and so forth. However, many others were left behind and are treated as animals, like the draft beetles that appear from time to time. The apt are busy, as might be expected and their technology is coming along apace, with flying machines, rail roads and a rudimentary submarine among their achievements. The result is, in this case, that warfare is entering an industrial age in which it is becoming much more deadly for the participants but has yet to become as devastating for non-combatants as it has become in the real world. It would not surprise me if that changed between now and the end of the ten-book series.
Tchaikovsky is really an excellent writer as well as a somewhat dispiritingly prolific one. In this book, he very deftly expands the action from the first book and hints at what is likely to come in the future. Some characters have started to develop in unexpected ways and display back stories that casts new light on their actions. Some that started out as possible heroes have taken a different path and others who were definitely baddies hint at a possible future form of redemption. This is all managed while a brisk pace is maintained with numerous points of view and locations. I look forward to reading the rest of the series – I had to order this one as it has been a few years since it was published (well, 16) and I imaging I will have to do the same with the rest. Fortunately, Kinokuniya is very efficient in this regard.
If you only plan to read one multi-book series on the lives and times of intelligent insects and assorted other bugs then let this be the one.
Congratulations to the five DBA students who presented their research online at the 1st CBA International Conference hosted by Adamson University in the Philippines on May 8th-9th, 2024. The students were:
Ma, Juan and John Walsh, “Intergenerational Differences in Chinese Female Consumers’ Preferences for Thai Cosmetics,” paper presented at the 1st CBA International Business Conference at Adamson University, Philippines (May 8th-9th, 2024, online).
Li, Mengqiu and John Walsh, “The Impact of Advanced Artificial Intelligence Technology on the Credit Card Fraud Detection System of Bank Risk Control Departments in China,” paper presented at the 1st CBA International Business Conference at Adamson University, Philippines (May 8th-9th, 2024, online).
Xuan, Jiarui and John Walsh, “Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Value: Moderating Effect Based on Equity Concentration,” paper presented at the 1st CBA International Business Conference at Adamson University, Philippines (May 8th-9th, 2024, online).
Chen, Minggui and John Walsh, “Resilient Marketing of Chinese Hotel Enterprises Based on the Marketing Mix,” paper presented at the 1st CBA International Business Conference at Adamson University, Philippines (May 8th-9th, 2024, online).
Yang, Bo, “The Impact of Community-Based Elderly Care Services on the Health and Cognitive Abilities of the Elderly: An Empirical Study Based on Multiple Matching Methods,” paper presented at the 1st CBA International Business Conference at Adamson University, Philippines (May 8th-9th, 2024, online).
On Thursday I gave another invited keynote address: Walsh, John, “International Business and the Sustainable Development Goals,” keynote address given at the 1st CBA International Business Conference at Adamson University, Philippines (May 8th-9th, 2024).
Five of our DBA students also gave presentations of their work and I will highlight these in a separate post.
Announcing: Bahrudin, Muh., Muhammad Iqbal, Ghina Ulfa Saefurrohman and John Walsh (2024), “Halal Food Industry: Reinforcing the Halal Product Assurance Organizing Body (BPJPH) in the Development of an Urban Muslim Community in Indonesia,” Akademika: Jurnal Pemirikan Islam, 29(1), 61-72. DOI: https://doi.org/10.32332/akademika.v29i1.9039.
Abstract: The halal food industry holds significant promise in the global market, with its importance extending beyond Islamic countries to encompass secular nations and Muslim minorities. Indonesia is a critical player in this industry’s development with its substantial Muslim population. The Halal Product Assurance Organizing Body (BPJPH) is pivotal in advancing the halal food sector among urban Muslims in Indonesia. This study examines the role and challenges BPJPH faces in this context and proposes strategies for strengthening its position to enhance the industry’s success. This study employs a qualitative approach to investigate the role of BPJPH in fostering the halal industry in Lampung, Indonesia. Data was gathered through in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with halal industry players and relevant stakeholders. Data analysis was conducted thematically while adhering to ethical research principles. The findings underscore the significant role of BPJPH in improving the quality of halal products, enhancing consumer confidence, and providing trusted halal certification. Moreover, through outreach and training, BPJPH increases industry awareness and knowledge about correct halal practices. BPJPH must improve infrastructure, human resources, and stakeholder collaboration to maximize its impact. The study concludes that BPJPH can potentially strengthen Indonesia’s halal industrial ecosystem, contributing to economic growth and societal welfare. However, challenges persist, necessitating concerted efforts from BPJPH and stakeholders to innovate and sustain the industry’s growth. This research provides valuable insights for developing the halal food industry and underscores the crucial role of BPJPH in ensuring its success.
Impact of Overtourism: The Dark Side of Urban Renewal by Jan Souřezný, Lin Fan and Lavanchawee Sujarittanonta 6
The Effect of Registration System Reform on IPO underpricing of GEM in China by Binyan Zhao, Zhuoying Liao and Yunshi Huang 18
Application of Indigenous Knowledge and Survival Strategies of Kutubdia Islanders during Natural Disasters byMahima Ferdousy Mithila and Abirr Hasan 33
Influence of Covid-19 Pandemic on Personal Health and Hygiene Practices among Commercial Bus Drivers in Lagos Metropolis by Aaron Akinloye and Adeleke Opeyemi 42
Research on the Factors Affecting the Quality of Cross-Border E-Commerce Talent Cultivation and Optimization Strategies of Guangxi University of Finance and Economics by Liu Juan， Sirikorn Tosati and. Tanaput Chancharoen 52
Role of Misinformation and Hate Speech on Social Media in Communal Violence: The Indian Context by Md. Zarif Rahman and Nafiya Ferdous 65
Psycho-Social Variables as Indicators of Sexual Abuse among In-School Adolescents in Lagos Metropolis by Aaron Akinloye 88
Arts and Humanities
Portrayal of Hybridity in Selected Novels of Azouz Begag by Sehedi Bamidele Suraju 98
Occultic Practices in Appolinaire Zodékon-Eleceis’ Novel Mariage Impossible by Leo Iyanda Balogun and Adisa Akinkorede Somana……………………………………………………………………………….107
In Defence of a ‘Problem-Centric’ Research Agenda for African Philosophy by Oghenekaro Ogbinaka and Elizabeth Oluwafumilayo Kehinde………………………………………………………………………115
Literary Adaptation in Nigerian Modern Drama: Concept, Theory and Significance by Folorunso Adebayo and Leo Iyanda Balogun 124
Book Reviews
Review of Bruno Latour’s Down to Earth – Politics in the New Climate Regime by Chengyuan He 133
Review of Andrew Cockburn’s The Spoils of War: Power, Profit and the American War Machine by John Walsh 137
Review of Richard A. Ruth’s In Buddha’s Company: Thai Soldiers in the Vietnam War by John Walsh
139
Review of Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit’s Yuan Phai: The Defeat of Lanna – A Fifteenth-Century Thai Epic Poem by John Walsh 141
Editorial Board 144
The full-text version of the journal may be downloaded from here.
This is a strange and often quite beautiful book. It centres on the progress of a young man, Jevick, who is the son of a pepper merchant. This fact, as well as the maritime nature of the society that is revealed, suggest an Indo-Malaysian background to the novel. Yet the author, a poet, spent two years writing the book while teaching English in South Sudan, which suggests an entirely different relationship with the land and with the colonial experience. That she then spent another decade editing the manuscript before having it published adds another layer of complexity to the writing process – the result is a work that is complex and multifaceted – just like real life, as they say in The Skewer. These are all compliments.
Jevick is obliged to represent his late father on a trip to Olondria and its capital city Bain, which he has never previously visited but where there are commercial relations to be re-established and refreshed. However, the text comes only slowly to this stage because first Jevick will have time and space to examine his relationship with a personal tutor, Lunre, who is described as if he were Chinese and has some of the cultural characteristics and practices of a Chinese person. This relationship is particularly important in Jevick’s life in introducing him to a more sophisticated world of letters than anything he had previously experienced. This will stand him in good stead in O,ondria because that is a land of stories and, indeed, stories about stories. Jevick is swept up in a Bacchanalian religious festival and, in its aftermath, is caught in a terrible (and quite unexpected) crime when he admits to having seen an angel. This is a serious offence and Jevick is sentenced to a lengthy period of reading. The daughter of one of the senior priests (she has never been permitted to have any worldly experiences of her own) is assigned to work with him in guiding him through an approved reading list. This is an unexpected custodial sentence but it is real and Jevick comes to learn much about Olondria but, at the same time, learns nothing at all or, at least, not what his minders would like him to learn. There remains a gap between the individual and the individual’s ability to apprehend the world and the world itself as it is able to be learned. This process is punctuated by further adventures orchestrated by another court faction, which has a contrary perspective on the relationship between the mundane and the otherworldly. This creates a sense of tension that helps the plot to drive ahead.
The book is clearly written by an author with a poetic sensibility and it has the great virtue of imbuing its characters with an intellectual hinterland and its locations with life like details. I open the book at random and find page 85. The top of the page is describing the movement of light as evening falls, “… it draws itself in the heavy jade of the Tower of Aloes, where the scribes sit at their desks in the Royal Library.” It goes on to describe Jevick leaving the city “… on one of the barges of the king, a funeral-looking vessel lined with cushions.” The sailors exchange their poles for oars and sing “Long have I carried the king’s treasures. But the corals of Weile are not so read as your mouth.” The barge passes by some uninhabited isles, including the Isle of the Birds and the Isle of the Poet’s Daughters. “‘Fair are the isles of Ithvanai,’ writes Immodias the Historian, ‘but fairest of all if the Blessed Isle itself, the fallen star which all the waters of Ocean could not extinguish, the fragrant island, the asphodel of the sea.’” I find all of this quite enchanting and am minded to look out her other books, notably The Winger Histories, which seems also to be set in Olondria.
There is a sort of resolution to the central conflict of the book, in which Jevick has become intimately involved in the tragic story of a young woman whose remains have been discovered and who is perhaps the angel whose presence he had previously sensed. The connection is made but it is not a happy one. The human existence is real – and only connect, as EM Forster once said.
On Saturday I was asked to deliver a keynote address (and some other activities):
Walsh, John, “The Power Duo: AI and Sustainability,” keynote address given at the G.L. Bajaj Institute of Management and Research Marketing Summit 2024 (Noida: April 20th, 2024).
Here I am lighting the lamp of enlightenment:
Here is the text of what I said:
Distinguished guests, professors, colleagues, students, ladies and gentlemen, please allow me to begin by thanking the organizers and particularly Professor Surabhi Singh for giving me the opportunity to address you here today.
I speak to you at a time of both optimism and pessimism. I follow Gramsci’s dictum that we should exercise pessimism of the intellect but optimism of the will. Pessimism because we need to be able to apprehend the world as it really is and understand all the misery being suffered and all the inequities being inflicted. But, also, we need the optimism to believe that we are capable of making a difference, of causing things to be better, at least in some ways.
In terms of pessimism, there is a great deal to see: there is a land war in Europe, which I had hoped I would never have to see again. There is a real danger of conflagration in the Middle East. There is war in Sudan. The threat of environmental degradation is engulfing the world and the climate change emergency is bringing about increasingly obvious changes. I could speak of numerous other issues.
However, we should balance this with our optimism about the things that we can change for the better. Two of these are issues I have been asked to speak about today – the twin giants of sustainability and artificial intelligence or AI. These are certainly issues that are revolutionizing the ways we think about doing business these days and, particularly, we do our marketing and think about the ways we communicate with our stakeholders.
These are not issues which we should accept unequivocally. AI, for example, requires in its current form on the collation and analysis of large language models. This is being attempted by an unknown number of actors, each of which is consuming and incredible amount of energy in the act of creation. It seems more likely that the number of actors pursuing their own AI models will increase rather than decrease and the amount of energy consumption will likewise increase. Moreover, it is far from clear that the more ubiquitous appearance of AI in our lives will bring about the benefits that is being claimed for it. The arrival of the internet was, according to some commentators, going to bring about a new age of democratization, of the benefits of free access to information and the possibility of personal creativity improvements. Yet those benefits have not been realized, at least not for everybody. Is it the case that AI will reinforce existing inequalities rather challenging them? That depends on who controls the AI tools. And who will control them? Currently, the situation does not look promising. The internet gave us the nationalist Myanmar monk Wirathu and the campaign of hate against the Rohingya people. It has given us Russian botfarms working for the re-election of Donald Trump and for Brexit. It will take robust and effective regulation to try to ensure that AI will not just give us more of the same.
Yet great things are possible. There is scope for AI applications to find lines of antibiotics or the cure for cancer. Doctors can have AI assistants that can keep up to date with all the most contemporary research and thereby make better and quicker diagnoses. Two days ago, I was reading about the sustainability of our taste in fish. In the UK, my home country, we now have a situation where 80% of seafood consumption is accounted for by just five species, most of which have been imported. Most of the species our fishers do catch is not wanted by consumers and are exported or just wasted. A similar situation exists here in India – busy consumers do not know what to do with some of the unfamiliar species (the recipes known to previous generations have been lost in the hurly-burly of life today) and so fishers must return to the seas again and again to earn enough to survive. At least part of this problem could be solved by the rapid provision of suitable information about what to do with the other species and the availability in the same shop or purchasing space of any additional ingredients that night be needed.
There are numerous examples of this form of minor market failure which might be addressed in this way. Taking advantage of the Internet of Things, such small interventions might be handled without human involvement.
There is plenty of evidence to show that people are willing to pay mor for products that are more environmentally sustainable and to reward companies that practice sustainable production processes if they have information about them.
These are small examples of course and they must be set against the significant disruption that will b created in the form of job losses and the restructuring of existing jobs. I am sure I am not the only one her who has been reviewing my daily and weekly activities and wondering how many of them could be just as well be completed by an AI replacement that does not need to be paid or asks for time off or a better office.
Nevertheless, these are ways in which some sustainable (or less unsustainable) forms of production and consumption are already emerging from the use of AI. As Bourdieu would have said, AI is becoming part of our habitus – our everyday relationship with the outside world and the way in which we view and interact with that world. The real-time alert of the implications of personal decisions (and, of course, decisions taken at an organizational level) will nudge many into taking the more responsible course.
It is wrong, I think, to lay the responsibility for averting disaster at the feet of individuals when it is the actions of a relatively small number of corporations, many in the extractive industries, and their enablers, who have done so much to bring about the current situation. However, embedding this process into all decision-making, if it can be done – if it can become as Foucault called it, a technology of the self – will be something od a corrective to our current course and is, therefore, a cause for some optimism – with which I shall conclude.
Announcing: Chen, Minggui and John Walsh, “Resilient Marketing of Chinese Hotel Enterprises Based on the Marketing Mix,” Journal of Infrastructure, Policy and Development (forthcoming).
This paper has been accepted for publication; it’s a Q2 Scopus-indexed journal and the first from my Krirk DBA students. Here is the abstract:
Resilient marketing in hotel enterprises is a research area that has not been systematically explored. This study is based on the 4p theory to conduct a systematic theoretical study of resilient marketing in hotel enterprises and promote the application of resilient marketing in hotel enterprises. Data were collected from Chinese hotel employees (n=501) through an online survey. Data were analysed using SPSS and AMOS software. confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) combined with structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to explore hotel employees’ perceptions of resilient marketing in hotel companies. The findings suggest that the concept of resilient marketing, constructed through the four dimensions of resilient products, resilient prices, resilient price, and resilient promotions, is better able to help hotel enterprises withstand crises. This study contributes to understanding how Chinese hotel enterprises use the concept of resilient marketing to withstand crises, such as positively adapting to market changes, collaboratively responding to market competition, and resisting and reversing crises situation. It has important theoretical value and practical significance for constructing a theory of resilient marketing for hotel enterprises, promoting the practical development of resilient marketing for hotel enterprise.
Keywords: Resilient Marketing; Marketing Mix; Hotel Enterprises; Crisis Management；Recovery Strategy
It’s back to the Tudor age we go and Henry VIII bestrides the scene, roaring like a lion and seeking whom he may devour. While doing so, he has entrusted the education of his mostly forgotten younger daughter to a certain Mr. Roger Ascham. She is out of mind not just because she is distant from succession but also because she is the living reminder of her mother, Anne Boleyn, whose marriage to Henry ended in a sub-optimal way. As a result, when the offer comes from the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire to send an English champion to participate in an international chess tournament, Ascham spies the opportunity to give young Elizabeth a lesson in geography, sociology and logistics management that few could have managed.
They travel to Constantinople together with the champion himself, Mr. Giles, as well as a chaperon and escort and a friend for the young princess, as well as some guards. They do not take any servants, which seems like a mistake given how extremely privileged the nobility were in this period and how unlikely, therefore, they were to be able to keep their clothes clean and their luggage in good order. Never mind that, though, there is an adventure to be had. As the travel further east, increasingly beastly things start to happen to them and it is only the plucky unflappability of Ascham and Giles that keeps them safe from the wiles of Johnny Balkan. This rather introduces one of the central themes of the book, which reaches its apogee when the party reaches the great city itself.
Constantinople is a dazzling place, far surpassing in grandeur and architectural vision anything to be found in western Europe but, on the other hand, pretty much all of the people of the city are dishonest, prone to violence, monstrous and exploitative of each other. Edward Said, of course, wrote powerfully of this kind of Orientalism and it is quite humourously endemic throughout the text – I might note that this is a book that was hidden from me for a few years as I packed up to move from Thailand to Vietnam and then came back again. Not only that but I have no memory of buying it and I imagine I must have received it as a present. So, I didn’t want to be rude to the present-giver by giving up halfway through and so persisted to the end, even though there were numerous provocations from the author challenging me to do just that.
The subtext to all of this, of course, is that it deals with the secret education of Princess Elizabeth and this helps to explain the success of her subsequent career as one of Britain’s more remarkable monarchs (I use the term Britain loosely as it was then a contentious issue). This is elaborated upon on the back cover, where it is claimed that “… at court in London and on the high seas against the House of Castile – she never lost.” It will hardly come as a surprise for me to say that few cliches are left untroubled by the author, who presumably felt that he had delved deeply into the research and wanted the reader to know all about it. I particularly enjoyed the conversations between Ascham and Michelangelo. The Catholic Church, on the other hand, does not come out of it very well, with every single member of the clergy revealed as seasoned practitioners of sexual misconduct, often of the most abusive kind. The Turks themselves are, obviously, when they are not disreputable members of a baying mob, inscrutable, devious and incredibly cruel.
The events of the chess tournament are rather traumatizing and the little English party is obliged to leave in haste and make their way back to a more solid and understandable form of civilization. If they have been changed at all by their travels, it is in spite of the people they meet (with the exception of Michelangelo, perhaps) rather than because of them. I can only recommend you spare yourself the same trauma.
Ladprao 64 