Why the Asian dimension for the journal?
Having a dedicated sustainability management journal to the Asian continent can be explained by several factors. First, the weight of the continent in the global economy has grown over the last couple of decades and that growth will remain robust in the future. For example, countries located in the southeastern part of the continent are often referred to as the planet ‘manufacturer’. According to the World Bank 2015 GDP data, three of the ten largest economies are in Asia (China, Japan, and India) with a combined GDP that is close to 25% of the World. Furthermore, six of the ten most populated countries (without counting Russia) are located in Asia (China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Japan). With this size, it is not surprising that Asian countries were highly engaged in the recent international climate change negotiation and enter in an increasing number of free trade agreement including the recent Transpacific Partnership concluded with countries like the United States of America, Australia, and Canada.
The second important characteristic is the Asian continent diversity not just in terms of culture but also, and more importantly for the purpose of ASSJR, from an economic development perspective. The continent has a wide range of economic development from low income countries (e.g., Afghanistan and Nepal) to high income countries (e.g., South Korea and Japan) as per the classification provided by the World Bank. Such a diversity exemplified the tension in different aspects of sustainability similar to those experienced between the so called western industrialized countries or ‘advanced’ economies and most of the emerging and developing economies from Africa and South America.
Building on these two factors, AJSSR will privilege submissions pertaining to sustainability challenges and corporate social responsibility issues that are taking place in Asia. However, AJSSR remain open to studies that can be of interest and have implications for Asian organizations even if they are focusing on another area of the world. An example of a non-Asian based manuscript that may be considered for AJSSR would be a study of European companies on the management of their global supply chain (which most likely include Asian suppliers). In a nutshell, AJSSR’s primary objective is for the organization outside of the Asian region to learn from Asian-based organizations and vice-versa.