Japanese retailers in Southeast Asia: strong local partners,shopping malls,and aiming for comprehensive internationalization

Japanese retailers have a long and mixed history in Southeast Asia with a period of expansion in the 1980s and 1990s being followed by a long period of decline and stagnation. Recently, some Japanese retailers have renewed their interest in Southeast Asia. Based on an overview of the major retail trends in Southeast Asia and identification of those Japanese retailers that are currently expanding in the region, this article develops propositions about the underlying factors and processes. It argues that the interest in Southeast Asia, while being mostly justified by retailers through reference to the growing middle-class populations in host countries, is as much based on developments in Japan itself, such as the saturation and stagnation of markets and the emergence of exportable, flexible, and comprehensive business models. Japanese retailers are intensifying activities at a time when strong domestic companies with retail interests have established themselves in host countries and therefore partnerships with them seem to fulfill more than the need to comply with investment regulations or deal with complex environments. Shopping malls play a role as locations for specialty stores but are also transplanted from Japan. Companies are making efforts toward more comprehensive internationalization and this involves human resources in headquarters in Japan as well as working together with other Japanese companies, thus satisfying the need for local embeddedness but at the same time maintaining corporate identity and advantages.     

东亚区域内贸易扩张的因素分析

文章对近10年来东亚区域内贸易扩张的程度及其影响因素进行了实证分析,探讨东亚区域内贸易扩张的本质及其变动规律,为进一步的区域经济合作提供相应的依据。并通过多重指标、贸易矩阵和按广义商品分类的产品构成考察了东亚区域内贸易扩张的演进与特征,继而用贸易流量模型分析了各国／地区贸易扩张的影响因素及对区域贸易增长的贡献,最后提出政策建议。     

东亚双边进口贸易流量与潜力:基于贸易引力模型的实证研究

本文利用东亚10个主要经济体1995-2004年的面板数据,建立东亚贸易引力模型,对东亚进口贸易流量的影响因素和潜力进行研究。研究显示,国家经济规模、中国-东盟自由贸易区、东盟自由贸易区、进口国制度、国际直接投资、国家间的经济水平差距和地理距离是东亚双边进口贸易流量的主要影响因素。中国香港、泰国、日本和印度尼西亚对东亚的进口潜力较大,中国、马来西亚、菲律宾和新加坡对东亚的进口潜力较小。加强东亚区域内最终产品市场和区域贸易合作的发展、推进东亚各经济体的制度改革和调整、积极合理地引进国际直接投资、加强物流建设与合作,应成为东亚各经济体未来重要的政策取向。     

东亚区域内贸易的发展趋势及面临的问题

东亚区域内贸易飞速发展是当今世界经济两大潮流——经济全球化和区域经济一体化趋势下的一个独特现象,已经引起学者们的广泛关注,纷纷对其作出大量研究。东亚区域内贸易未来发展面临的主要问题是东亚经济体间存在多种冲突;贸易摩擦问题不断;区域货币金融合作进展缓慢。     

我国贸易顺差的成因及变动趋势——基于东亚产品内国际分工的新视角

当前,大多数人认为我国贸易顺差来源于国内实际因素,而忽略了国际分工对贸易收支的作用以及贸易品的异质性问题。国际贸易可以分为一般贸易、加工贸易和其他贸易,当前我国贸易顺差主要来源于加工贸易。本文认为国际分工决定国际贸易,我国在东亚产品内国际分工的地位导致了我国加工贸易的大量顺差,并运用格兰杰因果检验验证了这个结论。当前全球经济危机导致我国出口和进口的同比增长率大幅下降,但只要东亚分工格局未变,我国大量外贸顺差的局面就不会改变。面临经济危机的冲击,从短期来看,我国应当实施鼓励出口的措施,例如人民币贬值、提高出口退税率和积极开拓新的世界市场等;而从长期来看,则应通过提高自主创新能力和推动产业升级来逐步扭转我国在东亚产品内分工中的不利地位。     

亚洲三角贸易模式与中国的贸易增长

文章从亚洲三角贸易模式的角度出发分析了中国贸易增长的来源,并揭示了中国巨额贸易顺差的真相。研究发现,亚洲三角贸易模式夸大了中国出口和贸易顺差的规模。通过参加亚洲三角贸易模式,日本、韩国以及中国台湾等通过直接投资和产业转移,在中国建立生产和出口加工基地,从而将其对欧美的贸易顺差转移为中国对欧美的贸易顺差,扩大了中国与欧美的贸易摩擦,恶化了我国的国际贸易环境。     

东亚地区产业内贸易的发展状况——G-L指数及发展原因分析

近年来,东亚地区产业内贸易发展十分迅速。本文对东亚10个主要经济体1992-2005年的产业内贸易发展状况进行了实证分析。研究结果表明,产业内贸易已经成为东亚地区的主要贸易形式。在各类产品中,机械和运输设备(SITC7)的产业内贸易程度最高,且提高最快。产业内贸易发展的原因在于东亚地区产业内分工的不断深化以及基于生产环节专业化分工的产品零部件贸易的迅速发展。     

双边贸易的本地市场效应——基于东亚地区制造业部门的实证研究

本文基于2000-2006年东亚地区主要经济体间的双边贸易数据,研究并检验了该地区制造业部门双边贸易的本地市场效应。结果发现:东亚地区制造业部门的双边贸易整体上并不存在本地市场效应,只有个别行业表现出了显著的本地市场效应;而由相对要素禀赋条件和人均GDP所决定的传统比较优势因素对该地区制造业贸易模式的决定和影响仍是非常重要;此外,我们还发现劳动密集型产品是东亚地区制造业部门双边贸易的主要产品,必需品又是其中的主导消费部门。     

浅析东亚多层次合作现状及趋向

东亚地区的经贸合作存在多层次性，但从长期来看，这些多层次合作将归于东亚自由贸易区。这不仅由世界经济一体化的趋势决定，更是东亚各国经济发展的需要。在朝向自由贸易区的进程中，东亚各国要目标一致，在借鉴其他区域组织成功经验的同时，设计适合自身的合作框架。     

Trade configurations in Asia: Assessing de facto and de jure regionalism

Given the backdrop of significant uncertainties largely propelled by the ongoing trade spat between the United States and China, to what degree can the Asian region move forward in terms of de facto trade integration? Drawing on the new economic geography literature, this paper offers new insights into the literature on trade regionalism in Asia by empirically illustrating how Asian economies can tap into the regional market potential. Specifically, the paper examines the scope for further de facto integration among the Asian countries engaged in the negotiation for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Agreement by estimating foreign market potential (FMP) indices. To preview the main findings, the empirical analysis demonstrates that the share of intra-regional trade in total RCEP trade flows and, consequently, the ratio between within- and outside-RCEP trades are significantly lower than what they could potentially be. The paper makes a case that the enhancement of de jure integration among these economies through the RCEP must be accompanied by efforts to improve de facto integration.     

The Growing Dominance of China in South Asia: An Indian Perspective

India's economic relations with its neighbors are important for the stable and peaceful development of the South Asian region and for its own security. In a globalized world, economic relations play a major role in deciding political relations and collaboration at multilateral fora. In the context of China's increasing trade and investment relations with India's neighboring countries, the present study examines where and how China has been improving its presence vis-à-vis India in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. Further, the study also explores the factors of India's loss of market in its neighboring countries and suggests remedial measures.     

Globalization,regionalization and convergence in East Asia

This research paper reports the result of an investigation into the pattern of income convergence in East Asia since 1970 and the proximate role of increased regionalization and inter-regional globalization in generating regional convergence or divergence. Specifically, we apply sigma and log t convergence tests for income convergence in the East Asian region and an augmented autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model to analyze the relationship between regional income dispersion and intra- and extra-regional flows of goods, capital and technology. Regardless of the measure of per capita income, the sigma convergence tests fail to find any evidence of intra-regional convergence. The log t convergence tests do not indicate overall convergence either, but, indicate the existence of convergence clubs within the region. The regression analysis suggests that intra-regional flows of capital and technology and extra- regional FDI flows unambiguously engender convergence while intra-regional trade flows and extra-regional exports have divergence effects.     

东亚经济一体化的贸易与投资效应

20世纪80年代以来,东亚区域(10+3)经济一体化取得长足的进展,经济区域化给东亚地区带来显著的经济绩效。文章根据区域经济一体化理论,深入地分析了东亚经济区域化带来的区域内贸易和投资效应,并通过计量模型对东亚地区的FDI与贸易的关系进行了检验,发现在东亚FDI与进口和出口都是互补关系,即FDI促进了东亚地区的贸易发展。     

Barriers and enablers for innovation in the retail sector: Co-innovating with the customer. A case study in grocery retailing

This article aims to analyze innovation barriers and drivers in the retail sector and report on a successful product innovation case study of a leading grocery retailing firm in Spain. The firm, Mercadona, successfully launched an original co-innovation initiative with its customers consisting of bringing consumers to co-innovation labs set up by the company, having them analyze, in a home environment setting, how they use the firm's products and what suggestions they have for alternative methods, improvements, or completely new developments. The research findings were conclusive that a combination of customer focus culture, brand development, and cooperation with suppliers was crucial for the success of the project. Technology contributed as well as a supportive tool of the communication with consumers. The method followed a new and unique ethnographic approach.     

东亚各国(地区)承接生产者服务外包的竞争力研究

20世纪90年代"东亚奇迹"模式使经济发展水平各异的东亚经济体实现了不同程度的经济增长和产业结构升级,在以零部件贸易为代表的生产网络框架下东亚地区生产者服务贸易呈现出快速增长的趋势,本文认为东亚生产者服务贸易增长因素主要体现在生产服务链接需求、产业结构升级需求以及东亚地区的促进政策等方面,在此基础上,本文利用贸易相似度指标和面板回归分析方法研究了不同的生产者服务行业中东亚承接服务外包的竞争力状况,结果表明东亚地区的生产者服务业已呈现出类似于制造业转移的特征:继制造业后美国和日本等较为先进的生产者服务提供国继续带动了东亚区域服务业结构升级。     

中国与中亚周边国家贸易便利化影响因素研究

建立高效的贸易便利体系已成为多边、区域、双边经贸合作的重要内容。本文通过构建贸易便利化衡量指标体系,对2008-2012年影响中国与中亚贸易便利化水平的相关因素进行分析,结果表明:贸易便利化指标中的口岸效率与中国和中亚周边国家进出口额的关联度最强且关联度呈现上升趋势,基础设施建设的改善能较大程度地提高贸易便利化水平;电子商务环境指标与双边进出口额的关联度较强,互联网络的应用已成为制约贸易便利化发展的重要因素之一;海关环境指标与双边贸易规模的关联度呈现下降趋势,海关环境的改善对提高贸易便利化水平的拉动作用在减弱;规制环境指标与双方贸易规模的关联度呈现上升趋势,对推进中国与中亚周边国家贸易便利化水平作用有所增强。     

Retailer internationalization: overcoming barriers to expansion

This paper develops an understanding of the barriers to retailer foreign market expansion focusing on SME retail firms. A qualitative methodology was adopted to obtain a holistic understanding of the key barriers to international expansion experienced by retailers from both the firm and industry-level perspectives. In light of the findings from the case companies and industry organizations in this study, the paper concludes that the main barriers to foreign market expansion experienced by SME UK retailers, both at the entry and growth stages, comprise internal and external factors. This paper not only provides an understanding of the barriers encountered by SME retailers but also considers how such problems may be overcome.     

Business cycle synchronisation in East Asia: The role of value‐added trade

We empirically investigate the relationship between business cycle synchronisation and the role of value‐added trade focusing on a panel of 12 Asian countries from 1995 to 2011. In addition, we propose the inclusion of two novel determinants, for example external value‐added trade intensity and exchange rate volatility and also saturate our empirical model with other common determinants found in the literature. Our findings first confirm that value‐added trade intensity, rather than gross trade intensity, has a sizable, positive and statistically significant impact on synchronisation among East Asian countries. Second, the exchange rate volatility has a significant negative effect on the business cycle synchronisation, which verifies that the exchange rate volatility is another important determinant of business cycle synchronisation. Our findings have important implications for the monetary cooperation in the region: strengthening trade linkage could reduce the costs of monetary cooperation by increasing the incidence of symmetric shocks.     

Towards a conceptual model of country market selection: Selection processes of retailers and C&C wholesalers

Abstract

International market selection is discussed in general, particularly in respect of decisions on evaluation stages, selection criteria and evaluation methods. The present analysis focuses on the configuration of country selection models, which has received little attention in international retailing research. In order to illustrate the special features of market selection in retailing, we have used an innovative approach. Following a review of general theoretical perspectives, a case study of the Metro Group addresses the process used, inter-country selection and country-specific selection, and also shows the role of corporate principles and firms' situational factors. Based on existing literature and the case study information, we propose a strategic approach in modelling country selection processes. Three steps in the construction of a selection model are discussed and related to corporate principles and situational factors of a retail firm. The analysis is a further step towards understanding the processes of retailing internationalization.     

东亚地区出版业产品贸易影响因素分析

基于2001至2010年东亚地区主要经济体间出版业文化产品的双边贸易数据,本文研究并检验了影响东亚地区出版业文化产品贸易发展的因素。结果表明:经济规模可以促进东亚出版业文化产品贸易的发展,人文环境、人均收入、互联网发展对出版业文化产品贸易产生了一定的负相关作用,相似的历史语言环境对文化产品贸易无显著推进作用。因此,协调出版产业与国际市场需求的关系,加快向新文化产业模式转型,应成为我国未来重要的政策方向。