Esta dissertação tem como objetivo medir os efeitos do Mercosul em termos de criação, desvio de comércio e desvio de exportação, usando uma base de dados abrangente e o que há de mais moderno na literatura de gravidade. Nos últimos anos, houve um grande avanço tanto na teoria quanto na estimação de equações de gravidade, o que ajudou na microfundamentação destes modelos e na obtenção de resultados consistentes. As estimações feitas mostram que o bloco possibilitou uma criação de comércio, o que ocorre quando tanto o comércio realizado intra bloco quanto com o resto do mundo aumentam. Além do mais, foram estimados modelos com a finalidade de verificar como os efeitos do Mercosul sobre comércio evoluíram ao longo dos anos, mostrando que o efeito maior do bloco se deu nos anos 90. Outra importante questão analisada foi o impacto do Mercosul sobre dois setores econômicos: agricultura e indústria. Nestes setores também houve indícios de criação de comércio, no entanto a indústria presenciou desvio de exportações em direção ao bloco. Por fim, foram construídos alguns grupos contrafactuais, que indicam que na ausência deste acordo o comércio teria sido menor, apesar dos efeitos serem heterogêneos entre os anos e os países. / This dissertation aims to measure the effects of Mercosur in terms of trade creation and diversion and export diversion, using a comprehensive database and the most modern instruments in gravity literature. In recent years, there has been a great advancement in theory and estimation of gravity equations, which helped the microfoundation of these models and the obtainment of consistent results. Our estimates show that Mercosur resulted in trade creation, which occurs when both the intra regional trade and trade with the rest of the world increase. Moreover, we estimated some models in order to see how the effects of Mercosur on trade has evolved over the years, showing that the greatest effects occurred in the 90\'s. Another important issue discussed was the impact of Mercosur on two economic sectors: agriculture and industry. In these sectors there was also evidence of trade creation, however industry has suffered exports diversion towards the block. Finally, we constructed some contrafactual groups, which indicate that in the absence of Mercosur trade would be smaller, although the effects are heterogeneous across years and countries.

A valorização de produtos que sejam ecológica e socialmente responsáveis vem fazendo que as certificações no âmbito socioambiental venham crescendo no decorrer dos anos. Isso se reflete na agricultura onde a pressão se dá no sentido de que as produções sejam ambientalmente mais equilibradas e socialmente mais justas. A certificação Fair trade surge como uma das alternativas a essas pressões originárias dos consumidores. Esse modelo de Comércio surgiu como uma alternativa às associações de pequenos produtores rurais em condições econômicas desfavoráveis obterem melhores condições de comércio para seus produtos e assim melhorar o padrão de vida de suas comunidades. Tais desvantagens econômicas podem ser caracterizadas pela maior vulnerabilidade de pequenos produtores a flutuações dos mercados internacionais de commodities, sem acesso a crédito e reservas de capital. Essa falta de oportunidades econômicas por dificuldades de acesso a capital, mercados compradores e informação criam barreiras aos pequenos produtores, o que garante o acesso facilitado a produtores maiores no mercado de exportações. É nesse contexto que se torna uma excelente opção o novo modelo de comércio justo, o Fair trade. No entanto, verificou-se uma dificuldade desses produtores conseguirem tal certificação. Foi realizado então um estudo multicasos em quatro organizações de pequenos produtores já certificadas, a fim de detectar essas dificuldades de se conseguir essa certificação e propor um check list de ações para ajudar outras organizações a se inserirem nesse mercado. / The valorization of environmental and social responsible products has resulted in an increase of socio-environmental certification schemes over the years. In agriculture, this reflects on a growing pressure towards an environmentally more balanced and socially fairer production. In this context, fair trade certification comes as an alternative to these pressures that come from consumers. This model of trade has emerged to associations of small farmers in unfavorable economic conditions as an alternative for obtaining better trading conditions for its products and thereby improving the living standards of their communities. Such economic disadvantages include the vulnerability of small producers, with no access to credit and no capital reserves, to fluctuations in the international commodity markets. This lack of economic opportunities due to difficulties in accessing capital, markets and information create barriers to small producers, thus ensuring large producers easier access to the export markets. In this context, fair trade becomes an excellent option. However, it is evident the difficulties of these producers to get such certification. Therefore, a multicase study was carried out in four organizations of small producers which already have the certification in order to detect these difficulties in getting the certification and to propose a checklist of actions that can help other organizations to fit into that market.

M.A.

M.Comm. / The first objective of this study is to determine the techniques appropriate for building customer relations. The second objective of this study is to establish the guidelines necessary for improving customer relations. The third objective is to establish the levels of relationships that have taken place between the respective manufacturing and customer (retail) companies under study. The fourth objective is to discover if any best practices with regards to relationship building can be identified. Restrictions/Limitations The study under focus relates only to a small sample in the South African economy. Although one could probably use the findings as a representative sample, a more valid statistical measure will be gleaned from a larger sample. Unfortunately little research has been reported on relationship marketing in South Africa in recent years. A report by Jordaan et. al. (1997) was released on key account management, which is an instrument to successful marketing relationships. In fact, no concrete conclusions have been drawn with regards to South African companies' channel relationship positions between suppliers and customers. Due to the latter, the research study has been of an exploratory nature. The hypothesis put forward, together with the research study, will serve as an excellent cornerstone for further research developments. Research methodology Part One: Theory Information for this study has been collected by making use of the following ways. Firstly information concerning the development of customer relations from the pre 1960's, was retrieved from a product manager at Unilever, by means of an interview. Secondly, information was captured from published and unpublished literature about the development of the concept of relationship marketing and its rightful place within the general field of marketing. Information concerning techniques, guidelines and best practices for relationship/partnership building, have been extracted from various literature sources. Part Two: Empirical study An empirical study has been undertaken to determine to what extent South African fast moving consumer goods companies have progressed towards a synergistic partnership between supplier and customer. The information was collected by means of an unstructured questionnaire directed at the following five focus group companies, namely, Cadbury's/Schweppes, Coca-Cola, Nestle, National Brands and Unilever.

Introduction: The South African economy has shown very little economic growth and car sales declined steadily from 1988 till they increased slightly in 1999. 2000 saw the economy recovering from a recession, and motor vehicle sales increasing. In order for the South African motor manufacturing industry to remain viable, the manufacturers, who must operate within the framework of the Motor Industry Development Plan, face increasing international competition as the large motor firms from around the world strive to gain a foothold in Africa in anticipation of an “African Renaissance.” South African manufacturers have to develop appropriate strategies to ensure profitability and survival in the new millennium. This entails a thorough analysis of the changing business environment the industry finds itself trading in.

Franchising has become the latest trend in business expansion and business acquisition and with the South African franchising market estimated at being around 12% and growing rapidly, enormous potential for future growth is indicated. Companies both local and international are seeking franchise expansion opportunities in Africa despite the higher risks. The significance of implementing franchises into Africa is the filtering down of business opportunities to the small and medium enterprise sector. It can be said that franchising promotes business growth and private ownership, while improving the quality of life of the poor through its impact on income and employment. A franchise organisation that grows too quickly might not have the necessary ‘factors’ in place to support all of the units properly. In the survey conducted, it was indicated that the franchise business practice echoed the literature reviewed. All the steps necessary to establish a franchise are important but not necessarily as equal. The more matured franchisee needed less guidance from the franchisor and relied more on the business concept and location. Potential franchisors need to take the necessary steps to establish a franchise and treat each step as an important part of the franchise process.

Since the inception of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1947, traditional trade barriers like tariffs and quotas were no longer at the heart of trade disputes under the multilateral trade framework. The economic interdependence trend has brought a number of social issues to the forefront of the international scene, and the conflict between trade values and social values have soon become the new theme of trade conflicts at the current stage. Hence, international trade rules were urged to address issues other than economic concerns, such as environmental protection, cultural value preservation and human rights. Clashes between trade liberalization and social values are harshly criticized for their alleged negative impacts on issues like equality, freedom, social justice, environment and culture. The World Trade Organization (WTO), as the only multilateral trade regime, is arguably extending its competence in dealing with conflicts other than trade issues. However, the conflicts are made more incomprehensible due to the absence of a clear and reconciled order in both substantive and procedure senses. This research is based on the aforementioned concerns, and focuses on the relationship between trade liberalization and a specific spot among the enormous range of social values: Trade in Culture. Departing from domestic regime, the research is going to critically evaluate domestic state of law and policies under the realm of WTO rules, in order to carry out their interactions with WTO regime. By analyzing to what extent they collide with each other, and the possible alternatives to develop cultural trade, the research considers the development of cultural trade in the way that is more responsive to the real problems of current restraints presented at the domestic level, so that implications to the WTO legal framework can be drawn.

The thesis tries to investigate which impact the new Silk Road announced 2013 by the Chinese president has on EU-China trade potentials. The so called OBOR initiative is an infrastructure project that aims to promote trade facilitation along the ancient Silk Road. The initiative includes more than 60 countries. The gravity model of trade will be applied to run a simulation exercise to estimate trade potentials from the EU to China and vice versa. The results suggest that China can increase its trade potential to the EU. Among the EU countries there are winners and losers. Those countries which participate in the initiative will benefit from an increased trade potential others will lose trade potential.

Due to the complexity and dynamism of the global beef market, policymakers need a theoretically consistent, rigorous and quantitative analysis to validate and quantify the effects of different factors that are believed to drive beef trade. The general objective of this dissertation was to validate and quantify the factors that drive and influence international beef trade in order to facilitate and improve the decision-making behaviour of policymakers. The gravity model methodology was identified as the ideal framework to address the general objective of this dissertation, and was used as the primary tool to analyse the factors that drive and influence beef trade. The specific objectives were to gain an understanding of prominent issues that influence international beef trade, to review the gravity modelling methodology and to model the effects of various issues on the volume of beef trade based on trade data among leading importers and exporters between 1996 and 2010. A model was estimated using two separate equations, referred to as Model B1 and Model B2. For each of these equations the dependant variable varied to represent: bovine cuts boneless, fresh or chilled (HS 020130); bovine cuts boneless, frozen (HS 020230); and an aggregation of these two products designated as "Total beef". Model B1 was estimated with the full gravity model specification, including export prices. Since very few studies on commodity specific gravity models exist and have never modelled beef exports prices directly, it was decided to run an additional model, Model B2, without the export price variable. The Wald Chi-square test confirmed that the variables included in the model were significant in explaining the variation in the volume of exports. Issues that were included in the specification included beef production in a beef exporter, beef consumption in a beef importer, tariff measures applied by importing countries, income per capita of consumers in importing countries, export prices and trade bans due to animal diseases. The coefficients of individual variables estimated were found to be plausible while the signs of the coefficients indicated the expected relationships between the volume of beef trade and each of the individual issues. After comparing the two models it was found that the price variable exhibited statistically significant and plausible results, and did not affect the estimates of the other variables. A comparison with similar studies revealed that the model developed in this dissertation estimated similar results in some areas, and even more plausible results in others. When all of the statistical tests and validation criteria are taken into account, the gravity model developed in this dissertation was successful in validating and quantifying the factors that drive and influence international beef trade. / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / gm2014 / Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development / unrestricted

LL.M. / Please refer to full text to view abstract