Modern Services Exports from Emerging Countries—Perspectives and Opportunities

Traditionally, developed countries are the major exporters of services; however, technological developments in IT and communications over the last two decades have made it possible for developing countries to exploit their comparative advantage in some modern services. The driving force for this comparative advantage is the large pool of semi-skilled and skilled graduates in emerging countries who can deliver their services across borders, using advanced communication technologies. Why do emerging countries have increasing modern services exports? How are these exports explained by theory? What are the factors behind this export growth and the reasons to expect future growth? These are some of the important questions that researchers and policy-makers would like to find answers to and an attempt has been made to answer these questions in this paper. Identification of the sources of services export growth from emerging and developing countries can be attempted through established theories of goods trade and production. This paper reviews selected theory and empirical work in order to explain the underlying causes for growing exports of services. Causes for the export of modern services may include a comparative advantage of the exporting country, cost reduction for the importing firm through outsourcing, reduction in trading costs due to technological improvements and an increase in gains from services trade

Skills for Competitiveness, Jobs, and Employability in Developing Asia-Pacific

[Excerpt] The ADB International Skills Development Forum, held at ADB headquarters in December 2012, discussed key policy priorities and actions for skills development. It built on the discussions and outcomes of the first ADB International Skills Forum in December 2011. Government representatives, technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institutional heads, researchers, international organizations, policy research think tanks, and private sector representatives discussed skills development for employability and sustainable livelihoods. Of special importance to the forum discussions were the presentations of major studies from five organizations on skills and jobs that were released in 2012. This brief has been prepared by drawing on presentations and discussions at the 2012 forum and other related materials. Links to forum resources are provided on the last page of this brief

China-Africa’s Emerging Economic Links: A review under the Core-Periphery perspective

This essay has explored the validity of Marxist dependency theories in the context of the emerging China-Africa trade and economic relations. Whereas dependency theory assumes that economic domination runs across north-south geoeconomic patterns, this discussion has shown that the China-Africa economic links represent a distinct south-south dialectic occurring in an emerging new global economic configuration marked by a technology gap. Therefore, the discussion fails to support the idea that China’s involvement in Africa is of a conventional center-periphery type; which suggests the existence of nonexploitative, tough dependent, trade features. This dependence implies that external factors and decisions (included those related to China) also determine the real level of development in the Africa. Also worth mentioning is that for the first time Africa is drastically shifting its trade pattern away from its colonial framework: it too is becoming linked to a rapidly changing economy. Such a shift means that China’s own constant economic and social structural changes make it easy for Africa to adjust to the emerging new global economic order. At the same time, the China-Africa relationship is marked by unavoidable dialectic tensions like labor and competition issues. Even though synergies can be created by considering China’s legitimate interests in Africa and Africa’s own legitimate rights, no matter how well-intentioned China is, Africa must still generate its own technological capacities and rid itself of its legendary rampant corruption. Thus, both sides must admit that there will be no long-run benefit unless each contributes to the emergence of a new economic configuration that is deeply rooted not in mutual but in common or joint interests.China; Africa; Dependency theories; Economic Development; Globalization

International business: past, present and futures

This article provides the context for futures thinking in the field of international business (IB). The article begins by considering the nature of IB. Its historical development is then elaborated, before its current significance and trends are considered. Building on the review of past and present we speculate briefly on the possible futures of IB. In so doing, we provide a basis from which the contributions to this Special Issue on the Futures of IB can be understood and situated in a broader context

South-South Investment in Infrastructure: The Operation of Indian Firms in Developing Countries

Since 1990s South-South investment flows have assumed a considerable significance in the economic relations among developing countries. The host developing countries tend to see the growing FDI flows from co-developing economies as a prospective source of financial capital, skills and technologies useful for their economic development. However, there is clearly a lack of recognition among them about the potential of southern investment in improving their civil, social and industrial infrastructure. A distinction can be made between the two main forms in which developing country firms participate in the infrastructure sector of co-developing countries. The first is the project exports resorted by southern firms in various infrastructure areas like transportation, communication, energy, etc. The second form comprises direct investment operation of southern firms to provide infrastructure services to the end users. India presents a classic example of South-South investment in infrastructure sector with Indian firms consistently expanding their project exports and infrastructure-related FDI activities over the years. In the light of growing size of Indian project exports and infrastructure FDI, this study calls for evolving a holistic policy framework by both home and host developing countries to enhance the potential of such investment for infrastructure development.FDI, Project Exports, Developing Countries

Western Australia and the evolving regional order: challenges and opportunities

Executive Summary: 21st century Asia is a powerhouse in the contemporary global economy. In a short period of time it has closed the development gap between the Region and the rest of the world. All indications suggest that this growth performance will continue into the foreseeable future.Australia’s high levels of economic growth over the last decade are directly related to Asia’s ‘economic miracle,’ with Western Australia playing a lead role in Australia’s regional economic engagement. Indeed, the State has accounted for nearly 50 per cent of Australia’s commodity export trade in recent years, concentrated overwhelmingly in Asia. In this sense Australia, and Western Australia in particular, are becoming increasingly ‘hard wired’ into the Region. This presents many opportunities but also challenges.The First Murdoch Commission was established to identify how these opportunities may be pursued and how the challenges may be addressed. The initial impetus was that future prosperity required well-informed strategies and policy settings to optimise potential benefits and sustainable gains.The broad context of the inquiry was the contemporary rise of Asia. This rise is a story of success, yet it is success accompanied by significant challenges. Deepening regional integration is an essential part of the story, with the effect of distributing risks as well as benefits. The ongoing performance of the Region is thus also a question about addressing major problems including rapid urbanisation, resources security, demographic burdens and environmental pressures.This insight underpinned the deliberations of the Commission and its investigation of how economic engagement and the growing interdependency of Western Australia, Australia and the Region can be pursued to enhance mutual benefit and long-term resilience.A distinct feature of the Commission’s investigations was its regional approach. This included the composition of the Commission’s membership, and a series of meetings and consultations with various stakeholder groups and individuals in major regional centres. This approach was taken precisely because Australia’s core interests are now closely intertwined with Asia’s continuing prosperity and stability.The Commission found that there is a strategic choice to be taken by Australia: whether to remain a mere exporter to the Region or to become a more active participant engaging in the Region. The former choice leaves Australia susceptible to the volatilities of a game that it has little capacity to influence. By contrast, the latter offers Australia far greater potential influence, opportunity and long-term benefit for its economic prosperity and wider future. Efforts in this space should not underestimate the major challenges confronting both the Region and the Australian economy, and how regional cooperation can provide ways to address these challenges.Western Australia provided a fertile case for the Commission to examine regional opportunities and challenges from the standpoint of a sub-national unit. There is potential for Western Australia to develop a more prominent role in the Region, and the Commission identified various possibilities at hand.The Commission concluded that greater regional engagement offered many benefits. This includes opportunities for Australia to contribute to addressing some of the major challenges in the Region, especially in areas such as food security and capacity building. Western Australia in particular has a lot to offer and a lot to gain in this respect

Conceptual globalism and globalisation : an initiation

Although the use of these two terms began in the latter half of the twentieth century, they have a longer lineage. Concept economic globalism of contemporary kind can be traced back to the liberal thinking of classical economists like Adam Smith and Herbert Spencer. Terms like globalize were first seen in Reiser and Davies (1944). Webster International Dictionary included them in 1961, while they appeared in Oxford Dictionary in 1986. The term globalization was coined in 1962. Most major languages were quick to develop equivalent taxonomy. In business and economics, marketing legend Theodore Levitt of Harvard Business School used it first in 1983 in an article entitled "The Globalization of Markets". His article is regarded as an enduring classic and its insightful language is still relevant today

Crossing Disciplinary Borders: Latino/a Studies and Latin American Studies in the 1990s

Over the 30 years of their existence, studies of Latinos/as in the U.S. and the field of Latin American Studies have emerged largely as divided disciplines. That is, despite what would appear to be similar sensibilities including comparable criticisms of Western hegemony and the neocolonial practices of the U.S., as well as the political, economic, and cultural displacement of similar populations, the two areas of study have more often regarded each other as competitive colleagues rather than complimentary practices. In the following study, I examine the nature of the two disciplines paying particular attention to the political context surrounding their formations and the foundations of their discursive frameworks. I examine changes to these disciplines in the methodological and ideological shifts surrounding the emergence of empirical and postmodern studies, and the relationship between these theoretical shifts and the expansion of globalization. Finally, I conclude with a discussion of the emerging field of transnational and bi-national studies and the opportunities for crossing the disciplinary borders between Latino/as studies in the U.S. and Latin American Studies presented in this literature

Internationalization strategies of frontier Lusophone-African multinational enterprises: comparative case studies of Angola and Mozambique

Internationalization theories suggest that enterprises from emerging and frontier markets will adopt different entry modes than those in advanced economies. There are very few studies to date, however, examining the process of how multi-national enterprises (MNEs) from frontier markets internationalize or evaluating which factors influence their mode of entry into global markets. This research investigates the internationalization strategies of Lusophone Africa MNEs from Angola and Mozambique, more specifically their entry mode, to expand the framework for entry mode strategies to include the motivations and issues of MNEs from emerging and frontier economies. Surveys, as well as in-depth, in-country, qualitative interviews reveal that these frontier and emerging market MNEs opted for equity-based investment strategies as their preferred mode of entry. A significant group second group opted for e-commerce/e-business strategies, and direct and indirect exports. Finally, a smaller portion of the interviewees chose Greenfield investment as a mode of entry. Many of these MNEs could be classified as born global/INV.https://doi.org/10.1080/15475778.2017.1335127Accepted manuscriptPublished versio