Government and Market Mechanisms to Provide Alternatives to Scrap Tire Disposal

SUMMARY

The current study examines disposal and recycling of scrap tires with a discussion of the role of government policies and an empirical study of tire dealers' preferences for market and government solutions to disposal problems. Preference for government intervention was related positively to dealer perceptions of environmental concerns, consumer concerns and the severity of the problem, but related negatively to dealers' assessments of manufacturer effectiveness in disposal solutions. Results show the need for more information from manufacturers and government agencies and show dealer support of specific remedies in developing new uses, technologies, and markets for scrap tires. Market development and commercialization of recycled products may be facilitated by cooperation of involved business and government agencies. Particular government actions to stimulate markets include enforcement of disposal restrictions; provision of technological and capital assistances; participation in setting industry standards for recycled rubber products; and state procurement policies.     

Standards and export decisions: Firm-level evidence from developing countries

Standards and technical regulations set in importing countries have become a rising concern to exporters, especially to those in developing countries. This paper examines the importance of various types of standards in developing-country firms' export decisions. Drawn from the World Bank Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Survey database, we find that different types of standards exhibit sharply distinct relations with firms' intensive and extensive margins of exports. Quality standards are positively correlated not only with firms' average export volume across markets and products but also their export scope, measured by the number of export markets and products. A similar relationship is found between labeling requirements and export scope. Certification procedures, however, are associated with a significant decline in the number of export markets and export products. Our results suggest that different approaches should be taken to address each type of technical regulations. Not all standards need to be negotiated away to boost trade, but negotiations on certification procedures with the aim of reaching Mutual Recognition Agreements (MRAs) can help firms improve economies of scale and scope.     

Go big or stay home? Korean machinery firms,trade fair dynamics and export performance

With heightened global competition, many manufacturers export as a process by which to increase sales and expand into new markets. South Korean manufacturers export in order to expand outside of a small domestic market, but confront the constraints of many exporters (especially smaller firms), including access to market intelligence and geographically distant prospective customers. This article examines efforts by machine tool manufacturers to minimize the friction of distance involved with exporting through the use of international trade fairs. Analytical emphases are placed on the influence of individual export destinations and on the role of firm size vis-à-vis firm export intensities and overall export strategies and motivations.     

Perceived Export Problems and Export Involvement:

A relatively limited amount of empirical research has focused on problems and issues pertaining to exporting from countries not associated with an advanced level of economic development. This paper reports on a systematic study of problems experienced by Greek exporting manufacturers in their trading activities with overseas distributors based in European Community (EC). In this context, an attempt is made, firstly, to investigate the underlying structure of exporting problems, and secondly, to examine the extent to which there are significant differences in perceptions of exporting problems based upon the degree of export involvement. A number of significant differences are found to exist in perceived export problems between different exporter categories in terms of export involvement. The implications of the study for business practitioners and public policy makers are highlighted, and future research directions are identified and discussed.     

我国对外贸易依存度过高的原因及对策

自加入WTO以来,我国经济与世界经济接轨进程加快,外贸迅猛发展,外贸依存度也随之快速上升,给我国经济带来多方面的影响。通过对我国外贸依存度过高的原因进行分析,应降低高新技术、关键设备的对外依赖度,营造公平贸易环境,实现出口市场多元化,扩大内需,以改善外贸依存度。     

Export quality differentiation under credit constraints

This paper studies the effect of credit constraints on the choice by small and medium-sized enterprises to export goods of higher quality relative to their domestically sold output (quality differentiation). The empirical analysis employs detailed firm-level data on product characteristics and credit scores. Credit constraints are found to be negatively associated with export quality differentiation. Firms reporting a deterioration of the credit score by a standard deviation are 36% less likely to pursue quality differentiation. The negative relation between credit constraints and quality differentiation is stronger for firms exporting to distant markets.     

Exploring the Relationship Between Export Intensity and Exporter Characteristics,Resources, and Capabilities: Evidence From Chile

This study focuses on exporters in Chile in order to compare the characteristics, resources, and capabilities for export success (RACFES) possessed by high, medium, and low intensity exporters. Data for this study were collected throughan Internet survey of Chilean manufacturers that export. Of the 480 companies in the sample, 133 responded to the questionnaire consisting of 69 items, yielding a total response rate of 28%. The analysis of variance procedure was used to analyze linear items and the chi square procedure was used for nonlinear items. The results indicated that export intensity in Chile is very strongly associated with firms that are smaller in size, have had export operations for longer periods of time, are highly involved in foreign markets, and are vertically integrated with their international target markets. These firms have also been very successful in overcoming export barriers. They make greater use of promotional strategies to expand their export markets and use sales agents as a means for reducing distribution costs. These firms are more likely to have vertically integrated their Chilean operation with their international target markets and to have created working international networks. The major limitation of this research is that it was carried out in only one South American country, with a rather limited sample size. A practical implication of this study is that companies in small countries, endowed with comparative advantages based on natural resources, can successfully penetrate export markets by imitating Chile's thriving export companies. Export penetration factors for small, resource-based countries like Chile are not very different from those for large developed countries.     

现代资产组合理论的一个拓展:出口市场组合模型——关于我国出口市场多元化的理论思考

出口多元化战略实施十多年以来,我国出口市场仍较为集中。出口多元化战略包括两层含义:产品的多元化和市场的多元化。国内理论界关于多元化战略的研究主要集中在前者,关于后者的研究则比较罕见。本文试图借鉴现代资产组合理论的思想,运用相对方差来衡量风险,构造了出口市场组合模型,用于定量分析多元化战略中的“市场多元化”问题,为降低我国产品出口所面临的市场风险提供理论指导。     

Cooperation as a Mediator between ICT and Export Success

The use of new information and communication technologies has been reshaping the export paradigm for more than a decade and exponentially increasing the possibilities of the exporting companies in international markets. The Internet improves establishing contact with partners in other countries for trade, optimizes daily communication with them, and makes companies more efficient in finding information on the markets they are reaching. According to these implications, to what extent do new technologies have a positive impact on the success of companies abroad? Does the use of these technologies facilitate cooperation between exporters and trading partners in the export destination country? The purpose of this research is to examine the influence of Internet technology upon export success when companies use this technology to find relevant information on foreign markets, improve communication in the business process, and enhance contacts with customers and distributors in distant countries. This study reveals that cooperative relationships between export companies and their foreign customers/distributors have a mediating effect between ICT and export success. Moreover, a surprisingly low significance of using ICT to support sales activities and develop lasting business relationships on export success has been found.     

Firm strategies in expanding and diversifying exports

This paper provides novel empirical evidence on the patterns and dynamics of exports by Irish firms over the past two decades from a highly detailed data set of export records at the firm‐product‐destination level. We identify patterns of export concentration and specialisation and how these evolved over time. Firms’ strategies for export growth along product and destination markets mixes are then examined and the contributions of intensive (average sales) and extensive (number of products or markets) margins to overall exports and to export growth are calculated. We find that most exporting firms are quite small, selling a few products to a small number of destinations while export values are dominated by a relatively small group of highly globalised large firms selling many products to many destinations. Continuing exporters frequently introduce new products, drop products and enter and exit markets. Export growth in the case of Irish‐owned exporters appears largely driven by the extensive margin of product and destination changes. However, the opposite pattern holds for foreign‐owned firms with growth mainly coming from the intensive margin.     

资本配置扭曲与民营企业出口生存

面对出口贸易限制增多的压力，提升我国民营企业出口生存概率具有重要的现实意义。通过考察资本配置扭曲对我国民营企业出口生存时间和生存概率的影响效应、渠道和后果。结果发现：民营企业的出口市场进入率和退出率高于国有企业，民营企业在出口4年以后生存率大幅下降；资本配置扭曲程度越高则民营企业退出出口市场的概率越大、生存时间越短；从驱动因素来看，全要素生产率提升和资本密集度下降是资本配置扭曲降低民营企业出口生存率的重要渠道；异质性分析表明，资本配置扭曲提高对沿海城市、资本密集型以及2002年以后民营企业出口危险率的促进作用更大。     

出口产品多样化对行业产出波动和绩效分布的影响研究

本文通过构建出口产品多样化、产出波动和绩效分布的测算指标,利用2002-2015年的跨国企业调研数据、行业数据和出口商品数据,运用计量模型检验了出口产品多样化对行业产出波动与行业绩效分布的影响。结果表明:出口产品多样化水平的提高显著降低了行业产出波动,而在具有强比较优势的行业中,出口产品多样化对产出波动的抑制作用更为突出;行业贸易开放度越高,行业竞争程度越强,则出口产品多样化平抑行业产出波动的作用越明显;出口产品多样化水平的提高有利于促进行业内竞争,有效降低了行业绩效离散程度,而在具有比较优势的行业内,出口"自选择"效应强化了行业内的资源再配置作用,进一步降低了行业绩效离散程度;在高资本密集型行业和高贸易开放度行业中,这种促进竞争效应更加显著。     

Energiewende für die Modernisierung des Industriestandorts Deutschland nutzen

The German industrial sector is a central component of its economic success. However, its investment activities are weak in comparison internationally. There are concerns that the high costs of the energy transition — one major part of climate change policy — could decrease industrial competitiveness and Germany’s allure as an industrial production location. To prevent this, German policymakers offer substantial exemptions for energy intensive industries in order to keep costs low. This study shows that only a few industrial branches have both high energy costs and a high export intensity, however. They generally feature a comparatively old capital stock. Overall, industry benefits from the demand for climate protection technologies. This calls for a shift in current policy, which should focus on incentives for innovative low carbon technologies. Exemptions should be granted to a limited number of energy intensive industries only for a limited time.     

Learning by exporting: Lessons from high-technology SMEs

We investigate the learning by exporting hypothesis by examining the effect of exporting on the subsequent innovation performance of a sample of high-technology SMEs based in the UK. We find evidence of learning by exporting, but the pattern of this effect is complex. Exporting helps high-tech SMEs innovate subsequently, but does not make them more innovation intensive. There is evidence that consistent exposure to export markets helps firms overcome the innovation hurdle, but that there is a positive scale effect of exposure to export markets which allows innovative firms to sell more of their new-to-market products on entering export markets. Service sector firms are able to reap the benefits of exposure to export markets at an earlier (entry) stage of the internationalization process than are manufacturing firms. Innovation-intensive firms exhibit a different pattern of entry to and exit from export markets from low-intensity innovators, and this is reflected in different effects of exporting.     

民营企业从出口为主向出口、投资双向驱动的转变

由于国际金融危机引致各种贸易保护势头日益强化,我国产品通过贸易的方式进入国际市场变得更加困难;同时,资本及产业输入和输出比例的严重失衡,也让国际资本挤占了国际市场的盈利空间。民营企业如能借助本次国际金融危机所导致的世界经济结构调整,将直接出口面临的挑战转变为对外直接投资的机遇,选择好对外投资的主体、渠道、领域及对象,便可逐步完成从出口为主向出口和投资双向驱动的战略转变。     

Manufacturing for overseas private labels: A win–win strategy for retailers and producers

Abstract

The study discusses the use of private labels, both for retailers and manufacturers, within the context of international markets. It is proposed that agreements between manufacturers and retailers from different markets may solve or mitigate some abiding frictions and serve the interest of both parties. Using data collected through 101 in-depth interviews among marketing managers, qualitative and quantitative procedures were used to explore producers' attitudes and behaviour in regard to agreements to manufacturing for overseas retailers' private labels. The study revealed that lower transaction costs, quicker penetration into new markets and retailers' reputations among customers are the dominant motivators while short-term strategy, appropriate mainly for grocery items, increases dependency on retailers and deters manufactures from contracting with overseas retailers' private labels. The study also found that gaps exist between manufacturers' perceptions and actual behaviour, mediated particularly by firm size and product categories. The findings, which reflect observed practice, are interpreted through theoretical propositions related to earlier studies. Managerial implications are provided.     

Effectiveness of Export Support Programs: Impact on the Relational Capital and International Performance of Early Internationalizing Small Businesses

This article evaluates the impact of public export support programs on the internationalization of early internationalizing small businesses. We build and test a conceptual model of the link between export support services and early internationalizing firms’ relational capital and international performance in terms of both economic international performance and the number of foreign markets in which they are present. The results show that financial support is effective in enhancing firm performance only in terms of the number of foreign markets but not in terms of economic performance, that informational support is effective through its influence on relational capital, and that operational support is not. Our findings contrast with those of previous studies on firms that internationalize through stages and suggest that new export support services adapted to early internationalizing firms are needed.     

Does Export Openness Increase Firm‐level Output Volatility?

There is a widespread concern that increased trade may lead to increased instability and thus risk at the firm level. Greater export openness can indeed affect firm‐level volatility by changing the exposure and the reaction of firms to macroeconomic developments. The net effect is ambiguous from a theoretical point of view. This paper provides firm‐level evidence on the link between openness and volatility. Using comprehensive data on more than 21,000 German manufacturing firms for the period 1980–2001, we analyse the evolution of firm‐level output volatility and the link between volatility and export openness. Our paper has three main findings. First, firm‐level output volatility is significantly higher than the level of aggregate volatility, but it displays similar patterns. Second, increased export openness lowers firm‐level output volatility. This effect is primarily driven by variations along the extensive margin, i.e. by the distinction between exporters and non‐exporters. Variations along the intensive margin, i.e. the volume of exports, tend to have a dampening impact on volatility as well. Third, small firms are more volatile than large firms.     

Sources of Power in International Marketing Channels

In response to certain important gaps in existing knowledge of distribution channels in international markets, this paper reports an empirical study on the sources of power in cross-cultural buyer-seller relationships. Specifically, the focus of attention is an examination of the nature of and interrelations among the sources of power held by overseas distributors in their relationships with export manufacturers. The findings suggest that an overseas distributor's use of reward is positively related to its informational, referent, legitimate and expert power sources, as is perceived by export manufacturers. It has also been found that there is a negative relationship between an importer's use of coercion and its informational base of power over the exporter. Moreover, specific reward and punishment elements are identified that play an important role in influencing the pattern of interactions in manufacturer-overseas distributor relationships. The implications of these findings for business practitioners and public policy makers are discussed and directions for future research on the topic considered.     

Effects of Economic Recession on Export Activity

Abstract

Since 1920 there has been 15 economic recessions and expansions in the US and on average recessions have lasted just over a year. The most recent recession was that of 1989–1991, which, with the increased globalization of business, did not spare Australia. Using a geo-business model the research investigates changes in export managers' perceptions on a number of variables before and during the last recession. It also considers whether recession in the domestic market acted as a motivator for Australian firms to enter export markets. Data is analyzed from a survey that attracted respondents from 233 export firms. Findings are presented and implications for theory development and government and policy makers are discussed. Limitations are noted and directions for future research are indicated.