title: How does the concept of guanxi help foreign managers do business in China?

authors: Jiang, Nanqian (Katie)

subjects: Guanxi

abstract: China's fast growing market potential is undoubted. However entering China has never been an easy task for foreign firms and business practitioners. Not only the complex market environment, but also the complex business relationship networks in another word, Guanxi make it difficult for foreign firms to operate profitably. The purpose of this study is to explore some major issues of Guanxi concept, and to provide some practical solutions for foreign managers to use when dealing with Guanxi in their businesses. Both qualitative research and quantitative research were carried out. The author interviewed nine Chinese and foreign managers and surveyed hundreds of respondents in several industries. The findings confirm Guanxi's important role in Chinese society and business world. This study also discovers some major practical issues that could influence quality of Guanxi, either positively or negatively, which gives foreign managers great direction on initiation and maintenance of their Guanxi network. The findings suggest that learning some Chinese culture and having a reliable Chinese partner have positive effect on building Guanxi networks. However, this study shows a quite different result on future role of Guanxi compared with existing literatures: the role of Guanxi would either not change, or increase in China in the future. In addition, foreign managers need to be aware that Guanxi is indeed important, but it does not mean everything in market activities, the core marketing principles are always essential in any market, including China.

text: How does the concept of guanxi help foreign managers do business in China? China's fast growing market potential is undoubted. However entering China has never been an easy task for foreign firms and business practitioners. Not only the complex market environment, but also the complex business relationship networks in another word, Guanxi make it difficult for foreign firms to operate profitably. The purpose of this study is to explore some major issues of Guanxi concept, and to provide some practical solutions for foreign managers to use when dealing with Guanxi in their businesses. Both qualitative research and quantitative research were carried out. The author interviewed nine Chinese and foreign managers and surveyed hundreds of respondents in several industries. The findings confirm Guanxi's important role in Chinese society and business world. This study also discovers some major practical issues that could influence quality of Guanxi, either positively or negatively, which gives foreign managers great direction on initiation and maintenance of their Guanxi network. The findings suggest that learning some Chinese culture and having a reliable Chinese partner have positive effect on building Guanxi networks. However, this study shows a quite different result on future role of Guanxi compared with existing literatures: the role of Guanxi would either not change, or increase in China in the future. In addition, foreign managers need to be aware that Guanxi is indeed important, but it does not mean everything in market activities, the core marketing principles are always essential in any market, including China.

year: 2009

title: Barlow Twins for semi-supervised learning in NIR spectroscopy

authors: Wohlers, Mark W.

subjects: Barlow Twins

abstract: Near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy is a widely used technology in the horticulture industry for non-destructive fruit grading. Partial Least Squares (PLS) regression is the dominant method for producing fruit quality predictions from measured spectra. Alternative deep learning methods have shown promise, but often require large amounts of labelled data to train. This study proposes a semi-supervised method based on Barlow Twins to include unlabelled data in the training process. We adopt the Barlow Twins method by using repeated measurements on the same fruit from different devices as different “views” to encode into the same latent space and combine the encoder network with a regression head for prediction. Our approach demonstrates improved performance over PLS with up to 17% lower RMSE, especially when the labelled data is limited. The Barlow loss function also improves calibration transfer results.

text: Barlow Twins for semi-supervised learning in NIR spectroscopy Near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy is a widely used technology in the horticulture industry for non-destructive fruit grading. Partial Least Squares (PLS) regression is the dominant method for producing fruit quality predictions from measured spectra. Alternative deep learning methods have shown promise, but often require large amounts of labelled data to train. This study proposes a semi-supervised method based on Barlow Twins to include unlabelled data in the training process. We adopt the Barlow Twins method by using repeated measurements on the same fruit from different devices as different “views” to encode into the same latent space and combine the encoder network with a regression head for prediction. Our approach demonstrates improved performance over PLS with up to 17% lower RMSE, especially when the labelled data is limited. The Barlow loss function also improves calibration transfer results.

year: 2026-02-15

title: The Māori language curriculum for New Zealand schools: Spiral lesson/ lesson sequence design

authors: Johnson, Diane

subjects: Māori language teaching

abstract: A draft curriculum document for the teaching and learning of te reo Māori as a subject in mainstream schools in New Zealand (that is, in schools other than Kura Kaupapa Māori schools) was designed and trialled in 2004 and 2005. That draft is currently being reworked in line with the advice of those who trialled the document as well as that of a team of advisers set up by the Ministry of Education. The revised curriculum document will be submitted to the Ministry of Education in May 2006. As is the case with all new curriculum documents, the implementation phase will be critical. The extent to which this flexible, outcomes-focused curriculum document will genuinely inform new approaches to teaching and learning will depend not only upon the good will of teachers and communities, but also upon their ability to interpret the curriculum and to use it in a way that informs the design of language programmes, including the planning of units of work and of lessons and lesson sequences. In balancing language development and language practice, a communicative core and spiral approach is recommended, an approach in which there are core lessons (where the focus is language development) and spiral lessons (where the focus is language practice). In an earlier issue of this Journal (Johnson, 2003), one of us discussed core lesson design. Here, the design of spiral lessons is discussed and exemplified in the context of an outcomes-based curriculum.

text: The Māori language curriculum for New Zealand schools: Spiral lesson/ lesson sequence design A draft curriculum document for the teaching and learning of te reo Māori as a subject in mainstream schools in New Zealand (that is, in schools other than Kura Kaupapa Māori schools) was designed and trialled in 2004 and 2005. That draft is currently being reworked in line with the advice of those who trialled the document as well as that of a team of advisers set up by the Ministry of Education. The revised curriculum document will be submitted to the Ministry of Education in May 2006. As is the case with all new curriculum documents, the implementation phase will be critical. The extent to which this flexible, outcomes-focused curriculum document will genuinely inform new approaches to teaching and learning will depend not only upon the good will of teachers and communities, but also upon their ability to interpret the curriculum and to use it in a way that informs the design of language programmes, including the planning of units of work and of lessons and lesson sequences. In balancing language development and language practice, a communicative core and spiral approach is recommended, an approach in which there are core lessons (where the focus is language development) and spiral lessons (where the focus is language practice). In an earlier issue of this Journal (Johnson, 2003), one of us discussed core lesson design. Here, the design of spiral lessons is discussed and exemplified in the context of an outcomes-based curriculum.

year: 2005