Asia is booming but will Austria's economy also benefit? Dr. Helmut Sohmen, a successful attorney and manager living in Hong Kong, in 1991 asked this very question. In an effort to find answers, he created the Sohmen Far East Foundation and the Sohmen Far East Scholarship, enabling Austrian academics to conduct research benefitting Austrian-Asian relations. Over 50 scholarship holders have had the opportunity to conduct research in Asia to benefit the Austrian economy. Many of us understand just how important financial support to conduct scientific projects can be, especially in support of cross-cultural, cost-intensive research projects.

We are therefore all the more pleased that this year, the board of trustees at the Sohmen Far East Foundation have guaranteed Kathrin Mayr, a university assistant and dissertation candidate of Prof. Dr. Christoph Teller (head of the Institute for Retailing, Sales and Marketing at the Johannes Kepler University Linz) a scholarship in the amount of €10,000.

As someone who has lived, worked in, and learned to love Asia over the past years, Ms. Mayr is delighted to use the scholarship to be able to make an important scientific and practice-oriented contributions to supporting cultural Austrian and Asian relations. Her cross-cultural research in the field of retail and consumer behavior is expected to generate new economic profit streams for the Austrian retail industry. In the spirit of leveraging multinational synergies in retail, Ms. Mayr looks forward to returning to selected countries in Asia next year to cross-culturally expand her research.

We would like to thank the Sohmen Far East Foundation for the honor and trust!