Nihon Bunka University

PurposeThis study adopts a three-component view of trust bases (cognition, affection and institution) and examines how these trust components function and interact during a business expansion in an unfamiliar foreign context.Design/methodology/approachA longitudinal case study of a Japanese cosmetics company was conducted trying to collaborating with its Chinese partners to develop business in China. The data sources consist of semi-structured interviews and archival data, including industry reports, newspaper articles and internal documents.FindingsFindings show that a trustee’s actions to activate the three trust bases created stable business relationship with trustors. Additionally, the business expansion was driven over time through the order of manifestation of these trust bases. Institution-based trust develops first, followed by a combination of institution- and cognition-based trust, before the final combination of institution-, cognition- and affection-based trust.Research limitations/implicationsBased on an in-depth single case study, this study provides a process-based explanation of the configuration pattern of three trust components over time. A generalized process-based explanation and the interaction effects of each trust component require further qualitative empirical studies in varied contexts.Practical implicationsThe study provides managers with insights into how to activate trust based on the importance of configuring the three trust bases covered in this paper.Originality/valueThis paper adds to the scant literature attempting to explain the dynamic processes by which the trust structure forms compared to the more common variable-based statistical analyses.

On July 1, 1968, a striking move to regionally address English language teaching problems by a Southeast Asian gathering turned into the inception of the Regional English Language Centre (RELC). The foundation of RELC was the first attempt to shore up the regionwide spread of English by a group of nonnative states in the form of an intergovernmental institute. It was a result of the mounting political and economic movements in mid-1960s. It was a time in which Southeast Asia underwent drastic social change and stood at political and economic crossroads. The international institute was generally viewed as educational, but in fact, a language planning theory applied to an analysis of RELC’s formative phases favors an interpretation that the Centre was a linguistic means to attain politico-economic ends. This article explores a social rationale for the emergence of an idea to found a regional English language center in view of Cold War alignment, regionalism, and sociolinguistic particularity in the strategic geopolitical collectivity of Southeast Asia.

The ancient dugout canoe, Marukibune in Japanese, was found in the late Holocene peat deposits in Tako not far from Yohkaichiba, Chiba Prefecture. The radiocarbon dating of the peaty sand material from the horizon of the ancient dugout canoe indicates that it dates back to 3, 470±120 years B. P. (GaK-6275), which corresponds to the Later Jomon Period. The pollen assemblage of the same horizon suggests that a warm temperate forest covered surrounding hills, and that the peaty sediments and the ancient dugout canoe were deposited at the bottom of a freshwater lake or in swampy environment.