The study examines the economic and social impacts of a Southeast Asian multinational company operating in the northwestern region of Hungary, with a particular focus on the local labor market and community responses. The research aims to explore the company’s location choice motivations, its integration process into the local economy, and its cooperation with the local government and communities. The research provides a comprehensive picture of the company’s impacts by employing qualitative and quantitative methodologies—including management interviews and household surveys. The findings indicate that the company has significantly increased employment, enhanced infrastructure, and promoted cultural diversity. However, challenges related to cultural integration persist. The study offers valuable guidance for policymakers and businesses on leveraging the economic benefits of foreign investments and fostering cultural cooperation. Future research could delve deeper into the long-term socio-economic impacts.

The food and beverage sector played a big part in contributing to the economic growth in Malaysia hence there was a major increase in the numbers of restaurants opening up for businesses. This study therefore examines factors with the aims of ensuring a sustainable development in full-service restaurants in West Malaysia. The results of this study have made a substantial contribution to restaurant owner’s’ comprehension of the fundamental components that underlie customer satisfaction and loyalty. By examining the moderating effect of the customer’s gender in full-service restaurants in West Malaysia, the objective of this study was to ascertain the relationships between the three variables (quality of the food served at the restaurant, service quality, and environment), as well as the degree to which each attribute was able to relate to diner satisfaction. The underpinning theory for this study was the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). Quantitative methods according to descriptive research and convenience sample strategy were utilized in this cross-sectional study. Questionnaires were distributed to 264 respondents through various online platforms such as WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook, and email. Data collection was evaluated using the Statistical Program for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 27. In order to examine the connection between the three factors and diner’s satisfaction, various tests such as the multiple regression analysis, One-way ANOVA and Beta Coefficient test were carried out. The findings gave current restaurant owners and potential restaurant owners an overview of the different attributes influencing diner’s satisfaction at full-service restaurants in West Malaysia and also the extent of the moderating effect of diner’s gender had on each attribute. The outcome of this paper is expected to provide a sustainable growth in this industry.

Background and introduction: The East and Southeast Asian newly industrialized economies have shown spectacular economic development by their export-oriented development policies during recent decades, which resulted in not only economic wealth but enabled them to be technology exporters and investors. Their products, their flagship brands today are well-known and recognized throughout the world. It is not surprising that the Hungarian government—by its Hungarian Eastern Opening strategy—intended to focus on these economies, even though that with most of them there were intensive and broad co-operation in the fields of business, investment, culture, education and tourism. The new strategy gave a focus on increasing the diplomatic and trade relationship with the wider region, new embassies and trade representation offices were opened or re-opened in several locations with the view of intensifying the business and the people-to-people contacts. Even though the pandemic of Covid 19 and the energy crisis caused disruption in international trade, it can be said the trade and investment relations with these economies have still been growing, especially on the import side. The prospects of the growth of Hungarian exports to these destinations are modest which is hindered by the huge geographic distance, the peculiar consumer preferences, the merely different market conditions and the sharp competition. Objective: The aim of this paper to illustrate by statistical figures the state of the trade and investment relations between Hungary and the Republic of Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Thailand. Methodology: Bibliographic and data analysis, focusing on the relevant international and Hungarian literature and databases, especially the trade and investment statistics of the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (HCSO/KSH).

The centers of trade and economic activities in the region of Southeast Asia rank from a huge and modern to a small and traditional pattern. Malacca and Singapore have been cases in point for huge and modern patterns, while the border areas in eastern Indonesia, East Malaysia, and the Philippines are the cases for small and traditional centers. This paper will argue that with global connectivity and regional dynamics, the small and traditional trade and economic centers could shift to modern ones. History records that the introduction of the Southeast Asian region by the outside world, especially in relation to trade and economic activities, was largely derived from the significant role played by the people in the mainland of Southeast Asia regarding the silk roads route and the role of the people in the insular or islands of Southeast Asia regarding the spice trade route in the premodern time. Later in the modern time in Southeast Asia, the role of Islam, the Europeans and the center trade of Malacca around the 17th and 18th centuries played a significant role. Indeed, huge trade centers like Malacca in the 17th C and 18th C and later by Singapore in the 9th C have been very important throughout the history of trade in the Southeast Asian region. However, we must not ignore the roles of the border areas in the Southeast Asian archipelago, especially in eastern Indonesia, East Malaysia, and the border region of the Philippines which have played a dominant role in trade and economic activities. These activities have been smaller and more traditional than the Malacca and Singapore cases, but economic activities could develop rapidly with the global connection and its interconnectivity. Besides, those border areas have also become an important key for security issues not only in the Southeast Asia region in particular but also in the Asia Pacific or Indo Pacific region as well. The security of the region of Southeast Asia and even Indo Pacific could be affected by the situation in those border areas. Interconnectivity is a challenge as well as an opportunity for these border areas to become the future of trade and economic activities within the region of Southeast Asia that also connects with the region of Indo Pacific, especially China, South Korea, and Taiwan. The planning of Indonesian capital movement to East Kalimantan will add opportunities for those border areas located near the proposed new capital. About the above issues, this paper will address several issues: firstly, the history of trade and economic activities in Malacca, Singapore, and the border areas in eastern Indonesia, East Malaysia, and the Philippines; secondly, the different patterns of trade and economic developments of the Malacca, Singapore, and the border areas in eastern Indonesia, East Malaysia, and Philippines; thirdly, the challenges and opportunities of the border areas in eastern Indonesia, East Malaysia, and the Philippines to develop bigger trade centers in the future; fourth, the interconnectivity of those border areas to Asia Pacific region. This paper uses an interdisciplinary approach in the fields of social sciences and humanities. With this study, it is hoped that a better understanding of regional dynamics will be obtained, especially in the border areas. The period that we use is from 1998 until present time regarding if there was changing policy due to the end of Old Order to the Reformation period of Indonesian government. As a result, the development of border areas had been in existence before the colonial time in which people moved freely and had trade contacts. Even though they used to have the same ethnic linkage, after the formation of a modern state where they have different citizenships, in reality they can relate to each other in harmony and peace because of the similarity of ethnic linkages they had in the past. Colonial powers intended to replace the powers of traditional kingdoms with the idea of civilizing the colonializ

The area of lake surface water is shrinking rapidly in Central Asia. We explore anthropogenic and climate factors driving this trend in Shalkar Lake, located in the Aral Sea region in Kazakhstan, Central Asia. We employ the Landsat satellite archive to map interannual changes in surface water between 1986 and 2021. The high temporal resolution of our dataset allows us to analyze the water surface data to investigate the time series of surface water change, economic and agricultural activities, and climate drivers like precipitation, evaporation, and air temperature. Toward this end, we utilize dynamic linear models (DLM). Our findings suggest that the shrinking of Shalkar Lake does not exhibit a systemic trend that could be associated with climate factors. Our empirical analysis, adopted to address local conditions, reveals that water reduction in the area is related to human interventions, particularly agricultural activities during the research period. On the other hand, the retrospectively fitted values indicate a semi-regular periodicity despite anthropogenic factors. Our results demonstrate that climate factors still play an essential role and should not be disregarded. Additionally, considering long-term climate projections in environmental impact assessment is crucial. The projected increase in temperatures and the corresponding decline in lake size highlights the need for proactive measures in managing water resources under changing climatic conditions.

This study aimed to examine the impact of Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) scores and Country Governance Indicators (CGI) on companies’ value. The study procedures were carried out by creating a linear empirical model where the dependent variable was companies’ value. In addition, the variables of interest in the model were ESG scores and CGI. Analysis was carried out on annual data from 278 non-financial Asian companies spanning 11 years from 2011–2021. The feasible generalized least squares (FGLS) method was used for estimation due to the presence of serial correlation and heteroscedasticity in the data obtained. The results showed the presence of a positive relationship and correlation between ESG scores and companies’ value. Meanwhile, CGI had a negative impact, revealing the potential difficulties caused by country governance framework. This study also found a positive correlation between CGI and ESG on company value. These findings have important practical contributions emphasizing the significance of ESG factors in improving companies’ value and the complex relationship between country governance and corporate valuation.