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Nobody concerned with political economy can neglect the history of economic doctrines. Structural changes in the economy and society influence economic thinking and, conversely, innovative thought structures and attitudes have almost always forced economic institutions and modes of behaviour to adjust. We learn from the history of economic doctrines how a particular theory emerged and whether, and in which environment, it could take root. We can see how a school evolves out of a common methodological perception and similar techniques of analysis, and how it has to establish itself. The interaction between unresolved problems on the one hand, and the search for better solutions or explanations on the other, leads to a change in paradigma and to the formation of new lines of reasoning. As long as the real world is subject to progress and change scientific search for explanation must out of necessity continue.

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.

This paper attempts to trace and describe the role played by the government sector – the state – in promoting economic growth in Western societies since the Renaissance. One important conclusion is that the antagonism between state and market, which has characterised the twentieth century, is a relatively new phenomenon. Since the Renaissance one very important task of the state has been to create well‐functioning markets by providing a legal framework, standards, credit, physical infrastructure and – if necessary – to function temporarily as an entrepreneur of last resort. Early economists were acutely aware that national markets did not occur spontaneously, and they used “modern” ideas like synergies, increasing returns, and innovation theory when arguing for the right kind of government policy. In fact, mercantilist economics saw it as a main task to extend the synergetic economic effects observed within cities to the territory of a nation‐state. The paper argues that the classical Anglo‐Saxon tradition in economics – fundamentally focused on barter and distribution, rather than on production and knowledge – systematically fails to grasp these wider issues in economic development, and it brings in and discusses the role played by the state in alternative traditions of non‐equilibrium economics.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an understanding of the origins and journey of the fundamental ideas underpinning Michael Porter’s The Competitive Advantage of Nations as a means of assessing its influence.

Drawing on a reflection of the book’s text and associated works by Porter, the paper shows how Porter’s thinking evolved from his earlier writings, as well as how his ideas went through further periods of development following the publication of The Competitive Advantage of Nations.

The paper focuses on the emergence of Porter’s cluster theory and his growing acknowledgement of the role of innovation within processes of economic development. It shows how these concepts have provided a foundation for contemporary economic development practices. Also, the paper highlights how the fundamental concepts of Porter’s text have shifted from a unit of analysis focused on nations to one where subnational regions are the primary analytical unit.

The paper concludes by suggesting that the nature of Porter’s conceptual insights is likely to ensure the long-term endurance of the fundamental lessons contained within The Competitive Advantage of Nations.

This study aims to propose a model to examine the relationships between e-government development, cybersecurity commitment, business usage and economic prosperity of the country.

Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the country-level variables to explain the second-order impact of e-government development through the mediating role of cybersecurity commitment.

Findings suggest that e-government development demonstrated a stronger association with cybersecurity commitment and business usage. There is preliminary evidence that the improvement of cybersecurity measures initiated by e-government development will drive business usage and improve macroeconomic conditions.

This paper has constructed a theoretical model and validated it using publicly available archival data. Further, this study hypothesizes and demonstrates empirically the direct, as well as indirect relationships between e-government development, cybersecurity commitment, business usage and economic prosperity. To summarize, the study unearths the role of a nation’s cybersecurity commitment and how it is associated with other macro parameters in a country.

As an initial step, the present study highlights the pivotal role of e-government and its positive influence on cybersecurity commitment at the country level. Further, this study also recognizes the role of cyber commitment to boost information communication and technology usage in business, the use of e-government services for the profitability of the business and effectively influence economic prosperity.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between infrastructure development, rural–urban income inequality and poverty for BRICS economies.

Pedroni’s panel co-integration test and panel dynamic ordinary least squares (PDOLS) have been used to carry out the analysis.

The empirical findings confirm a long-run relationship among infrastructure development, poverty and rural–urban inequality. The PDOLS results suggest that both infrastructure development and economic growth lead to poverty reduction in BRICS. However, rural–urban income inequality aggravates poverty in these nations. The paper advocates for adopting policies aimed at strengthening infrastructure and achieving economic growth to reduce the current levels of poverty prevailing in the BRICS nations.

Significant limitations exist in the literature in terms of not clearly defining the nature of relationship and interlinkages between infrastructure development, poverty and inequality, with regard to the BRICS nations. The available studies mainly focus on the relationship between infrastructure and growth, with the universal agreement being that these two are positively related. However, it is still not right to assume that economic growth attributable to infrastructure development will, therefore, subsequently lead to a reduction in inequality. This forms the basis for this study, that is, to critically examine the relationship between infrastructure development, inequality and poverty for BRICS nations.

This study aims to evaluate the competitiveness of nations and seeks to answer the following research question: how does the competitiveness of nations include improvements in the quality of life, thus influencing and contributing to social progress in both social and economic indices?

This paper collected secondary data from the World Economic Forum and the socioeconomic dimensions of the Social Progress Imperative Index and considered the dimensions of these indices, which were demonstrated using Pearson’s correlation coefficient. The main focus was on the documentary analysis that was carried out to explain the realities of 121 countries from 2014 to 2017 as taken from these indices, considering the 10 countries at the top and bottom.

This study showed the use of new measures for the performance of nations that are less dependent on economics and focus more on social development, which may be a trend for the future of nations, and produce a more holistic view for the study. “Innovation” is the factor with the weakest relationship with social progress, which is justified by a weaker relationship with one of the subcategories, “basic human needs”, when analyzed in isolation. However, when the authors analyze the best and worst nations, the authors observe that economic factors are still prevalent, with the “institutions” and “infrastructure” factors being effective for improving competitiveness and the quality of life.

The findings represent a new, emerging configuration in country performance, but the study has its limitations, such as the use of only two pooled variables and the fact that it does not correlate their dimensions or variables.

This study can represents an expansion logic for measuring the performance of countries considering social factors. The main contributions of this study are its statistical evidence and documentary analysis of the relationship between economic and social variables. The main contribution of this paper is to show that over time (2014–2017) economic factors, as measured by the competitiveness index of nations, relate to aspects of social welfare, as measured by the social progress index.

Human resource is the asset for a nation’s development and growth. The skilful human resource will enhance the nation’s productivity and directly contribute to the economy growth. At the country level, a nation’s human resource development (HRD) policy and human resource trainings schemes will catalyst for the growth of the workforce’s productivity, especially in the Industrial Revolution 4.0 which requires advanced technological knowledge and specialists in particular fields such as digitalisation, artificial intelligence and quantum computing. This chapter discusses the HRD in developed, developing and less-developed countries and raise awareness and attention of organisations as well as nations to develop and train up human resource for the future growth of the countries.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the interconnection between the corporatisation of K-beauty and Korea’s nation branding exercise and its links with soft power. Through the investigation of the transformation of Korea’s beauty industry, the authors seek to illustrate the inter-relationship of the market systems and national identification practices.

This study employed the qualitative case study approach to examine the latest development of Korea’s medical tourism. Through analysing a variety of secondary data that associated to the latest development of cosmetic tourism, this paper presents the impact of the transformation and reconfiguration of Korea’s beauty industry on the country’s nation branding strategy and the development of Korea’s soft power in the global marketplace.

The findings highlight how Korea’s new cosmetic tourism industry contributed to the renewal of Korea’s nation brand in the global market. The findings also illustrate the interconnection of the emerging Korean popular cultural products (K-pop and K-beauty) in the regional and global marketplace.

The findings demonstrate the role of market in re-defining a nation’s brand and identity. The findings also illustrate how market-driven strategy influences the development of a nation’s soft power in the regional and/or global marketplace.

The study shows that practitioners can be active agents in nation branding. Through highlighting strategies to develop soft power within and beyond the country boundary, this study shows how market agents, governments and other stakeholders can co-create a market system that transform and reconfigure the nation brand in the global marketplace.

In additional to explore the transformation of the beauty industry in Korea, this paper also presents the history and transformation of the beauty standards in Korea and other Asian cultures. Such dialogue invites marketing and consumer researchers to further explore the role of history and culture in guiding the production and consumption of new (consumption) standards.

This is the first paper that connects the theory of soft power in nation branding and country-of-origin literature. The case analysis of the socio-historical development of K-beauty also demonstrates how non-Western cultural goods enter the international marketplace. In summary, this paper provides new conceptual framework that illustrates a new collaborative mechanism that engages government and practitioners to co-create new cultural norms and standards to the local and international markets.