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The World Health Organization estimated that in 1999 roughly one-third of the world's population lacked access to essential medicines that would have saved or improved their lives. Our analysis focuses on how pharmaceutical product patents restrict access to essential medicines in developing countries. It is well established that pharmaceutical product patents provide little incentive for pharmaceutical companies to develop new medicines designed to treat diseases prevalent in developing countries or to market in developing countries those patented medicines developed to treat diseases prevalent in developed countries. Economists have developed theoretical models showing that these incentives could be changed if (1) developing countries provided intellectual property protection for new pharmaceutical innovations and (2) an international regulatory framework were established to facilitate pharmaceutical companies setting lower prices in developing countries and higher prices in developed countries for patented medicines. We develop an index of property rights in pharmaceutical innovations covering 129 countries from 1960 to 2005. It shows that in 1960 only a handful of countries provided significant protection for pharmaceutical innovations, but by 2005 over 95 percent of countries in our sample provided significant statutory protections. However, an international framework to allow pharmaceutical companies to price discriminate has not been put in place. We conclude that international price discrimination mechanisms, compulsory patent licenses, and regional patent buyouts are not viable mechanisms for providing access to essential medicines to patients in developing countries. Global patent buyouts are more likely to achieve this goal, as they are not founded on an impractical separation of pharmaceutical markets in developing and developed countries and they provide critical incentives to develop new essential medicines.

The objective of this study is to investigate how country risk, different political actions from the government and bureaucratic behavior influence the activities in industry supply chains (SCs) in emerging markets. The main objective of this study is to investigate the influence of these external stakeholders’ elements to the demand-side and supply-side drivers and barriers for improving competitiveness of Ready-Made Garment (RMG) industry in the way of analyzing supply chain. Considering the phenomenon of recent change in the RMG business environment and the competitiveness issues this study uses the principles of stakeholder and resource dependence theory and aims to find out some factors which influence to make an efficient supply chain for improving competitiveness. The RMG industry of Bangladesh is the case application of this study. Following a positivist paradigm, this study adopts a two phase sequential mixed-method research design consisting of qualitative and quantitative approaches. A tentative research model is developed first based on extensive literature review. Qualitative field study is then carried out to fine tune the initial research model. Findings from the qualitative method are also used to develop measures and instruments for the next phase of quantitative method. A survey is carried out with sample of top and middle level executives of different garment companies of Dhaka city in Bangladesh and the collected quantitative data are analyzed by partial least square-based structural equation modeling. The findings support eight hypotheses. From the analysis the external stakeholders’ elements like bureaucratic behavior and country risk have significant influence to the barriers. From the internal stakeholders’ point of view the manufacturers’ and buyers’ drivers have significant influence on the competitiveness. Therefore, stakeholders need to take proper action to reduce the barriers and increase the drivers, as the drivers have positive influence to improve competitiveness.

This study has both theoretical and practical contributions. This study represents an important contribution to the theory by integrating two theoretical perceptions to identify factors of the RMG industry’s SC that affect the competitiveness of the RMG industry. This research study contributes to the understanding of both external and internal stakeholders of national and international perspectives in the RMG (textile and clothing) business. It combines the insights of stakeholder and resource dependence theories along with the concept of the SC in improving effectiveness. In a practical sense, this study certainly contributes to the Bangladeshi RMG industry. In accordance with the desire of the RMG manufacturers, the research has shown that some influential constructs of the RMG industry’s SC affect the competitiveness of the RMG industry. The outcome of the study is useful for various stakeholders of the Bangladeshi RMG industry sector ranging from the government to various private organizations. The applications of this study are extendable through further adaptation in other industries and various geographic contexts.

New business density (NBD) is the ratio of the number of newly registered liability corporations to the working-age population per year. NBD is critical to assessing a country's business environment. The present work endeavors to discover and gauge the contribution of 28 potential socio-economic enablers of NBD for 2006–2021 across developed and developing economies separately and to make a comparative assessment between those two regions.

Using World Bank data, the study first performs exploratory data analysis (EDA). Then, it deploys a deep learning (DL)-based regression framework by utilizing a deep neural network (DNN) to perform predictive modeling of NBD for developed and developing nations. Subsequently, we use two explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) techniques, Shapley values and a partial dependence plot, to unveil the influence patterns of chosen enablers. Finally, the results from the DL method are validated with the explainable boosting machine (EBM) method.

This research analyzes the role of 28 potential socio-economic enablers of NBD in developed and developing countries. This research finds that the NBD in developed countries is predominantly governed by the contribution of manufacturing and service sectors to GDP. In contrast, the propensity for research and development and ease of doing business control the NBD of developing nations. The research findings also indicate four common enablers – business disclosure, ease of doing business, employment in industry and startup procedures for developed and developing countries.

NBD is directly linked to any nation's economic affairs. Therefore, assessing the NBD enablers is of paramount significance for channelizing capital for new business formation. It will guide investment firms and entrepreneurs in discovering the factors that significantly impact the NBD dynamics across different regions of the globe. Entrepreneurs fraught with inevitable market uncertainties while developing a new idea into a successful new business can momentously benefit from the awareness of crucial NBD enablers, which can serve as a basis for business risk assessment.

DL-based regression framework simultaneously caters to successful predictive modeling and model explanation for practical insights about NBD at the global level. It overcomes the limitations in the present literature that assume the NBD is country- and industry-specific, and factors of the NBD cannot be generalized globally. With DL-based regression and XAI methods, we prove our research hypothesis that NBD can be effectively assessed and compared with the help of global macro-level indicators. This research justifies the robustness of the findings by using the socio-economic data from the renowned data repository of the World Bank and by implementing the DL modeling with validation through the EBM method.

This paper aims to investigate and compare the sustainability reporting practices of companies in developing nations (BRIC) with those in the developed economies (the UK and USA) as per GRI framework.

Content analysis has been applied on a sample of 232 companies listed on the Stock Exchanges of developing and developed countries (Brazil – BOVESPA index, 39 companies; Russia – RTS index, 21 companies; India – SENSEX, 17 companies; China – SSE 50, 19 companies; the USA – NASDAQ 100 and Amex major market index, 58 companies and the UK – FTSE100, 78 companies). It uses descriptive statistics and independent sample t-test to identify significant comparisons.

The findings of this paper suggest that developing nations are providing more information on sustainability practices as compared to the companies in the developed nations. Overall mean disclosure score of developing countries is 59.04 per cent followed by that of the developed countries at 36.47 per cent. The result of independent sample t-test shows these differences significant at 1 per cent level.

The results of the current paper implicate that the corporate managers of the developing nations should prefer rational and purposive reporting. They should work on the quality of reporting rather than just filling pages because social and environmental issues are more gross in the developing nations as compared to the developed countries.

Developing and developed nations jointly use the scarce resources and provide output to the world, thereby raising sustenance issues. However, not even a single study was found while reviewing the literature that studied and compared the sustainability reporting practices of these countries.

Applying the internationalization process model (IPM) and the strategic fit perspective, this research aims to test the effects of firm age on Chinese firms’ outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) in developing and developed countries.

Using data on some Chinese firms, this study applied the zero-inflated negative binomial model and Heckman two-stage model to do the analyses.

This research found that firm age has different effects on Chinese firms’ OFDI in developed and developing countries. State ownership and industry munificence independently and jointly can moderate these effects.

This study contributes to the IPM and solves the theoretical conflict about the firm age–OFDI relationship.

This paper aims to reveal the influencing mechanism of the interaction between institutional environments in the home and host country on the accelerated internationalization of entrepreneurial enterprises from emerging economies (EE). The authors want to open the black box of home-country institutional environments’ moderating mechanism on the relationship between host-country institutional environments and accelerated internationalization.

The authors chose a massive interview method and case study method to answer this question. According to our standards, the authors chose four high-tech companies in Guangdong and Guangxi provinces as case study samples. During investigation in the four case companies, the authors collected print data of 150 pages and electric data of 3 pages. Then, the authors excavated concepts in data through open coding, axial coding and select-type coding and identified concepts’ dimensions and connections between them.

Well-developed home-country institutions can reduce the inhibitory effect of under-developed host-country institutions on the accelerated internationalization of entrepreneurial enterprises from emerging economies. Under-developed institutional environments in the home country are beneficial for entrepreneurial enterprises from EE to develop the institutional capability for entrepreneurial enterprises with stronger institutional capability from emerging economies. The inhibitory effect of under-developed institutional environments in the host country on their accelerated internationalization is weaker. The positive moderating role played by institutional voids in the home country on the relationship between institutional voids in the host country and the accelerated internationalization are mediated by the institutional capability of entrepreneurial enterprises from emerging economies.

The authors just refined the definition of institutional capability and divided its dimensions. Issues such as operationalization of institutional capability and the development of measurement scale are also worthy for future quantitative research. Considering the inherent defect of case study and that these four case companies are from Chinese high-tech industry, the external validity our research may be limited. The theoretical model that was constructed generally captured the relationships between dual institutional environments, institutional capability and EE entrepreneurial firms’ accelerated internationalization decision. Future studies may use a large-scale sample to verify the all propositions the authors introduced to draw more steady and reliable empirical study results.

The conclusions have significant implications for governments in EE to construct friendly institutional environments for international entrepreneurship and for entrepreneurial firms to implement internationalization strategies.

Policy makers should establish well-developed normative and cognitive institutional environment by cultivating global-orientated and open national culture and organizing experience exchange conference, thereby speeding up the implementation of internationalization strategies and further improving international competitiveness for a country.

First, the authors defined institutional capability as firms’ ability of establishing relationships with institution actors, adapting to institutional contexts, changing existing institutions or creating new ones to gain potential interests and suggested that it consists of three dimensions. Second, institutional voids in the home country positively moderate the relationship between under-developed institutional environments in the host country and the accelerated internationalization of entrepreneurial firms from EE. At last, institutional capability of firms negatively moderates the relationship between under-developed institutional environments in the host country and the accelerated internationalization of entrepreneurial firms from EE.

This study proposes to use the Theory of Planned Behaviour to predict entrepreneurial intentions among students in five developing and nine developed countries. The purpose is to investigate whether entrepreneurial intention and its antecedents differ between developing and developed countries, and to test the theory in the two groups of countries.

A total of 2,225 students in 13 countries participated in this study by responding to a structured questionnaire in classrooms. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data.

The findings indicate that respondents from developing countries have stronger entrepreneurial intentions than those from developed countries. Moreover, the respondents from developing countries also score higher on the theory's antecedents of entrepreneurial intentions – attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control – than respondents from developed countries. The findings support the Theory of Planned Behaviour in both developing and developed countries.

The findings strongly support the Theory of Planned Behaviour. The measure of subjective norms used, a multiple‐item index encompassing the views of other people and motivation to comply with these, seems to have advantages over other measures of this concept.

Developing countries need to focus on the development of institutions that can support entrepreneurial efforts. At the same time, developed economies may need to accept that entrepreneurial intentions are dependent on the dynamism of an economic environment and possibly on risk‐perceiving behaviours.

While multiple‐country studies on entrepreneurship in developing and developed countries have been called for, no previous study has compared entrepreneurial intentions between developing and developed countries. The inclusion of developing countries provides a unique quasi‐experimental setting in which to test the theory.

When one looks at the marketing literature, consumerism activity is treated as a developed country phenomenon. The reason for this is partially attributable to a complete lack of appropriate conceptual and methodological frameworks to study consumerism issues across cultures and nations, specifically in less‐developed countries. The purpose of this article is to develop working propositions to study consumerism in multiple environments. Consumerism issues in developed versus LDC environments are discussed and their implications for international trade and marketing are elucidated. The influences that various socio‐economic, governmental and cultural environments have upon consumerism are also examined.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the (three) critical issues that will need to be addressed in a post‐2012 (post‐Kyoto) global agreement on climate change, sets out the options and difficulties in relation to them, and outlines a way forward on each.

The paper assesses proposals for national and international mitigation already put forward both by negotiating countries and by academics.

Global mitigation efforts have so far achieved little and negotiations are currently deadlocked. This lack of progress has led to an proliferation of alternative policy proposals for an international agreement, but only those proposals which build on international agreements to date have at the current time any reasonable prospect of guiding global mitigation effort post‐2012. There are three main issues that will need to be addressed within that framework: emission reduction targets for developed countries; the nature and extent of actions to limit emissions growth in developing countries; and the funding of emission reduction efforts in developing countries. Using a number of explicit assumptions, the paper identifies likely ranges for emission reduction targets for developed countries and emission growth limits for developing countries. The best (worst) case involves developed countries as a group reducing 2020 emissions by 20 per cent (10 per cent) over 1990 levels, and developing countries limiting annual average emissions growth between 2012 and 2020 to 1.5 per cent (3.5 per cent) a year. This is estimated to give global emissions in 2020 in the range of 47‐53 Gt CO₂‐e. The bottom end of this range is consistent with the long‐term goal of stabilizing the concentration of greenhouse gases in the range of 550 CO₂‐e ppm, provided there is rapid adjustment post‐2020. Crucial to reaching a deal at the ambitious end of this range will be reform of the clean development mechanism, and a commitment by developed countries to large public funding in support of developing country mitigation.

The paper accepts the current negotiating framework, and provides a systematic and quantified treatment of the critical issues which arise within it.

This study aims to comparatively discuss the effect of lean manufacturing (LM) implementation in the manufacturing sectors of developing and developed countries.

An in-depth literature review focused on previous research published between 2015 and March 2020. The papers published by the databases such as Google Scholar, Scopus, ProQuest and Web of Science were used in the study. A total of 63 studies that focused on LM application in manufacturing industries in developing and developed countries were used in the research.

It was observed that LM improves operational performance for manufacturing organizations in developing and developed countries. Small and medium-sized enterprises in both developed and developing countries have difficulties transforming their organizations into lean organizations compared to large enterprises. Furthermore, the review also found that there seems to have been no paper had reported the negative impact of implementing LM in manufacturing industries in developing and developed countries from 2015 to March 2020.

The study used research papers written between January 2015 and March 2020 and only considered manufacturing organizations from developed and developing nations.

The study provides more insight into LM implementation in developing and developed countries. It gives the LM practices and the implications of applying these practices in manufacturing organizations for developing and developed countries.

A preliminary review of papers indicated that this seems to be the first paper that comparatively studies how LM implementation has affected manufacturing organizations in developed and developing countries. The study also assessed the LM practices commonly used by the manufacturing industries in developing and developed countries.