The aim of this study is to identify the best practices in traditional and electronic banking operations strategy in Jordan as a case study of developing economies over the period 1999 to 2008. During this period numerous changes faced banks in Jordan: new banking law was launched, the banks were directed towards complying with the Basel Accord II, and the banks adopted more e-banking channels. Only the practices of all local banks were investigated due to their superior performance. A number of questionnaires were used to collect the data from different individuals in these banks. Further, annual reports were analysed and websites were reviewed. Two data-analysis approaches were used to identify the key strategies of traditional and electronic banking in Jordan: competitive position analysis and cluster analysis. Analysis revealed eight best practices of traditional banking and four best practices of electronic banking were adopted. Best practices are presented as prediction models. These models combine actions with capabilities and performance. The traditional banking predication models are: branches urban accessibility, branches sites accessibility (percentage of sites covered), branches sites accessibility (number of branches sites covered), account transaction time, new credit product flexibility, account customer waiting time, account transaction cost, loan approval costs, and branches layout quality. The e-banking prediction models are: Internet banking transaction time, telephone banking volume flexibility, ATM suburban accessibility, and ATM sites accessibility. This research revealed that; financial performance achieved by e-banking strategy patterns is significantly lower than traditional banking. Also customers satisfaction, retention, and deposit market of e-banking are significantly lower than traditional banking, which indicates that the best operational practices in Jordan are still more traditional oriented despite the significant direction of banks in Jordan toward adopting e-banking channel.

Master of Arts / Department of Economics / Peri da Silva / This paper examines temporary trade barrier (TTB) implementation by 13 Latin American economies on a bilateral basis from 2000-2009 considering market power and import shocks. Additionally, we augment our analysis by including the effect of the presence or absence of tariff water on TTB implementation. We find evidence that market power and tariff water play an integral role in TTB implementation while import shocks do not. Using a probit model we estimate that a one standard deviation increase in market power and the absence of tariff water indicator increase the probability that a country imposes an antidumping tariff by 71 and 20 percent respectively, evaluated at their means. Interestingly, we do not find that import shocks have a significant impact on TTB implementation.

The significant contributions of female entrepreneurs to both the social and economic development of their various countries have been recognized over the past two decades. The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) found that between 17 and 41 percent of the female adult population set up new businesses in developing economies. However, these females owning businesses in developing economies generally exhibit limited aspirations for growth, with 84.6 percent of the female entrepreneurs indicating that they expect to add fewer than five employees in the coming five years. Moreover, most of the literature on female entrepreneurs in developing economies has focused on the business start-up phase; limited knowledge exists on the post start-up phase. This study addresses this gap by using institutional theory to investigate the development of businesses run by female entrepreneurs in Nigeria. Qualitative interviews were used to collect data from Nigerian female entrepreneurs. The data gathered was analysed using the thematic method. The finding reveal ways in which Nigerian female entrepreneurs transform their creative ideas into products and services that have potential for growth. Nigerian female businesses exhibit growth characteristics through the concern they have for quality and reputation, organizational design, earlier preparation for business growth, response to changes in technology and strong commitment to business success. The major factors facilitating the development of businesses run by Nigerian female entrepreneurs are membership of clubs and societies, a supportive husband, operating from home as well as their network affiliation with their relatives, friends, professionals, religious groups and NGOs. The factors inhibiting the development of businesses run by female entrepreneurs in Nigeria include poor savings culture, inappropriate business practice, lack of qualified artisan workers, lack of honest and reliable staff, balancing business and family, high-based thinking and fear of pseudo growth. The thesis contributes to the institutional theory framework through the addition of components in three key areas: funding barriers (such as female entrepreneurs in polygamous home, lack of ethical mortgage arrangements, lack of inheritance right by women and loan officers’ perception on women lifestyle), profitability (such as high import and export taxes on raw materials, high cost of transportation and illegal fees charges by government officials), and networking (such as support from NGOs and religious bodies). Methodologically, the present study adds to the growing body of qualitative research in entrepreneurship notably to our understanding of the issues that female small business owners in Nigeria face in sustaining and growing their businesses. The current study has practical implications for policy makers and female entrepreneurs. Areas for further research are also identified.

This thesis consists of four individual essays and an introductory chapter. While independent from each other, these essays share some common properties. They are all empirical and focus on the interaction between inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI) and host country characteristics. The primary focus of the thesis lies in how inflows of FDI affect developing and transition economies. Macro-level data are used in all essays. The first essay analyses the FDI inflows that the transition economies of Eastern Europe have attracted and tries to find determinants of these inflows. The following two essays compare the effect of FDI between developing and developed economies. The second essay studies the relationship between corruption in the host country and the volume of FDI inflows. The third essay explores the effect of FDI inflows on host country economic growth. The fourth and final essay analyses the relationship between FDI and trade, focusing on the link between FDI flows and host country exports in eight East Asian economies.

Ecodesign is an approach for product development, which focuses on minimizing the environmental impacts of the product during the whole life cycle while maintaining the major concerns such as function, usability, aesthetic and ergonomic qualities. This approach is regarded as a fundamental step to achieve sustainable production, consumption and development. The thesis examines the current situation of ecodesign in Turkish Industry, in relation to design and manufacturing. First, it introduces the literature on ecodesign in general, and more specifically, it presents a comparative analysis of six international studies with an aim to explore internal and external stimuli for promoting ecodesign, as well as reflections on barriers that were encountered. Then, literature review on ecodesign activities in Turkish industry is discussed. To complement these findings, the results of the interviews conducted with three stakeholder groups (i.e. government, universities and industry) are presented. Finally, the results of a study that was conducted in Turkish packaging, and electric &amp / electronics sectors to understand approaches of environmentally-conscious product development, the drivers and the barriers of ecodesign implementation into these sectors are revealed. The level of ecodesign implementation is found to be strongly related with the economic situation of Turkish context, which is the most important determining factor for the drivers and barriers found in the study. Acquiring a more stable economic situation, ecodesign will become a considerable competitive advantage through: (i) reduction of manufacturing costs in the long term, (ii) innovational approach in the manufacturing process and product development, and (iii) increasing brand awareness.

One of the major factors that affect economic growth is FDI - Forgein Direct Investment. BRICS is a newly formed trade bloc that includes 5 of the largest, most heavily populated, and most emerging economies in the world, their economies share various characteristics, yet they also have various differences. The purpose of the thesis is to find the determinants of FDI in this trade bloc. Those determinants were specifically chosen based on multiple accredited previous literature. In this thesis a panel data regression is performed for these 5 partners with data ranging from 1995 to 2018. The results of the thesis were both predicted and surprising, as two determinants were in accordance with the past literature, however the other two  determinants had other results, both of these variables had opposite signs compared to their predicted signs that were expected from the chosen previous literature. Our research tries to answer the question of how do these determinants affect FDI inflows, in order for countries to make strategies to attract it.

The resource ‘curse’ is premised on an inverse relationship between mineral wealth and economic growth. The declamation pertaining to the reasons for, and exceptions to, the resource ‘curse’ remains inconclusive. MNCs are cited amongst the reasons for the resource ‘curse’, particularly in developing economies. However, Africa (and the role of MNCs) remains underrepresented in resource ‘curse’ literature. In light of this, the study’s aim is to determine how MNCs in Mozambique’s gas sector could be considered a causal channel of the resource ‘curse’, as the contest for relatively untapped natural gas reserves in Mozambique is intensifying. An exploratory case study is provided, where Phase I consisted of 11 qualitative interviews with 14 oil and gas experts while Phase II analysed secondary data in the form of public documents and audio-visual materials, intended to supplement and verify the interview data. The results reveal that MNCs (i) promote and prioritize their CSR initiatives to mask their inability (or unwillingness) to adhere to local content directives and (ii) leverage the diplomatic relationships of their home country government to supersede the host country’s sovereignty. Moreover, the Mozambican government’s cultural practices exacerbated the prospects of a resource ‘curse’ outcome. The study concludes that the MNC, in the case of Africa, in particular Mozambique and Angola, is indeed a channel of the resource ‘curse’. / Mini Dissertation (MPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2019. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MPhil (International Business) / Unrestricted

The Economist (2010) defines frugal innovation as “instead of adding more bells and whistles, strip the products down to their bare essentials.” This definition is becoming an interesting phenomenon for academia and practitioners around the globe. This phenomena have changed the traditional ways of doing business in emerging economies and by 2025, almost 50% of the global organizations will have shifted their focus toward emerging economies because of their lucrative growth potential (Dobbs et al., 2013). The bottom of the pyramid (BOP) is an unexploited market that constitutes more than four billion people living their lives on less than 2 US dollars per day (Prahalad, 2004). Emerging economies have changed the traditional ways of doing business. Weyrauch and Herstatt (2016) identified three criteria for frugality: low cost, focus on core functionalities, and optimized performance level. For example, General Electric (GE), an American Conglomerate, invented a pocket sized ultrasound machine (Vscan) at the low cost of $15,000 that is battery operated, easy to use, and has a performance level, which meets the expectations of the proposed market. It was originally developed for China and other emerging economies; however, after a great success it was adopted by developed economies like the United States (Govindarajan and Trimble, 2012; Hossain et al., 2016). The main idea behind the development of frugal innovation is to cater to the needs of non-affluent customers in emerging economies who cannot afford expensive products (Soni and Krishnan, 2014; Govindarajan and Trimble 2012). Frugal innovations have been developing at three levels: first, MNC like General Electric, have research and development centers in emerging economies such as in India and China. They develop frugal products, for example, Vscan and Siemens fetal heart rate monitor. Second, local multinational organizations in emerging economies develop frugal products such as TATA Nano (the world’s cheapest car) and TATA Swach (a water purifier) by TATA, which is an Indian conglomerate. Third, grassroots entrepreneurs understand the local situation and even without proper education and knowledge often devise quick, smart and low cost solutions to local e.g. MittiCool (a clay made fridge) (Kumar & Puranam, 2012). A number of researchers in the field of frugal innovation have explored the differences and similarities between frugal innovation and other types of innovations (Weyrauch & Herststt, 2016; Zeschky, Winterhalter & Gassmann, 2014; Brem & Wolfram, 2014; Landrum, 2007). Some researchers are trying to identify the link between frugal innovation and sustainability (Kalogerakis, Fischer & Tiwari, 2016; Kahle et al., 2013; Rosca, Arnold & Bendul, 2016; Pansera & Sarkar, 2016). Moreover, other researchers are defining the significance of frugal innovation for multinational organizations in the competitive world (Tiwari & Herstatt, 2012; Anderson & Markides, 2007; Agarwal & Brem, 2012). Human capital is one of the strongest assets for the economic progress of a country. To make the most out of these valuable assets, countries need to invest in healthcare services (World Bank, 2017). Access to healthcare and wellbeing is a human right. Inequalities in healthcare continue to exist despite the progress that has been made worldwide in recent years to improve healthcare access and wellbeing (UN, 2015). Increase in health expenses is recognized as a serious worldwide concern that increases poverty (World Bank, 2017). Frugal innovations have the potential to offer simple and economical solutions to global healthcare challenges. Despite the potential of frugal innovation in healthcare, this context has rarely been studied. The objective of this dissertation is therefore to provide an in-depth analysis of the concept of frugal innovations in healthcare. With this aim, the first study provides a systematic review of frugal innovation in healthcare. Data for this study was collected using Google scholar, EBSCO, Cochrane library, Scopus, and Web of Science. “Frugal innovation in healthcare” and “frugal innovation and healthcare” were the two keywords used to search the data from the year 2006 until 2016. To conduct the analysis for the study, we used the Prisma review methodological approach (Moher, Liberati, Tetzlaff, Altman, & The Prisma Group, 2009). In total, 14 research articles were included in the study; these were based on the inclusion criteria of language and availability of the articles. The literature was categorized into two clusters: relationship of frugal innovation with sustainability and the importance of frugal innovation for multinational organizations. The study provides an exciting opportunity to advance our knowledge of frugal innovations in healthcare. In study 2, the patterns of frugal innovations in healthcare were examined by closely analyzing the 50 selected cases of frugal innovations in healthcare. Of the 50 selected innovations, various characteristics such as the country of origin, first launch market, type of innovator, type of innovation, type of care, and geographic diffusion were investigated. The finding shows that most of the frugal innovations in healthcare originated in the US (i.e., in the industrialized world). India is the most frequent first launch market for such innovations. Academia is the strongest driver with respect to different types of innovators. Frugal innovations place greater focus on neonatology and general practice, and most of the innovations are product innovations. Moreover, the study examines the relationship among these variables to obtain deeper insight. Together with various limitations, further research areas for frugal innovation include an adequate business model and successful factors responsible for the diffusion of frugal innovation. The study 3 aims to identify the factors that affect the diffusion of frugal innovation in healthcare in developing economies. Two frugal healthcare innovations were selected, including one product innovation and one process innovation (Jaipur Foot and Narayana Hurdayalaya Heart Hospital). Interviews from experts in the field of cardiology and orthopedics were conducted in Pakistan from January 2018 to March 2018. The study was exploratory; therefore, thematic qualitative text analysis was used for the analysis (Kuckartz, 2014). The results show that only 11% of the participants knew the term frugal innovation belonging to the orthopedics medical specialty. Sixty-eight percent of participants were using frugal products or techniques in their hospital, for example, locally made implants, low-cost medications and techniques, government -recommended products, refurbished machines, and locally made stents. The driving force behind using these frugal products and techniques lies in three factors: innovation characteristics and user preferences, patient satisfaction, and social system. A lack of awareness, political reasons and other reasons were the barriers for not adopting the above-mentioned frugal products and techniques in their hospitals. Innovation attributes and recommendations from hospital owners and administration as well as the government were the most important drivers for adopting these innovations. In addition, participants identified hospital administration, seniors and consultants, and government as important stakeholders that are responsible for implementing these particular innovations in hospitals. The study has various limitations and provides additional areas for future research.:Table of Contents 1. Introduction 8 2. Literature Review 18 2.1. Disruptive Innovation 19 2.2. Cost Innovation 20 2.3. Jugaad Innovation 20 2.4. Gandhian Innovation 20 2.5. Reverse Innovation 21 2.6. Frugal Innovation 21 2.7. Rogers’s Theory of Diffusion of Innovation 23 2.8. Diffusion of Innovation in Healthcare 26 2.9. Diffusion of Innovation in Developing and Emerging Economies 29 3. Methodology 35 4. Systematic Review 42 4.1. Sustainability 42 4.2. Capabilities of Organization for Frugal Innovation 47 5. Patterns of Frugal Innovation in Healthcare 56 5.1. Entrepreneur’s Country Of Origin And First Launch Market 56 5.2. Type of Innovator and Type of Innovation 57 5.3. Medical Specialty and Who Healthcare Categories 60 5.4. Geographic Diffusion 61 5.5. Type Of Innovator, Entrepreneur’s Country Of Origin, And First Launch Market 62 5.6. Type of Innovator and Innovation Characteristics 63 5.7. Type Of Innovator, Characteristics Of Innovation, and Geographic Diffusion 64 6. Frugal Innovations in Healthcare: Factors Affecting the Diffusion in Developing Economies (Part 1: Interview results) 66 6.1. Familiarity and Motivational Factors For Using Frugal Innovations 67 6.2. Communication Channels 79 6.3. Barriers and Drivers for the diffusion of specific frugal innovation 83 6.4. Role in Decision-Making 95 7. Frugal Innovations in Healthcare: Factors Affecting the Diffusion in Developing Economies (Part 2: Discussion) 101 7.1. Familiarity and Motivational Factors For Using Frugal Innovations 102 7.2. Communication Channels 106 7.3. Barriers and Drivers for the diffusion of specific frugal innovation 107 7.3.1. Barriers for Non-Adoption 108 7.3.2. Drivers for Adoption of Innovation 109 7.4. Role in Decision-Making 110 8. Conclusion 112 9. References 123 10. Appendix 1 (Questionnaire) 140 11. Appendix 2 (Descriptive of Study 3) 142 12. Selbständigkeitserklärung 143 13. Acknowledgment 144 14. CV 145

This paper investigates the strategic framing approaches implemented by tech entrepreneurs in developing economies to attract financing from venture capital (VC) firms in developed economies. The study addresses the limited research in the field of entrepreneurship, specifically focusing on entrepreneurs’ subjective perspectives on strategically framing their startups to secure VC investment from developed economies. Additionally, it aims to make an initial contribution by exploring how these tech entrepreneurs in developing economies strategically frame their start-ups to attract VC funding from developed economies. The research methodology involves conducting semi-structured interviews with tech entrepreneurs who have successfully attracted VC financing through strategic framing.By analysing the interview data, we dive into the strategic framing approaches utilized by these tech entrepreneurs, with a particular emphasis on entrepreneurs in Kenya as the sample case, to secure financing from VC firms in developed economies. The insights shared by the interviewed tech founders highlight the crucial factors they strategically consider when framing their startups to attract VC financing. This strategic framing process involves extensive research, multiple iterations of pitch decks, metrics, and legal frameworks for a startup to raise VC financing. This study provides valuable insights into how entrepreneurs strive to understand venture capitalists’ perceptions of the Kenyan tech startup landscape and the criteria VC firms seek prior to making investments. Such knowledge empowers startup founders to position themselves strongly in terms of financial opportunities during the scaling and shaping phases of their tech startups. It is important to note that this study focuses on a small group of tech entrepreneurs in Kenya and may not capture potential industry, cultural, geographical, and personal variations. Nevertheless, it represents an initial attempt to explore the framing strategies of these startups when raising VC investments.

Women entrepreneurs play increasingly important roles in job creation and sustainable economic growth in developing economies, including sub-Saharan Africa. While Nigeria has made progress in closing gender gaps in women’s employment rights, financial inclusion and access to resources remain challenges for many women who seek to start and grow businesses. Barriers to venture creation are particularly problematic for women entrepreneurs living in rural Nigeria. Yet, few studies have examined women entrepreneurs’ access to capital in the context of rural Nigeria, including the perceived value of informal lenders and government support programs. This thesis informs the literature by reporting on women entrepreneurs who own and operate retail micro-enterprises in rural, South-West Nigeria, specifically Atakunmosa West, Osun State. The study findings demonstrate the value and limitations of informal lenders, such as Ajo and Esusu, in bridging institutional voids in banking practices and technology-enabled money services. Drawing on the social feminist and resource-based theory, the study advances a conceptual model of the gendered context of financial inclusion and considers the implications for research and policy.