The extent of trade diversification achieved by Malaysia has not been investigated empirically beyond that of its partial inclusion in certain instability export studies. This study has three principal objectives. First, to explore and demonstrate empirically using the entropy analysis technique the level of Malaysia's trade diversification achieved and to compare and analyse this performance with other developing countries with similar profiles. Second, to take stock and investigate policy issues that arise from export instability, as they relate to trade and diversification in the commodity and industrial sector. Third, to complement empirical work on Malaysian international trade, particularly on the previous empirical investigations of instability of exports in the Malaysian economy. Evidence from the study shows that Malaysia has been able to increase its export diversification over the period reviewed comparable to other newly industrialised countries, and in most cases better than other developing economies. Analysis also shows that. commodity export. diversificaLion is basically induced by a significant change in 'within group' diversification (traditional group of exports). similarly ,import diversification also shows evidence of a positive associ ati on wi th the stages of economic development. Analysis of the flexibility index reveals that Malaysia has been able to adjust its structure of exports saUsfactori ly in respond to the changing world market. However, ev.idence of declining flexibilty in the trade structure emerges in the early 1980s, though not strictly implyjng a complete rigjdity in the export structure. Variations in the degree of diversification achieved can be linked to the type of policies and incentives designed and implemented by the state to encourage exports, and domestic supplies consistent with a higher investment growth.

This thesis examines the planning strategies open to the dual economy of an oil-producing country that desires to link the export of its valuable exhaustible resource to the requirements of a balanced development of the non-oil sectors of the economy so that the benefits of oil survive its eventual exhaustion while attaining. the highest possible standard of living over time. A planning model is developed to deal with these long-run problems. The application of optimal control theory for the optimal choice over time shows how the economy can be guided from its initial state towards a more desirable target state. The solutions to the planning problem are obtained in the form of possible depletion-investment strategies that a resource-based dual economy could adopt to achieve this end. They are then put to test using the Iranian economy as an example. From the analytical solution also emerges an iterative process to be used for the numerical application. The similarities of OPEC-type economies form the basis and their peculiarities correspond to different magnitudes in the parameters of the model. The estimation of the sectoral production functions and the oil demand curve facing Iran as an individual OPEC producer provides a numerical base necessary for the empirical application of the model. It covers the oil price shocks of the 1970s and the economic background of the 1977/78 upheaval culminating in the 1979 revolution. The planning period (1971-2000) enables a comparison of the optimal policies suggested by the model solutions with those practiced by Iran during the 1970s. Results reveal that the latter policies were far from those leading the economy along a balanced growth path. The policies implemented after the oil boom 1973/74 intensified the imbalances and tensions inherent in the pattern of an uneven development and led to the 1979 revolution. The model solutions show how these imbalances could have been corrected and the same level of revenue could have been obtained for lower oil exports. The remedy sought for the planning problem does not necessarily advocate preservation of the exhaustible resource or restoration of equity at the cost of growth, but emphasizes the importance of having a long-term depletion policy and linking it with a balanced development strategy as a safeguard against the balance tilting in favour of the present generation or the modern sector. The ,model is universally adaptable and could be applied to any economy dependent on a single exhaustible resource - oil or otherwise.

In recent years there has been a considerable interest, both theoretical and empirical, on the analysis of the nature, sources, and speed of diffusion of technological change, stemming from the importance of technological activities in determining the economic performance of the most industrialised market economies. During the last decade, at the international level, two models in particular have attracted attention for their dramatic path of growth: the Japanese system and the "Third Italy" model, the latter based on small firm development and on an extensive inter-firm division of labour. This thesis explores "empirically" the nature of technological capacities in a selected sample of more than 100 firms located in one of the regions more representative of the "Third Italy" model - the Veneto region - and shows the (partially achieved) process of technological catching-up. It develops a rich range of indicators for testing the innovative capability of firms, which derive from an ample reflection on the nature of the industrial innovation and the determinants of industrial organisation, conducted in the first two (theoretical) chapters. Links to strategy, organisation, and firm competitiveness are also highlighted. The author examines in chapters 3~ 4, 5, and 6 the performance of the industrial structure analysed, where R&D activities scores very low, showing the various models of firms' technological learning, the importance of innovation acquisition, and the weight of internal improvements in driving the, evolutionary strategy of each individual firm. In the light of the "Third Italy" debate, which emerged after the Piore and Sabel publication in 1984, the thesis challenges the over-simplistic explanation of the ,existence of small-based industrial structures. This research illustrates the main factors structuring growth and size, and the recent tendency found towards the re-centralisation of the industrial structure. This work follows the seminal contribution of Pavitt (1984), where some regularities were found, within specific groups of firms ("science based", "scale intensive", "specialised suppliers", "scale intensiveltraditional", and "traditional"). In our sample, the prevailing small-size of firms appeared strongly correlated to the diffused presence of fIrms belonging to "traditional sectors" and to "specialised suppliers". In this perspective, the firms' evolution does not seem to be related at all to the adoption of non-Fordist techniques, but it derives from: a) the origin and rate of growth of the industrial structure, b) the influence of the firm's "governance", c) the sectoral inter-firm division of labour, d) the extent of the market, and, e) dynamically, the exploitation of technological change. In chapter 7, an econometric test has been applied to verify the positive relationship between innovation and firm growth.

According to orthodox theory, a key objective of stabilisation policies is to raise the relative price of tradeables to that of nontradeables. This should lead to a relative expansion of tradeables production. The factors of production that would benefit most are those intensively utilised in the expanding (tradeables) sector. Where nontradeables are more labour intensive, the real consumption wage will fall with the implementation of stabilisation policies. This prediction is tested in this thesis within the context of Zambia's effort to adjust its economy in the 1980s. Applying a Stolper-Samuelson-Rybczynski (SSR) model, it is concluded that stabilisation policies did indeed result in the fall of the real wage. This finding is in line with the experience of other countries, suggesting that real wages were more flexible than would be justified by concerns of orthodox theorists. However, it is shown that the responsiveness of employment to variations in the real product wage was statistically insignificant. Furthermore, despite the fact that the real product wage of tradeables relative to nontradeables moved in the desired direction, the expected relative rise in tradeables employment failed to occur. This demonstrates the ract that getting the prices right may not always be a sufficient condition for labour reallocation. The rapid fall in the real consumption wage made it difficult for an average formal sector household to meet its nutritional needs. These households could be classified as poor by the end of the 1980s. Workers responded by moonlighting, engaging in corrupt practices and allowing their households to increase their labour participation. The adverse effects associated with such survival strategies demonstrate the limit to which a government could rely on real wage flexibility in macroeconomic adjustment.

This thesis examines oligopolistic corporate stratgey in the age of microelectronics, based on the observation of the Japanese CTV firms whose oligopolistic behaviour has been, and will be among the most typical in the dawning era. Faced with the current tendency that (whereas the U.S. CTV firms have tended to restrain investment in technical innovation and to pursue short-term profits through their international locational strategy) the Japanese counterparts have consistently attached importance to technical innovation while expanding local production in developed countries, these questions have to be answered:' according to what economic rationale have Japanese firms made decision-making or managerial innovations, and what are the factors behind this rationale that have made such decisions possible? Answering the question of the firms' positive introduction of new technologies (especially microelectronics), the concept of"perpetual re-standardisation·strate~y, is generated with the aim of defining a managerial innovation particular to the Japanese firms. On the firms' internationalisation strategy, the thesis leans heavily on the Eclectic Approach of Dunning. Having worked out the firms' two oligopolistic strategies separately, the question of how they have managed to marry the two strategies is answered: as the perpetual re-standardisation crystallised into the industrial transformation pattern of the industry, the strategrinitiated by growth~oriented offensive firms has become internalised within the industry; in addition to the earlier advancement into the market actualised by offensive firms above, it is progressive industrial transformation and its outcome, "new protectionism" at the market that determined the firms' internationalisation endogenously. All in all, aided by a watch-learn effect, the firms' inclination towards growth-oriented management has resulted in the coupling of perpetualre-standardisation and full-scale advancement to international production locations. Naturally, the realisation of the structure (causal relationship) which enables long-term growth is of primary importance applied to both innovating firms and catching-up firms.

The aim of this study was to analyse firstly, the functioning of the Greek Stock Market and, secondly, its ability to influence both the capital formation process and the allocation of investable funds among the various assets offered in the Greek Financial Market (the Financial Market defined so as to include the stock market, the bond market and the money market). With this respect, this study analysed firstly, the influence of financial assets returns on household-consumption saving decisions (see Chapter Two), secondly, the influence of financial assets returns on the flow-of-funds to and within the financial market (see Chapter Three) and, thirdly, the ability of the Stock Exchange Mechanism to help investors to "correctly price" the shares offered in it (that is, testing the Efficient Market Hypothesis on the Greek Stock Market; see Chapter Five). In addition, a fourth area was included, that is an analysis of the factors that influence shares values and, therefore, shares returns in Greece, the reason being that the shares valuation process is viewed as being closely related with all three main areas that this study intended to analyse (See Chapter Four). The general conclusion that emerged from the empirical analysis is that, not only the Greek Stock Market, but the whole Greek Financial System has failed in the fulfilment of their aims as they were set in the paragraph above. According to these findings, a number of suggestions for further research on the Greek Stock Market were made, relevant to the needs of both government's and corporations' policy makers.

This study concerns the problems, techniques and solutions involved when British retailers expand into continental Europe. The study starts by taking into account general theories and assumptions regarding organisational behaviour, and the existing body of knowledge concerning international business. From these wider contexts, the research narrows down to focus upon retail firms and their international expansion. At the time of writing some fifty-six firms have expanded into continental European retailing, though two of these withdrew entirely after suffering considerable losses. The remaining fifty-four firms have operated with varying degrees of success since the pioneering moves around the turn of the century. Most of the 169 identified entries occurred since 1970, and are the focus of attention in the present research. Any firm engaged in retailing has certain features which distinguish it from firms in either the primary or secondary sectors of industry. To identify the special characteristics of retailers, it is useful to recognise that the elements which go to make up the Retail Formula are but the manifest expression of an underlying Business Idea. The Business Idea is the structural and dynamic basis upon which the Retail Formula can be adapted in a consistent way to changes which occur in the environment. The concept of Business Idea forms a starting point for the analysis of many aspects of foreign retail expansion. Every retail company expands into Europe with its own particular set of motives, but it is possible to identify four common themes. Some firms have motives which are defensive in nature, but on top of this some offensive motive is also frequently of present. The stimulus to look at expansion abroad is always a mixture of events over time: the influence of the Chief Executive and approaches from firms abroad liming common factors. The decision-making process ranges from being ad-hoc, to searching for coportunities, to being broad-based strategic planning. Firms tend to behave in a less ad-hoc manner the more experience they have gained in foreign expansion. Expansion strategies tend to follow one of two alternatives: expanding simultaneously into many countries; or one country at a time, learning from each entry curve. Most firms tend to follow the latter route. The main entry tactics are self-start, joint ventures and takeovers. These are analysed in three ways. Firstly, the benefits and problems associated with each tactic are described; secondly, a model is developed explaining how firms select their tactics; and thirdly, the choice of tactic is related to the whole decision. making process. Every expansion move contains some elements of investigation: of the firms own strengths and weaknesses, of specific opportunities and of markets. The most frequent markets where British firms have started retailing are France and the Netherlands; while the least popular major European country has been Italy. Whenever the retailing firm expands abroad some changes are made in the Retail Formula of the foreign subsidiary. The thesis examines the question whether it is sufficient merely to change the Retail Formula, or whether success depends on adapting the whole Business Idea to the new environment. The study of adapting the operation abroad leads on to analysis of the allocation of responsibility for making changes and managing the differences between the parent and subsidiary. The pressures are usually overwhelmingly towards close control, with little autonomy being left to the subsidiary. The organisation structures for British retailers operating in Europe are presently relatively simple. There are indications that controls are starting to become more open; and as the foreign retail subsidiaries establish their success and grow into a sizeable business, so more complex organisation structures can be expected to evolve. A stage by stage study of performance is undertaken, showing how targets are chosen, and how firms' experiences range from the relatively straightforward, to the highly problematic. An overview of the expansion of British retail expansion is developed, which allows all the moves so far made, plus the subsequent penetration, to be categorised and compared. The emerging trends are now for those firms which are already operating in Europe to build on existing footholds, expand into more European countries, and to start to spread worldwide.

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