Early International Entrepreneurship in China: Extent and Determinants

We use data on 3,948 Chinese firms obtained from the World Bank.s Investment Climate Private Enterprise Survey to investigate early international entrepreneurship (international new ventures) in China. The extent of early international entrepreneurship in China is significant: 65 per cent of the exporting firms start export operations within three years. Foreign shareholders within the firm and an entrepreneur with previous exporting experience are noted to significantly increase the probability that a firm internationalizes early. However, we find marked differences in the behaviour of indigenous and foreign-invested firms. Thus, while business networks are significant for firms wishing to export indirectly and for older indigenous firms, it is noted to delay the internationalization process of indigenous firms. Also, for an indigenous firm, the greater the foreign experience of its entrepreneur, the less likely it is to start exporting early.entrepreneurship, internationalization, international new ventures, exports, China

Export Diversification and Specialization in South Africa: Extent and Impact

Should developing countries focus on diversifying their export basket or should they instead specialize their exports according to their existing comparative advantage? In this paper we attempt to answer this question by reviewing the literature on export diversification and specialization, by investigating the extent of export diversification and specialization in South Africa over the period 1962-2000 and its relationship to GDP per capita. We use a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model to investigate the economy-wide impacts of greater export diversification versus greater export specialization. We find tentative evidence of a U-shaped relationship between per capita GDP and export specialization. Also, Granger causality test suggests that export diversification induces changes in GDP per capita. Our CGE simulations find that export diversification results in higher GDP growth and employment. The main channel for this observation is that greater export diversification results in a more substantial increase in exports (of between 1.28 and 7.03 per cent) than in the case of greater export specialization. We conclude by discussing some policy implications.exports, diversification, specialization, South Africa, general equilibrium modelling

Wine Science in the Omics Era: The Impact of Systems Biology on the Future of Wine Research

Industrial wine making confronts viticulturalists, wine makers, process engineers and scientists alike with a bewilderingarray of independent and semi-independent parameters that can in many cases only be optimized by trial and error.Furthermore, as most parameters are outside of individual control, predictability and consistency of the end productremain difficult to achieve. The traditional wine sciences of viticulture and oenology have been accumulating data setsand generating knowledge and know-how that has resulted in a significant optimization of the vine growing and winemaking processes. However, much of these processes remain based on empirical and even anecdotal evidence, andonly a small part of all the interactions and cause-effect relationships between individual input and output parametersis scientifically well understood. Indeed, the complexity of the process has prevented a deeper understanding of suchinteractions and causal relationships. New technologies and methods in the biological and chemical sciences, combinedwith improved tools of multivariate data analysis, open new opportunities to assess the entire vine growing and winemaking process from a more holistic perspective. This review outlines the current efforts to use the tools of systemsbiology in particular to better understand complex industrial processes such as wine making

Measuring the Vulnerability of Subnational Regions

A small but growing literature has been concerned about the economic (and environmental) vulnerability on the level of countries. Less attention is paid to the economic vulnerability of different regions within countries. By focusing on the vulnerability of subnational regions, our paper contributes to the small literature on the ?vulnerability of place?. We see the vulnerability of place as being due to vulnerability in various domains, such as economic vulnerability, vulnerability of environment, and governance, demographic and health fragilities. We use a subnational dataset on 354 magisterial districts from South Africa, recognize the potential relevance of measuring vulnerability on a subnational level, and construct a local vulnerability index (LVI) for the various districts. We condition this index on district per capita income and term this a vulnerability intervention index (VII) interpreting this as an indicator of where higher income per capita, often seen in the literature as a measure of resilience, will in itself be unlikely to reduce vulnerability.vulnerability, regional development, decentralization, South Africa

A Comparison of Inflation Expectations and Inflation Credibility in South Africa: Results from Survey Data

This paper reports a comparison of South African household inflation expectations and inflation credibility surveys undertaken in 2006 and 2008. The objective is to test for possible feed-through between inflating credibility and inflation expectations. It supplements similar earlier research that focused only on the 2006 survey results. The single most important difference between the survey results of 2006 and 2008 is that female and male respondents reported inflation expectations at the same level in 2006, while female respondents expected higher inflation than male respondents in the 2008 inflation expectations survey. More periodic survey data will be required for developing final conclusions on the possibility of feed-through effects. A very large percentage of respondents in the inflation credibility surveys indicate that they 'don't know' whether the historic rate of inflation is an accurate indication of price increases. It will be necessary to reconsider the structure of credibility surveys to increase the number of respondents providing views on the accuracy of historic inflation data.Inflation; inflation credibility; inflation expecttaions; inflation surveys; multinomial analysis

How does intellectual capital align with cyber security?

Purpose – To position the preservation and protection of intellectual capital as a cyber security concern. We outline the security requirements of intellectual capital to help Boards of Directors and executive management teams to understand their responsibilities and accountabilities in this respect.Design/Methodology/Approach – The research methodology is desk research. In other words, we gathered facts and existing research publications that helped us to define key terms, to formulate arguments to convince BoDs of the need to secure their intellectual capital, and to outline actions to be taken by BoDs to do so.Findings – Intellectual capital, as a valuable business resource, is related to information, knowledge and cyber security. Hence, preservation thereof is also related to cyber security governance, and merits attention from boards of directors.Implications – This paper clarifies boards of directors’ intellectual capital governance responsibilities, which encompass information, knowledge and cyber security governance.Social Implications – If boards of directors know how to embrace their intellectual capital governance responsibilities, this will help to ensure that such intellectual capital is preserved and secured.Practical Implications – We hope that boards of directors will benefit from our clarifications, and especially from the positioning of intellectual capital in cyber space.Originality/Value – This paper extends a previous paper published by Von Solms and Von Solms (2018), which clarified the key terms of information and cyber security, and the governance thereof. The originality and value is the focus on the securing of intellectual capital, a topic that has not yet received a great deal of attention from cyber security researchers

How to Increase the Growth Rate in South Africa?

Given the concern about the low growth rates in African countries, this paper deals with the issue of how to increase the said growth rates by using South Africa as a case study. This paper attempts to answer this question by examining the determinants of total factor productivity (TFP) and productivity growth. We utilise the theoretical insights from the Solow (1956) growth model and its extension by Mankiw, Romer and Weil (1992). Our empirical methodology is based on the London School of Economics Hendry’s General to Specific Instrumental Variable method and Gregory and Hansen’s (1996a; 1996b) structural break technique. Our findings imply that variables like human capital, trade openness, foreign direct investment, financial efficiency, democracy and financial reforms improves TFP and productivity growth in South Africa. Importantly, the key determinants appear to be democracy and financial liberalisation.Solow model; total factor productivity; productivity growth.

How to Increase the Growth Rate in South Africa?

Given the concern about the low growth rates in African countries, this paper deals with the issue of how to increase the said growth rates by using South Africa as a case study. This paper attempts to answer this question by examining the determinants of total factor productivity (TFP)and productivity growth. We utilise the theoretical insights from the Solow (1956) growth model and its extension by Mankiw, Romer and Weil (1992). Our empirical methodology is based on the London School of Economics Hendry’s General to Specific Instrumental Variable method and Gregory and Hansen’s (1996a; 1996b) structural break technique. Our findings imply that variables like human capital, trade openness, foreign direct investment, financial efficiency, democracy and financial reforms improves TFP and productivity growth in South Africa. Importantly, the key determinants appear to be democracy and financial liberalisation.Solow model; total factor productivity; productivity growth

Do Non-Economic Quality of Life Factors Drive Immigration?

This paper contributes to the immigration literature by generating two unique non-economic quality of life (QOL) indices and testing their role on recent migration patterns. Applying the generated quality of life indices in conjunction with other independent welfare measures to an extended gravity model of immigration for 16 OECD destination countries from 1991 to 2000 suggests an insignificant role for QOL in the immigration process. The panel results suggest that other economic variables such as the stock of immigrants from the source country already living in the OECD destination country, population size, relative incomes, and geographic factors all significantly drive the flow of immigration for the sample.immigration, quality of life, gravity model

Etiese kodes in ondernemings: ontwikkeling en implementering

Ethical codes in corporations: development and implementationEthical codes wiihin corporations have become increasingly popular in corporations over the last three decades. In South Africa too this trend is visible, mostly as a result of the recommendations of the King Report on Corporate Governance and also as a result of the postmodern business culture which some corporations have opted for. In this article important choices which have to be made in the process of developing an ethical business code are identified, as well as the main options concerning these choices. The article is based on a literature study of research on ethical codes done in the USA, Canada, Europe, Australia and South Africa