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1 – 10 of over 3000Considers the significant shift of Australian business investment from Europe and the USA to the Asian region since 1992. Reveals that over 65 per cent of manufacturing, 90 per…
Abstract
Considers the significant shift of Australian business investment from Europe and the USA to the Asian region since 1992. Reveals that over 65 per cent of manufacturing, 90 per cent of infrastructure, and some 90 per cent of services investment, committed or under consideration in the last three years, involves projects in regional states. Survey findings suggest the need to locate operations close to customers is the primary motive, followed by the growth of particular markets. Lower labour costs have also been a factor. In recent years, Australia has also sought to position itself as a regional headquarters location ‐ and has been particularly successful in the telecommunications and software sectors. Finally, Australia has sought to attract regional firms seeking bases in, or experience of, Western environments. Argues that all these developments mark changes in business strategies and in the public policy environment. This realignment of activities creates new opportunities for international managers as it poses an array of new strategic and operational issues for Australian managers. These implications have yet to be reflected in management research.
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The purpose of this paper is to explore the element of trust that is common to and underpins both the successful legitimate business venture and the successful fraud.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the element of trust that is common to and underpins both the successful legitimate business venture and the successful fraud.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper questions whether the cumulative effect of financial crime in our society may ultimately be more serious than in terms of damaging personal and business relationships than the actual losses incurred.
Findings
Law enforcement agencies must not lose sight of the significant impact that financial crime is having on our everyday activities. There is a pressing need to ensure that within our communities trust remains a power for good within business relationships.
Practical implications
The paper was aimed at raising the awareness of the intangible impact of white collar crime on our society and the need to avoid becoming complacent about such offending at a time when the law enforcement focus in many countries tends to be on violent offending in our community.
Originality/value
The paper will be of interest to those working in the field of economic crime or researching the topic.
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The purpose of this paper is to present an empirical investigation of recent trends and changes in companies' production relocation and backshoring behaviour against the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present an empirical investigation of recent trends and changes in companies' production relocation and backshoring behaviour against the background of the global economic crisis.
Design/methodology/approach
The empirical research is based on a large data set of 1,484 German manufacturing companies as part of the European Manufacturing Survey (EMS). The paper employs a structured set of probit analyses to identify the differences of production relocation and backshoring determinants before and within the crisis.
Findings
Against common belief the paper finds that not only the relocation of production to emerging countries, but also the backshoring of once offshored manufacturing capacities to the home base is a relevant phenomenon. Since the emergence of the global economic crisis, relocation activities declined significantly, whereas the level of backshoring activities has remained stable. Far‐shore destinations in Asia gain in attractiveness over near‐shore locations in Eastern Europe. Particularly export‐intensive companies tended recently towards (re‐)concentrating of their production capacities, trying to exploit the benefits of higher capacity utilisation and a superior relation of variable costs to fix costs at their existing locations.
Research limitations/implications
Although covering a significant range of industrial sectors in Germany, more empirical evidence is needed from other branches and countries. Looking forward it is proposed to systemically integrate scenarios on the future development of the most influential environmental factors in future research frameworks for global production decisions and value chains.
Practical implications
The findings strongly recommend a revision of established decision‐making schemes for production relocations based on pure cost efficiency considerations. Decision‐making should integrate qualitative environmental factors and dynamic considerations using scenario‐based tools. Companies need to understand and prepare for dynamic developments at different locations which can strategically necessitate backshoring after a certain time.
Originality/value
The research considerably widens the empirical knowledge on recent trends in relocation activities and their inherent risks, which in a dynamic perspective are sometimes forcing backshoring activities.
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Reports on a study that examines, by interviews and archivalresearch, the promotional structures which 11 governments in tencountries have put in place to market their economies…
Abstract
Reports on a study that examines, by interviews and archival research, the promotional structures which 11 governments in ten countries have put in place to market their economies to foreign investors. Focuses specifically on the various forms through which these governments have conducted their overseas marketing operations. Finds that governments that have been most effective in influencing foreign investors have created overseas offices that “stand alone”, and are unconnected with the governments′ other foreign operations. Also identifies the conditions necessary for a successful overseas investment promotion operation.
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The purpose of this paper is to summarize the main conditions that a UK investment manager has to meet in order to benefit from a UK tax exemption known as the Investment Manager…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to summarize the main conditions that a UK investment manager has to meet in order to benefit from a UK tax exemption known as the Investment Manager Exemption (IME) and comment on the key developments introduced in the revised Statement of Practice.
Design/methodology/approach
Provides background explaining legislation that defines the IME and its Qualifying Conditions and then goes on to explain the impact of the revised Statement of Practice
Findings
The IME is an exemption for non‐residents trading in certain investments in the UK where that trade is carried on through an investment manager. The IME was introduced in order to promote investment activities in the UK by providing some degree of certainty on the tax treatment of UK managers who manage offshore trading funds. The original Statement of Practice 01/2001 (SP 01/01) was issued by HMRC to provide guidance on the application of the legislation and, more specifically, on how the conditions in relation to the IME are satisfied. The policy aims of the revised Statement of Practice are to improve the IME and also to meet new developments in the investment management industry, thus providing more certainty in relation to the scope and application of the rules.
Practical implications
It is critical that processes are in place to demonstrate satisfaction of the Qualifying Conditions for the tax exemption; and in particular, contemporaneous and detailed transfer pricing documentation needs to be in place for all but the simplest of structures.
Originality/value
Practical guidance from a tax partner of a leading accounting firm.
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David Knights and Beverley Jones
The purpose of this paper is to examine critically both utopian and dystopian discourses of offshoring so that a more considered, nonetheless theoretically informed, view of the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine critically both utopian and dystopian discourses of offshoring so that a more considered, nonetheless theoretically informed, view of the global offshore phenomenon can be formed.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing upon some preliminary research on offshoring ventures from the UK to India, and the extant literature, the practice of business process outsourcing (BPO) via offshoring is explored and critiqued.
Findings
It is argued that neither dream nor nightmare is the adequate discursive metaphor to capture what we have discerned through our research on offshore outsourcing.
Originality/value
The primary contribution of this paper is that demonstrates that utopian and dystopian discourses fail to adequately explain the practice of offshore BPO and that in cultural, economical, ethical, and political terms, it is much more complex.
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Alok Chakrabarti and Pradip K. Bhaumik
The purpose of this paper is to study the internationalization of technology development in India. The internationalization of research and development (R&D) has not been a recent…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to study the internationalization of technology development in India. The internationalization of research and development (R&D) has not been a recent phenomenon. Large multinational companies increased their R&D investment in various host countries during the past years. While the US and the countries in Western Europe have been the traditional locus of R&D, China and India have emerged lately as the destinations for R&D. The changes in geopolitical systems of trade and intellectual property protection couples with the advances in information and communication technology have helped globalize the R&D activities.
Design/methodology/approach
The study has used the US patents as a surrogate measure for the technical output from India. The data include all US patents granted between 1992 and 2007 in which at least one inventor was an Indian resident. Studies in the field of economics of technology and in science policy have used patents as a valid measure of R&D output.
Findings
The results of this study indicated that there were three phases of technological development in India. Intensity of patenting, role of the different institutions in technology development, and the focus of technology characterize each phase. By examining the co‐inventors, the authors see how the international cooperation among scientists has shaped. While government laboratories under the aegis of the council of scientific and industrial research had a high number of patents, their role has gone through significant shifts among the three phases. The authors also find that the multinational companies from the US have driven the recent growth in Indian patenting and are using more of all‐Indian teams for patentable research. This indicates maturation the skills of technical personnel in India in terms of developing patentable technology. The study also points out the fact that despite the growth of the Indian corporations in the IT sector, they lack in building their own intellectual property. If India wants to maintain the momentum of growth in corporate R&D, it faces the challenge of upgrading its higher education in producing technical graduates at masters and doctoral levels.
Research limitations/implications
Limitations of the study include the validity of patents as the sole measure of innovation and technology development. The process of obtaining patents in the US is expensive and it may deter some organizations to pursue it. Other methods to obtain data on innovative activities may be necessary to validate the findings reported here.
Practical implications
The study provides a rich source of information about the growth of technological fields in India and the challenges that it faces in building its global competitiveness.
Originality/value
The study should be useful in identifying the sectors where India has developed strengths and the areas where it needs to improve. Also, by examining the ownership pattern of the intellectual property in these sectors, one can postulate the technological independence of Indian organizations.
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The Isle of Man, a British Isles offshore jurisdiction located in the middle of the Irish Sea, has experienced three separate bank collapses during a relatively brief 26 year…
Abstract
Purpose
The Isle of Man, a British Isles offshore jurisdiction located in the middle of the Irish Sea, has experienced three separate bank collapses during a relatively brief 26 year period. These collapses have affected in excess of 20,000 depositors and inflicted significant damage on investor confidence in the Isle of Man as an offshore finance centre. The purpose of this paper is to trace the evolution of deposit protection during this time frame, teasing out the delicate balance required in small offshore jurisdictions between rigorous standards of investor protection on the one hand and the vital importance of remaining competitive with rival offshore finance centres on the other. It critically evaluates the recently enacted Isle of Man deposit compensation scheme (DCS) by reference to this organising principle.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper outlines the nature of the Manx jurisdiction and its offshore development. Focussing on the period 1982‐2010, it discusses the three separate bank collapses and insular regulatory and legislative responses. The focal point of the paper is a critical evaluation of the new Isle of Man DCS including comparisons where appropriate with deposit protection schemes in the Channel Islands offshore jurisdictions of Jersey and Guernsey and discussion of the extent to which the new Isle of Man DCS complies with specific features of recently formulated international best practice standards.
Findings
The paper reports that insular regulatory and government responses to bank collapses have tended to be distinctly short‐term and reactive. Despite being the first small offshore jurisdiction in the world to embrace the principle of deposit protection in 1991, there has been a conspicuous failure in the Isle of Man to develop related financial safety net policies, and the overriding motive for the introduction and indeed continuation of deposit protection has been to repair enduring reputational damage inflicted on its offshore finance centre by successive bank failures. The new Isle of Man DCS conforms to this model, reflecting insular anxieties regarding risks of lost banking business to rival offshore jurisdictions as opposed to rigorous standards of investor protection.
Originality/value
Analysis contained in this paper sheds light on the problem of effective deposit protection in small offshore jurisdictions, including tensions in policy terms between principled investor protection and finance centre reputational and competitiveness concerns. It also highlights, more broadly, the endemic problem of delivering optimum investor protection at (small) jurisdictional level in the context of international banking groups operating on a multi‐jurisdictional basis and deploying entrenched business models which operationalise offshore banking arms as essentially vehicles for the onward transmission of liquid funds to treasury functions located in parent groups' home jurisdictions.
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The Corporate Veil is seen not only as a means of limiting individual civil legal liability but also criminal liability. This paper seeks to highlight that this philosophy is fast…
Abstract
Purpose
The Corporate Veil is seen not only as a means of limiting individual civil legal liability but also criminal liability. This paper seeks to highlight that this philosophy is fast approaching breaking point, and practices which once may have been considered “just business” are now considered criminal. Innocuous companies, their directors and officers have all of a sudden become sitting ducks for criminal prosecution and asset seizure. Corporations potentially risk metaphorical death sentences: their human controllers being labelled and treated as common criminals and accordingly disgraced, incarcerated and confiscated of a lifetime of accumulated wealth. This paper targets the “directing minds and wills” of companies and aims to invoke thought and action on redefining the notion of corporate compliance.
Design/methodology/approach
An analysis of recent innovations in mostly UK law regarding fraud and money laundering, with historical comparisons to show the changing community and legal perceptions – “the evolution”. There is also case study analysis and recent examples of community attitudes towards recent high‐profile commercial prosecutions.
Findings
That there is a definite change in how the public, lawmakers and governments perceive corporate non‐compliance, to the extent that most breaches qualify as criminal offences and that due to mutual legal assistance and incentivisation schemes, the risks to corporations and its officers are extremely high and real.
Practical implications
Corporations will need to be genuine about legal compliance beyond merely espousing platitudes and motherhood statements and more towards reinventing the compliance paradigm. This means that merely concentrating on strict legal compliance will no longer suffice. Corporations will need to establish and regularly revisit their values, with more emphasis on embedding a culture of compliance that is attuned to domestic and international community values. To choose to ignore these needs, risks the very existence of the company and also its officers being ostracised both commercially and criminally.
Originality/value
Traditionally, papers on this topic tend to concentrate on strictly legal or managerial issues. This paper looks at the issue from a more criminological perspective whilst not compromising legal analysis and business pragmatism, thus allowing an integration of disciplines in a context that can be appreciated by lawyers, managers and social scientists alike.
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Nicolas Morgan, Edward Totino and Perrie Weiner
This paper aims to draw conclusions about the likelihood that Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) Chairman Christopher Cox will take significant action to reduce regulation…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to draw conclusions about the likelihood that Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) Chairman Christopher Cox will take significant action to reduce regulation affecting hedge funds based on how the SEC has dealt with hedge fund regulation in both the rule making and enforcement arenas since Mr. Cox became Chairman.
Design/methodology/approach
Assesses actions taken by the SEC under Mr Cox's leadership with regard to PIPE (private investment in public equity) transactions by hedge funds, hedge fund registration rules, portfolio disclosure requirements, and alleged collusion among short‐selling hedge funds, research firms, and journalists.
Findings
The SEC's enforcement activities with respect to hedge funds that make short sales before the announcement of a PIPE transaction indicate that the SEC has no plans to lighten the regulatory or enforcement burden on hedge funds. The SEC's response to the DC Circuit Court's decision striking down the hedge fund registration rule likewise indicates that additional hedge fund regulation remains an SEC priority. While it remains to be seen how the SEC investigations and civil actions regarding the alleged collusion between short‐selling hedge funds, research firms and journalists will turn out, it appears unlikely that Chairman Cox will take any bold action to protect freedom of expression and the marketplace of ideas from attacks by disgruntled companies.
Originality/value
Provides a timely and insightful view of the near‐term outlook for SEC regulatory and enforcement policy toward hedge funds.
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