WTO Accession and Exports: Firm Level Evidence from Developing Economies

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
N Nuruzzaman ◽  
Ajai S. Gaur ◽  
Rakesh B. Sambharya
2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
pp. 733-759 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emanuel Gomes ◽  
Ferran Vendrell-Herrero ◽  
Kamel Mellahi ◽  
Duncan Angwin ◽  
Carlos M.P. Sousa

Purpose Whilst substantial evidence from low-corruption, developed market environments supports the view that more productive firms are more likely to export, there has been little research into analysing the link between productivity and exports in high corruption, developing market environments. The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, to test the premise of self-selection theory whether the association between productivity and export is maintained in high-corruption environments, and second to identify other variables explaining export activity in high-corruption contexts, including cluster networks and firms’ competences. Design/methodology/approach The authors draw on the World Bank Enterprise survey to undertake a cross-section analysis including 1,233 small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) located in nine African countries. The advantage of this database is that it contains information about the level of perceived corruption at firm level. Logistic regressions are performed for the full sample and for subsamples of firms in high- and low-corruption environments. Findings The findings demonstrate that the self-selection theory only applies to low-corruption environments, whereas in high-corruption environments, alternative factors such as cluster networks and outward-looking competences (OLC) exert a stronger influence on the exporting activity of African SMEs. Research limitations/implications This research contributes to the theory as it provides evidence that contradicts the validity of self-selection theory in high-corruption environments. The findings would benefit from further longitudinal investigation. Practical implications African SMEs need to consider cluster networks and OLC as important strategic factors that might enhance their international competitiveness. Originality/value The criticism of the self-selection theory is distinctive in the literature and has important implications for future research. The authors show that the contextualisation of existing theories matters and this opens a research avenue for further more sensitive contextualisation of existing theories in developing economies.


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 37
Author(s):  
Linh PHAM

The private sector is the primary source of local development in developing countries. Previous research in developing countries has documented many factors contributing to firm-level efficiency. However, which of these factors are most likely to correlate with efficiency? This paper studies the relative importance of the firm-level efficiency determinants in a transitional economy, using a firm-level panel dataset in Vietnam between 2005 and 2013. The empirical results show that firm-specific production and labor characteristics are the most significant determinants of efficiency. Thus, firms actively seeking to improve their own production process and labor force can be well-rewarded. Moreover, government technical supports and human resource training programs, combined with anti-corruption efforts, are beneficial for firm-level efficiency, thereby improving the living standards in developing economies.


Author(s):  
Anastasia R. Njiku ◽  
Ganka D. Nyamsogoro

Studies on technical efficiency and financial sustainability of firms respectively, have captured the attention of many scholars in both developed and developing economies over several decades. There are patchy empirical evidences however, that link technical efficiency and financial sustainability of small scale agro-processing firms in the context of developing economies like Tanzania. Sunflower Oil Processing Firms are of no exception as the sub-sector is dominated by small scale firms with no well documented relationship between technical efficiency and their financial sustainability. This study was set to determine the relationship between technical efficiency and financial sustainability while controlling for staff productivity. The study used firm level cross-sectional data collected from 219 sunflower oil processing firms randomly selected in Dodoma and Singida regions. A Multiple Linear Regression Model was used in analysing the data. Technical efficiency scores were estimated using Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) model. It was found that there exists a relationship between technical efficiency and financial sustainability of sunflower oil processing firms in Tanzania. The higher the technical efficiency the more Sunflower Oil Processing Firms will be financially sustainable. The findings of this study imply that improving technical efficiency levels is a pre-requisite for financial sustainability of Sunflower oil processing firms in Tanzania.


Author(s):  
Kaku Attah Damoah

AbstractThis article investigates the impact of Ghana’s World Trade Organization (WTO) accession on firm-level product and labor market imperfections. The article exploits a rich dataset of firm-level information to estimate markups and the degree of monopsony power enjoyed by manufacturing firms. The results indicate that price-cost margins declined while the degree of monopsony power increased in the wake of WTO accession. These diverging dynamics suggest that firms compress real wages to offset loss of market power in the product market due to increased international competition. This gives rise to an increase in the market imperfection gap, which gradually erodes the pro-competitive gains from trade. The article contributes to the literature by identifying channels through which allocative inefficiencies and misallocation can persist even after trade liberalization.


2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 179-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Faruk Arslan ◽  
Kallol K. Bagchi ◽  
Peeter Kirs

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 1643 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianhua Zhang ◽  
Mohammad Shahidul Islam

Identifying the determinants of firms’ investment in knowledge, this study first explores the heterogeneous impacts of research and development (R&D) on product, process, organization, and marketing innovation. Second, it examines if there exists a complementary (substitute) relation in terms of firms’ preference between four types of innovation. Studying 1500 firms of seven developing economies of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), we applied the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO), a machine learning-based regression, to identify key predictors likely to influence firms’ R&D propensity and intensity. Estimating the knowledge function, we found—in line with LASSO—that medium-sized firms, human capital (training) and credit facilities favorably affect firms’ decision to invest in R&D. Contrarily, the impact is adverse if the first or main product generates firms’ large share of revenue, a unique finding not captured by previous studies. The marginal effects of four univariate probit models indicate that firms’ investment in R&D translates into innovation. However, the application of the Geweke–Hajivassiliour–Keane (GHK)-simulator based multivariate probit, which considers simultaneity of firms’ innovation decisions that univariate probit ignores, suggests that the relationship between different types of innovation is complementary. Firms’ strategy to adopt a particular type of innovation is influenced by other types. This led to the estimation of R&D’s impact on technological and nontechnological innovation, which shows that while firms innovate both types, there is a skewed link between nontechnological innovation and the services sector.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 (260) ◽  
Author(s):  
Era Dabla-Norris ◽  
Mark Gradstein ◽  
Fedor Miryugin ◽  
Florian Misch

The extent of tax compliance has important implications for revenue yield, efficiency and the fairness of any tax system. Tax evasion undermines revenue collection, distorts competition, and undermines a country’s development prospects. In this paper, we investigate whether higher productivity causally leads to lower tax evasion. We first present stylized facts consistent with this view and develop a model that illustrates one potential transmission channel. Second, we test the model predictions at the firm level using the self-reported share of declared income as proxy for tax evasion for a large sample of emerging and developing economies. Our results suggests that productivity improvements by firms can lead to lower tax evasion.


2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 126-134
Author(s):  
M.V. Shagalkina ◽  

Migration is a great challenge of our time: people freely move across borders in search of better economic, career, and social opportunities. But besides being a challenge, migration brings benefits to countries and organizations around the world. This is due to the migration of highly skilled professionals fueling economies with human capital, which is recognized to drive economic performance, productivity, innovation, and competitive advantages of both firms and countries. This makes human capital and its carriers, i.e. talents, a scarce resource, which has led to the so-called “war for talent” worldwide. The ability to attract and retain highly skilled individuals explains the success of companies on a global scale. The aim of this study is to analyze the high-skilled migration from the perspective of the human capital theory, the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on human capital mobility, and to review successful examples of immigration policies of both developed and developing economies at the country and firm level.


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