Introduction

Author(s):  
Richard F. Doner ◽  
Gregory W Noble ◽  
John Ravenhill

Automotive industrialization in East Asia exhibits striking cross-national variation in both strategy and performance. China, Korea, and Taiwan have pursued “intensive” growth strategies, increasing local value added based on domestic inputs and capabilities. Malaysia has attempted to follow this strategy, but without success. In contrast, Thailand has relied on foreign assemblers and their principal suppliers to become a champion of “extensive” growth, resulting in an impressive expansion of production, assembly, and exports. Latecomer Indonesia has followed Thailand with some success, whereas the Philippines has remained an automotive backwater. This variation reflects the broader environment shaping the firm capacities of firms: (1) intensive growth poses particularly difficult policy challenges; (2) more difficult policy challenges require stronger institutions; and (3) institutions that promote upgrading emerge to the degree that political pressures compel national regimes to address external threats and domestic unrest absent easy access to resources necessary to do so.

Author(s):  
Richard F. Doner ◽  
Gregory W. Noble ◽  
John Ravenhill

This book offers a political economy explanation for the striking cross-national differences in strategies and performance among East Asia’s automotive industries. Some countries—China, South Korea, and Taiwan—have successfully pursued “intensive” growth strategies by increasing local value added based on domestic inputs and technological competencies. Malaysia has attempted but failed to pursue this path. In contrast, Thailand has become a champion of “extensive” growth, relying on foreign assemblers and their suppliers to achieve an impressive expansion of production, assembly, and exports. Latecomer Indonesia has followed Thailand with some success, whereas the Philippines has remained an automotive backwater. Through cross-case and within-case analyses of the seven countries, the book argues that variation is a function of the institutional and political contexts in which firms operate. Different strategies require different institutions and institutional capacities. Intensive development is especially institutionally demanding. Effective institutions emerge when political leaders face severe claims on resources (security threats and domestic pressures for welfare improvement) in the absence of easily accessible revenues to satisfy such needs. Brief comparisons with Brazil, Mexico, and other developing countries confirm the utility of the analytic framework. This explanation is superior to neoclassical accounts. It is consistent with but provides more insight than other prominent approaches to development: national innovation systems, global value chains, and developmental states. New challenges facing auto assemblers and suppliers, such as the transition to electric and autonomous vehicles, will call heavily upon the institutional capacities highlighted in this book.


Author(s):  
Richard F. Doner ◽  
Gregory W Noble ◽  
John Ravenhill

Where Thailand succeeded at extensive development, the Philippines and Indonesia long floundered. Both countries initiated systematic automotive industrialization efforts in the early 1970s. The Philippines developed a detailed program to combine local supplier upgrading with MNC (multinational corporation)-linked exports, whereas Indonesia pursued a more straightforward intensive development strategy aimed at a complete value chain based on local assemblers and suppliers. Neither succeeded. Permissive conditions—weak external threats, limited popular pressure, and relatively easy access to foreign exchange—undermined policy stability and hindered both countries’ efforts at developing institutions capable of strengthening local firms and linkages. Occasional moves toward more extensive development occurred in response to the sporadic tightening of economic pressures. These nevertheless resulted in distinctly different levels of progress: Indonesia has gradually begun to rival Thailand as an MNC assembly base, whereas despite the Philippines’ early status as an automotive pioneer, its auto industry has remained a case of “arrested development.”


Author(s):  
Hamida Mwilu ◽  
Reuben Njuguna

The dynamic nature of business operating environment has called on business leaders to be strategic in their leadership roles if they are to sustain their competitiveness into the unforeseen future. Growth is important in Sacco’s because it is future oriented establishing ways in which the organizational operations can be aligned to future changes in the business environment to ensure that competitiveness is sustained. The SACCOs in Kenya have experienced problems in the past; some even shutting down therefore there is need for customer growth to be enhanced so as to increase their incomes so as to sustain the business. These SACCOs have to look for leaders and managers who can develop future targets, direct and lead other staffs towards meeting the firm’s objective and gaining a competitive edge. The aim of this study was an assessment of corporate growth strategies and performance in savings and cooperative societies in Kenya, Nairobi County. The study sought to determine the influence of market expansion, diversification strategies and acquisition strategies. The study target population was 41 licensed SACCOs in Nairobi County. The study used primary data to collect information, and the data collection instrument was a questionnaire which was given to the 41 operations managers in the 41 selected SACCOs. The data collection procedure was done by the researcher and drop-and-pick strategy will be applied. The data was coded and keyed in Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS Version 23.0), and was analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. For descriptive statistics was through mean scores, standard deviations, frequencies and percentages, while the inferential statistics was through regression analysis to establish the relationship between strategic leadership and customer growth. The findings were presented in tables and charts for easy understanding, interpreting, and describing the data. The study established that market expansion, diversification strategies and acquisition strategies as corporate growth strategies had a positive and significant effect on the performance of SACCOs in Nairobi City County. The study concluded that the SACCOs significantly employed market expansion strategies through improved branch network, customer base enhancement, new distribution channels and technological innovation. The study concluded that the SACCOs embraced a hybrid of the main diversification strategies, diverse products and services significantly. It was concluded that to a little extent the selected SACCOs in Nairobi City County have employed acquisition as a corporate growth strategy. The study recommends that the SACCOs should embrace integrate technology in the implementation of corporate growth strategies to enhance efficiency and effectiveness.  Further studies should be undertaken to establish the effect of corporate growth strategies on the performance of other SACCOs in other regions to establish the disparities or similarities among the financial sector players. 


2017 ◽  
Vol 119 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-32
Author(s):  
Daniel H. Bowen ◽  
Jonathan N. Mills

Background/Context With a growing body of evidence to support the assertion that teacher quality is vital to producing better student outcomes, policymakers continue to seek solutions to attract and retain the best educators. Performance-based pay is a reform that has become popular in K–12 education over the last decade. This strategy potentially produces positive impacts on student achievement in two ways: better alignment of financial incentives with desired outcomes and improved the composition of the teacher workforce. While evaluations have primarily focused on the former result, there is little research on whether the longer-term implementation of these polices can attract more effective teachers. Purpose In this study we aim to provide evidence for potential long-term impacts that performance-based pay can have on the composition of the teacher workforce by addressing two questions: Does performance-based pay attract fundamentally different individuals, as measured by their risk preferences, to the teaching profession? Are stated preferences for a particular pay format correlated to measures of teacher quality? Research Design We apply methods from experimental economics and conduct surveys with 120 teachers from two school districts who have experienced performance pay. We compare the risk preferences of teachers hired under the two pay formats to test the hypothesis that performance-based pay attracts individuals with different characteristics to the profession. We also analyze teachers’ survey responses on their preferences for performance-based pay to determine their relationships to two measures of teacher quality: student test-score gains and principal evaluations. Conclusions/Recommendations We find mixed results regarding the ability of performance-based pay to alter the composition of the teacher workforce. Teachers hired with performance-based pay in place are no different from their colleagues. However, teachers claiming to seek employment in districts with performance-based pay in place appear significantly less risk averse. Surprisingly, additional analyses indicate that teachers’ value-added scores and performance evaluations do not predict a positive disposition towards merit pay. Thus, while these results indicate the possibility for performance-based pay to attract different individuals to teaching, they do not provide evidence that such change would necessarily improve the composition of the workforce. Policymakers should take this potential tradeoff into consideration when considering the expansion of performance pay policies.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Angelous Kotey ◽  
Richard Akomatey ◽  
Baah Aye Kusi

PurposeThis study examines the possible nonlinear effect of size on stakeholder and shareholder profitability in the Ghanaian insurance brokerage industry.Design/methodology/approachThis study employs a panel dataset of 64 Ghanaian insurance brokerage firms spanning 2011–2015. Static [ordinary least squares (OLS), fixed effect and random effect and dynamic (two-step generalized method of moments (GMM))] estimation techniques are employed to analyze the data.FindingsThe study finds the existence of both economies and diseconomies of scale and scope theories in the Ghanaian insurance brokerage industry confirming the existence of nonlinear nexus between size and performance. This finding is consistent for both stakeholder and shareholder profit performance. Thus, the results show that size improves profitability of insurance brokerage firms, but beyond a certain threshold, the relationship turns negative as size negatively affects profitability.Practical implicationsThe research findings have implications for both policy and research; the study recommends that Ghanaian brokerage managers should understand that not all growth is good and exercise a duty of care when applying growth strategies by monitoring size effect on performance so as not to go beyond the inflection point. Further research can be done to examine this effect in other contexts, timeframes and jurisdictions.Originality/valueThis research is unique in that it employs a panel dataset consisting of 96% of insurance brokerage firms in Ghana whilst employing both static and nonstatic regression models to examine the effect of size. The research analysis adopted is robust, and the findings are significant. Also, the lack of empirical studies on the operations and dealings of auxiliary institutions such as the insurance brokerage firms adds value to this research.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marianne Jennifer Datiles ◽  
Pedro Acevedo-Rodríguez

Abstract A. muricata is a small evergreen tree up to 9 m tall. It is native to tropical America but is widely planted in home gardens in South-East Asia. In Brazil, several small commercial plantations are in operation (about 2000 hectares are planted) with more planned. It was one of the earliest fruit trees introduced to the old world, brought to the Philippines by the Spanish. It is valued chiefly for its edible fruits, which are large (> 1 kg), heart-shaped and dark green in colour. The flesh is tart, desirable for ice creams and drinks, fruit jellies and sweetcakes. In the Philippines, young fruits with seeds still soft are used as a vegetable.


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