This thesis consists of three essays which explore different economic issues emerging in today's globalized world economy. Using a model of outsourcing by monopolistically competitive firms, the first essay shows that, even in the case of flexible domestic wages, international outsourcing (and/or re-location of plants to a low-wage economy) by home firms may worsen the welfare of the home country and reduce the profits of all firms in the industry, even though it is individually rational for each firm to choose to outsource. It shows that if a social planner for the home country can choose the extent of international outsourcing, his optimal choice will not coincide with the equilibrium outcome under laissez-faire. A wage subsidy may improve welfare. When the wage in the home country is rigid we show that outsourcing is welfare-improving for the home country if and only if the sum of the "trade creation" effect and the "exploitation effect" exceeds the "trade diversion" effect of the access to the low-wage labour in the foreign country. The essay also assesses the model in a two-period framework, where each domestic firm faces the choice between outsourcing (or re-location) in the first period, or in the second period. Delaying outsourcing can be gainful because the fixed cost of outsourcing may fall over time. On the other hand, delaying means the firm's variable production cost in period 1 will be higher than that of rivals who are outsourcing. The equilibrium of this two-period game may involve some firms outsourcing in period 1, while others will outsource in period 2, even though ex-ante they are identical firms. Under monopolistic competition, in equilibrium, the sum of discounted profits is identical for all firms. Again, a social planner for the home country may choose a different speed of outsourcing than the speed achieved by an industry under laissez-faire. / The second essay explores the market for fair-trade products. It employs a duopoly model involving a firm producing a fair-trade product in competition against a conventional firm producing a standard product. The concept of "economic identity" (Akerlof and Kranton, 2000) is used to model consumers' demand for fair-trade products. The essay shows how, in the short run, the parameters of the identity function can impact the equilibrium prices, and in the medium run, how they impact the conventional firm's choice of its position in the product space. In the long run, however, the fair-trade firm may be able to influence the parameters of the identity function, for its own advantage. / The last essay uses the contest model (Tullock, 1980, Rowley et al., 1988, Hillman and Riley, 1989, Nitzan, 1994) to assess welfare effects of bilateral liberalization of government procurement. It shows that there exists a single condition that ensures active participations of all firms in all contests. When this condition is violated, i.e. under a dominant-country case, the dominating country always gains from trade liberalization, while welfare of the dominated country improves only if its corporate tax is sufficiently high. Under full participation of all firms, i.e. no country dominates the markets, and countries are partially symmetric, there exist conditions where bilateral liberalization is mutually beneficial to both countries. When countries are completely asymmetric, it is showed that a country may gain from bilateral trade liberalization if its tax rate is sufficiently high, while the tax rate of the other country is sufficiently low. The results obtained in this essay have shed lights on the current position of negotiations on liberalizing government procurement within the WTO. They suggest plurilateral agreements on government procurement could be formed among countries with similar economic conditions. Such agreements, however, are hard to reach between countries with a large degree of economic asymmetry.

Mode of access: World Wide Web. / Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 223-243). / Electronic reproduction. / Also available by subscription via World Wide Web / xii, 243 leaves, bound 29 cm

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Thesis (M.Com. (Development Theory and Policy))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, School of Economic and Business Sciences, 2016 / Lenin's theory of imperialism is a strong basis of contemporary analysis for the interaction between countries in the core and those in the periphery. This paper examines the theoretical coherence of his theory in light of the advent of global value chains. The distribution of benefits between countries in the core and the periphery is a topic that is aimed at describing the distribution patterns that prevail as a result of the globalisation of trade and the decentralization of production activities by multinational firms [Information taken from introduction. No abstract provided]. / MT2017

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After the Great Depression of 1929--1933, the relative isolation of Mexico's economy led to the adoption of Import Substitution Industrialization. The use of this model as a development strategy meant specializing in manufactured goods under a regime of state interventionism and a closed economy. However, after many years of inward-looking policies, ISI collapsed. Moreover, with excessive public expenditures and fiscal mismanagements, Mexico's economic stability started to erode. The result was Mexico's first economic crisis, the effects of which could only be alleviated through loans from International Financial Institutions that were contingent on the implementation of defined policies. Thus, Mexico adopted the neoliberal development model as its strategy for economic growth and recovery. Under this model, trade liberalization, outward-looking policies, and state non-interventionism promised economic growth as a necessary precondition for social justice and development. Mexico's implementation of neoliberal policies, on one hand, has aided its integration into a market-oriented economy in which competitiveness, foreign investment, and technology transfers are considered as paths to economic growth and, on the other hand, has widened the gap between the rich and the poor, and has impeded sustainable development.

The study is designed to carry out the impact of trade liberalization and globalisation on the Indian industry with the help of a case analysis of the Indian pharmaceutical industry. The study is broken down into five chapters in order to carry out the process of the study systematically. The first chapter presents the background, motivation and the value of the study. Focus of chapter two, the literature review, which helps in brining out aspects associated with trade liberalisation and globalisation. Chapter three provides an overview of the Indian pharmaceutical industry with references to the global industry. An analysis of the industry against the literature developed in chapter two will be the focus of chapter four. Lastly, chapter 5 is designed to formulate recommendations for the industry, incorporating government's role. / Thesis (MBA)-University of Natal, 2003.

M.Com. (Business Management) / The financial downturn in developed economies has led to South Africa and the rest of Africa’s economies to become increasingly attractive to foreign investors. The establishment of operations in an emerging market poses various challenges for multinationals, one of which is implementing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) effectively across all its subsidiaries. The objective of this study is to determine whether there are differences in expectations of CSR in a multinational organisation and CSR in its subsidiaries which operate in emerging markets. This will allow the multinational to assess whether its CSR strategy meets the expectations of all stakeholders. The study is focused on the financial services sector, specifically the banking industry. Through qualitative research methods, a case study research design approach was utilised to study CSR activities in a global bank and CSR experiences in its African subsidiaries. Data collected from research subjects through interviews was analysed using open, axial and selective coding procedures. The study concludes that there are definite gaps in CSR expectation between a multinational and its subsidiaries based in African emerging markets. Global CSR strategies may be applied consistently across a multinational’s subsidiaries, but failure to address core issues faced in an emerging market economy renders such strategies impractical.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management in Entrepreneurship and New Venture Creation Wits Business School Johannesburg, 2018 / Developing SMMEs has become a growing phenomenon within emerging economies. This is because enterprise development is designed to achieve a positive socioeconomic impact by encouraging and investing in entrepreneurship (Peters et al., 2004). Therefore, understanding the performance of business incubators, and how they enable SMMEs to contribute to economic development, is critical for policy makers who have an urgent mandate of growing the South African economy (AlMubaraki & Busler, 2011). This study argues that business development strategies that adopt a blanket approach towards supporting SMMEs operating in different sectors and levels may not be appropriate, given the dynamics of different ventures. This study investigates and compares the effect of sector specific business incubators versus mixed sector business incubators in improving SMME performance to inform policy makers about the state of entrepreneurship of enterprises that engage with incubating organisations. The methodology used in this study was quantitative and cross sectional in nature. One hundred and five responses were received from SMMEs that graduated from a business incubator to assess how their performance has improved over time. The findings revealed that relationships do exist between sector specific business incubators and job creation as well as turnover, but this relationship is not significant. The findings also suggest that there was no significant statistical difference when comparing sector specific to mixed sector business incubators in job creation and turnover. Business incubators should have specific touch points and interventions targeted at different levels of the entrepreneurial process, thus, working towards addressing the diverse needs and challenges pertinent to emerging businesses operating in different industries. The findings which emerged from this study provide a decent base to further explore how sector specific and mixed sector business incubators improve SMME performance / MT 2019

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