Economic activity is becoming not only more internationalised, but, more significantly, it is becoming increasingly globalised. Globalisation is always regarded as a product of the liberalisation that has been the hallmark of economic policy throughout the world during the past two decades. Globalisation and liberalisation feed off each other and the former has certainly set in motion forces working to accelerate liberalisation. Both globalisation and liberalisation have increased the potential for international trade to further establish itself as an engine of growth and an important mechanism for integrating countries into the global economy. Tourism is not only the dominant service in world trade, it has also become one of the most important industries in the world and its economic impacts are vital for many countries. The tourism industry has long supported the idea of services agreements and has become a major force of the globalisation of international trade, particularly in services. The significance of tourism as a source of income and employment and as a major factor in the balance of payments for many countries has been attracting increasing attention. Governments, private sector entities, regional and local authorities, and others with an interest in international trade and economic development have recognised the role to be played by tourism. If the barriers to worldwide travel were eliminated or reduced substantially, international trade in tourism services is likely to increase dramatically. The globalisation of production and the liberalisation of trade offer opportunities for all countries and enable developing countries to play a more active role in the world economy. However, these newfound opportunities do not come without a price and this is to be found in the increasing complexity associated with interdependence including instability and marginalisation. Therefore, the net result is one of trade off between economic gains and costs. The World Trade Organisation (WTO) is the only international body dealing with the rules of trade between nations. At its heart are the WTO agreements, negotiated and signed by the bulk of the trading nations of the world. Its main functions, as defined in article III of the Agreement, are to facilitate the implementation, administration and operation of the Uruguay Round Agreements (GATT, GATS, TRIPS, act) and to provide a forum for negotiations among members. The WTO's overriding objective is to help trade flow smoothly, freely, fairly and predictably. There is no doubt that the WTO and the GATS have assisted the growth of international trade in goods and services. However, the success of such instruments relies upon markets behaving in a Ricardian manner incorporating the fluidity and transparency that form the substance of those markets. The purpose of this research is, through analysis, to gain insight into the impacts of liberalisation brought about by the GATS on tourism development in Egypt and to explore stakeholders' perceptions of tourism liberalisation. This research aims to analyse the terms, codes and practice of the WTO and the GATS and their implications for the tourism sector. This examination is intended to enhance understanding of how the General Agreement is intended to work and how it may help governments exploit the system to their own advantage, especially in the developing countries. The research has five broad objectives. The first is to evaluate the level of openness in Egypt's trade in services in general and tourism in particular. The second is to examine and display the main features of Egypt's GATS commitments. Third, is to explore whether the macroeconomic environment offers the necessary conditions for tourism liberalisation and for private business development (foreign and local alike). Fourth, to determine whether the institutional climate is amenable to the growth and competitiveness of private firms. Finally, to evaluate the potential impacts of GATS on tourism development in Egypt. This research also has the objective of developing policy options that embrace and reflect all the major relevant concepts of tourism liberalisation. There are likely to be transitional impacts of trade liberalisation through WTO and GATS. The World Bank (2000) states that globalisation and liberalisation do not benefit everyone equally. Developing countries and the least developing countries are always the least able to take advantage of the opportunities that GATS presents, and globalisation and liberalisation may lead to an increase in inequality in these countries. The future of tourism development in Egypt, as well as the ability of Egypt to integrate successfully into the global trading system will depend upon its ability to strengthen its capacity to produce internationally competitive services and upon the extent of liberalisation in the services sectors in general and the tourism sector in particular. In today's globalised market, a country competes with every other destination in the type and price of tourism it offers. The main findings of this research indicate that if Egypt is to be successful in competing in the international tourism market, standards of excellence must be introduced for its products, particularly for infrastructure and accommodation and services. Management and administration of the sector must improve. Governments must shift to policies that encourage tourism. For example, the sector cannot develop without improvements in public health and personal safety in tourist areas. Air policies that support ease of access and traffic growth are also critical. Governments must also invest in expanded human resource development and institutional capacity building, and improve environmental mitigation and protection. The value to the final consumer is determined by the quality of all these components of the tourism package. Given its cross-sectoral nature, tourism will only develop in a sustainable manner if it is integrated into the country's overall policies and economic and physical planning mechanisms and if linkages are created across the many sectors spanned by tourism. Partial policy measures will be inadequate to address vested interests, underlying economic relationships and generic social or physical constraints. The creation of highly competitive products through good management of natural and built tourist assets is most likely to convince the international industry to promote one country over another in the global market place. Countries can influence these external industry managers through an effective and continuing promotion and marketing campaign, but will be successful only if there is a highquality, competitive product to sell that competes in value and not just price. It is hoped that these findings, which offer an understanding of the impacts of GATS and WTO on tourism development, may help address national and regional tourism development policy-making and strategies in developing countries.

The research is aimed to examine the implementation of the GATS and its impact upon tourism development, particularly in Korea. The GATS (General Agreement on Trade in Services) agreement has been implemented in order to liberalise World Trade in services. In this respect, the research examines the performance of GATT to see how successful GATT has been in securing and fostering world trade in manufacturing industry and then moves on to examine the implementation of GATS and, by drawing upon findings from other trading agreements (such as the NAFTA and EU) estimate the likely impacts that such agreements will have on tourism services and the manner in which they are delivered. The GATS agreement is a long-term undertaking in which major trading countries are likely to become members. GATS sets up a legal and operational framework for the liberalisation of international trade in tourism as well as other services. The principle of GATS is the liberalisation of exchange of services and it is adapted from the GATT (General Agreement on Tariff and Trade). The GATS has been established as part of the multilateral trade negotiations and introduced new rules for services to complete overhaul of the GATT trade system. The rapid growth of tourism is the product of liberalisation which has been the hallmark of economic policy throughout the world, during the past decade. The UNCTAD report (1999) states that both globalisation and liberalisation have increased the potential for international trade in goods and services to become an unprecedented engine of growth and an important mechanism for integrating countries into the global economy. However, the GATS has many implications for tourism, particularly for tourism policymakers since it covers many different areas and sectors in tourism. Unlike other services, tourism is not a specific type of service, but a mixture of different services consumed by tourists. Therefore, it is essential to understand the rules and the principles of GATS as applied to tourism sectors in international trade. The overall aims of the study are: 1. To examine the factors that influence world trade in goods and services. 2. To examine the influences that GATS is likely to have on the scope and magnitude of world trade in services. 3. To determine how GATS impacts on tourism development in developing countries and act as a catalyst to enhance the development of developing countries. 4. To examine what are the likely effects. of GATS upon tourism development and delivery in Korea. Since one of the research objectives is to examine what is the likely effect of GATS upon tourism development and delivery in Korea, the case study was a useful technique. In particular, the case study seemed an appropriate strategy to answer the research question because the research area is relatively new. Therefore, descriptive research design was adopted for this particular study. Moreover, the research adopted an explanatory research design, in order to investigate relationships by giving answers to problems and hypotheses. Through explanatory research, this study seeks to explore aspects of tourism development as a result of liberalisation and globalisation in Korea. In particular, this study investigates specified areas such as: how will GATS help future tourism development in Korea? Why are there different perceptions of GATS between the private and public sector? How do government policies and regulations affect future tourism development? by using interviews and questionnaires. For this study, the semi-structured interviews were used and questionnaires were designed to gather information about the impacts of GATS on tourism development in Korea before conducting the survey, but it failed to obtain the necessary information. It is hoped that these findings enhance an understanding of the role of international trade in services particularly tourism industry, which may assist national and international tourism policy makers to consider the complexities and difficulties of understanding the rules of multilateral trade agreements (such as GATS) not only to develop tourism but also to develop other service sectors, especially in developing countries.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

This thesis charts the growth and demise of the two largest shipbuilding firms on the Lower Clyde in Scotland, Scotts' Shipbuilding & Engineering Company Limited of Greenock, [established 1711 ] and Lithgows Limited of Port Glasgow [established as Russell & Company in 1874 and as Lithgows Limited in 1918]. The history of each firm is considered separately, with more emphasis on Lithgows, in order to give the reader a fuller perspective of their respective growth and internal and external dynamics. The bulk of the thesis, however, is concentrated in the post-1945 period with emphasis on the protracted merger of the shipbuilding interests of Scotts' and Lithgows to form Scott Lithgow Limited in 1970. Thereafter, the history of the merged firm is considered in detail, including its disastrous entry into the giant tanker market up to the nationalisation of the British shipbuilding industry in July 1977 when the firm was transferred to the control of the State Corporation, British Shipbuilders. From there, including an even more disastrous entry into the large offshore structures market, the period of nationalisation is then analysed up to March 1984 when Scott Lithgow became the first British Shipbuilders constituent shipyard to be privatised when it was controversially sold to the industrial conglomerate Trafalgar House plc. Trafalgar House, with no previous experience of building complex semi submersibles was unable to resurrect Scott Lithgow's tarnished reputation in the offshore market. Accordingly. the yard was put on a care and maintenance basis in 1988 from which it never recovered. In considering the complex history of Scotts' and Lithgows through what is in effect a micro study, it is hoped that this thesis will identify certain parallels in the demise of Scott Lithgow that will enhance our knowledge of cause and effect in the overall decline of the British shipbuilding industry.

Female entrepreneurship in Western countries has received ample research interest over the last decade. Research about female entrepreneurs in the Middle East and North Africa Region (MENA) and particularly in Saudi Arabia is, however, still in its infancy. Little is known about the financial and business support resources available to these women, or whether or not the specific needs of female entrepreneurs in Saudi Arabia are effectively met by the available economic and financial infrastructure. The aim of the present research study is twofold. Firstly, the author attempts to assess the role of non-government and non-profit organisations in providing financial support and business development services (BDS) such as training, information and advice to female entrepreneurs in Saudi Arabia. Secondly, the author attempts to identify the specific needs of female entrepreneurs or women who wish to start a business. These aims are reached by surveying available financial programmes and business development programs (BDS) in Saudi Arabia. This part of the study relies on a thorough review of research literature and the evaluation of available financing and business programmes. Thirdly, primary data are collected from businesswomen in Saudi Arabia who run their own small or medium enterprise or who plan to start their own business in the foreseeable future and have already taken steps to start their own business. The author conducted one-on-one interviews with 30 Saudi business women to identify their needs, personal experiences, and perceived barriers that hinder their ability to run or start a business in Saudi Arabia. The author uses a semi-structured interview format to collect data. The expected results of the research were twofold: (1) the analysis conducted as part of this study is expected to uncover the main difficulties that female entrepreneurs are facing in Saudi Arabia when running their own business; (2) the study’s results provide insights that allow the researcher to determine whether or not the assistance of non-profit organisations is actually helpful in this area. The study’s findings are also expected to have implications for policy makers trying to boost female entrepreneurship. The present study made several significant findings; specifically, female entrepreneurs desire access to better training not only to hone their entrepreneurial skills but also to take advantage of the affordances of modern communication technologies. Secondly, cultural norms and tribalism hold women back from reaching their full potential as entrepreneurs. This not only has negative effects on women’s access to financing, but also on their abilities to access education and other resources. Moreover, the financing options for women are very limited; except for one state-sponsored program women were not aware of other “official channels” they could use to finance their businesses. Non-governmental organizations such as professional organizations for women are still lacking; participants expressed their wish that such organizations would expand their offerings to women. Female entrepreneurs highlighted the importance of social support networks, especially families and male relatives (fathers, husbands) in setting up their business and becoming successful. And lastly, women were motivated to become entrepreneurs out of a desire to become self-sufficient and make a positive contribution to their community. The findings of this study make significant contributions to the scant body of research on female entrepreneurs in Saudi Arabia in that they shed light on the specific barriers women encounter. Moreover, the study highlights the importance of social support networks in the population of female entrepreneurs in Saudi Arabia and demonstrates how cultural norms, tribalism, and conservative family values permeate Saudi Arabia’s bureaucracy and financial institutions and thus create barriers for women. The major limitation of the study is its qualitative research design. While the author expected to obtain rich qualitative data that helps gain a deeper understanding of female entrepreneurship in Saudi Arabia, findings of the study cannot be generalized to the entire population of Saudi female entrepreneurs. Moreover, this type of research is also prone to self-report bias. Given the specific cultural context of the study, self-report bias may take on two forms. Women may either overstate or understate their business success or the barriers they experience. Secondly, participants may not be willing to freely speak their mind on the subject under consideration because of social and cultural conventions that prevent them from doing so. The author expects that some answers will have social desirability bias (Creswell, 2009). Building effective rapport and trust with participants will therefore be of paramount importance to obtain unbiased responses. Despite these limitations, the author hopes to make a valuable contribution on which other researchers and policy makers can build. The author provides a comprehensive list of recommendations arising from the findings from the study. The recommendations not only address gaps in research and suggestions for future research but also give practical advice to policy makers, the Saudi government and NGO stakeholders seeking to boost female entrepreneurship in Saudi Arabia.