Achieving the millennium development goals in the Asia-Pacific region : the role of international assistance

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are a set of international development targets agreed to by members of the United Nations in 2000. The goals aim to improve many of the dimensions of extreme poverty and are to be achieved by 2015. This paper provides an overview of the issues relevant to the achievement of the MDGs in the Asia-Pacific region. The paper begins by discussing the critiques of the MDGs before assessing whether countries in the region are on track to achieve them. Issues relating to data availability and accuracy are discussed and the need to tailor the MDG targets to the special circumstances of some Asia-Pacific countries is examined. The paper proceeds by discussing the role of international assistance via international foreign development aid and non-governmental organisations in the achievement of the MDGs. The paper concludes with some policy implications for the international donor community.

Internal audit - an Asia-Pacific profile and the level of compliance with internal auditing standards

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the profile of internal audit in five Asia-Pacific countries and investigate the usage and compliance with the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) International Standards for the Professional Practices of Internal Auditing (Standards) by organizations' internal audit activities (IAAs). This paper shows the differences between Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand and Taiwan. It also discusses part of the results of the Common Body of Knowledge 2006 global study conducted by the IIA.

Design/methodology/approach – The paper reports the results of a questionnaire survey sent to the global membership of the IIA in September 2006 on various aspects of internal audit practices.

Findings – The profile of internal audit differs amongst the countries with much older organizations exist in Australia, Japan and New Zealand. Respondents in New Zealand, Japan, Chinese Taiwan, China and Australia all report to have a reasonably high level of usage of Standards. However, Australia has the highest number of respondents who report that they are in full compliance of the Standards.

Originality/value – This is the first global study of internal auditors' compliance with the IIA Standards.

New ways to educate Asia-Pacific entrepreneurs

Asia-Pacific countries have huge numbers of young entrepreneurs. Yet the state of entrepreneurship education in this region has yet to come to grips with their needs. Elsewhere in the world, the growth and development in the curricula, textbooks, Websites and degree programs devoted to raising the level of enterprise and new venture creation has been remarkable.

The researcher undertook field study to examine best-practice models of enterprise education. He then carried out a content analysis of leading entrepreneurship textbooks to examine their applicability to the Asia-Pacific circumstance. Working with Thomson Learning Australia, he acquired the rights to re-write one leading textbook and entirely “asianised” it. He also produced a highly interactive Website to attract Internetnet savvy young entrepreneurs and students in the countries of the Asia-Pacific region.

The paper offers generalization that may prove helpful to educationalists and government policy planners about how to increase the supply of young people who launch their own businesses and social enterprises. The goal of this paper is to help universities in our region move toward launching entrepreneurship education in a relevant and interesting way.

Where do entrepreneurs have the best chances of success? The Asia-Pacific regulatory environment for entrepreneurial Micro And Medium Sized Enterprises (MMES)

Why do some entrepreneurs succeed while others fail in international competition? Perhaps it is better to turn the question around and ask, why is it that a particular country or economy becomes the home base for competitive globally-oriented entrepreneurs? What makes Australia a global leader in wine exports? How did New Zealand make it to global ranks in the creative industries? Why does Singapore have the most businessfriendly environment for entrepreneurs? Why is it “location, location, location”? One of the most powerful factors is the regulatory environment.

Asia-Pacific country-specific and region-specific regulations are diverse, and they seriously affect the climate for start-up entrepreneurs. They range from best-in-the world (e.g. Australia, New Zealand and Singapore) to the dreadful (Indonesia), according to the World Bank. Costs and profits can be affected as much by a government regulation as by a management decision. Fundamental entrepreneurial decisions--such as which lines of business to go into, which products and services to produce and introduce, which investments to finance, how and where to make goods and how to market them, and what prices to charge--are increasingly subject to governmental control.

In this short paper, we examine World Bank and Transparency International data on Asia-Pacific regulatory environments and make statements about how the economies compare to best practice. While I use data collected by other sources, I believe the added value comes through comparing and contrast the regulatory environments of our region in a justifiable and easily understood manner.

Blended learning in entrepreneurship education in the Asia-Pacific : a grounded theory approach to entrepreneurship pedagogy

Using a grounded theory approach, this pedagogical study explores “What are the key content areas and pedagogical interventions around which to build a blended learning method for Generation Y (also known as the Net Generation) entrepreneurship students (as opposed to other business students)?” The study uses a variety of “information-rich cases” and presents the argument that entrepreneurs learn
differently from other students. The author develops the Etappe Method of Training Entrepreneurs, a blended learning approach for the technology-savvy generation under the motto “Teaching is best done online and learning is best done in the classroom”. Drawing upon the theory of experiential learning as concretised by learning styles inventories, this learning method provides entrepreneurs, in their unique teachable moments, with active and concrete pedagogical interventions that can be enhanced through a blended learning environment of online and face-to-face modalities leading them step-by-step through deepening learning in the theory, process and practice of entrepreneurship. In conclusion, the author presents suggestions for further research that can verify this emerging theory in an empirical fashion.