A variety of factors are the reasons for adjusting or changing company’s strategy, such as the change of customer demand, company’s internal financial factors, the influence of external environment and so on. This research is to find out the link between the change of external environment and the adjustment of internal strategy. Choose the suspension of one flight in SAS as the case to state this point. Show the strategy change of SAS when they were facing the serious impact of financial crisis. SAS as the biggest airline in North Europe it could be a typical firm to investigate this kind of situation. A deep-interview and reading the published reports of SAS are the main data collection approached. Some resources were from the internet because it is real-time news and the reports from the company are published on their website. The interviewee is from the top of the company who is familiar this area and has full experience in international business. The study used lots of theories from different books and journals to integrate the information that we collected to analysis and achieve our final conclusion. After analyzed the study it found the SAS used the retrenchment strategy as their new international strategy to reverse the negative situation. The financial crisis affected the customer demand badly not just in China also around the world and forced them to change the strategy. The report ultimate believed there were still a lot of other factors, beside the financial crisis, caused the adjustment of strategy in SAS.

China has become one of the world’s economic engines. One major driving force is the rapid urbanization. Such fast development results in resource and energy depletion, pollution and environmental deterioration. The government has recently endorsed green buildings and urged ministries to work out a national action plan. It is predicted that green building will be the next big thing in China. But before importing any foreign green technology and green designs, is there something to be learned from the Chinese ancestors? In the long history of China, the Chinese have always employed a system of construction with the influences of geography, climate, culture, philosophy, economy and politics deeply rooted in China, making the Chinese traditional architecture distinct. Embedded in the formation of the city, siheyuan 四合院, the courtyard house in Beijing was one exceptional dwelling example that inherited the quintessence of the thousand years of building experiences and knowledge of the ancestors. This traditional urban type not only celebrated the rich and unique cultural heritage of China, it also played an important role in maximizing the natural forces to create a pleasant and comfortable environment for living. Population growth, political and economic reforms over time however have drastically changed the fate of this historical heritage. Especially under the pressure of the fast development and economic boom after the introduction of the Open Door Policy in 1978, the traditional courtyards were the first to be demolished due to the lack of modern facilities and the inability to accommodate the growing population. They were often replaced by apartment blocks and high-rise towers – imported types based on planning regulations developed in the West, outside the cultural and environmental milieu of Beijing. As a result, the city is now filled with many energy intensive buildings that eat away both the “city’s essence” and the valuable natural resources. With the current policy and ambition of China, the teardown courtyard sites within the old city wall that are still waiting for development offer the potential to address the remediation and reinterpretation of the traditional typology in a contemporary city. The thesis investigates the essences of the traditional courtyard house and explores the way to apply such qualities to the design of a new courtyard typology in contemporary Beijing. The proposal anticipates a holistic approach on both environmental, social, cultural and economic level, so as to carry out preservation that manifests in experience rather than physical restoration, and to create a project that is truly sustainable.

The problem of rent-seeking in China’s state-owned enterprises has worsened since the rapid increase in infrastructure investment, such as telecom and railway. State-owned enterprise reform in China has given licensing power to officials and executives without sufficient checks and balances. The Chinese government plans to introduce corporate governance structures and encourage private investment for the previously state-dominated industries, such as the railway industry, in the next decade. Yet these formalities cannot eradicate the political problem of corruption. This thesis will examine rent-seeking through the case studies of China Mobile’s former deputy general manager and Communist Party secretary Zhang Chunjiang’s patronage network in the value-added service industry and the Ministry of Railway’s ex-Minister Liu Zhijun’s patronage networks in the high speed railway project. Both central agents committed collective rent-seeking against the will of the principal through their subsidiaries.

The rise of Chinese economy has favoured the growth of several financial centres in China. This phenomenon has drawn much attention to several scholars who focus on the relationship between Hong Kong and Shanghai. With a few exceptions, the relationship among Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Shenzhen have not been satisfactorily revealed, while financial competition and cooperation among them are also far from clear. This thesis examines the financial systems of Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen to show their strengths and weaknesses. Financial markets, such as the stock market, bond market, funds market, insurance market, futures and derivatives market as well as the foreign exchange market are all included in this study. In addition, other important players (banking industry and multinational corporations) in the financial system are covered. This study shows that Hong Kong’s strengths lie in its stock, fund, insurance, financial futures and options, foreign exchange and its related derivatives markets, banking industry as well as the attractions of multinational corporations; whereas it is weak in parts of the stock market, the GEM, bond, PE/VC funds and commodity futures markets. Beijing is an important player in the banking industry, stock, bond, private equity fund, VC fund and insurance markets. However, it is not so developed in regard to foreign currency bond, fund (excluding PE and VC funds), financial futures and options, foreign exchange and related derivatives markets, foreign banking and the attractions of multinational corporations. Shanghai is considered to be at a similar level of ranking as Beijing. It is the capital centre of China and has the no.1 fund market in the Mainland although weaker than that of Hong Kong. Shanghai is also strong in foreign banking industry and the attraction of multinational corporations. Whereas Shanghai is weak in its banking industry (excluding foreign banking), bond market, PE/VC funds, financial futures and options as well as foreign exchange markets. Shenzhen is the weakest financial centre, with its advantages in the SME board, ChiNext and VC funds. Another finding of this study reveals that, except for the previous studies on financial centre competition and cooperation in China, there are still some potential areas such as the financial cooperation between the HKEx and SSE, the GEM and ChiNext as well as the financial competition of the private equity fund industry between Hong Kong and Beijing for the financial competition and cooperation of Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hong Kong. The research findings of this thesis have both theoretical and political implications. Theoretically, the study reflects the significance of an information hinterland as well as law and finance theory in the Chinese financial market and also proves the importance of Beijing as a financial centre in China. Empirically, this thesis offers some implications for policy marking to enhance the better development of these financial centres. Specifically, Mainland China should further promote its regulatory and legal quality in order to provide better regulation and supervision on the financial system. In addition, it should put more effort to promote the development of industries that perform well in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen. / published_or_final_version / Geography / Master / Master of Philosophy

China has become one of the world’s economic engines. One major driving force is the rapid urbanization. Such fast development results in resource and energy depletion, pollution and environmental deterioration. The government has recently endorsed green buildings and urged ministries to work out a national action plan. It is predicted that green building will be the next big thing in China. But before importing any foreign green technology and green designs, is there something to be learned from the Chinese ancestors? In the long history of China, the Chinese have always employed a system of construction with the influences of geography, climate, culture, philosophy, economy and politics deeply rooted in China, making the Chinese traditional architecture distinct. Embedded in the formation of the city, siheyuan 四合院, the courtyard house in Beijing was one exceptional dwelling example that inherited the quintessence of the thousand years of building experiences and knowledge of the ancestors. This traditional urban type not only celebrated the rich and unique cultural heritage of China, it also played an important role in maximizing the natural forces to create a pleasant and comfortable environment for living. Population growth, political and economic reforms over time however have drastically changed the fate of this historical heritage. Especially under the pressure of the fast development and economic boom after the introduction of the Open Door Policy in 1978, the traditional courtyards were the first to be demolished due to the lack of modern facilities and the inability to accommodate the growing population. They were often replaced by apartment blocks and high-rise towers – imported types based on planning regulations developed in the West, outside the cultural and environmental milieu of Beijing. As a result, the city is now filled with many energy intensive buildings that eat away both the “city’s essence” and the valuable natural resources. With the current policy and ambition of China, the teardown courtyard sites within the old city wall that are still waiting for development offer the potential to address the remediation and reinterpretation of the traditional typology in a contemporary city. The thesis investigates the essences of the traditional courtyard house and explores the way to apply such qualities to the design of a new courtyard typology in contemporary Beijing. The proposal anticipates a holistic approach on both environmental, social, cultural and economic level, so as to carry out preservation that manifests in experience rather than physical restoration, and to create a project that is truly sustainable.

In the past three decades, the Chinese news media has experienced great leaps from a propaganda machine to market-oriented industry. Although the state has managed to strengthen the information control, heterogeneity in journalistic value orientations has constructed different media discourses. This thesis discusses the diversity within different news organizations in China, and the influence of state-media dynamics on the quality and role of journalism. Previous literature in the area of media-power relations fQ us on the general landscape of Chinese media shaped by the three forces: the state, the market and the professionalism while neglecting individual cases which contribute for the complexity of the intertwined mechanisms. Supported by the sociological theory of news production and concepts from international relations, this study uses a micro approach to examine the process of international news making in two newspapers. The arguments in this study are based on in-depth interviews with 25 journalists, participant observation, and textual analyses of news reports on Libya Crisis. This study has three major findings. Firstly, the intricate power relations of social forces within China's social context produces much space, as well as obstacles, for the professional practice of journalism. The liberal newspapers keep challenging the state and pushing the boundary of media autonomy while the party organs still serve for maintaining CCP's legitimacy but package the "old wine" in a new way. Secondly, the old Chinese ideology dominated by official communism has been broken up by the emergence of neo-conservatism, old and new-leftism, liberalism and other intellectual discourses which influence the government's decision-making on domestic and international issues. Accordingly, international news reports in newspapers with various interests are manifestations of the divides. Thirdly, the different value preference of newspapers decides the media behaviors. Some choose to speak for the party and help maintain existing social order, while some others serve for public interests. Although both of them practice self-censorship, the former enjoy commercial benefits from seeking refuge from the authority and the latter promote social development by using tactics in news reports. The discrepancy creates space for diversified discourses that added to the complexity of power structures in Chinese media.

abstract: The People's Republic of China's inexorable ascendancy has become an epochal event in international landscape, accentuated by its triple national ceremonies of global significance: 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, 2009 Beijing Military Parade, and 2010 Shanghai World Expo. At a momentous juncture when the PRC endeavored to project a new national identity to the outside world, these ceremonial occasions constitute a high-stake communicative opportunity for the Chinese government and a fruitful set of discursive artifacts for symbolic deconstruction and rhetorical interpretation. To unravel these ceremonial spectacles, a public memory approach, with its versatile potencies indexical of a nation's interpretive system of social meaning, its normative framework of ideological model, and its past-present-future interrelationships, is contextually, conceptually, and analytically diagnostic of a rising China's sociopolitical constellations. Thus employing public memory as a conceptual-methodological matrix, my dissertation focuses on the prominent texts in these ceremonies, excavates their historico-memorial invocation and sociocultural persuasion, and plumbs their discursive agenda, rhetorical operation, and sociopolitical implication. I argue that the Chinese government deliberately and forcefully strove for three interrelated communicative objectives at these three ceremonies--re-imaging, re-asserting, and re-anchoring its national identity as an ancient, emergent superpower. Yet in contemporary Chinese context, its discursive (con)quest to recast its leadership as a historically continuous, culturally orthodox, and ideologically legitimate regime has always been compromised by its mythologized historical representation and hegemonic rhetorical reconfiguration, countervailed by its political and ideological fragility, and contested by domestic and global publics. Besides its contributions to the current conversation on the PRC's ceremonial phenomena, discursive formations, and communicative dynamics, this dissertation further offers its diagnosis and prognostication of this projected leading country in the 21st century. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Communication Studies 2012

Kyoto University (京都大学) / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(工学) / 甲第15355号 / 工博第3234号 / 新制||工||1486(附属図書館) / 27833 / 京都大学大学院工学研究科都市環境工学専攻 / (主査)教授 髙田 光雄, 教授 小林 正美, 教授 川﨑 雅史 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当

本文旨在通過對北京龍泉寺的個案研究，結合其他佛教團體的情況，分析中國佛教在移動互聯網時代下的轉變和特點，討論此時國家政策、科學技術、社會環境、文化發展等多方面的互動，探究中國佛教的適應性及未來的發展趨勢。 本文希望：一、在時間縱向上，清楚地敘述北京龍泉寺在21世紀的發展歷程，將工程建設、僧團培養、居士發展、組織架構、學修內容、弘法模式、受眾群體等方面的變化分條縷析。二、綜合國家政策、科技發展、社會環境、經濟條件、人才資源、自身理念等方面，分析龍泉寺快速發展、技術跟進、受關注度不斷提升的原因，討論其獨特性和普遍性。三、從歷史學、社會學和宗教學理論出發，探究龍泉寺發展歷程對於佛教教理、教團建設、弘法活動等的影響，及對未來中國佛教和世界佛教可能帶來的改變。 / This research investigates how temples adapt to the modern society when the mobile Internet becomes prevalent in China. The case studies of Beijing Longquan Monastery, along with explorations of other modern Chinese Buddhist organizations will be carried out to answer this research question. The research will cover the changes of work-division structure, Buddhism teaching and spreading activity, Sangha and volunteer recruit and training, new tool and technique application, and other changes. Subsequently, the research will discuss the Chinese economic, political, social and cultural environments that surround the Buddhist temples and organizations, searching connections and reasons to these changes of Chinese temples when encounter the new era.

Ce travail présente une histoire sociale de la paroisse du Beitang à Pékin. La première partie montre l’évolution de la paroisse, depuis son émergence en 1688 dans la Cité impériale à sa fermeture en 1827. Après avoir rappelé les services rendus à la Cour par les jésuites suivant leurs divers « métiers », nous avons analysé la situation des jésuites de Pékin après 1773, au moment de la crise de la Compagnie en Europe et en Chine. Les lazaristes arrivèrent en 1785 dans une situation de chaos où se trouvaient les jésuites et leur succédèrent à la Cour des Qing. À la suite des révoltes et des crises de l’Empire, l’état de la mission à Pékin devint de plus et plus fragile, et se posa alors le problème du maintien des chrétientés fragmentées avant l’expulsion des lazaristes par l’empereur mandchou. La seconde partie illustre la constitution d’un réseau, d’une structure et de la vie religieuse d’une paroisse urbaine. En mettant en lumière la coopération de tous les membres de la paroisse, on voit comment cette communauté a pu établir et maintenir une église, une maison charitable et un séminaire dans la société locale. On y voit une religiosité chrétienne sous une forme française ; mais d’autre part, elle rejoint également la tradition des diverses religions chinoises. Nous avons présenté les formes de la piété, les missionnaires, les procureurs, les clergés indigènes et les laïcs dans toutes leurs fonctions pour former une paroisse active au centre ville, dans l’exercice de sa vie religieuse. Avec une liste des livres sacrés et livres de morale chrétiens de langue chinoise, les confréries et les laïcs jouèrent un rôle important dans cette vie, dans le contexte de la Révolution française où le nombre de missionnaires envoyés en Chine était particulièrement réduit. / This dissertation explores a social history of the Beitang parish in Beijing. The first part presents the evolution of the parish from its emergence in 1688 in the Imperial City to its closure in 1827. After an examination of the services rendered to the Qing Court by the Jesuits according to their various “metiers”, we have discussed the situation of the Jesuits in Beijing after 1773, at the time of the crisis of the Society in Europe and China. The Lazarists arrived in 1785 in a situation of chaos where the Jesuits were embroiled and succeeded them to the Qing Court. Following the revolts and crises of the Empire, the state of the mission in Peking became more and more fragile, and the problem arose of maintaining a fragmented Christianity before their expulsion by the Manchu emperor. The second part illustrates the constitution of a network, a structure and the religious life of an urban parish. In the cooperation of all the members of the parish, we see how this community was able to establish and maintain a church, a charitable house and a seminary within the local society. It developed a Christian religiosity in a French form; but on the other hand, it also rejoins the tradition of the various Chinese religions. We have presented the forms of piety, missionaries, procurators, indigenous clergy and laity in all their important functions to form an active parish in the city center, in the exercise of its religious life. As documented by the list of the Christian scriptures and morality books in Chinese language, the confraternities and the laity played an important role, in a context of a lack of missionaries during the French Revolution.