Publication Type

Magazine Article

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

11-2016

Abstract

A crotchety American named Henry Ford invented a modern, fast and efficient way to manufacture automobiles and a Japanese man named Eiji Toyoda refined and perfected it. A series of innovators across the western world developed the television - and the tech specialists at Sony, Toshiba and a host of other Asian companies found ways to make TVs better, cheaper, faster. And an idiosyncratic Californian named Steve Jobs invented a company that made a smart phone for the masses - and then outsourced the manufacturing to China. If you detect a pattern here, you are not alone. Asia may be the home of some of the world’s hottest economies, but it is not the home of the world’s hottest inventions. Although Asia has been innovating, its innovations tend to be incremental, lacking global reach and impact. Admittedly, there have been some Asian breakthroughs from time to time (e.g., Chinese scientist Tu Youyou won the 2015 Nobel prize for medicine for her discovery of artemisinin and its treatment of malaria), but these are more exceptions than the norm.

Keywords

Culture, Asia, Creativity, Cultural Tightness

Discipline

Asian Studies | Human Resources Management

Research Areas

Organisational Behaviour and Human Resources

Publication

Asian Management Insights

Volume

3

Issue

2

First Page

54

Last Page

60

ISSN

2315-4284

Publisher

Singapore Management University

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

Additional URL

https://cmp.smu.edu.sg/ami/

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