Studies in Trade and Investment: The Development Impact of Information Technology in Trade Facilitation

This chapter describes the impact of information technology (IT) in trade facilitation on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Philippines. The definition of SME varies across countries, and the Government of the Philippines has adopted one that includes micro- and cottage enterprises. The Government classifies establishments into four categories: (a) micro/cottage (1-9 persons in the workforce and with asset limit of P 3 million); (b) small (10-99 workers, with an asset limit of P 15 million); (c) medium (100-199 workers, with asset limit of P 100 million); and (d) large (more than 200 workers, and more than P 100 million in assets).Trade facilitation, automation, garment industry, IT, SMEs, export, customs, Philippines

The Impact of Information Technology in Trade Facilitation on Small and Medium Enterprises in the Philippines

The paper is focusing on electronic lodgment through web-based applications of value-added service providers as the IT-based trade facilitation measure, the survey of Customs Brokers conducted in this study revealed that lodgment time in the Philippines dropped to one hour or less as a result, compared to previous lodgment times of one and a half to one day.Information Techonology, Trade Facilitation, SME, Philippines

Meat and Dairy Processing Industry: Impact of Trade Policy Reforms on Performance, Competitiveness and Structure

Economic openness has been generally viewed as beneficial whether in terms of welfare or efficiency gains. While literature has incorporated that trade liberalization causes productivity growth, market structure has taken a prominent role in the analysis recently. This paper determines how it affects the adjustment responses of the firms. In particular, it establishes the market structure of the industry based on the firm’s behavior and describes the environment within which the industry operates. It also examines the performance, efficiency and competitiveness of the industry to determine the extent of the policy influence and structural factors.trade liberalization, trade reforms, trade sector, domestic resource cost, competitiveness, trade policies

A Review of the Remaining Import Restrictions

An accounting of the commodities ever subjected to import regulations shows that a significant number have been either restricted after being liberalized, liberalized after being restricted a second time, liberalized twice in a row, liberalized but not in Circular 1029, double-counted, mentioned as liberalized but having no specific PSCCs or could not be traced to previous regulations. Taking all these into account yields 250 remaining regulated commodities that exceeds the official count of 174 by 76 items or the number that has been left out of the Lists by Circular 1389. Regression results show that foreign equity is significantly positively correlated with the likelihood that an industry is protected by import restrictions. In addition, industrial concentration is significantly positively correlated with the presence of import restrictions and negatively correlated with tariffs. As an illustration of welfare effects of protection, the automotive assembly industry is used to demonstrate huge consumer/efficiency losses and large transfers to assemblers and components manufacturers. Controls are difficult to remove once instituted and the indecisiveness of government has made popular the lobbying of interest groups.trade liberalization, trade reforms, trade sector, import liberalization, competitiveness, import commodities, trade policies

An Evaluation of the Home Consumption Value System

The Philippines has been one among the few that still adheres to the home consumption valuation (HCV), a system that, according to many importers, results to overvaluation. This article assesses the validity of the claim through analysis of HCV’s impact on the level of protection structure. It also estimates the revenue effects of a change in valuation basis.Bureau of Customs, trade sector, import commodities, consumption pattern, valuation system

Business Views on Trade Facilitation

Business views on the most important barriers to trade facilitation are taken from two region-wide surveys in 2006 covering the ASEAN priority integration sectors, namely: agro-based, fisheries, automotive, electronics, e-ASEAN, healthcare, rubber, textile and apparel, wood-based, air travel, tourism, and logistics. The data were reassembled into (1) border procedures, (2) individual barriers, (3) broad categories of barriers, and the results ranked in terms of incidence and significance. Border procedures such as unofficial facilitation fees, tedious goods declaration, poor information on procedures, difficult release of goods, and complex refund and appeals process were the most widespread and serious. Logistics businesses were similarly affected by lengthy documentation, burdensome inspection, varying goods nomenclature, facilitation fees, poor regional coordination, and inefficient clearance. Across all types of barriers, for the goods sector, Customs procedures and their manner of implementation were prevalent, while quantity control measures, official and unofficial fees, and technical standards were significant. For the services sector, the operator's licensing requirement was the most common and severe, while high excise taxes, user fees, lengthy visa procedures, and market limits were further impediments. Logistics operators confirmed the singular importance of Customs procedures particularly time consuming documentation, followed by foreign ownership and transport-specific limitations. Time and monetary costs of complying were substantial.ASEAN Economic Community, ASEAN priority sectors, economic integration, trade facilitation, trade barriers, non tariff measures, Customs procedures, and border procedures.

Computer vision techniques for forest fire perception

This paper presents computer vision techniques for forest fire perception involving measurement of forest fire properties (fire front, flame height, flame inclination angle, fire base width) required for the implementation of advanced forest fire-fighting strategies. The system computes a 3D perception model of the fire and could also be used for visualizing the fire evolution in remote computer systems. The presented system integrates the processing of images from visual and infrared cameras. It applies sensor fusion techniques involving also telemetry sensors, and GPS. The paper also includes some results of forest fire experiments.European Commission EVG1-CT-2001-00043European Commission IST-2001-34304Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia DPI2005-0229

Desarrollo de formas superficiales en la Ciudad Encantada (Cuenca, España)

Resumen] La Ciudad Encantada, cerca de la ciudad de Cuenca, es morfológicamente un conjunto de rocas fungiformes, restos de platafórmas elongadas y arcos naturales modelados sobre dolomitas cretácicas de estructura subhorizontal. Su origen se atribuye a factores estructurales, presencia de estratos con diferente resistencia a la erosión, y ataque generalizado de la humedad primero subedáficamente y luego subaéreamente al pie de las formas actuales. Los factores que contribuyen a la estabilidad actual en la parte superior de estas formas, son los recubrimientos biológicos, la concentración de calcita o las variaciones locales en el régimen de humedad.Abstract] The Ciudad Encantada, near Cuenca, in east-central Spain, is a complex of mushroom-shaped rocks and elongate plateau remnants developed in flat-lying Cretaceous dolomite. Natural bridges are also presento The forms are attributed partly to structural factors, namely the presence of strata of contrasted resistance to weathering and erosion, but also to differential subsurface moisture attack beneath the plateau surface. Other factors contributing to the relative stability of the caprock include biotic coating, calcite concentration, and dryness at site scale

Autoeficacia y apoyo social en la intención emprendedora

El término autoeficacia hace referencia a la creencia que tiene alguien sobre poseer las capacidades para desempeñar las acciones necesarias que le permitan obtener los resultados deseados. En el estudio del proceso de emprendimiento se plantea que una fuerte autoeficacia emprendedora en estos individuos ayuda al desarrollo de las intenciones. No se encontraron diferencias significativas en autoeficacia en relación al sexo. No obstante, el análisis del entorno microsocial reveló que sí había diferencias significativas según el apoyo recibido en función del nivel de autoeficacia. Se obtuvo una relación positiva entre autoeficacia e intención emprendedora, no siendo ésta de igual magnitud y significación para los diferentes tipos de autoeficacia definidos teórica y empíricamente.The term self-efficacy refers to the belief that someone has about possess the capabilities to perform the necessary actions to enable it to obtain the desired results. In the study of the entrepreneurial process is proposed that a strong entrepreneurial self-efficacy in these individuals helps the development of intentions. There were no significant differences in self-efficacy in relation to sex. Howewer, microsocial environment analysis revealed that there was significant difference according to the support received by the level of self-efficacy. We obtained a positive relationship between entrepreneurial self-efficacy and intention, this being not equal in magnitude and significance for different types of self-efficacy defined theoretically and empirically.peerReviewe

La motivación y la intención emprendedora

La motivación es un proceso psicológico complejo que se encuentra detrás de todas las acciones humanas. Por extensión, también lo está en aquellas personas que tienen una mayor predisposición a la acción emprendedora. En este trabajo se ha tratado de hacer un perfil de los motivos, recursos y dificultades que están asociados con que esta intención sea mayor. Así, se ha dividido a los sujetos en tres grupos y se ha calculado y comparado las escalas que proponían, tratando de identificar qué era lo característico de cada uno. Se han encontrado resultados interesantes, como que los sujetos con una mayor intención emprendedora puntuaban más alto en la mayoría de los motivos evaluados. Esto nos sugiere que la intención emprendedora está relacionada positivamente con dar a los motivos un mayor valor.Motivation is a complex psychological process that lies behind all human actions. By extension, so is those people who have a higher predisposition to entrepreneurial action. In this work, we have tried to make a profile of the motives, resources and difficulties associated with this intention is greater. Thus, it has divided the subjects into three groups and then calculated and compared the proposed scales, trying to identify what was characteristic of each. We found interesting results, as subjects with higher entrepreneurial intention scored higher in most motives tested. This suggests that entrepreneurial intention is positively related to a high value on the motives.peerReviewe