Thesis (MScAgric)--Stellenbosch University, 2000. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The deregulation and the following restructuring of the South African fruit industry in 1996 had a significant influence on the decision-making environment that participants in the industry were used to. As new exporters entered the industry many new market opportunities arose. However at this same period in time export-earnings from the most important traditional markets came under pressure. A drastic increase in the supply of fresh apples from other Southern Hemisphere countries like Chile as well as a highly fragmented South African marketing structure are believed to be the most important reasons for the decline in exportearnings. The aim of this study is to focus on the international competitiveness of the South African apple industry in comparison to the competitiveness of the Chilean industry, with specific reference to the competition between the two countries on the European market for fresh apples. The study is introduced by a historical view as well as a glance at recent realities within the South African as well as the Chilean apple industry. Aspects that have lead to the growth and development regarding production as well as exports within both industries will be indicated. Historical international trade performance of both industries is discussed as international trade performance is a prerequisite for international competitiveness. Theoretical principles of competitiveness and competitive advantage is given with specific focus on the most recent theoretical viewpoints concerning competitive advantage and the reaching thereof The work of Michael Porter (1990) is used as a starting point in order to construct a framework with which the national competitive advantage of a specific industry, with a specific nation, can be explained. According to Porter ( 1990) national competitive advantage can be defined as the specific characteristics of a nation's national circumstances that enables a specific industry within that nation to create and maintain competitive advantages. National competitive advantage a measured according to four so-called broad determinants of national competitive advantage, namely industry structure, strategy and competition (first determinant), factor conditions, related and supporting industries and demand conditions as the forth determinant. A number of more recent definitions and describing literature on competitive advantage is used in order to expand Porter's so-called "diamond-analyses" for specific use to analyze an industry that produces a perishable product. An important prerequisite concerning the analyzing of competitiveness, is the presence of a relative or comparative component. Industry specific technical literature is used in order to make comparative descriptions within the above mentioned framework. This framework (expanded Porter-model) is used in order to compare the Chilean apple industry with the South African industry on the basis ofthe four broad determinants of national competitive advantage. In this way a complex description of the varied national and international industry environments within which the two industries operate, is done. It is very clear that international exposure on production as well as on marketing level together with excellent natural resources is the most important contributors to the national competitive advantage of the Chilean apple industry. The exceptional natural resources and very good weather conditions for growing apples together with growers' exposure to consumer demands are important contributors to the production of high quality fruit. Marketers and exporters show valuable market-discipline and they have easy access to relevant market information. These aspects strengthen the competitiveness of the Chilean apple industry. If the South African apple industry want to be competitive in future, it is absolutely essential that scarce resources such as soil and water is well-managed and conserved. International exposure and technological innovation on production level is also very important. Market information will have to be more easily accessible and exporters will have to show significant market discipline. It is also important that there will not be any uncertainties as far as property rights is concerned, as this will scare investors. It is of utmost importance that the South African government will work towards creating a home base that will have a positive effect on the obtaining and the maintaining of national competitive advantage. This study give participants within the South African apple industry a thorough description of the varied decision-making environments to which the Chilean and the South African apple producer is subjected to. Differences within this decision-making environments is emphasized and there is an indication of what the direct influence of this differences have on the South African industry. Possible future changes concerning the various macroenvironments of the two industries is analyzed and an indication is given on how these changes will influence the obtaining and maintaining of national competitive advantage in future. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die deregulering en die gevolglike herstrukturering van die Suid-Afrikaanse vrugtebedryf in 1996 het die besluitnemingsomgewing vir alle deelhouers binne die Suid-Afrikaanse vrugtebedryf drasties verander. Die toetrede van verskeie nuwe uitvoerders het beteken dat nuwe bemarkings-geleenthede benut kon word, maar ongelukkig het uitvoerverdienste op die tradisioneel belangrike markte op dieselfde tydstip onder groot druk gekom. 'n Dramatiese toename in die voorsiening van vars appels vanuit ander Suidelike-Halfrond-lande, soos Chili, tesame met 'n gefragmenteerde Suid-Afrikaanse bemarkings-opset word as die belangrikste redes vir die dating in uitvoerverdienste aangevoer. In hierdie ondersoek word daar gefokus op die internasionale mededingendheid van die Suid-Afrikaanse appelbedryf relatief tot die mededingendheid van die Chileense bedryf, met spesifieke verwysing na die mededinging tussen die twee lande in die Europese mark vir vars appels. Die studie word ingelei deur 'n geskiedkundige oorsig sowel as 'n blik op huidige realiteite binne die Suid-Afrikaanse- sowel as die Chileense appelbedrywe. Die verloop van gebeure wat tot die groei en ontwikkeling ten opsigte van produksie sowel as uitvoere binne beide bedrywe gelei het, word aangedui. Die bereiking van intemasionale handelsukses word as voorvereiste vir intemasionale mededingendheid aangevoer. Geskiedkundige intemasionale handelsprestasie van beide bedrywe word dus ook uiteengesit. 'n Uiteensetting van teoretiese grondbeginsels van mededingendheid en mededingende voordele word aangebied met die fokus op die jongste teoretiese sienings betreffende mededingende voordeel en die bereiking daarvan. Die werk van Micheal Porter (1990) word as vertrekpunt gebruik ten einde 'n raamwerk te konstrueer waarmee die nasionale mededingende voordeel van 'n bepaalde bedryf, gesetel binne 'n bepaalde nasie, omskryf kan word. Volgens Porter (1990) word nasionale mededingende voordeel omskryf as die bepaalde karaktertrekke van 'n nasie se nasionale omstandighede wat spesifieke bedrywe binne daardie nasie in staat stel om mededingende voordele te skep en te behou. Nasionale mededingende voordeel word gemeet aan die hand van vier sogenaamde bree determinante van nasionale mededingende voordeel, naamlik bedryfstruktuur, bedryfstrategie en bedryfskompetisie (wat gesamentlik die eerste determinant vorm), faktorkondisies, verwante en ondersteunende industriee asook vraagtoestande. Hierdie vier determinante omskryf die totale omgewing (home base) waarbinne 'n bepaalde bedryf opereer. Verskeie meer onlangse definisies en beskrywende literatuur betreffende mededingende voordeel is aangewend om Porter (1990) se sogenaamde "diamant-analise" uit te brei en meer toepaslik te maak op 'n bedryf wat 'n bederfbare kommoditeit produseer. 'n Belangrike voorvereiste betreffende die analisering van mededingendheid, is die teenwoordigheid van 'n relatiewe of vergelykende komponent. Bedryfspesifieke tegniese literatuur is dus verder aangewend ten einde vergelykende beskrywings binne die genoemde raamwerk te doen. Die raamwerk (uitgebreide Portermodel) is gebruik ten einde die Chileense appelbedryf met die Suid-Mrikaanse appelbedryf te vergelyk aan die hand van elk van die genoemde determinante van nasionale mededingende voordeel. Op hierdie wyse is 'n komplekse beskrywing van die onderskeie nasionale en internasionale bedryfsomgewings (home bases) waarbinne die twee bedrywe opereer, verkry. Omvattende internasionale blootstelling op produksie- maar veral op bemarkingsvlak tesame met uiters gunstige klimatologiese toestande en baie goeie natuurlike hulpbronne, blyk die belangrikste aspekte te wees wat hydra tot nasionale mededingende voordeel van die Chileense appelbedryf. Die gunstige klimatologiese toestande en die kwaliteit van die natuurlike hulpbronne tesame met die feit dat produsente die verbruikersbehoeftes van die verskillende wereldmarkte ken, dra by tot die produksie van goeie kwaliteit vrugte. Die vaardigheid en hoe vlak van intemasionale blootstelling waaroor bemarkers/uitvoerders beskik, tesame met die toepassing van markdissipline, is verdere aspekte wat die mededingendheid van die Chileense bedryf versterk. Indien die Suid-Afrikaanse appelbedryf in die toekoms steeds mededingend wil wees en nuwe nasionale mededingende voordeel wil skep en handhaaf, is dit van kardinale belang dat beskikbare, skaars hulpbronne soos water en grond oordeelkundig bestuur en aangewend moet word. Intemasionale blootstelling en tegnologiese innovasie met betrekking tot produksie is van kardinale belang. Dit is verder belangrik dat mark-inligting meer toeganklik sal word en dat uitvoerders die nodige markdissipline sal toepas en handhaaf. Dit is belangrik dat onsekerheid betreffende eiendomsreg vermy sal word omdat dit kan lei tot beleggerswantroue. Dit is van kardinale belang dat die Suid-Afrikaanse regering sal streef daarna om 'n home base te skep wat positiefbydra tot die bereiking en handhawing van nasionale mededingende voordeel. Die studie bied dus aan deelhouers binne die Suid-Amerikaanse appelbedryf 'n omvattende beskrywing van die onderskeie besluitnemingsomgewings waaraan die Chileense sowel as die Suid-Mrikaanse appelprodusent blootgestel ts. Verskille binne hierdie besluitnemingsomgewings word uitgelig en daar word aangetoon wat die direkte invloed van hierdie verskille op die mededingendheid van die Suid-Mrikaanse bedryf mag wees. Moontlike toekomstige veranderinge betreffende die onderskeie makro-omgewings van die twee bedrywe word ondersoek en daar word aangedui hoe hierdie veranderinge die bereiking en handhawing van nasionale mededingende voordeel in die toekoms sal belnvloed.

O crescimento do consumo das classes de renda mais baixas, um fenômeno que se verifica, em maior ou menor grau, nos países em desenvolvimento como o Brasil, deve ser saudado com satisfação. Afinal, dar acesso a um enorme contingente de pessoas a uma variedade de produtos e serviços - antes inteiramente fora do seu alcance - pode se traduzir em um enorme benefício econômico e social. Ocorre que este acesso não se dá sem conseqüências. A história recente, especialmente a do desenvolvimento global ao longo do século XX, já trouxe uma série de efeitos preocupantes quando se pensa na sustentabilidade dos modelos de produção e consumo até hoje adotados. É enorme, portanto, o desafio de incorporar este enorme contingente de consumidores parciais ou praticamente nulos ao padrão de bem-estar já alcançado pelos de melhor condição de renda. Nossos processos e conceitos terão, certamente, de ser revistos radicalmente. O objetivo primordial deste trabalho é contribuir para a discussão acerca das práticas e modelos de produção, distribuição e consumo, de produtos e serviços, em face das novas necessidades que trazem estes muitos novos consumidores. A este novo modelo este trabalho chama de massificação sustentável. O estudo se divide em três partes: na primeira, foi feita uma pesquisa bibliográfica abrangente, com o intuito de descrever quais são os aspectos mais relevantes a serem considerados na busca pela massificação sustentável, de acordo com a literatura; na segunda - com base nos dados obtidos na etapa anterior - foi aplicada uma pesquisa quantitativa exploratória a um grupo de executivos, de forma a obter indícios a respeito das práticas empresariais em uso corrente no Brasil, e seu alinhamento com a massificação sustentável; na terceira parte, foi desenvolvido um estudo de caso que traz estreita relação com os temas de sustentabilidade: a fibra Alya Eco, feita a partir de PET reciclado, descrevendo sua trajetória mercadológica desde o lançamento, em 2001. Os resultados indicam que os imensos desafios na busca da massificação sustentável ainda estão por serem mais apropriada e eficientemente enfrentados. / The growth on the consumption of the lower income classes, a phenomenon that is verified, in greater or minor degree, in the developing countries like Brazil, must be greeted with great satisfaction. After all, to give access to an enormous contingent of people to a variety of products and services - entirely out of its reach until the last years - can be expressed as an enormous economic and social benefit. This access, however, does not come without consequences. The recent history shows that, especially considering the global development throughout the 20th. Century, we have already brought a series of preoccupying effect when regarding the utilization of production and consumption models adopted until today. It is an enormous challenge, therefore, to incorporate this huge contingent of partial or practically null consumers to the standard of well-being status already reached by the ones of better income conditions. Our processes and concepts will certainly have to be reviewed radically. The primordial objective of this work is to contribute for the discussions concerning the models of production, distribution and consumption, of products and services, in face of the new necessities that comes with these many new consumers. This new model is called sustainable massification in this work. This study is divided in three parts: in the first one an including bibliographical research was made, with the intention to describe which are the most compelling aspects to be considered in the search for the sustainable massification, in accordance with the literature; in the second and regarding the themes researched in the previous stage - an exploratory quantitative research was conducted with a group of Brazilian executives, in order to get indications regarding the most popular practices in current use in Brazil, and its alignment with the sustainable massification; in the third part, a case study was developed regarding the fiber Alya Eco, made from recycled PET, describing its market trajectory since its launching, in 2001. The results indicate that the immense challenges in the search of the sustainable massification are yet to be more appropriately and efficiently faced.

Este trabalho tem como objetivo analisar a competitividade das exportações brasileiras de manga e de uva no mercado internacional no período de 1989 a 2005. Para tanto, utilizou-se o modelo de Constant Market Share (CMS) e o modelo de Vantagem Comparativa Revelada (VCR) para evidenciar os principais fatores responsáveis pela rápida expansão das exportações nacionais para esses dois produtos, além de realizar uma análise comparativa entre as duas culturas selecionadas. O primeiro modelo busca analisar as causas de variação da quantidade (ou valor) exportada de um produto pelo país em questão em relação ao tempo, gerando três dimensões explicativas para a variação das exportações: o efeito dimensão, o efeito distribuição e o efeito competitividade. O efeito dimensão mostra como o crescimento das exportações mundiais afetou o crescimento das exportações do país analisado. O efeito distribuição refere-se às exportações para países de maior ou menor dinamismo. Por resíduo, descontando-se os demais efeitos temos o termo competitividade.Para a geração dos resultados foi necessária a sub-divisão do período de análise em três grupos trienais: 1989/1990/1991, 1994/1995/1996 e 2003/2004/2005.O modelo de Vantagem Comparativa Revelada parte do pressuposto de que o país em questão tende a se especializar nas exportações de produtos que ofereçam vantagens competitivas. Para tanto, o indicador deve apresentar um valor superior a 1 para os produtos competitivos, evidenciando que a participação do produto em questão na pauta do país analisado é superior à participação do país no mercado global geral. Diferentemente do CMS, os indicadores de Vantagem Comparativa Revelada (VCR) nas exportações de um produto podem ser calculados com freqüência anual. O resultado do modelo de Constant Market Share para manga, referente ao primeiro sub-período de análise, mostra que o significativo aumento das exportações brasileiras de manga foi fortemente influenciado pelo crescimento do mercado mundial, seguido pelo efeito competitividade e destino das exportações. Para o segundo subperíodo, o efeito de maior significância foi a competitividade, seguido pelo efeito crescimento do mercado mundial e destino das exportações. Para a uva, o resultado referente ao primeiro sub-período de análise mostra que o significativo aumento das exportações brasileiras dessa fruta foi fortemente influenciado pelo efeito destino das exportações, seguido pelo efeito competitividade e crescimento do mercado mundial. Para o segundo sub-período, os resultados apontam a competitividade como principal fator responsável pelo aumento das exportações brasileiras, seguido pelo efeito crescimento do mercado mundial. O efeito destino das exportações apresentou valor negativo. Para o caso da manga, foram observados altos valores para o indicador de Vantagem Comparativa Revelada, especialmente para o período após 1993. Diferentemente dos resultados apresentados para a manga, as exportações de uva revelam vantagem comparativa apenas no final do período analisado (depois de 2002). / This paper has the main purpose of analyzing competitiveness of Brazilian exports of mangoes and grapes in the international market between 1989 and 2005. Constant Market Share and Revealed Comparative Advantage were used to obtain the main factors that could explain the fast growth of Brazilian exports of the chosen fruits, doing a comparative analysis between these fruits. The first model tries to analyze the reasons of variation in the quantity (or value) of a product exported by the current country related to the time, generating three dimensions: the effect dimension, the effect distribution and the effect competitiveness. The effect dimension shows how the growth of the world exports affected the growth of the current country\'s exports. The effect distribution relates to exports to countries of bigger or smaller dynamism. As a result, discounting the other effects we have the term competitiveness. To generate the results it was necessary to have the sub-division of the analyzed period into three triennial groups: 1989/1990/1991, 1994/1995/1996 and 2003/2004/2005.The Revealed Comparative Advantage model considers that a country tends to specialize itself in exporting products that offer competitive advantages. Thus, the indicator must submit a value higher than 1 for competitive products, showing that the product participation in a country is superior to the country participation in the global market. Different from Constant Market Share (CMS), Revealed Comparative Advantage indicators of exports can be calculated with annual frequency. The Constant Market Share model result for mangoes, referring to the first sub-period analysis shows that the significant increase in Brazilian exports of mangoes was strongly influenced by the growth of the world market, followed by the competitiveness effect, and the destination of exports. For the second sub-period, the most significant effect was the competitiveness, followed by the growth of the world market and the destination of exports. Considering grapes, the result referring to the first sub-period analysis shows that the significant increase in Brazilian grapes exports was strongly influenced by the effect \"exports destination\", followed by the effect competitiveness and the world market\'s growth. For the second sub-period, the results indicate competitiveness as the main factor responsible for the increase of the Brazilian exports, followed by the growth of the world market. The effect \"exports destination\" showed a negative value. For the Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) model, the mango case results showed a high revealed comparative advantage, especially after 1993. The grapes´ results show a comparative advantage only at the end of the period, when, from 2002 on there was a trend of grape consolidation as a competitive product in the international market, though on a distant level from mangoes.

This thesis consists of three independent papers, ordered chronologically with respect to when they were initiated. Empirical research has established that there are large and persistent productivity differences among firms in narrowly defined industries (Bartelsman and Doms, 2000). Other studies, in particular Bernard and Jensen (1999), have shown the existence of a causal link running from ex-ante firm productivity to export decisions. Furthermore, exposure to trade has been found to enhance growth opportunities only for some firms, reallocating market shares and resources toward the more productive ones and contributing thus to aggregate productivity growth (Clerides, Lach and Tybout, 1998; Bernard and Jensen, 2004). These findings have led to the development of new theoretical models emphasizing the interaction between firm heterogeneity and fixed market entry costs in generating international trade and inducing aggregate productivity growth. The first and third chapters of this thesis extend the framework developed by Melitz (2003) to analyze the implications of  firm heterogeneity for old and new issues in international trade. The first paper studies the effect of trade liberalization between countries that differ in their relative endowment of skilled workers when growth-promoting R&D activities are skill intensive with respect to goods production. In particular, the analysis focuses on the changes that falling trade costs induce on consumer welfare and on the number of firms active in the different markets. The third paper uses the heterogeneous firm framework to study the interaction between financial constraints and the market entry behavior of firms. It also analyzes whether the impact of trade liberalization on average firm productivity and on individual welfare is affected by the presence of credit frictions. The second chapter presents an empirical work that contributes to the recent but fast growing literature that studies how different institutions and their level of development affect countries comparative advantage. The analysis presented in this paper focuses on the role of legal and financial institution in driving the specialization in contract-intensive goods and on how the degree of institutional development interacts with the propensity of firms to vertical integrate with their suppliers. / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan i Stockholm, 2011

Culinary tourism can contribute to the economic development of many rural communities. Creating competitive advantage for a rural community by establishing a culinary cluster requires a strategy designed to leverage the economic, cultural and environmental qualities of a place in an attractive setting and within reach of interested markets. Accordingly, culinary tourism development occurs in places with a ‘local milieu’ that possesses a concentration (spatial agglomeration) of local culinary-related products and services produced by their clustered production of a number of inter-connected firms and service providers. This can attract visitors, new residents and investments and lead to more sustainable economic outcomes that increase the quality of life of residents. To take full advantage of such possibilities, a strategy for partnership and collaboration among various stakeholders involved in culinary tourism is required. This study provides a conceptual foundation for culinary tourism as a part of the creative food economy through place branding. It analyzes the formation of culinary clusters in place-based rural community development. A culinary cluster results from innovation in the production and consumption of local food. The research began with a review and assessment of literature on culinary tourism, economic geography and business/management that led to the definition of concepts that were combined in the creation of a conceptual model based on modification of Porter’s (1990) clustering model. The model consists of ‘four interdependent determinants’ and ‘four facilitators’ that influence the creation of a culinary cluster, and that require attention in building a creative food economy and an environmentally friendly taste of a place as a brand. A ‘terroir’ contributes to the formation of a successful culinary cluster. Tourism and agriculture are leading sectors in this process. Four broad elements specified in the model (‘environmentally friendly movement’, ‘leadership’, ‘stakeholder collaboration’ and ‘communication & information flows’) are the challenges that must be met for the successful transformation of a ‘terroir’ into a creative and environmentally friendly tourism destination that provides the taste of a place and, eventually, contributes to the global green movement. The creation of the model is an important conceptual contribution of the study. The model is used in a variety of ways. First, it was used to guide the collection of information in field investigations of two selected case study sites in the province of Ontario, Canada (Savour Stratford and SAVOUR Muskoka). Second, it was used to structure the qualitative analyses in each case study. Third, it guided comparison of the case studies where it was also used as an evaluative tool to suggest what is working well and less well in the study clusters. It was also used prescriptively to suggest what elements require further attention to strengthen the performance of the clusters. The study focuses on the relatively new concepts of a creative food economy, environmentally friendly culinary tourism and place branding in the formation of a culinary cluster in place-based rural community development. These themes are obviously interrelated, but have not been explored together previously; and thus, the study provides conceptual coherence for addressing their relationships. The findings of the comparative case study suggest that the transformation of a ‘terroir’ into a taste of a place through place branding is based upon the identification of the strengths of a place through inventory of the culinary-related core resources, and the leading and supporting assets (e.g., hard factors of natural environment and soft factors of cultural heritage). Since these will be different from place to place, one should expect different outcomes as the comparative case study demonstrates. Success will depend upon the use of culinary-related resources, based on local things and knowledge, leadership, and stakeholder involvement through collaboration and partnership, to create a uniquely appealing identity and image (place brand). Thus, a synergistic relationship can be established between the primary sector (agriculture) and service sector (tourism) through innovative entrepreneurial activities. The study makes important contributions both conceptually and empirically by creating a model that addresses the conversion of ‘terroir’ into a creative and environmentally friendly tourism place, by demonstrating the utility of the model through application to two cases in a comparative format; and practically, by directing attention to items that need careful consideration if synergistic relationships are to be established between agriculture and tourism through the development of culinary clusters as part of place-based rural community development.

This thesis deals with two theories of international trade: the theory of comparative advantage, which is connected to the name David Ricardo and is dominating current trade theory, and Adam Smith’s theory of absolute advantage. Both theories are compared and their assumptions are scrutinised. The former theory is rejected on theoretical and empirical grounds in favour of the latter. On the basis of the theory of absolute advantage, developments of free international trade are examined, whereby the focus is on trade between industrial and underdeveloped countries. The main conclusions are that trade patterns are determined by absolute production cost advantages and that the gap between developed and poor countries is not reduced but rather increased by free trade. / Die vorliegende Publikation vergleicht die zwei zentralen Theorien des internationalen Freihandels: die Theorie der absoluten Kostenvorteile und die Theorie der komparativen Kostenvorteile. Dieser Vergleich führt zu dem Schluss, dass die Theorie der komparativen Kostenvorteile im Gegensatz zu der Theorie der absoluten Kostenvorteile auf unrealistischen und problematischen Annahmen beruht. Im Anschluss werden auf Grundlage der Theorie der absoluten Kostenvorteile zentrale Tendenzen in der Entwicklung des internationalen Handels herausgearbeitet. Im Mittelpunkt steht hierbei die Auswirkung von Freihandel auf entwickelte und unterentwickelte Länder. Die zentralen Schlussfolgerungen dieser Arbeit sind erstens, dass die Richtung des internationalen Handels nicht durch komparative Kostenvorteile, sondern durch absolute Kostenvorteile bestimmt wird und zweitens, dass Freihandel zwar vorteilhaft für unterentwickelte Länder sein kann, aber dass durch Freihandel die Unterschiede zwischen Industrieländern und Entwicklungsländern nicht verkleinert, sondern vergrößert werden.

This dissertation consists of three essays pertaining to the causes of the levels and composition of the international trade flows of nations, and the consequential implications for the levels of per capita income and welfare of their populations. The first of these documents a pattern of comparative advantage in product level, bilateral trade data that conventional quantitative trade models have difficulty explaining. It goes on to develop a theory of product level productivity differences based on endogenous differences in the allocation of research and development into product and process innovation across countries over time, and it shows that, when fitted to cross-country manufacturing wage data, the predicted product level technology distribution is consistent with the observed trade pattern. The second essay shows that the distribution of technology levels inferred in the first essay can help explain the inability of both ad-hoc and theoretically based gravity models of trade to account for the observed positive correlation between the percentage of manufacturing output that is traded and countries' per capita income. It derives a modified gravity equation based on a Ricardian model of trade with deterministic product level technology differences across countries. It then uses estimates from a product level gravity estimation to compute the component of this equation that differs from a conventional gravity equation in order to determine the extent to which the observed concentration of comparative advantage in a common set of products for low-income countries explains the small percentage of their output that is exported. The final essay shows that a simple model of firm profit maximization in the presence of sunk costs of entering the export market is broadly consistent with the observed persistence of exporting behavior in firm level data. It uses this simple model and moments from data on US manufacturing firms to estimate the value of the sunk export entry costs faced by these firms using an indirect inference strategy. These costs are shown to be substantial relative the revenue stream of a typical firm. / text

Culinary tourism can contribute to the economic development of many rural communities. Creating competitive advantage for a rural community by establishing a culinary cluster requires a strategy designed to leverage the economic, cultural and environmental qualities of a place in an attractive setting and within reach of interested markets. Accordingly, culinary tourism development occurs in places with a ‘local milieu’ that possesses a concentration (spatial agglomeration) of local culinary-related products and services produced by their clustered production of a number of inter-connected firms and service providers. This can attract visitors, new residents and investments and lead to more sustainable economic outcomes that increase the quality of life of residents. To take full advantage of such possibilities, a strategy for partnership and collaboration among various stakeholders involved in culinary tourism is required. This study provides a conceptual foundation for culinary tourism as a part of the creative food economy through place branding. It analyzes the formation of culinary clusters in place-based rural community development. A culinary cluster results from innovation in the production and consumption of local food. The research began with a review and assessment of literature on culinary tourism, economic geography and business/management that led to the definition of concepts that were combined in the creation of a conceptual model based on modification of Porter’s (1990) clustering model. The model consists of ‘four interdependent determinants’ and ‘four facilitators’ that influence the creation of a culinary cluster, and that require attention in building a creative food economy and an environmentally friendly taste of a place as a brand. A ‘terroir’ contributes to the formation of a successful culinary cluster. Tourism and agriculture are leading sectors in this process. Four broad elements specified in the model (‘environmentally friendly movement’, ‘leadership’, ‘stakeholder collaboration’ and ‘communication & information flows’) are the challenges that must be met for the successful transformation of a ‘terroir’ into a creative and environmentally friendly tourism destination that provides the taste of a place and, eventually, contributes to the global green movement. The creation of the model is an important conceptual contribution of the study. The model is used in a variety of ways. First, it was used to guide the collection of information in field investigations of two selected case study sites in the province of Ontario, Canada (Savour Stratford and SAVOUR Muskoka). Second, it was used to structure the qualitative analyses in each case study. Third, it guided comparison of the case studies where it was also used as an evaluative tool to suggest what is working well and less well in the study clusters. It was also used prescriptively to suggest what elements require further attention to strengthen the performance of the clusters. The study focuses on the relatively new concepts of a creative food economy, environmentally friendly culinary tourism and place branding in the formation of a culinary cluster in place-based rural community development. These themes are obviously interrelated, but have not been explored together previously; and thus, the study provides conceptual coherence for addressing their relationships. The findings of the comparative case study suggest that the transformation of a ‘terroir’ into a taste of a place through place branding is based upon the identification of the strengths of a place through inventory of the culinary-related core resources, and the leading and supporting assets (e.g., hard factors of natural environment and soft factors of cultural heritage). Since these will be different from place to place, one should expect different outcomes as the comparative case study demonstrates. Success will depend upon the use of culinary-related resources, based on local things and knowledge, leadership, and stakeholder involvement through collaboration and partnership, to create a uniquely appealing identity and image (place brand). Thus, a synergistic relationship can be established between the primary sector (agriculture) and service sector (tourism) through innovative entrepreneurial activities. The study makes important contributions both conceptually and empirically by creating a model that addresses the conversion of ‘terroir’ into a creative and environmentally friendly tourism place, by demonstrating the utility of the model through application to two cases in a comparative format; and practically, by directing attention to items that need careful consideration if synergistic relationships are to be established between agriculture and tourism through the development of culinary clusters as part of place-based rural community development.

The objective of this paper is to analyze the export performance of Turkish manufacturing industries in the East-Asian countries between the years 1992-2002. SITC (Rev.3), three digit data were used in calculations and three methodologies were applied in order to discover promising sectors of the Turkish exports. Constant Market Share Analysis was used to explain the causes of the change in the market shares of the exports of Turkey from one period to another. Revealed comparative advantage indices were calculated to determine sectors in which Turkey had comparative advantage. Grubel-Lloyd Index was used to determine the rate of intraindustry trade. Results signal important changes in the export structure of Turkey.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Princeton University, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 106-111).