A comparative study of small-scale fishery supply chains’ vulnerability and resilience to COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic and response has significantly disrupted fishery supply chains, creating shortages of essential foods and constraining livelihoods globally. Small-scale fisheries (SSFs) are responding to the pandemic in a variety of ways. Together, disruptions from and responses to COVID-19 illuminate existing vulnerabilities in the fish distribution paradigm and possible means of reducing system and actor sensitivity and exposure and increasing adaptive capacity. Integrating concepts from literature on supply chain disruptions, social-ecological systems, human wellbeing, vulnerability, and SSFs, we synthesize preliminary lessons from six case studies from Indonesia, the Philippines, Peru, Canada, and the United States. The SSF supply chains examined employ different distribution strategies and operate in different geographic, political, social, economic, and cultural contexts. Specifically, we ask (a) how resilient have different SSF supply chains been to COVID-19 impacts; (b) what do these initial outcomes indicate about the role of distribution strategies in determining the vulnerability of SSF supply chains to macroeconomic shocks; and (c) what key factors have shaped this vulnerability? Based on our findings, systemic changes that may reduce SSF vulnerability to future macroeconomic shocks include: diversification of distribution strategies, livelihoods, and products; development of local and domestic markets and distribution channels; reduced reliance on international markets; establishment of effective communication channels; and preparation for providing aid to directly assist supply chains and support consumer purchasing power.

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS IN THE ELEVATOR INDUSTRY: THE USE OF ICTs TO AVOID INFORMATION ASYMMETRY

Mergers and acquisitions operations continue to be one of the most explored growth strategies in all markets, and this is indeed the case in the elevator industry. The volume of investments grows year after year. It is the fastest way to grow in international and domestic markets, but the reality is that a high percentage of the operations carried out do not meet the expectations of the investors once the integration phase has been completed. There are several causes of failures in mergers and acquisitions processes, such as lack of commitment from the management, an unrealistic business plan, cultural shock, etc. But the most common one, and the one with the highest risk in an acquisition decision, is information asymmetry. During the negotiation phase a large amount of data is collected, and subsequently analyzed during the due diligence period, but it may not correspond to the reality during the integration phase. In this article we will propose how information asymmetry can be avoided through the application of information and communication technologies (ICTs) via internet of things (hereinafter IoT) devices in the elevator industry. This can also be applied to other industries.

Foreign States in Domestic Markets

Political economy debates have focused on the internationalization of private capital. But foreign states increasingly enter domestic markets as financial investors. How do policy makers in recipient countries react? Do they treat purchases as a threat and impose restrictions or see them as beneficial and welcome them? What are the wider implications for debates about state capacities to govern domestic economies in the face of internationalization of financial markets? In response, the book develops the concept of ‘internationalized statism’—governments welcoming and using foreign state investments to govern their domestic economies—and applies it to the most prominent overseas state investors: Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs). Many SWFs are from Asia and the Middle East and their number and size have greatly expanded, reaching $9 trillion by 2020. The book examines policies towards non-Western SWFs buying company shares in four countries: the US, the UK, France, and Germany. Although the US has imposed significant legal restrictions, the others have pursued internationalized statism in ways that are surprising given both popular and political economy classifications. The book argues that the policy patterns found are related to domestic politics, notably the preferences and capacities of the political executive and legislature, rather than solely economic needs or national security risks. The phenomenon of internationalized statism underlines that overseas state investment provides policy makers in recipient states with new allies and resources. The study of SWFs shows how and why internationalization and liberalization of financial markets offer national policy makers opportunities to govern their domestic economies.

Foreign States in Domestic Markets

Comparison of the four countries shows that internationalized statism has developed in the UK, France, and Germany in ways that appear surprising given both popular and academic writings, although there are important cross-national differences in its forms. The US has seen the lowest level of internationalized statism, whereas the UK has pursued extensive and undirected internationalized statism. France and Germany occupy intermediate and more directed forms of internationalized statism. The findings cannot be fully explained by the Sovereign Wealth Funds’ (SWFs’) countries of origin and their choice of investments and also run counter to several expectations about the role of the state and general economic openness. Instead, the chapter offers a political and statist analysis of the growth of internationalized statism by looking within the state, notably at its structure, and the political strategies of policy makers. It also develops wider implications for political economy debates. The findings add to new statist arguments that the state is an active participant in internationalized and liberalized financial markets. Policy makers can use overseas state investors to pursue their domestic political strategies and adapt traditional forms of ‘industrial policies’. Internationalized statism shows that states can use developments in financial markets to find new resources and allies from overseas states to govern their domestic economies. By bringing in the state as an international investor, it shows how liberalization and internationalization can offer novel opportunities for states.

An Analysis of Covid-19 Supply and Demand, and Impacts on the Post-Pandemic World

Covid-19 has impacted the world in an unprecedented way. The astounding rate that Covid-19 spreads has made it a universal and ubiquitous threat, affecting every facet of our daily life, causing changes in behavioral characteristics among individuals, communities, and governments. Accordingly, there have been drastic changes in domestic markets, governmental policies, and decision-making processes in this environment in supply and demand. This paper reviews the current market situation facing Covid 19, economic sector’s responses so far and its impact on post-pandemic era. Covid-19 has been a warning sign that we have to do better. Although the world was unprepared for this global crisis, this could be an opportunity for governments and businesses to learn from the experience and harden up to do better under abrupt challenges that could arise in the future.

Regulatory regionalism and the limits of ASEAN banking integration: The case of Indonesia

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) aims to integrate the banking industry in the region. To achieve this, ASEAN members have agreed to create the ASEAN Banking Integration Framework (ABIF) to support such integration. Despite being endorsed in 2014, the framework remains vague and lacks clear policy coordination arrangements as well as standardisation instruments that enable ASEAN member states to integrate their banking sectors. This article examines why the member states agreed to such regulatory arrangements. Building upon the regulatory regionalism approach, we argue that the regulatory arrangement is underpinned by a socio-political struggle among dominant social forces in ASEAN. The article further argues that the political endeavour to internationalise domestic capital through the banking integration project remains problematic, given that local banking players seem to largely focus on protecting and penetrating domestic markets rather than regional expansion. This has hindered the progress of regional banking integration in ASEAN. To substantiate this argument, we use Indonesia’s engagement in the process as a case study. This article contributes to the study of political economies of banking integration outside of the European experiment by emphasising the importance of state–society relations in shaping the outcome of regional integration.

The curation of European Netflix catalogues on social media: The key role of transnational and local cultural traits

This article aims to analyse how Netflix uses social media to generate a dialogue between the local and transnational layers of television, to position its brand and curate content in domestic markets. Within the frame of transnationalism, a cross-cultural comparative study has been conducted in three different local European markets: the United Kingdom, Spain and the Nordic region. The results show the negotiation between transnationalisation and the needs of local cultural distinctiveness through language adaptation, emphasis on in-house original US flagship productions, the overrepresentation of original local content and use of cultural references at different levels.

Peculiarities of foreign economic activity management of enterprises

Introduction. The paper is devoted to the problems of research of features and modern mechanisms of economic regulation of foreign economic activity of enterprises in Ukraine. The purpose of the paper is to improve the scientific and methodological basis for stimulating the development of foreign economic activity of enterprises and substantiation of the theoretical foundations of foreign economic activity of enterprises in order to further their development in the today's globalized world. Results. It is determined that one of the problems of foreign economic activity of enterprises is the problem of inefficient management system, lack of strategic and marketing approaches to enterprise management, and enterprises more often use the technique of short-term adaptation. An enterprise focused on the development of foreign economic activity should develop approaches to improve international marketing, especially in terms of making effective management decisions based on the processing of a significant amount of information data and assessing the factors of the international market environment. The main condition for the adaptation of enterprises to the rapidly changing external environment may be the formation of a system of strategic planning, which provides a more rational use of limited resources, promotes consistent development and implementation of management decisions, focuses on sustainable development in market conditions. The management staff should clearly formulate the principles of strategic research in order to intensify foreign trade in industrial enterprises, and most importantly – formed a marketing strategy for foreign trade. The main means of increasing the potential of foreign economic activity of enterprises are the formation of such economic conditions that would allow due to modernization of production to increase domestic production and services, introduce innovative technologies. Conclusion. In order to improve the foreign economic activity of Ukrainian enterprises, it is proposed to implement a policy aimed at increasing merchandise exports by introducing innovative developments to improve the quality of domestic products, which must meet international norms and standards necessary to create a sufficient level of competitiveness in domestic markets.

Which Aspect of Firm Performance is Important for the Choice of Globalization Mode?

The relationship between firm performance and the choice of globalization mode, such as exports, foreign direct investment (FDI), and foreign outsourcing (FO), has been extensively investigated. For example, Melitz (2003) theoretically predicts a premium in productivity for firms engaging in exporting goods, relative to those supplying goods only to their domestic markets.

Emerging Market Global Players: The Case of Brazil, China and South Africa

A remarkable proliferation in the number of non-financial emerging multinational enterprises (NFEMNEs) and their share in the aggregate outward foreign direct investment (OFDI), along with the complexity of their FDI activities, has been witnessed over the past decades. Consequently, considerable interest has been generated within and among countries regarding the implications of these relatively new significant emerging global players for a range of economic and policy issues. In order to understand the gaps in knowledge pertaining to their identities, activities and impacts, this article employs the results of our 2015 emerging markets global players (EMGP) reports to make logical and informed insinuations about the structure and profile of NFEMNEs originating from China, Brazil and South Africa, the largest emerging markets in Asia, Latin America and Africa. We also synthesise and compare the outcomes of the 2015 EMGP reports of these OFDI home countries. We find the existence of a pattern in the ranked top NFEMNEs, from each country, in terms of industry sectors, regionalism and national bias. Furthermore, we establish that the respective NFEMNEs participated in international markets to pursue larger markets, natural resources and strategic assets and were not crowded out of their domestic markets by inward FDI.