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The work describes the notion of international trade with focus on the theory interlinked with pracice. The extended focus is on business environment of Slovenia and the Czech Republic. The thesis presents the risks, purposes and advantages of doing business internationally. Furthermore, there are examples of specific companies in related industries and the products that are offered on different markets. The idea of the work is to give an insight to those who are interested in international business (exporting and importing) with various application of strategies.

The impact of the energy crises in the 1970s hit all oil-importing countries much harder than it hit countries endowed with domestic supplies of energy. Energy politics and policies for the oil-importing countries have become vital issues that need to be examined. The purpose of this dissertation is to examine and compare the energy politics and policy processes in the Republic of China (ROC) and Japan during the period of 1970-1985. The study focuses on the politics of energy policies, using a policy analysis or systems framework for examining the policy processes in the two countries. A comparison is made of energy environments, the political actors, the institutions, and finally the substance of energy policy. An assessment is then made of the effects or consequences of energy policies on these two countries. In attempting to study energy politics and policies in these two Asian countries, the researcher began with a policy model or conceptual schema of energy politics from which the researcher raised a number of research questions. These questions were used to guide the direction of the study. A comparison was first made of energy systems, and then the major actors in the energy resources field were identified by comparing the political systems. Comparison of the political systems in energy politics helped to explain the differences in the political outcomes of energy policy. An assessment was made by using a series of multiple regression models to assess and compare the consequences of energy policies in these two countries. The final purpose of this dissertation is to develop a conceptual model or framework, for understanding the complexity, uncertainty, and interrelatedness of energy policies. The researcher concludes that comparative policy studies are useful and provide insights which otherwise would be missed.

Research on the firm's heterogeneity is a well-developed concept in the export context; literature can found in the export context. Previous research can found on firm heterogeneity and firm performance, but they are in export context. On the other hand, importing firms' heterogeneity is less sought in the literature, which we believe as a clear gap in the export-import research stream. Limited research has done in the context of importing firms. The purpose of our thesis is to explore the different forms of heterogeneities that Pakistani importing firms' practices are gaining a competitive advantage. Furthermore, our goal is to examine the extent of heterogeneity dimensions to what contributes to their performances. There is a significant gap in the research field of import. As there is less research in the import context, this will be a fundamental goal of research towards firms' heterogeneity and the importance of a country.

This thesis reports research in the Country-of-Origin (COO) area of international business, into the postulated phenomenon of Negative Image. Image has been regarded as a potential purchase decision influencing factor but to date not investigated in-depth. Research was carried out in the business to business area, across cultures and between developed and developing countries, using an example from Zimbabwe. The primary research methodology comprised semi-structured elite interviews with Zimbabwean footwear exporters and UK footwear importers. A questionnaire incorporating sections on topics related to the international image of manufactured goods exporters based in Third World countries was also administered to the UK footwear importers. This dealt with political, commercial and image aspects of importer-exporter relationships and also addressed directly the issue of Third World businessmen's image. Results from the field work demonstrate that the Negative Image of Third World manufactured goods exporters directly affects importer decision making and that Negative Image has an exclusively negative impact. Data from inductive analysis of interviews and supporting correlations arising from the questionnaire were used to construct a model of the relationships and formalise the concepts and constructs of Negative Image. These included disparities in exporter and importer expectations of quality, price, delivery and performance. In addition unreliability, inefficiency, professionalism, lack of both marketing skills and social conversation contribute to the phenomenon. A potential conflict was identified at the individual level between personal and professional perspectives and a reciprocal Negative Image of importers was identified from the Zimbabwean exporters' perspective. Suggestions are made regarding the key factors in exporter-importer relationship development and conclusions are then drawn suggesting that improvement to levels of importer-exporter contacts and information flows can be useful in ameliorating the Negative Image effect. Scenarios for image improvement are offered at government, firm and individual levels. Finally, limitations of the research are discussed and recommendations for further research are given

This business plan has been developed in order to evaluate the feasibility for the start-up of a trading company based in Honduras and a Latin American Cafeteria based in Taipei, Taiwan, Eureka LLC. The present will also serve as an operational framework and plan for the first three years that the company will be in business. According to Taiwanese law, the company needs to have a representative from the home office and a manager that lives in Taiwan. Hence, Eureka LLC will have two founding partners, and will need a start-up capital of $44,347.64 which will be provided jointly in equal parts by the founding partners. While taking advantage of the current FTAs between Taiwan and some Latin American countries, this business plan will also serve to demonstrate the enormous potential that there is for trading between Latin America and Taiwan, not only for the economy of the countries but also for the well-being of Latin American expats living in Taiwan. The forecasts show that the business model works and it can let the company grow organically over time, by adding new products according to the demand or even by entering other Asian markets.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T18:40:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Anderson Tanaka.pdf: 1073243 bytes, checksum: 67da2f0e3298c14c92c8fc047d5cec5c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-05-31 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / It is essential for the importers to think about the exchange variation when importing goods for the local trading. The use of derivatives is one way for the importers to protect themselves from these exchange variations. Derivatives are financial instruments used by companies in order to manage the risks over the fluctuation of exchange variations, as well as the interest rates and the price changes. The lack of knowledge for the use of these protection instruments leads the companies to have losses with the exchange variation. The accounting treatment for the use of derivatives is a subject which has recently been developing with the harmonization of the international financial reporting standards, the IFRS. This case studies a mediumsized importing company, in the shoes trading segment which does not apply any kind of derivative. Impacts on these derivatives operations, which can generate great losses when they are not used in a correct manner, is shown. The exchange losses are derived when the company opts for the free exchange by the moment of importing its stocks, once having a negative variation, leads the company to record these losses in its financial statements. Thus, the best protection strategies and internal controls the Company should adopt using the rules of IASB (International Accounting Standards Board), is shown. The IASB and Brazilian Committee on Accounting Pronouncements, ( CPC ) principles of recognition, measurement and derivatives accounting has presented, being emphasized the hedge accounting instruments, the internal controls necessary for the financial instruments control and management and the tax effects on exchange variations and Transfer Pricing using the hedge instruments / Pensar na variação cambial é um ponto indispensável aos importadores quando se trata de importar mercadorias para a comercialização local. Uma forma dos importadores se protegerem dessas oscilações cambiais é a utilização de derivativos. Os derivativos são instrumentos financeiros utilizados pelas empresas para gerenciar os riscos sobre as oscilações das variações cambiais, assim como as taxas de juros e as mudanças de preços. A falta de conhecimento para o uso desses instrumentos de proteção leva as empresas a terem prejuízos com a variação cambial. O tratamento contábil para o uso dos derivativos é um assunto que vem se desenvolvendo recentemente com a harmonização das práticas contábeis internacionais, o IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards). Este estudo de caso aborda uma empresa importadora, de médio porte, no segmento de comércio calçadista que não adota nenhum tipo de derivativo. São demonstrados os impactos dessas operações de derivativos que podem vir a gerar grandes prejuízos quando não forem utilizados de forma correta. Os prejuízos cambiais ocorrem quando a empresa opta pelo câmbio livre no momento de importar seus estoques, que tendo uma variação negativa, leva a empresa a registrar perdas nas suas demonstrações financeiras. Dessa forma são demonstradas quais estratégias de proteção e controles internos a empresa importadora deveria adotar utilizando-se os conceitos das normas do IASB (International Accounting Standards Board). São apresentados os conceitos do IASB e CPC (Comitê de Pronunciamentos Contábeis) de reconhecimento, mensuração e contabilização dos derivativos com ênfase nos instrumentos de hedge (hedge accounting), os controles internos necessários para o controle e gestão dos instrumentos financeiros e os efeitos fiscais na utilização de derivativos e das importações (Transfer Price) usando os instrumentos de hedge

Net energy exporting countries (NEECs) and net energy importing countries (NEICs) depend on each other for mutual gains. However, NEICs pursue strategic policies to reduce consumption of energy from conventional sources and increase that of renewable energy in order to attain energy security and macro environmental and carbon accountability. On the other hand, NEECs such as Nigeria depend heavily on oil and gas exports to NEICs to generate revenue. As a result of this inter-dependent relationship, this PhD project adopts a dependency theory and strategic issue analysis framework to underpin the study. Accordingly, the study approach is founded on the ideas of pluralism as a social reality and adopted pragmatism as the research approach. Consistent with these approaches, the study was undertaken by analysing both secondary and primary data, including macro-economic statistics of annual time-series dataset (1980-2014) and semi-structured interviews respectively. The quantitative part of the project used Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) Bounds testing approach. This method was used to investigate and analyse the effect of renewable energy consumption and carbon emissions reduction on Nigeria’s oil and gas exports. The qualitative part involved interviews with twenty senior government officials in Nigeria from six selected Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), representatives of civil society groups and academicians, to support the quantitative results and answer certain research questions. The short-run quantitative results and qualitative findings show that renewable energy consumption in developed NEICs affects Nigeria’s oil and gas exports. However, the reverse holds true for emerging NEICs. Both the quantitative results and the qualitative findings show that carbon emissions reduction in developed NEICs affects Nigerian oil and gas exports in the long run. Also, the quantitative results show that renewable energy consumption in developed and emerging NEICs does not affect Nigerian oil and gas exports in the long run. However, the qualitative findings only support the quantitative results for emerging NEICs but do not support those of developed NEICs. Similarly, the qualitative findings indicate that other external and internal factors such as discovery of shale oil and gas; improvement in energy efficient technologies; the use of long-term contract in other NEECs; stringent nature of the Nigerian Content Law and lack of passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill amongst others currently contribute in affecting Nigeria’s oil and gas exports. Moreover, the qualitative findings show that global energy transition has an impact on the Nigeria’s oil and gas revenue, savings made to the Nigerian Sovereign Wealth Fund, budget financing and will continue to affect Nigerian revenue and budget if the economy remains undiversified. Finally, the qualitative findings indicate that global energy transition has negatively affected Foreign Direct Investment flow into Nigerian petroleum industry and discoveries of new oil and gas reserves. These findings have several implications. Firstly, Nigerian oil and gas exports are affected by the carbon emissions control regime, which makes future oil and gas revenues uncertain; thereby putting pressure on budget financing and socio-economic growth and development. On this note, there is the need for Nigeria to take cautionary position in the global climate change debate in order not to adversely affect the country’s economic interest. Secondly, the consumption of energy from renewable sources in both developed and emerging NEICs is an opportunity for Nigeria to export not only its conventional energy but also renewable energy if commercially harnessed. This suggests that Nigerian should also invest heavily in renewable energy production. Thirdly, the major findings of this study provide evidence in support of the relevance of dependency theory and strategic issue analysis framework within the context of energy transition in NEICs on one hand, and Nigerian oil and gas exports to these countries on the other. This implies the need for Nigeria to focus on developing internal market trajectories to increase domestic utilisation of its conventional energy rather than being dependent on external markets for the sale of the nation’s energy resources.

South Korea is a country that is poor in natural resources and capital and remains behind many other nations in technological development; however, South Korea's unique development strategy has led its economy to high growth over the last three decades. During 1997, South Korea began to experience a serious financial crisis, including bankruptcies of many of its conglomerates, a drastic depreciation in the international exchange rate of the South Korean currency, and an increasing foreign debt. Currently South Korea is struggling to compete with products from both industrialized nations and newly industrializing nations. The current crisis has occurred as South Korea has been engaged in extensive market-opening. Knowledge is lacking about South Korea's intricate and rapidly changing political and economic climate. The purpose of this research was to explore and clarify the interrelated factors that have contributed to South Korea's present economic problems, especially those facing South Korea's retailing industry. The qualitative methodology of "grounded theory" was used in this study. Grounded theory is a general methodology for developing theory that is grounded in data which are systematically gathered and analyzed. Theory evolves during the research process through a continuous interplay between analysis and data collection. This research attempted to discover the factors, or themes, that have affected the South Korean economy and retailing industry. The following factors were identified: (1) foreign direct investment; (2) the price-gap between imported goods and domestic products; (3) South Korea's trade deficit; (4) perceived over-consumption of luxury items by South Korean consumers; and (5) the chaebol, or South Korean large conglomerates. The economic factors that have led to the current difficulties facing the South Korean retailing market are complicated and interwoven. South Korean retailers will have to address these factors in the future, and attempt to find solutions. It is hoped that the knowledge resulting from this will be of benefit to South Korea's attempt to compete in a global marketplace. / Master of Science

Sammanfattning:Introduktion: Vuxna personer med intellektuell funktionsnedsättning är merstillasittande, mindre fysiskt aktiva med ökade hälsorisker jämfört med övriga befolkningen.De har behov av personalens stöttning för att öka sin aktivitetsgrad och utföra fysiskaaktiviteter/träning men även vid andra hälsofrämjande insatser.Syfte: Att belysa fysioterapeuters erfarenheter av, strategier och förutsättningar för atterbjuda hälsofrämjande insatser för vuxna personer med intellektuell funktionsnedsättning,som bor på LSS boende.Metod: Elva fysioterapeuter som arbetar med målgruppen har intervjuats via digitalavideomöten. Intervjuerna har analyserats med kvalitativ innehållsanalys.Resultat: Analysen resulterade i ett tema, fyra kategorier och tolv underkategorier.Temat ”Hälsofrämjande aktiviteter för vuxna personer med IF- ur ett fysioterapeutiskperspektiv- kommer med utmaningar på olika nivåer” grundar sig på de följandekategorierna: Organisatoriska förutsättningar sätter ramar, tillgång till stöd och anpassadträning bidrar till bättre hälsa, personalen är nyckeln till fysisk aktivitet och utarbetadestrategier motiverar hälsofrämjande arbete. Dessa kategorier handlar om attorganisationens utformning och personalresurser påverkar prioriteringen förhälsofrämjande insatser och medför att fysioterapeuterna upplever att de har en drivanderoll i arbetet. Målgruppen behöver tillgång till anpassad träning och anpassadeträningslokaler. Personalens engagemang, egna tränings vana och syn på hälsa är viktigtmen även utarbetade strategier för att motivera personal och målgruppen och att det finnsstrukturerade teammöten.Slutsats: Studiens resultat indikerar att hur långt fysioterapeuterna har kommit i dethälsofrämjande arbetet varierar mellan kommuner och att de har olika förutsättningar förvilka insatser som kan erbjudas. Det finns utmaningar för hälsofrämjande arbetet påindivid-, grupp-, organisations- och samhällsnivå. Det hälsofrämjande arbetet är dock mer iropet nu och det satsas mer på målgruppen, men många utmaningar kvarstår. / Abstract:Introduction: Adults with intellectual disabilities (ID) are more sedentary, less physicallyactive with increased health risks compared to the rest of the population. They are in needof support from the staff to be able to increase their level of activity and to perform physicalactivities/exercise or engage in other health promotion interventions.Aims: To highlight physiotherapists´ experiences of, strategies and conditions to offerhealth promotion efforts for adults´with intellectual disabilities, living at LSS residence.Methods: Eleven physiotherapists working with the target group have been interviewed,using digital video meetings.Results: The analyses resulted in one theme, four categories and twelve subcategories.The theme ”Health promotion activities for adults with ID- from a physiotherapeuticperspective- come with challenges on different levels” is grounded in the followingcategories: Organizational conditions set the framework, access to support and adaptedtrainging contributes to better health, the staff are the key to able fysical activity andestablished stategies motivates heath promontion activities. Theese categories meens thatorganizational conditions and staffresoures affects priorities for health promotion effortsand contributes to physiotherapists feelings that they have a driving role in the work. Thetarget group needs access to adapted training and adapted training facilities. The staff´scommitment, their own training habits and their own views of healh are important, evento have established strategies to motivate staff and the target group but also structuredteam meetings.Conclusion: The results of the study indicate that how far the physiotherapists have comein the health promotion work varies between municipalities and that they have differentconditions to witch efforts they can offer.There are challenges för health promotion work atthe individual, group , organizational and societal level. However healthpromotion work ismore popual now and there is more focus on the target group, but more challenges remain.