Aid for trade as a public good

Aid for trade (A4T) can be classified as a public good. In the case of more than two donors, independent bilateral provision of A4T must be insufficient. This article suggests that international organisations can be a solution to insufficient A4T. However, those international organisations must adopt new methods of coordinating donors and recipients as well as a cost-sharing rule based on the share of benefit can help.     

Exploring the retail design management process within a UK food retailer

Design is an increasingly important part of the competitive strategy of food retailers in the UK. This paper examines the design management process within one of the leading UK food retailers to provide a model of the process. This model constitutes a contribution to design management theory in the retail sector. The process of retail design management is explored and discussed. This paper attempts to provide an exploratory base for future linkages to be made between design management and retail marketing theories.     

An exhibitors perspective: factors affecting selection of industrial trade shows in India and the importance of spot sales

ABSTRACT

Purpose: To identify the factors affecting the selection of trade shows in India and the role of spot sales in decision-making.

Design/methodology/approach: This study uses a primary approach. It has been done with the help of data collected from exhibitors’ responses to a standard questionnaire (appendix) through offline mode. Finally, the collected data was used for analysis with the help of SPSS 21. Multivariate data analysis techniques such as factor analysis, correlation analysis, and structural equation modeling were used in the study.

Findings: The findings of the study revealed that perceived show value was the most important factor of selecting a trade show followed by measurable cost, timing and lastly show attractions. Spot sales were found to make a significant impact on the participating decision-making process. Some of the subjective factors such as facilities within the venue and connectivity to the venue made an impact on the exhibitors' selection of trade shows.

Practical implications: Organising a trade show requires a lot of money and effort and thus it becomes important that such events be successful. Thus, the study could be used by trade show organizers to attract exhibitors for participating in their show.

Originality/value: Although research studies have been conducted on the motives for participating in a trade show in the U.S. and Europe, very few were found relating to the identification of factors affecting the decision to participate. This number becomes still smaller when one considers the case of the growing Indian economy. Looking into these aspects, this study can be considered new and thus its originality remains high.     

Innovation and entrepreneurship as strategies for success among Cuban-based firms in the late years of the transatlantic slave trade

This article examines how Cuban-based firms and entrepreneurs circumvented ever- increasing risks in the illegal slave trade. The article sheds light to this question by analyzing new qualitative information of 65 Cuban-based firms against the Slavevoyages database. Our findings indicate that Cuban-based firms were entrepreneurial as they exploited the opportunities arising from the volatility of the slave trade by: (a) internalizing networks of agents which allowed the rapid diffusion of information, (b) diversifying trading goods and expanding the number of partnerships to reduce transaction costs and risk, and (c) adopting technological innovations that modified the design and use of vessels.     

当前新贸易保护主义表现形式以及对策

在金融危机发生以来,新贸易保护主义逐步抬头.在经济全球化加速的背景下,新贸易保护主义将给世界经济贸易带来不可避免的危害,同时阻碍世界经济复苏的步伐.本文阐述了当前新贸易保护主义的表现形式,并提出相应的分析对策.     

The effects of cross-regional free trade agreements under a vertical industry structure

This paper examines the effects of a cross-regional free trade agreement (FTA) on tariffs, welfare, and the incentives for multilateral free trade in a three-country model with a vertical industry structure. We show that the FTA induces member countries to reduce their tariffs on nonmember countries. On the other hand, a nonmember country lowers its tariff on final-good imports, but raises its tariff on intermediate-good imports. Also, the FTA makes member and nonmember countries better off. After the FTA is enacted, member and nonmember countries have an incentive to support multilateral free trade, so an FTA acts as a building block for multilateral trade liberalization.     

Obtaining a hub position: A New Economic Geography analysis of industry location and trade network structures

We present a linear New Economic Geography model with three regions, one remote region and two regions that entertain a trade agreement with low bilateral trade costs. Only one of these two integrated regions has the outside option to conclude an additional trade agreement with the remote region and to obtain a hub position. We show that the new trade agreement has a substantial impact on industry location and trade patterns and that the effects strongly depend upon level of integration between the initial two regions. It is not always the region with the outside option that profits from using it. Finally, we also show that higher firm mobility may lead to complex dynamics.     

The regional trade dynamics of Turkey: a panel data gravity model

This paper analyzes the Turkish export and import flows with regard to regional clusters (RCs) and bilateral trade costs (BTCs) by using a panel data gravity model. We study the role of RCs and BTCs in two complementary parts: in the first part, we use an unbalanced panel data for 180 countries over the period 1960–2012, compiled from the DOTS database. We extend these estimations by running the data at four different time intervals, each representing different economic or political regimes in Turkey. In the second part, we repeat the same exercise at sectoral level for 176 countries over the period 1994–2010, using the BACI database. Aggregate estimates show that the gravity model is very effective in explaining the export and import flows of Turkey and that all close-by regions, including EU27, have a significant impact on trade flows of Turkey. We also find that the EU Customs Union has a negative effect on Turkish exports and a positive effect on imports. Estimates at selected time intervals reinforce aggregate estimates and sectoral level analyses indicate that while some regions contribute positively in all or the majority of sectors, others contribute negatively or produce mixed results.     

A contribution to a multidimensional analysis of trade competition

International trade grew substantially throughout the last decades and international relations became more important for the economic performance of the countries. Simultaneously, new poles emerged in the international arena leading to growing competition for higher market shares. Therefore, trade competition is a critical dimension of analysis for applied international trade studies. We propose a conceptual framework for measuring this phenomenon by combining some critical previous contributions to build a multidimensional and more comprehensive concept, which defines trade competition as a function of the degree of both structural similarity and total exports overlap. Moreover, structural similarity should take into account three elements: sectoral shares similarity, inter‐sectoral similarity (evaluating how different the distinct sectors are) and intra‐sectoral similarity (proximity in terms of quality ranges exported). Several measures are proposed to empirically capture the concept suggested. Finally, we present an example including the exports of six European economies (Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Greece, Hungary and Sweden) to 124 destination markets (in 2007, 2011, 2015) in order to illustrate the application of the concept and measures suggested.     

Towards an understanding of the role of trade fairs as facilitators of consumer creativity

Trade fairs are an integral part of the marketing strategy for many products and services. The aim of this article is to investigate how trade fairs as a means of marketing communication bring about new ideas, desires and wants in consumers and by so doing facilitate everyday consumer creativity. The results imply that trade fairs play an important role in setting the stage for consumer creativity. Based on an empirical study of trade fair visitors carried out using an ethnographic method, the study demonstrates how consumers communicate their visit to a trade fair. The findings indicate that trade fairs have an influence on consumer creativity in the different phases of the process. As an outcome, two metaphors describing the role of trade fairs as facilitators of everyday consumer creativity are proposed. These are trade fairs as a tool and a vantage point. The implications for effective trade fair management and postmodern marketing are explored.     

Operating leverage as a determinant of systematic risk

Since the development of the capital asset pricing model, a number of studies have examined the effect of a firm's operating leverage on its systematic risk. The essential conclusion of these studies is that operating leverage affects systematic risk through either the contribution margin or unit variable costs. In this paper, the models derived in previous research are refined and extended to demonstrate that, for either a single-product or multiproduct firm, the degree of operating leverage measures the full effect of a firm's operating leverage on its systematic risk. In addition, it is shown that a sales variability measure should also be an important differentiating factor among the systematic risk of common stocks. Thus, the results have important practical implications for financial managers when estimating project or divisional risk for investment decisions, and for security analysts when predicting the systematic risk of common stocks.     

Futures market hedging efficiency in a new futures exchange: Effects of trade partner diversification

This paper uses transaction data to examine hedging efficiency in a new futures exchange; the Fish Pool salmon futures exchange in Norway. The paper utilizes data on firm-level exporter/importer transaction prices to quantify firm-level futures hedging efficiency. This allows us to address heterogeneity in hedging efficiency and basis risk at the firm level. The main result of this paper shows that larger firms with greater trade partner diversification have lower basis risk. Such firms align their internal transaction price closer to the common spot price in the market, which encourages greater futures market participation. Results are discussed in light of recent declines in participation in the salmon futures exchange.     

Values,socially conscious behaviour and consumption emotions as predictors of Canadians’ intent to buy fair trade products

Over the last two decades, a growing concern about ethical behaviour has been observed among consumers. Ethically minded consumers are more inclined towards the consumption of ethical goods, such as green products and fair trade (hereafter, ‘FT’) products, organic products and local products. Establishing the motives that predict FT consumption behaviour provides ground for understanding how consumers make purchase decisions. This research postulates that the intention of buying FT products is influenced by socially conscious behaviour, consumers’ values and emotions. The study, conducted among 268 Canadian consumers, shows that the high intention of buying FT products is linked to high levels of pride, enthusiasm, satisfaction, happiness and joy related to FT product consumption. The FT consumption experience provides consumers with hedonic gratification. It shows that the higher the levels of self‐centred, equality and social justice values are, the higher the intention of buying FT products. An increase in socially conscious behaviour generates an increase in intention of purchasing FT products. The research contributes to a preliminary analysis of the role of emotions in this field and calls for the development of cognitive‐affective models of purchase and consumption behaviour. Understanding the dimensions of hedonic values and the significance of pleasure experience is essential to the development of the theory and practices of FT consumption.     

Use of time as a determinant of family market behavior

An attempt is made to represent the concept of life style in terms of the use of time. The variables obtained are used to test their effectiveness, in conjunction with socioeconomic and attitudinal variables, for explaining certain types of consumer financial behavior, using data from two panels of young married couples, one of 130 couples in Decatur-Peoria, Illinois, and the other of 185 couples in Chicago. The results indicate that use-of-time variables are significant in helping to explain purchase of durables, ownership of credit cards, and amount of insurance.     

The interplay of international trade,economic growth and income convergence: a brief intellectual history of recent developments

The literature on the interplay of international trade, economic growth, and income convergence across economies has proliferated in the past few decades. The present essay reviews the theoretical advancements and empirical findings in this literature. The focus will be on recent developments with a few glances at the past. The essay also describes new findings and insights into the role of international trade in global income distribution. Ideas for further research are offered throughout the essay.     

Exploring the drivers of new product success for businesses in Asia: a meta-analysis

Even though a large amount of research has investigated how different factors impact new product performance in different contexts, little attention has been paid to exploring the drivers of new product success for businesses in Asia. This study therefore focuses on this issue by using a meta-analytic approach to aggregate the empirical findings of studies published before 2011. By controlling several contextual factors (product type, unit of analysis and time), the results from generalized least-squared analyses show that the predictor–performance relationships are stronger for Asian firms when the predictors are market orientation, marketing synergy, technological synergy, product advantage, product innovativeness, cross-functional integration, top management support, pre-development proficiency, technological proficiency, market potential and technological turbulence. In addition, the results also reveal that most of the performance effects of the predictors are different between low-technology and high-technology products.     

Free trade agreements in a small,open country: The case of Norway

Negotiating free trade agreements (FTAs) has been a high political priority for Norway. Today, it has agreements with 41 countries outside the European Union (EU)/the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), resulting in one of the world's most extensive FTA networks. FTAs cover about 10% of Norway's trade—a share likely to increase in the future. These agreements eliminate tariffs on a substantial number of traded products and have gradually become more comprehensive, covering an expanding range of non‐tariff areas. Hence, they may have trade‐promoting effects beyond tariff reductions as such. On the other hand, the non‐tariff provisions often do not go further than what has already been dealt with in other international agreements or practised domestically, so their overall effect may be limited.     

Organizational identification as a determinant of customer orientation in service organizations

The marketing literature suggests that frontline employees are the central determinant of how customer-oriented a service organization is perceived to be by its customers. However, little is known about the contingencies of employees’ customer orientation (CO) beyond personality traits and broadly construed work attitudes. Based on the social identity approach, the present article develops a multilevel model whereby CO is the result of identity-based management of frontline employees. Two empirical studies in the travel industry show that employees’ CO depends on employees’ organizational identification and their leaders’ acting as role models of CO.     

Resolving the empty core: trust as a determinant of outcomes in three-party negotiations

This research examined how trust affected resource allocation in a three-party negotiation. Negotiators were presented with an empty core problem in which their theoretical share of resources exceeded the resources available for distribution. We tested which of three components of trust—reliability, predictability and empathy—predicted negotiators’ outcomes. We distinguished between absolute and relative trust. We found that relative trust was a more consistent predictor of individual outcomes than absolute trust and that the most trusted party in a network obtained the highest individual outcomes. This finding highlights the importance of social context in shaping trust judgements. The component of trust that predicted individuals’ outcomes was affected by structural power. High and low power negotiators benefited from conveying empathy (identity-based trust), whereas moderate power negotiators benefited from conveying predictability (knowledge-based trust). Low power parties also benefited from appearing unreliable (low calculus-based trust). The research reported in this paper was supported by a grant from the Australian Research Council. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 2002 International Association of Conflict Management Conference, Park City, Utah.     

The Dynamics of Fair Trade as a Mixed-form Market

This article analyses the Fair Trade sector as a “mixed-form market,” i.e., a market in which different types of players (in this case, nonprofit, co-operative and for-profit organizations) coexist and compete. The purposes of this article are (1) to understand the factors that have led Fair Trade to become a mixed-form market and (2) to propose some trails to understand the market dynamics that result from the interactions between the different types of players. We start by defining briefly Fair Trade, its different dimensions (including the “fair” quality of the products) and its organizational landscape, focusing on the distinction between the pioneer “Alternative Trading Organizations” and the second-mover companies. Then, we recall the theoretical emergence factors for each type of organization (nonprofit, co-operative and for-profit) and apply these emergence factors to the context of Fair Trade. This analysis allows us to capture the specificities of each type of operator with regard to Fair Trade and, thus, to have a better understanding of the dynamics in the sector. Such dynamics includes competition, but also conflict and partnership. Our analysis includes elements on ethical imitation, consumers’ behaviors, effects on welfare and the role of the government.