Introduction
Throughout the years, Asia has been flooded all sorts of ideologies, which has manifested within every Asian souls thus influencing their everyday behaviour in life. The Western people have been studying the ideologies of Asia, which they refer to as “oriental ideology”.
Oriental is connotation of or the characteristic of the bio-geographic region including southern Asia and the Malay Archipelago as far as the Philippines, Borneo and Java (http://lookwayup.com). It is the same as “Asian” and “Eastern”. For people of South and East Asian ancestry the term ‘Asian’ is preferred to ‘Oriental’. According to http://education.yahoo.com, Asian is now strongly preferred in place of Oriental for persons native to Asia or descended from an Asian people. The real problem with Oriental is more likely its connotations stemming from an earlier era when Europeans viewed the regions east of the Mediterranean as exotic lands full of romance and intrigue, the home of despotic empires and inscrutable customs.
Orientalism is the study of Near and Far Eastern societies and cultures, languages and peoples by Western scholars. It can also refer to the imitation or depiction of aspects of Eastern cultures in the West by writers, designers and artists. The hubs of strong traditions that are easily visible lie in East Asia. The following countries are commonly seen as located in geographically East Asia: People's Republic of China (China), Hong Kong and Macau (a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China), Republic of China (Taiwan), Japan, Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea), Republic of Korea (South Korea), and Mongolia (Wikipedia 2007).

Oriental Ideologies
These are the main ideologies connected with Asia: Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism/Daoism. Others comprise of Shinto and Zen (Eastern Buddhism). Over 93% of Taiwanese are adherents of a combination of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism; 4.5% are Christian; and 2.5% are adherents of other religions, such as Islam. In Mongolia, 50% are Buddhists, 6% is Shamanist or Christian, and 4% is Muslim. Most Macau people believe in the faiths of Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism and the folk gods and goddesses like other Chinese communities. 7.7% were Christian and about 150 Muslims in Macau. (Wikipedia 2007). The main ideologies will be reviewed briefly according to the order written above.
In Buddhism, teachings regarding the holy life and the goal of liberation are constituted by the “The Four Noble Truths” regarding suffering state, what are its nature, its cause, its cessation, and the way leading to its cessation. This way to the cessation of suffering is called “The Noble Eightfold Path”, one of the fundamentals of Buddhist virtuous or moral life. This is divided into three sections:
Sila is morality – abstaining from unwholesome deeds of body and speech, are three parts of the Noble Eightfold Path:
Right Speech - One speaks in a non hurtful, not exaggerated, truthful way
Right Actions - Wholesome action, avoiding action that would do harm
Right Livelihood - One's way of livelihood does not harm in any way oneself or others; directly or indirectly
Samadhi is developing mastery over one’s own mind with three parts of the Noble Eightfold Path:
Right Effort/Exercise - One makes an effort to improve
Right Mindfulness/Awareness - Mental ability to see things for what they are with clear consciousness
Right Concentration - Being aware of the present reality within oneself, without any craving or aversion.
Prajñā is the wisdom which purifies the mind with two last parts of the Noble Eightfold Path:
Right Thoughts - Change in the pattern of thinking.
Right Understanding - Understanding reality as it is, not just as it appears to be.

One theme central to Confucianism is social harmony – the great goal of Confucianism results from every individual knowing his or her place in the social order and playing his or her part well.
In Confucianism, ritual (lǐ, 禮) includes secular ceremonial behaviour before being used to refer to the propriety or politeness which colours everyday life. Filial piety (xiào 孝) is the greatest of virtues and must be shown towards both the living and the dead (ancestors). The term denotes the respect and obedience that a child should show to his parents, especially to the father. Loyalty (zhōng, 忠) is the equivalent of filial piety between ruler and minister. A superior who had received the “Mandate of Heaven” should be obeyed because of his moral rectitude. Confucius' concept of humaneness (rén, 仁) is probably best expressed by: “What you do not wish for yourself, do not do to others.” If a ruler lacks rén, Confucianism holds, it will be difficult if not impossible for his subjects to behave humanely. “Chun-Tzu” (君子) is a term crucial to classical Confucianism. Literally meaning “perfect man” is one who “combine(s) the qualities of saint, scholar, and gentleman”. They were to cultivate themselves morally; participate in the correct performance of ritual; show filial piety and loyalty where these are due; cultivate humaneness.

Taoism/Daoism has never been a unified religion and has always consisted of different teachings based on many different original revelations. Beyond the Chinese folk religion, various rituals, exercises, or substances are said to positively affect one's physical health (even to the point of immortality); align oneself spiritually with cosmic forces; or enable ecstatic spiritual journeys. These concepts seem basic to Taoism in its elite forms.
Tao or Dao (道) means “path” or “way”. Originally belonging to rival philosophical schools, Taoism entered by way of Han Confucianism which focused on cosmic cycles and portents to guide the ruler's deportment dress, and so forth. They blend into Taoism as examples of “natural” dao with which any viable human dao must harmonise. While dao was initially ethical-social norms, it soon included the norms of language use and of claiming or attributing knowledge. Taoism represents the view that the norms for language, knowledge, ethics and society are grounded in and continuous with natural norms. These early Taoist texts reject numerous basic assumptions of Confucianism, embracing instead values based on nature, perspectivalism, and spontaneity. Taoism has also been a resource for those in environmental philosophy, who see the non-anthropocentric nature of Taoism as a guide for new ways of thinking about nature and environmental ethics.

Ideologies and the Economy of East Asia
Economies of a country are result of growing companies and organisations. Apparently, organisations are owned by people, and people have beliefs and values. So how exactly do the oriental ideologies mentioned above affect the economy growth of East Asia?
Different from many other political philosophies, Confucianism is reluctant to employ laws. In a society where relationships are considered more important than the laws themselves, if no other power forces government officers to take the common interest into consideration, corruption and nepotism will arise. As government officers' salary was often far lower than the minimum required to raise a family, Chinese society has frequently been affected by those problems and still is. Even if some means to control and reduce corruption and nepotism have been successfully used in China, Confucianism is criticized for not providing such a means itself.
One major argument against this criticism is that Confucian East Asian societies such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and China have exhibited high economic growth. Singapore has also consistently been noted as one of the most corruption-free states in the world. Critics point to continuing problems with nepotism and corruption in those countries and slowing economic growth in the past decade, not only in Japan, but also, to a lesser extent, in the others. Furthermore, Singapore may be classed as an example of a Western, Kantian system of rule by law, or perhaps a Legalist system, rather than Confucian.

Japan's industrialised, free-market economy is the world's third-largest purchasing power parity (PPP) after the United States and the People's Republic of China. Its economy is highly efficient and competitive in areas linked to international trade although productivity is lower in areas such as agriculture, distribution, and services.
Confucianism has affected the industry through its government-industry cooperation, a strong work ethic; and these have helped Japan to become one of the largest economies in the world. Due to the stress on knowledge by Taoism, Japan has a reservoir of well-educated and industrious work force to produce a mature industrial economy. Distinguishing characteristics of the Japanese economy include closely-knit groups called keiretsu (which embeds the Chinese concept of guanxi); the powerful enterprise unions and shuntō (annual wage negotiations between the enterprise unions and the employers); and the guarantee of lifetime employment (shushin koyo) in big corporations. This encourages loyalty to the firm and employees’ adherence.

In order to meet the manpower and technology requirements to expand North Korea’s economy, the education sector was targeted for improvements. The quality of the comprehensive eleven-year compulsory education system was to be enhanced to train more technicians and specialists, and to expand the training of specialists, particularly in the fields of fuel, mechanical, electronic, and automation engineering. Again, a stress on education to facilitate economic growth.
The Ch'ongsan-ni Method in February 1960 offered “on-the-spot guidance” and spent 15 days instructing and interacting with the workers. The avowed objective of this new method is to combat “bureaucratism” and “formalism” in the farm management system, thus cultivating social harmony. The system also provided opportunities for farmers to present their grievances and ideas to leading cadres and managers. Perhaps more important than involving administrative personnel in on-site inspections was the increased use of material incentives, such as paid vacations, special bonuses, honorific titles, and monetary rewards. In fact, the Ch'ongsan-ni Method appeared to accommodate almost any expedient to spur production.

Following North Korea’s emphasis on education, South Korean state used foreign aid to build an infrastructure that included a nationwide network of schools (both primary and secondary), modern roads, and a modern communications network.
The government hoped to take advantage of existing technology to become competitive in areas where other advanced industrial nations had already achieved success. Seoul presumed that the well-educated and highly motivated work force would produce low-cost, high-quality goods that would find ready markets in the United States and the rest of the industrial world. Profits generated from the sale of exports would be used to further expand capital, provide new jobs, and eventually pay off loans. In the 1970s, in order to better coordinate research and development, two scientific communities were established – one in Seoul, the other near Taejon; to develop and offer graduate science programs, and it also encouraged universities to develop their own undergraduate programs in science.

Conclusion
Besides economical and political factors, the economy of East Asia is profoundly entangled with many ideologies, mainly Buddhism Confucianism, and Taoism. In Japan, Shintoism and Zen is evident, too.
These ideologies help East Asia to develop because of Shintoism and Confucianism, where they prioritise harmony in society thus overcoming any individualistic interests. In organisations, employees do not go for personal gains. Tendency in Asia is that educations are oriented to economic growth, generates high-educated labour which will contribute significantly to a firm’s economies of scale and economies of learning, eventually lowering the firm’s cost and apparently increase profit. This profit then goes to the nation’s economy. Avoidance of conflict is important culture trait in order to maintain harmony thus reinforces Buddhism, Confucianism and Shintoism idea. Reciprocity and filial piety makes an employee loyal and he/she will not work for personal gain, but towards the family business. The Chinese concept of guanxi is doing business through value-laden relationships. Guanxi makes business deals among companies better due to close relationship and trust between all involving parties. This in turn affects economic growth positively as deals are easily sealed and carried out.
All in all, in a society where trust and networking is important, a firm needs to become progressively aware of the foreign cultures depending on the nature and extents of its foreign operations. Firms with foreign subsidiaries have to manage local labour and thus require knowledge of local norms concerning employee relations, attitudes towards work, and so on.
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