Asian Wisdom for Effective Management
From Lao Tzu to Miyamoto Musashi

By Low Sui Pheng
December 2001
Pelanduk Publications
ISBN: 967-978-746-X
181 pages, Illustrated, 5 1/2" x 8 1/2"
$24.00 paper original

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Modern management theories and concepts from the West have dominated the world for a long time. This dominance could be due to the widespread usage of English as the working language in many countries. There is no reason why this should not be the case, given that there are valuable lessons to be learnt. The general principles of Western management theories and concepts are applicable in many societies except when cultural differences negate their relevance. On the other side of the globe, Asia has had a civilization with a long history which encompasses words of wisdom embedded within numerous Asian philosophies. This is particularly true of China which has one of the oldest civilizations in the history of mankind. However, because the "lingua franca" of many modern day societies is strongly slanted towards English, it is inevitable for literature written in other languages such as Chinese, Japanese or Thai to become less relevant for the global audience. This slant towards English creates a strong barrier to the promotion and dissemination of Asian wisdom to the rest of the world. The purpose of this book is not to promote ancient Asian management at the expense of modern day management theories from the West. Both sets of paradigm can co-exist side by side. More importantly, the "raison d'etre" of this book is to demonstrate the fact that a large part of Asian management wisdom handed down by many generations is still applicable and relevant today. This book should interest like-minded readers from the West who wish to learn more about Asian knowledge and wisdom in English.

Business Management

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