The objective of this study is to investigate the economic impacts of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification on global trade of forest products. Global Forest Products Model (GFPM) is used to predict export, import and net trade quantity of several forest products from year 2006 to 2056. The simulation findings suggest that: (1) Under the assumption that FSC certification plays negative effects on forest stock, Europe reduced sawnwood export; while Ireland became the net importer of sawnwood and wood pulp for next fifty years. (2) Under the assumption that FSC certification has no effects on forest stock, North America, Europe and Asia became the three major sawnwood importers; Europe and North America dominated sawnwood export; Africa significantly expanded its market share of sawnwood export from 1.3% in 2006 to 8.8% in 2056. Africa and Asia became the two largest importers of fuelwood. (3) Under the assumption that FSC certification plays positive effects on forest stock, Europe increased its export of sawnwood; Ireland became the net exporter of sawnwood and wood pulp since 2026. However, FSC certification has no impact on the trend of forestry stocks and products in Canada.

<p>Exporting can be viable solution for struggling entrepreneurial firms. However the different procedures and regulations that need to be addressed prior to export may be enough to discourage firms from engaging in exporting. This thesis examines the aforementioned obstacles and provides a checklist in order to facilitate the process of exporting the product into a foreign market.</p> <p>This thesis then goes on to test the viability of the checklist using two separate case studies. Results from the case studies indicate that the checklist can aid entrepreneurial firms by reducing the possibility of oversights and eliminate additional costs that are associated with these oversights.</p>

<p>Exporting can be viable solution for struggling entrepreneurial firms. However the different procedures and regulations that need to be addressed prior to export may be enough to discourage firms from engaging in exporting. This thesis examines the aforementioned obstacles and provides a checklist in order to facilitate the process of exporting the product into a foreign market.</p> <p>This thesis then goes on to test the viability of the checklist using two separate case studies. Results from the case studies indicate that the checklist can aid entrepreneurial firms by reducing the possibility of oversights and eliminate additional costs that are associated with these oversights.</p>

The lack of adequate transportation infrastructure in Brazil has been a bottleneck for the soybean producers for many years. Moreover, the costly inland transportation incurred from this bottleneck has resulted in a loss in competitiveness for Brazil compared to other exporting countries, especially the United States. If transportation costs are reduced by introducing improved infrastructure, Brazil is expected to increase its competitiveness in the world soybean market by increasing its exports and producer revenues. On the other hand, the United States and other significant soybean competing exporting countries are expected to lose market share as well as producer revenues. This study uses a spatial equilibrium model to analyze transportation infrastructure improvements proposed by the Brazilian government vis-à-vis enhance the nation’s soybean transportation network. The analyzed transportation improvements are: (i) the development of the Tapajós-Teles Pires waterway; (ii) the completion of the BR- 163 highway; (iii) the construction of the Mortes-Araguaia waterway; (iv) the Ferronorte railroad expansion to Rondonópolis and the linkage between the city of Rio Verde to Uberlândia; and (v) the Ferropar railroad expansion to the city of Dourados. The model specifies the Brazilian inland transportation network and the international ocean shipments. The model divides Brazil into 18 excess supply regions and 8 excess demand regions. The competing exporting countries are the United States, Argentina, Rest of South America (Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay), Canada, and India. The importing countries are composed of China, European Union, Southeast Asia, Mexico, and the Rest of the World. Results suggest these proposed transportation improvements yield potential noteworthy gains to Brazil with producer revenues increasing more than $500 million and exports increasing by 177 thousand metric tons. Consequently, the world soybean price declines by $1.16 per metric ton and producer revenues and exports in the United States fall by 63 thousand metric tons and $104.89 million, respectively. Although the absolute gains in price, revenues, and exports for Brazil are considerable, they only represent in relative changes 1.48, 2.35, and 0.32 percent, respectively. Similarly, the loss in price, revenue, and export value for the United States is also low, declining by 0.23, 0.23, and 0.12 percent, respectively.

The lack of adequate transportation infrastructure in Brazil has been a bottleneck for the soybean producers for many years. Moreover, the costly inland transportation incurred from this bottleneck has resulted in a loss in competitiveness for Brazil compared to other exporting countries, especially the United States. If transportation costs are reduced by introducing improved infrastructure, Brazil is expected to increase its competitiveness in the world soybean market by increasing its exports and producer revenues. On the other hand, the United States and other significant soybean competing exporting countries are expected to lose market share as well as producer revenues. This study uses a spatial equilibrium model to analyze transportation infrastructure improvements proposed by the Brazilian government vis-à-vis enhance the nation's soybean transportation network. The analyzed transportation improvements are: (i) the development of the Tapajós-Teles Pires waterway; (ii) the completion of the BR- 163 highway; (iii) the construction of the Mortes-Araguaia waterway; (iv) the Ferronorte railroad expansion to Rondonópolis and the linkage between the city of Rio Verde to Uberlândia; and (v) the Ferropar railroad expansion to the city of Dourados. The model specifies the Brazilian inland transportation network and the international ocean shipments. The model divides Brazil into 18 excess supply regions and 8 excess demand regions. The competing exporting countries are the United States, Argentina, Rest of South America (Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay), Canada, and India. The importing countries are composed of China, European Union, Southeast Asia, Mexico, and the Rest of the World. Results suggest these proposed transportation improvements yield potential noteworthy gains to Brazil with producer revenues increasing more than $500 million and exports increasing by 177 thousand metric tons. Consequently, the world soybean price declines by $1.16 per metric ton and producer revenues and exports in the United States fall by 63 thousand metric tons and $104.89 million, respectively. Although the absolute gains in price, revenues, and exports for Brazil are considerable, they only represent in relative changes 1.48, 2.35, and 0.32 percent, respectively. Similarly, the loss in price, revenue, and export value for the United States is also low, declining by 0.23, 0.23, and 0.12 percent, respectively.

Commodity markets are characterised by declining growth rates, depressed prices, intensified competition and the evolution of standard and fixed specifications. These lead to an increasingly severe squeeze on profits. The commodity sector of the chemical industry is no exception to this, it is notorious for its fiercely competitive nature and its increasingly severe squeeze on profit margins. Past research suggests that companies will compete primarily on price (Wei et a1. 1979, Emerson 1983, Stobaugh 1988, Quintella 1993, and Black 1994), with relatively little technical service required. However, as the commodity sector of the chemical industry continues to see its margins squeezed, companies are finding that the ability to constantly reduce production costs is limited and no longer offers a total solution. The research examined how a relationship marketing approach could contributed to UK commodity chemical companies' competitiveness. However, the current literature on relationship marketing has not referred specifically to commodities and arguably leaves a gap in this research area. It has been suggested that relationship marketing is not a 'universal panacea' with several authors that believe there are situations, usually involving lowinvolvement or commodity products, when a swift and simple transactional approach is more appropriate and preferred by the 'customer compared to a relational approach (Gronroos 1990; Mattyssens and Van den Bulte 1994; Peck 1996). The research shows this is generally not the case in commodity chemicals. The research investigated, through a multi-method research approach using both case studies and a survey, the relevance and use of a relationship marketing approach in commodity chemicals. The research developed, from a convergence of current ideas and theories, a relationship marketing framework that shows a firm's culture (based on seven marketing arrangements constructs) for establishing, developing, maintaining relationships and the selective termination of relationships with multiple exchange partners (i.e. customers, supplier, communities, authorities). The seven 'marketing arrangements' constructs are: the role of marketing management and planning; multiple exchange partners; responsibility; long-term focus; interaction; management orientation and portfolio planning; trust, commitment and promises. The research provides evidence, from three case studies, that supports the framework's constructs within UK commodity chemical companies across customer, supplier, internal and external relationships. Regression analysis of the survey data shows a positive link between a relationship marketing approach and the business performance of UK commodity chemical companies. The basis of this analysis used REMARKOR, an instrument for measuring relationship marketing orientation developed for this research. It follows a similar procedure to MARKOR, an instrument for measuring marketing orientation, developed by Kohli et al's (1993). However, REMARKOR uses constructs examined in the cases studies, based on current relationship marketing literature.

The efficiency and practicality of currency areas is a controversial source of debate in the field of economics nowadays. Advocates of the system predict that currency unions lead to higher trade volumes as a result of reduced exchange rate uncertainty and higher integration. Possibly the most prominent example of a currency area nowadays is the EMU, initiated in 1995 with the purpose of nurturing a unified European market as one of the main aims. There is no consensus on whether the EMU has induced a net loss or benefit upon its members, but one common finding among academic studies is that the EMU leads to higher trade among union members. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of the euro adoption on trade between EMU members. The model uses a pooled data set comprising the years from 1990 to 2012. Two separate groups are analysed, one including all OECD and EU countries, and another using data from only European countries from the sample. After allowing for different circumstances, I find that two countries belonging to the EMU trade between 17 and 32 per cent more than country pairs outside the union. Moreover, I find that language similarity has a neutral effect in the European sample, while it seems to have a highly significant effect on the sample including all countries.

No description available.

Thesis (LL. M.)--University of Toronto, 2004. / Adviser: Jutta Brunnee.

Thesis (B.Sc. (Honours) in Economics)--Singapore Management University, 2006. / Senior thesis in part fulfillment for the BSc (Honours) in Economics degree presented to the School of Economics and Social Sciences, Singapore Management University 2005-2006. Includes bibliographical references (p. 31-33).