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1 – 10 of 11The purpose of this paper is to comparatively analyze the corporate governance codes of transition economies, particularly five Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) members (i.e…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to comparatively analyze the corporate governance codes of transition economies, particularly five Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) members (i.e. Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia). Specifically, the convergence or divergence of these countries’ corporate governance codes among themselves as well as relative to the best practices of the UK Corporate Governance Code (UK Code) and the OECD Principles of Corporate Governance are investigated.
Design/methodology/approach
Initially, the existing literature on corporate governance with special focus on transition countries is reviewed. Afterwards, benchmarking the international best practices, based on main chapters and contents, the corporate governance codes of all countries in the sample are analyzed.
Findings
The paper finds that even though some principles of the corporate governance codes of the countries in the sample differ in some aspects, they do converge to some extent. However, high misalignments between the UK Code and the OECD Principles and the codes of selected countries in some aspects were found.
Research limitations/implications
The conclusion and implications of the study characterize the corporate governance of selected developing countries; thus, they might not be generalizable to other countries.
Practical implications
The codes of the countries in the sample should be revised, and more specifications regarding the stakeholder, board structure, its subcommittees, independence, diversity and transparency issues need to be addressed.
Originality/value
The paper comprehensively analyzes the contents of corporate governance codes of transition countries; from both practical and academic point of view, it was important gap that needed to be fulfilled.
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After the collapse of the USSR, Eurasian integration projects, proposed by Russia, Kazakhstan and Turkey, began to develop in the post-Soviet space. Hence, there is growing…
Abstract
Purpose
After the collapse of the USSR, Eurasian integration projects, proposed by Russia, Kazakhstan and Turkey, began to develop in the post-Soviet space. Hence, there is growing interest in Eurasianism as an ideology. In this context, the study of the use of the Eurasianism's ideas in practice becomes relevant. The argument of this article is that Russia, Turkey, and Kazakstan have their own interpretations of Eurasianism's ideas to develop the ideological basis of their own integration projects. The purpose of the article is to answer the question: How is the Eurasianism used in integration projects of Russia, Turkey and Kazakstan?
Design/methodology/approach
The concept of Eurasianism has been viewed in terms of constructivism. On the basis of the principles of social constructivism, and in particular the works of constructivist ideologue Alexander Wendt, a comparative analysis was made. The ideas of Eurasianism in the integration processes of Russia, Kazakhstan and Turkey has been carried out based on the criteria such as the role of common ideas, identity, consciousness, memory and culture. The examples of mentioned countries were compared, to consider the development of the ideas of Eurasianism in practice.
Findings
The ideas of Eurasianism have a significant impact on the integration processes of the post-Soviet space. Eurasianism advocates for important factors such as respect for cultural and civilizational differences between different nations, their equality in the overall union and common development opportunities. Such factors are undoubtedly important for the success of integration projects. The reflection of many individual thoughts of classical Eurasians and Neo-Eurasians can be seen in the statements of various ministers and leaders of Russia, Kazakhstan and Turkey. The initiatives of these countries in creating integration projects also show the influence of the Eurasian concept.
Originality/value
In the 1990s, the study of Eurasianism gained new significance in academic circles. Articles and periodicals devoted to this concept were published. However, all parallels between variations in concepts of Eurasianism have been conducted on a theoretical level. The importance of this article lies in the fact that conceptual differences are compared in practice. Researchers had not previously considered the study of the relevance and productivity of Eurasianism in practice by comparing examples and experiences from different countries. The novelty of this article lies in its attempt to solve this problem.
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Yulia Panova, Eugene Korovyakovsky, Anton Semerkin, Ville Henttu, Weidong Li and Olli-Pekka Hilmola
This research examines factors that determine the improvement of the Russian supply chain sustainability. The strategic business model incorporates ecological, social and economic…
Abstract
Purpose
This research examines factors that determine the improvement of the Russian supply chain sustainability. The strategic business model incorporates ecological, social and economic aspects.
Design/methodology/approach
Considering Trans-Siberian Railway as a typical case, the study selected several cases or the parts of the primary rail connection with the affiliation of important neighbouring countries. The study uses quantitative analyses of a variety of size parameters (e.g. volumes of traffic, logistics costs, delivery distance and air pollutants).
Findings
The empirical findings stress that supply chains should favour in the future railway (or intermodal) connections for piggyback and containerised cargo. Herein lays the reason for the examination of all traditional factors affecting the modal choice and their complementation by the parameters to measure sustainability throughout the supply chains. The inclusion of the green practices positively affected the environmental, social and economic performance of the new approach.
Research limitations/implications
This research focuses on the delivery of cargo in containers and semi-trailers within wagons through the overland corridors. Despite the restrictive empirical findings within the national transport system, some elements can be representative of the international supply chains, provided that intermodal services are the most appropriate for the transportation over long distances.
Practical implications
Clients, media and regulatory bodies stress the consideration of environmental aspects at all stages of a global supply chain. Therefore, their adoption into strategic imperatives of local supply chains becomes inevitable.
Originality/value
An assessment of supply chains for longer distance transportation in Russia has not taken sustainability into account within cost analyses.
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Ozcan Saritas and Ilya Kuzminov
This paper aims to analyse the mainstream and emerging global challenges and trends in the global agriculture sector. The analysis leads to a discussion on the present state of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to analyse the mainstream and emerging global challenges and trends in the global agriculture sector. The analysis leads to a discussion on the present state of the Russian agroindustry and possible future strategies for adaptation in the context of the rapidly changing global environment.
Design/methodology/approach
The design of this study is based on the application of the core methods of Foresight. First, a trend analysis is undertaken using reviews and expert methods. Trends identified are mapped using a social, technological, economic, environmental, political and value (STEEPV) framework to ensure that a broad range of trends are covered, which may be stemming from various factors affecting the agriculture sector. The analysis of the big picture of global trends and challenges, interacting with country-specific structural factors, translates are translated into the opportunities and threats, which will in turn help to develop possible strategies for adaptation.
Findings
This study develops two adaptive strategies for the development of the Russian agroindustry that are feasible in different short- and long–term time horizons. The first strategy is considered to be the most likely choice for the period before 2020. It includes radical imports’ substitution (of commodities as well as machinery and high-tech components) for ensuring national food security with inevitable temporary setbacks in efficiency and labour productivity. The second strategy, which becomes feasible after 2020, considers re-integrating Russia into global supply chains and expanding commodities exports (volumes and nomenclature) based on full-scale technological modernization with the use of international capital.
Research limitations/implications
The study design is based on the assumption that Russia’s position as a country, which is highly self-sufficient on basic agricultural products and large exporter of crop commodities and fertilizers, will remain unchanged in the horizon of at least 20 years. However, long-term forecasts should also scrutinize the possibility of radical structural changes. Therefore, future research should concentrate on wild cards that can completely disrupt and transform the Russian agriculture industry and as well as the whole economy.
Practical implications
This paper suggests a number of recommendations on national science and technology policy for the three main industries of the Russian agricultural sector: crop husbandry, animal breeding and food processing (the fisheries sector is excluded from the scope of this paper). In addition, this paper proposes a number of measures towards alleviating the institutional barriers to raise the investment attractiveness of the sector.
Originality/value
The novelty of this paper lies in the originality of the research topic and methodology. The Russian agricultural sector has rarely been studied in the context of global agricultural challenges and threats taken on the highest level of aggregation beyond commodity market analysis or agro-climatic and logistics factors. There are few or no studies that lay out a map of possible long-term strategies of Russian agroindustry adaptive development. The Foresight methodology applied in this study is customized to better fit the practical purposes of the study.
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Khalid Tinasti and Isabela Barbosa
The negotiations leading to the UN Special Session (UN General Assembly Special Session on drugs (UNGASS)) on drugs have highlighted the lack of consensus among the global…
Abstract
Purpose
The negotiations leading to the UN Special Session (UN General Assembly Special Session on drugs (UNGASS)) on drugs have highlighted the lack of consensus among the global players, with some strengthening the prohibitionist approach and others seeking policy reforms. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the Russian Federation’s national policies and diplomatic activism to influence the outcome of the negotiations at the multilateral level.
Design/methodology/approach
A systematic review of the federal legislation on drug control and the legislation on HIV/AIDS has been undertaking in October 2016. Peer-reviewed, grey literature, policy documents, UN reports and news reports were used to gather information on the country’s response to drugs internally and externally.
Findings
Despite its limited regional influence on harm reduction and declining financial power, the Russian Federation has been successful in preserving its international priorities by opposing harm reduction and maintaining the prohibition paradigm in the UNGASS outcome.
Research limitations/implications
Every effort was made to identify valid sources of information on the levers of influence of the Russian Federation. Little data were available on the real outcome of the efforts deployed in influencing the BRICS and other regional and international assemblies.
Originality/value
This paper presents an overview of the national policies of the Russian Federation, a global player, and provides a better understanding of how the national approach to illicit drugs and their perception influences its international position. It analyses the geographic, economic and diplomatic sphere of influence of the country in drug policies, and provides explanations on the successes and shortcomings of the Russian influence at the multilateral discussions on drugs.
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The article compares the effect of European Union (EU)-Russian sanctions imposed in 2014 with the influence of fluctuating oil prices on Danish trade.
Abstract
Purpose
The article compares the effect of European Union (EU)-Russian sanctions imposed in 2014 with the influence of fluctuating oil prices on Danish trade.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper annual import and export trade data between Denmark and 152 countries from the period 2002–18 were computed in STATA/SE 16.1 using the Gravity model to evaluate the effect of economic sanctions and the price of oil.
Findings
Results showed that the impact from the fall of oil price exceeded the negative effect from sanctions on Danish export. Additionally, the analyses suggest that the fall in oil price had a negative effect on Danish import. Even so, Danish import significantly increased due to growth in supplies of energy resources from Russia.
Originality/value
This study explains the overlapping effects of EU-Russian sanctions and fluctuating oil prices on Danish trade. This methodology can be expanded to encompass multiple countries using the two-sided Gravity model.
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Ramadhan Bismono, Joko Priyono and Nanik Trihastuti
This paper aims to further study the panel report in Russia – Traffic in Transit regarding the interpretation and application of 1994 general agreements on tariffs and trade…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to further study the panel report in Russia – Traffic in Transit regarding the interpretation and application of 1994 general agreements on tariffs and trade (GATT) Article XXI(b). It analyses the threshold applied by the panel in applying Article XXI(b)(iii) and further discusses the potential problem that may arise in the future dispute. This study also investigates the notion of emergency and security interest and its development in international law.
Design/methodology/approach
This normative research uses a qualitative legal methodology. This study conducts desk analysis of primary legal materials and existing literature to assess the concept of security interest within the World Trade Organization (WTO) framework.
Findings
This paper finds that the panel in Russia – Traffic in Transit applied subjective and objective test in reviewing Russia’s invocation of GATT Article XXI(b)(iii). Despite the adjectival self-judging clause and the political tension of the dispute, the panel is capable to review its application. This study further finds that the term security interest and emergency in international relations still leaves the possibility of open interpretation.
Research limitations/implications
Because of the normative research approach, the research results lack empirical data and implications. Therefore, future research is encouraged to inquire on the empirical research.
Originality/value
This paper fulfils the need to study and explore security exception clause within the WTO framework as a normative rule of law and in the wider conceptual notion of security and emergency in international law.
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Louise Curran, Jappe Eckhardt and Jaemin Lee
This paper aims to explore trade policy measures taken in response to COVID-19 and analyses in detail their extent and nature. It assesses their compatibility with World Trade…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore trade policy measures taken in response to COVID-19 and analyses in detail their extent and nature. It assesses their compatibility with World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreements: specifically, whether they were necessary and justifiable efforts to protect the security and health of populations and asks how this widespread recourse to trade barriers may impact on international business?
Design/methodology/approach
This paper analyses an extensive database from the International Trade Centre of trade measures taken in response to COVID-19. It differentiates by type of country, nature and coverage of measures (imports or exports, type of product…). On the basis of existing jurisprudence, this paper analyses whether restrictive measures were likely to be judged legal under WTO rules.
Findings
This paper finds that, although the majority of trade measures are probably justifiable, there were nevertheless many measures whose coverage and/or nature was such that a justification under existing WTO exceptions is, at the very least, arguable. Such widespread and intense instigation of potentially WTO incompatible measures in such a short period of time undoubtedly undermines the global trade rules on which international business has relied for decades.
Originality/value
There is little existing analysis of the legality of measures taken under the security exceptions and no substantial analyses of the measures taken in response to COVID-19. Furthermore, little scholarly attention has been paid to the impacts on international business of the increasing use of WTO “exceptions” to justify trade measures to protect national industries and populations.
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Grigori Arshaluys Vahanyan, Hovhannes Vahanyan and Margarita Ghazaryan
The purpose of this paper is to present the great importance and impact of the virtual intellectual capital (VIC) in the frameworks of digital economics, e-governance and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present the great importance and impact of the virtual intellectual capital (VIC) in the frameworks of digital economics, e-governance and business, e-trading and commerce, virtual organizations and enterprises, and information communication technologies development (based on the comparative case studies of the world, Russian and Armenian economics). These conditions increase the importance of the measurement and assessment of the VIC.
Design/methodology/approach
The research findings are obtained through the method of comparative analysis of the complex models of the VIC. The features are studied through measuring and assessing the VIC parameters of virtual representations on the internet. The data are complemented through virtual cluster analysis, a multidimensional statistical procedure that collects data containing information on facility selection. Three cluster groups are used in the study: the clusters of the TNCs and their virtual representations; the clusters of the network of the leading innovation centers and their virtual representations; and the clusters of the leading universities and their virtual representations.
Findings
The paper establishes the research findings of the growth forecasts of the IC clusters in the world, Russian and Armenian economic processes. This is extremely important to ensuring sustainable growth of the country’s competitiveness, economy and general welfare. The paper proposes a new model of the virtual national or transnational intellectual capital (VNTIC). The VNTIC model presents three general components: virtual representations of universities, innovation center networks and transnational corporations in global networks. The research findings show that the interactive innovative tools (IIT) can be used for early diagnosis of the world economic and financial processes.
Originality/value
The authors developed for the first time the IIT for measuring and assessing the three intellectual capital components. The paper presents a new approach and a more reliable tool for short-term forecasting at global and national levels based on QI ranking of the VIC clusters of the commercial enterprises, universities and networks of innovation centers.
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Galina N. Semenova, Elena I. Larionova, Oleg G. Karpovich, Sergei V. Shkodinsky and Fatima M. Ouroumova
The purpose of the work consists in studying social integration as a factor of economic growth. The authors focus on experience and perspectives of developing countries, as they…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the work consists in studying social integration as a factor of economic growth. The authors focus on experience and perspectives of developing countries, as they show the highest rate of economic growth and have high potential of its acceleration.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors determine the interconnection between the processes of social integration in the four distinguished manifestations with the help of regression analysis and determine the level of homogeneity of data selections for each studied indicator with the help of variation analysis. Scenario analysis of future perspectives of the change of economic growth depending on the influence of the factor of social integration in the unity of its distinguished types is performed. Monte Carlo method is used for forecasting of change of the values of indicators of social integration.
Findings
It is substantiated that social integration is an important factor of economic growth. At the same time, the influence of this factor on economic growth of developing countries is ambiguous. Due to the offered proprietary classification of social integration according to the criterion of involved subjects, it is possible to establish that such types of social integration as integration of social groups, integration of business and society and integration of state and society have a positive influence. However, individual's integration into society has a negative influence.
Originality/value
The research contributes to development of economics by substantiating the significance of the social integration factor for economic growth and specifies the logic of management of this factor, which should be flexible. The perspectives of developing countries in acceleration of the rate of economic growth based on managing the factor of social integration are rather wide and envisage the increase of society's inclusion and the level of consumer consciousness and more active involvement of population into state management in the digital economy.
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