Knowledge Economy Model for the State of Hidalgo

This article aims to create a knowledge economy model to be applied in the state of Hidalgo, conducting an exhaustive investigation on the formation of a knowledge economy, as well as a comparative analysis between the state of Hidalgo and nine states more than the Mexican Republic with a certain criterion, in relation to the factors that delimit said economy. These factors are a series of variables taken from 2015: literacy, upper secondary and higher education, researchers, Innovation Stimuli Program (PEI), Mixed Fund associated with the state government (FOMIX), telephony, internet, computers, television, patents, industrial designs and utility models. To later use a method created by the World Bank, which is called Knowledge Assessment Methodology (KAM).

Impact assessment of country risk on logistics performance using a Bayesian Belief Network model

PurposeThis paper aims to assess the impact of different drivers of country risk, including business environment, corruption, economic, environmental, financial, health and safety and political risks, on the country-level logistics performance.Design/methodology/approachThis study utilizes three datasets published by reputed international organizations, including the World Bank Group, AM Best and Global Risk Profile, to explore interactions among country risk drivers and the Logistics Performance Index (LPI) in a network setting. The LPI, published by the World Bank Group, is a composite measure of the country-level logistics performance. Using the three datasets, a Bayesian Belief Network (BBN) model is developed to investigate the relative importance of country risk drivers that influence logistics performance.FindingsThe results indicate a moderate to a strong correlation among individual risks and between individual risks and the LPI score. The financial risk significantly varies relative to the extreme states of the LPI score, whereas corruption risk and political risk are the most critical factors influencing the LPI score relative to their resilience and vulnerability potential, respectively.Originality/valueThis study has made two unique contributions to the literature on logistics performance assessment. First, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to establish associations between country risk drivers and country-level logistics performance in a probabilistic network setting. Second, a new BBN-based process has been proposed for logistics performance assessment and operationalized to help researchers and practitioners establish the relative importance of risk drivers influencing logistics performance. The key feature of the proposed process is adapting the BBN methodology to logistics performance assessment through the lens of risk analysis.

NATIONAL WEALTH MANAGEMENT FOR SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC GROWTH

The substantiations for the use of the indicator of national wealth, including produced, natural and human capital, as a tool for managing the sustainability of the economic growth of the state are given. Considering that at present the measurement of the National Wealth in the Republic of Belarus is limited to fixed assets, the approaches of the World Bank to assessing the National Wealth by countries of the world are considered. The amount and structure of the national wealth of the Republic of Belarus in the assessment of the World Bank based on data for 2018 is presented. A comparative analysis of the share of produced, natural and human capital in the Republic of Belarus, CIS countries, regions of the world and countries with different income levels is carried out. The approaches to the management of national wealth to ensure sustainable development are considered, allowing to diversify the portfolio of assets and ensure balanced investment in various assets to ensure greater sustainability of the state.

Exploratory study explicating value addition of emerging technologies in the infrastructure component of Logistics Performance Index (LPI)

India had undertaken several logistics development agendas.Initiatives were aligned to improve the logistics infrastructure in India. Advancement in technology had also benefited the logistics sector. Logistics Performance Index (LPI) has been a multi-dimensional evaluation criterion developed by the World Bank to assess logistics capabilities of countries. The LPI score of India had been low. Regarding this, present research study aimed to analyse the poor performance of India in LPI and how the deployment of emerging technologies could help improve it. The findings were based on a questionnaire shared with five experts. Delphi technique was applied for this study. The prioritization was identified through Analytical Hierarchy Process. The key findings in this study were prioritization of application of emerging technologies for various sub-dimensions of infrastructure like roadways, railways, ports, airports, warehouse, and institution. Emerging technologies like cloud computing, blockchain, internet of things were emphasized by experts to improve the infrastructure of India.

Land Resource Cards: An Innovative Approach to Empower Farmers for Site-Specific Farm Resource Management

The paper investigates an innovative extension approach of generation and distribution ofLand Resource Cards, developed from Land Resource Inventory database, used for site-specific farm resource management in watersheds adopted under World Bank funded Sujala-III project. Extent of reach, satisfaction level and training status of Land Resource Cardsin 12 model micro-watersheds located in different agro-climatic regions of Karnataka witha sample size of 720 farmers was assessed. The Land Resource Cards reached only 18 percent of farmers while 22 per cent of farmers were trained for its utilization. However, 77per cent were satisfied with the information provided and 23 per cent suggested for furtherimprovement in cards for greater utility. The overall farmer’s perception on capacity buildingon land resource cards revealed that they were very useful in farm-level resourcemanagement. Hence, need for replication of similar approach in all database drivenwatersheds to be implemented in the future with adoption of modifications is suggested.

Minority investor protection mechanisms and agency costs: An empirical study using a World Bank–developed approach

This study aims to examine the impact of minority investor protection mechanisms on agency costs. All relevant indicators of minority investor protection adapted from the World Bank’s annual ‘Doing Business’ reports, along with concentrated government ownership, are employed with a panel data sample of 135 Vietnamese listed firms during the period 2014–2018. It is found that the following mechanisms are effective in mitigating agency costs and hence agency problems at the firm level: 1) review and approval requirements for related-party transactions; 2) minority shareholders’ ability to sue and hold directors liable for their duties; 3) minority shareholders’ access to internal corporate documents; 4) investors’ rights to approve major corporate investment and sale of asset decisions; and 5) disclosure in annual reports of salaries, bonuses and other forms of remuneration to directors and management. Interestingly, board independence and controlling government shareholders are not confirmed to play significant roles in addressing agency problems. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first attempt at testing for the impact of minority investor protection mechanisms developed by the World Bank on agency costs at the firm level, hence providing empirical evidence for the adoption of the minority investor protection mechanisms promoted by the World Bank. This study also provides policy implications for selecting effective mechanisms to mitigate agency conflicts between controlling shareholders and minority investors in order to enhance the financial performance of firms in an Asian emerging market.