Influence without Organizations: State-Business Relations and their Impact on Business Environments in Contemporary Africa

2012 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott D. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Business Environment ◽  
Political Environment ◽  
Business Sector ◽  
Business Associations ◽  
Business Interests ◽  
Business Environments ◽  
Key Indicator ◽  
Doing Business ◽  
Bona Fide ◽  
Business Relations

Formal institutions such as business chambers have been assumed to be a key indicator of the health of state-business relations (SBR). Yet in Africa these organizations have seldom risen to the level of access and influence enjoyed by some of their counterparts elsewhere in the developing world. A number of recent studies of SBR in Africa continue to overstate the importance of business associations (BAs). Yet despite the widespread marginality of BAs in Africa, the receptiveness of African states to leading firms and business interests has increased markedly. While this poses certain risks of increased corruption, collusion and monopoly, the institutional and political environment for doing business has also improved, thereby fostering new opportunities for further business-related growth and business sector development among bona fide firms. Drawing on evidence from Zambia and elsewhere, this paper finds that the benefits provided to individual firms who enjoy state access can, paradoxically, contribute to an improved environment for other private sector actors whose interests are directly represented only in moribund formal associations. Even without strong BAs, when aided by the state, individual firms, and/or international actors, Africa's improved business environment has a salutary impact on growth.

scholarly journals The role of state- business relations in the performance of Zambia’s food processing sub-sector

2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (26) ◽  
pp. 83-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Godfrey Hampwaye ◽  
Soeren Jeppesen
Keyword(s):  
Food Processing ◽  
Growth And Development ◽  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Business Associations ◽  
Government Institutions ◽  
Food Processing Sector ◽  
Business Relations

Abstract In ensuring growth and development collaborative State-Business relations (SBRs) matters, and with economic growth comes increasing levels of employment, options for poverty reduction and hence more equitable development. Whereas it is known that SBR matters at a macro-economic level, the concept of SBR has also been employed in a more or less all-encompassing way in the literature. Accordingly, while it is clear that SBRs work, there is lack knowledge about which dimensions of SBRs are the most important. Due to the continued importance of agriculture in many developing countries, processing of the food produced in the sector is a key manufacturing activity of high economic importance to many economies. Ensuring collaborative SBRs in the food processing industry is therefore of interest to growth and development, particularly as it is a sector about which little is known about the role of SBRs. The paper attempts to examine how and why SBRs matter to and influence the growth and performance of local owned firms in the food processing sub-sector in Zambia. In particular, the paper analyses the roles and influence of government regulations and policies compared to those of business associations for the performance of the food processing sector in Zambia. The paper draws on primary data from a survey of firms in the food processing sector which was conducted between 2013 and 2014. It is shown that while the majority of the Zambian food processing firms experienced growth over the last five years, with increased employment and in a number of cases growing earnings, this seems to have happened in spite of a business environment which is not particularly supportive. The firms’ experience is that the SBRs mainly constitute institutional barriers to the performance of firms and highlight that formal government institutions and polices are incapable of assisting the firms and in most cases government institutions formulate and enact insufficient support schemes.

scholarly journals SMALL ENTERPRISE IN UKRAINE: ASSESSMENT OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC PREREQUISITES AND OBSTACLES FOR DEVELOPMENT

2021 ◽  
pp. 188-203
Author(s):  
G. Yurchik ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Small Business ◽  
Small Businesses ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Business Development ◽  
The State ◽  
Small Enterprise ◽  
Government Agencies ◽  
Business Sector ◽  
Doing Business ◽  
The Eu

The article substantiates an important factor in the socio-economic development of the state is the development of the business sector in general and small businesses in particular. This highlights the need to study the socio-economic preconditions and the state of formation and realization of the potential of small business in Ukraine. The article analyzes the quantitative indicators of small businesses (including those compared to the EU). According to the results of generalizing various surveys and monitoring, the main barriers to doing business in Ukraine are the low purchasing power of citizens, restrictive measures in connection with the pandemic, fiscal pressure, as well as pressure from government agencies, and corruption. It is established that according to the SME policy index, Ukraine, despite some improvement in the environment for the business sector, still has less favorable conditions for business activity compared to the Eastern Partnership countries. Based on the analysis of Ukraine’s rating positions according to a number of indices, it has been established that our state demonstrates the most unfavorable conditions for the development of small businesses according to the index of perception of corruption and economic freedom. Among the trends that indicate the improvement of conditions for the formation and realization of the potential of small business in Ukraine is the increase of Ukraine’s rating position on the indices of ease of doing business and ease of paying taxes. It is proved that the conditions of small business lending in Ukraine, although showing some improvement, still remain unfavorable and hinder the development of small businesses. An important tool for the formation and realization of the potential of small business is its grant support, the most important partner in providing which for Ukraine in the EU. It is proved that Ukraine has a well-developed infrastructure to support small businesses, but the formality of its operation is quite common. According to the criterion of compliance with the principle of predictability in regulatory activities, most government agencies show a fairly low level of predictability, which is a deterrent to business development, as it increases the uncertainty of the business environment. It is proved that despite the presence of a number of problems and deterrents for small business development, Ukraine has a significant number of strengths and opportunities for the formation, development, and realization of small business potential.

Environmental Scanning for Organisational Effectiveness: A Study of Select MSMEs of Jammu and Kashmir, India

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vinay Chauhan ◽  
Sushma Kaushal
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Effectiveness ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
The State ◽  
The Other ◽  
Political Environment ◽  
Environmental Scanning ◽  
Jammu And Kashmir ◽  
Economic Dimension ◽  
The Impact

Environmental scanning yields greater anticipatory management that provides important inputs for aquitision and use of information for planning and designing organization strategies. Apart from this, effective environmental scanning activities are likely to deal with threats and grasp the opportunities to finally link with enhancing organizational effectiveness. In fact this relationship matrix has led the researchers to conduct an environmental scanning through an examination of the existing status the components of the macro-environment vis-a-vis their relationship with the organizational effectiveness. There are a number of approaches, which describe the macro-environment, of which PEST analysis is regarded as the most common approach for considering the external business environment. Thus, the present study applies PEST analysis to scan the existing business environment. Jammu and Kashmir due to its peculiar political, geographical, economic, and socio-cultural features, had led its cost mountain economy become a distinctive identity. Despite the fact that the state has rich endowments, international relations with its neighbours vis-a-vis its impact on political environment also pose developmental challenges for the business units operating in the state. This has provided valid rationale for conducting the present. The environmental scanning is done through the perception of the select entrepreneurs operating MSMEs in the state of J & K. An impact analysis of environmental factors (PEST) on the organizational effectiveness is also done in the study. The findings of the study show that the political environment of the state that is not favourable for entrepreneural development whereas the rest of the other drivers of PEST i.e. economic environment, socio-cultural environment, and technological environment show a favourable response of the entrepreneurs. In terms of cause and effect relationship, it is found that the first two drivers of the PEST i.e. political and economic dimension impacts OE positively whereas the other two dimensions namely socio-cultural and technological impacts OE negatively but it is pertinent to mention that the impact is very less and is insigninificant. The study also suggests some of strategic options for developing and creating an enabling environment for successful entrepreneurial development to achieve integrated development of the state.

scholarly journals SERVICE CREATION FOR RE-NORMALISING ESSENTIAL BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT: A PREVENTION BASED DIGITAL TECH APPROACH

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 2631-2640
Author(s):  
Santosh Maurya ◽  
Tezuka Shin ◽  
Kentaro Watanabe ◽  
Hiroshi Nakagoe
Keyword(s):  
Work Environment ◽  
Digital Technology ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Business Owners ◽  
Proof Of Concept ◽  
Business Environments ◽  
Digital Services ◽  
Service Creation ◽  
Prevention Through Design ◽  
After Effect

AbstractThis research investigates service creation in/after effect of coronavirus pandemic targeting the essential business environment. It follows prevention through design approach to facilitate business owners to maintain their business environments at low COVID contraction risks, for both customers and staff. The effectiveness of recommended prevention practices (like social distancing and hand-sanitising) is uncertain at public workplaces, simply due to inevitable workers and customers interactions. Such uncertainty, especially in cases of retail stores and hospitals, raises a need for the design of services and support systems for common/necessary public business activities to reduce the burden on people involved. This research investigates the risk-related metrics to realise such digital services, focussing on three types: congestion at the work environment, disinfection of store area/objects, and sanitisation of people and staffs involved. Based on this, a digital technology-based service COVSAFE was created and tested through a proof-of-concept implementation for a supermarket business environment. This implementation and its evaluations highlight the bottlenecks/challenges for realising this system in everyday scenarios.

Adapting the scrum methodology for establishing the dynamic inter-organizational collaboration

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 852-866 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Reza Mollahoseini Ardakani ◽  
Seyyed Mohsen Hashemi ◽  
Mohammadreza Razzazi
Keyword(s):  
Value Added ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Professional Organizations ◽  
Business Practices ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Incremental Method ◽  
Business Environments ◽  
Project Life Cycle ◽  
Modern Business ◽  
Project Life

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose an applicable method for establishing the dynamic inter-organizational collaborations (DIOCs) based on the scrum methodology. Design/methodology/approach The scrum methodology embedded within the context of the DIOC project life cycle was used and adapted to being usable with specific characteristics of the project. Findings In order to succeed in the highly competitive, dynamic and changing business environments, the organizations need to change their view of business practices. The transition from the traditional status of manufacturing to the inter-organizational collaborations can be one of the fundamental changes in the modern business management. The proposed method has the capability to establish DIOCs effectively and efficiently whilst guaranteeing agility, competitiveness, and risk timely management. Originality/value Establishing collaborative alliances via association of various experienced and professional organizations and producing the value-added market’s need services is an effective and efficient solution for survival of SMEs in the current competitive, dynamic and changing business environment. So far, different frameworks, reference models/architectures, and many theoretical discussions have been presented for DIOCs context, but these representations are conceptual, empirical and generic. This paper aims to propose an applicable iterative and incremental method for establishing the DIOC which guarantees the agility and risk timely management of the establishment process and promotes competitiveness of partners.

scholarly journals Corporate Law Reform and the Political Environment: An Empirical Analysis Employing Public-Comment Procedure Data in Japan

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 309-328
Author(s):  
Hatsuru MORITA
Keyword(s):  
Business Environment ◽  
Corporate Law ◽  
Law Reform ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Environment ◽  
Reform Process ◽  
Corporate Managers ◽  
Legal Professionals ◽  
Public Comment ◽  
Technical Issues

AbstractCorporate law shapes the fundamental business environment and affects various stakeholders. It is possible to determine the behaviour of various stakeholders by examining the politics of the reform process of corporate law. In order to understand the process, this paper uses the notice-and-comment procedure (public-comment procedure). Under this procedure, people submit comments to the Ministry of Justice; some of the comments are reflected in the final Bill, while others are not. The paper performs a quantitative analysis of a hand-collected dataset from two recent public-comment procedures on corporate law reform. The results showed that the bureaucrats are rigid and not willing to take public comments seriously. However, on some technical issues, legal academics, and legal professionals influence the behaviour of the bureaucrats. In addition, the bureaucrats employed these comments to honour the technical views of professionals. In other cases, corporate managers significantly influence the reform process.

scholarly journals IMPLEMENTASI STRATEGI KEUNGGULAN BERSAING DAN PENDAMPINGAN REDESAIN KEMASAN DALAM MENINGKATKAN PENJUALAN PADA UKM RITEL DI TANGERANG

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanny Ekawati ◽  
Nur Hidayah ◽  
Purwanto Purwanto
Keyword(s):  
Competitive Advantage ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Product Packaging ◽  
Doing Business ◽  
Business Excellence ◽  
Retail Strategy ◽  
Retail Business ◽  
The Many ◽  
Product Sales ◽  
Internal And External Factors

The purpose of the activity is to implement a competitive advantage strategy in the retail business and assistance in making product packaging in increasing retail business sales in the Old Tangerang market. PKM activity is an inspiration from the many retail stores that are not able to increase sales, which is due to competitive advantage strategies that have not been carried out optimally. Given the retail strategy in building a competitive advantage is very necessary for a retailer. The location of the traditional market was chosen because it still needs help from various parties. Including from educational institutions. For this activity partners were chosen because of limited competitive advantage and limited knowledge of the strategy of excellence. In addition, the limitations of partners to build excellence, in assessing internal and external factors in the business environment through SWOT, are indispensable to assist retailers in assessing business excellence. Furthermore, to improve product sales value, better product packaging is needed, this has not been done by partners. The method offered in this activity is the provision of knowledge of retail business excellence strategies, SWOT strategies and packaging design in the form of FGDs, socialization and training. While the assistance is done by making product packaging that is more environmentally friendly. Through this activity will help overcome the problems of partners in doing business better than competitors. Thus the hope can help partners in increasing sales.ABSTRAK:Tujuan kegiatan adalah mengimplementasikan strategi keunggulan bersaing usaha ritel dan pendampingan membuat pengemasan produk dalam meninggkatkan penjualan Usaha Ritel di pasar Lama Tangerang. Kegiatan PKM merupakan inspirasi dari banyaknya toko ritel yang tidak mampu meningkatkan penjulan, yang dikarenakan strategi keunggulan bersaing yang belum dilakukan secara optimal. Mengingat strategi eceran dalam membangun keunggulan bersaing sangatlah diperlukan bagi seorang pengecer. Dipilih lokasi pasar tradisional karena masih sangat membutuhkan bantuan dari berbagai pihak. Termasuk dari lembaga pendidikan. Untuk kegiatn ini mitra yang dipilih karena masih lemahnya keunggulan bersaing, lemahnya pengetahuan akan strategi keunggulan. Selain itu keterbatasan mitra membangun keunggulan, dalam menilai faktor internal dan eksternal di lingkungan usaha melalui SWOT, yang sangat diperlukan untuk membantu peritel dalam menilai keunggulan usaha. Selanjutnya untuk meningkatkan nilai jual produk diperlukan kemasan produk yang lebih baik, hal ini belum dilakukan mitra. Metode yang ditawarkan dalam kegiatan ini adalah pemberian pengetahuan akan strategi keunggulan usaha ritel, strategi SWOT dan desain kemasan dalam bentuk FGD, sosialisasi dan pelatihan. Sedangkan pendampingan dilakukan dengan membuat kemasan produk yang lebih ramah lingkungan. Melalui kegiatan ini akan membantu mengatasi persoalan mitra dalam melakukan usaha secara lebih baik dibandingkan pesaing. Dengan demikian harapannya dapat membantu mitra dalam meningkatkan penjualan

scholarly journals Lithuania’s Competitiveness: Myths, Realities and Perspectives

Ekonomika ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jekaterina Rojaka
Keyword(s):  
International Comparisons ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Global Competitiveness ◽  
Doing Business ◽  
National Competitiveness ◽  
Economic Trends ◽  
World Economic ◽  
Business Entities ◽  
National Programs ◽  
Individual Economy

In recent years, the concept of national competitiveness and favourable business environment is broadly associated with economic development. The countries are increasingly paying attention to their competitiveness on global markets by promoting national programs and founding institutions aimed at tackling competitiveness issues. A number of leading international organizations, research institutes and business entities carry out global comparative studies on nation’s competitiveness. However, the global competitiveness ranking results are often inconsistent with economic trends. This raises a question whether the international competitiveness ran kings provide a proper guidance for an individual economy in improving the business environment. The paper aims at revealing the factors behind the discrepancies in evaluating a national competitiveness by international institutions and national agents. The analysis is based on the datasets of two influential publications - Doing Business (the World Bank) and Global Competitiveness Report (World Economic Forum). The study was enriched by a questionnaire, specially tailored to assess the most problematic issues in measuring the business and investment environment. The research has shown that the international comparisons only partially correspond to the national perception of competitiveness. The paper also addresses policy insights for enhancing Lithuania’s competitiveness.

scholarly journals Environmental Risks: Doing Business In China

2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack Ethridge ◽  
Treba Marsh ◽  
Esther Bunn
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Financial Statements ◽  
Risk Process ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Environmental Risks ◽  
Internal Factors ◽  
Audit Risk ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Doing Business ◽  
Business In China

Planning and conducting the audit of financial statements involves understanding the entity and the environment in which it operates.  First and foremost this requires identifying the risks faced by the entity.  Identifying these risks can be a complex and difficult task since the auditor needs to not only understand the entity’s risk process but also independently understand the risks facing the firm.  Tackling this task will involve a comprehensive review of the external and internal factors affecting the business.  It is possible many identified business risks are related to financial reporting risk and ultimately to audit risk.  Therefore, the auditor must understand the linkage between risks, controls and the audit.  The objective of this paper is to examine the risks faced by U.S. companies conducting business in China.  This paper attempts to identify a wide array of risks faced by U.S. companies to demonstrate how important it is for the company and the auditor to understand the business environment.

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