Thesis (Ph. D.)--Gdańsk University, 2006. / "DUV Wirtschaftswissenschaften" Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Gdańsk University, 2006. / "DUV Wirtschaftswissenschaften." Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Gdansk University, 2006. / "DUV Wirtschaftswissenschaften" Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Johns Hopkins University, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 607-641).

published_or_final_version / abstract / China Development Studies / Master / Master of Arts

published_or_final_version / Business / Master / Master of Philosophy

In this dissertation, I study the behavior and the factors that impact the performance of firms in developing countries. Chapter 1 and 3 investigate the determinants of patterns of trade in Myanmar, a country which over the past decade has been undergoing an extraordinary transition, from military control and diplomatic isolation to political and economic liberalization. Chapter 2 studies how firms upgrade the quality of their output to increase sales abroad. Specifically, in Chapter 1, I investigate the hypothesis that if matching frictions in international trade are important, a seller’s ability to connect with buyers could explain a substantial part of exporters heterogeneity in size. I do so in Myanmar’s bean export market. Despite beans having all the attributes of a commodity, there is significant transaction price dispersion across both exporters and foreign buyers. Empirical patterns are consistent with foreign buyers facing search costs to find exporters. I estimate a model of search and auctions, where foreign buyers first search for a set of exporters, and then run a competitive bidding process between exporters within that set. In the model, exporters are described by two parameters: a visibility parameter that impacts their likelihood of being found by foreign buyers and a cost parameter that drives the level of their price quotes and thus their market share with each foreign buyer. Visibility explains an important part of the firm size distribution. On the buyer side, searching for an additional exporter has an estimated cost of about $2,000. Moving to a centralized market would lead to a five percent decrease in transaction prices. Chapter 2 looks at the relationship between firms’ output quality and their organizational structure. Using data on the production and transaction chain that makes up Peruvian fishmeal manufacturing, we establish three results. First, firms integrate existing suppliers when the quality premium rises for exogenous reasons. Second, suppliers change their behavior to better maintain input quality when vertically integrated. Third, firms produce a higher share of high-quality output when supplier availability constraints shift them into using integrated suppliers. Overall, our results indicate that quality upgrading is an important motive for integrating suppliers facing a quantity-quality trade-off, as classical theories of the firm predict. Chapter 3 quantifies the impact of import license liberalization in Myanmar’s unique political economy environment. By contrast to previous literature on the issue, we find that liberalization did not lead to substantial entry in the sectors populated by firms connected to the party in power. We document two facts that rationalize these findings. First, connected firms tend to import products subject to important economies of scale, which provide opportunities for rent-seeking and act as a “natural” barrier to entry for small firms. Second, we show that a subset of the products liberalized de jure were not liberalized de facto. Products not liberalized de facto are more likely to be sectors where connected firms are present and where economies of scale are less important. This last result suggests that institutional arrangements were made to protect connected firms in the sectors where they faced higher potential competition.

by Ma Wing-Kin. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [57-58]). / ABSTRACT --- p.ii / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.iii / LIST OF TABLES --- p.iv / PREFACE --- p.xxv / Chapter / Chapter I. --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Current Situation Facing Multinational Corporations --- p.1 / Methodology of the Study --- p.19 / Chapter II. --- FINDINGS OF THE SURVEY AND TRENDS IDENTIFIED --- p.24 / General Findings and Analysis --- p.24 / Correlation findings --- p.35 / Chapter III. --- SUMMARY OF TRENDS --- p.43 / Chapter IV. --- RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION --- p.46 / APPENDIX --- p.54 / BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.i

No description available.

Business leaders require the appropriate strategies and knowledge to successfully grow their companies through international expansion. Multinational enterprises (MNEs) in the West Bank in Palestine often encounter complex barriers as the executives of the firms explore business opportunities in foreign countries. The objective of this single case study was to explore, in depth, the perspectives of business leaders from a population of executives of an MNE in the West Bank. The conceptual framework used in the study was cultural intelligence. The selected multinational business leaders participated in semistructured, face-to-face interviews followed by member checking. The 2 executives of the MNE shared their experiences and knowledge concerning the internationalization processes of their company. The data analysis process followed Yin's 5-phase analysis cycle; it entailed an analysis of interview responses followed by member checking and a review of administrative documents of the MNE under study. Three themes emerged from the data analysis: international knowledge and adaption of local conditions, strategic partnerships, and diversification and specialization. The findings from the study could contribute to positive social change by encouraging executives to explore business opportunities in the West Bank, resulting in an increase in employment rate and better living standards for the residents.