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Book SynopsisFrom its very beginning, the specialty chemicals group Clariant has been in a continual process of transformation. This, the first book-length study of the company, gives an insightful account of its historical foundations, starting with the successful merger between the two major corporations that would become Clariant: Sandoz and Hoechst. Drawing on eyewitness accounts and interviews, Anna Balint shows that Clariant, with bold plans for the future, draws its lessons from history.

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisThis award-winning, pioneering work from a member of Malaysia's new generation of historians is a tale of two very different cities. Melaka was an important commercial entrepot on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula long before it fell to Portuguese forces in 1511, but thereafter began an extended process of decline that would continue after the Dutch conquest of the city in 1641. Penang became a significant port after 1786 when 'country traders' created a base on the island to defy the Dutch monopoly, although it was quickly overshadowed by Singapore after the founding of a British settlement there in 1819.Drawing on a large volume of archival records, many of them not used by earlier historians, Trade and Society in the Straits of Melaka examines the social and economic fabric of these two port cities, the one very much a Dutch town and the other British. Along the way, the author gives consideration to urban morphology, demographic characteristics and migration, property rights, and slave ownership. He also provides a detailed account of shipping in the Straits of Melaka, and discusses how this information contributes to debates concerning the decline of the region's 'Age of Commerce' in the face of imperialist competition.By documenting the impact of imperialist ambitions on the economy and society of two major trading centres, this book breaks new ground and will provide a point of reference for all future research concerning the period.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements ... xi List of Abbreviations ... xiii Currencies, Weights and Measurements ... xv Introduction ... xvii 1. The Straits of Melaka and the Trading World ... 1 2. The Geography and Trade of Melaka, 1780-1830 ... 35 3. The Geography and Trade of Penang, 1786-1830 ... 69 4. Trade in the Straits: Melaka and Penang, 1780-1830 ... 105 5. Urban Traditions, Geography and Morphology ... 123 6. Population Growth in Melaka and Penang, 1780-1830 ... 162 7. Dutch Urban Administration in Melaka ... 197 8. British Urban Administration in Penang ... 237 9. Melaka Society, 1780-1830 ... 271 10. Penang: a Port-town of Migrants, 1786-1830 ... 294 11. Conclusion ... 320Bibliography ... 344 Index ... 369

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisFrom its creation in 1949 until the 1960s, the Central Bank of the Philippines dominated industrial policy by means of exchange controls, becoming a symbol of nationalism for a newly independent state. The pre-war Philippine National Bank was closely linked to the colonial administration and plagued by corruption scandals. As the country moved toward independence, ambitious young politicians, colonial bureaucrats, and private sector professionals concluded that economic decolonization required a new bank at the heart of the country’s finances in order to break away from the individuals and institutions that dominated the colonial economy.Positioning this bank within broader political structures, Yusuke Takagi concludes that the Filipino policy makers behind the Central Bank worked not for vested interests associated with colonial or neo-colonial rule but for structural reform based on particular policy ideas.

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Book SynopsisLas Vegas is famous for its glitter and greed, but it rarely gets the recognition it deserves for another specialty: inventing a globalized corporate model of institutional control. For decades, the gambling mecca has perfected the concept of the casino-hotel, which has been exported to countries around the world, including Singapore with the opening of the Marina Bay Sands. When this luxury resort opened in 2010, it was the convergence of two cities' very different histories of gambling.Las Vegas in Singapore looks at moments in Singapore's and Las Vegas' pasts when the moral and legal status of gambling changed significantly, and examines how modern states and corporations capitalized on it. The book begins in colonial Singapore in the 1880s, when British administrators revised the law in response to the political threat posed by Chinese-run gambling syndicates. It then looks at the 1960s when the newly independent city-state created a national lottery while at the same time criminalizing both organized and petty gambling. From there the focus moves to corporate Las Vegas in the 1950s. The book reveals how the Las Vegas model of casino development evolved into a highly rationalized template designed to maximize profits. It all comes together when the Vegas model is architecturally re-fashioned into Singapore's Marina Bay Sands.Ultimately, Lee Kah-Wee argues that the historical project of the control of vice is also about the control of space and capital. The result is an uneven landscape where the legal and moral status of gambling is contingent on where it is located. As the current wave of casino expansion spreads across Asia, he warns that these developments should not be seen as liberalization but instead as a monopolization by modern states and corporations.

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