Japan's ‘Aid’ to developing countries

Although Japan has now emerged as one of the major donors, next only to the USA, Japanese aid activities have been criticized as being ‘neo-colonial’. Much of the criticism results from the fact that in the total flow of financial resources, the share of the official development assistance and the ‘grant’ element in it is rather small. A much greater proportion of the total flow is directed towards export promotion for Japanese goods and securing the sources of raw materials abroad. The geographical distribution of Japanese assistance gives further grounds for allegations of ‘neo-colonialism’. Around 60 per cent of the total financial flow is directed towards Asia, a little less than half of which is concentrated in South-east Asia. It is almost certain that the total flow in absolute terms will continue to increase; in view of the energy crisis and the likely balance of payments difficulties, it is doubtful whether the current high levels in terms of percentage of GNP will be maintained. If there is to be a cutback it is almost certain that ‘aid’ will suffer more than foreign investments. In terms of proportion of GNP, official development assistance has not reached the target set by the International Development Strategy for the UN Second Development Decade. It is not expected to do so in the foreseeable future.     

Strategies that fit emerging markets

It's no easy task to identify strategies for entering new international markets or to decide which countries to do business with. Many firms simply go with what they know-and fall far short of their goals. Part of the problem is that emerging markets have "institutional voids": They lack specialized intermediaries, regulatory systems, and contract-enforcing methods. These gaps have made it difficult for multinationals to succeed in developing nations; thus, many companies have resisted investing there. That may be a mistake. If Western companies don't come up with good strategies for engaging with emerging markets, they are unlikely to remain competitive. Many firms choose their markets and strategies for the wrong reasons, relying on everything from senior managers' gut feelings to the behaviors of rivals. Corporations also depend on composite indexes for help making decisions. But these analyses can be misleading; they don't account for vital information about the soft infrastructures in developing nations. A better approach is to understand institutional variations between countries. The best way to do this, the authors have found, is by using the five contexts framework. The five contexts are a country's political and social systems, its degree of openness, its product markets, its labor markets, and its capital markets. By asking a series of questions that pertain to each ofthe five areas, executives can map the institutional contexts of any nation. When companies match their strategies to each country's contexts, they can take advantage of a location's unique strengths. But first firms should weigh the benefits against the costs. If they find that the risks of adaptation are too great, they should try to change the contexts in which they operate or simply stay away.     

The Efficacy of Regulation Fair Disclosure

This paper examines the impact of Securities and Exchange Commission's Regulation Fair Disclosure (FD) on information leakage around voluntary management disclosures. We find a positive correlation between stock returns two days before and after the voluntary disclosure in the pre‐Regulation FD period, but not in the post‐Regulation FD period. After Regulation FD is implemented, pre‐announcement abnormal return as a percentage of total return decreases by 26.1% (21.4%) for large firms with good (bad) news, suggesting that the amount of information leakage reduces for these firms. These findings provide support for the premise and the intended purpose of the regulation for large firms.     

Regional convergence of growth,inequality and poverty in India—An empirical study

The paper attempts to examine whether there is regional convergence of per capita consumption, inequality and poverty across various states in India. Using panel unit root tests that are robust to cross-sectional dependence, we find that inequality and poverty indicators converge at both rural and urban levels. Further, per capita consumption converges at urban level but not at rural level. Based on factor analysis, we find two groups of states for rural sectors, viz., low-growth and high-growth states, for each of which per capita consumption converges. We also attempt at identifying the responsible entities — central or state governments or both in cases where convergence is not achieved.     

下个十亿市场

事实上,下一代新兴市场可以定夺许多产业中的胜利者和失败者,且是下一个崭新商业巨人的崛起之处。     

揭示一个真实的中国

大多数人对上述问题的回答，简直让人感到瞠目结舌。因为除了上海、北京、广州和重庆等几大城市外，他们对广阔的中国市场的潜力几乎一无所知。中国中小城市的整体发展现状，给大多数行销和传播人员提出了严峻的挑战。他们往往忽视中国特异的多民族特性和多种不同方言地区的显著文化差异，而盲目地将中国飞速发展和快速壮大的理念一股脑推行到所有地区中。“忽略地区——二三级城镇”市场必将呈现巨大的增长态势，为了验证上述趋势，奥美和传立中国开展了一项以揭示真实中国为主题的调查研究。     

Democracy, History, and Economic Performance: A Case-Study Approach

Crossnational statistical studies show a positive relationship between the length of time a country has been democratic and its economic performance. Old democracies grow faster, ceteris paribus, and also demonstrate advantages in some economic policies thought to be conducive to growth. However, the causal connections between regime history and economic policy and performance remain opaque. Arguments are highly speculative, for the causal pathways are usually difficult to measure and are not readily testable in a large-N cross-country format. In order to illuminate possible interconnections between regime history and economic performance we identify three countries in the developing world whose recent history may be regarded as illustrative: Brazil, India, and Mauritius. Our analysis of these cases focuses on the achievement of policy consensus and policy reform, both of which are commonly regarded as critical to economic performance. Intensive study of our chosen cases suggests multiple mechanisms by which democratic experience might translate into greater success on these policy dimensions.