Cross-cultural negotiations are complex, challenging, and difficult to navigate because much of the Asian culture is unstated, implicit, and internalized in subtle behavioral patterns. It is like an iceberg; more is invisible and less is visible. To understand how the Asian negotiation values and practices are different from those in the West, I describe briefly the Asian cultural roots, highlight the major dimensions that differentiate cultures, explore the factors that influence the Asian negotiation processes and outcomes, and provide a list of practical suggestions for negotiating successful deals with Asian negotiators.

This paper contributes to analyses of sustainable enterprise with focus on quality of present and future employment, maintenance of human capital and constituting characteristics of institutional arrangements between the social partners. We add by proving that a specific option from the toolkit of flexible work schedules reduces unemployment risk over the business cycle, while providing mutual insurance of employers and employees. In labor market practice this option is known as working time accounts. Working time accounts are exceptionally widespread and well-institutionalized in Germany. We also introduce a risk elimination model of working time accounts and thus contribute to closing the jobs miracle research gap that has become evident since the global financial and economic crisis.

Much has been written about the strategic importance of added value as a means for achieving competitive advantage, but little attention has been paid to the meaning of the term “added value”. Numerous messages about added values of food products are communicated by and to different actors, values such as convenience regarding fast-food, luxury regarding meals, products without chemical additives, health, quality, taste, what the package looks like, exclusiveness, tradition/story-telling/, and many others. Food producers, wholesalers, retailers, and end-consumers constitute some of these actors. However, the concept of added value and the relationships between the different aspects are unclear and illusive. There is a need to explore as well as clarify definitions and dimensions. Therefore, the aim of this article is to develop a conceptual framework which explores definitions and discussions associated with added values of food products. Traditionally, the literature has made strict and categorical distinctions between core values and added values. However, we stress that this traditional view needs to be challenged. For food products we argue that core values cannot be clearly distinguished from added values. We argue that not only the end consumer but all actors involved in the supply chain contribute to the overall realization of the added value, i.e. all actors must perceive, appreciate, value and realize the added value. Only then may the added value result in willingness to purchase the products, increased market share or strengthened position at different markets.

Bride kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan is the act of abducting a woman to marry her and includes actions, ranging from consensual eloping to forceful kidnapping and rape. This paper reviews the current context and research on bride kidnapping and describes a program that shows promise in preventing bride kidnapping. This program was tested in two studies, one in small villages (2008-2009), and one in Karakol City (2011-2012). These studies provide evidence that the program can help reduce the rate of bride kidnapping from approximately 1/2 to approximately 1/4 of marriages. Analysis of the practice and the economic, political and cultural changes in Kyrgyzstan in the last century shows how this program can be effective by shiftingthe focus from law and punishment to a discourse framed by tradition, family, honor and shame, and using the assumption from Gandhi's Satyagraha that truth is force.