Search results

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the literature by introducing a novel index that measures ease of doing business (EDB) at the sub-national level. The authors provide a comprehensive assessment of both de jure and de facto business conditions in 21 sub-national economies of India, with the help of a holistic framework that encompasses indicators capturing Attractiveness to Investors, Business Friendliness and Competitive Policies (ABC), the three broad environments that constitute the EDB–ABC index.

The authors’ index EDB–ABC index is constructed using 81 indicators. The index values reported are standardized scores and the framework is applied to 21 Indian sub-national economies. The bottom-up approach takes into account the various operational issues that firms face at the ground level, with the emphasis being on de facto issues. A unique feature of the index is its emphasis on collecting extensive survey data at the sub-national level, given that several constraints that businesses face lie under the purview of the sub-national governments. It also combines publicly available macroeconomic data through formal statistical publications.

The findings suggest a positive association between the proposed EDB–ABC index and competitiveness of as well as investments into Indian sub-national economies. In terms of explanatory power, the authors find that indicators capturing attractiveness to investors and business friendliness which are representative of de facto implementation issues at the sub-national matter more than de jure competitive policies. It is also striking that the results are in stark contrast to the existing doing business studies highlighting the importance of the comprehensiveness of the index.

Easing the impediments to doing business is a pre-requisite to enhance both domestic as well as foreign investments. Existing indicators on doing business provide an incomplete picture about the prevailing business conditions as the basis for such rankings are de jure regulations and not de facto. The authors depart from this tradition by dealing with both de jure and de facto business conditions using a combination of primary and secondary data at the sub-national level in India.

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 seeks to examine the interrelationship between inclusive business, private sector credit and economic welfare in Africa.

The study uses the seemingly unrelated regression, system generalized method of moments and bootstrap quantile regression in a panel of 54 economies in Africa, over the period 2006–2020.

The authors show that countries that provide more credit to the private sector have better incentives to enhance the ease of doing business. The authors find that ease of doing business and domestic credit to the private sector have a positive and significant effect on economic welfare at higher quantile levels. The authors find that ease of doing business substitutes private sector credit to boost economic welfare, while business account complements private sector credit to boost economic welfare. The authors show that the marginal effect of inclusive business on economic welfare is greater in countries that provide more credit to the private sector.

The implication is that countries that focus on developing their private sector (through credit expansion) should be able to encourage or facilitate the inclusion of businesses to achieve a sustainable economic welfare.

The implication is that policymakers should be able to develop their business environment through inclusive financing so as to build business confidence in the society.

The paper examines the interrelationship between inclusive business, private sector credit and economic welfare in Africa.

This study examines which dimensions of a business environment are most important for attracting globally mobile self-initiated expatriates to a country. The authors use secondary data from the World Bank, the World Economic Forum, IMD and the World Population Review to test eight hypotheses involving six macro-contextual factors that prior studies suggest attract internationally mobile skilled professionals, such as self-initiated expatriates, to a country's business environment. The macro-contextual factors examined are socio-cultural, economic, natural, ecological, technological clusters and legal and regulatory.

The authors use secondary data from the World Bank, IMD, World Population Report and the World Economic Forum to test eight hypotheses concerning macro-contextual factors that attract self-initiated expatriates to a country's business environment.

The study finds that factors such as the ease of hiring foreign labor, the use of English, macroeconomic stability, the diversity of the workforce and the quality of life in a country positively influence the attractiveness of its business environment to self-initiated expatriates. The study also finds that a business environment's socio-cultural, natural, economic and legal and regulatory macro-contextual attributes make it attractive to self-initiated expatriates.

To reduce common source bias, the authors use secondary data from four sources to examine which of six macro-contextual factors make a sample of 63 national business environments attractive to self-initiated expatriates. This study is one of the few to examine the impact of business environments on global mobility.

This study aims to answer two questions: (a) what obstacles and opportunities do Chinese female entrepreneurs face when doing business? And (b) how do they negotiate their entrepreneurial careers and gender identities in different gender-segregated markets?

This study uses qualitative research methods of participant observation and in-depth interviews with 41 female entrepreneurs in China and the theoretical lenses of gender role theory and doing gender in entrepreneurship.

The study findings reveal that Chinese female entrepreneurs face different obstacles and opportunities in gender-segregated industries. Their experiences vary in industries that are mainly occupied by males and females. On the one hand, women in female-dominated industries may be supported by a feminine working environment that is coherent with their domestic roles. However, they may also be questioned on the cultural impurity implied in some industries, which harms their class-based feminine virtue. On the other hand, women in male-dominated industries may be challenged and marginalized due to their gender. However, some find ways to turn the disadvantaged feminine characters into favourable conditions and break out of the stereotypical gender constraints in doing business.

This study contributes to the literature on gender and entrepreneurship in general. More specifically, it contributes to the study of doing gender in gender-segregated markets, and it also illustrates women’s gendered opportunities and constraints in Chinese society that are affected by the long-lasting traditional gender norms.

The study of international business has become increasingly important in recent years. So important that the American Assembly of the Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) has called for the internationalisation of business curricula. In 1992 and beyond, successful business people will treat the entire world as their domain. No one country can operate in an economic vacuum. Any economic measures taken by one country can affect the global economy. This book is designed to challenge the reader to develop a global perspective of international business. Globalisation is by no means a new concept, but there are many new factors that have contributed to its recently accelerated growth. Among them, the new technologies in communication and transport that have resulted in major expansions of international trade and investment. In the future, the world market will become predominant. There are bound to be big changes in the world economy. For instance the changes in Eastern Europe and the European Community during the 1990s. With a strong knowledge base in international business, future managers will be better prepared for the new world market. This book introduces its readers to the exciting and rewarding field of international management and international corporations. It is written in contemporary, easy‐to‐understand language, avoiding abstract terminology; and is organised into five sections, each of which includes a number of chapters that cover a subject involving activities that cross national boundaries.

This paper aims to investigate the influence of the regional business environment on local firm innovation, considering various dimensions such as administrative, financial and legal environments.

Multiple regression analysis is employed to analyze archival data for firms listed on Chinese stock markets.

We find that the optimizations of the administrative and financial environments positively affect firm innovation, whereas the legal environment does not exert a similar impact. Our analysis also reveals that the business environment’s optimization significantly influences innovation in firms that are small, non-state-owned and operating in high-tech industries. Furthermore, the business environment acts as a moderating variable in the relationship between firm innovation and firm value.

This study contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of institutional-level determinants of firm innovation, highlighting the nuances of the legal environment and the importance of context-specific analysis, especially in emerging markets like China.

Developing countries can significantly enhance firm innovation by improving the business environment, including the optimization of administrative and financial systems, reducing transaction costs and ensuring capital supply. Tailored legal frameworks and alternative institutional strategies may also be explored.

This study explicitly emphasizes the governmental role in promoting firm innovation, shedding light on policy formulation and strategic alignment with local administrative policies.

To the best of our knowledge, this paper is the first to explore the relationship between the business environment and firm innovation using World Bank indicators in an emerging market context, providing novel insights into the unique dynamics of legal, financial and administrative sub-environments.

This paper seeks to discover whether and how a subsidiary located in a high‐corruption host country can pursue its parent's corporate non‐corrupt strategy, rooted in a low‐corruption home country. Theoretically, it aims to apply the construct of institutional duality. It also aims to argue that the subsidiary's strategic response is contingent to the relative strength of two sets of institutional demands: the articulation of the multinational company's (MNC's) corporate policy towards corruption; and the direct influence of the host country corruption on the subsidiary's daily business.

A qualitative analysis of interviews with executives of 27 Finnish companies (15 large MNCs and 12 small to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs)) with subsidiaries in Russia was conducted.

The subsidiary's strategic response to host country corruption is contingent to the firm size and the respective resources. Large MNCs can implement their non‐corrupt policy also in their Russian subsidiaries due to their financial and relational resources. SMEs, which lack such resources, need to adapt to the demands from the corrupt environment. This is usually done by “outsourcing” situations prone to corruption to a local intermediary.

The empirical analysis is limited to one pair of countries (Russia and Finland) and selected locations in Russia (Moscow and St Petersburg).

The paper provides examples of business strategies that help to mitigate the negative consequences of host country corruption without giving up one's moral and ethical principles.

The paper enriches the literature on corruption in international business by identifying the firm size as a key determinant for strategic responses to host country corruption.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of technological change on the internal audit practices and skills requirements for internal auditors in an e-business environment.

Generalist internal auditors and specialist information technology (IT) internal auditors were surveyed online in ten countries, including the USA and the UK which, together, provided the majority of responses.

The results suggest a need for advanced IT-audit techniques in conducting the internal audit function, thereby increasing IT audit skill demands on generalist internal auditors. However, the results show a low confidence among internal auditors about their IT training and a continuing reliance upon IT audit specialists, rather than their own training/retraining.

The responses obtained in this study provide insight into both the status quo of the internal audit function, and to the changes that are needed to prepare generalist internal auditors for work in an e-business environment and, while the scale of the study limits the extent to which the findings may be generalized, they are consistent with the literature concerning the changing business environment and with the literature on resistance to change, suggesting that the issues revealed should be of concern.

The results reported in this paper are useful to internal auditing educators and regulators in their consideration of the skills needed by generalist internal auditors in e-business environment.

This study sheds light on a significantly growing area which remains relatively unexplored in the auditing-related literature, e-business audit. The study provides empirical evidence on challenges facing internal auditors in an e-business environment, thereby serving as a wake-up call, to both internal auditors and the professional bodies representing them, to defend their jurisdictional space against rival professional groups.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the links between investment activity and personal contacts for small- and medium-sized firms with public officials at the subnational level in Russia.

A list-experiment design, using a survey of 21,000 Russian firms in 2017, was used to evaluate the importance of personal connections with officials for conducting business.

A total of 27% of firms without investment and 37% with investment considered personal connections with officials an important factor for doing business. The importance of such contacts was lower in regions with a better investment climate. However, a higher proportion of firms were likely to invest in the regions where higher importance was placed on political connections. Therefore, in Russia in the mid-2010s, investment from politically connected firms did not crowd out investment from other firms.

Although the available data did not allow causality to be defined, the research shows that political connections are important for investors in emerging markets and that the importance of political connections diminishes with improvement in the business climate.

This paper provides a quantitative estimate of the relationship between political connections and firm investment in Russia, an example of large emerging economy. This relationship is moderated by institutional quality at the subnational level. The results provide empirical support for the theory of limited access orders elaborated by North et al. (2009), and stress the importance of rents and their productive utilization for the development of emerging economies.