<p>In January 2005 a trading scheme with emission allowances, including carbon dioxide (CO2), was introduced in Europe. This has influenced the electricity price as well as the price of CO2 emitting production. The paper and pulp industry uses a high share of electricity and emits CO2 and is therefore chosen. This industry is investigated to see if the competitiveness for the industry has been influenced by the emission trading scheme. Since the trial period is too short to give any clear results, USA has been investigated to make comparisons with Sweden. Different theories about the subject together with electricity price and production price data from Statistiska Centralbyrån. A competitiveness model is calculated with help from production prices and show that Sweden has become relatively more competitive compared to the USA since 1995. A reason for this can be the introduction of an emission trading scheme in the USA in 1995. If this is the case, the Swedish paper and pulp industry can face a decrease in competitiveness in the near future.</p>

Globalization and economic integration to European Union has highlighted problems of Lithuanian industry and the whole economy competitiveness. Only competitive industries are successful and powerful enough to increase their market shares in the long term. That is why it is important to analyze the phenomenon of competitiveness and to indicate the key factors of it in order to create the more favorable conditions for the Lithuanian industry growth and prosperity. The Lithuanian curative cosmetics industry was selected as the object of this work. The aim of this work is to evaluate the competitiveness of Lithuanian curative cosmetics industry and to present main factors that could increase the competitiveness of this industrial sector. To achieve the aim of the work, the following objectives have been defined: - to develop conceptual understanding of the nature of the competitiveness; - to analyze methods of the evaluation of industrial competitiveness; - to present the definition of the curative cosmetics; - to analyze the competitiveness of Lithuanian curative cosmetics industry; - to prepare Lithuanian curative cosmetics industry research methods and to analyze the results that have been received during the research; - to present the recommendations for increasing the competitiveness of Lithuanian curative cosmetics industry. This work is subdivided into three chapters. The first chapter gives insight into the information gathered through a review of literature about the... [to full text]

Clusters and Clusterization are getting one of the most important fields to stimulate competition. In the Master study there are formulated problems of the economical development, analyzed and systemized research of the influence of practical Clusterization and clusters to the competition from various authors of Lithuania and other countries, also there are presented methods of research of the competition. The aim of this Master study is to analyze Lietuvos Gelezinkeliai SC position of its competitiveness and possibilities to improve it in cluster competition. There are comprehensively analyzed scientistic problems of sufficiency of clasters and of the management increasing. Completed analysis of the standard statement of the Republic of Lithuania that has influence to the competitiveness of Lietuvos Gelezinkeliai SC In the study presented research is based on M.Porter diamond method and on the theory of competition. There is corroborated scientific research hypothesis of the author about possibility to identify cluster of Lithuanian railway transport and its possibility to develop in a high competition range.

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Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2009.

Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2009.

North America is the world’s largest pulp and paper producing region as well as the largest consuming region. An understanding of market integration is critical for designing relevant policies since it is important to improve national welfare and ensure long-run competitive market equilibrium. In addition, it is crucial for the Canadian industry to maintain the competitiveness for its pulp and paper products in the world market, because any deterioration in the performance of the Canadian pulp and paper industry will have negative social and economic impact on the well-being of Canada and affect Canadian balance of payment. This thesis contains three essays that investigate the market integration of the combined markets of Canada and the US, and the competitive position of Canadian pulp and paper products in the US market. The first essay presents an econometric analysis of spatial integration of the US and Canada newsprint markets as reflected in newsprint prices. It applies the Johansen multivariate cointegration procedure to test the law of one price for five regional markets (British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec, US east, US west) of newsprint using monthly data for the 1988 to 2004 period. Preliminary data analysis shows that all price series are non-stationary I(1) processes. The hypothesis that the Law of One Price (LOP) holds for all five regional newsprint markets simultaneously was not supported by the Johansen multivariate test. The LOP was also tested for national markets, and it was found to hold between US west and US east newsprint prices. The results suggest that there is a single newsprint market in the US, whereas there are several distinct newsprint markets in Canada. The second essay examines the degree of market integration among US import markets for three pulp and paper products, and further analyses the dynamic interaction between US domestic and US import markets. Persistence profile results show that long-run equilibrium exists in the US import markets for three pulp and paper products of interest; moreover, given a system-wide shock, a new equilibrium could be reached in a relatively short period. Forecast error variance decomposition suggests that US markets are critical since shocks to domestic US prices for relevant pulp and paper products explain a substantial amount of movements in import prices. The third essay studies substitution between main categories of imported pulp and paper products and between imported and domestic pulp and paper products in the US market. A restricted translog subcost function approach was employed to derive the elasticity of substitution. The results suggest that Canadian pulp and paper products are still competitive and have maintained their competitiveness in the US market. However the consecutive demand decline for pulp and paper in the US has brought hard times to Canada. It seems that if Canadian pulp and paper industry wants to retain a dominant position in the world market place, it will have to create global reach and develop new markets.

Ο τουρισμός παγκοσμίως έχει εξελιχθεί σε μία από τις σημαντικότερες βιομηχανίες και αποτελεί σημαντικό παράγοντα ανάπτυξης και πηγή απασχόλησης. Ο 20ος αιώνας χαρακτηρίστηκε από πολλούς σαν «αιώνας του τουρισμού», αφού κατά την διάρκειά του συντελέστηκαν κοσμογονικές αλλαγές σχετικά με την ανάπτυξη του τουρισμού. Η σημασία του τουρισμού ιδιαίτερα για την ελληνική οικονομία είναι μεγαλύτερη από ότι για το σύνολο της παγκόσμιας οικονομίας. Με την παρούσα εργασία εξετάζεται η ανταγωνιστικότητα του Ελληνικού Τουρισμού και οι αλλαγές που πρέπει να πραγματοποιηθούν για τη βελτίωση του. Η εργασία είναι χωρισμένη σε τέσσερα κεφάλαια. Το πρώτο κεφάλαιο αφορά την κατάσταση του ελληνικού τουρισμού. Ειδικότερα, παρουσιάζονται οι δυνατότητες και οι αδυναμίες αλλά και οι ευκαιρίες και οι απειλές του ελληνικού τουριστικού προϊόντος, οι τάσεις του Παγκόσμιου Τουρισμού και της Ελλάδας αλλά και οι βασικοί στόχοι του ελληνικού τουρισμού. Στο δεύτερο κεφάλαιο αναλύονται τα βασικά χαρακτηριστικά του ελληνικού τουριστικού προϊόντος στα πλαίσια του υφιστάμενου περιβάλλοντος με την ανάλυση συγκεκριμένων εργαλείων της PEST ANALYSIS. Στο τρίτο κεφάλαιο αναλύεται η ανταγωνιστικότητα γενικά αλλά και ειδικότερα για την Ελλάδα. Επίσης εξετάζεται η θέση του ελληνικού τουριστικού προϊόντος στα πλαίσια του διεθνούς ανταγωνισμού και τα χαρακτηριστικά των ανταγωνιστριών χωρών. Τέλος αναδεικνύεται η σημασία της ποιότητας του ελληνικού τουριστικού προϊόντος . Στο τέταρτο κεφάλαιο εξετάζονται τα πεδία όπου απαιτούνται αλλαγές προκειμένου να βελτιωθεί η ανταγωνιστικότητα του ελληνικού τουριστικού προϊόντος. Ειδικότερα, αναλύονται ζητήματα που άπτονται των νέων τεχνολογιών, της ανάπτυξης ειδικών τουριστικών προϊόντων, της ενδυνάμωσης της εκπαίδευσης και των δεξιοτήτων του ανθρώπινου δυναμικού, της προβολής του προϊόντος, της άσκησης τουριστικής πολιτικής, της ανάπτυξης των μεταφορών του τουρισμού. Τέλος εστιάζει στους τρόπους επίτευξης των αναγκαίων αλλαγών. Ειδικότερα, εξετάζονται ζητήματα θεσμικών παρεμβάσεων, παροχής οικονομικών και άλλων κινήτρων, χάραξης ειδικών πολιτικών, ανάπτυξης εκπαίδευσης και έρευνας στον τομέα του τουρισμού και προώθησης δράσεων προβολής και συμπεράσματα. / Tourism worldwide has evolved into one of the major industries and is an important driver of growth and source of employment. The 20th century was characterized by many as the "century of tourism", since during the radical changes have taken place on the development of tourism. The importance of tourism especially for the Greek economy is larger than that for the entire world economy. With this study we examine the competitiveness of Greek tourism and the changes that must be made to improve it. The work is divided into four chapters. The first chapter deals with the situation of Greek tourism. In particular, we present the strengths and weaknesses and the opportunities and threats of the Greek tourism product, trends in global tourism and Greece and the main aims of Greek tourism. The second chapter analyzes the basic characteristics of the Greek tourism product within the existing environment by analyzing specific tools PEST ANALYSIS. The third chapter analyzes the competitiveness in general and especially for Greece. It also examines the place of Greek tourism product in international competition and characteristics of competing countries. Finally highlights the importance of quality of Greek tourism product. The fourth chapter discusses the areas where changes are necessary to improve the competitiveness of Greek tourism product. Particular, we analyze issues related to new technologies, the development of specific tourism products, strengthening the education and skills of human resources, promotion of the product, the performance of tourism policy, development of tourism transport. Finally focuses on how to achieve the necessary changes. Specifically, addresses issues of institutional interventions, providing financial and other incentives, making specific policies, development of education and research in the field of tourism and marketing promotional and conclusions.

Assesment of the trade competitiveness of Skichool Lipno, based on utilization procedures and methods of strategic management and designing the appropriate strategy, was the intention of my report. Methodts that I used for the determination strategy are analysis of internal enviroments, PESTE analysis, Porter´s model, questionnaire enquiry and SWOT analysis as the last.

Credit card fraud losses within the South African credit card market in 2006 exceeded R257M. A portion of these losses (R179M) are within the borders of South Africa and its common monetary area partners. This represents a startling 70% of credit card fraud on magnetic stripe cards used within the borders of South Africa. The South African credit card industry adopts floor limits at certain merchants and merchant categories. South Africa is one of a few countries in the world that still adopt floor limits on credit cards within its payment card industry. Credit card transactions on magnetic-stripe cards conducted below the merchant’s designated floor limit do not go to the issuing bank for authorization. The first time the issuing bank acknowledges these transactions is when they are settled on average two days later. The rationale for not adopting zero floor limits within the South African credit card market is the supposed inability of the existing telecommunications infrastructure to handle the volume and frequency of data submitted by merchants for authorization. The impact of reduced fraud and bad debt losses through adopting a zero floor limit in relation to merchant operational costs is the basis of the research. The research also aims to examine the Proposition that the existing telecommunications infrastructure is unable to support a zero floor limit proposal.