NZC Visiting Fellow Professor Pavel Castka Lectures at Peking University

17/04/2018 - Peking University hosted Professor Castka as a Visiting Fellow from the School of Management, Marketing and Entrepreneurship, at Canterbury University, New Zealand. He presented his seminar on 17th April, which was well attended by Environmental Science students. 

As a NZC Visiting Fellow, Professor Castka visited both PKU campuses at Shenzhen and Beijing and explored possible research cooperation possibilities with academics at Peking University. His area of research interest encompasses “green economy”, particularly in areas of sustainable supply chains and certification of sustainable management practices, and standardisation. Therefore, Professor Castka was hosted by both Professor Shiqiu Zhang from the College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering at PKU and Assistant Prof. Deming Zhou from Operations Management, PKU HSBC School of Business in Shenzhen.

Professor Castka was welcomed by Professor Zhang Shiqiu 

On 17 April, Professor Castka was first welcomed at the NZC where Associate Professor Liu Hongzhong introduced the Centre history and achievements for the past ten years. Following his meeting with Professor Zhang, Professor Castka presented his seminar entitled ‘The Role of Standards in the One Belt One Road Initiative’, which received a positive reception by Professor Zhang’s students. 

In his lecture, Professor Castka introduced the concept of standards, and illustrated their importance within globalised international markets, underlining their specific relevance within the Chinese context. Standardisation allows knowledge sharing, and cooperation. The ability of standardisation to allow countries to access international markets makes it an essential component of economic development. 

Professor Castka lecturing at Peking University

From this perspective, Professor Castka discusses how One Belt One Road is an action plan through Standardisation. As an international construction project spanning many different countries, the One Belt One Road project presents China with the task of transferring Chinese standards into international space, through connections, cooperation, and contestation. However, the growth of standards must be accompanied with attention to their diffusion, impact and governance. While some countries are familiar with the process of standard setting, many lack experience and therefore have lower levels of participation in the global arena. 

Professor Castka discussed how within a global context, standards can be formed within two main types of settings. The International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) is an international standard-setting body, whereby representatives from various national standards organisations collaboratively agree upon standards. Alternatively, other Non-Government organisations such as the International Social and Environmental Accreditation and Labelling (ISEAL) create standards in areas where legislators are not present, and pressure target organisations to adopt them. 

Professor Castka also stresses the importance of accurately measuring the role of standards, and identifies the impact, diffusion and governance of standards as further research opportunities in this area. 

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