ABSTRACT
The years since our earlier collection (Rowley, 1997) have witnessed tremendous and massive economic, social and political change in Asia. There was, primus inter pares, the Asian financial crisis which swept though the region in 1997 and 1998, impacting on many countries, albeit in different ways, ferocity and length. It most certainly had an effect in a range of areas, including the style and approach of human resource management (HRM) and how human resources (HR) are dealt with. Some Asian economies continued to open up, restructuring financial sectors and receiving foreign direct investment (FDI). More recent are current economic and political changes that have taken place in Asia, not least China’s membership of the World Trade Organization (WTO), with impacts both on China and many other economies. All these developments mean that much of what we know about Asia is outdated and may well be irrelevant. This is particularly the case with HRM, and it is this area that will form the basis of this collection.
