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Abstract

Details

The Handbook of Road Safety Measures
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84855-250-0

Book part
Publication date: 25 October 2014

Aljaž Kunčič and Andreja Jaklič

This chapter examines the role of formal and informal institutions in foreign direct investment (FDI) dynamics.

Abstract

Purpose

This chapter examines the role of formal and informal institutions in foreign direct investment (FDI) dynamics.

Design/methodology/approach

We examine the effects of the quality of legal, political, and economic formal institution as well as the effect of institutional distance (based on new dataset) on bilateral inward FDI stocks in 34 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries for the period 1990–2010 using a gravity specification. Additionally, we also examine FDI for the effects of a specific informal institution – attitude of the public toward economic liberal issues. Reactions of FDI to liberal and nonliberal public opinion (part of informal institutions) are examined with and without controlling for formal institutions.

Findings

Findings show that the quality of legal and political institutions are important determinants of FDI, that legal and political institutional distance are both significant obstacles to FDI, and that public opinion also matters. We find that it is important to control for formal institutions when looking at the effect of informal institutions, and that both past liberal and nonliberal public opinion correlate with FDI, but only nonliberal public opinion significantly reduces inward FDI directly.

Research limitations/implications

Results are relevant for enterprises’ investment strategies, marketing strategies influencing public opinion as well as for policy makers, and governmental agencies involved in investment promotion programs.

Originality/value

Exploring the interplay between formal and informal institutions, institutional quality, institutional distance, and their effect on FDI in a bilateral panel.

Details

Multinational Enterprises, Markets and Institutional Diversity
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78441-421-4

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 17 February 2017

Giuseppe Delmestri and Mara Brumana

Kostova, Roth and Dacin called in 2008 for the advancement of a theoretical conception of the multinational corporation (MNC) that takes into account both power relationships…

Abstract

Kostova, Roth and Dacin called in 2008 for the advancement of a theoretical conception of the multinational corporation (MNC) that takes into account both power relationships among actors and the structure of its internal institutional field. While micro-political scholars of MNCs have started to answer the former part of the call regarding power, the second part has not been thoroughly addressed yet. Furthermore, the agentic aspects typical of power games and the structural aspects characterizing institutional fields have not been fully combined in a multi-level perspective of MNCs so far. Leaning on Bourdieu, we suggest an answer to the pending call. We theorize the MNC as a playing field of power emerging around the issue of finding a meta-rate of conversion of the actors’ capitals constituted in national fields. We conceive such issue field in a dynamic state due to the constant entry and exit of new players (e.g. through mergers, acquisitions or divestitures). This results in the need to continuously test the validity of exchange rates. The role of the metainstitutional field level of the MNC as a global category is also discussed.

Details

Multinational Corporations and Organization Theory: Post Millennium Perspectives
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78635-386-3

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 22 December 2006

Torben Beck Jorgensen

While Norway, Sweden, and Denmark share many historic, political, and cultural features, their state systems and public administration exhibit important differences. Likewise…

Abstract

While Norway, Sweden, and Denmark share many historic, political, and cultural features, their state systems and public administration exhibit important differences. Likewise, Nordic administrative sciences reflect a significant degree of ethnocentric diversity. Although as a whole, since the 1960s, Scandinavian academic public administration has witnessed rapid growth, an emphasis on local–regional government, and highly sophisticated scientific-empirical research, as opposed to professional training or narrow application of technical–legal methodologies.

Details

Comparative Public Administration
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84950-453-9

Article
Publication date: 18 May 2023

Sara Hellmüller and Bilal Salaymeh

This paper aims to study recent approaches to peacemaking, particularly by Turkey and Russia, in a changing world and their implications for UN-led peace processes. The authors…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to study recent approaches to peacemaking, particularly by Turkey and Russia, in a changing world and their implications for UN-led peace processes. The authors analyze the factors that allow parallel processes to UN mediation to emerge and discuss their influence.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper presents two in-depth case studies of mediation in Syria and Libya, where the UN, as well as Russia and Turkey, were actively involved in peacemaking.

Findings

The authors find that parallel processes to UN mediation emerge if the UN process does not show progress toward a negotiated settlement and other third parties have leverage over the conflict parties. However, whether these parallel processes pose a fundamental challenge to the UN-led process depends on how sustained the third parties’ leverage over the conflict parties is. If it lasts, it puts the UN in a difficult position to either participate in the parallel process and contain it but thereby also legitimizing it, or to abstain from participating but thereby risking to lose control over the mediation process.

Research limitations/implications

Analyzing different approaches to mediation helps to better understand current dynamics of multiparty mediation, including an increased questioning of the effectiveness of UN mediation, and provides insights on how the UN may adapt to keep its relevance in a changing world.

Originality/value

The paper is based on original first-hand data gathered between 2018 and 2022 through more than 50 interviews with UN officials, negotiation team members, political and civil society actors from Syria and Libya, (former) state officials and experts from Russia and Turkey, as well as external observers.

Details

International Journal of Conflict Management, vol. 35 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1044-4068

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 14 March 2016

Malin Tillmar

Women’s entrepreneurship is often seen as the solution of both economic growth and gender equality. This is despite academic knowledge of the gendered preconditions for…

Abstract

Purpose

Women’s entrepreneurship is often seen as the solution of both economic growth and gender equality. This is despite academic knowledge of the gendered preconditions for entrepreneurship in many contexts. This paper aims to focus on the gendering of commercial justice, a precondition for entrepreneurship. Informed by gender perspectives on women’s entrepreneurship and previous studies on commercial justice in East Africa, this paper sets out to explore the experiences of urban women entrepreneurs.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is based on an interview study with women entrepreneurs and representatives of support organizations in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania. The interviews were conducted in Kiswahili, and access was enabled through dialogues with local partner organizations such as the Tanzanian Chamber of Commerce.

Findings

Findings are that with formal legal rights, the informal institutions imply that the marital status of the women, and the attitude of their husbands, is the overarching determinants for the commercial justice perceived as available to them. This has implication for many policy areas, such as entrepreneurship support, women’s empowerment and labour market policy. Theoretically, the findings highlight the importance of studying the informal institutions affecting women’s entrepreneurship around the globe. Concerning commercial justice in particular, three dimensions of gendering are identified.

Research limitations/implications

The paper is based on a qualitative interview study. Further studies with varying methods are needed to further explore the gendering of commercial justice in Tanzania, East Africa and beyond.

Practical implications

A major practical implication of the study is the insight that business for development, will not automatically lead to business for equality, on a general level. The gender bias is also reproduced in everyday business life, for example, thorough access to commercial justice. Special measures to target the gender equality issue are, therefore, necessary. Another implication of the findings regard the importance of Alternative Dispute Resolution initiatives, affordable to women small and medium enterprise-owners.

Originality/value

While other obstacles to women’s entrepreneurship in the developing contexts have been well explored, the gendering of perceived commercial justice has not received sufficient attention in previous studies. Studies applying a gender theoretical perspective on entrepreneurship in the explored context are still needed.

Details

Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy, vol. 10 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1750-6204

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 March 2010

Fredrick M. Nafukho and Machuma A. Helen Muyia

The purpose of this paper is to examine the development of entrepreneurship education and training in Kenya as a strategic approach to addressing the unemployment problem among…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the development of entrepreneurship education and training in Kenya as a strategic approach to addressing the unemployment problem among the school and university graduates in Kenya and Africa in general.

Design/methodology/approach

The study adopted a critical review of the literature method to achieve its purpose and to answer the key research question. The literature search included a computerized search of accessible and available material on entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial spirit, entrepreneurship education and training programs, history of entrepreneurship, and entrepreneurship models, Africa and entrepreneurship development.

Findings

It is shown that the development of entrepreneurial spirit and competencies should be a lifelong process. Addressing Africa's socioeconomic development in an entrepreneurial way requires learning successful lessons from within and without Africa. Specific examples of successful use of entrepreneurship to develop micro, small and medium‐sized enterprises in Africa and other parts of the world, especially the USA, are cited in the paper. A case study of using technology to promote entrepreneurship in Africa is provided.

Research limitations/implications

The paper is limited since it is based on a review of the literature. Quantitative and qualitative research studies focusing on entrepreneurship and socioeconomic development in Africa are recommended.

Originality/value

There are limited studies that focus on the issue of entrepreneurship and socioeconomic development in Africa. This paper and the special issue in particular have laid down pioneering ground work for research on entrepreneurship and socioeconomic development in Africa.

Details

Journal of European Industrial Training, vol. 34 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0309-0590

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 18 June 2018

Efthimia Mavridou, Konstantinos M. Giannoutakis, Dionysios Kehagias, Dimitrios Tzovaras and George Hassapis

Semantic categorization of Web services comprises a fundamental requirement for enabling more efficient and accurate search and discovery of services in the semantic Web era…

Abstract

Purpose

Semantic categorization of Web services comprises a fundamental requirement for enabling more efficient and accurate search and discovery of services in the semantic Web era. However, to efficiently deal with the growing presence of Web services, more automated mechanisms are required. This paper aims to introduce an automatic Web service categorization mechanism, by exploiting various techniques that aim to increase the overall prediction accuracy.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper proposes the use of Error Correcting Output Codes on top of a Logistic Model Trees-based classifier, in conjunction with a data pre-processing technique that reduces the original feature-space dimension without affecting data integrity. The proposed technique is generalized so as to adhere to all Web services with a description file. A semantic matchmaking scheme is also proposed for enabling the semantic annotation of the input and output parameters of each operation.

Findings

The proposed Web service categorization framework was tested with the OWLS-TC v4.0, as well as a synthetic data set with a systematic evaluation procedure that enables comparison with well-known approaches. After conducting exhaustive evaluation experiments, categorization efficiency in terms of accuracy, precision, recall and F-measure was measured. The presented Web service categorization framework outperformed the other benchmark techniques, which comprise different variations of it and also third-party implementations.

Originality/value

The proposed three-level categorization approach is a significant contribution to the Web service community, as it allows the automatic semantic categorization of all functional elements of Web services that are equipped with a service description file.

Details

International Journal of Web Information Systems, vol. 14 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1744-0084

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 23 February 2022

Magnus Paulsen Hansen and Janine Leschke

Globally, Denmark stands out in terms of achieving high employment rates, containing unemployment and providing a labour market model combining flexibility, security and…

Abstract

Globally, Denmark stands out in terms of achieving high employment rates, containing unemployment and providing a labour market model combining flexibility, security and activation with a strong role for the social partners. The Danish labour market institutions and policies are seen as the catalyst for the transformation from industrial economy to a globalised, post-industrial and knowledge-based economy in which socio-economic equality and workforce security go hand in hand with competitiveness and the adaptability of business. In the 2000s, this mutual relationship came to be known as the Danish flexicurity model. Meanwhile, as a policy blueprint, ‘flexicurity’ has never really influenced Danish politics, and the reforms implemented since the 2000s have deviated from the premises of the model. This paper critically assesses the Danish model and its institutional components. It tracks the emergence of the Danish collective bargaining model as well as the flexicurity model. It scrutinises the challenges and performance of the current Danish labour market institutions and policies in a comparative perspective and discusses the extent to which the Danish experiences can and should be imitated abroad.

Book part
Publication date: 21 September 2022

Dmitrij Celov and Mariarosaria Comunale

Recently, star variables and the post-crisis nature of cyclical fluctuations have attracted a great deal of interest. In this chapter, the authors investigate different methods of

Abstract

Recently, star variables and the post-crisis nature of cyclical fluctuations have attracted a great deal of interest. In this chapter, the authors investigate different methods of assessing business cycles (BCs) for the European Union in general and the euro area in particular. First, the authors conduct a Monte Carlo (MC) experiment using a broad spectrum of univariate trend-cycle decomposition methods. The simulation aims to examine the ability of the analysed methods to find the observed simulated cycle with structural properties similar to actual macroeconomic data. For the simulation, the authors used the structural model’s parameters calibrated to the euro area’s real gross domestic product (GDP) and unemployment rate. The simulation outcomes indicate the sufficient composition of the suite of models (SoM) consisting of popular Hodrick–Prescott, Christiano–Fitzgerald and structural trend-cycle-seasonal filters, then used for the real application. The authors find that: (i) there is a high level of model uncertainty in comparing the estimates; (ii) growth rate (acceleration) cycles have often the worst performances, but they could be useful as early-warning predictors of turning points in growth and BCs; and (iii) the best-performing MC approaches provide a reasonable combination as the SoM. When swings last less time and/or are smaller, it is easier to pick a good alternative method to the suite to capture the BC for real GDP. Second, the authors estimate the BCs for real GDP and unemployment data varying from 1995Q1 to 2020Q4 (GDP) or 2020Q3 (unemployment), ending up with 28 cycles per country. This analysis also confirms that the BCs of euro area members are quite synchronized with the aggregate euro area. Some major differences can be found, however, especially in the case of periphery and new member states, with the latter improving in terms of coherency after the global financial crisis. The German cycles are among the cyclical movements least synchronized with the aggregate euro area.

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