Global Fiscal Adjustment and Trade Rebalancing

The emergence of substantial fiscal deficits and a large build up of government debt in major advanced economies will inevitably lead to a period of fiscal consolidation in coming years. In an earlier paper, Asian Economic Papers, 9, 2010 and 54, explored the effects of this fiscal adjustment in advanced economies on the global economic outlook. This paper focuses on the differences between the impacts of fiscal policy in advanced versus emerging economies. In particular, the need for more fiscal spending on infrastructure in emerging economies and the need for fiscal consolidation in advanced economies leads naturally to the question of what this asymmetric fiscal adjustment might do to global trade balances as well as global economic growth over the coming decades. The adjustment needed in both regions is substantial, and the asymmetry of the adjustment implies important consequences for trade and capital flows between regions as well as asset price adjustments within and between regions.     

Brazilian OFDI Determinants

Recently, the global economy assumed a new setting in which emerging economies began to make substantial investments in the international market. This study aimed to investigate the determinants of outward foreign direct investment from Brazil from 2002–2011. The proposed models developed included attractiveness of the host country, characteristics of home country, and firms’ strategies. The results corroborate the existing argumentations concerning adaptation of mainstream theory with respect to the realities of emerging economies. Brazilian multinationals do not internationalize their activities in pursuit of cost reduction, efficiency, or to explore new markets or natural resources of the host countries. Results show that Brazilian investments were attracted by the availability of skilled labor, openness of the host market, geographic proximity, improved financial conditions of Brazilian companies, and national companies’ strategy of reaffirmation and consolidation as global players.     

Insight of The New Shipping Structure

Last year, the financial crisis sourced in USA caused shipping ,market to decline. All at once, global economy＇s environment,industrial structure, capital value and supply chain structure changed greatly, marking the beginning of world economic fission. Great fission brings chances of great consolidation. Just one year after the financial crisis broke out, shipping industry participants are standing at the point of consolidation, considering a light, strong, clear strategy for this new shipping and trade industrial trend.     

Career paths of global managers: Towards future research

The aim of this paper is to identify potentially productive areas where future research on global managers’ careers is warranted. Approaching career as a path, we conceptualize a global career path as an intersection of three domains: an individual, an organizational and a global environment domain. To identify, within each domain, the most important factors influencing a global career, we first conducted a review of the literature on boundaryless careers and global managers. This review allowed us to identify those factors that are most relevant to the changing nature of careers and global assignments. We then reviewed past empirical research on international careers to map how previous studies have addressed those factors, further guiding us to formulate directions for future research on global careers. As well as indicating these specific research implications, we propose a contextualized research approach that facilitates understanding of different career moves over time as well as the overall direction of a global career path.     

中国商业银行业的发展战略探讨

加入WTO后的我国银行业面临着来自国外超大型银行冲击、竟争和挑战。中国银行业如何尽快扩充实力,迎接这种挑战,如何借鉴国际经验,根据中国国情实现银行业效益性的整合,形成规模效益,并最终走出国门参与国际竟争,是我国经济领域中一个非常重要的课题。本文通过金融业兼并的典型案例,分析银行业并购的动因及其系统风险,并在此基础上给出了一些关于中国商业银行业发展的建议。     

Factors impacting on whether and how businesses respond to early warning signs of financial and economic turmoil: Jamaican firms in the global crisis

Much of the debate surrounding the recent global crisis is focused on respective governments’ policy responses to the financial and economic downturn. Much less attention has been placed on the manner in which private sector businesses responded to the crisis. This study analyses the results of a survey of 284 Jamaican businesses conducted in the first quarter of 2009. It identifies the responses to the crisis that were viewed as most likely at that stage, and uses logistic regression techniques to analyse the factors most likely to precipitate different types of responses. International transmission mechanisms, basic business characteristics, and managers’ experiences with and expectations of changing conditions in the finance, output and input markets were investigated as explanatory variables. The results presented are important, as the early response of businesses to economic and financial crisis often determines the extent of the ultimate outcome on the livelihoods of individuals in a country.     

Shifting economic regimes for retail in the Philippines: external impetus amidst the workings of domestic politics

In the prevailing globalized world order, economic regime shift is principally understood via the overriding-external-impetus lens where international demand holds sway over domestic policymaking. Considering the complexity of the process and the possibility of varying outcomes, the perspective evidently limits the function of domestic politics in changing regimes. In elucidating how the dynamics of domestic politics respond to external impetuses and play out in relation to regime shifts, this paper looks into the two cases of regime shifts in retail in the Philippines: Republic Act (RA) 1180, a protectionist regime enacted in 1954 and RA 8762, a liberalized regime legislated in 2000. The study examines the interface and convergence of three salient factors – external–internal impetus, presidential intervention, and the changing dynamics in the retail sector – that were pivotal in both regime shifts. Specifically, the external–internal impetus helped set off the move for regime shift; the sitting President played a crucial role in the success of the legislation in Congress, and the retail sector exemplified varying dynamics (e.g., consolidation in RA 1180 and fragmentation in RA 8762) which facilitated the enactment of the laws. The study also underscores two key points: (1) while the initiative to adopt or change economic regimes for a government will continue to have external impetus, the success of regime shift as well as the substance of its specific policy will be essentially determined by the workings of domestic politics and (2) the legislative experience characterizes the contemporary link between global influence and domestic dynamics in policy making. The paper closes with a note on the case study's implications for retail globalization in Southeast Asia.     

Developing an International and Technology-Driven Business School Program

Abstract

Academics and practitioners alike have voiced their concerns about how to continuously improve the quality of education in the business school. Two central issues that have received recent attention are (1) how to address a rapidly changing and increasingly global economy, and (2) how to infuse technology into the business school curriculum. Both of these issues are changing at break-neck speed, whereas the academic environment, by its very nature and structure, is struggling to meet these demands ata much slower pace. We attempt to offer solutions to these major issues by developing an action plan for international business and technology. One key factor in developing global and technological programs in business schools is the input of its stakeholders-the international and technological business community. In this study, we report the results of an investigation of the international business and technological community's perceptions of the skills they require of recent business school graduates. A total of 126 business organizations provide insights for business schools to develop action plans to address international and technological needs. A discussion and implications of our findings provides an initial avenue for schools to follow in their strategic planning for the future.     

Market similarity and market selection: Implications for international marketing strategy

International market selection patterns for a sample of 954 new products suggest that firms exhibit a significant preference for markets similar to the home market. Preferences for similar markets decline as firms gain experience in a variety of markets, however. This pattern suggests the importance of uncertainty and information in global market selection and marketing mix management. Alternative means of gathering information about foreign markets permit and support very different approaches to global marketing activity. More fundamentally, a global perspective on the relationship between market conditions, marketing policies and programs, and consumer response can be developed systematically to improve global marketing performance.     

Causes of Changing Inequality in the World

To come up with a theory that explains inequality and that has common application across many countries, we need measurements of inequality across countries and through time that are reasonably comprehensive and reasonably reliable — and this is a major challenge. For most countries in the world today, growth reduces inequality, and rich countries are more egalitarian than poor ones. However, there are exceptions. While global financial forces and changing financial conditions have played a powerful role affecting economic inequalities, there does not appear to be a single permanent trend to inequality.     

论中国企业的全球价值链“低环嵌入”与“链节提升”

尽管部分中国企业以OEM承接商的角色在低端环节嵌入相关全球价值链具有种种不尽人意之处,但这类企业若能通过自身的持续努力不断实现价值链或价值链环节的提升,仍具有相当的发展前景。本文对中国企业全球价值链低端环节嵌入的状况、积极影响、链节提升的一般路径与必要条件等问题展开了分析,并提出了对策建议。     

Incentives and Impacts of Vertical Coordination in a Food Production-Marketing Chain: A Non-cooperative Multi-Stage,Multi-Player Analysis

Vertical coordination in the form of contracts and integration is common where changing consumer preferences require producers to adapt to changing market situations that require a steady supply of quality controlled products. We identify two vertical coordination mechanisms that are common in the real world but often ignored by the literature due to their inherent complexity. Using economic models, we measure the incentives and impact of market agents’ strategic behavior and strategies along a hypothetical food production-marketing chain. Our results reestablish the importance and value of open market and contracts in a world where both are gradually replaced by consolidation and integration. We also find that in most types of vertical coordination there is a critical limit to the levels of coordination beyond which it is not profitable to coordinate. We recommend that competitive policies could focus more on market structure where independent firms thrive rather than on the degree of coordination per se.     

The dynamics of relational competencies in the development of born global firms: A multilevel approach

From a multilevel approach, this paper focuses on the born global firms and the relational competencies that they use to initiate, maintain, and expand their international social networks. To do so, we detail the three levels of relational competencies (individual, collective, and organizational) and undertake an exploratory qualitative research based on interviews with French entrepreneurs of born global firms and experts who support their development. This study allows us to reach two sets of findings: firstly, a repository of thirteen relational competencies mobilized in born global firms as well as their development mechanisms; secondly, a dynamic view of these competencies, based on initiation, consolidation and expansion situations in which relational competencies and their development mechanisms are activated. Our study may lead entrepreneurs to identify competencies they hold at all levels (individual, collective, and organizational) but without necessarily implementing, as well as provide keys to develop any that are lacking in order to improve their internationalization strategy.     

Inflation and Financial Statement Analysis in the International Accounting Classroom

This article provides an exercise for students to contemplate the effects of inflation during financial statement analysis. Even small amounts of inflation accumulating over time can grow to distort a company's reported financial position and results of operations. The growing economies in emerging markets, the international market for oil, and other economic factors threaten to increase inflation rates in the future. As a result of changing global conditions, interest in inflation accounting is expected to increase. The exercise we suggest in this article provides an efficient tutorial on the potential effects of inflation on financial statement analysis and on the application of International Accounting Standard 29 in hyperinflationary environments.     

Connected capitalism: How business can tackle twenty‐first‐century challenges

The economic crisis that shook the world at the end of the first decade of the twenty‐first century is still reverberating and still being felt by businesses and countries in every corner of the globe. The future of capitalism is at stake and, as business leaders, we cannot stand by silently and let others decide the agenda for the role of business in the new century. This article sounds a warning and issues a challenge to global business leaders to speak up about their companies' contributions to the discussion surrounding the new shape of capitalism, to redesign their businesses to take into account the fast‐paced changing economic environment, and to connect their businesses to the communities in which they operate on the regulatory front, the values front, and the sustainability front. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Preparing the Human Capital for the New Millennium Using Information Technology

Abstract

Information technology is transforming the economy at a breathtaking speed. The effect of technology on global business practices is profound and pervasive. These trends are changing and shaping the global economic landscape in the new millennium. These developments have major implications for the knowledge skills required for success in business in the information age. Students must be prepared for the challenges and opportunities that each of these trends represents. Therefore, the new knowledge economy demands changes in the models of global business education. Based on our experiences at our respective universities, this article describes how we are changing not only the way we teach, but also what we teach-as well as altering the way our universities do business.     

论市场全球化条件下的竞争政策

经济全球化使市场空间已经超出国家竞争政策①的管辖空间,健全的全球经济竞争政策对于保证国际经济关系的稳定性和多边贸易体制的有效性是十分重要的。本文首先分析市场全球化与世界垄断形成之间的关系,然后分析了现有多边贸易体制和国家竞争法②域外适用面对企业限制竞争行为的局限性,最后分析了世界贸易组织在竞争政策中的应有作用。     

A life cycle model of multi-stakeholder networks

In multi-stakeholder networks, actors from civil society, business and governmental institutions come together in order to find a common solution to a problem that affects all of them. Problems approached by such networks often affect people across national boundaries, tend to be very complex and are not sufficiently understood. In multi-stakeholder networks, information concerning a problem is gathered from different sources, learning takes place, conflicts between participants are addressed and cooperation is sought. Corporations are key actors in many networks, because the problems addressed are frequently related to business activities. The aim of this article is to conceptualise multi-stakeholder networks by proposing a problem-centred stakeholder definition. From an analysis of several case studies, a life cycle model is deduced that distinguishes seven phases: initiation, acquaintance, first and second agreement, implementation, consolidation and institutionalisation.     

Domestic competitor influence on internationalizing SMEs as an industry evolves

Taking an industry-level perspective of how SME internationalization is shaped by interaction with domestic competitors, and by researching the whole population of internationalizing firms in the same industry segment in the same country over time, the paper uses industry evolution and reference competitor theories to explain SME internationalization as a response to changing market and industry context. Three competitive patterns are predicted, and examined empirically, for SMEs internationalizing in the emergence, growth and consolidation stages of an industry’s evolution. Pioneering internationalizing SMEs act as reference competitors for firms subsequently entering the industry, thereby influencing the industry evolution domestically and globally.     

Humanistic Advertising

This article examines the recent ongoing consolidation processes of mega-agencies on the global level and the structure of the international advertising industry to illustrate the dominant power of these large transnational advertising agencies (TNAAs) from the political economic perspective. It discusses motivations behind TNAA expansion, analyses the market share of the world's top ten agencies over a thirty-year period from 1960 to 1989, and examines the current structure of some regional advertising markets, specifically Europe, Latin America and Asia. Findings reveal that the international expansion of TNAAs is motivated by market forces and that major TNAAs continue to perpetuate and dominate the global industry with leverage such as integrated networks, capital and research resources within the conglomerates. Implications of mega-merger movements and TNAA's dominance in the international industry are discussed.