Book excerpt: South East Asia has undergone important economic, social and political developments in the last decade. The emergence of China as Asia’s largest pool of cheap labour has resulted in remarkable changes in the volume of foreign direct investment it commands, while the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis has undoubtedly influenced managerial practices in the majority of the countries in the region. In response, South East Asian governments and businesses have sought ways of attracting new investors while intensifying their efforts to retain existing industries. This important new volume overviews the development of South East Asian management practices, focusing on human resource management (HRM) as an indicator and measure of change. Written by prominent scholars of the region, the book focuses on reform in the human resource (HR) managerial domain, documenting recent changes and assessing current practices from both macro and micro perspectives. A consistent structure and content is used throughout, with each chapter incorporating ‘real-life’ local organizational and manager case studies, plus vignettes to give ‘voice’ to practitioners and developments. This is essential reading for anybody with an interest in management, HR or the political, social, cultural and economic profiles of the countries of South East Asia.