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This chapter intends to examine the relationship between government incentives and the mode of firms’ finance of their operation in Nigeria. Specifically, it does relate the solvency of the firm with the quality of their financing decisions and observed if government incentives such as creation of export processing zones and industrial parks will affect the firm’s decision of depending on external versus internal financing.

The results presented in this chapter are based on analysis of a firm-level data taken from the 2014 firm-level survey of the World Bank’s Enterprise Survey project for Nigeria. Different estimation techniques are applied for robustness and sensitivity. They include both the parametric and non-parametric regression approach.

The robust estimations show that firms that benefit from the government incentives tend to use more of internal funding to finance their operation unlike firms that are non-beneficiaries. In addition smaller firms are going to benefit more from the incentives than older firms, and less profitable firms are also going to use more of internal financing if they benefit from government incentives.

This chapter will be helpful for both research and teaching for undergraduate and post-graduate students. Importantly, its analysis and result will be useful for policy makers and their allies.

This chapter discusses solvency issues by considering the financing decision of firms, which is an important aspect in the going concern of firms.

This paper explores firms’ strategic options when their investments are subject to the threat of government expropriation. I develop a simple hold-up model of political risk. In the model, a firm decides whether to invest and then the government decides whether to expropriate the firm’s investment or to simply collect normal taxes on its profits. The government is motivated by revenue and a wide range of nonpecuniary factors: its reputation, electoral pressures, patronage opportunities, and pressure from external actors. In the model, the likelihood of expropriation depends on several factors: the firm’s profits, the amount of taxes it pays, the government’s ability to operate the firm’s assets, and the government’s political incentives. Effective management of political risk requires an integrated strategy, consisting not only of public and government relations efforts, but also financial, value chain, and human resources strategies designed to reduce the government’s incentives for expropriation.

In this paper, we study the role of government financial guarantees as catalyst for project finance (PF). On the one hand, the government's incentive compatibility and participation constraint determine the optimal portion of the loan to be backed. On the other, the borrowing interest rate satisfies the debtholders’ participation constraint. The project's sponsor may choose to underinvest or overinvest depending on its own capital contribution, the risk technology, the risk measurement errors, and the proportion of guarantee provided by the government. We derive the project optimal investment level as well as the government partial loan guarantee coverage. We also discuss the impact of the risk measurement errors on the project's credit spreads.

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to compare trends, drivers, and best sustainable development (SD) practices in the Nordic region and California, USA.Design/methodology/approach – Four research propositions are explored: (1) SD is driven by governmental, economic, and social/cultural influences. (2) Social democracy and mixed economies in the Nordic region influence SD differently than the free market system of the United States. (3) The profit-centered, short-term view in the United States impacts SD differently than the longer-term approach in the Nordic region. (4) The egalitarian culture in the Nordic region influences SD differently than the entrepreneurial culture in the United States. The study incorporates a comprehensive literature review, 34 field interviews and research observations in the United States and the Nordic region.Findings – California and the Nordics have similar market economies where SD is largely driven by private sector; however, the role of government more directly influences SD in the Nordic region. Also, the profit-centered, entrepreneurial view of the United States drives innovation in SD based on short-term profitability gains, which ultimately hinders long-term solutions. Alternatively, the egalitarian culture in the Nordic region manifests in more focused and quicker adoption of SD policies. Lastly, the Nordics have a broad range of SD goals and a competitive advantage in key SD technologies. Conversely, California pursues a large variety of technologies without clearly defined goals that tend to be less effective than the Nordic countries.Originality/value of chapter – The chapter identified similarities and differences in SD trends, best practices, policies, and attitudes: California compared to Nordic countries.

The paper critically examines the program on Education for All (EFA) in India, namely Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) in a financing and development framework. In doing so, the paper identifies a number of policy and implementation gaps in the program. A fine-tuning of the existing matching shares by discriminating the matching shares in terms of need for, ability to provide matching shares and to strengthen the absorptive capacity could go a long way in attaining the horizontal equity in terms of every child completing elementary schooling in India. This would also ensure the other desirable principles of intergovernmental transfers such as predictability, transparency, and incentive mechanism besides improving utilization.

Further, it clearly emerges that only after ensuring the basic minimum levels in terms of physical and human infrastructure, and ensuring equal access to all the child population of age group of 6–14, quality is given priority. Thus, the challenge is both improving the qualitative and quantitative targets of UEE with enhanced resource allocation to education. Hence, Center is to ensure release of funding for SSA through special efforts as the program requires enormous funding and serious commitment of both central and state governments.

On the developmental aspects, the scheme not only widens social inequity but also perpetuates the declining quality of public provision by encouraging alternate schools and para teachers, besides the financing norms. These low-cost options will result in serious ramifications on equity, quality, balance, and sustainability of the basic education structure.

This paper examines roles of mandated employee participation rights (EPRs), such as works council legislation, in corporate governance. Links between employment and corporate relationships are stressed. Market failure arguments are developed, predicting that EPRs, and the interaction between EPRs and investments in skills, can positively impact productivity; preliminary evidence from German establishments is generally supportive. A qualitative appraisal concludes that EPRs have not harmed economies that adopt them. Policies to expand EPRs in the US are introduced, jointly encouraging skill development and employee decision-making participation, full rights for employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) participants, legal regulation of terms such as “participation,” and EPR extension services.

Purpose – The forced rural–urban migration in Colombia is a phenomenon that could be seen as the collateral damage of an armed conflict that takes place mainly in rural areas. Nevertheless, there is a significant percentage of cases in which the main reason to flee is a direct threat by an armed actor. This chapter proposes a possible reason why an illegal armed group displaces population from rural to urban areas.

Design/methodology/approach – A two-stage game theoretical model is considered, in which the central government struggles over the control of a region with the insurgents. In the first stage, rebels have the choice of forcing a proportion of peasants out of the rural areas or not. In the second stage, both players choose the level of military expenditure.

Findings – It is found that, under certain circumstances, the displaced population could be used by the insurgents as a means to deter the central government from fighting. This model predicts that the larger the value rebels attached to the contested region, the higher the proportion of forced migrants. It is also consistent with the idea that if the central government can commit to warfare, then forced migration will be useless for rebels.

Originality/value – This chapter explores a new rationale for forced displacement which consists in lowering government's incentives to fight for a region, by reducing the remaining population which in turn reduces income for the government.

This paper presents some views for corporations and governments regarding how to cope with rapid changes in globalization and sustainable environments that have begun to affect the economy, society, competition, and technology. Shifts toward a sustainable environment have become facts of life for corporations as well as for governments, thus they must accept it and deal with it. Corporations can utilize the Balance Scorecard Approach to control how they could achieve a Pareto Optimality (or at least to achieve a Pareto Improvement) for themselves and the society as a whole. Meanwhile governments can make use of the Balance Scorecard Approach to determine what kind of incentives should be given to corporations (such as a tax relief) or what kind of penalties should be enforced on corporations (such as fines and/or rescinding a corporation's right to operate) in order for governments to achieve a sustainable environment for all living and future creatures of the world.

Cambodia is embarking on a major programme of decentralisation and deconcentration (D&D) reforms, which have the potential to transform the way the country is governed and to build greater accountability into its governmental system. The D&D reforms promise to transfer much greater powers and capabilities to province and district level administrations. Provincial public servants will have the responsibility to deliver most services and to be accountable to elected councils. Potentially, they will move government closer to the people in important ways. However, if they are to do this responsively and accountably, a great deal will have to change in the ways that public administration – and especially human resource management (HRM) in the civil service – is structured and operated.

Access to affordable and sustainable energy is crucial for the improvement of the well-being of modern societies. Most energy technologies require comparatively high up-front investment, which adds to the challenge of electrification, despite the recognized multiple benefits. Partnership with multinational enterprises (MNEs) can provide necessary investment in infrastructure, finance, and technology for renewable energy and contribute to improving development indicators. However, remote areas with poor infrastructure do not have access to MNEs that are profit seekers. The Brazil experience with MNEs and “Light for All” (LfA) program shows that people gaining access to electricity invest more in businesses, education, health, and women reduce their drudgery at household chores. However, areas having a poor infrastructure in the north remain out of electricity, and attempts to create universal access were failed until a regulatory incentive framework and particular attention from the government was established. This is a great learning for the developing countries aiming to achieve sustainable development goals. A host country can gain development cooperation from MNEs with rightly formulated and implemented policies and regulatory conditions.