Indigenous Innovation In China: Implications For Sustainable Growth

This paper aims to examine indigenous innovation and draw implications for sustainable economic growth in China. It investigates China’s capacity and achievements in indigenous innovation at both the macro and micro levels. China’s indigenous innovation is also compared to that in other major economies in the world. It is found that China’s innovation development is well ahead of other economies at the similar stage of development but there is a gap between China and the world’s leading innovative economies. Both aggregate and disaggregate evidence shows that China is catching up rapidly with the world’s innovation leaders. If current growth momentum is maintained, China is well positioned to become one of the most innovative economies in the world in the coming decade. There are however some serious issues to be resolved before China’s innovation potential could be realized.Indigenous innovation, R&D, Chinese economy

An evaluation of total quality management practices on business performance of the Nigerian telecommunications sector: a case study of MTN Nigeria Limited

This study examines the effects of The Total Quality Management practices on Business Performance of the Nigerian Telecommunications Sector. A review of literatures on TQM shows that no study has been carried out on its application in the Nigerian Telecommunication sector hence the need for this research. To assess the situation One hundred and fifty (150) questionnaires were administered to customers of MTN Limited within the Lagos environ. These customers were randomly selected from five (5) different MTN customer care centres within the five divisions of Lagos State. These divisions include Epe, Ikorodu, Lagos Island, Lagos Mainland and Badagry. Thirty (30) questionnaires were administered at each centre. Fifty (50) questionnaires were also administered to employees of MTN and a total of twenty (20) questionnaires were administered to top management in the same organizations. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics and regression analysis. Our finding revealed that 90.7% of the changes that occurred in employees’ satisfaction could be traced to the policy and commitment of top management. It also shows that 69.4% of the changes in customer satisfaction could be attributed to continuous training in quality. The study recommended among other things the training of telecommunications personnel on Total Quality Management practices and the adoption of alternative renewable sources of energy like solar to address their energy problems

National Policies to Attract FDI in R&D: An Assessment of Brazil and Selected Countries

This paper is part of a project based on a broad data collection of policies in selected countries, with a special focus on the attraction of foreign R&D investments. The purpose of the research is to contribute to effective policy-making, capable of fostering multinational corporations? (MNCs) investments in Brazil. In this context, the paper aims at identifying and examining the main policies to attract MNC technological activities in China, India, Ireland, Israel, Singapore, and Taiwan, in order to illustrate successful experiences and, based on them, to analyse the Brazilian case. The experiences and, based on them, to analyse the Brazilian case. The international experiences are analysed bearing in mind that foreign direct investment (FDI) attraction policies are part of industrial and development policies, and should not be assessed or used in isolation. ...industrial policy, technology, foreign direct investment, MNC R&D activites

Competitiveness and Growth of the Mexican Economy.

We address the role that deep, structural factors may have as determinants of Mexico’s economic growth. We argue that Mexico’s poor growth performance appears to be associated not only with shorter-run events such as the "lost decade" of the eighties, but also with supply-side features of the economy that have been present for at least four decades. Mexico’s low competitiveness and poor growth potential seem to reflect an institutional framework that tends to support rigid, non-competitive market structures, and incentives that promote the allocation of resources towards unproductive rent-seeking activities relatively more than into investment, production, productivity, and adoption of superior technologies. We present examples of input markets where we believe these issues are central. We conclude that solving this situation requires microeconomic policies that lead to fundamental changes in the incentive structure of the economy.Competitiveness and growth, productivity, efficiency, comparative advantage.

Independent regulatory agencies in emerging economies

While the diffusion of independent regulatory agencies (IRAs) across economically advanced countries has attracted much scholarly attention in recent years, systematic work on their spread across developing countries is still scarce. In an effort to address this gap in literature, this paper aims to analyze the diffusion of regulatory agencies in emerging economies in Latin America, Asia, and Central and Eastern Europe. At this early stage of our research, we aim to emprically map out regulatory agencies in economic regulation sectors (e.g. competition, finance, and utilities/infrastructure) enjoying some degree of autonomy or independence in emerging economies, rather than limiting our focus solely on those that meet all the criteria for independence in the strictest definition of the term. Such exploratory analysis constitutes the first step towards studying processes of diffusion in general and the mechanisms that lead to the creation of regulatory agencies in these economies in particular. The second objective of this paper is to examine the mechanisms which we expect to be at work in the spread of IRAs in the selected emerging economies. We argue that despite the creation of a number of agencies in the countries concerned before 1990, diffusion has become evident and “interdependent”, as opposed to spurious in the 1990s.independent regulatory agencies; emerging economies

Evaluating indoor positioning systems in a shopping mall : the lessons learned from the IPIN 2018 competition

The Indoor Positioning and Indoor Navigation (IPIN) conference holds an annual competition in which indoor localization systems from different research groups worldwide are evaluated empirically. The objective of this competition is to establish a systematic evaluation methodology with rigorous metrics both for real-time (on-site) and post-processing (off-site) situations, in a realistic environment unfamiliar to the prototype developers. For the IPIN 2018 conference, this competition was held on September 22nd, 2018, in Atlantis, a large shopping mall in Nantes (France). Four competition tracks (two on-site and two off-site) were designed. They consisted of several 1 km routes traversing several floors of the mall. Along these paths, 180 points were topographically surveyed with a 10 cm accuracy, to serve as ground truth landmarks, combining theodolite measurements, differential global navigation satellite system (GNSS) and 3D scanner systems. 34 teams effectively competed. The accuracy score corresponds to the third quartile (75th percentile) of an error metric that combines the horizontal positioning error and the floor detection. The best results for the on-site tracks showed an accuracy score of 11.70 m (Track 1) and 5.50 m (Track 2), while the best results for the off-site tracks showed an accuracy score of 0.90 m (Track 3) and 1.30 m (Track 4). These results showed that it is possible to obtain high accuracy indoor positioning solutions in large, realistic environments using wearable light-weight sensors without deploying any beacon. This paper describes the organization work of the tracks, analyzes the methodology used to quantify the results, reviews the lessons learned from the competition and discusses its future

A Rule-based Forecasting System Integrating combining and Single Forecast for Decision Making

Many studies demonstrated that combining forecasts produces consistent but modest gains in accuracy. However, little researches define well the conditions under neither which combining is most effective nor how methods should be combined in each situation. In this paper, a rule-based forecasting system industry is proposed in order to compare forecast performance between combining forecasts and single forecasts, then define these conditions and to specify more effective combinations, finally suggest the best methods. Two comparative case studies for the telecommunications and TFT-LCD industry are proposed to examine the performance of the proposed system. Results from this study indicate that combining forecasts outperform single forecasts only when data set is data have various nonlinear characteristics. In this research, empirical evidence shows that rules based on causal forces improved the selection of forecasting methods, the structuring of time series, and the assessment of prediction intervals

Bilateral “WTO-Plus” Free Trade Agreements: The WTO Trade Policy Review of Singapore 2004

The World Trade Organisation’s 2004 Trade Policy Review of Singapore (WTO-TPR Singapore 2004) depicts the small and outward-oriented economy as one of the most open country to international trade and investment. The review highlights the benefits of the outward-oriented strategy that has enabled the Singapore economy to weather recent external shocks such as the Asian financial crisis to the SARS and to the recent unfavourable conditions in the Middle East. In particular, the report commended Singapore’s efforts on its liberalization of the services sector and its economic benefits to consumers and global trade. However, the WTO-TPR Singapore 2004 highlights several key areas of concerns: (a) the commitment to multilateral agreements with the rising number of bilateral free trade agreements signed by Singapore and (b) the lack of growth of total factor productivity, a key indicator for long-run efficiency of the economy. The paper addresses the above key concerns raised in the WTO’s TPR of Singapore in terms of its commitment to global trade in terms of WTO-plus bilateral FTAs, which intends to support multilateral trading system, and its overall industrial strategies to raise its competitiveness.

State transformation, reforms and economic performance in China, 1840–1910.

The period immediately after the Opium War (1840–42) marked the first stage of state transformation and economic reforms in modern China. During this period, the age-old socio-political and socio-economic structures and equilibria ended and new structures gradually took shape. Despite political hiccups, including the erosion of China’s sovereignty, the market worked its own way out and modern growth began.

Cluster-based industrial parks : a practical framework for action

They are being hailed as the new Holy Grail of economic development. The success of special economic zones (SEZ) in general and specialized ones in particular (industrial and technology parks) in countries as diverse as Australia, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, Ireland, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, and more recently, China; Korea; Taiwan, China; or Mauritius, has led several African leaders to launch new similar initiatives. This paper establishes a common point of reference for those who believe in the virtues of SEZs, explains why the many existing ones have not delivered the expected outcomes, and summarizes the key issues on the agenda. It then suggests cluster-based industrial parks as the most effective tool for developing competitive industries and generating employment, and provides some practical guidance to development practitioners and policymakers on the road ahead.Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Emerging Markets,Debt Markets,Labor Policies