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The study builts on Bateman and Schmidt’s (2011) and Tseng’s (2009) research on film as a form of “cinematographic document,” and continues their efforts to construct a semiotic mode of film. The author recognizes the complexity of undertaking research in the domain of semiotic discourse. This study argues that as film analysis is about ways of seeing and synthesizing different cinematic styles, strategies; learnt cinematic conventions and reflective viewing is imperative. The interaction of robust multimodal resources, well-defined analytic units, based on dependable models, and conducted through a discursive process should align to produce fruitful filmic discourse. The study premised on the assumption that film is more than a “self-enclosed signification system” but a crucial “cultural practice” that “reflect and inflect culture.” Taken together, this view underscores the importance and interactivity of cinema, culture and society. To this end, the study contributes to filmic meaning making, the New Hong Kong Cinema, and finally, the present study invariably serves as a form of “social document” or “cultural artifacts” in its exploration of Hong Kong ever changing identity, culture and moods.

This study covers the limited research on how experiences with nature can foster Chinese students’ pro-environmental identity and behavior. The relevant literature outlines five areas – identity, human behavior, experiences, nature and transformation – in understanding how the Chinese culture of ‘face’ (lain/mian) shapes Chinese students’ identity and behavior today and why experience with nature can help to transform Chinese students’ values, beliefs and norms, and shapes someone who manifests an environmentally sensitive behavior. Past research studies environmental behavior in various dimensions, including the correlation between environmental knowledge and positive environmental attitudes and behavior. Yet surveys of how students’ experience with nature fosters a pro-environmental identity and behavior, especially amongst Chinese students, are rare. The qualitative case study in this thesis seeks to find out whether senior students in the Design Department of IPM’s School of Arts who experienced nature in Southern Thailand show a stronger pro-environmental identity and behavior compared to those not in the experiential learning program. A survey which includes the Environmental Identity Survey (Clayton, 2003) and the Environmentally Responsible Behaviors Index (Smith-Sebasto & D’Acosta, 1995) was administered to all senior students, and an in-depth interview with students who had experience with nature in Southern Thailand was conducted. The findings suggest that a rainforest experience not merely fosters pro-environmental identity and behavior, but student all rounded development especially as a step towards internationalization. The findings also indicate to what extent the programmatic factors of the experience were important in changing Chinese students’ values, beliefs and norms in thinking and behaving environmentally, as well as in student personal development. Keywords: nature, experiential learning, pro-environmental identity, pro-environmental behavior

This research intends to analyze how the social, political, economical and cultural transformations of the retrocession of Macao S.A.R. to China influenced the contemporary grassroots artistic production, namely their response to the issue of One Country, Two Systems policy. This transitional state of these places in-between creates a somehow ambivalent situation where some of the core values of identity and heritage are fading away due to the forces of the current development. In this sense, it urges to consider the ways in which artists in the post-retrocession era in their lived experiences, form their own sense of community and consciousness of place, time and belonging and, by doing so, can contribute to the preservation of some of the local and specific characteristics, enhancing the cultural vitality of the region. The growing interest by the artists in the issues of preservation and engagement with the locality, trough memory and history, manifested in ‘alternative’ modes of production, is providing a different model of ‘place making’ and a narrative that contrasts and complements some of the top-down cultural policies. Since the focus of development in these territories has been on the idea of creative industries, entertainment and tourism as possible realities for the pressing economical diversification, these grassroots models, functioning as the ‘second system’ open up complexity, providing different questions and answers to the future of artistic production. Finally, departing from these examples, we analyze the possibility of a new image for these kinds of artistic practices, through their incorporation into the possibility of relational aesthetics ‘with Chinese characteristics’, within the perspective of integration, and as emergent features in the field of contemporary art

Several internationalization theories have been developed over the past few decades that have made great contributions in explaining enterprise internationalization and their mode of entry strategy. It has been suggested that the determinants of entry mode choice of enterprises from emerging and frontier markets differ from those of comparable enterprises from advanced economies. Literature review appears to indicate that there is a need to expand the framework for entry mode strategies to accommodate the expansion issues enterprises from emerging and frontier countries face in the global marketplace. Nevertheless, not much information and acceptable conclusion has been made on how MNEs from frontier markets internationalize and what factors influence their choice of entry into those markets. This study investigated the internationalization strategies of Lusophone Africa MNEs from Angola and Mozambique, more specifically their entry mode. Information was gathered through a survey of 29 MNE’s upper management respondents and subsequent face-to-face semi-structured interviews with 24 of them in their countries. The results of this study suggest that most MNEs opted for equity-based investment strategies, mainly joint venture and M&E as their preferred mode of entry when internationalizing. A significant group of them opted for e- commerce/e-business strategies, and direct and indirect exports. A smaller portion of the interviewees chose Greenfield investment as a mode of entry. Many of these MNEs could be classified as born global/INV. Finally, this study presents a conceptual framework for use in studying the entry mode choice of enterprises from Lusophone Africa frontier markets and presents research propositions for better understanding the determinants of entry mode strategies of enterprise from Angola and Mozambique. Keywords: Internationalization, Entry Mode, Emerging Markets, Frontier Markets, Lusophone African MNEs, Angola, Mozambique

Macau is a dynamic city with a unique blend of Eastern and Western cultures, which has become a well-known travel destination. Macau is not only home to the casinos, but also a shopping paradise, where we can find international luxury brands and local designer brands. The local fashion industry has a strong follower base, taking a different route than that of the Textile and Garment Industry in the 1980s. Nowadays, the local Fashion Industry is not only focused on production, but more on the design and creativity. Macau is a city rooted in the casino industry, having shifted from an industrial economy into a service-based one. This study aims to assess the relations between Asia and Europe with regard to their impact on the creative process of local fashion designers, to understand how local designers balance between market, creativity and aesthetics. Also, it is important to understand how Macau government supports local brands such as: “Made in Macau”. In order to accomplish our goal, several academic areas will be addressed, such as fashion design and the cultural and creative industries in their broad sense, (aesthetics, history, creativity, identity, economy, ergonomics, cognition, and social value). A mix of quantitative and qualitative methods have been used, including questionnaires, open-ended interviews, case-study research, ethnographic methods, historical research and visual methodologies. In the following chapters, this studies will describe mainly the Macau fashion industry in a globalized era and the multiculturalism’s influence on the local fashion designer’s collections