Attracting Chinese Foreign Direct Investment to Small,Developed Economies: The Case of Ireland

In response to the unparalleled growth in foreign direct investment (FDI) from China in recent years, we present a multilevel, in‐depth analysis of Chinese investment in Ireland using semi‐structured interviews and case studies. Our findings suggest that while Chinese FDI can be explained to an extent through classical theories of FDI, such investment is unconventional in many regards and thus requires the extension of established theories. We also find that factors above and beyond those that apply to traditional sources of investment are at play in the case of China, including the presence of host‐country clusters, the strength of intergovernmental relations, and the degree of alignment between China's development priorities and the host. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

In Search of a Competition Policy in a Competitive Economy: The Case of Hong Kong

The authors propose an exploratory framework to study competition policy development in general and apply it in the context of Hong Kong. Competition policy (in the U.S., commonly referred to as antitrust policy) is defined here as concerned with the public policy prohibiting anticompetitive behavior and the abuse of dominant market power on the part of businesses. The framework identifies four core variables that are important in influencing the development and implementation of a competition policy. These variables are the consumer protection agenda, external pressure, the political landscape, and the size of the economy. It is proposed that the way government responded to these forces has been instrumental in shaping how and why the competition policy debate in Hong Kong evolved the way it did. It also underscores the importance of recognizing the indigenous nature in the development of competition policy in any economy. Future research directions to generalize the framework are also suggested. These include further development and expansion of the core variables, contextualization of the framework for cross‐national comparisons, and undertaking longitudinal studies to examine the sensitivities of the competition policy to changes in the core forces over time.     

Engaging Stakeholders in Emerging Economies: The Case of Multilatinas

Stakeholder engagement is central to organizations’ social impact. Engagement activities rely on mechanisms whose complexity increases for multinational corporations (MNCs). This study explores the boundary conditions of our Western/Northern-based knowledge of stakeholder engagement mechanisms through the examination of such practices in multinational companies founded in Latin America (Multilatinas—MLs). Based on previous studies on the identification of organizational stakeholders in the region, we aim to understand the specific engagement mechanisms MLs use. To this end, we analyze qualitatively 28 corporate sustainability reports by relevant firms. Our findings show that the community includes silent (or non-visible) stakeholders composed of subgroups not listed as organizational stakeholders but mentioned in the report as engaged by the company or a subsidiary. MLs in our sample use four main mechanisms to engage these subgroups: (a) strong, visible commitments to local social organizations; (b) continuous dialogue with members of the community; (c) networks of volunteers to help perform the social activities of the companies; and (d) creation of social infrastructure institutions. We end by detailing the theoretical implications for stakeholder engagement among emerging economies multinational companies (EMNCs) and for MNCs in general.     

“墨西哥通讯服务措施案”对WTO竞争政策的启示

《关于基础电信的参考文件》是WTO框架内,规制电信服务领域反竞争行为的非强制性文件。DSB专家组首次以其作为法律依据审理“墨西哥通讯服务措施案”。非强制性文件成为确定与发展WTO竞争政策一种可供参考的方案。     

Applying the Institutional Theory at the Level of Halal Consumers: The Case of Cape Town in South Africa

The institutional theory, especially at an individual level, has not been conducted on halal consumers in South Africa. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the degree to which halal consumers who have higher institutional pressures are more expected to purchase halal food products. This study draws upon institutional theory to present empirical evidence that institutional factors may show a significant effect on halal consumer’s purchase intention and buying behavior toward purchasing halal food products. A sample of 298 halal consumers in South Africa was selected. Data samples were collected via self-administrated questionnaires. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test study hypotheses. The study showed that all institutional factors have a direct effect on halal consumer’s intention and indirect effect on buying behavior. Based on the results, normative pressures had a high significant effect among institutional pressures, followed by other factors such as mimetic and coercive pressures, respectively. This study is first of the uncommon studies examining halal consumers’ purchase intention and buying behavior in a non-Muslim country, employing the institutional theory in the context of halal food consumption.     

Service Markets: The Effects of Competition Policy and Consumer Protection

This article outlines the current status of Competition Policy (Monopolies and Mergers; Anti-Competitive Practices; Restrictive Trade Practices) and Consumer Protection (Legislation; Consumer Protection Agencies; Voluntary Codes of Practice) in services markets. The relative neglect of services markets until recently is reflected in the fragmented and patchwork systems, mechanisms and agencies available in this important sector of the economy and further developments are likely.     

Outsourcing and Competition Policy

We analyze optimal competition policy by a Competition Agency (CA) in a model with two countries, North and South, were a final good is produced by Northern oligopolistic firms using an input that can either be produced within the firm (vertical integration) or outsourced to Southern oligopolistic producers with lower labor costs (outsourcing). In the case where the final good is only consumed in the North, a CA in the South would optimally appropriate outsourcing rents through restrictions on the degree of competition among domestic firms. If the final good is consumed in both countries, we find that optimal competition policy in the South is marginally affected by the share of Southern consumption, leaving relatively important incentives to engage in rent-shifting. For a high enough share of Southern consumption, however, the interaction between the Northern and Southern CA is shown to be of the Prisoner’s Dilemma type, whereby the Nash equilibrium is Pareto-suboptimal and mutual cooperation on competition policy is globally desirable.     

Formulating Trade Policy in a Small Hydrocarbon‐dependent Economy: The Case of Trinidad and Tobago

We examine the status of Trinidad and Tobago's trade policy regime based mainly on the WTO's Trade Policy Review 2005 and to a lesser extent the Review of 1998. The paper highlights the areas identified by the WTO that the country needs to address to ensure compliance with the rules, disciplines and commitments made under the Multilateral Trade Agreements and the existence of a trade regime characterised by little or no distortions. It undertakes this discussion against the background of Trinidad and Tobago's role as a founding member of CARICOM and the increasing influence of this body in determining its trade policies in particular and economic policies in general. The study highlights the progress made by Trinidad and Tobago in establishing an outward‐oriented trade regime since embracing reforms in the mid‐1980s. However, the need for much deeper reforms is stressed if the country is to realise its ambitious objective of becoming the manufacturing base and the commercial, trans‐shipment and financial hub of the western hemisphere. Further, it points to the inextricable link between the country's economic fortunes and international petroleum prices, and increasing over‐reliance on the hydrocarbons sector. Consequently, it stresses the need for getting its diversification strategy ‘right’ if it is to minimise the fallout effects associated with the bust that inevitably follows a petroleum boom.     

Export Barriers and Competitiveness of Developing Economies: The Case of the Ethiopian Leather Footwear Industry

Export competitiveness is an important success factor for developing economies. However, several barriers can prevent firms from exporting. This study empirically investigates export barriers in the Ethiopian leather footwear industry. We identify 10 conceptually linked barriers that are prevalent in the industry. Whereas some of the export barriers are in line with previous research, we find several new barriers such as logistics and export marketing. On the firm level, we identify different clusters of firms that are facing specific sub-sets of barriers. Depending on cluster membership, management must focus on certain export barriers for increasing competitiveness.     

Competition in the Pharmaceutical Industry: The Case of PAH Drugs

The nature and extent of competition between different therapies for a given medical condition often is an important and controversial issue in both antitrust cases and general strategic analysis in the pharmaceutical industry. The market for pulmonary arterial hypertension (‘PAH’) therapies provides an interesting case study for analyzing these issues. An event study analyzing how the stock prices of PAH therapy providers respond to competitive developments in the industry sheds light on the nature of competition among different types of therapies. The results support the view that the strength of competition between any two drugs for the same condition can vary greatly depending on factors such as the stage of the patient’s disease, the mode of drug delivery, the mechanism of action, convenience/ease of use and other characteristics.     

Competition,External Economies of Scale,and Unionized Wage

We provide a rationale for the mixed relationship between product market competition and unionized wage, and more importantly, for a generally unexplained empirical evidence of a positive relationship between product market competition and unionized wage. We show that a higher product market competition decreases (increases) unionized wage if the external scale economies are weak (strong). However, a higher product market competition may decrease or increase the unionized wage if the external scale economies are moderate.

     

Globalisation and Industrial Policy: The Case of China

After a quarter of a century of industrial policy, China's objective of nurturing a group of globally competitive state‐owned enterprises appears to have succeeded beyond most expectations. However, China's SOEs are far from catching up with the world's leading firms. Protection through state ownership in a massive, fast‐growing economy has permitted China's SOEs to earn large profits and achieve high market capitalisations, but this is not the same thing as building globally competitive firms. The fact that China's industrial policy has been unsuccessful after a quarter of a century of intense effort demonstrates how difficult it is to construct an industrial policy in the era of capitalist globalisation, which has produced intense global industrial concentration across large parts of the global value chain. Although the detailed content of the next stage of reform of China's large state‐owned enterprises is unclear, China's determination to build a group of globally competitive large companies remains undimmed.     

Competition and Competition Policy in a Data-Driven Economy

Intereconomics - Data has become a crucial resource to increase firms' efficiency in product design, production, distribution, marketing and virtually all parts of the value chain. From a...     

Structural Transformation and Comparative Advantage: Implications for Small Open Economies

Data from the last half‐century show that revealed comparative advantage in agriculture (manufacturing) is negatively (positively) associated with the rate of decline in labour share in agriculture. Motivated by this finding, the author constructs and calibrates a simple open‐economy model, where there is learning‐by‐doing in manufacturing and industry‐supplied inputs to agricultural production. This paper focuses on the effects of comparative advantage and learning‐by‐doing on structural transformation and calibrate the model to the US and the UK data to estimate key parameters of the model. Quantitative experiments show that holding constant other factors a small difference in a country's comparative advantage can account for a large variation in structural transformation for open economies, which does not require nearly as much differential productivity growth as in closed‐economy models.     

The Case Against Small Business Consultants:

Accounting firms are widely, but not universally, cited sources of external consulting to small businesses. The reasons for non-use of consultants provided by previous studies include demographic and attitudinal barriers. This paper explores the important role human interaction may play to form additional barriers and extends previous models to show dual evaluation loops. The model extension suggests that customer orientation training should be emphasized among employees at lower levels in large consulting firms.     

竞争政策的国际协调及我国的对策

随着经济一体化和全球化的发展,竞争政策的国际协调已成为一个不可回避的问题。本文对竞争政策国际协调的原因、困难及当前协调机制存在的缺陷进行分析,并在此基础上提出我国应采取的对策。     

Consumers and Competition in Health Care: The Case of Denturism

Denturism is the making and fitting of dentures directly for the public by nondentists. It is an example of potential competitive entry in a health services market and, like other such examples, its economic benefits must be weighed against any threat to the public health and safety. This article examines evidence relating to the economic benefits to consumers of legalizing denturism. Conservative estimates are presented of the economic benefits to consumers that would accrue under alternative institutional arrangements. Under several such arrangements it was found that the value of benefits is of the same order of magnitude as total government expenditures on dental services.