International Marketing of Services and Developing Countries

ABSTRACT

The internationalization of services has gained great momentum in recent years. This article analyzes prospects of developing countries in the international marketing of services by examining past trends of service exports by developing countries, and relating these to demand for services in developed countries through a series of autoregression analyses. Results show that developing countries were marginalized in the international market for services over the 20-year study period. However, there are bright future prospects. The greatest prospects would be in travel services, followed by transport services. Implications of the findings for government policy in the service sector are discussed.     

Growth and Productive Dynamism of Business Services: EU-15, Spain and the Region of Madrid

This study evaluates the structure and dynamism of business services in the Region of Madrid compared to the EU-15 countries. It focuses on the comparative analysis of productivity and its components, as well as a specific geographical and locational study of these services in the Region of Madrid. The sector productivity structure of countries and regions is similar. From this, it may be deduced that productivity units of the different countries, within the same branch, use fairly similar productivity methods and technologies. Through the analysis of the relative size of the different branches rendering business services, important discrepancies regarding processes of economic organisation between the regions studied may be deduced.     

Domestic Regulation and the WTO: The Case of Water Services in Developing Countries

Trade liberalisation of environmental services, and water services in particular, under the current WTO General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), has been widely advocated as a means of increasing private sector participation in the water sector in developing countries. Recognising that effective regulation is needed to ensure that the potential gains from private sector involvement are fully realised, the paper considers the relationship between national regulatory autonomy and GATS liberalisation in water services. The empirical evidence on the impact of private sector involvement in the provision of water services in developing countries is reviewed, and a number of reasons why water privatisation has been problematic in lower‐income countries are identified, including transaction costs and regulatory weaknesses. The study concludes that developing countries with limited regulatory resources should adopt a cautious approach to services liberalisation, by sequencing market liberalisation measures to match the development of their regulatory institutional capacity.     

Assessing the Benefits to Developing Countries of Liberalisation in Services Trade

This paper discusses the potential impacts of services trade liberalisation on developing countries and reviews existing quantitative studies. Its purpose is to distill themes from current literature rather than to advocate specific policy changes. The picture emerging is one of valiant attempts to quantify in the presence of formidable analytical and data problems yielding only a clouded image of likely impacts on trade, consumption, production and welfare emerging to the point that the policy implications of results are not always clear. A central intuition would seem to be that with genuine two‐sided (OECD/non‐OECD) liberalisation in services that are seemingly considerably labour‐intensive in delivery, the potential should be there for significant developing country gains from global liberalisation allowing full cross‐border delivery. However, this picture is neither fully endorsed by available studies, neither is it explicitly contradicted. This seems to be the case for a number of reasons. One difficulty with the studies is that the conceptual underpinnings of what determines trade in services and how this trade differs analytically from that of trade in goods (if at all) is an issue prior to assessments of impacts of liberalisation of trade in services on developing countries being discussed. Key issues here are the treatment of mobility for service providers (both firms and workers), and the differing analytical structures needed to analyse individual service items (banking, insurance, telecoms, etc.). Some recent analytical work suggests that liber‐alisation in some service items, such as banking, need not always yield gains, and this contrasts with quantitative studies where analytical structures mirror conventional trade in goods treatments. The discussion and measurement of barriers to service trade in both developed and developing countries is also problematic. One is talking of domestic regulation, entry barriers, portability of providers, competition policy regimes more so than only barriers at national borders, as with tariffs. Both representing and quantifying such barriers raise major difficulties, and these are also spelled out in the paper. Which barriers actually restrict trade, and which do not because they are redundant is one issue, for instance. It is also often misleading to represent barriers in simple ad valorem equivalent form. As a result, numerical modelling work on the effects of service trade barriers which is based on ad valorem equivalent modelling is often not fully convincing. In addition, individual country results vary considerably across studies in ways that it is frequently hard for outsiders to understand. Studies do, however, point towards a tentative conclusion that effects are small and positive for developed and most developing countries if FDI flow changes accompanying service trade liberalisation are excluded from the analysis, but much larger and more variable across countries if they are present. This could be taken to suggest that mode 3 GATS liberalisation (roughly captured in some studies) might be important for developing countries; but mode 4 GATS liberalisation could be even more important given large barriers to labour flows across countries. Thus, if service trade liberalisation is thought of primarily as a surrogate for improved functioning of global factor markets in which more capital flows to developing countries and more labour flows from them to developed countries, then developing countries could benefit in a major way from genuine two‐sided (OECD/non‐OECD) liberalisation. Developing countries fear, however, that in global negotiations on services liberalisation where there is an asymmetry of power that largely one‐sided liberalisation may be the outcome, and their gains will be correspondingly limited. The paper concludes by evaluating econometric studies on linkage between services liberalisation and country growth rules, and briefly discusses some key sectoral issues in health services and transportation.     

The impact of the global factory on economic development

The global factory is a structure through which multinational enterprises integrate their global strategies through a combination of innovation, distribution and production of both goods and services. The global factory is analysed within a Coasean framework with particular attention to ownership and location policies using methods that illustrate its power in the global system. Developing countries are constrained by the existence and power of global factories. Firms in developing countries are frequently constrained to be suppliers of labour intensive manufacturing or services into the global factory system. Breaking into this system is difficult for emerging countries. It requires either a strategy of upgrading or the establishment of new global factories under the control of focal firms from emerging countries. The implementation of these strategies is formidably difficult.     

The scope for E-Commerce in central and eastern European countries' services trade

The general attitude on the potential for e-commerce in services trade is rather enthusiastic and emphasises extraordinary opportunities for its expansion. The Internet extends the scope of services, which are tradable and transforms local services into internationally tradable ones. This article argues that countries which rely on high quality e-tradable services are in a better position to take advantage of e-commerce in services trade than those, which rely on location-bound services. It is examined to what extent the characteristics of central and eastern European countries' services export portfolio determine the potential of these countries for the expansion of services exports through e-commerce.     

The Effect of Real Exchange Rate Volatility on the Trade of Educational Services

This article finds that high levels of real exchange rate volatility between two trading partners significantly decrease the amount of educational services traded. Many academic institutions are actively looking to expand exports of educational services as a means of increasing revenues. Internal policies that reduce real exchange rate uncertainty may help encourage trade of educational services between countries where volatility is high. The discovery that real exchange rate volatility serves as a significant barrier to attracting educational export opportunities to certain countries underscores an obstacle that should and/or could be addressed as academic institutions strive to expand their international enrollments.     

The Performance of Trading Firms in the Services Sectors – Comparable Evidence from Four EU Countries

We examine trade complexity and the implications of adding additional dimensions of trade for firm performance among services producers. We use unique firm‐level data to compare these patterns across four EU countries. Overall, services firms are relatively less engaged in trade than manufacturing firms; they mostly trade goods and are more likely to import than to export. Trade in services is quite rare; services are more likely to be traded by firms already trading goods. Trading firms in the services sectors are significantly larger, more productive and pay higher wages than non‐traders. Two‐way traders outperform one‐way traders. Changes in trading status by either adding another dimension of trade (imports, exports) or another type of product (goods, services) are infrequent and are associated with significant preswitching premia. In contrast, learning effects from switching trading status are uncommon. This points to significant fixed cost of being engaged in trade and confirms some previous findings that trading services firms have similar traits as their manufacturing counterparts. Apart from greater trade participation in smaller countries, we do not observe systematic differences in terms of trade or switching premia between the four countries that might be attributable to differences in country characteristics.     

Parallel Imports,their Deterrence and Accommodation with Service Differentiation

In the traditional economics models, parallel imports prevent a manufacturer from price discrimination involving the same good between countries. As a result, the manufacturer loses profit and tries to discourage parallel imports. The consumers in low-price countries also lose when parallel imports are legalized because the price in such countries increases. When value-added services such as a warranty and technical support are available only for the authorized product (i.e., when services are differentiated), however, the manufacturer may obtain a larger profit with parallel imports, as shown in literature. We extend this study by analyzing the case in which the manufacturer can choose the level of value-added services. It turns out that the manufacturer may even encourage parallel imports when the cost for value-added services is not too low or too high. We also show that the consumers in low-price countries may gain when parallel imports are legalized.     

Consumer overindebtedness: a review of the quality of money advice services in Scotland

Levels of consumer borrowing and debt in the UK and globally continue to rise. Credit makes a vital contribution to the success of the UK economy by driving economic activity and allowing consumers flexibility in how they choose to access the marketplace and manage their finances. Although most consumers manage their borrowing effectively, for a minority, the ease of access to credit results in overindebtedness. As a consequence, the need for money advice is prevalent. In the UK in recent years, services have been developed to assist consumers in financial difficulty. In Scotland, additional funding has been made available to enable further service developments in local government or voluntary sector provision. This paper reviews the literature on consumer overindebtedness, the development of money advice services and discusses the quality of these services in Scotland. It is likely to be of interest in other countries where consumer overindebtedness is rising and where money advice services are being developed to assist those experiencing problems. The review found that the rising levels of overindebtedness justify the case for developing money advice services but that there are many quality issues which require to be managed. Implications for the money advice profession were identified together with suggestions for the development of services in other countries.     

Knowledge-intensive business services in transition economies

Knowledge-intensive business services accounted for a rapid growth in transition economies after 1989. The growth in value added outpaced growth in employment, which indicated increasing labour productivity in this sector. Studies based on input–output tables found that development of business services was closely related to development of communication services in advanced EU member countries. The input–output analysis did not confirm this relation for Slovakia and the Czech Republic and found a medium to strong level of correlation for Hungary. Development of a market economy was likely to be a major factor behind development of business services. This assumption was tested on empirical data. The use of communication and business services could be a proxy for introduction of new technologies in production functions. The functions indicated that these industries made a significant contribution to economic growth both in advanced and transition economies. Output elasticity coefficients were quite similar in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia and the EU member countries.     

金砖四国创意产品贸易国际竞争力的比较研究

本文采用国际市场占有率指数、显性比较优势指数和贸易竞争力指数对金砖四国创意商品和创意服务的国际竞争力进行比较研究。结果表明:中国和印度的创意商品具有优势,创意服务的竞争力较弱,俄罗斯和巴西的创意服务优势明显,创意商品的竞争力很弱,金砖四国处于全球创意产业价值链的不同节点。因此,要重视创意服务在创意产业中的重要地位,发挥文化资源优势,对我国创意资源进行整合,加大创意产业资金投入,落实积极的人才发展战略,加快制定鼓励创意产业发展的科技、财税和金融政策,加强金砖国家间创意产业合作。     

服务业FDI与东道国制造业效率提升

服务业跨国公司具备所有权优势,为东道国制造业提供优势服务投入。直接层面上,这种优势投入会提高东道国制造业效率,服务业FDI吸引制造业FDI进入,促进制造业出口产品结构升级;间接层面上,服务业FDI通过竞争效应、示范效应、增加东道国服务种类、降低服务价格、导致服务业跨国技术外溢等方式促进东道国服务业发展,进而促进东道国制造业的效率提升。     

Trade and Innovation in Services: Evidence from a Developing Economy

Studies on innovation and international trade have traditionally focused on manufacturing because neither was seen as important for services. Moreover, the few existing studies on services focus only on industrial countries, even though in many developing countries services are already the largest sector in the economy and an important determinant of overall productivity growth. Using a recent firm‐level innovation survey for Chile to compare the manufacturing and ‘tradable’ services sector, this paper reveals some novel patterns. First, even though services firms have on average a much lower propensity to export than manufacturing firms, services exports are less dominated by large firms and tend to be more skill intensive than manufacturing exports. Second, services firms appear to be as innovative as – and in some cases more innovative than – manufacturing firms, in terms of both inputs and outputs of ‘technological’ innovative activity, even though services innovations more often take a ‘non‐technological’ form. Third, services exporters (like manufacturing exporters) tend to be significantly more innovative than non‐exporters, with a wider gap for innovations close to the global technological frontier. These findings suggest that the growing faith in services as a source of both trade and innovative dynamism may not be misplaced.     

International trade in financial services

International trade in financial services is a topic of some importance both to the financial services sector itself and in international trade negotiations. Unfortunately, intrinsic problems in defining and measuring trade in services, combined with a lack of data in many countries, have made empirical analysis of trade in financial services difficult. Recent improvements in data, although still providing only a limited coverage, do now provide a basis for analysis. In this paper, we use data from the OECD International Trade in Services Statistics 2001 database to conduct an analysis of trade in financial services based on standard theories and empirical techniques for international trade. Our results suggest that the key concepts of international trade are of use in understanding international trade flows in financial services. In particular, we find evidence of significant volumes of intra-industry trade in financial services, as well as significant volumes of inter-industry trade for some countries, including the UK. Using Balassa's ‘revealed comparative advantage’ index, the most highly ranked countries are Belgium-Luxembourg, Italy, Switzerland, the UK, the USA and Greece. Using the ‘net export ratio’, the countries that are ranked highest include Germany, Switzerland, the UK, the USA and Belgium-Luxembourg.     

Perceived importance of native language use in service encounters

Despite the importance of interactions in services, the role language plays in services is an under-researched field. This paper outlines for which services language is especially important. Consistent across studies in three countries (Belgium, Canada and Finland), the findings suggest that bilingual consumers find it particularly important to be served in their native language in high-involvement services. Moreover, for high-involvement services, all consumers find it important to be served in their native language. For low-involvement services, elderly consumers are less willing to switch language than young consumers. The importance of native language use did not differ between males and females.     

WTO能源服务贸易谈判之最新进展及中国的对策

能源贸易在各国能源安全政策中扮演重要角色,然而,由于南北国家之间的利益冲突,WTO成员在多哈回合谈判中能源服务的界定问题上出现分歧,谈判陷入僵局。在有关能源服务贸易的议题中,中国的法律对策应为:提出明确的谈判主张,促成有利于中国的能源服务界定方案的达成,结合本国能源服务产业的实际情况,仅就中国在贸易利益方面具有比较优势的能源服务部门展开谈判。     

Trade in Educational Services: Trends and Emerging Issues

This paper examines the trends and emerging issues in trade in educational services. It provides rough estimates of the size of the international market in educational services drawing on the limited data available in services trade statistics and data on foreign students in tertiary education in OECD countries. It outlines the current commitments for trade in educational services under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). It also reviews the implications of the on‐going GATS negotiations for further multilateral trade liberalisation in this sector. It points out that OECD countries have been noticeably reluctant to make proposals for further liberalisation of trade in educational services. One reason for this is the concern in many countries about the potential threats posed to cultural values and national traditions by growing trade liberalisation in educational services. Finally, the paper reviews some of the main policy issues arising from trade in educational services.     

Changing Role of Services in the Socialist Countries of Eastern Europe

Development of the service sector in the socialist countries of Eastern Europe has up to now been substantially affected by the domination of a so-called Smith-Marx-Lenin theorem under which a large part of the service sector is considered to be ‘non-productive’. It has resulted in a clear under-development of the service sector in the national economies of these countries. This is well illustrated by the figures on sectoral structure of GDP, distribution of fixed capital assets, investment outlays and employment. Recently, however, the perception of services seems to have undergone considerable change and there is a growing concern in most of the said countries about the further development of services. It has its grounds in both internal and external factors.     

International Web Development

Abstract

Throughout the world, use of the Internet is growing exponentially and bringing mankind closer together. The Internet has become a powerful force in people's lives bringing information from around the globe to the tip of one's fingertips, changing the way the world purchases products and services, and creating new means of communication and media. The possibilities created by the Internet would seem limitless. Unique to each region of the world though is the degree to which the Internet has been adopted and is being utilized. The progression of Internet development has been shown to occur in three stages: acquisition of Web literacy, Web use as an information medium, and Web use for purchasing goods and services. In each of the following geographical regions, North America, South America, Africa, Europe, Middle East, Asia and Oceania, countries can be described as existing in one of these stages. A sampling of the countries within each region analyzes how and to what degree the people of that nation utilize the Internet and who provides the services offered, what services are offered, and obstacles presented in offering those services. Furthermore, the role the Internet plays in commerce, and the extent to which the government of that country has taken in regards to its polices in either regulating and/or promoting the Internet is examined. The factors have been shown to be important in Web development. Today the United States is at the forefront of Internet use and technology; however, it will not be long before that position is challenged by Japan and other countries in Europe and Asia as the Internet becomes more pervasive across the globe.