Global production shifts in the form of foreign direct investments are reshaping the economic map: one of the outcomes is today’s global production system. The firms in focus are confronted with the effects of the reshaped economic map, especially with the differences in production conditions of nations. The new situation, which has emerged, is summarised by the term ‘low cost production imperative’. Consequently, the purpose of this dissertation is to empirically explore the notion of the ‘low cost production imperative’; and to investigate the implications and consequences of the low cost production imperative for internationalisation decision-making. Scholars of academic studies summarise that fairly little is known about companies’ foreign direct investment decision-making processes and the combination of the determinants with location-specific variables with the strategic motivation of the investing firm. It is assumed even more rarely, that investigations combine the knowledge based on which firms identify important location-specific variables under an enforcing strategic motive and then have to decide a location choice in a low cost operation area. The research is carried out with the eventual aim of generating theory and producing insights into the strategic management practices of the firms in focus and their position in relation to uncertainty, predictability, and preparedness for the outcome of their decision-making related to the phenomenon. The methodological conduct of this inquiry is framed within the qualitative paradigm. The methodological contribution lies in the combination of applied methodologies and modus operandi so that a rich and holistic insight into the phenomenon will be achieved. The research results show a rich variety in outcomes and details from the cases regarding their examination with the determinants important for a successful foreign direct investment. It is evident in all the cases that decision makers behave according to different rules than those assumed much of in the international business literature. Further, the phenomenon is identified as a serious outside force that causes firms to consider a decision to look abroad or more detailed, to look for efficiency in distant regions. This dissertation identifies details of mentioned aspects and calls for applications in future research in international business.

This thesis provides an empirical analysis of international joint venture activities in Taiwan. The primary purpose is to examine control and its antecedents in terms of ownership, bargaining power, resources contribution, and motivation for forming international joint ventures. Primary data collected by a mail questionnaire is analysed along five core dimensions of international joint venture activities. First, the mechanism, focus, and extent of parent control is identified and tested in a number of sample characteristics. These empirical results also reveal that most joint ventures in Taiwan have higher autonomy and have more autonomy on the appointment of key function managers. Parent firms seek to focus their control over specific activities of the joint ventures rather than attempting to control the entire range of joint venture activities. Second, the results of equity shares held by the host country parents and foreign parents show that both parents have minority shareholding in the joint ventures. A higher ownership by the parents in joint ventures indicates that they have a higher percentage of board members. Third, the relative importance of a set of bargaining power is identified with hypothesis testing of the relationship between control and bargaining power. There is little evidence that the relationship between bargaining power and control is not closely associated. Fourth, the relative importance of resource contribution by parents is identified and hypotheses are tested on the relationship between control and resource contribution factors. The results are strongly supported that the relationships between resource contributions in terms of physical, invisible, financial, human, and organizational ability of parents and their control has significant and positive associations. Fifth, the relative importance of a set of motives for international joint venture formation is identified and hypotheses are tested on the relationship between control and motivation factors in terms of technological acquisition, knowledge learning, risk sharing, competitive strategy consideration, resource complementarily, market expansion. The findings reveal a limited number of significant correlations between motivation factors and control.

The arm’s-length principle (ALP), the transactions taken place between unrelated parties acting at an arm’s length in competitive markets, is used by income tax authorities to determine transfer pricing, the pricing of goods, services and intangibles transferred between affiliates of a multinational enterprise (MNE), and is an important international tax issue for a number of reasons. First, globalization creates integrated businesses with enormous cross-border transfers whilst corporate income tax systems remain nationally based. Second, governments insist that globalization provides MNEs with more opportunities to manipulate transfer prices and reduce taxes than in the past, thus the need for tighter regulation. Third, there is an increased desire amongst tax authorities faced with tight fiscal situations, to protect and enhance their revenue base encouraging stricter regulation of MNEs. Profit is seen as only one of the many goals that motivate the behaviour of MNEs and the newly introduced profit based methods of transfer pricing has increased the reliance on comparables significantly. As the number of specified methods was increased and the hierarchy of acceptable methods was replaced by either the best method rule or the method of last resort, taxpayers are expected to document their transfer pricing policies. The documentation has to be contemporaneous and available upon request. The methods newly introduced by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD, 1995), Transaction Net Margin Method (TNMM), and US Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS, 1994) Comparable Profit Method (CPM), vary in relation to their application and views in controlling for function and risk when developing comparables. This suggests a degree of discretion may be exercised under different regulations that may be detected through ownership and tax. This study attempts to identify the level of discretion provided under both OECD (TNMM) and US IRS (CPM) methods. It is also tests the scope of ownership effect on the reported profit of Japanese-owned companies and US-owned companies compared to their UK counterparts. Finally this study examines whether the reported tax expense has changed subsequent to tax policy changes, specifically the latest UK transfer pricing regulations introduced in 1998 corporation tax self-assessment. The empirical analysis confirms differences between OECD and US IRS profit ranges and variations between profit level indicators (PLIs). Foreign-owned Japanese and US companies are also found to exhibit low profitability compared to UK companies. This research discovered low performance among a high number of the Japanese-owned companies with operating losses when compared to their UK counterparts and offers evidence of the low tax expenses reported by foreign-owned Japanese companies.

It is a requirement of the Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) award of the University of Glasgow that the candidate undertakes a research which is relevant to the strategic development of his employing organisation.The overall aim of the DBA thesis is to conduct a critical and strategic analysis of the environment in which the candidate's organisation operates, and to demonstrate how this analysis might inform and contribute to the organisation's stragic planning and development. In this particular case the author is an employee of the Uganda Management Institute. In order to achive the above general objective and in conformity with the University of Glasgow DBA requirements, the author examined the environment through a series of five (5) Learning Goals. While handling each Learning Goal, a firm eye was directed towards its implications for Uganda Management Institute (UMI)strategy. In the final analysis, the views through those different Learning Goals(or lenses)were integrated to provide a more holistic appraisal of UMI's strategy. The following are the Learning Goals which were examined: 1. To conduct an initial strategic analysis of the business environment in which the Uganda Management Institute(UMI) operates which analysis should support the organisational goal. 2. To undertake a programme of study in reserch methods and data analysis likely to be relevant to the other Learning Goals. 3. To evaluate the context of the structural adjustment programmes(SAPs), past and contemporary, affecting the economic development in Sub-Saharan Africa and in particular the Ugandan economy. 4. To undertake a study of the structure, characteristics and performance of the market in Uganda for human resources and the related labour relations institutions and mechanisms. 5. To conduct a strategic analysis of the external, global environment in which the Uganda Management Institute will have to compete and survive.

Regional Selective Assistance (RSA) is the largest and oldest business support scheme currently operating in Scotland. It provides grants to firms undertaking capital investment projects in economically deprived EU designated ‘Assisted Areas’. As a component of regional policy, the scheme is principally designed to safeguard and generate employment in the Assisted Areas. Many of the grants are given to help foreign firms to set up in Scotland. The aim of this thesis is to estimate the impact of receipt of these grants on plant performance as measured by productivity and survival. The main econometric problem to be confronted when estimating the impact of grants is self-selection bias. Because plants self-select into the treated group, the treated group will have different characteristics from the untreated group which would lead to differences in performance had neither group received treatment. This creates difficulties in estimating the impact of treatment as a simple comparison of a variable across treated and untreated groups will not measure the causal impact of treatment. This problem was dealt with using propensity score matching and instrumental variables. The dataset was created by linking a register of plants that received an RSA grant into the longitudinal ARD which contains the necessary range of financial variables for empirical analysis. This part of the thesis was crucial as failure to identify a high percentage of plants that received a grant in the ARD would seriously undermine the empirical analyses. In the end, a higher proportion of plants that received a grant were linked with the ARD than has been previously achieved using these databases. In the first empirical chapter, the growth of labour productivity and TFP between 1994 and 2004 in Scottish manufacturing plants was decomposed to reveal the contribution of plants that receive an RSA grant. This showed that RSA-assisted plants made a small but positive contribution to both measures of productivity growth. The latter two empirical chapters showed that receipt of an RSA grant had no statistically significant impact on either the TFP or the survival probability of Scottish manufacturing plants between 1984 and 2004 in any of the industries considered. This is a major concern as it casts doubt on whether the jobs created and safeguarded by an RSA grant will endure.

This study is an analysis of the determinants of bilateral trade and foreign direct investment in ASEAN at the time of the establishment of ASEAN Free Trade Area and its enlargement. Beginning with an economic perspective on ASEAN and a review of the literature, the theoretical underpinning of the model is then demonstrated. This confirms that the gravity trade model can be derived from several trade theories. The model is then used to assess ASEAN’s trade pattern in both aggregate and disaggregate level. The results show that, although there is trade diversion regarding its importing activities, the positive effect of ASEAN’s trade creation is higher than the negative effect of its trade diversion. Moreover, the impact of distance is not diminishing over time. The disaggregate model shows that the products that are not convenient to transport have high distant effect. The results from FDI model confirm that the gravity variables are significant determinants of FDI. The negative effect of proximity suggests that there is Vertical-FDI in this region and FDI is complementary to trade. ASEAN should continue to facilitate trade and capital movement among members in order to increase aggregate economic activities and bring economic prosperity to the region in a whole.

This thesis presents an empirical investigation of the relationship between exporting, foreign direct investment (FDI) and firm heterogeneity in Thailand using a firm-level data from the Annual Survey of Thailand’s manufacturing industry between 2001 and 2004. We first examine the factors affecting the export participation decision of a firm by emphasising the importance of sunk entry costs, structure of ownership and other firm-specific characteristics. If a firm has export experience, the probability of exporting is likely to increase in the current period. Other firm-specific characteristics such as ownership, productivity, firm size, training and establishment location also significantly determine the probability of exporting. Second, we consider the role of the financial factors and the export participation decision. The internal finance of a firm as a measure of financial health is used to explain the capability to invest in order to enter export markets. The liquidity ratio has a positive and significant effect on the probability of exporting whilst the leverage ratio has the opposite effect. Third, we make a distinction between single- and multi-product firms and examine the characteristics associated with a multi-product firm. Being a multi-product firm and the number of products produced are associated with various firm-specific characteristics such as productivity, firm size and research and development (R&D). Finally, we emphasise on an indirect impact of FDI inflows in the host economy by investigating spillover effects from foreign to domestic firms. The positive and significant results for horizontal productivity spillovers and vertical export spillovers confirm that foreign firms do generate some positive externalities to domestically-owned firms.

Floating exchange rate has recently become more volatile after the collapse of the Bretton Woods system in 1973. Impediments to trade introduce price differentials and deviations from the law of one price and even diminish trade transactions. Uncertainty can be an example of an impediment to trade. The central objective of the thesis has been to analyse trade costs and exchange rate volatility and their role in bilateral trade, with particular reference to developed countries and Asia developing countries. This thesis contains three main parts as follows: Chapter Two investigates the purchasing power parity hypothesis by testing the real exchange rates using the Robinson (1994)’s fractional integration approach as well as conventional unit root tests. Chapter Three is a panel data study on the impact of relative trade barriers on bilateral exports using gravity model. In the first step the impact of the technology factor along with geographical factors, institutional factors on bilateral transportation costs is investigated. In the second step, GMM and an instrumental variable approach are used to tackle the econometric problem of endogeneity. Chapter Four and Five investigates the impact of both real and nominal exchange-rate volatility on the UK aggregate and disaggregate bilateral trade flows.

This dissertation focuses on three empirical research questions regarding economic integration among the GCC countries. Chapter 2 presents the first essay, which addresses the impact of the GCC economic agreements on intra-GCC trade, non-oil trade in particular as little is known about the scope for increased non-oil trade within the GCC. The gravity model of bilateral trade flows is applied to explain patterns of trade, and possible existence of trade creation between members. Understanding the determining factors of the GCC’s non-oil trade volumes is a practical empirical task, as diversification of exports a way from natural resources is seen as one of the main goals of the GCC policies. The second essay, chapter 3, looks at the determinants of business cycles synchronization among the GCC countries and their major trading partners. More specifically, the essay empirically investigates the relationship between trade, patterns of specialization and financial openness and how they determine the synchronization of business cycles. These factors will be evaluated in the context of a system of simultaneous equations approach, which provide an adequate investigation of the direct as well as indirect impact of trade, specialization, and financial openness on output synchronization. Analyzing what determines business cycle synchronization is an important task for a better evaluation of the costs and benefits of adopting the proposed common currency among GCC members. Chapter 4 present the last essay, which considers how much income and consumption smoothing is undertaken by the GCC countries, where an efficient smoothing of output fluctuations is vital for reducing the impact of asymmetric shocks, therefore reducing the cost of adopting a common monetary policy. The empirical approaches are based on decomposing cross-sectional variance in income within the GCC countries, and will shed light on the channels through which income and consumption smoothing take place. Furthermore, the essay focuses on the role of investment portfolio diversification on smoothing income and consumption.

The importance of studying the Russian market stems from several characteristics such as experiencing transition from a command to a market economy that is seen in its business networks, being the biggest emerging stock market and high potential for business. The ‘command period’, where the government control all aspects of life, has caused the lack of academic research which makes this study an important addition to the body of knowledge on the Russian market specially the business to business market. It becomes an important reference for business practice and a guide for future research. Desk research revealed problems in the wholesale market such as the inability of managers to build long-term successful relationships and lack of value-added collaborative relationships. The wholesale market has also been experiencing several problems such as lack of domestic supply and dominance of importers and the carpet market is one those markets that shares these problems. The fact that the wholesale market is dominated by importers raised the interest in researching relationships where wholesalers/distributers are suppliers. This was supported by the fact that research is lacking from the wholesalers point of view, it is always either manufacturers or retailers view. To help businesses in the Russian wholesale carpet market establish a relationship value perspective, it is important to understand how customer think of their supplier relationships in terms of what constitutes valuable in their supplier relationships. the trade off factor which is at the heart of relationship value is the centre of this research as it is targeting at understanding how customer trade off different relationship value attributes to evaluate their relationships with suppliers. Using a pragmatic approach, the research attempts to identify the most valuable attributes for the customer organization in their relationship with suppliers. A pragmatic approach to research is using a mix of both a positivistic and a relativistic approach in the same research, conjoint analysis as a tool for measurement was chosen for the field study. The nature of conjoint measurement involving two stages; the elicitation phase where exploratory semi structured interviews was used to elicitation relationship value attributes to be used in the next stage, conjoint cards suited the research approach adopted. Conjoint measurement also has many advantages that matched research objectives such as attributes of relationship value used in the elicitation phase were adopted from the literature of relationship value. Data were collected using conjoint questionnaire which gives an accurate estimation of the attribute and the attribute level importance to each respondent. A total 59 were usable questionnaires were collected out of which 48 included the second answered the second and the third part of the questionnaire (conjoint cards). The unit used in the analysis of the Russian carpet distribution network is the triad distributor-distributor-retailers. The conjoint questionnaire was distributed to retailers to evaluate what they value in their suppliers (distributor) relationship and to distributors to evaluate what they value in their supplier (distributor) relationship. From the exploratory semi structured interviews at the elicitation phase it was found that the most important attribute that Russian companies saw valuable in their relationship with suppliers are price discounts, communication, adaptability, relationship length, delays of operations, and terms of payment. Relationship value attributes. The research reveals important characteristics of the Russian wholesale carpet such as the fact that Russian carpet wholesalers have a high preference for long-term relationships while retailers have a high preference for short-term relationships. Also wholesalers have a very high preference for “no delays at all’ while retailers have a tolerance rate for acceptable delays. The most important contribution of this research is what we called “the relationship value concept” which is the sum of utilities of all relationship value attributes. The relationship utility concept could be used to assess how valuable existing relationships are as well as the value of new ones or new offerings to customers. The research provides reference tables with utility values that can be used in calculating the value of a customer relationship. The reference tables include values of attributes and their levels depending on whether the organization is a retailer or wholesaler and also depending on the type of carpets sold by the organization. Another contribution is to the literature of segmentation in business to business markets operational method for segmenting the market was found. The relationship value concept is introduced as an operational method for segmenting the market. It is also thought that this research contributes to the lacking literature from wholesalers’ point of view in distribution networks research.